Re: home from the hospital -- to

[Guest guest]

Hi again !

It sounds like at least your Surgeon is on the ball! I'd personally

kick your GI to the curb!I bet if it were him having the attacks he'd

done something sooner!

Thanx for your input on liver enz.

Hope whatever is causing your pain & sickness is remedied quickly and

painlessly!

God's Blessings to you!

Cyndie :-)

In pancreatitis@y..., " Weston " wrote:

> Cyndie,

> I think it is normal for the liver enzymes to be elevated when the

pancreas is acting up. However, until my surgeon got involved, my GI

was saying that something other than the pancreas was causing the

pancreatitis. He based this on the fact that I had pain even when

the pancreas enzymes were normal and the pancreas looked fine on the

ct scans, mrcp, and ultrasound. My liver enzymes have been

consistently elevated since at least March. Sometimes only slightly

elevated, but other times they have been more than 20 times the

normal limit.

>

> The sphincter of oddi problem does sound exactly like what I have

going on. I think the pancreas may look okay on all the tests only

because it may not have yet sustained enough damage to show up on the

tests. However, I do believe that it is only a matter of time before

the pancreas becomes permanently damaged and this will turn into

chronic panc if they don't do something to keep me from having these

repeated attacks. Granted, I have had too many attacks to count

since this problem resurfaced on Jul 18th. The amylase and lipase

were only elevated two times out of the 6 times I've had blood work

done during an attack. The liver enzymes were elevated every time

except one.

>

> My GI was willing to simply sit back and do nothing and let me keep

having the attacks. However, my surgeon feels that they must do

something now to try and prevent the attacks before this definitely

turns into chronic panc vs recurring acute attacks.

>

> My surgeon first talked about doing a liver biopsy but after

reviewing all my tests, he said the only thing that really makes

sense with my case is a sphincter of oddi problem that is causing

three scenarios with me

> 1. pain and nausea but not enough irritation to the pancreas

or liver to raise the enzyme levels

> 2. pain and nausea with enough irritation to the liver to

raise the liver enzymes but not enough irritation to the pancreas to

raise the pancreas enzymes

> 3. pain and nausea with the sphincter of oddi malfunctioning

enough to cause irritation to the liver and pancreas and raise both

the pancreas and liver enzyme levels

>

>

>

> Re: home from the hospital

>

>

> Hi ,

> Welcome home! This is new member Cyndie from Indiana.

> I wanted to say something in regard to elevated liver enzymes.

More

> often than not, my Amylase is only slightly elevated or sometimes

> even normal, but my liver enzymes are always sky-high! My GI said

> that was because of the close proximity of the liver & pancreas

and

> the adjoining bile ducts and that it was " normal " for the liver

> enzymes to be effected also. Last month my PCP did some routine

> blood work on me and noted that the liver enz. were high and just

> asked if I had just gotten over an acute attack w/ Mr. P and I

told

> him yes that I had 2 weeks before.

> Then at other times when I've not had a recent attack my liver

enz.

> will be normal.

> So, I don't know what to think now. Maybe I SHOULD be concerned

about

> my liver, huh?

> Anybody???

> Take care and best of luck & God's Blessings with the

> procedure/surgery next month.

> Cyndie :-)

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> In pancreatitis@y..., " Weston " wrote:

> > Well, I am home once again. I thought when I went to the

hospital

> that the surgeon was going to go ahead and do a laporotomy to

look at

> the pancreas and also do a liver biopsy. After he admitted me,

he

> decided he wasn't sure if that's what they should do. When I got

to

> the hospital on Wed. evening, my amylase and lipase were normal.

> However, my liver enzymes were higher than they had been the day

> before. The liver enzymes more than doubled from Wednesday night

to

> Thursday morning, but then this morning they were starting to go

back

> down.

> >

> > My surgeon talked at length with my GI and a couple of GIs at

his

> hospital. The GIs at my surgeons hospital said I was much too

> complex a case for them to feel comfortable with, They both said

> they send their difficult cases to Dr. Sigman, who is my GI. So,

my

> surgeon said I am probably with the best GI (for panc stuff) in

the

> area. Anyway, they have now decided that the sphincter of oddi

has

> to be causing my problems. The surgeon said there is no way that

> adhesions would cause the liver and pancreas enzymes to be

elevated.

> The surgeon explained that the sphincter of oddi is not

functioning

> properly at times. He said this is the cause of the pain and

> nausea. He said at times it's functioning so poorly that it is

> irritating the pancreas and causing the enzymes to rise. He said

at

> other times it is only malfunctioning enough to irritate the

liver

> and keep the liver enzymes elevated. He said sometimes it might

only

> be malfunctioning enough to cause me severe pain and nausea but

not

> mess up the blood levels.

> >

> > On Wednesday, the GI is going to go in and open the duct more

so

> the sphincter of oddi can work properly. If that does not work,

the

> next step will be a sphincteroplasty. However, the surgeon said

that

> is a very major and difficult surgery. The surgeon gave me the

> choice of staying in the hospital or going home and coming back

on

> Wednesday. I elected to come home. He sent me home with plenty

of

> pain meds. He told me to take the meds round the clock and to

not

> allow my pain to get bad. He gave me mepergan fortis

> (demerol/phenergan) and said I could take up to 3 at a time if I

need

> to. He also told me if it gets worse again, I am to contact him

> immediately.

> >

> > Obviously, from the amount of drugs he is willing to give me,

he

> truly believes me when I tell him the pain is severe.

> >

> > Anyway, I am much better than I was Wednesday. I'm going to

just

> eat light between now and next Wed. when they do the procedure.

> >

> > I am also going to monitor my blood sugar over the next few

days.

> >

> > Thanks to everyone for all your concern, prayers, and

encouragement.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >