Missing Digestive Enzyme????

idlehunters
idlehunters Member Posts: 1,787 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hey All....... I had appt with Onc today. He said he has all test results in from when I was in hospital for extreme diarrhea. He said I am missing a digestive enzyme that is responsible for fatty stuff in the body???? Is this ringing a bell to anyone? He said they can give me a pill to supplement the loss of this enzyme but wants to wait and see IF it happens again. Right now, my pooping is back to what my normal is. I told him that when I was so sick there at the end I was so weak that I couldn't cook. So I started eating eveything raw. LOTS of cabbage, carrots, cauliflower,radishes...even potatoes with peelings on them and fruit. I was just putting whatever I could stomach in my mouth for nourishment. Onc said the raw stuff could have been the clincher. WoW....I am so excited about actually seeing results from diet change.....wheels are churning in my head!!!! What you guys think? Maybe it wasn't JUST the coconut??

Jennie

Comments

  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #2
    I just received the same
    I just received the same diagnosis today. I will receive an enzyme powder that I am supposed to take twice a day before meals. (Hopefully it does not taste like crap. lol)

    #6 FolFox done and 6 more to go!

    Best Always, mike
  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    #3
    Wow
    All the doctors must have gone to the same conference; that is a weird co-incidence!
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #4
    also taking digestive enzyme
    Hi Jennie,

    I'm glad they've got it figured out!
    I've also started taking a digestive enzyme. I wasn't tested for it or anything, but you can buy digestive enzymes where vitamins and supplements are sold. I notice it helps me with fatty foods and carbs.

    Take care :)
    Lisa
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    #5
    My daughter needed a supplement enzyme
    She needed digestive enzymes when she came back from 6 months in India to reset her gut.

    Wishing you well,
    Alice
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #6
    thxmiker said:

    I just received the same
    I just received the same diagnosis today. I will receive an enzyme powder that I am supposed to take twice a day before meals. (Hopefully it does not taste like crap. lol)

    #6 FolFox done and 6 more to go!

    Best Always, mike

    The name of the enzyme that
    The name of the enzyme that I received is Cholestyram. It is primarily used for High Blood Pressure. (Which I have low blood pressure.) I asked my pharmacist if to help my diarrhea issues if this seemed a reasonable reason to take this. He said yes this could help one get back to normal.

    Best Always, mike
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #7
    thxmiker said:

    I just received the same
    I just received the same diagnosis today. I will receive an enzyme powder that I am supposed to take twice a day before meals. (Hopefully it does not taste like crap. lol)

    #6 FolFox done and 6 more to go!

    Best Always, mike

    The name of the enzyme that
    The name of the enzyme that I received is Cholestyram. It is primarily used for High Blood Pressure. (Which I have low blood pressure.) I asked my pharmacist if to help my diarrhea issues if this seemed a reasonable reason to take this. He said yes this could help one get back to normal.

    Best Always, mike
  • idlehunters
    idlehunters Member Posts: 1,787 Member
    #8
    thxmiker said:

    The name of the enzyme that
    The name of the enzyme that I received is Cholestyram. It is primarily used for High Blood Pressure. (Which I have low blood pressure.) I asked my pharmacist if to help my diarrhea issues if this seemed a reasonable reason to take this. He said yes this could help one get back to normal.

    Best Always, mike

    Thanks Mike!!!
    Getting mine tomorrow. Will update when I know more about it.

    Jennie
  • keila7692
    keila7692 Member Posts: 4
    #9
    question
    This is the first time i heard about the enzyme. But i have a question?
    I had my rectum removed and J-pouch attached to the little bit of sphincter i have left. Since then, my bowel movements are not normal and go from hard (few days) to pasty/really soft stools and many accidents per day. Any of you have the same problem? What do you take or eat to regulate your bowel movements?
    Need some advice cause there are days that are really hard for me.
    Thanks,
    Keila
  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    #10
    lipase in fat city
    "enzyme...for fatty stuff" - those are lipases. I would be curious to know which data or test MSM MD's are willing to use now to diagnose a "missing digestive enzyme", since doctors have seemed so reticent to diagnose such in recent decades.

    The supplement stores offer "pancreatin", processed pancreas, a mixture containing proteases (for protein), amylases (for starches) and lipases (for fats) as a relatively cheap digestive enzyme, as low as 4-10 cents/tab.

    Traditionally the MD scrips have been for "pancrealipse", processed pancreas with extra lipase, for "cystic fibrosis, others with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency", for ca $1 - $2 per cap or tab. The extra lipase can be overdosed. The FDA has been pressuring pancrelipase products off the market since at least 2006. The FDA halted other remaining grandfathered products this spring/summer.

    I wonder how high the prescription pancrelipse prices will go now, for a product with a century old type of content (processed pancreas), with a nominally (im)proved enteric time release, with even fewer (remaining) competitors.
  • newperson
    newperson Member Posts: 76
    #11
    tanstaafl said:

    lipase in fat city
    "enzyme...for fatty stuff" - those are lipases. I would be curious to know which data or test MSM MD's are willing to use now to diagnose a "missing digestive enzyme", since doctors have seemed so reticent to diagnose such in recent decades.

    The supplement stores offer "pancreatin", processed pancreas, a mixture containing proteases (for protein), amylases (for starches) and lipases (for fats) as a relatively cheap digestive enzyme, as low as 4-10 cents/tab.

    Traditionally the MD scrips have been for "pancrealipse", processed pancreas with extra lipase, for "cystic fibrosis, others with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency", for ca $1 - $2 per cap or tab. The extra lipase can be overdosed. The FDA has been pressuring pancrelipase products off the market since at least 2006. The FDA halted other remaining grandfathered products this spring/summer.

    I wonder how high the prescription pancrelipse prices will go now, for a product with a century old type of content (processed pancreas), with a nominally (im)proved enteric time release, with even fewer (remaining) competitors.

    What type of enzyme is better?
    Hi tanstaaf, I was surfing around on the internet for enzymes last night. I put an order for pancreatin. But I found out it is made from pork pancreas later. I'm wondering if plant based enzyme is better? Thanks. - Lucy
  • newperson
    newperson Member Posts: 76
    #12
    lisa42 said:

    also taking digestive enzyme
    Hi Jennie,

    I'm glad they've got it figured out!
    I've also started taking a digestive enzyme. I wasn't tested for it or anything, but you can buy digestive enzymes where vitamins and supplements are sold. I notice it helps me with fatty foods and carbs.

    Take care :)
    Lisa

    what type of enzyme are you taking?
    Hi Lisa, could you let me know what enzyme you are taking? Is plant based enzyme better? Thanks. - Lucy
  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    #13
    newperson said:

    What type of enzyme is better?
    Hi tanstaaf, I was surfing around on the internet for enzymes last night. I put an order for pancreatin. But I found out it is made from pork pancreas later. I'm wondering if plant based enzyme is better? Thanks. - Lucy

    Plant enzymes for a unit of activity tend to be limited spectrum, pH sensitive, and expensive. Personally I would only use them for special, selective purposes. Fungal/yeast derived enzymes can have better pH and temperature tolerance but would need to be formulated to replace pancreatic enzyme functions. There are pricey formulas that combine all of the above (no personal experience here) to extend the digestive range (galactase, hemicellulases etc).

    My extended family's experience has been betaine HCl (+-pepsin), pancreatin, niacin/-amide, ox bile and glutamine seemed to help resolve all digestive issues, relatively cheaply. Serrapeptase and nattokinase were used for some other nondigestive problems.

    A potential problem would be finding MDs with useful information to support any of this. Outside perhaps the occasional celiac specializing GI doctor, I have found various researchers' and autodidacts' writings, whether MD, DO, PhD or even DC, with a strong biochemical bent more informative on enzymes or gastric supplements.
  • lhalstead
    lhalstead Member Posts: 6
    #14
    post Whipple enzymes

    I'm new here.  Had Whipple procedure on 1/4/16 to remove NET (Pancreatic cancer).  Looking for similar survivors who have information on enzyme suppliments and foods that work well.  Currently taking OTC enzymes that work fairly well.  RX enzymes were cost prohibitive.  It looks like no one has posted here in several years. 

  • NewHere
    NewHere Member Posts: 1,427 Member
    #15
    lhalstead said:

    post Whipple enzymes

    I'm new here.  Had Whipple procedure on 1/4/16 to remove NET (Pancreatic cancer).  Looking for similar survivors who have information on enzyme suppliments and foods that work well.  Currently taking OTC enzymes that work fairly well.  RX enzymes were cost prohibitive.  It looks like no one has posted here in several years. 

    Welcome To The Board

    This thread looks to have been last posted to close to 7 years ago.  I know at least one is still here.  Anyway, you may also want to start a new thread introducing yourself and using the title of the post as your subject.  (Or maybe use of Enzyme Supplements/etc.)  Sorry you have to be here, but good group of people.  I looked to see if there is a pancreas section, but did not see that.  Seems to be in rare and other cancers 

     

    https://csn.cancer.org/forum/130

    You may also want to post there, though people in this section also may have some information - with CRC diet etc. is always in discussion due to the nature of where the cancer is.

     

     

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