Whipple, BS, Pre-Diabetes

[Guest guest]

Kathleen,

I have not personally had a Whipple, but have spoken to several

persons who have undergone the Whipple procedure. They seem to have a

substantial amount of islet cells remaining in the body and tail of

the pancreas that are able to produce sufficient insulin without

taking any supplemental amount. The theory is that the majority of

islet cells are housed within the tail of the pancreas. It is for this

reason that I quickly became insulin dependent following my Distal

Pancreatectomy, which removed the tail of my pancreas and two/thirds

of the body.

There are many different factors that play into this equation. The

first is that the amount of pancreatic tissue resected or removed

during the Whipple is not a standard. It depends on the location of

stones, disease, etc., etc., etc. There are a couple of modified

Whipple procedures whose focus is not necessarily on removing diseased

pancreatic tissue, as much as it is in re-routing the main pancreatic

duct so that it drains into the intestine. The original Whipple

procedure was to remove pancreatic cancer located in the head of the

pancreas.

Research states that pancreatitis is a progressive disease and that,

over time, the disease will extend throughout the pancreas. As this

occurs, there will be progressive destruction of the islet cells which

remain housed within the beta cells throughout the remaining pancreas.

This should not be taken lightly, even though, this disease

progression may take many, many years to result in a person being

insulin dependant.

Due to the prognostic data that the current research provides, the PAI

encourages anyone who has any type of pancreatic surgery to consider

themselves " pre-diabetic " . Actually, anyone with pancreatitis should

do so, as well. The American Diabetes Association also supports this

position. They have a large amount of information on prediabetes on

their website located at: www.diabetes.org

Pancreatitis is a catastrophic disease, as we all know. Pancreatitis

induced diabetes can be incredibly overwhelming. Adapting a lifestyle

based on having " pre-diabetes " will provide the best optimum outcome

and quality of life. This provides an opportunity for early

recognition of elevated blood sugars and promotes intervention with

supplemental insulin, if required. Additionally, diabetes requires a

huge learning curve. To initiate diabetes education before you are in

the thick of the disease just makes it much easier. It is less

threatening because time is not of the essence. Time to learn, plan,

organize, etc. Time to find out what works for you and what could be

better. Time to name, claim, embrace, and release all the emotions

that are normal.

Karyn , RN

Executive Director, PAI

[Guest guest]

Karyn,

I have been a diabetic for 12 years or so, So I am good on that and you are

right, it's a HUGE learning curve! The first year I was diabetic was nothing

short of h (AT) ll (DOT) My Whipple will be more for draining. The way my anatomy is now,

I do not have the ability to drain. We will remove the bile ducts as they don't

work anyway and this will relieve me of the SOD. Cutting the stomach in 1/2

should help the gastroparisis and of course cutting the head of my pancreases

off will enable me to drain. We are doing the Whipple now with the plan of doing

the TP/ICT in a year, unless of course I do great and have a lot of relief and

everything is good and well. I am really excieted about being able to drain! I

think that will be so cool. Even if I come out of this with only that ability,

it's worth it! I honestly think I will get more relief though.-Kathleen