Pancreatitis Support Group
Chronic pancreatitis can present as episodes of acute inflammation in a previously injured pancreas, or as chronic damage with persistent pain or malabsorption. Patients with chronic pancreatitis can present with persistent abdominal pain or steatorrhea, as well as severe nausea. Some patients with chronic pancreatitis often look very sick, while others don't appear to be...
Hi -
January 30 2013 I had my first and only attack. It was caused because I let my bad stomach pains go for 1 1/2 years. Turns out my gall bladder was bad and I finally passed a gall stone into my pancreas or the duct.
I spent 2 weeks in the hospital-
I lost 25 pounds in 3 months.
I developed an ulcer
I had a 13cm x 5cm x 6cm psuedo cyst.
I had 2 procedures in SF - stents to drain the cyst.
I also got a blood clot in the vein to my spleen
The first 3 months were horrible.
I stayed on 25 grams of fat/day and increased to about 50/day
I only needed enzymes for about a month. I think they made me sick, hard to say.
My blood pressure which I took meds for became very low and now around 130/65
I had a cat scan Thursday which showed no inflammation.
Nothing wrong with spleenic thrombosis
no pseudocyst. I know I've read here that others had scans and nothing showed up...Only the EUS showed inflammation so I may not be out of the woods but I feel wonderful. Hair isn't falling out. I have energy. My skin looks terrible but it didn't look all that great before. My vision changed and I have stronger glasses now.
I still feel an ache in my left side just under my ribs but nothing really to speak of...maybe a 1 or 2 on scale of 10
I just wanted to share this with those who maybe had one attack and are trying to get better and not sure of the future. There is hope.
I know that cysts can return and I will always be concerned about that.
I know I will not have any alcohol for a very long time (I never had more than 3 drinks a week, and then maybe nothing for a month or two)
I will slowly increase my fat intake only when nothing else is available
I wil stay off red meat.
I don't know why I got better ( I hope I am) and some of you didn't. The only thing I know is I NEVER strayed from the low fat diet and never had a drop of alcohol. I did over eat though and had a hard time with eating smaller portions. (always have)
And I will continue to read here and see how you all are doing. You are all in my thoughts everyday. I am not a praying person but wish you all the best and hope your days are less painful. I wish you strength to carry on.
Lori
I will never take my health for granted ever again.
January 30 2013 I had my first and only attack. It was caused because I let my bad stomach pains go for 1 1/2 years. Turns out my gall bladder was bad and I finally passed a gall stone into my pancreas or the duct.
I spent 2 weeks in the hospital-
I lost 25 pounds in 3 months.
I developed an ulcer
I had a 13cm x 5cm x 6cm psuedo cyst.
I had 2 procedures in SF - stents to drain the cyst.
I also got a blood clot in the vein to my spleen
The first 3 months were horrible.
I stayed on 25 grams of fat/day and increased to about 50/day
I only needed enzymes for about a month. I think they made me sick, hard to say.
My blood pressure which I took meds for became very low and now around 130/65
I had a cat scan Thursday which showed no inflammation.
Nothing wrong with spleenic thrombosis
no pseudocyst. I know I've read here that others had scans and nothing showed up...Only the EUS showed inflammation so I may not be out of the woods but I feel wonderful. Hair isn't falling out. I have energy. My skin looks terrible but it didn't look all that great before. My vision changed and I have stronger glasses now.
I still feel an ache in my left side just under my ribs but nothing really to speak of...maybe a 1 or 2 on scale of 10
I just wanted to share this with those who maybe had one attack and are trying to get better and not sure of the future. There is hope.
I know that cysts can return and I will always be concerned about that.
I know I will not have any alcohol for a very long time (I never had more than 3 drinks a week, and then maybe nothing for a month or two)
I will slowly increase my fat intake only when nothing else is available
I wil stay off red meat.
I don't know why I got better ( I hope I am) and some of you didn't. The only thing I know is I NEVER strayed from the low fat diet and never had a drop of alcohol. I did over eat though and had a hard time with eating smaller portions. (always have)
And I will continue to read here and see how you all are doing. You are all in my thoughts everyday. I am not a praying person but wish you all the best and hope your days are less painful. I wish you strength to carry on.
Lori
I will never take my health for granted ever again.
Thank you. Don't worry, drinking alcohol will not be hard to give up. And sorry you are in the old house of pain again.
Twoduct - Dr Binmoeller at California Pacific Medical Center in SF put in my stents and he is one of the best.
While in the hospital for the first 7 days, I don't remember much because I was drugged up. I had to wait 5 days till my pancreas calmed down before they could take out my gall bladder. When they sent me home 2 days later NOBODY told me what I could or couldn't eat. I find THAT negligence. So I came home and had one of those liquid drinks that had probably about 9 gr of fat and I became so ill. I don't remember now what I ate at home but I ended up going back to the hospital the next day for another 7 days. I had nothing to eat for a few more days, but when they did start feeding me, they were giving me stuff like whole milk, and beef meat loaf. I had to constantly send back my meals. My blood sugar was very high, yet everything they gave me had lots of sugar in it!.
I asked for a nutritionalist and she told me what I should and shouldn't eat. But nobody REALLY stressed how important this was. Thankfully I found this forum and I really have to thank all of you for the information here. My doctor always complied with me when I wanted blood work done, or tests, but I basically was asking for them, so I don't know how much credit I would give my 'team'. I honestly think I was just lucky that my pancreas wasn't damaged that much. I don't know why I got better, I'm a pretty negative person. But reading all the horror stories here keep me on track with my diet. I'm still terrified to eat fat.
I have to honestly say that my gi doctor never educated me at all about this disease. So thank you all for being here. I also have to thank my fiance because he took great care of me and when I was a moaning zombie he just quietly made me my meals (he's an introvert so it was easy for him to just let me be) I was terrified when I first came home from the hospital so he is the one to google for info. I knew I would freak out if I learned too much right away. After awhile I was curious and found this place.
At one point I even went to the pharmacy to ask about when I should take the carafate and the enzymes and even they mislead me. I was told to take the carafate(for my ulcer) just before I ate and take the enzyme 2 hours after!!! We all know that you take the enzymes at the time of your meal. Can you believe a pharmacist would say that? anyway..I'm thankful to you all and wish you the best.
If been trying to regain my strength, doing core exercises and the past two day riding my bicycle around the neighborhood. This seemed to make the ache a bit worse. This ache is nothing to really complain about if somebody without a history of pancreatitis had it. But for me, I'm just wondering what it could be?