EPI but no pancreatic cancer or abnormalities?
So, just for a bit of background, for the last decade I’ve always had a touchy stomach, I’ve been diagnosed Coeliac for the past 15 years, but over the last few years it had gotten much worse. I saw some doctors and it turns out my gallbladder was functioning at 7%.
I had it removed and I felt great - cured me completely of my constant nausea which has been life changing! Then 2 months later my stomach went back to being worse than before (running to the bathroom multiple times a day - I was basically housebound) it was really unpredictable and consuming…
More tests were done and my doctor diagnosed me with bile acid malabsorption AND exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) - my fecal elastase test was 150 (doctor said for my age at 33, it should be sitting between 800-1000). So I’ve been on Creon 25,000 since then and I’m still struggling.
I had a MRI (MRCP) done and everything came back normal. There was no structural damage or tumours, no physical reason in those scans for EPI, I just seem to have it and need to live with it? I’ve also been on a very strict gluten free diet for 15 years and expose myself to very limited cross-contamination scenarios (I barely eat out ever).
My question is… Is this normal? should I accept this as an answer? Has anyone else been diagnosed with EPI with absolutely no answers/reason as to why?