Guest guest Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 My husband has chronic pancreatitis and prior to any surgeries, he was unusual in that he never suffered from nausea or vomiting. He had his first surgery to attach a cist to the stomach and about 6 months later again started suffering attacks. He then started having nausea which was new to him. In September, he had another surgery in which he lost 70% of his pancreas due to calcification. Last week he started having severe nausea, and we are very concerned about it. He has not had any pain with it, just horrible nausea. Last night was terrible. He has not vomitted however. There has been a virus going around and he is hoping that that is what is causing this. I can tell he is very worried and that he might have felt some pain and just doesn't want to say it. Does this sound like it is starting up again? Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks, Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 Becky wrote: > My husband has chronic pancreatitis and prior to any surgeries, he was unusual in that he never suffered from nausea or vomiting. Last week he started having severe nausea, and we are very concerned about it. He has not had any pain with it, just horrible nausea. Does this sound like it is starting up again? Dear Becky, It may be that your husband is starting a severe episode. Nausea is weird, and not everyone has it regularly. Some people have it all the time and have to stay on anti-nausea medication on a regular basis. Before I was diagnosed, I was nausiated ofen, probably a couple times a week. Once my diagnosis was made and I started on pancreatic enzyme supplements, the nausea stopped. Now the only time I get nausiated is right before an acute attack, it's sort of a warning sign for me that worse is yet to come. Same goes for vomitting. Or, maybe he's just lucky (if you can call a virus lucky), and that's all it is. If he is having any pain associated with the nausea, then I would suspect it may be another bad episode and you will know within a couple days if it's going to get any worse. I hope this helps with your questions. With hope and prayers, Heidi Heidi H. Griffeth South Carolina SC & SE Regional Rep. PAI, Intl. Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should never be substituted for consultation with a medical professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2004 Report Share Posted March 16, 2004 Becky wrote: > You were so right, he did have an attack the day after I wrote this post. Becky, My computer died on Monday and we've just now gotten it back in working order. You may have posted again since your husband's attack, but I haven't had a chance to go through two days of posts, yet. How is he doing? It didn't surprise me to hear that an attack was what his recent symptoms were leading up to. Unfortunately, I've gotten pretty experienced at reading the signs as far as those go!! I don't know whether this is a blessing in disguise or a curse! You mentioned that with 70% of your husband's pancreas gone, that you were hoping that he was reaching the burnout stage. There is that possibility that this is what this most recent attack is forecasting. I do know that in my situation, the three months before my burnout were some of the most painful periods of my journey with CP. Once it happened, and I was hospitalized with DKA, the pain stopped entirely and I was without pain meds for three months afterward. My doctor felt that if my pseudocysts had not enlarged again with debris and inflamation, that I probably would have continued to be practically pain free. He feels that with the absence of the pseudocysts I would be able to get off pain medication entirely, that it is only the pseudocysts now that are causing my pain. So I am hopeful that they will resolve some time, and that there may be this to look forward to. There is that possibility that this is what your husband is going through now, and that once that old pancreas has done burned itself out....that he may have some pain free days ahead of him. Only time will tell, but it would be great to think that this could happen for him. The only downside to this is that with the loss of pancreas function, there's a strong possibility, (to put it mildly) of diabetes. Possilbility may be too gentle, so I should change that to probability of diabetes. I do hope that your husband's doctor's have tested him for diabetes, and that they encourage you to look out for all the symptoms on a regular basis now. It's best to be prepared for this and to know what to look for and how to treat it beforehand, other than have to try to deal with it without any prior education. Has this been discussed with your husband? As a result of my experiences, I am a type 1 brittle diabetic. With strict control by daily glucose testing (finger pricks 8-12 times daily), and shooting insulin 6-10 times each day, I have managed to keep it fairly well controlled. My last A1C was 5.6%, which means that I have kept it at non-diabetic levels as much as possible. I tell you this just to explain that the diabetes can be controlled on most occasions, and in my opinion, is far easier to deal with than the continual misery from pancreas pain every day. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to post again. I hope your husband is recovering well from this last attack. With hope and prayers, Heidi Heidi H. Griffeth South Carolina SC & SE Regional Rep. PAI, Intl. Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should never be substituted for consultation with a medical professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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