Re: Long term treatement-Reply

[Guest guest]

Dear Sir, or Mamn,

Sorry to hear that you are going through a bad spell in the hospital

right now. Although it may be tough to agree right now, we are really

fortunate to live in this modern era where we have nutritional options such

as TPN or the enteral tube route, which is what I'm currently using. How

long have you been sick? Are you new to the group? If so, please allow me

to welcome you to a wonderful group of people who care and share there

common illness, and their families & friends. WELCOME!!! :-) Where do you

recieve your care? I go to the Medical University of South Carolina's

Digestive Disease Center. My surgeon and all around pancreas doctor is

.

Since I have been in your situation several times, I thought that I

would respond. I'm afraid I have no easy or magical answers. All I know is

what I've picked up here, in my former local MUSC's " Pancreatitis Partners "

meetings, and my personal experiences.

For me the first NPO period, about a month, in 1990, was the hardest. I

guess that was because it was the first time and I didn't know how to handle

not eating anything for a month. Lying in my hospital bed channel surfing I

would see all of these food comercials and wish. Also, as I've read others

on this board say, I noticed that when the dietary people brought up the

other patient's food trays; when I smelled the food, I would have an

increase in pain even with the PCA pump cranked up to full speed with

Dilaudid. Also, I noticed that when I could start eating again, my eyes were

definitely bigger than my stomach. This led to some more pain and vomiting

after eating what I then considered a normal sized, low-fat meal along

with the Viokase pancreatic enzymes. Well, I went through several years

after that being afraid to eat, especially restaurants, which I gave up on.

And I would do whatever it took to avoid that horrible, hideous pain,

nausea, and vomiting, and especially I wanted to avoid being hospitalized

even in one the calibre of MUSC.

The longest I've gone NPO was three months and two weeks. That was in

1998 after a Puestow pancreatic surgery. In the first three weeks NPO was

easy, because I remained nauseated that long after the procedure. It was

when I got back out in the real world, and began working again, that my

appetite kicked in. At that time I had the TPN feeding like you have now.

That went O.K., just had to fiddle a bit with my insulin to get my blood

sugars back under good control. But like you, I wasn't sure how I was going

to completely abstain from eating. I'm not sure about appetite supressents.

I never asked, and none were offered. This is something that you definitely

need to discuss with your pancreas doctor. It's not easy. It's unatural for

us to just go NPO for months, but I know some folks who've gone a lot longer

than I've ever had to, and they made it through a combination of fear of the

consequences, the Human will to survive and heal, and old fashioned

determination and disipline. I wish had more information to share with you.

I'm sorry that you are having this problem, and I really do wish I had more

to offer. Perhaps other more experienced folks here in the group will be

able to shed some brighter light on this. I wish you all the best, and look

forward to hearing back from you anytime. Be as well as you can be, and I

hope that you feel better really soon. O.K.?

Your New Pancreas Pal,

Henry

> I have been in the hospital for 3 weeks now without anything to eat

> (NPO)and pain control: Demerol, Fentinil, Morphine and vicoden. I am

> being released in a couple of days with TPN (feeding by vein) and

> vicoden.

> The question I have is how do people deal with not eating for months?

> Is there some sort of appetite supressent that is commonly used for

> NPO patients?

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