The pancreas

Hello, last November I had gall bladder surgery and I also had some gall stones taken out of my common bile duct through an ERCP.  Anyway, I have been doing fine up until recently.  Last Saturday was the third time since June that I have had this problem.  See the problem happens about 5 minutes after I am done eating a large meal.  Then I will feel this intense pain; like really bad gas pains and it also burns right by my belly button.  Then I have this intense urge to vomit.  So I do.  Then I feel the urge to have a bowel movement, so I also do that.  Then I vomit some more.  Meanwhile the pains are radiating to my middle left side and to my lower left back.  But when I am all done vomiting, it all goes away and I am totally fine.  The pain is not as bad as the gall stone pain was, but it is still pretty bad.  It almost feel like my stomach is going to pop because I feel a lot of pressure as well.  Could this be something to do with the pancreas?  I know its right behind the stomach on the left, and I heard that after having gall stones that cause pancreatitis, it could damage the pancreas.  My surgeon had said that every time I had my gall stone attacks, the pain was mostly caused by the pacreatits because of the blocked bile duct.  Could this have caused permanent damage to my pancreas?  If so, what could I do?

[Sapphire21]

I am in a very similar situation. I am actually going to the mayo clinic because I can't get an answer. It sounds like you're having an acute attack of pancreatitis, but possibly chronic. I don't vomit after a large meal, but I get so bloated it hurts to breathe. I had my first encounter 2 years ago I suffered for four months because it wouldn't go away. I looked anorexic by the time all was said and done. Since then, I have had my gallbladder taken out (due to sludge) and a sphincterotomy so that the enzymes aren't being pushed back into the pancreas and liver, multiple endoscopies as well as a colonoscopy. I have bowel symptoms also and they try to tell me that I have IBD, but I find it strngely coincidental that the IBD has only acted up as a precursor to my pancreatic enzyme levels jumping too high. You may have to ask about the sphincter pressure test, since the first time I was diagnosed I had to tell them to check the pancreas (I was 19, they told me I was too young). Good luck.

[CalGal]

Boogie, get a script from your doc to go have liver and pancreatic enzyme levels tested AFTER one of those attacks. You don't want to do it when you feel well because the test will probably come back negative. You want to do the test within 24 hours of pain.

In the meantime, I hope you're following a low fat diet.

Typically, with pancreatic pain, a person feels better if they're slightly hunched forward and twisted a bit to the right. The same is not true when the bile duct is involved.

You may also want to ask your doc about having an MRCP done.