pancreatitis

[amy0627]

I was diagnosed yesterday in the ER. They found through an abdominal ultra sound the tail is enlarged. I have a family history of pancreatic cancer. They request I do further testing. Is pancreatitis something you can get rid of or is it something that kind of hangs around and "flares up"?

[shelley50]

I am a worried mother of a 25 yr old daughter that has chronic pancreatitis. Her first episode was last Jan/10. She thought she had the flu for over two weeks, she went to the ER and was admitted for acute pancreatitis. She stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks. Ellie is a vegan so her diet was optimal to start with. After a month or two things settled back into normal and then she had another episode in October/11. Scans and tests do not reveal any stones or blocked ducts but 1/3 of her pancreas is necrotic. She was a healthy 25 yr old that by her own admission did drink beer and or wine but not to excess. The second attack has left her in pretty bad shape. She is 5'10" and started out at 118 lbs. She now weighs 105 because she cannot keep solid food down. She is on enzymes with no relief. Her diet is liquid only and she looks and feels awful. I am so worried about her. She is in a good hands medically as we live near St Louis so we have the best in medical care. She is on pain meds with no relief. She has missed so much work and is back in college to make herself more marketable.  She is sick and I am at a loss as how to help her.

[sweetdreamsfairy]

You should start looking for a pancreas expert, a GI whos sub-specialty is pancreas or biliary tracks. I have chronic pancreatitis and this disease is very hard to diagnose and be diagnosable with!  The thing that is hard with it is, which you have experienced, your scans can look normal and blood tests also and you still have pain,nausea, fatigue and the whole pancreatitis everything! The ER will not do anything about this because nothing is showing up on any of your tests and according to the its not an "emergency" so get to a GI fast! chronic pancreatitis is hard to diagnose so hang in there!

[michell221]

You may have chronic pancreatitis.  Find a biliary specialist soon.  You should get testing to determine if you have this or not.  If you do they will advise you what to do to help.

[amy0627]

I ended up in the emergancy room 2 days later and they checked my levels and did a ct scan said my pancreas lookd fine but I'm still having all the symptoms of pancreatitis.

[michell221]

Once you have an attack you are likely to get it again .  Did they say chronic pancreatitis or acute?  If acute I would think they would keep you in the ER.  People with CP often end up taking digestive enzymes to help digest food and they often are advised to eat very low fat and avoid alcohol and smoking.    You can have flares of acute pancreatitis so always go to er if you feel it coming on.