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[Guest guest]

I was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis while I was out of town on a

business trip in Kansas City. My amylase and lipase were both through

the roof (approx 10-15x normal). I was sent for an ultrasound and Cat

scan, which showed a lot of fluid around my pancreas but no gall

stones. Although, I had some nausea, it was more like intense gas

pain with a lot of abdominal distension. My kids laugh because they

say I think everything is gas. I was without insurance at the time

and so after recieving IV fluids for 5 days and instructed to have my

gall bladder removed 6 weeks later. When I questioned why, since I

had no gallstones. They said that I would form some more, that they

believed I had passed them. They were surprised to hear that I had

had similar pains (although much less intense) since my teens.

I never returned to the doctor, despite several other episodes of

intense pain...I just would stop eating for a day. I just saw no

reason to remove a gall bladder that wasn't filled with stones.

Anyway, I am the strage sort and tried an all fruit diet and was

shocked to find I gained 5 pounds in 1 week with a seemingly frequent

pain...was not sure if it was my gall bladder or pancreas, but

nonetheless terrified.

I began a search on the web, using the search term amenses and weight

gain. I used these terms because this was another condition I had

reported to my doctor for 15 years and no one seemed to be concerned,

especially since I had 4 children. I found a syndrome called

polycystic ovarian syndrome, which said that most women go

undiagnosed. The reason this would be relevant to this group is that

it causes high cholesterol which is the main source of the formation

of gall stones. I had high cholesterol and high blood pressure and

many of the other symptoms assoc. with this syndrome.

Still, I had no insurance and sought to see how this was managed

naturally. What I found was that hyerinsulinemia seemed to be the

cause of this syndrome and many women were advocating the high

protein/low carbohydrate diet. I had focused on the high

carbohydrate/low fat diet for years, yet my cholestrol was still

extremely high. So, when I was discharged with pancreatitis and told

low fat, this was nothing new. I was terrified to try it, but started

out going high protein, low fat; but have since discovered that the

fat does not trouble me...the carbs do.

Since that time, (over a year) I have maintained the high protein

diet with lots of veggies and vitamins and have had no reoccurences

of pain. My blood pressure is lower than it's ever been and so I

assume that my cholesterol must be down (it was around 360). At the

age of 35, my feet looked like an old woman's with thick yellow

nails. My skin looks great and I cycle normally, now. I feel like

this diet has given me my life back.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?