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[Guest guest]

Hi,

My name is Becky Ellington, I live in Warsaw, Indiana. I was

diagnosed with Acute Idiopathic

Pancreatitus in December of 1999. I am a 37 yr old married woman. I

have been a non drinker, smoker

or drug user all my life.

I had my first attack Christmas eve day. I was hospitilized for a

week. Since then I have had 2

other attacks that have landed me in the hospital. I have been put

through a battery of tests,

colonscopy, endoscopy,ultrasounds, cat scans, mri,exrays, numerous blood

tests, hida scan. I have seen

my family Dr. (who diagnosed me), an internist, a surgeon, a

hemotologist, and I was sent to I. U. Med

Center to see a gasteroentologist. Through all of this there have been

no answers as to what is going on

with me, or how I have acquired this disease. My next stop is to the

Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in July.

Having this disease does destroy your life as you once knew it. The

excrutiating pain you suffer

during an attack is like no other. During my first attack I begged my

husband to shoot me and take

away the pain. I have gone from a healthy and vibrant person to a

very sedentary person. Most days I

can not make it with out having to take a nap. I run fevers at the drop

of a hat. I have constant

throbbing pain, especially when i try to move anything with any sort of

weight. I can't even do simple

things like mow the grass.

I have lost my job of 4 years because I could not make it to work

everyday. I have been able to

keep my insurance under Cobra for how long I do not know. I am not able

to find another job right now

due to the pain medicine and the constant tiredness.

All of the Doctors I have been to want to put you on anti

depressants, when you complain of the

constant tiredness. I feel this is mostly due to the fact that they

don't know what else to do for you.

this is quite frustrating for me because I am not depressed, I am ill.

I have not lost any weight and look

very healthy. So when you tell people you are sick they don't believe

you. My doctors run blood tests,

they are more abnormal than they are normal. I continue to have a high

sed rate and constant anemia, as

well as a high white count. Yet no one can figure all of this out.

My family is quite supportive and understanding. My friends

ridicule my health care always wanting

me to find another doctor to fix me. They do not understand that I am

not able to keep switching

doctors due to my health insurance provider. Every new doctor means

more tests, repeating my story

over and over, and constantly trying to find a way to convince this

doctor I am really sick and not

depressed.

When i found the Pancreatitus net work I was in a panic because I

had no idea what I was dealing

with. Since then i have become informed through others story and have

found out that most of what I

have gone through someone else has expierienced as well. Karyn has been

a god send and a wealth of

information. Through this group I have found support and information,

as well as others doctors

opinions.

Without this group I would still be in a fog, believing that these

attacks are a one time thing and will go

away in time, as all my doctors have told me. Unfortunatly it isn't

going away, it only gets worse.

We really need your help in getting public awareness and people to

listen. Maybe your article will

spark a physican to look further into what has destroyed our lives.

Thank you for your interest in this

group and please feel free to email me @ briffle@....

Becky Riffle-Ellington

Warsaw, Indiana