No enzymes?

[princesskinzy]

What happens with a person that has CF and does not take their enzymes when they eat? Besides stomach aches, do they have really oily loose stools??? does it happen every time some one forgets to take their enzymes, or just some of the time??? Is stomach cramping common with this also? What if the doctors diagnose with "malabsorption" does that necessarily mean pancreatic insufficient ??

 

[ethan508]

Answers to your questions in order:
Bad things, unspeakable things, things you would never mention in polite company.
Yes.
Most of the time but occasionally a person might get have few or less severe symptoms depending on the level of PI and what you ate,
Yes, but sometimes it is severe enough I'm not sure cramping is the right term, more like intestinal torture.
Usually.

 

[TreasureGoddess]

and smells like the undead coming out of you. Not pleasant. Not the end of the world if you miss with one meal, but don't make a habit of going without for long.

 

[Ratatosk]

DS tends to get looser stools -- greasy and break apart easily. If he eats nuts without enzymes or eats too many, he gets a really bad stomachache, gets plugged up. Going without enzymes too often can lead to a bowel obstruction.

 

[lrs2015]

My daughter is now 1. She was diagnosed at two weeks. And yes it means there's that is what it means. If there nit absorbing you'll smell it for one. It will smell a lil more off. And if you look it will be super shiny. Like a mix off what you get when you blow your nose. Only it will be poop. Lol. Another sign is bloating. If you look at the stomach it will look swollen like they eaten too much food. But that's not the case its the digestion that is happening and yes it does kinda hurt them. My daughter would jerk in her sleep after a bottle before bed. As the enzymes start working you'll notice poop getting thicker looking more like poop instead of being runny. There are other enzymes out there mines personally has been on zenpep and now is on pertzye. But the signs to look for are
HOw often are the stools?
How shiny?
How smelly?
And the consistenty? ( are they thick or runny)
If there's a yes to any mention something to the clinic about a dose change in enzymes

 

[imported_Momto2]

I am PI (severely failure to thrive as a child) and while in college, really noticed that fat was the main culprit for my stomach aches (which were daily with enzymes). I cut out fat, and before I realized it, my stomach aches were quite rare. Without the pain to remind me (and busy as heck in college) I forgot to take my enzymes more and more often. By my sophmore year, I didnt take them at all. Much to everyone's surprise my bad gas, bloating, nasty-smelling poo's, and all the other stuff had gone away......and have pretty much stayed away for almost 25 years. (the only exceptions being when I take oral antibiotics some of the "CF poo" comes back for a brief period of time, but goes away quickly) Within a short period of time of stopping the enzymes, I started having trouble keeping weight OFF and that is still an issue for me. My doc thinks I colonized specific bacteria to do my GI work for me, in fact, he retested me for PI since he couldnt believe what was going on. So not everyone is the same.

 

[beautifulsoul]

May I ask why you are asking? Hopefully if you have CF you are taking your enzymes. Really don't wanna find out for yourself. It's torturous. Farting that clears a room, doubled over bloating, in the bathroom for an hour. Sometimes symptoms last 24 or more hours. You may think you're fine the first day but then BAM it hits you (FART) (FART2)(BATHROOM)