Bleeding during attacks

[Guest guest]

Hi

Just wanted to know if any of U out there have had this

complication :

For the last 2 weeks i've been loosing about 1 L (a bit more than 2

pints) of blood whenever i'm having an pancreatic attack. I'm

currently hospilized tried to find the exact source of bloodloss.

I'm only bleeding during and shortly after an attack so most of the

test so far haven't shown the source because they've been taking to

long after an attack. During the last year i've begun to get cysts

and have had some removed. The hospital have found a new small cyst

and works with the theory that this cyst have damaged some

blodvessels in my pancreas, but for now its only a theory. Read

somewhere that a cyst itself could bleed but its a fairly small cyst

compared to the onces i've allready have had removed and its such a

big blood loss, so both I and the hospital are very puzzled. Havn't

had an attack for a few days and have had bloodtransfusions so my

bloodlevel is normal and i'm feeling fairly good (where very dizzy

and nauseas(because of low blood + attacks of cource) and therefore

able to write this message now :-).

As said I would like to know if any of U have experienced the same ?

It troubles me a bit because it raise the danger level of my (our:-)

disease quite a bit. I mean normally an attack isn't excatly

dangerous, " just " very painfull, but now it could acctually kill me

if i didn't get blood transfusion after every other attack.

As a note: I'm suffering from heridetary pancreatitis and have been

for most my life, even though it didn't get diagnosed until i was

15. I'm know 23.

P.s: I'm danish, so my spelling isn't perfect :-)

Kind Regards

Aas Andersen

[Guest guest]

,

I have a large pseudocyst, but fortunately have never had this problem. I've

researched extensively all problems that could occur, though, there's one

thing that I've read about that would cause these heavy bleeding problems, so

I'll discuss it for your consideration.

Have the doctors considered that you may have developed a pancreatic

pseudoaneurysm? The normal indications that this may be present would

have been an increase in abdominal pain, with decreasing hemocratic values

and gastrointestinal bleeding with no obvious intraluminal cause.

When a pseudocyst develops into a pancreatic pseudoanuerysm, it can be a

visceral artery pseudoaneurysm, and often attached to the splenic artery,

which runs along the pancreas bed, before it reaches the spleen. This artery

is most commonly afffected by the erosive effect of pancreatitis, and bleeding

is caused by the erosion of the pseudoaneurysm into a vessel. When it

erodes, it bleeds into the bowel, biliary tree or peritoneal cavity.

The way they check to determine whether a patient with pseudocysts has a

pseudoaneurysm is by doing an angiography to find it's location. You didn't

mention whether they had done any testing to see if perhaps, this is what

could be causing the bleed?

If the bleeding were caused by a pseudoaneurysm eroding into a vessel,

specific procedures to embolize the bleeding vessel would need to be

performed as soon as possible. I also have material that explains that.

Your English is excellent, I didn't realize you weren't from the US until you

told

us you were a Dane. What hospital are you being treated at?

Please keep in touch with us and let us know how you're doing. Your

situation is serious and I'm sure you would feel better having someone to talk

to.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

www.pancassociation.org/anthology#Heidi.html

Bluffton, SC

SC State & SE Regional Representative

Pancreatitis Association, International

www.health.groups.yahoo.com/group/pancreatitis/

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should

not be substituted for professional medical consultation.

[Guest guest]

Hi , I've been thru the pancreatitis ringer myself and never had

any blood loss or bleeding during an attack. I hope you can get this

diagnosed..best of luck to you...Jim

[Guest guest]

,

I can't answer any of your questions but I just wanted to let you know

you are in my thoughts and prayers. I hope they get to the bottom of thing

quickly.

Love,

w

Wisconsin

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[Guest guest]

Hi

Thanks for your answer.

I've gotten an normal scope test, but i'm getting an angiography on

monday so i hope they'll find the source of the bloodloss with that

test. Furthermore i going to get an bloodvessel test where they inject

contrast fluids into your main arteri to locate any bleeding. But

they're not gonna perform the test untill i get another attack

(shouldn't take to long for that to happen :-)

Thats pretty much whats been planned for know so i really hope the

angiography shows something. I got a ct scan of my panreas which

showed the small cyst but nothing else.

I'm at a hospital called Odense University Hospital (Odense is the

city i live in) They got an expert in the pancreas, who have some

knowledge in pancreatitis but they're still kind of baffled by this

complication.

Kind Regards

Andersen