Pancreas or gallbladder problems?

[Justinsmama]

Hi,

My 9 1/2 year old son has had GI issues since birth. He is PI and on Creon. He also suffers from bacterial overgrowth which he does a 10 on 4 off schedule of Flagyl. Also on Prevacid. He has had increased nausea almost every time he eats (within 15-30 minutes), and several bouts of pain around his belly button that was a 9 out of 10 that lasted several hours. Laying down and pulling his knees to his chest helps some. This has gone on for over a week and a half. The past two days he has terrible smelling gas (like before enzymes). I know he is taking his enzymes. He had a partial bowel obstruction with hospital clean out in early June and has been on Miralax, lactulose and Senna since and has been regular. Our ped was calling GI and CF doctors yesterday. He thinks he could be having pancreatic issues or gallbladder problems. Anyone with any experience with either? Justin's pancreatic function dropped very quickly when he was 6 (fecal elastase went from 148 to 25 in less than 6 months. Things got much better once he was on Creon (doctors held off because of pork allergy). Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[Ratatosk]

Could be another obstruction... Once in awhile if ds eats too many peanuts he gets similar symptoms -- pain radiating around his belly button, decreased appetite and nausea. So we try to limit those sorts of things. He had similar issues when he had a partial blockage. Basically, it kept the enzymes from getting where they needed to go, so what would come out was orangish and left a greasy ring at the water line in the toilet. As far as gallbladder, from what I understand the pain radiates around to the back as well. I would think the doctors would run an ultrasound to see if the gallbladder is the cause of these problems.

 

[Justinsmama]

Partial blockage of the bowel or something with the pancrease? Justin's was a bowel obstruction in June. What did they do for the obstruction?

 

[Aboveallislove]

I'd psi for an X-ray so they know the stool status and can rule on or put backup or obstruction.

 

[Ratatosk]

With DS obstruction, we tried milk of mag. Then they determined a blockage via ultrasound and xrays. They then ran contrast down an ng tube to see where the obstruction occurred and then a gasrographin enema (more contrast) on the other end. Sometimes that works to break things loose as well as determining the extent of the obstruction. In DS' case he had adhesions caused by his original surgery as a newborn, which required surgery after they tried go-lightly as well as mucomyst down an ng tube. So his was something that had occurred over a few years. The surgeon asked us if we'd even been giving him enzymes because apparently he had lots of meconium/tar like stool causing his obstruction. His case was extreme and once they got rid of the adhesions, he was fine.

Another thing to consider is maybe he needs more enzymes if he's eating more, gaining more weight, growing....