Re: could this be pancreatitis?

[Guest guest]

I am in the process of trying to get the VA to recognize that my

lipids were three times normal (the trigs...chol was close to normal)

while on active duty and that my pancreatitis is a direct result of

that.

I asked a friend who is a Nurse Practitioner if she had any good

literature resources I could use showing that not all panc comes from

alcohol and gallbladder disease.

She gave me the name of the medical book called " on's

Principles of Internal Medicine " and told me there was a whole

section on the pancreas and a reference to the lipids. She also said

I could find it at any medical library. It just so happens that the

VA Hospital where I work has a medical library so I went there and

found the books (it's a large two volume set.)

The part about the pancreas is 12-15 pages long and goes into allll

diseases of the panc...but I was particularly interested to note the

lipid reference three times AND the variability of the enzymes, even

when having an attack....

I made a copy of it to send in with my VA claim if I should need

further proof that they are related....

If you guys have a VA or University nearby you could go into the

library and get a copy of the section that talks about the

unreliability of the amylase and lipase tests.

nice chatting with you ...thanks for the welcome everybody...

Jeannine

> ,

> that depends upon a lot of different factors. People who

> have chronic pancreatitis can frequently have normal or

> below normal enzyme levels. And there have been some people

> who have very high amylase levels all the time. I think it

> probably varies based upon the amount of damage done to the

> pancreas. Some others have had a mix, sometimes they are

> hight and sometimes they are normal, even though the pain is

> the same. This is why the Hopkin's GI website says that

> the amylase and lipase levels are not a good diagnostic tool

> for testing for pancreatitis, even though most hospitals use

> it as the main diagnostic tool. If it were me and I had

> normal levels (which I've had), I'd request additional tests

> such as CT scan, Ultrasound or Xray to see if the pancreas

> is swollen. I've been lucky enough that I have such a long

> history of pancreatitis that they admit me even if I have

> normal enzyme levels now. Hope this is of some help.

> Kimber

>

> --

> Kimber

> Vallejo, CA

> hominid2@c...

> Southwest and California Representative

> Pancreatitis Association, International