The refeeding syndrome is a type of illness that is characterized as set of metabolic disturbances which often result from the nutrition reinstitution to the severely malnourished or starved patients.
If a person will experience a shortage of nutrients inside him for about a week, then he is prone to the refeeding syndrome. The syndrome often takes place at about four days after the start of feeding. The patients of this syndrome may undergo electrolyte and fluid disorders and hematologic, neuromuscular, cardiac, pulmonary and neurologic complications.
Because of the lengthy fasting, the human body will still do its job by finding alternative ways which can affect the system greatly and can bring about some disadvantages.
The refeeding is syndrome is a fatal situation that is a result of rapid refeeding initiation after a long time of malnutrition. It is often determined by hypophosphataemia and related to the electrolyte and fluid shifts. It is also described by clinical and metabolic complications. The process of knowing and understanding fully the refeeding syndrome and proper identification of highly prone patients is considered to be very crucial. The complications and the syndrome itself are avoidable and preventable. Most of the patients that are prone to have the refeeding syndrome are those that had little or no energy intake at all for more than a week of time. To aid with this situation, the refeeding must be started at a low energy replacement level only. It should also be aided with vitamin supplementation for couple of days. The correction of fluid and electrolyte imbalance before the refeeding process is not necessary at all. Instead, this correction should be done simultaneously with the refeeding syndrome.
Persons Highly Prone to the Refeeding Syndrome
Patients that are hospitalized.
Children.
Patients with chronic malnutrition.
You should be able to identify correctly the severely malnourished people. They are the ones which have lost about 10 percent of their total weight within the preceding month. These persons may also be those that engaged in too much alcoholism and those that have not eaten yet for more than a week. They can also be the patients that experience vomiting or anorexia and nausea because of chemotherapy. When a person used to be an obese one and he had a massive and rapid loss of weight, then you can consider him as a refeeding syndrome patient.
Refeeding Syndrome Symptoms
Being an anorexia nervosa patient.
Suffering from chronic alcoholism.
Being an oncology patient.
Staying to be a postoperative patient.
If you are an old patient.
When you suffer from the uncontrolled diabetes mellitus.
If you are undergoing in chronic malnutrition.
If you have been a long term diuretics user.
When a person used antacids for a long period of time.
Patients Will Have at Least One of These Characteristics
Low magnesium, potassium or phosphate level before the feeding process.
For more than ten days, you had little or no intake of nutrients at all.
Unplanned loss of weight which is about 15 percent between three to six months.
Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is less than 16.
