Re: Prevent Cholangitis Attacks????

[Guest guest]

Beth,

My experience has been that cholangitis attacks can come on within a matter of a couple of hours or over the course of days. It sounds like something was brewing with you having the URQ pain for a while before things got acute.

After dealing with these awful attacks for nearly 20 years now (and I am prone to them a lot) I have cued into my own little telltale signs (in any combination: pain and weakness in my legs, awful taste in my mouth, headache, overall extreme fatigue, URQ pain, loss of appetite, nausea, etc...). More often than not, I start a preemptive course of antibiotics ASAP. I know this goes against the now conventional wisdom, which warns against overuse of antibiotics...and that there are many other things that can sometimes cause similar symptoms. But at this point...I can usually tell if they are pre-cholangitis symptoms. And I have to wonder, which is worse for the body...a short round of oral antibiotics now and then (even if it was a false alarm) or waiting until an attack requires hospitalization and all sundry of IV drugs? With the exception of one time in the last three years, the preemptive strategy works for me and has kept me out of the hospital. It's a huge savings in dollars and lost productivity. Plus, who wants to feel that sick if they don't have to? Sometimes I am able to get ahead of the curve enough to where I only feel a little lousy for a day. Other times, if I'm a little late in getting the antibiotics in I will still have an attack, but less severe with only 2-3 days of being sickly at home.

Obviously, cholangitis is not something to take lightly and can kill you! I'm not a doctor and this should be discussed with your physician. I have met with lots of resistance on this subject for many years with various doctors who don't want to keep me in a standing prescription of antibiotics to take when and as I see fit. I've always resented having to wait until I'm full blown sick to get antibiotics and just don't stand for it anymore.

Jeff in FL

PSC 1989

Does a cholangitis attack come on quick like that????Also when you feel an attack coming on what do you do to try to prevent it from getting to being a full blown attack??? It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.