Performing ERCP w/ menometry

[kingfish]

I am a 32 year old female who has been suffering with abdominal cramps for 3 years.  I had my gallbladder removed to solve the problem, but continue to suffer with pain.  I have been hospitalized 5 times in the last 2 years with pancreatitus (pancreatitis).  I have had an ERCP, but the doctor was not able to get to  the pancreatic duct to find out about the pressure inside.  I have been waiting to find out about who might be able to perform another ERCP to measure the pressure inside the duct.  I was just told today that the FDA is no longer allowing anyone to perform this type of procedure.  My gastro. doc. is trying to find out what my next option is.  In the meantime, I am watching the amount of fats I eat and praying another hospital visit is not around the corner.  Does anyone know what options are available, or why the FDA has pulled this proceedure?????

[TazLady]

Hi,

I am interested to hear who told you they pulled this proceedure.  I went to the FDA website and it says nothing of this for the last year.  Did you find this on the web somewhere?  Are you in the US?  This is am extremly important surgical test and I can't imagine it being "pulled" from use.

TazLady

[Lor]

You may have been told that ,because the Dr's in your area Don't feel comfortable doing it. I had mine done in April. It was a success, and took away my pain. Recently the pain is slowly coming back, although not as severe. Most liklt it is just scar tissue that needs some work done. I can't imagine not being able to have it done again. for more information on this procedure go to   borland-groover.com  They did mine and have a lot of information concerning it on their site. If it was pulled it woul put them out of work.

[tummy tales]

I am a 40 year old female and I too have had abdominal pain. They removed my gallbladder in March 1999 and 2 months I was having severe pain so they did an ERCP and removed some "sludge". Was better until July and had the same pain again. They did another ERCP making the incision in my bile duct a little larger. They again removed some sludge, but in the process I got pancreatitis. The pain got better but didn't go away. I had 2 more ERCP's and they are now considering another one! Can't they just find the cause????

[kingfish]

I live in Louisiana and my gastro Doc. said he does not feel comfortable performing the ERCP menometry so he recommended a Doc. in N.O.  I went to see him for a consultation and when I mentioned the biliary menometry he quicly responde that he no longer performed those proceedures.  He said they were a "last resort".  I assumed he had been sued or something.  When I reported back to my regular gastro. Doc about this, he assured me there was minimal risk.  I have had the ECRP with dye, when they were looking for blocked stones (that they never found).  My Doc. told me the place to go was Baylor in Houston. The nurse at his office said that she spent the day on Wed. calling all over the US and the "FDA will no longer allow this proceedure".  I have to wait another 4-6 weeks to see my gasto. Doc. so that he can have time to find out what my options are. I have also looked on the FDA sites and have seen nothing mentioned about this.  My mom really wants me to find out about Docs. at the Mayo Clinic because she has heard they have a top notch program.  I can't imagine what is going on with the FDA and why all of the Docs are so spooked about this proceedure.  I will try to find out more info.

[kingfish]

borlandgroover.com is currently under construction!  Do you have any other suggestions for finding more information???  Who performed your ERCP?  Did they place a stint in the valve or laser the flap of your valve????

[kingfish]

I went to borlandgroover.com and the site is under construction!  Do you have any other suggestions on where I can read some more info. about this proceedure??  Who performed your proceedure?  Did they put a stint in your valve?  My Doc. said he wanted to get my pressure measured and if it was too high they would cut the flap on my valve. Does any of this sound familiar to your proceedure?????

[krisg]

I am a 34 yr old female with similar problems.  I have been having these severe spasms for about 4 years now.  Ever since my gallbladder surgery. I have been trying to find out what I have (or what is going on) inside me.  I had the ercp done 2 years ago but my pressure read normal. They thought I had sphincter of oddie dysfunction.  I also have been on different medications and have been given different diagnoses such as (gerd, sphincter of oddie dysfunction, irritable bowel, and recently esophageal dismotility.)  I have yet to go through an esophageal motility test though.  I haven't heard anything about the ercp being discontinued, although A friend of mine said they now do a mrcp.   The procedure is done while you are awake and they inject a dye into a vein while you lay on the same xray table.  No mouth tube or anything else needed.  You might want to check that out?

[Lor]

If you live in LA you really might be interested in Borland groover. They are in Jacksonville Florida - email me and I will give you their number to call. The ERCP with menometry is the only procedure my Dr performs.   ***@****

[Nanny]

Dr. Peter Cotton, Chief of Gastroenterology at the Medical Center of South Carolina (MUSC), performs ERCP's, and so does Dr. Lehman at Indiana Medical University.  I believe Dr. Lehman is the innovator of this procedure.  Both are very highly spoken of in the medical profession.The website for MUSC is:

http://www.ddc.musc.edu/ddc_pub/index.htm

Go to this site and search for further information.

I can furnish Dr. Lehman's address and telephone # if you are interested.

Nanny

[Niscoti]

As I read these thread, I find that I really regret having my gall bladder removed, as I'm sure many of you do, too.  I had 10% of the pain before.  Now I believe I have pancreatitis, since the pain consumes my left side.  It goes all the way to my jaw.  I have lost 40 pounds, and I just found out I have developed long qt intervals, which means I could die from having my heart just stop beating, and this is probably caused by the malabsoprtion/electrolyte imbalances. Now I don't know if my pain is due to heart damage or the pancreatitis.   I feel like my body is breaking down.  Suddenly I have gushing nosebleeds, 3 periods this month, bruising for no apparent reason... I worry about getting sucked even deeper into a downward spiral.  Are these symptoms likely to develop from pancreatitis?  Honestly, I'm trying to be upbeat, but it's been tough, especially with two young children who really don't understand how tired mommy is.

I will have to go to Seattle to get the ERCP in 5 weeks, but I feel worse day by day.  I worry about doing further damage to my pancreas while I'm waiting around for this procedure, but now I wonder how safe it is.  If you already have pancreatitis when you go in for the procedure, what kind of complications are likely? I realize that those of us still searching for answers are more likely to go online, so I don't know how many of you have had an ERCP successfully resolve your problems.  It's because of this website that I finally got my family doctor to override the GE's diagnosis of IBS, so any comments are welcome.