Re: Pancreatitis to Howard, TazLady

[....5-6-7-8]

Thanks for all of your info.  This forum is awesome!  Howard, you are so right,...  being able to talk (write) about our problems to others in similar situations, is a big help.  Your analogy about the pancreas being like a sleeping rottwieller, is too funny -- but I'm afraid it's true.  I have concluded the same.  

To Taz, OHMYGOD, ...YEARS TO DIAGNOSE???  I will positively die of pain in the meantime!!!  I just don't understand why the doctors are so reluctant to treat (suspected) pancreatitis.  Nothing shows in my blood tests, so I must be fine. (Ya, right.)
If the treatment is to rest the pancreas, no food, etc., then why don't they just have me do this?  It would be a lot easier to deal with, than these painful flare-ups.  I have actually tried to self-treat & abstain from all food,- I can't do it any longer than a day and a half.   When I get "stuck" in a bad attack, it's  been the only thing that can get me over that "hump" and into a more tolerable zone.  
A couple of times when I self-treated myself like this I became almost pain-free for a couple of weeks.  It always returns.  My pain begins mildly & builds over a few days.  Usually within a week I'm back in this awful pain cycle that lasts about a month.
Twice, I have been able to overcome the intense pain, by stopping food.  I too, can absolutely NOT overeat as it is horribly painful. (If I get too hungry as well, the pain will begin.)

I am wondering if anyone else has tried to stay away from food & seen similar improvement?  Also, does hunger bring on symptoms in pancreatitis for anyone else?

[Kelly L]

My son has also been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis, he is also on creon and ranitadine for the rest of his life, they have operated on him five times now as he had cytsts which infected most of his bowel, but he is also still in a awful lot of pain thats why they have decided to put a tube in to his pancreatic duct to widen it, i have been told this can cause another bout of pancreatitis is this true? and does any one know what this is called?
A couple more questions that someone might be able to help me with> What is chroic fibrosing pancreatitis?
      does any one know what a MRSA scan is?
My son was diagnosed when he was four does this really last forever!!!

[Jo England]

My son who has just turned 8 was diagnosed with Chronic Pancreatitus last year, after living through weeks of hell, with no-one believeing the pain he was in we finally (cutting the story very short) had him diagnosed at Great Ormand street, London.  He has two cycst removed from the pancreas in June but continued to have servere pain.  He is now under a consultant, who has put him on medication called Pancreatin (Creon), he takes this with food  before this he was always "rested" and was put nil bu mouth for ddays at a time, but every time he started to eat again the pain would return.  He has to follow a VERY LOW FAT diet and along with the medication he is now able to eat without being in pain.  The medication works by stopping the pancreas producing the enzymes needed to break the food down,  the medication containes the enzymes the body needs and so the pancreas does not need to work so hard.  

Unfortunately he is on this medication for life and may even have to have a tube inserted into his pancreatic duct as this is narrowed at the opening due to the Chronic Pancreatitus.

I hope this helps, we didn't realise when he first had pain that fat is broken down by the pancreas as well as sugar.

[Magster]

I tolerated similar symptoms for quite sometime with every test be normal.  I begged the gastroenterologist to prescribe Pancrease as I had taken in the past to help similar symptoms.  Pancrease has various enzymes.  I take two before meals and the symptoms virtually have disappeared.

See if your Dr. will prescribe this for you.

Best of Luck!

[howardbell]

Hello 5678, hope you had a nice xmas, and everyone else,your comments about eating are very true, I,m sure the pancreas reacts
to different types of food all the time, but we all have to eat!
right!starving yourself may help for a while but it,s not the long term answer, when I was in the hospital I went for 10 days
with no food to give my pancreas a rest, I wonder has your Doctor
diagnosed chronic pancreatitis? as I understand it several acute
attacks can lead to this condition, I think I,m borderline at the moment, I just lay off the alcohol, (difficult when you live in a village with 26 pubs (bars)you should get some good diet tips in this forum there is a lot of experience between us all!
it helps to talk.
Have you had a c.a.t scan to see if your pancreas is enflamed or
if you have cyst,s. You sound as though youve had several attacks
I hope your condition improves with the right diagnosis maybe then you can look at your diet again,
Take care. howard

[tld1973]

Hi, I have chronic pancreatitis and have found that if I get too hungry I will have pain too, it's strange and I thought it was just me! yes, I too will stay away from food as long as possible to get rid of the pain,  but then comes that not eating pain if I go too long, can't win, it's either pain because I ate, or pain because I have gone too long without eating enough!

Tanya:}