Any ideas? to Kim

[Guest guest]

Hi Kim,

Your post brought to mind a recent article that I read that

suggests that pancreatitis can be associated with sjogrens

syndrome, crohn's disease, lupus, hashimoto's thyroiditis, a type

of primary sclerosing cholangitis and others. What these all

have in common are the suspicions that these are

auto-immune. Thus it is thought that the pancreatitis associated

with these disorders is also autoimmune. The joint and muscle

pain that you mention in your subsequent post can also be

consistent with an autoimmune process. However, as you know,

joint / muscle pain is all very general, non-specific symptoms so

you cannot jump to any conclusions. I just offer this information

as a response to your plea to help think of other possible

causes for your pancreatitis. As far as I know, there is no easy

way to test for autoimmune pancreatitis but there is known

laboratory tests, physical exams as well as radiological

proceduress that can help pinpoint a possible auto-immune

process. If this is something that you and your physician think is

worthwhile pursuing, a consultation and referral to a good

rheumatologist would be your best bet for ruling out or

diagnosing an auto-immune disease. You just have to keep in

mind, that even with the best rheumatologist, this process can

take a considerable amount of time - some times you just have

to watch the disease evolve in order to diagnose exactly which

connective tissue disorder you are dealing with. But a

rheumatologist is about the best doctor to be evaluating a

person at this point as she / he is an expert in picking up the

subltle nuances of the different diseases. This is one area of

medicine where expertise and patience is the key to figuring out

what is going on.

Laurie