Pancreatic insufficiency?
 

Hello all! I have been strictly gluten free x 2 years (only eat at home, we are very careful about cross contamination etc).. After I had my son I started having bad GI symptoms with lots of weight loss, despite eating TONS of food.. I had already been eating gluten free when they did the blood work and endoscopy/colonoscopy, as I was desparate to do anything that could help.. Anyhow. I have 3 family members that have presumed celiac, but were also questioned if they had a pancreatic issue instead...

I have had two flares recently after eating fatty foods.. and am now questioning if I may just have pancreatic insufficiency.. Does anyone know anything about this?? Before a flare I ALWAYS have horrible pain in my LUQ underneath my ribs.. then I have many bowel movements for days (despite what I eat).. until I basically avoid eating and barely drink for a few days.. Any thoughts?

I would look at fructose consumption. 1 in 3 people cannot handle foods with fructose. This includes fruits of course. If apples /pears and juices made from these fruits cause your inflammation...that would be your answer.

Sometimes if you eat a meal with only a little bit of fructose, it gets hidden in the food and is less irritating.

But on an empty stomach, if an apple, honey, or gatorade sets you off... it is fructose. Doctors can test for this. I can remember as kid, throwing up if I ate pears! I didn't discover this until 5 yrs ago, that it was the fructose in it.

Eating smaller portions also may help if you have some other problem. Large food meals, stretch the receptors in the GI tract and in some people this causes more serotonin to be released and more motility results. (this is called the gastro colic reflex).

There is also a condition where the gall bladder puts out too much bile. This will stimulate motility to emergency proportions in some people.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-habba-syndrome.htm

Thanks so much for the info! My sister just got diagnosed with Crohns today.. so I also wonder if this is what I have.. as they thought it was at first, but had a negative endoscopy/colonoscopy, they wanted me to do the pill capsule, but I never did, as my GI symptoms got better with my IVIG (I'm on for neuro stuff).. i presume crohns would respond to IVIG!?