Katseye

[Guest guest]

Well, I guess it is how you look at it. Small duct disease may not

be amenable to surgery but it is suppose to be more responsive

to medical treatment (enzymes, etc). However if that doesn't

work, then the options available, like surgery, seem to be a shot

in the dark: for some it may work, for other's it won't and no-one

knows ahead of time which one you may be.

The biggest, absolute problem, in my opinion, with the small

duct disease aspect is that because there is no " proof " that it

exists in an individual that patient can be looked at as being

psychosomatic or over dramatic or having other problems not

connected to the real one (I am thinking IBS - mainly because of

personal experience). And when that happens, we all know the

psychological distress this causes: the self doubt, the self hate,

distrust of our doctors. And the physical harm that causes is

tragic: the delay in a true diagnosis can be so long that

irreversible changes / damage has already occured.

That to me is the hardest thing to come to terms with and which

is why I obsess a little over finding a clear, concise and

non-controversial opinion about pancreatitis because it seems

that when dealing with non-malignant but chronic diseases of

the pancreas, there are no " authoritative " views.

Laurie