Suggest Treatment For Celiac Disease And Abdominal Pain

Posted on Sun, 22 Feb 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 Answered on

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : Have been having abdominal pain off and on for last couple weeks. Had edg and colonoscopy...edg reveals celiac disease. Have tested my blood sugar levels last couple days....they are higher than normal. The glucose test I had in November 2014 was fasting glucose of 92. Yesterday it was 112 and today 117. I am worried. My mother died with pancreatic cancer 20 years ago. They thought for weeks that it was gallbladder disease, but after having her gallbladder removed, a month later discovered she had pancreatic cancer. All of this concerns me. Want to ask gastro to do tests on pancreas, for my piece of mind if nothing else. Does that seem unreasonable to you?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Your concern is completely understandable.

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Pancreas cancer in family is a risk factor of this cancer in next generation. So your concern is completely understandable. However you need to know that this type of cancer is very rare.
Abdominal pain is a very nonspecific symptom and can be caused by many reasons from peptic ulcer, gastrointestinal infection, celiac disease to more serious like stomach cancer, colon cancer and pancreas cancer indeed.

The best test to visualize pancreas is abdominal CT.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (2 hours later)

I had ultrasound of gallbladder. No stones. They also did pancreas, kidneys, spleen, liver. If there was anything there, might an ultrasound pick it up? I have back pain and pain on both sides , down to waist on right side. Could gallbladder be not functioning properly and cause that pain?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (18 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Ultrasound can miss any pancreas changes.

Detailed Answer:
Ultrasound is a very sketchy test. It is not good in case of pancreas issues. So any pancreas tumor can be missed in ultrasound for sure. Gallbladder can be the case as well. HIDA scan can help determine its function.
It also good to have blood work done: Ca 19-9, CEA, AST, ALT, GGTP, AP, bilirubin level, amylase, urine amylase.

Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar