Sphincter of Oddi Dyskinesia

[CDDTZ]

After reading through the forum started in 1999 ther is no resolution to these peoples symtoms. You  mean in 8 years there has been no progress in this disease!!


This discussion is related to SPHINCTER OF ODDI DYSKINESIA.

[Lauraw7]

I was diagnosed with SOD 4 years ago....and am again having very similar pains on/off for the past 2 months.  It's incredibly frustrating.  I was eating very bland for a while and was feeling better until yesterday when I as I was eating I could feel the pain coming on and was doubled over for almost an hour.  Someone gave me an antispasmotic (sp?) med and I think it helped, unfortunately it made me incredibly sleepy and useless the rest of the day.

Today I don't have the pain, just a little ache, like if you were to pull a muscle.  I've had bloods done all normal.  I've also had another endoscopy & an MRCP (did not get results of 2nd one yet) but first one was normal.  I had the sphincterotomy 4 years ago - again it helped but this morning as I was showering thought - hmmm maybe I have scar tissue where they cut my pancreatic duct.  

I also had a stone stuck when I had my gall bladder out 14 years ago so they went in a week after surgery via ERCP and cut that - 4 years ago new GI doctor said it looked perfect no scarring or anything.  

Just frustrating to be feeling well and then all of a sudden it hits.  Guess I'm going to have to learn to live with it.

[CalGal]

I'm not sure what the other thread reported, however, 'fixing' SOD in some cases will depend on the type of SOD that is present - there are 3 types - and in some cases the way the body responds to what will be done to try to correct the problem. You can read about SOD at: http://hopkins-gi.nts.jhu.edu/pages/latin/templates/index.cfm?pg=disease1&organ=3&disease=12&lang_id=1

Although this and other information on the problem typically say it can be 'fixed' unfortuantely for some not a lot can be done. There is a study going on right now called EPISOD that is trying to look into at least one component of the problem. And when you realize what is involed in this problem, I think it's unfortunately apparent that it's going to be hard to try to solve it.

It's not really a disease, it's a syndrome which is a batch of symptoms that result from removal of the gallbladder that in some way triggers malfunction of the common bile duct and sphincter or Oddi. Is it due to the operation itself? Or is it due to spilling of sludge/stones into the common bile duct during surgery? Or is there another cause. In other cases, it appears that the spasms can actually be present before the GB is removed, and those spasms may be due to the formation of sludge - which could be formed from the way most of what we - as the population - eat.

At this point the cause of the syndrome isn't clear.

When it is due to spasms, and those spasms raise the pressure in the ducts - and it's verified by manometry - then a sphincterotomy and stenting can be done. In many cases, it helps. But when you cut any form of tissue you can end up with scar formation. So if the scar formation causes the sphincter to tighten up over a period of years, the condition can unfortuantely return.

This is NOT an easy problem to handle, but they are looking for answers.