to re: weight loss/Creon/vitamins, etc.

[Guest guest]

,

You were asking Liana for some answers to your questions, and I hope you

don't mind if I butt in, because I have experienced some of the weight loss

problems that are effecting you now, and wanted to discuss that with you.

At the initial stages of my CP, before I knew what was wrong with me, I also

went through a severe weight loss. I went from 135 down to 105 over several

months time, losing the last 15 pounds in a matter of weeks.

After a very rich and heavy meal one weekend I became ill, with vomting and

nausea and stomach distress. It was totally incapacitating, and I went to bed,

thinking it was food poisoning. That, apparently, was my first acute attack.

The reason we know this now, is because when I went to the hospital 6 weeks

later with severe abdominal pain and a hard lumpy mass protruding from my

belly, it was a large pseudocyst. Pseudocysts usually appear about 4+ weeks

after an acute attack. The doctors figured that this one had formed 6 weeks

earlier on that weekend when I was so sick.

By that time my weight was down to 105. It wasn't until I started on Ultrase

pancreatic enzymes that I began to gain again, and that time it took me a year

to get back up to 130. Then I got severly sick again, and dropped 30 pounds

between January and the beginning of March, being admitted into the

hospital the second week in March at 98 pounds.

I don't know how long you've been on the Creon, but I do know that it takes

about three weeks before the patient adjusts to the Creon enough so that the

cramping and ill feeling afterward stops. If it's been much longer than that,

it

may be that you need to be taking a different type of enzyme. Some people

can't tolerate Creon, and need to switch to an enteric coated enzyme like

Lipram, Pancrelipase or Ultrase. I was on Creon for about a month, and

never could adjust to it, so now I take Viokase16. If the enzymes are

bothering you that much, you need to discuss this with your doctor.

Are you taking any vitamin supplements or antioxidants? They could help

you a lot, as would daily doses of fish oil capsules. I took the fish oil

capsules

and used soy protein powder in all my food when I tried to gain after my

second weight loss. Supplemental beverages like Slim Fast, Ensure or Boost

would also be helpful, since they all contain heavy concentrations of

additional vitamins and minerals that you aren't getting now, because of your

pancreatic damage. With CP, the vitamins and nutrients that you would

normally absorb aren't being absorbed because of the pancreas insufficiency.

So any product with additional supplements is beneficial, and can help you to

regain your weight. The fish oil capsules provide you with the Omega-3 fats

that your body needs to stay healthy.

These are just some suggestions of things I did that worked for me. My weight

is back up to 126 now and I'm physically looking healty again.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

www.pancassociation.org/anthology#Heidi.html

Bluffton, SC

SC State & SE Regional Representative

Pancreatitis Association, International

www.health.groups.yahoo.com/group/pancreatitis/

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should

not be substituted for professional medical consultation.