need info...please :)

[Guest guest]

My mom (52) has just been diagnosed with pancreatitis. She is in the

hospital now and on antibiotics. I do not know what questions to ask

the doctor (he is not very helpful at all). I also am looking for

any tips on diet and support for her. I basically need to know what

I should do for her to make her comfortable. I am doing research on

here and have been to www.top5plus5.com which is helpful, but I am so

new to this that I feel I don't know enough. My mom was released

from the hospital earlier this week and sent home with no meds. The

next day she was hurting worse and I had to call the doc to get her

some pain meds, he gave her Vicadin. Later that day I was leaving to

go home, when I hugged her I noticed she had a fever. I brought her

to the hospital and she was readmitted. Why didn't the hospital put

her on antibiotics the first time...they said her white blood cell

count was elevated. The only tests that were done in the hospital

were a scope to look for ulcers(they found none) and a cat scan(they

said everything looked ok)...is that all that should be done? I will

be finding her a gastroenterologist on Monday (today is Saturday).

One more thing...she was an alcoholic and drank heavily about 6 years

ago. She hasn't had a drink since. I have read on here that she

possibly had chronic pancreatitis...or maybe I misunderstood. Any

answers and tips would be greatly appreciated.Thank you so much.

[Guest guest]

> My mom (52) has just been diagnosed with pancreatitis. She

is in the

> hospital now and on antibiotics. I do not know what questions

to ask

> the doctor (he is not very helpful at all).

Dear ,

You can learn much from this message board, and the

top5plus5 site can help you with your questions concerning your

mother. I have also posted some other helpful sites for research

below.

http://hopkins-gi.org/pages/latin/templates/

http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/digest/pubs/pancreas/pancreas.

htm

As said, this may just be an acute pancreatitis attack,

only time will tell. Your mother will need to follow a low fat diet

when she is released, and will need to continue to seek

consultation from a gastroenterologist for further treatment.

Usually CT-scans are reliable for showing pseudocysts, tumors,

calicifications, fluid collection and duct obstructions in the

pancreas, yet sometimes one can still have chronic pancreatitis

and the CT-scan will not show any abnormalties. If the

symptoms persist without improvement, then the physician

should require that other testing needs to be done to find the

cause of the problem.

You can help your mother by making sure that follow up is done

if she does not improve, or if she does improve but has further

pain and problems later on.

Let us know if there are any more questions you may need help

with.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

hhessgriffeth@...

Southeastern Representative

Pancreatitis Association, Intl.

http:www.pancassociation.org/storieshome.html#Heidi

[Guest guest]

> My mom (52) has just been diagnosed with pancreatitis. She

is in the

> hospital now and on antibiotics. I do not know what questions

to ask

> the doctor (he is not very helpful at all).

Dear ,

You can learn much from this message board, and the

top5plus5 site can help you with your questions concerning your

mother. I have also posted some other helpful sites for research

below.

http://hopkins-gi.org/pages/latin/templates/

http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/digest/pubs/pancreas/pancreas.

htm

As said, this may just be an acute pancreatitis attack,

only time will tell. Your mother will need to follow a low fat diet

when she is released, and will need to continue to seek

consultation from a gastroenterologist for further treatment.

Usually CT-scans are reliable for showing pseudocysts, tumors,

calicifications, fluid collection and duct obstructions in the

pancreas, yet sometimes one can still have chronic pancreatitis

and the CT-scan will not show any abnormalties. If the

symptoms persist without improvement, then the physician

should require that other testing needs to be done to find the

cause of the problem.

You can help your mother by making sure that follow up is done

if she does not improve, or if she does improve but has further

pain and problems later on.

Let us know if there are any more questions you may need help

with.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

hhessgriffeth@...

Southeastern Representative

Pancreatitis Association, Intl.

http:www.pancassociation.org/storieshome.html#Heidi