Pseudocyst pain to , was: Gaining weight with panc

[Guest guest]

wrote:

> How do they tell if you have a pseudocyst? I'm assuming from visual

testing, i.e., CT scan or MRCP but what if it's say on the back side

of the pancreas? Would they be able to see it then? And does that

cause " different " pain than the day to day panc pain

>I get this feeling like there is someone pouring battery acid all

over my middle (under the ribs) and it goes all the way around the

back up into my shoulder blades. This is a different pain than the

day to day panc pain I have been having since Feb 04. My skin

actually gets hot and I've told my husband on numerous occasions that

he could probably fry an egg on my stomach if he wanted to. Is that

the way a pseudocyst feels?<

walt wrote:

>As it is the small intestine that they used to reconstruct things

after they removed the choledochal cyst that consumed the bile duct

and gall bladder.<

,

Excuse me for butting in, but I wanted to relate my experience with

pancreatic pseudocysts, as you asked Walt about them, but the type of

cyst that he had was not a pseudocyst, but a choledochal cyst, which

is quite different than a pancreatic pseudocyst. I don't believe that

Walt has had a pseudocyst, but I may be wrong, and I don't think he's

even up this early....lol!

I've had two pseudocysts in my pancreas for the last 4-1/2 years, one

in the tail and one in the upper mid section closer to the head. If a

pseudocyst were located on the back side of the pancreas, it would

still be visible by a CT-scan. A CT film shows both front and back

areas of the pancreas very clearly. With the newer spiral imaging

the cross sections are sliced very close together and pseudocysts or

tumors are easily visible. I've had 18 CT-scans and my pseudocysts

have been visible in every one.

Although the pain from a pseudocyst IS different than the pain from

day to day chronic pancreatitis, in my experience it has never felt

like battery acid, or as though there were a burning sensation,

either internally or on the outside of the body as you describe. The

pain, (for me), appears to be more centralized in the area where the

pseudocysts are, other than all throughout the pancreas as it does

with chronic pancreatitis. For me, it is a gnawing, insistent,

dulled pain located in mid and lower left abdomen, that very rarely

radiates to the back anymore except in extreme situations. The pain

is strong, going as high as 8-9 when irritated, but just not as

" sharp " as before. Yet never could I have used the adjectives

" burning " or " hot " in my descriptions of pseudocyst pain.

When my CP was rampant and active prior to my burn out, the pain was

much sharper, like having a knife twisting in the abdomen, with a

band of ever increasing, tightening pain around the base of my ribs,

bottom of the sternum, making it feel difficult to take deep breaths.

That pain always radiated to the mid back and upper left shoulder

blade, sometimes up into the neck. I've only experienced the upper

left shoulder blade pain once in the last 2-1/2 years since burn out,

and it was not as severe as it used to be.

Being as I would most often experience both chronic pancreatitis and

pseudocyst pain at the same time before my advanced condition came

about, it was often difficult to differentiate between the two, not

knowing which was which. My awareness of the pseudocyst pain is more

recognizable now, clearly because of the absence of the overall

chronic pancreatitis pain, so it's only been in this advanced stage

that I've been able to define between the two.

In the past, I've been able to use a full book of adjectives;

throbbing, stabbing, twisting, gnawing, piercing, radiating,

twisting, tightening, piercing, etc. Those were all in my CP

vocabulary, yet burning or hot never made the list. To the best of

my recollection, it's only been people with SOD, GERD or

Gastroparisis that have been able to claim those sensations - but I

may be wrong about this, as each of us is different, and YMMV. :-)

That's just my take on pseudocyst pain.....everybody's different.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

Bluffton, SC

SC State & SE Regional Representative

Pancreatitis Association, International

Note: All comments or advice are based on personal experience or

opinion only, and should not be substituted for professional medical

consultation.