Can Undiagnosed Celiac Disease Cause Chronic Pancreatitis

[crystal blue]

Almost 3 years ago my husband began losing a significant amount of weight and had constant diarrhea (as it got worse he was getting up nearly 16 to 17 times a night.) He is 6' 6" tall and his normal weight was 210 lbs. He has always had an excellent diet and was an active person. We kept going to our family doctor to try and figure out what was wrong and it was waiting a few weeks here and there for this test and that and all tests came back negative. To make a long story short his weight went down to 156 lbs! He was weak and frail looking and I decided to take the bull by the horns so went back with my husband to our family doctor and told him my husband needed to be in hospital for more extensive testing before he completely faded away or, did damage to vital organs. Nothing was done about admitting my husband into hospital. I live in British Columbia Canada so short of going into ER bleeding to death or having a heart attack not many people get to stay in hospital and you are treated as an out patient. Five times I took my husband to ER and all he would be treated for was with IV to bring his electrolytes back to par and then was sent home in my care. It was waiting for more tests and a proper diagnosis that unnerved my husband and I. One evening he just slipped into a semi conscious state. I checked his eyes and they were gray looking; skin clammy and gray and he was incoherent. Since we'd experience the ambulance coming previously on four different occasions and he was only given IV and released from hospital I was not about to go down that road again and so I wrapped him up and had a friend drive us to ER. I had his medical records with me. The Head Nurse there took him, but told me they would give him IV and send him home with me. The fight was on! I was not about to let my husband die from the lack of proper health care. I stood my ground and told them in ER if he was not admitted and if he did not receive proper care that my lawyer and the media would be where the sun does not shine and that particular hospital could not afford more publicity (lack of proper health care.) I phoned our family doctor early the next morning and told him to get his butt up to that hospital and have my husband admitted and he did. Within three days of constant testing they found he had Celiac Disease and we were relieved to have a name to his problem. Neither of us had heard of Celiac Disease. After 9 days in hospital and once home I put him on a Celiac diet and he ate because he had simply been starving himself previously because nutrients were not binding to his villi. Within the month he zoomed back up to 215 lbs! I did a lot of research on Celiac and had asked for help from this forum and got it. I would bring my husband grocery shopping with me to learn to 'label read' and when we found wheat gluten-free foods I would keep a list of the name of the product and where I bought it (the U.S. has far better choices for wheat-gluten free foods than Canada.)

Shortly after my husband was out of hospital he saw a pancreatic specialist who did a more advanced test under anesthetic to see how his pancreas was and the letter to our family doctor said my husband had Chronic Pancreatitis. Knowing little about this new upset we counted on our family doctor to direct us, but got little to no help. So now after 2 years of being diagnosed with CP my husband is slowly losing his weight again and is down to 183. He is very depressed over it and fearful as I am. It can be serious and today he has gone for an MRI Scan on his pancreas. I had to tell our family doctor to prescribe enzymes for my husband (he also has diabetes created by the pancreas problem) and is on non insulin meds that keep his blood sugars at a good range. My husband drinks little to nothing and still has a good appetite, but depressed over the fact he just keeps losing weight.

My question is: If Celiac Disease goes untreated for several years can this cause pancreas problems?

Thanks for any help any of you can give us. We are at our wits end.

[Skylark]

Wow, what a scary story! I sure am grateful I never got that sick from celiac.

I did a quick look on Pubmed, and yes pancreatitis can be associated with celiac disease. If it is related to the celiac disease, it usually resolves on a gluten-free diet though.

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We have some folks around here who can't even tolerate the traces of gluten in commercial gluten-free baked goods. I believe the standard in Canada is 20 ppm gluten, which is a little high for the most sensitive people. For now, if you have to "label read" leave it at the store entirely and only feed him whole, unprocessed naturally gluten-free foods. (Fruits, veggies, home-cooked meats, potatoes, etc.) Also check all his meds, vitamins, even toothpaste for the possibility of gluten. We even had someone reacting to cross-contamination in their kitchen from gluten in their dog's food.

Maybe someone else will come along with other ideas.

[TrickyMama]

My brother in law has CP and pancreatic cancer right now. I don't know if you can get access to an oncologist. CP sometimes leads to P Cancer. Not to scare you, but that is one cancer you do NOT want to miss. I don't know much about the interplay of celiac and CP but I've wondered. My brother in law is my celiac son's blood related uncle so the CP is something I watch out for anyway. With so many undiagnosed celiacs, I'm wondering if my brother in law has been tested for that, not to make this all about me and mine. I hope you can get good care. I know this is rhetorical but why do so many Americans want a health care system like yours, where you have to fight like this for fairly mainstream testing??? My heart goes out to you and I wish you and your husband answers and improved health.

[JBaby]

Almost 3 years ago my husband began losing a significant amount of weight and had constant diarrhea (as it got worse he was getting up nearly 16 to 17 times a night.) He is 6' 6" tall and his normal weight was 210 lbs. He has always had an excellent diet and was an active person. We kept going to our family doctor to try and figure out what was wrong and it was waiting a few weeks here and there for this test and that and all tests came back negative. To make a long story short his weight went down to 156 lbs! He was weak and frail looking and I decided to take the bull by the horns so went back with my husband to our family doctor and told him my husband needed to be in hospital for more extensive testing before he completely faded away or, did damage to vital organs. Nothing was done about admitting my husband into hospital. I live in British Columbia Canada so short of going into ER bleeding to death or having a heart attack not many people get to stay in hospital and you are treated as an out patient. Five times I took my husband to ER and all he would be treated for was with IV to bring his electrolytes back to par and then was sent home in my care. It was waiting for more tests and a proper diagnosis that unnerved my husband and I. One evening he just slipped into a semi conscious state. I checked his eyes and they were gray looking; skin clammy and gray and he was incoherent. Since we'd experience the ambulance coming previously on four different occasions and he was only given IV and released from hospital I was not about to go down that road again and so I wrapped him up and had a friend drive us to ER. I had his medical records with me. The Head Nurse there took him, but told me they would give him IV and send him home with me. The fight was on! I was not about to let my husband die from the lack of proper health care. I stood my ground and told them in ER if he was not admitted and if he did not receive proper care that my lawyer and the media would be where the sun does not shine and that particular hospital could not afford more publicity (lack of proper health care.) I phoned our family doctor early the next morning and told him to get his butt up to that hospital and have my husband admitted and he did. Within three days of constant testing they found he had Celiac Disease and we were relieved to have a name to his problem. Neither of us had heard of Celiac Disease. After 9 days in hospital and once home I put him on a Celiac diet and he ate because he had simply been starving himself previously because nutrients were not binding to his villi. Within the month he zoomed back up to 215 lbs! I did a lot of research on Celiac and had asked for help from this forum and got it. I would bring my husband grocery shopping with me to learn to 'label read' and when we found wheat gluten-free foods I would keep a list of the name of the product and where I bought it (the U.S. has far better choices for wheat-gluten free foods than Canada.)

Shortly after my husband was out of hospital he saw a pancreatic specialist who did a more advanced test under anesthetic to see how his pancreas was and the letter to our family doctor said my husband had Chronic Pancreatitis. Knowing little about this new upset we counted on our family doctor to direct us, but got little to no help. So now after 2 years of being diagnosed with CP my husband is slowly losing his weight again and is down to 183. He is very depressed over it and fearful as I am. It can be serious and today he has gone for an MRI Scan on his pancreas. I had to tell our family doctor to prescribe enzymes for my husband (he also has diabetes created by the pancreas problem) and is on non insulin meds that keep his blood sugars at a good range. My husband drinks little to nothing and still has a good appetite, but depressed over the fact he just keeps losing weight.

My question is: If Celiac Disease goes untreated for several years can this cause pancreas problems?

Thanks for any help any of you can give us. We are at our wits end.

Hi. I dont know how much help I can be. I had developed pancreatitis before I was self diagnosed. My doctor was useless for over 2 yrs. I began the gluten-free diet for 7 moths but the panceatitis didn't resolve itself until I met with a clinical nutritionist. I started on much needed supplements to help heal and absorb nutrients from food as I was still not gaining any weight. I was losing. One month into the whole foods diet, no dairy, no junk food, only whole foods and bevreages and the supplements, I was gaining weight and the pancreatitis pain went away. Eliminated caffiene and sugar too in that time. Hope you get some answers soon.