I was diagnosed with EPI: Need advice on diet, other management

When on pert treatment will the fat exzyme poop test numbers stay low or over several months go back up, ex mine started 145 then 3 months later went to 450, then 3 months later 734? Dr says should stay low! On two-three creon 36000 per meal, one creon per snack. Took over a year to stableize.

I’m sorry I cannot respond to you because there is no question? I presume you wish to discuss something but it isn’t very clear!

Recently diagnosed with EPI…trying to understand my new life of eating, etc.

Hi @mehere7, and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! It is great to see you here finding others to share experiences with.

I do not have EPI but do have my own diet to work with. I treat it like an episode of “Chopped”, stock my kitchen with ingredients my body likes. This way, whoever is cooking knows nothing is off limits. I hope this is a bit of inspiration for you: https://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/exocrine-pancreatic-insufficiency-pictures/healthy-meals-to-manage-epi/

What is your biggest obstacle right now?

Trying not to be so negative about my situation…

For my EPI, I take ZenPep with my meals and snacks, but regularly experience belly pain that requires bed/heating pad after eating. I also have Lupus, which might be part of the problem. My GI doctor blames my pain on constipation, though I have regular/frequent bowel movements and diarrhea. Does anyone experience regular pain, and what do you take for it? Thanks for any and all help.

I was diagnosed with e.p.i. in guess, late 2022, think. I don’t know if having had a tick on my chest prompted it or if catching h. pylori prompted it. When i used to eat beef / red meat (hamburgers), well, I was having bowel (mild) problems, guess… my doctor suggested creon. I’d been taking 3 daily. He said, “Take 1 with a snack and 2 with a meal.” Which I had for quite a while . Guess it was under more control, until March or last month. When I saw him last summer, he said the 3 daily wasn’t set. I’ve been taking 1 and I have to go see him, now. Going to ask about another dose and maybe about a Digestion Gold. I’m discouraged. Now I’m trying to eat multiple times per day. But you can’t eat 5 to 6 MEALS daily. It “has” to be “snacks” and melas. Such as, a banana or peanut butter cracker sandwiches or grapes. At least, that how I think. 😏🙁🤷‍♂️

It’ll change. 😏

@yankeelisa0669 Hi, I also have EPI and just hate the way it makes me think about my medicines all day. I have a bad habit of leaving the house without them or forgetting to take them even when I have them. Perhaps I’m just trying to ignore the disease so it will go away. I don’t means to be a real downer, but my introduction to EPI was so casual that it didn’t seem real. Oh, well.
I take 2 pills with meals and one with snacks, when things are going the right way. We’ve just moved into a senior residence and the meals aren’t big so 2 with works well. You may want to do some research before you see your doctor so you can formulate some good questions to ask. I have found that most EPI-people have had to do their own research because doctors don’t seem to have a good handle on the disease.
So, educate yourself and advocate for yourself!

I have recently been diagnosed with EPI and are taking Creon but the doctor hasn’t told me what I can and cannot eat I am researching that on my own. I still have diarrhea and would like to know what is considered a snack.