My 24 year old boyfriend has been hospitalized for acute pancreatitis 3 times: 03/07, 02/08, 05/08. He previously drank a lot, though he quit completely before the 3rd attack occured. CT revealed 2 pseudocysts. He has been referred to a specialist for an EUS, however he has no insurance and just applied for medicaid, which takes lots of time. The pain is reccurrent and he is barely able to eat or do much of anything. We're assuming the cysts are causing the pain - is it possible for them to be causing the pain and pancreatitis attacks? Or could there be something causing the cysts AND pain, such as a blockage or something? Chronic pancreatitis has been ruled out- doc says there are no signs of chronic and each attack was just acute. He hasn't consumed ANY alcohol since feb (after 2nd attack), but does smoke ciggarettes (though cutting down to close to nothing).
What is causing this problem with his pancreas? How can we get these cysts removed? What should we do??? We will be back in the emergency any moment now, but all they do is sit him there until his enzymes go down and send him home. Help!