Lasix and Pancreatitis

[Guest guest]

Steve,

You wrote, " I have acute and chronic pancreatitis for 4 years now. Mostly,

what all my M.D.s have come up with is very large doses of morphine, oxycontin,

aldactone, lasix, pangestyme, nuerontin, etc etc etc.... "

I appreciate your post and kind words re: PAI. In response to your situation

and the medications you listed, it may benefit you to look at the Lasix

which you are taking. I am not sure if you were taking this medication prior to

being diagnosed with pancreatitis or afterwards, but one of the adverse

reactions to Lasix is pancreatitis. This does not affect everyone, however, for

myself, I was placed on Lasix after developing severe peripheral edema (after my

diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis). Within 24 hours I had developed an acute

exacerbation of pancreatitis. After speaking with my PCP I immediately

discontinued the Lasix and my symptoms quickly resolved. I now list Lasix as a

medication allergy.

The Aldactone does not list pancreatitis as a side effect, primarily this is

because they are two different types of diuretics.

Medication side effects vary tremendously between individuals. It's

important to realize that the drug company is required to list every possible

side

effect. You will note that almost every medication lists: nausea / vomiting /

diarrhea as possible side effects. When they list pancreatitis, however, I pay

attention. Unless it is medically necessary that I take that particular

medication, then ask the pharmacist to look for any other possible alternative.

On the other hand, I also know individuals with pancreatitis that take Lasix

and state they do not feel the medication contributes to their symptoms.

A good website to look up medication and their side effects is:

_http://www.rxlist.com/_ (http://www.rxlist.com/) . I also simply type in the

drug name

into the main search engine and pull up a website from there. If you can find

the website for the drug manufacturer, then you will obtain the best

information.

Karyn E. , RN

Executive Director, PAI

Indianapolis, Indiana