Fasting helping pancreatic insufficiency

This topic contains 9 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by Fastcat 11 years ago.

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Fastcat

3:17 pm
9 Nov 13
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Hello everyone,
Never used a forum before so here goes…… I started the 5:2 about six weeks ago and have already dropped a dress size. I have numerous medical problems but have found that fasting for about 9 hours twice a week has really helped my gut problem to re-jig and re-start. Recent blood tests have shown a drop in Glucose levels and a big drop in Cholesterol from 7.8 to 6.5 in just 5 months. So stick at it, for whatever reason you’ve started …. just to lose weight or to regain your health.

piper

11:36 pm
9 Nov 13
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Hi Fastcat-
Glad you’re doing so well. This is my first forum also. Started Sept fifth. I’ve had my ups and downs with fasting, but am happy to report it’s working for me, too. I haven’t had any tests yet, unless I can count testing of my spirit, mostly on Mon and Thurs nights 🙂 I’d like to see improvement in BP. Pancreatic insufficiency? Are you talking about high blood sugar/insulin resistance?

Fastcat

11:30 am
10 Nov 13
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MRI scans have now confirmed that I’ve lost 9/10ths of my pancreas. I’m not producing enzymes that digest food and in addition this has set off bile acid malabsorption. Symptoms are bloating, water retention, terrible diarrhoea etc. My GP has spent the last 10 years telling me it was IBS….. but never did any tests. I’m glad to say that I’m now on pig’s enzymes as my pancreas cannot ever recover. The last 1/10th I’m hanging on to does appear to be producing enough insulin for the time being, but I’m heading towards Type 1 diabetes if this also fails. Still haven’t found out why this has happened but doing something about it myself…. i.e. my first post stating that cutting out all food for longer than usual helps my stomach and gi tract to get over a crisis.
Could have done with Dr Moseley’s 5:2 plan about ten years ago. I blame ten years on statins for causing this problem – but I’ve no evidence, just my intuition.

piper

4:02 pm
10 Nov 13
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Wow… and not the good kind. This must be very tough to deal with. Glad that you are helping yourself and really hoping the the docs are wrong about the condition being irreversible. I am also anti-statin. Lots of people have very bad side-effects… it’s often ignored and under reported.
Wish you the best.

fastinginberlin

6:16 pm
10 Nov 13
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Hi Fastcat, keeping my fingers crossed that 5:2 and the new therapy will help improve your health. Your drop in glucose and cholesterol are a good start. Good luck and keep us posted.

Fastcat

12:58 pm
12 Nov 13
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Hi Fastingberlin
Thanks for your good wishes and support.
Feel I’ve really been let down by GP but Dr Moseley’s 5:2 has some scientific sense behind it. Better than more prescription drugs.

Suffolkred

2:04 pm
12 Nov 13
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Hi, Fastcat I’m first time on the forum. I was directed to the book and hence the forum as it relates, as does your condition, to me i.e. pancreatic insufficiency/type 1 diabetes. Although given that this was only yesterday I haven’t ad chance to read it yet. My condition is the result of Autoimmune Pancreatitis which apparently is very rare and only discovered to be a specific condition a few years ago. I was diagnosed about 18 months ago after several months of tests and investigations. Initially I presented with an inflamed liver caused by bile duct stricture and subsequent jaundice. I too am on Creon 25000 (pigs pancreatic enzymes) for life and although not on insulin yet (currently Glickazide tablets)its only a matter of time.

As you appear to have similar symptoms to me I thought this may be helpful and maybe something your doctors may not have thought of.

Hope this helps.

Fastcat

4:55 pm
14 Nov 13
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Dear Suffolkred
YOU are the only other person I now know with this rare and awful condition. My igG4 levels were elevated in July but a test in September showed they’d dropped. I already have autoimmune Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis – so my consultant doesn’t know if these antibodies are showing because of that, or because of the pancreas problem. Did you have a biopsy of your pancreas to find this out? I’ve declined the biopsy so far on the basis that there’s no real treatment anyway except for steroids and I don’t really want to take those for the rest of my life. My dietician did attend a seminar in Spain on the subject of Creon and she has told me to double the usual dose – this has really helped to some extent, then I have relapses for two or three days for no apparent reason.
Good luck with your problem and maybe we can keep in touch. Are you in the UK?
I’m not really following the 5:2 diet as a diet because I’m already losing weight, but the idea of the fasting for long periods has really helped the glucose levels to drop a bit….. so I’m desperate to hang on to the little bit of pancreas I’ve got left. Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

Fastcat

Suffolkred

4:42 pm
18 Nov 13
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Hi Fastcat, Apologies for the delay in replying. I had an appt. with Gastroenterologist and waited until after in case any updates. As he said, and your reply verifies, AIP is very rare such that diagnosis and treatment is try something and see what happens! Right now I’m on steroids and Immunosuppressants the former being part diagnostic and part quelling the immune response/inflammation. If you’re not on steroids as you imply I would suggest you should as a positive response is indicative of the condition. However I’ve now been on them nearly 18 months and the strategy is to slowly wean me off them replacing the effect of keeping the immune response at bay with Imunosuppressants. Being on steroids long term is not good e.g. osteoporosis but an initial reduction of dose was too severe causing withdrawal symptoms so it will take several months to get off them. The immunosuppressants take several weeks to take effect hence not being able to start steroid reduction sooner. I understand therefore your preference to avoid steroids but they were necessary for me in the initial stages of the condition. They didn’t prevent however a second episode earlier this year after the initial treatment seemed to have put everything back to normal and the bile duct stent was removed. The latter was inserted to relieve the jaundice due to the duct being occluded due to the inflammatory response around the pancreas and liver. The second stent was removed a few weeks ago and so far all is ok. Hopefully the immunosuppressants will prevent further relapses but there are no guarantees. The Gastroenterologist told me I would be on these drugs for life as per Creon.
I’m not sure how much pancreatic function I have left but severe insufficiency was found through a faecal elastase test. This is an enzyme produced by the pancreas which can be measured in stool samples. Mine was very low indicating severe insufficiency which led to being prescribed Creon. When I started on Creon which allows proteins, carbs. and fats to be digested the underlying diabetes was then evident as previously normal blood glucose results shot up! I had had diabetic symptoms at the beginning but these receded (due to malabsorption) and it wasn’t until a year later when the second episode was investigated by Addenbrookes in Cambridge (UK)that the elastase tests were done revealing the Insufficiency and subsequent T 1 Diabetes. I have had two biopsies by endoscopic ultrasound and Fine Needle Aspirations to thankfully eliminate nastier problems rather than assess pancreatic function. The Gastroenterologist suggested stopping Creon for a few days as this will tell me if/how much function is left or has returned. I won’t go into how to tell but I think you know this based on your reply! I suggested we do the elastase test again but he seemed to think the Creon would interfere and I would have to stop it anyway but this isn’t so! I’m in the unusual position of having worked as a biochemist in a hospital lab. so have a better insight than most but don’t want to upset someone on whom I am reliant!
None of the specialists can offer a reason why I have developed this condition but one of the clues that led to the diagnosis was the fact that a cousin has an IgG4 related autoimmune disease, Sjogren’s syndrome. This effects the salivary glands and one of my first symptoms was swelling of gland under my chin. Her father and our aunt both had an autoimmune disease in their early life: rheumatic fever which I believe is a response to a streptoccocal infection and affects the heart valves. This is rare these days due to antibiotics for the infection which hadn’t been discovered in those days (1930’s). So the answer seems to be genetic, although my father didn’t have this condition but this need not be the case anyway.

I’m not sure how fasting will help my condition given the diabetes treatment will have to stop as well as the Creon and losing weight is not my objective. I’m still trying to regain some of the 10 kilos lost in around two weeks when I was first ill! However if fasting is supposed to somehow revive pancreatic function to some degree i’ll happily give it a go. Guess I’ll have read the book to understand the science.

Sorry this has been a bit of a marathon read but like you I haven’t encountered a fellow sufferer until now so I’m afraid I’m keen to share and learn from others.

Regards
Suffolkred

Fastcat

2:51 pm
27 Nov 13
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Hello Suffolkred and everyone else out there who’s interested…..
Apologies for not getting back to you sooner but I’ve been busy setting up my Christmas Art Exhibition. Thank you so much for such a long and detailed reply. Your mention of Addenbrooks suggests you must be in the UK so we are both at the mercy of the NHS. In my case it’s NHS Wales as I live right on the border, so although my GP surgery is in England, it is registered to the Welsh Health Board and that means that I can ONLY be referred to a Welsh specialist. In view of a 2 year waiting time to see an Immunologist in Cardiff I decided earlier this year that my wasting away problems could not wait so I found a good Gastroenterologist in Bristol and paid privately (Over £1,000 so far) but a health insurance policy covers me for tests including MRI and a radioactive selenium test. She did the Elastase (Lipase?) and other tests immediately and within a week I was put onto Creon. I reckon that without that speedy visit to the consultant I would be much worse and possibly have developed the Type 1 diabetes by now. As I said before (I think), my GP has told me for the last ten years that my diarrhoea was IBS but she never did any tests. All fecal tests that were done were only tested for bacterial growth and not anything else – hence they came back as OK.

I’m so sorry you’ve had such a hard time with this pancreatic insufficiency and it’s good to have someone to talk to via the net (although I don’t know if you’re male or female). I agree that diagnosis and treatment are a case of try it and see which is why I read the Fast Diet book because of the health benefits mentioned.

I’m not aware of any other relatives having had this problem although my maternal grandfather did have Type 1 Diabetes (but then lots of people do). I don’t know much about my paternal side because my father came over to England during WWII. He was Polish, captured by the Germans, handed over to the Russians and walked from Siberia to India. (Yes – I said WALKED!!). He was picked up by the British and sent to Scotland for de-briefing then joined the RAF where he maintained Spitfires. But that’s all another story. Anyhow suffice to say that I don’t speak Polish and don’t have much contact with any relatives out there to know their health problems or history.

I tried to renew my travel insurance this morning only to be told that pancreatic insufficiency is not on their list so they can’t provide cover for me! To recap: I have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an altered pair of CYP genes (maybe the genetic factor) so that I have a homozygous pair of CYP2D6*4 genes making me a non-metabolizer or poor metabolizer of about 40% of known prescription drugs ….. hence the reluctance to mess things up by using Steroids. I was pleased to hear you had been a biochemist, because at least you’ll understand some of these things and if you don’t, then you are no less informed than my own GP who seems to know nothing at all.

In addition to all of the above I had gallstones and had my gallbladder removed and in 2006 discovered I had a “blown” anneurysm in the brain. I’ve had the anneurysm coiled with Titanium coils and so far all is OK. So to suddenly find this year that my Pancreas has packed in is all beginning to sound like I’ve come from another planet, such is the extreme rarity of all of these medical conditions.

I still harp back to the fact that I strongly believe that the Statins I was put onto in 2000 are the culprit for this pancreatic insufficiency. I stopped taking them in November 2011 because I was having kidney pain and blood in my pee. My intuition has proved right in all of the above cases and I’ve no reason to suspect I’m wrong this time either. In other words, I didn’t metabolize the drugs properly and they have had a knock on effect of destroying my pancreas and maybe impaired other organs such as my liver and/or kidneys.

I was alarmed to read that you had lost 10 kilos of weight in just two weeks. I’ve lost about the same, but it has been over a six month period and I was probably overweight in the first place. I do hope you can get yourself off the Steroids given time, but this condition is so damn awkward socially because one never knows when or where the next relapse is going to strike. So far this last two weeks I’ve been OK (as long as I remember the Creon) but a tummy rumble or two may be just a minute away and so we begin again on the rushing to the loo every few minutes.

It’s a good job that I’m self employed with all of this going on. If you want to take a look at what I do, then go to http://www.mariana-art.co.uk. You can also contact me direct via that website should you so wish.

All the best and let’s hear if there are any other auto-immune pancreatic insufficiency sufferers out there. The fasting is helping me to keep the lid on things but it’s more like 6:1 than 5:2 at the moment.

Fastcat