Questions about Creon-

My Dad is currently taking creon to help with digestion of food.  Prior to taking Creon, he had gas ,bloating, full feeling after small instake of food . He started taking Creon (approx 1 1/2 weeks) The belching, gas pain and bloating seemed to have worsened. Should he take the Creon before during or after a meal? Will the Creon help relieve the gas, bloating full feeling or does it just help nutrionally digest the food?  

Great question..I was wondering the same thing???

Begin eating and take an enzyme ,eat 1/3 of the meal take an enzyme, eat 2/3 of the meal and take an enzyme. To take the enzyme before the meal that there was nothing there to help and after the meal the meal would have already passed.

The real trick it to figure out how many he will need.

I was told by my Doctor to take just before I eat.  I think the directions on the web say your doctor may prescribe to take after you eat.  I've taken immediately after I've eaten (because I forgot to take prior) and didn't see much difference.

It helps a lot, but if you still eat a lot of "problem foods" you will still be bloated...like if I eat a lot of fats or even just too much food during a short period of time. 

Right now we are just trying to get our dad to eat ANYTHING. He is loosing weight so quickly and the intake of food is so poor. It has become so hard for him to eat that we haven't been too concerned about the amount of fat consumption. Our oncologist has said "just eat to gain weight". The gas pains, belching and bloating is stopping him from eating (along with the pain of eating). 

QUESTION: a benefit of Creon..should it relieve gas/bloating?

Creon may cause the following and you're directed to contact your doctor if they don't go away

• diarrhea

• constipation

• upset stomach

• vomiting

• stomach cramps

• bloating

• gas

thanks Dave-

I have read that the first week or so after taking Creon-gas and bloating may be normal?

It's hard to know if the pain is cancer pain or medication related.

The whole enzyme thing is a mine field and many doctors just don't know how to prescribe them for each individual case, in terms of proper dosage and when to take them. My dad experiences many of the same symptoms when trying to digest food and his GP said he didn't need them that his pancreas is functioning, with no test on enzyme levels. Well if that is the case then why does he have PC? It is all so exasperating! Does every PC patient need and take digestive enzymes? What dosage of Creon was your dad taking to start?

 My dad was diagnosed with PC and they did NOT start him on the pancreatic enzymes until after surgery when they found that at least 80% of his pancreas was infiltrated with cancer. The surgeon upon discharge from the hospital prescribed Creon 1200/units/4 times daily with meals/snacks. Well, my dad doesn't eat 4 times a day. A good day would be 2 small snack type meals.

This is all so new to our family and I feel at times we are left to fend for ourselves and just figure things out.