Did you have your gallbladder removed before your diagnoses of pancreatitis? You may actually have SOD, can you give more information?
I was diagnosed with pancreatitis and it caused my enzymes to go up
I haven't had an ERCP done, and hope I'm not forced to have one! So far I don't see anybody with relief from it. I had my GB removed in mid-2007 and since have had 6 sudden severe upper abdonminal pain attacks which radiates into the back. My doctor is on call for me to give me a blood test for liver and pancreatic enzyme levels within the first 12 hours of my next attack.
I mentioned this before to Margie34, that I asked my homeopathist who I am now under his care, if my drinking a whole glass of whole milk when I'm feeling the pain coming on (gulping) the milk down, could it be helping me. My sudden pains have lasted so far about 30 to 40 minutes and then subside. He said maybe, because milk is fatty and fatty forces the sphincter to open. hmmmm. What is so weird, I don't drink milk, except when I have a bowl of cereal once a week, and when I grab the milk it's like a wait for the milk to take affect and I know the pain will go away. I don't know where I got this weird idea. It's like when you take something for a headache and wait for the medication to kick in so the headache will go away.
They did insert a stent. From what you're saying, it could still spasm, right? That makes me feel much better. It's three days since the ERCP and I am still have periodic pain--sometimes very intense lasting for hours. I hope that it's just recovery from the stent placement. I thought once the gallbladder was removed that my pain was over--instead it seems like it was just a beginning.
Thanks for responding.
If they didn't stent or use botox, it's possible that the common bile duct or sphincter of Oddi spasmed. This would cause a backlash and result in bile backup to the liver. This can cause extremely elevated enzyme levels.
The sphincter can spasm even if a sphincterotomy was done.