Recent Diagnosis T1: Digestive Problems... PLEASE HELP

A brief synopsis of my symptoms currently are:

Gas (especially bad during the morning/night)
Bloating
Greasy/Wet, sometimes floating stools (1 to 2 a day)
Anxiety
Rough vertical lines in fingernails
Pain in upper left abdomen that comes and goes in very short spurts (1
out of 10 on pain scale)
Frequent indigestion

My story...

A year ago I had what I think was a mild pancreatitis attack that sent
me to the ER.
I'll put this in a list to make it easier to read...


October 06 - What I think was a mild pancreatitis attack a year ago
(lipase not too high, 340, in ER but the pain had somewhat subsided
when I went
the hospital, pain lasted about 6-7 hours, was a 5 out of 10 on pain
scale, with
pain I had nausea and diarrhea, ER released me with a strained rib
muscle)
November 06 - Saw Gastro and diagnosed with GERD just from describing
symptoms,
had CT scan negative, stool studies showed nothing, upper GI endoscopy
negative
January 07 - Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes due to two high fasting
blood sugars (180)
March 07 - another CT scan negative, upper GI endoscopy negative
March 07 - Diagnosis of type 1 diabetes due to GAD antibody positive
test, celiac blood panel negative, A1C of 7.9
May 07 - Gallbladder utrasound negative
July 07 - MRCP negative
September 07 - endoscopic ulrasound negative... checked gallbladder
and pancreas


NOTES: during a 4-5 month period with unknown type 1 diabetes I went
from 215lbs to 175lbs.
215 was heavy for my 5'9 frame...I am now back up to 188lbs...
enzyme tests throughout the past year have had fequent lipase
elevations (usually in low 300's)...
amylase has always been fine as has my liver enzymes. In March I
started with just 5 units of Lantus... I now am up to 20 units and
take Novalog for meals on a 20 carb/1 unit scale

My blood sugars are fairly regulated with diet, exercise, ...
my last A1C was 5.9... I can seem to have weeks of normal digestion
and then have weeks
of abnormal digestion without any known cause. I've tried cutting out
trigger foods
like tomatoe sauce, alcohol, caffeine, etc... tried fasting for a
day... nothing seems to help.

Can these symptoms above be just IBS? Greasy/wet stools? Celiac
disease,
I was tested with a blood test; could this be missed through that
test?

Would it be possible to rule out malabsorption? Concerns about my
fingernails and stools? Pancreatic Insufficiency?

I've never had a colonoscopy; should this be next step?

While I understand from reading and going through what I have, that it
is very hard to diagnose
certain digestive problems... I would really appreciate any thoughts
that anyone has to my
current situation. And I cannot ignore that these problems started a
year ago
the day that I had a pancreatitis attack and later found I have LADA
(type 1.5 or
type 1, however you want to classify) diabetes.

Thanks

Oh yeah and I am 26 years old...

<m19peters@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1194373346.353324.318840@y42g2000hsy.googlegr oups.com...
>A brief synopsis of my symptoms currently are:
>
> Gas (especially bad during the morning/night)
> Bloating
> Greasy/Wet, sometimes floating stools (1 to 2 a day)
> Anxiety
> Rough vertical lines in fingernails
> Pain in upper left abdomen that comes and goes in very short spurts (1
> out of 10 on pain scale)
> Frequent indigestion
>
>
<snipped for brevity>

Most of your gastrointestinal symptoms sound very similar to the ones I had
with lactose (milk) intolerance; I suffered with that for many (20+) years
before it was finally diagnosed. By the time my doctor figured it out, my
GI system was so messed up it took a few years of medication and a milk-free
diet before the symptoms went away. Diverticulitis can cause pain in the
upper left abdomen (I've had that too - very painful!). Also, giardiasis
can cause many of those GI symptoms. Talk to your doctor to see if testing
for any of these conditions is warranted.

Please keep working with your doctor to find some answers. I know it's very
frustrating to have something wrong that no one can figure out, but please
don't give up! I can't tell you how many doctors I saw, and how many
misdiagnoses I had, trying to get some answers to my GI problems.

Good luck, and I hope you feel better very soon!

Karen
Type 2

<m19peters@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1194373346.353324.318840@y42g2000hsy.googlegr oups.com...
>A brief synopsis of my symptoms currently are:
>
> Gas (especially bad during the morning/night)
> Bloating
> Greasy/Wet, sometimes floating stools (1 to 2 a day)
> Anxiety
> Rough vertical lines in fingernails
> Pain in upper left abdomen that comes and goes in very short spurts (1
> out of 10 on pain scale)
> Frequent indigestion
>
> My story...
>
> A year ago I had what I think was a mild pancreatitis attack that sent
> me to the ER.
> I'll put this in a list to make it easier to read...
>
>
> October 06 - What I think was a mild pancreatitis attack a year ago
> (lipase not too high, 340, in ER but the pain had somewhat subsided
> when I went
> the hospital, pain lasted about 6-7 hours, was a 5 out of 10 on pain
> scale, with
> pain I had nausea and diarrhea, ER released me with a strained rib
> muscle)
> November 06 - Saw Gastro and diagnosed with GERD just from describing
> symptoms,
> had CT scan negative, stool studies showed nothing, upper GI endoscopy
> negative
> January 07 - Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes due to two high fasting
> blood sugars (180)
> March 07 - another CT scan negative, upper GI endoscopy negative
> March 07 - Diagnosis of type 1 diabetes due to GAD antibody positive
> test, celiac blood panel negative, A1C of 7.9
> May 07 - Gallbladder utrasound negative
> July 07 - MRCP negative
> September 07 - endoscopic ulrasound negative... checked gallbladder
> and pancreas
>
>
> NOTES: during a 4-5 month period with unknown type 1 diabetes I went
> from 215lbs to 175lbs.
> 215 was heavy for my 5'9 frame...I am now back up to 188lbs...
> enzyme tests throughout the past year have had fequent lipase
> elevations (usually in low 300's)...
> amylase has always been fine as has my liver enzymes. In March I
> started with just 5 units of Lantus... I now am up to 20 units and
> take Novalog for meals on a 20 carb/1 unit scale
>
> My blood sugars are fairly regulated with diet, exercise, ...
> my last A1C was 5.9... I can seem to have weeks of normal digestion
> and then have weeks
> of abnormal digestion without any known cause. I've tried cutting out
> trigger foods
> like tomatoe sauce, alcohol, caffeine, etc... tried fasting for a
> day... nothing seems to help.
>
> Can these symptoms above be just IBS? Greasy/wet stools? Celiac
> disease,
> I was tested with a blood test; could this be missed through that
> test?
>
> Would it be possible to rule out malabsorption? Concerns about my
> fingernails and stools? Pancreatic Insufficiency?
>
> I've never had a colonoscopy; should this be next step?
>
> While I understand from reading and going through what I have, that it
> is very hard to diagnose
> certain digestive problems... I would really appreciate any thoughts
> that anyone has to my
> current situation. And I cannot ignore that these problems started a
> year ago
> the day that I had a pancreatitis attack and later found I have LADA
> (type 1.5 or
> type 1, however you want to classify) diabetes.

What you describe does sound like celiac to me. The celiac newsgroup
doesn't get a lot of traffic. I suggest you ask the folks at this forum
here:

http://www.glutenfreeforum.com/

I am not a celiac myself but my daughter has a wheat and gluten allergy
(among others), so I hang out there. It's a good board and there are many
who seem to know what they are talking about.