Digestive problems with enzymes

[moongoddess176]

Hello all!

I'm hoping that someone can help give me some insite about this. My son is 13 months old. We found out about his CF at 8 months when he got really sick. At first the enzymes worked really well (1 creon 10). Now he is up to 3 pills with all meals and we still have mixed results. He seems to be having a lot of digestive upset at times. He is also not digesting very well. Not to get graphic, but his stools are still loose, sometimes green, and not well digested at times. I do not want to keep upping his doses because I know that can cause problems as well (if the dose is too high). Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it just a normal thing and it will regulate itself eventually? What have you done to help matters? Does switching enzymes help? Does anyone know anything about how the enteric coating effects the enzyme activity? Any input would be great!
Thanks.

Alicia

 

[moongoddess176]

Hello all!

I'm hoping that someone can help give me some insite about this. My son is 13 months old. We found out about his CF at 8 months when he got really sick. At first the enzymes worked really well (1 creon 10). Now he is up to 3 pills with all meals and we still have mixed results. He seems to be having a lot of digestive upset at times. He is also not digesting very well. Not to get graphic, but his stools are still loose, sometimes green, and not well digested at times. I do not want to keep upping his doses because I know that can cause problems as well (if the dose is too high). Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it just a normal thing and it will regulate itself eventually? What have you done to help matters? Does switching enzymes help? Does anyone know anything about how the enteric coating effects the enzyme activity? Any input would be great!
Thanks.

Alicia

 

[moongoddess176]

Hello all!

I'm hoping that someone can help give me some insite about this. My son is 13 months old. We found out about his CF at 8 months when he got really sick. At first the enzymes worked really well (1 creon 10). Now he is up to 3 pills with all meals and we still have mixed results. He seems to be having a lot of digestive upset at times. He is also not digesting very well. Not to get graphic, but his stools are still loose, sometimes green, and not well digested at times. I do not want to keep upping his doses because I know that can cause problems as well (if the dose is too high). Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it just a normal thing and it will regulate itself eventually? What have you done to help matters? Does switching enzymes help? Does anyone know anything about how the enteric coating effects the enzyme activity? Any input would be great!
Thanks.

Alicia

 

[moongoddess176]

Hello all!

I'm hoping that someone can help give me some insite about this. My son is 13 months old. We found out about his CF at 8 months when he got really sick. At first the enzymes worked really well (1 creon 10). Now he is up to 3 pills with all meals and we still have mixed results. He seems to be having a lot of digestive upset at times. He is also not digesting very well. Not to get graphic, but his stools are still loose, sometimes green, and not well digested at times. I do not want to keep upping his doses because I know that can cause problems as well (if the dose is too high). Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it just a normal thing and it will regulate itself eventually? What have you done to help matters? Does switching enzymes help? Does anyone know anything about how the enteric coating effects the enzyme activity? Any input would be great!
Thanks.

Alicia

 

[moongoddess176]

Hello all!

I'm hoping that someone can help give me some insite about this. My son is 13 months old. We found out about his CF at 8 months when he got really sick. At first the enzymes worked really well (1 creon 10). Now he is up to 3 pills with all meals and we still have mixed results. He seems to be having a lot of digestive upset at times. He is also not digesting very well. Not to get graphic, but his stools are still loose, sometimes green, and not well digested at times. I do not want to keep upping his doses because I know that can cause problems as well (if the dose is too high). Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it just a normal thing and it will regulate itself eventually? What have you done to help matters? Does switching enzymes help? Does anyone know anything about how the enteric coating effects the enzyme activity? Any input would be great!
Thanks.

Alicia

 

[ktsmom]

I'm sure you know that the initial enzyme dosing is based on weight (so many units of lipase per kg weight of person); your CF doc can help you make adjustments.

What things is your child eating? We find that sometimes we need to "tweak" our daughter's enzymes dose based on what she is eating. My personal experience with green bm's was in my at the time undiagnosed daughter, and I was breastfeeding at the time.

Yes, changing enzymes does help some people; they seem to tolerate some better than others. One more thing - our DD was put on Prevacid to help supress the acid that can destroy the entric coating, so that the enzyme can get to the small intestine before being activated. We missed her Prevacid a time or two when we were first starting out and it made a HUGE difference in her bm's. How are you dosing them (in applesauce, etc.) You are not necessarily supposed to use milk-based products, for example.

And finally, there was a rather long thread about this in Families recently:

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forums.cysticfibrosis.com/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=28419&enterthread=y
">http://forums.cysticfibrosis.c...d=28419&enterthread=y
</a>
hope the link works!

 

[ktsmom]

I'm sure you know that the initial enzyme dosing is based on weight (so many units of lipase per kg weight of person); your CF doc can help you make adjustments.

What things is your child eating? We find that sometimes we need to "tweak" our daughter's enzymes dose based on what she is eating. My personal experience with green bm's was in my at the time undiagnosed daughter, and I was breastfeeding at the time.

Yes, changing enzymes does help some people; they seem to tolerate some better than others. One more thing - our DD was put on Prevacid to help supress the acid that can destroy the entric coating, so that the enzyme can get to the small intestine before being activated. We missed her Prevacid a time or two when we were first starting out and it made a HUGE difference in her bm's. How are you dosing them (in applesauce, etc.) You are not necessarily supposed to use milk-based products, for example.

And finally, there was a rather long thread about this in Families recently:

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forums.cysticfibrosis.com/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=28419&enterthread=y
">http://forums.cysticfibrosis.c...d=28419&enterthread=y
</a>
hope the link works!

 

[ktsmom]

I'm sure you know that the initial enzyme dosing is based on weight (so many units of lipase per kg weight of person); your CF doc can help you make adjustments.

What things is your child eating? We find that sometimes we need to "tweak" our daughter's enzymes dose based on what she is eating. My personal experience with green bm's was in my at the time undiagnosed daughter, and I was breastfeeding at the time.

Yes, changing enzymes does help some people; they seem to tolerate some better than others. One more thing - our DD was put on Prevacid to help supress the acid that can destroy the entric coating, so that the enzyme can get to the small intestine before being activated. We missed her Prevacid a time or two when we were first starting out and it made a HUGE difference in her bm's. How are you dosing them (in applesauce, etc.) You are not necessarily supposed to use milk-based products, for example.

And finally, there was a rather long thread about this in Families recently:

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forums.cysticfibrosis.com/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=28419&enterthread=y
">http://forums.cysticfibrosis.c...d=28419&enterthread=y
</a>
hope the link works!

 

[ktsmom]

I'm sure you know that the initial enzyme dosing is based on weight (so many units of lipase per kg weight of person); your CF doc can help you make adjustments.

What things is your child eating? We find that sometimes we need to "tweak" our daughter's enzymes dose based on what she is eating. My personal experience with green bm's was in my at the time undiagnosed daughter, and I was breastfeeding at the time.

Yes, changing enzymes does help some people; they seem to tolerate some better than others. One more thing - our DD was put on Prevacid to help supress the acid that can destroy the entric coating, so that the enzyme can get to the small intestine before being activated. We missed her Prevacid a time or two when we were first starting out and it made a HUGE difference in her bm's. How are you dosing them (in applesauce, etc.) You are not necessarily supposed to use milk-based products, for example.

And finally, there was a rather long thread about this in Families recently:

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forums.cysticfibrosis.com/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=28419&enterthread=y
">http://forums.cysticfibrosis.c...d=28419&enterthread=y
</a>
hope the link works!

 

[ktsmom]

I'm sure you know that the initial enzyme dosing is based on weight (so many units of lipase per kg weight of person); your CF doc can help you make adjustments.

What things is your child eating? We find that sometimes we need to "tweak" our daughter's enzymes dose based on what she is eating. My personal experience with green bm's was in my at the time undiagnosed daughter, and I was breastfeeding at the time.

Yes, changing enzymes does help some people; they seem to tolerate some better than others. One more thing - our DD was put on Prevacid to help supress the acid that can destroy the entric coating, so that the enzyme can get to the small intestine before being activated. We missed her Prevacid a time or two when we were first starting out and it made a HUGE difference in her bm's. How are you dosing them (in applesauce, etc.) You are not necessarily supposed to use milk-based products, for example.

And finally, there was a rather long thread about this in Families recently:

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forums.cysticfibrosis.com/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=28419&enterthread=y
">http://forums.cysticfibrosis.c...d=28419&enterthread=y
</a>
hope the link works!

 

[sdavis227]

Like Dana said, the dosing is based on weight and your doc should be able to tell you the number of enzymes that he should not go over in a day. DS has had to be on prevacid as well and is almost always on the highest dose possible of his enzymes.

With him, since he's growing so much right now, we go through periods of loose, orange greasy stools 2-3 times a day then when we are able to up the enzymes, he'll go to only pooing once every day-two days and it seems less greasy. Then a couple weeks later, we go through the same thing.

Like Dana said, if he has a really fatty meal, we give more (ie fatty meat).

HTH

 

[sdavis227]

Like Dana said, the dosing is based on weight and your doc should be able to tell you the number of enzymes that he should not go over in a day. DS has had to be on prevacid as well and is almost always on the highest dose possible of his enzymes.

With him, since he's growing so much right now, we go through periods of loose, orange greasy stools 2-3 times a day then when we are able to up the enzymes, he'll go to only pooing once every day-two days and it seems less greasy. Then a couple weeks later, we go through the same thing.

Like Dana said, if he has a really fatty meal, we give more (ie fatty meat).

HTH

 

[sdavis227]

Like Dana said, the dosing is based on weight and your doc should be able to tell you the number of enzymes that he should not go over in a day. DS has had to be on prevacid as well and is almost always on the highest dose possible of his enzymes.

With him, since he's growing so much right now, we go through periods of loose, orange greasy stools 2-3 times a day then when we are able to up the enzymes, he'll go to only pooing once every day-two days and it seems less greasy. Then a couple weeks later, we go through the same thing.

Like Dana said, if he has a really fatty meal, we give more (ie fatty meat).

HTH

 

[sdavis227]

Like Dana said, the dosing is based on weight and your doc should be able to tell you the number of enzymes that he should not go over in a day. DS has had to be on prevacid as well and is almost always on the highest dose possible of his enzymes.

With him, since he's growing so much right now, we go through periods of loose, orange greasy stools 2-3 times a day then when we are able to up the enzymes, he'll go to only pooing once every day-two days and it seems less greasy. Then a couple weeks later, we go through the same thing.

Like Dana said, if he has a really fatty meal, we give more (ie fatty meat).

HTH

 

[sdavis227]

Like Dana said, the dosing is based on weight and your doc should be able to tell you the number of enzymes that he should not go over in a day. DS has had to be on prevacid as well and is almost always on the highest dose possible of his enzymes.

With him, since he's growing so much right now, we go through periods of loose, orange greasy stools 2-3 times a day then when we are able to up the enzymes, he'll go to only pooing once every day-two days and it seems less greasy. Then a couple weeks later, we go through the same thing.

Like Dana said, if he has a really fatty meal, we give more (ie fatty meat).

HTH

 

[greenwks]

For our daughter, the big issue was stomach/g.i. tract acidity. Once we switched her from Creon-5 to Pancrecarb MS-8, her absorption improved immediately and she started gaining weight. Perhaps your son's enzymes are not working properly because of the problem kids with CF have with bicarbonate secretion deficiency? Our daughter takes one Prevacid per day and 3 Pancrecarb MS-8 with meals, 2 with snacks. She weighs around 46 pounds. Best of luck to you and your son. : )

 

[greenwks]

For our daughter, the big issue was stomach/g.i. tract acidity. Once we switched her from Creon-5 to Pancrecarb MS-8, her absorption improved immediately and she started gaining weight. Perhaps your son's enzymes are not working properly because of the problem kids with CF have with bicarbonate secretion deficiency? Our daughter takes one Prevacid per day and 3 Pancrecarb MS-8 with meals, 2 with snacks. She weighs around 46 pounds. Best of luck to you and your son. : )

 

[greenwks]

For our daughter, the big issue was stomach/g.i. tract acidity. Once we switched her from Creon-5 to Pancrecarb MS-8, her absorption improved immediately and she started gaining weight. Perhaps your son's enzymes are not working properly because of the problem kids with CF have with bicarbonate secretion deficiency? Our daughter takes one Prevacid per day and 3 Pancrecarb MS-8 with meals, 2 with snacks. She weighs around 46 pounds. Best of luck to you and your son. : )

 

[greenwks]

For our daughter, the big issue was stomach/g.i. tract acidity. Once we switched her from Creon-5 to Pancrecarb MS-8, her absorption improved immediately and she started gaining weight. Perhaps your son's enzymes are not working properly because of the problem kids with CF have with bicarbonate secretion deficiency? Our daughter takes one Prevacid per day and 3 Pancrecarb MS-8 with meals, 2 with snacks. She weighs around 46 pounds. Best of luck to you and your son. : )

 

[greenwks]

For our daughter, the big issue was stomach/g.i. tract acidity. Once we switched her from Creon-5 to Pancrecarb MS-8, her absorption improved immediately and she started gaining weight. Perhaps your son's enzymes are not working properly because of the problem kids with CF have with bicarbonate secretion deficiency? Our daughter takes one Prevacid per day and 3 Pancrecarb MS-8 with meals, 2 with snacks. She weighs around 46 pounds. Best of luck to you and your son. : )