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Poor pancreatic function

Messages
94
Location
NZ
Hi All,

I'm looking for a recommendation for Pancreatic Enzyme supplements (such as). Based on pancreatic elastase and faecal fat tests, I have poor pancreatic function and are looking to assist with a cost effective supplement. I currently take creon however it has known to be toxic in the long term plus it hasn't really help a great deal.

Any experiences / comments?
 

Sparrow

Senior Member
Messages
691
Location
Canada
I use AORzymes by AOR in terms of actual pancreatic enzymes, or Pure Encapsulations Digestive Enzymes Ultra for vegetarian enzymes. I've found them to be quite good.

Unfortunately, in my experience supplements costing half as much as the professional brands tend to end up being much less than half as effective. I tend to stick to Douglas Labs, Pure Encapsulations, AOR, and sometimes Metagenics or Genestra these days. Natural Factors in places where I really need to save some money and don't mind sacrificing potential quality but still want something I trust. I would suggest any of those brands if you're looking for a product that will make a significant difference. Unfortunately, iherb has stopped carrying many of the good brands because people tend to gravitate towards the cheaper ones. There are other online places to buy them, though.

Good luck to you and your pancreas! :)
 
Messages
94
Location
NZ
I use AORzymes by AOR in terms of actual pancreatic enzymes, or Pure Encapsulations Digestive Enzymes Ultra for vegetarian enzymes. I've found them to be quite good.

Unfortunately, in my experience supplements costing half as much as the professional brands tend to end up being much less than half as effective. I tend to stick to Douglas Labs, Pure Encapsulations, AOR, and sometimes Metagenics or Genestra these days. Natural Factors in places where I really need to save some money and don't mind sacrificing potential quality but still want something I trust. I would suggest any of those brands if you're looking for a product that will make a significant difference. Unfortunately, iherb has stopped carrying many of the good brands because people tend to gravitate towards the cheaper ones. There are other online places to buy them, though.

Good luck to you and your pancreas! :)

Hey - thanks for that. I'll follow your advice. Could you also let me know which order sites you are using, I'll basically lived off iherb for a while.
 

Sparrow

Senior Member
Messages
691
Location
Canada
Hey - thanks for that. I'll follow your advice. Could you also let me know which order sites you are using, I'll basically lived off iherb for a while.

I've lived off iherb myself. ...Still do, for the things they still carry. :) They've got a little Douglas Labs, AOR, and Metagenics, but not much. I think most people just go for the cheapest option and figure it's basically the same, so they probably don't get as much turn over with those items. It's too bad. I didn't know how much difference there was either until I experienced it personally a couple of times, despite my naturopath having tried to tell me.

There may be other options that are cheaper and equally effective. ...I just haven't found them personally. And every time I've tried to make a move to a non-professional brand (with various types of supplement, not just gut stuff - the difference in methyl B12 and melatonin pretty much blew my mind ;) ), I've noticed a HUGE difference, even when the brand is pretty credible and the dose is supposed to be identical. I'm not sure what other differences there are that save those companies money, but I definitely think it has an impact. A few of those times I didn't even know that I was taking a different brand - we ran out and my husband replaced them without telling me (not knowing there would be a difference), then let me know when I was confused over what the heck was going on with my body and why my supplement suddenly stopped working. I've had it happen to me enough times unexpectedly now that I won't trust the cheaper brands for anything that's truly important. Seems like it's not actually a better deal at all.

I don't really have a great online source for some of that stuff... I've ordered from various places, but am also lucky enough to have a great health food store right near me, so we've bought a lot of supplies from them as well. I can give you a couple of options that I have ordered from without any problems, but I'm not championing them in particular or anything. :) I also can't speak for sure on how their supplements are stored before transport or how much turn over they have, but I haven't noticed any issues.

Health Palace carries AOR products and some Douglas Labs, Pure Encapsulations, etc. as well. They're Canadian based (AOR is a Canadian line), but ship internationally. They carry both brands of enzymes I use. I've found them very reliable, though their website search is a bit on the slow side and drives me slightly crazy. They have PayPal as their preferred method of payment. You can buy an ice pack from them to be shipped with your order, to help offset any problems in transport, which I like.

Pure Caps Pro seems like a great resource if you're in the US. They've got the full line of Pure Encapsulations stuff, and seem to have a direct connection to the manufacturer, which means they're likely to be reliable and to have fresh stock. They won't ship to Canada, though. :( Not sure about other countries. (there's an equivalent for Douglas Labs and Pure Encapsulations Canada, but their selection is slightly different)

Integrative Psychiatry seems to have pretty much the full line of Douglas Labs, Pure Encapsulations, and some other stuff that I haven't tried so can't vouch for. Don't be put off by the name - they seem to be advocating natural supports for mental health issues, but the online store selection covers the full spectrum of things. They're based in the US. I haven't used them as much (the shipping is more expensive for me), but when I have it's been okay. They ship to Canada. Not sure about other countries.

Hope that helps at all. If anybody else has good reliable sources for AOR, Douglas Labs, or Pure Encapsulations supplements (especially ones that will do foreign shipping so lots of us have access), I'd love to hear them.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
I just tried creon 24000 but had to stop after 3 weeks due to nausea and some gut symptom I've yet to come
up with a name for. For lack of a better term, I'll just say it felt like my small intestine was being shredded.
It made me feel weaker than normal too.

When I initially tried taking this capsule, it was a dream come true. I could feel that my food wasn't just sitting
in my upper digestive tract for hours. After awhile, the side effects were unbearable tho.

I tried most of the otc digestive enzymes but this was my first attempt at taking a pancreatic enzyme.
All of the otc digestive enzymes helped at first and then stopped working. I'm not sure what I'll try next.


I'm not sure if this helps or not .. Tc .. X
 

SaraM

Senior Member
Messages
526
How about Digest Gold? I ordered some yesterday. I have high fecal cholesterol . Lab commentary: bile insufficiency, pancreatic insufficiency, or small intestine inflammation.
 
Messages
94
Location
NZ
I've actually scheduled an ultrasound to check the pancreas. I have suffered pain in the abdomen the last few years however has just put this down to IBS.

From reviewing online information, poor pancreatic elastase is actually quite a bad sign. Mmmmm, I guess I find out if my CFS is caused but chronic pancreatitis, which would not a welcome conclusion.
 

SaraM

Senior Member
Messages
526
In my case ultrasound, scan, and MRI found nothing wrong, just a a few small liver cysts. I suffer pain in the abdomen,too.
 
Messages
43
Location
southwest USA
I had not known that Creon can cause toxicity after extended use. Is this also true for other brands of prescription pancreatic enzymes? This would certainly concern me as I have been using Pancreaze for a long time now. Prior to switching to this rx, I used Designs For Health Digestzymes and fared pretty well.
 
Messages
94
Location
NZ
Here's a link regarding the inactive ingredients. And here are the effects of phthalates.

I've had an ultrasound, now pending the results. I've been reading up on IBS and the symptoms don't really fit plus the elastase disfunction, I need to find out whats going on.
 

xks201

Senior Member
Messages
740
Bile and pancreatic enzymes share the same duct so it does not surprise me that you are deficient in both. You probably have gallstones too. I expelled around 50 gallstones after doing a gallbladder flush several weeks after I was told that my gallbladder had no stones in it via ultrasound. lol

I'd recommend doing a gallbladder flush - especially if your stool is often lighter in color. Do you have upper right quadrant pain that comes back often? Powdered glutamine taken by the spoonful and washed down with water (it will dissolve instantly if you do it this way but it tastes disgusting if you premix it with water and attempt to drink it) is capable of dissolving gallstones if taken long enough...around 10 grams a day is my recommendation or 2 tablespoons of it per day washed down with water.

Also be very careful with overdoing it on digestive enzymes. I would take no more than one with a meal. Those enzymes were shredding up the lining of my intestines as I was taking quite a few with each meal at one point.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Xks,

You said they were shredding your intestines .. How did you know ? That's how mine felt
after 3 weeks on creon but I was just guessing that's what was happening.

After digest gold stopped working, I switched to candidase + virastop. Those worked great for awhile too. But
then I noticed that I had throat pain, possible thyroid, with these so I had to stop these.

Fwiw, eating less meat at a time, esp anything chewy like beef and reducing my intake of raw veggies helps.
I'm juicing to get the nutrients from raw veggies.

My elastace was low on two metamatrix stool tests. My gall bladder was removed about 8 years ago.
I'm a celiac and I know we can have pancrease problems. But I never studied it. I have hyperinsulinemia too.

Tc . X
 

xks201

Senior Member
Messages
740
I was admitted to the ER because I was in so much pain after consistently taking high dose digest gold (sometimes just 1-2 per meal though). The only thing that stopped the pain was anti inflammatories. Proteases will digest your intestines in high amounts, even I think the manufacturer of digest gold warns about taking too much because it will induce stomach pain. It took several weeks to go back to normal. Considering the pain would rapidly increase after taking them I could attribute it to that.
 

SaraM

Senior Member
Messages
526
Hi Xks,
I have done a liver flush , I do not have upper right quadrant pain, and I take powdered glutamine every day.
 
Messages
94
Location
NZ
Interesting about too many enzymes causing stomach inflammation. In trying to reduce the pain, I've experimented with Curcumin and ginger. I seem to help reduce the pain so would indicate some inflammation. I'll try reducing my does of enzymes and see if it makes a difference.
 

SaraM

Senior Member
Messages
526
1/4 Digest gold caused too much gas in me. I also tried Now Food brand, and felt no difference.