High lipase

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I eat a lot of fats since I am on SCD. My lipase was 299, just under the normal

range of 300. Should I be worried? It was taken when I was having a mast cell

reaction with uncontrolled vomiting.

Thanks,

June

[Guest guest]

June

I

don’t think I’d worry too much about a lipase level on the high

end, unless your doctor was concerned and if several of your other pancreatic

and liver enzyme levels were also coming up abnormal, and you had significant

symptoms. I’d ask my doctor to re-test in another month or so

(sooner if you develop significant upper GI pain) and see if the lipase level has

dropped.

High

levels of enzymes usually mean a blockage of some kind, although there are

other causes too, such as pancreatitis. My experience has been that when

I have a blockage in my common and pancreatic bile ducts, I have multiple

abnormally high enzyme levels, not just one. By abnormally high I mean something

like five times higher than average, so considerably above the high limit. I

don’t remember what my lipase levels were during my last Sphincter of

Oddi flare (which was blocking drainage of my common and pancreatic bile ducts),

but my AST and ALT were about 400 points above the high end of normal –

and I had several other symptoms associated with a bile duct blockage. But

your doctor can advise you best, based on your recent medical history.

If

you’re getting upper abdominal pain after every meal, then that is an

important clue. If it is just now and then, I’d start looking at

the foods I ate at the meal just before experiencing the pain. That is

one benefit to having upper GI issues – we can tell within an hour or two

of a meal that something isn’t being tolerated. If you develop a

set of symptoms after every meal, as I do, then you know you are dealing with

something functional – but food choices still help considerably even then.

I

wouldn’t worry about whether you are eating too much fat unless you’ve

noticed your stools are particularly soft and stick to the side of the toilet

bowl, and smell worse than usual. That indicates your digestion isn’t

dealing with fats. Or you’ve noticed upper GI symptoms such as pain

and nausea after a meal that includes a high percentage of fats. These

are all signs I look for since my upper GI can’t deal with fats. If

you notice these symptoms, then you should try cutting back on the high-fat SCD

foods and see if your digestion works better. You can also ask your

doctor for a fecal fat test, which is also useful for determining fat

malabsorption issues.

On

SCD we eat the “good” fats, but everyone will have different

tolerances to the amounts of fats consumed, depending on how our digestion is

working at any given time. And some of us have functional digestive

disorders that limit our choices of SCD foods. We just figure out what SCD

foods our bodies handle the best.

Kim M.

SCD 6+ years

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction 7 years

neurological & spinal deterioration 4 years

currently dealing with skin issues (pre-cancerous)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

My

level was 299. Its abnormal if its over 300. I don't have pain there regularly.

Thanks,

June