Involuntary Weight Loss

[Guest guest]

A few months ago I lost 15 lbs in a short time, unintentionally. My

doc has run every conceivable test on me, including an ab ultrasound

and full CT scan, everything looks A-OK. Is it possible to have

pancreatitis and not have it show up on tests like these, or on the

many blood tests that have been run?

[Guest guest]

yes, it is. My pancreatitis never shows up on a CT. My Amylase does not elevate

anymore but my Lipase will. The is a doc named Dr Sutherland in MN who is a

transplant doc. I met him a while back. He says the pancreas will burn itself

out and your enzymes no longer elevate. a lot of docs don't believe that, be he

is THE man. He has dedicated his life to the pancreas. I have been sick my whole

life and no one could explain it. In Jan I lost a pound a day. When they did an

ERCP they found tons of sludge and my biliary had shriveled up to nothin' and

yeah, I had pancreatisis in a bad way that time . For me, I hurt like a dawg

when I get an attack. In the back, between my shoulder blades, the venter of my

back, my abs, my chest, basically my whole torso and I mean it hurts to even

touch it. Does that answer your question? -Kathleen

J wrote:

[Guest guest]

Thanks. I gather from what you said that, even though

my amylase and lipase look fine, and ultrasound and CT

look fine, I could still have pancreatitis, correct?

Is the ERCP the only real test to confirm

pancreatitis?

--- Kathleen Cowart wrote:

> yes, it is. My pancreatitis never shows up on a CT.

> My Amylase does not elevate anymore but my Lipase

> will. The is a doc named Dr Sutherland in MN who is

> a transplant doc. I met him a while back. He says

> the pancreas will burn itself out and your enzymes

> no longer elevate. a lot of docs don't believe that,

> be he is THE man. He has dedicated his life to the

> pancreas. I have been sick my whole life and no one

> could explain it. In Jan I lost a pound a day. When

> they did an ERCP they found tons of sludge and my

> biliary had shriveled up to nothin' and yeah, I had

> pancreatisis in a bad way that time . For me, I

> hurt like a dawg when I get an attack. In the back,

> between my shoulder blades, the venter of my back,

> my abs, my chest, basically my whole torso and I

> mean it hurts to even touch it. Does that answer

> your question? -Kathleen

>

> J wrote:

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Josh,

Generally, pancreatic related weight loss is due to more advanced

disease and is related to malabsorption. You have shared that many of

the tests have been negative, but there are several areas that may

help provide information:

Have you sustained any further weight loss since that original 15

pounds? Do you know what percent of your normal body weight you are?

Can you remember if you had normal meal consumption during the time

preceding and during the weight loss? What was your activity level?

How has your sense of well-being been, then and now? How are you doing

today?

Since you asked if an ERCP would be helpful in diagnosing any

pancreatic cause, I wanted to make sure you were aware that an ERCP is

a very invasive procedure. It can result in acute pancreatitis, even

if you never had any pancreatic problems to start with. Therefore, an

ERCP should generally be done for therapeutic purposes, ie; doing an

endoscopic procedure, not just look at the inside of the pancreas.

There is another, non-invasive test, called an MRCP, which can be done

instead. This is like more like an MRI.

Karyn , RN

Executive Director, PAI

[Guest guest]

Thanks, this is all good information. When I lost the 15 lbs earlier

this year, I was on my normal diet and activity level, so I know the

loss was not diet-related. For the last 3 months I have upped my

intake of protein and calories, so the weight has stabilized, but no

gaining it back. All lab tests--liver function, lipase and amylase,

etc, are normal. I have had an upper endoscopy, showing no

malabsorption problems in stomach or small intestine, plus a full CT

scan showing no problems. I have no reason to think it is

necessarily a pancreas problem, except I'm just fishing around

wondering what else might cause the weight loss.

I have started taking some enzyme supplements from a nutrition

store. Any feelings about those?

> Josh,

>

> Generally, pancreatic related weight loss is due to more advanced

> disease and is related to malabsorption. You have shared that many

of

> the tests have been negative, but there are several areas that may

> help provide information:

>

> Have you sustained any further weight loss since that original 15

> pounds? Do you know what percent of your normal body weight you are?

> Can you remember if you had normal meal consumption during the time

> preceding and during the weight loss? What was your activity level?

> How has your sense of well-being been, then and now? How are you

doing

> today?

>

> Since you asked if an ERCP would be helpful in diagnosing any

> pancreatic cause, I wanted to make sure you were aware that an ERCP

is

> a very invasive procedure. It can result in acute pancreatitis, even

> if you never had any pancreatic problems to start with. Therefore,

an

> ERCP should generally be done for therapeutic purposes, ie; doing an

> endoscopic procedure, not just look at the inside of the pancreas.

> There is another, non-invasive test, called an MRCP, which can be

done

> instead. This is like more like an MRI.

>

> Karyn , RN

> Executive Director, PAI