diagnosis of celiac disease after whipples, cramps post op

i am the main carer for my brother who is 38, he just underwent a whipples operation as they found duodenal cancer. in hospital he was diagnosed with celiac disease.

he is now at home with me, and seems to be getting a lot of stomach cramps, last night he woke up with very bad pain which radiated to his back. today he has vomited.

his taste and apetite are not functioning well, i give him small pieces of fruit to stimulate the apetitie which seems to work. he is also a diabetic , insuline injector.

could you please tell me what might be causing the stomach cramps and vomiting, and if it will get better, should he eat as much variety in small amounts often to get the stomach working properly? could it be the enzyme tablets he is taking, and is it possible to sprinkle the enzyme tablets on his food so he doesnt have to swallow large tablets.

thankyou

sarah

[CalGal]

The whipple procedure is a major operation which re-routes a large proportion of the stomach and small intestine. If his was one in which the lower portion of the stomach was removed, he may end up experiencing a fair amount of bile reflux into the stomach because he no longer has the muscular closure at the base of the stomach that would retard that reflux.

It's not a matter of getting his stomach working properly, it's in some measure a problem with getting everything to move down, and not have anything move it back up into the stomach. Part of it may be that he needs to remain upright - standing - for some period of time after eating. Even sitting would place pressure on the abdominal cavity and that could encourage movement of foods back toward the stomach.

You may what to ask his doctors to refer you to a nutritionist to give you a hand with this. It may be difficult to find a balance in the foods he can handle due to the whipple in addition to making sure he stays away from gluten-containing foods.