Charmaine-acute vs. chronic

[Guest guest]

Dear Charmaine,

This probably isn't what you wanted to hear, and I'm sorry to be the one to

bring suspicion of a chronic condition to the forefront. But, it sounds like it

to

me.

I'm sorry to hear that your birthday was spent in the hospital. So was mine,

and NPO no less!! There seems to be a lot of this happening, out of the three

support groups I belong to, (this group, a low-carb diabetes group and a

chronic pain group) I've heard of at least eight of us spending our birthdays in

the hospital laid up with our illnesses. No fun at all. I was 52 in October.

If acute pancreatitis has been your complaint in the past, and you're now

having these episodes on a more regular schedule, I do think you may have

joined the ranks of the chronic patients. Don't worry, we will love you all the

same!

As far as the problems with the veggie chips, goes, I wouldn't give up on them

entirely, just yet. Sometimes what irritates us one day, doesn't the next, and

vice-versa. Yet it they had been fried, as opposed to baked, they probably

would have been too much to handle. When I had CP alone, I found that I

could tolerate a baked chip, but not the " normal " ones, which are fried. Now

with diabetes, chips are a forbidden food altogether...alas, too many carbs!

So don't give up on that just yet, tomorrow may well be a different day

altogether and you may be just fine with them!

Discuss this with your doctor this week, and see what he has to say about it.

It really shouldn't make any drastic adjustments to your treatment, except that

you will need to be ever so more conscious of your low fat diet and won't

have any champagne to bring in the new year. You'll also need to talk to him

about enzyme supplements, if you aren't on them already, and the ever so

important discussion of pain medication for a chronic condition. The

requirements for pain medication, especially that which may eventually need

to be used on a daily, continuous basis are important, very important, so that

you can continue to maintain some quality of life with a chronic pain condition.

Please let us know how everything goes on Wednesday.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

Note: All comments and advice are personal opinion only, and should

not be

should be substituted for a professional medical consultation.

wrote:

> Nov 6th my GI doc performed an ERCP. He dialated the Sphincter of Oddi,

which not surprisingly caused an attack. So spent my birthday, the big 50, in

the hospital and then a week at home.

I've been careful to pay attention to what I eat, so can avoid foods that might

be bothersome, and thought I was doing pretty good...even hopeful that I

wouldn't have any more attacks.

I ended up having a nasty attack Sunday night, and then had another one

Thursday morning. The one Sunday night was egged-on by baked, lo-fat

veggie chips (which I had been able to eat the week before).

Each day is a different day, and maybe I can eat what I ate yesterday, and

maybe not? Bummer. The good news was recovery process seemed to be

coming along pretty well, then bam....got up Thursday day morning feeling

fine, and by time I was getting dressed for work I had another attack. It just

hit without any warning.....

So I guess I'm wondering, is it possible to continue to have acute attacks

without having to move into the chronic pancreatitis?