How do you deal with Chronic Diarrhea and Pancreatic Cancer treatment?

Posted by howleegirl @howleegirl, Apr 27, 2023

Husband was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer 2 days before Thanksgiving, 2023. Had the Whipple surgery 2 day before Christmas. He did quite well. Is on chemo Oxaliplatin, Irinotecan, Leucovorin and a 48 hr pack of Fluorouracil, Udenyca shot. About the 3rd chemo treatment, he started having the horrible side effects. Diarrhea, dizziness, and a lot of pain. Started taking Creon and it hasn't helped. He just stopped taking it and all the pain has gone away, but diarrhea is chronic. He's done 2 5-hour IVs for potassium and magnesium but has diarrhea all the way through!!! Doc gave him Diphenoxylate-Lomotil and Imodium AD, but it doesn't help. Made an appointment with a Gastro doc . I thought our Oncologist would be better versed on these side effects and what to do????? Very discouraged....we feel like we are on our own, with no guidance.

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@stageivsurvivor

Are you taking the Creon all at once or staggering the capsules throughout the duration of the meal as it should be?

The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation has developed a dosing calculator making it easier to determine the amount of capsules necessary for efficient digestion. The calculator is at https://digestthis.ca

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If a large, longer meal I stagger them throughout the meal. Otherwise they are taken all at once at first bite of food. This is what I was instructed to do. I have tried the digest this calculator but find it doesn’t have many of the foods listed - I have submitted that info, so hopefully they will be added. I also found it calculated very close to what I was already taking. I am still within the limits it says are my max based on weight. I was new to it so was slower using app but found it very time consuming. I will admit I am also generally not a fan or trusting of many apps. I will continue to try it periodically but do not regularly use it.

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