Pancreas Pain

[frannie57]

I have spincter of odi dysfunction, and had an ERCP to get it taken care of.  I developed pancreatis after the ERCP and was hospitalized.  I had a stent put in my pancreas, and it passed on its own.  Since then, the pain continues.  My doctor told me that I have a congenital defect in my pancreas causing the bile duct to be deformed, and he put a large stent in my bile duct about 2 weeks ago to try and take care of the problem.  After the surgery, he told my family that he wasn't sure that was what the problem was but said he was treating me as though I have pancreatis because that's what the symptoms seem to be.   I have continued to have pain since the stent was put in, and haven't been able to speak to my doctor since then. The pain seems to start after eating, but no particular food triggers the pain.  I can eat a tomatoe one day and I'm fine, the next day I eat a tomatoe and the pain is so bad I can't stand up.  The doctor said that I should know in a couple of days if the stent worked (it's been almost two weeks and it doesn't appear to be working.  This stent hurts, as the smaller one did not.)  The doctor said that they were going to be looking at my rib cage and spine next.  This doesn't make sense to me, since the pain seems to start after I eat.  Any ideas--suggestions.  This has been going on for almost a year, and I'm about at the end of my rope.  My gallbladder was removed last February.

[unicorn257]

Just read you post and I am caught up ....  The suggestion by CalGal was  a good one.  Since your pancreas is involved you do need to replace the enzymes used for digestion that the pancreas usually supplies.  This may help your pain.  I was also encouraged to eat a very low-fat diet balanced diet, low in sugar (complex carbs okay), easy to digest proteins.  Red meats, beans etc. are hard for some of us that have pancreatitis to digest... sadly as I love beans of all sorts... I was also told to avoid alcohol and tobacco.    Every time you eat you activate the pancreas so try the enzymes... can't hurt... Smaller meals and easier to digest foods might help the pain.  Take care ...  

[CalGal]

Frannie, you may want to consider asking the doc about supplementing with pancreatic enzymes despite the fact that you have a stent.

Did they cut the sphincter of Oddi when they did the ERCP? Did they do manometry?