To Tammy

[Guest guest]

Hi Tammy,

Thank you so much for asking about my husband. Yes, he feeling much better.

He took it easy over the weekend and now he back to his old self, which is

good. If you know anyone who has a blood testing monitor for sugar(sorry, I

having a brain fart right now, and can't think of the proper name for the

testing machine that test your blood sugar at home, you would think I could

remember , since I have one, it must be a senior moment.) Anyhow if anyone

in the family has one, I would check it out before May. I don't mean to

be sounding gloomy, but diabetes can be a side effect of pancreatitis,

especially if you have had it for a long time and it can also run in

families. I have it, but mine was main brought on due to the fact that I

had a Whipple in 94, for my pancreatitis. They never told me that this

could be a side effect from the surgery until after I had it done and the

day I was leaving the hospital, the resident told me to be on the look-out

for diabetes and I ask why, so he said that after a Whipple you usually end

up having diabetes, but they don't know who long it will take. It could

take 6 months or even many years. I feel that I was lucky, that mine didn't

show up for 5 & 1/2 years.I am also very lucky that mine is controlled with 2

kinds of oral medicine. Here I go again, just going on and on. My husband

was DX with it about 3 weeks ago and he doing quite well with it and the

best news of all, he finally loosing weight after many years of me wanting

him to loose weight. He lost 22 pounds in 6 weeks. I very proud of him.

Take Care,

Louie in WV

to Louie

> Thanks Louie. I had my glucose checked in January and it was 89.

> You're right, though, and it never occurred to me that it might be

> diabetes. I'll keep a close eye on it. My granmothers, grandfather,

> aunt and sister all had or have diabetes. So I have to remember that

> if the problem contiues. I go see my eye doctor in May for test I

> have done every six months for my glaucoma, and I will talk to him

> about it then. How are you feeling? Is your hsuband feeling better?

> Tammy

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Cyndi,

I don't want to alarm you, but butterfly rashes on the face are often a

sign that a person has lupus. It's not a guarantee that you have it,

but,, if it doesn't go away fairly soon, then you might want to discuss

this with your doctor. If your doctor doesn't think you have it then

you should be okay. Just though I'd warn you though.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Tammy wrote:

> as far as i know i dont have diabetes, is there a really high chance of me

getting diabetes and is there a big chance of me getting chronic pancreatitis

again?

Hi Tammy,

Welcome to our PAI family!! I've been offline for several days, so I'm a bit

behind on the posts and have just seen your's about your pancreatectomy

and spleen removal. In answer to your questions, let me ask first, has your

doctor done a glucose test to see what your levels are now after your

surgery? Has he discussed with you what happens now that you have

reduced pancreatic functions?

The pancreas has two functions; one is the endocrine function which creates

insulin, glucagon, somatostatin and pancreatic polypeptide. The other, the

exocrine portion, produces the pancreatic enzymes (amylase, lipase,

protease and nucleases). These are the digestive enzymes that help the

body to digest food. With a portion of the pancreas removed, your production

of enzymes would be considerably lessened, so it would be necesssary to

continue to take enzyme supplements. In many cases, with such reduced

pancreatic function, it's necessary to take more enzymes than before.

Also, since a considerable portion of your pancreas is gone, it could be that

you have an additional decrease in insulin and glucagon production. If this

production is inhibited because there aren't enough pancreatic islet cells to

release insulin, you would become diabetic. You should have your glucose

levels tested on a regular basis. It is a very simple blood test that any

doctor

or lab can do, the only requirement is that you have to fast for 12 hours prior

to the test.

You also asked if you could have chronic pancreatitis again? In answer to

that, I would think that, yes, as long as you still have a portion of your

pancreas, chronic pancreatitis would be a definite possibility. It's my

understanding that the only real " cure " for CP is a complete pancreatectomy

with auto islet transfer. I would love to be wrong on this one, but that's the

way it's been told to me..... that a person who's already had chronic

pancreatitis, will always have it, as long as they have a portion of their

pancreas that is still functioning in some manner.

I've missed seeing the reason you developed CP in the first place, and why

this surgery was recommended. Could you tell us a little about that? Where

was the surgery done, and who's treating you now?

If there are any other questions that I might be able to help you with, I'd be

very happy to. I'm not a doctor, just another old CP patient. I developed

diabetes last year when my pancreas burned out, so I know quite a bit about

the disease by first hand experience and lots of research. Even though I've

lost all pancreatic function, I still have two old pseudocysts in my pancreas

that like to cause problems every once in a while....enough so that I'm on

daily medication.

Please let us know how we can help you.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should not be

substituted for professional medical consultation.

[Guest guest]

Tammy wrote:

> Hi Heidi. I haven't talked with you in awhile. How are you feeling? How are

the wedding plans coming along? Hope everything is going great and that

you are having some good days.

Tammy,

Thanks for asking about me. I'm doing surprisingly, amazingly well, so well

that I feel guilty when I read here about everyone else's pain. It's strange to

feel that way, but only those of us who have suffered so much and then had a

spell of good times would understand. What we all know is that the good

times never last, so it's best to take advantage of them while they do!! It's a

lovely reprieve for me after so many months of discomfort (smile). But it truly

couldn't have come at a better time. My grandson Austin arrives in two

weeks and I do want to be well while he is here for the summer. He turned

12 this week and we are having another party for him with all his friends here

soon after he arrives.

We just returned from our four day mini-vacation to Belize in Central America,

we were making up for the reservation we had last October when I had an

acute attack the day we arrived there and had to take emergency action and

immediately fly back home to be admitted to the hospital. This time the trip

was wonderful, I felt terrific and we were able to trek to the Mayan Ruins, take

a boat tour up the Monkey River into the rain forest to see the Howling

Monkeys and much more. We even went caving, floating up stream into a

huge cave, swimming with life vests attached at our waists. At the end of the

cave were huge waterfalls. Foolishly, Bob left the camera at the lodge below

the caves, so we didn't get pictures of that. Since I was feeling well enough,

we were active the whole time we were there, with me only having a few

hours to lie on the Caribbean shore, soaking up the sun.

The wedding plans are coming along fine. Now we're deciding on flowers

and decorating arrangements for the reception, and my daughter is trying to

select the fabric she wants for the seven bridesmaid's. They are each going

to wear whatever style dress suits them, and have their dresses individually

made by a seamstress. One of the women will be 8 months pregnant at the

time of the wedding, so this way she can wear something suitable! I've

already found all my dresses for each of the different functions and put them

away in the closet. My husband gave me a beautiful, very unique necklace

which is a replica of Salvadore Dali's " Tree of Life " on Mother's Day, to wear

with one of the dresses.....so I'm all costumed up, just have to find all the

right

shoes (sigh). I hate to shop for clothes, so I'm glad to have all of this out

of

the way.

I know that's more than you wanted to know, hahaha....the whole story just

tumbled out! How have you been doing? I'm so sorry that you're having

troubles again. That just seems to be the nature of this darn disease.

Everything seems to be going okay for a while, and then the troubles start

again and we're miserable with the pain. I hope you can get back on track

and on to better days.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI

Note: All information or advice is personal opinion only, and should not be

substituted for professional medical consultation.

[Guest guest]

Tammy,

Just a note to try to cheer your day. I hope you're feeling better today with a

stronger med, and the knowledge that they're going to keep looking into

finding the source of your new troubles.

As my dad always said to me to reassure me when I was feeling blue with too

many obstacles ahead....keep your chin up!! Somehow that reassurance

always seemed to help.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

www.pancassociation.org/anthology.htm#Heidi

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI

Note: All information or advice is personal opinion only, and should not be

substituted for professional medical consultation.

[Guest guest]

Dear Tammy!

Thank you so much for letting me know about the EUS. Naturally I

hope you have IBS rather than CP, although I'm not downgrading the

IBS either. I know it can be painful and difficult to control but I

think it's preferable to pancreatitis. I'm sure your doc will help

you to find effective ways of tackling the problem. He sounds very

good, I think, from what you've said before?

I'm so glad you're not feeling too bad at the moment either. Not too

long to wait now!

I'll be away for a week in Spain from Sunday so not likely to be

online until I get back. I wish you luck with the wait and the EUS

itself.

Thanks for keeping in touch. Keep us posted!

With very good wishes,

Fliss (UK)