Hi everyone

[Guest guest]

Welcome Tammy!!

I'm just an old pre-op myself, but I'm sure some of the ladies that have been

here longer than me will be glad to help walk you through it.

You'll be glad you came, sit down, converse, or just lurk, its a fun place to

be..

Trudy

Hi everyone

Hello..I am new to this e-group, so I hope I am doing this right. I

have been approved by Dr. R. Now I am just waiting on my insurance

co. I have BCBS of NC. They called me last Thursday and wanted a

Thyroid test done before they would approve me??? I faxed those

results today. It was a little high...but not to much. Anyways I am

holding my breath. How long does it take to get an appt for surgery

after everything is approved and finished??? Anyone ever had to have

this test done before approval??? Please say a prayer for me. I am

going crazy waiting....... Tammy

[Guest guest]

Tammy,

I BCBS of NC through the state and I too have to have

a thyroid test done for them. They just want to make

sure you don't have any disorder that cause you to

gain weight that could be correctable with drugs, etc.

I have everything done and ready to send in to Dr. R

and the insurance except for my physical and that

thyroid test. I will be going to my doc for that on

Thursday.

I hope you hear from the ins. co. soon. Let me know

how it works out and how long you have to wait.

Price

Raleigh

BMI 54 WT 360

--- nakita@... wrote:

> Hello..I am new to this e-group, so I hope I am

> doing this right. I

> have been approved by Dr. R. Now I am just waiting

> on my insurance

> co. I have BCBS of NC. They called me last Thursday

> and wanted a

> Thyroid test done before they would approve me??? I

> faxed those

> results today. It was a little high...but not to

> much. Anyways I am

> holding my breath. How long does it take to get an

> appt for surgery

> after everything is approved and finished??? Anyone

> ever had to have

> this test done before approval??? Please say a

> prayer for me. I am

> going crazy waiting....... Tammy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Tammy, Good luck with the insurance,perseverance is the best advice

I can tell you.I also sent my thyroid panel to BCBSNC.They did not ask for

it,but my policy stated 100 lbs over,failed attempts at weightloss and no

thyroid probs.The appeal was a simple process,follow Gloria's

instructions,and provide whatever they need and you'll be on the other side

in no time. Janet

rom: nakita@...

>Reply-To: MiniGastricBypass (AT) egroups (DOT) com

>To: MiniGastricBypass (AT) egroups (DOT) com

>Subject: Hi everyone

>Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 23:26:45 -0000

>

>Hello..I am new to this e-group, so I hope I am doing this right. I

>have been approved by Dr. R. Now I am just waiting on my insurance

>co. I have BCBS of NC. They called me last Thursday and wanted a

>Thyroid test done before they would approve me??? I faxed those

>results today. It was a little high...but not to much. Anyways I am

>holding my breath. How long does it take to get an appt for surgery

>after everything is approved and finished??? Anyone ever had to have

>this test done before approval??? Please say a prayer for me. I am

>going crazy waiting....... Tammy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

When are the meetings and if I may ask, where?

I am new here so I might need a few people to show me around. It looks as if

this place may be easy to get lost in.

[Guest guest]

Hi Marg:

I will be at clinic on the 7th. See you there!!!

Christy

California Pre-Op

MGB 11/8/00

[Guest guest]

Hi !!Welcome to the group. I guess you are talking about the different

area meetings. There are different times depends on where you live. I live in

WNC and they just had a meeting I missed. The next one will be in Nov in

gastonia the last I heard. Hope this helps. Hugs marg

[Guest guest]

Hey Christy look for me I'll be the fat chick lol. I will look for you there.

I see that the next day you will be doing the dance I am so happy for you.

Are you going to the morning or afternoon clinic? hugs marg

[Guest guest]

Marg:

I will be at clinic at 1pm (there are no more 9am clinics per Barbara - they

changed mine to 1pm). I will see you there!!!

Christy

California

[Guest guest]

Do you mean they will no longer have clinic in the

morning or that they don't have morning time right

now? I'm just curious because if I don't have clinic

until 1:00 maybe I can save $$ and not fly in until

the morning of clinic. WHEN EVER I GET APPROVED BY

DR. R.

Still Waiting

--- PLegal4U@... wrote:

> Marg:

>

> I will be at clinic at 1pm (there are no more 9am

> clinics per Barbara - they

> changed mine to 1pm). I will see you there!!!

>

> Christy

> California

>

>

[Guest guest]

: I don't know where you are in the process but if you can arrange to go

to one of the meetings near you and takre a pad and pencil. You will most

likely be able to get all the contacts you need there. I asked questions and

the people wrote the answers and theei surgery date and their e-mail address.

I caaame home and put it on my computer so when I was ready to send off my

packet all I had to do was print it off. Phyllis

Cutie22@... wrote:

> When are the meetings and if I may ask, where?

>

> I am new here so I might need a few people to show me around. It looks as if

> this place may be easy to get lost in.

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Bob,

I believe my pancreas problems began about the same time my tryglicerides

went sky high. I have been on lipitor for 6 years and it keeps my levels in

normal range. Yes, I read in the pamplet that it can cause pancreatitis but <2%.

I figure if I don't take the lipitor then my chances are greater that my panc

will flair from high triglycerides. So I did the lipitor and it was fine for me.

Maybe talk to your Md about it.

I know how you feel about having to work. I have to work too. I am only

working 3 days a week now. Is tough, I know... And the medical bills, I had 146

at one time. I wish the hospitals would have compassion for people in these

situations. We don't want to stiff them but it is impossible at times. I finally

put my bills in a basket oldest in front and slowly worked on them. I called

them all and told them. Some sent me to collections and I paid them off too, the

collection agency understood. The hospitals should have waited. They would have

gotten paid off same time frame. Now they had to pay the collection agency.

Makes no sense. And my medical bills continue to pour in, but I met my out of

pocket for the year, thank goodness. So I have 100% coverage until Jan 1.

Talk to you soon and I hope you ar feeling better soon.

Love,

w

SE Wisconsin-Go Packers

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thanks for the reply!

Going back a little further, I think this, for me, started off with

lipitor. My family doctor at the time, which I loved, I thought she

was great, thought I was a time bomb waiting to go off. By nature,

I am a workaholic. My blood pressure was high, and she found that I

had developed type 2 diabetes. She sent me for the long test, big

dose of sugar, treadmill, bloodtest, treadmill etc, and found that

my body was not processing the sugar real fast at all. With that,

and high blood pressure, next came the referral to a heart

specialist. She started me on glucophage and the Heart Specialist

did the stress test. He didn't like what he saw, and so he did a

heart cath. He found a slight blockage but nothing too serious (I

was 34 at the time). He did find that the walls of my heart were

rather thick, and that he compared my heart to a football, where

inflating the heart was fine, but on pumping out, it contracted sort

of like a football where if you let the air out, it would let some

air out, but not deflate all the way because it maintained the

shape. (I have a Lombardian outlook on life, grew up on the packers

as a kid, my father taking me to Lambeau field games, I guess that

was a great comparison. My dad was a coach of several sports in

Milwaukee so he sort of drilled that type of mentality in me) He

put me on Niaspan. My regular doctor had me on several other meds

including lipitor. As time passed, she became pregnant and left the

group of doctors, and I was passed on to other doctors. One was

concerned because of the lipitor and the relationship with

pancreatitus. I had started becoming tender in the stomach area and

he mentioned that with the lipitor, and niaspan, there was an

outside chance of developing pancreatitus. He only mentioned it as

a passing thought. I remember thinking that I never heard of

pancreatitus but it was one of those 1 and a million things the way

he mentioned it. Then one day I started having serious pain, my

weight shot up, stomach bloated, sitting down to eat, having a

couple of bites and then being full. The pain was such that I

thought maybe I was getting ready for a heart attack. It was

Easter, I was in a church play and was sweating terrible all the way

through it. That next day, my wife made an appointment for me, and

the original doctor who said I was a timebomb, having diabetes,

triglycerides and high blood pressure took a look at me and called

an ambulance, she thought heart attack. The ambulance folks filled

me with nitro, giving me one heck of a headache. They took me to St.

Lukes and I sat there in the emergency room. The doctors there

could not find any evidence of a heart attack and just sort of left

me sit. They couldn't figure it out. After a while, I remembered

what that one other doc said about the medicine, and told the doctor

that, and he ran a test and sure enough, pancreatitus. The feeling

was the lipitor triggered it. Moreover, all the different doctors

prescibing different meds did not seem to be on the same page. I

spent better than a month in the hospital that time.

It's weird how that works. I had a skull fracture and lost some

hearing. The doctor there prescribed heavy doses of steriods. Turns

out that was probably what caused me to get diabetes. A lot of

people who get organ transplants are also given high doses of

steriods, and a high precentage of them get type 2 diabetes.

My father has a history of high blood pressure and triglycerides,

too. His is a much smaller scale than mine.

I've not been on lipitor since. They have tried other statins with

no luck either.

I'm at a point where I'm thinking, okay, you've given me all these

drugs that you thought would knock down the triglycerides and they

have failed, how about trying to figure out why my body produces

them in such a high amount then since nothing else works.

My third attack nearly killed me three times. The emergency room

doctor woke me the first night I was in asking for phone numbers of

anyone I wanted to see one last time. My pancreas was so swollen it

was collapsing my lungs. I was literally panting for air, and my

heart was beating over 300 bpm. My blood chem was so out of whack

that you could see the cholesterol in the tubes they were taking

without looking in a microscope, and triglycerides were off the

scale, over 8000. The doctor said that she had not seen those type

of readings on anyone living. It was a scary, painful 5 months of

my life, spent in the hospital. A total of 6 weeks in ICU.

I don't want to go back, and getting blood work done every six weeks

is the only way I know of to keep track. In the whole time since my

last attack, I know that each one came on differently. So I don't

have clear warning signs. Knowing what to look for in the blood

tests are one thing. The inability to have a course of action is

what is driving me nuts.

I've seen enough doctors scratch there heads. The one doctor I saw

for the diabetes put me on insulin and said " Get used to it, you'll

take it for the rest of your life. " Then towards the end of the 5

months in the hospital, being fed IV style, they stopped giving me

insulin because my blood sugars returned to normal. He was stumped

with that.

In this group, it has given me great comfort to know I was not

alone. That the pain meds I was on, others were on, too. I was

hoping that maybe someone else, who suffers these attacks triggered

by high triglycerides, had simular experiences.

Obviously, I am not real confident in my new doctor. My previous

Dr. was Dr. Battiola. I liked him a lot but he was scratching his

head alot and calling on other doctors for opinions. I've been

getting more education from this group than the docs

Have you had any more attacks since you've been on lipitor or has

that helped to the point it is under control? Where they able to

determine what was causing your high triglycerides?

Thanks, .

Your fellow Packer backer,

Bob Potter

[Guest guest]

Good Morning!!!!

bpotter53153 wrote:

He

put me on Niaspan. My regular doctor had me on several other meds

including lipitor. As time passed, she became pregnant and left the

group of doctors, and I was passed on to other doctors. One was

concerned because of the lipitor and the relationship with

pancreatitus. I had started becoming tender in the stomach area and

he mentioned that with the lipitor, and niaspan, there was an

outside chance of developing pancreatitus.

Dear Bob,

How long were you on the lipitor before they started you on Niaspan? How long

from when you started the meds did your panc flair? I also am a cardiac patient

and the walls of my heart are also thickened. I also develope high blood

pressure, which I'm on meds for, when my panc is unhappy. They believe this time

it is due to the panc infection. Or when my ducts close down and I double over

in pain, up it goes, until they unblock the pancreas duct. They seem to run hand

and hand for me. Yes I have had attacks since being on lipitor but it is due to

the ducts closing down, not the lipitor. We went a spell off the lipitor,

thinking maybe related? But no the attacks continued and my tryclycerides

elevated again to bad levels. So back on I went. My levels are fine now. So is

you pancreas ok? I mean, have you received a diagnoses, other then the meds, of

why you get pancreatitis?

My body also produces high calcium levels in my blood which apparently go hand

in hand with the tryglicerides. No I don't have an absolute anser to why my

tryglicerides got out of whack, but they strongly suspect it is caused from the

pancreas not working as it should when it is clogged. It seems to regulate alot

in the body. At one point, when I was pain free for over a year, I was able to

go off the lipitor, atenolol(for bad heart palpitations,fast hear rate) and

blood pressure meds and I was within normal ranges. Until the next blockage and

back on all the meds. When ever I have an attack and I have to go to the ER they

immediately focus on the cardiac stress. I have to keep telling them the panc is

causing it. Now I have my MD call the ER ahead with orders for me. Otherwise

they keep looking at the zebra when they should be looking at the horse.

Are you thinking of switching doctors? Hope you are having a better day.

Talk to you soon.

Love, w

[Guest guest]

Hi :

I am seriously thinking about finding another doctor, although I am

not looking forward to it, with all the records, insurance issues it

is a chore,

Way back when I had the high blood pressure, type II diabetes, etc,

they put me on the lipitor, and I guess I had been on it for a

couple of years. The heart doctor kept me on it, and had me on

niaspan, and a patch to control the high blood pressure. As time

went on, I remember seeing another doctor because my regular doctor

was on vacation, He was pushing on my stomach and brought up that

with the lipitor there was a chance of pancreatitus, and when he

pushed, it hurt. Several months later, with all the pain I went to

see my regular doctor and she thought I was having a heart attack,

They sent me to the hospital and it turned out to be pancreatitus.

I have not been on lipitor since, but it didn't seem to help as my

triglycerides kept climbing.

My concern is that they have tried all these meds to keep

triglycerides down, but nothing seems to work. For a little while,

fish oil tablets seemed to make a difference but only for a little

while.

It is not diet related. Not one doctor has said " Lets find out why

your body produces triglycerides, it is always 'lower

triglycerides'= various medicines, solution. It has never gone

beyond that.

I know there are several ways to get pancreatitus, and I've been

told the way I get it is rare. I've even been told that this will

be a recurring event for me. I used to think that if I went for a

blood test every 6 weeks or so, perhaps I could control it so I

wouldn't end up in the hospital. But the attacks have not been the

same. The first time I had severe pain in my back, I couldn't eat

much. The second time from my chest down I was in severe pain

feeling I was either constipated or I was going to vomit. By the

time I got to the hospital I was out. They pretty much told me there

was nothing they could do and that I was going to die. They asked me

for phone numbers of people I would like to see before I go! My

stomach and pancreas was so swollen it pushed up on my lungs, I was

panting for air and heart rate was over 300bpm. Later, they put

something in my heart to slow it down. Two more times they called my

wife back to the hospital because they were going to lose me. My

blood chemestry was all messed up, you could see in the tubes they

were drawing that there was a lot of cholesterol or something in the

blood, without a microscope.

That was at Waukesha Memorial. They had me in intensive care for 3

weeks. All I remember was being so thirsty and they wouldn't give

me anything. They finally put a tube in so I could drink something,

but then the tube sucked it right back out. No one wants a tube in

and I think they were counting on me saying no, but I said yes.

About an hour later they pulled the tube out. I finally yanked out

the IV's, crawled out of the bed and put my head under the sink to

drink water. The nurse berated me and sedated me and the next thing

I knew they had me so doped up my eyes just kept rolling to the back

of my head, and I was restrained in the bed.

After the third week, they moved me to a general floor. The folks in

ICU were great. The general floor was horrible. I think there was

one nurse I liked, who spent time with me and came up with inventive

ways to keep me comfortable, custom ice packs because of all the

fevers I was spiking. Then they changed inturns and doctors and it

really went down hill. One nurse yanked the IV out of my arm

because she was changing my gown, and tired of it because I was

sweating them up so fast. I asked for a popcicle in the middle of

the night and the nurse threw it at me from the doorway.

The one doctor, who I believe maybe the doctor I switched to now,

decided I should be off the pain medicine and wanted to put me on

some pill, which I knew I had bad reactions to. He said, just try

it and if it doesn't work out we will switch you back. I tried it,

had the bad reaction to it, but he said lets continue it longer.

After 3 days of terrible pain, I told the nurse I wanted to see the

doctor, and right a way. They came in, interns, etc. I looked them

in the eye and said, I had good doctors and then they changed the

rotation, and I got you guys. I didn't ask for you guys, I don't

know much about you guys, but you are seeing me after I just got out

of intensive care. I can't eat, I'm in pain, you guys just are not

listening to what I am telling you. You said you wanted me to take

this pain medicine, and I told you I couldn't, I had bad reactions

to it, you said try it and if you had bad reactions, we'll switch

you back. That was on Friday, I told you Saturday it is making me

sick, and still you won't listen. I didn't hire you, but I sure as

hell am going to fire you now. I want new doctors, and I want to

talk to your supervising doctor and I want it done now!

They then decided that I should be back on morphine. The terrible

nurses, many of which spoke english as a second language continued.

I had only one good nurse who actually cared but she was there only

during the day. At the end of that week I just wanted out. They

decided to send me home with morphine pills and an order to see my

regular doctor in 7 days.

At home, I had high fevers that would break every so often with the

morphine tablets and meds to get rid of infections. I continued to

sweat, having to have the sheets changed two or three times a day

and dry cloths several times.

On the 7th day, I saw my regular doctor, who had no idea what had

happened to me, even though the doctors at Waukesha assured my wife

that they were keeping him informed. From that office visit I had

to go through hoops because of the insurance, but was admitted to

St. Lukes. I was in a general floor for about 2 hours when a

intern, who was GREAT, looked at the new tests they had ran, and I

had actually gotten worse. He moved me to ICU again. At that

point, I had internal bleeding, not enough oxygen in my blood, and

they needed a total of 6 units of plasma to put in me. Again, I was

on the watch list because they didn't know if I would recover. I

had 7 areas of infected dead tissue and fluid all around my stomach.

My gall bladder was covered with what they termed " sludge " They

tried to get a look into my intestines but couldn't get past the

bottom of my throat because it has blocked and the scope wouldn't go

any farther. My bile duct became blocked and I developed jaundice.

They wanted to operate and go in, remove the dead parts of my

pancreas. The other option was to insert drains to see if they

would get the stuff out. I had 6 of them all inserted in various

points in my body, and a seventh one to tackle the bile duct. They

did catscans every two days, and would reposition drains if they

didn't seem to be working well.

They were of the mindset that the drains might work, but not likly.

I didn't like the idea of being cut open, I had really just felt

like I had enough. The drains were very painful when they would

insert them or move them around. I needed valium and versaid for

those procedures, one doc stuck a drain in my side like he was

spearing a bull in a bull fight with no pain meds other than the

doses I was getting on the morphine pump. But they would disconnect

that so they could put the dye in in the florescope so they could

see where they were putting the drain in. I found one doctor there,

Dr. Connor I think his name was. He was great and I made a standing

request that he be the only one to do it. They other bull fighter

guy had made me had enough. Conner would use the versaid and it was

much more tolerable.

So, one month in Waukesha, care in ICU excellent, general floor

horrible. St. Lukes I was happy with, but they have the problem

with my insurance. The one month I was in Waukesha, which included

3 weeks in ICU, no out of pocket expenses. St. Lukes (Auroura)

ended up sueing me because they don't like United Health Plan and

they felt they didn't get enough money.

I left St. Lukes with 6 drains still in, and a trip down for

catscans and repositioning of the drains as needed. During the

whole nearly 6 months, my wife paid no bills, worked very little,

and ran up charge card bills. I went from 250lbs from when I went

in the hospital to 140 lbs when I was at home. I actually went to

work with drains tucked in my pants and coat pockets because we were

behind on mortgage, utilities and everything else for nearly 7

months.

In the end, the drains did work, and I was eventually gaining some

weight back.

My stomach is burned pretty bad from the acids and I can only eat

little bits of food at a time. I took my wife out for our

anniversary and descovered that since all this took place, on the

plus side diabetes required no med anymore, but I for some reason am

no allergic to oragano. We went to a steak house and I was

uncomfortably full after the soup.

I get spasms in my duowadam (Sp) and doubles me over in pain several

times a day.

Now, my triglycerides are at 1600. Lipase still is normal which I

guess is good. Cholesterol is high, and my white counts are high.

I get sweating spells and I'm running a low grade fever. Pain in my

back and stomach.

I never took the Crestor that he wanted me to take, thanks to all

the good and valuable advice from my friends here on PAI group.

They pulled me off the Tricor because I developed weakness and joint

pain. I'm back on gemfibrozil 600mg tabs 2x per day, and Bextra for

the joing pain, as well as percocet and valium for the spasms.

On Friday, I had another catscan done, and it was sort of wierd

because the gal doing the scan came out and asked me about my gall

bladder, and then did one final run, with out the " take a deep

breath " " Hold it " " Exhale " routine. She could see the pain I was

in and she said to call my doctor right away, that the results would

be ready in an hour. By the time I got home, and called, he was

already out of the office, and receptionist said she didn't know if

he would check his messages but that he might call me back Friday.

He hasn't.

This weekend was not a good one, worked 12 hours Saturday, and in

pain today, nearly had to walk out of church just as the pastor got

started. I was in the second to the front row and choose just to

double over and sit it out.

I had come home and rested as much as a Dad can do, with 3 kids, and

two wanting attention and a wife who is in a bad mood because of my

health and money issues. When I told her about the doctors

concerns, and options of trying to do this out of the hospital or

putting me in the hospital, she interrupted me and said if you go in

the hospital we might as well put the house up for sale. (My wife

has MS, and has a hard time dealing with me and pancreatitus. I can

only imagine the fight that would have broke out if she had a

relapse of some nature and said she was not going to work because of

it, and me responding in the same way... " well if you can't work we

might as well put the house up for sale. " ) She has been fortunate

and is in remission, has been for quite some time. She just, I

feel, cannot relate to the hell pancreatitus can wreak on a person.

She has me conditioned to the point where, for example, last week

when this all came up, the doctor wanted me to stay away from work

and get the cat scan done ASAP and see him on Friday. I'm going on

three months behind on mortgage, 4 months on utilities. I just got

back to going to work and really can't afford to miss. It is an

impossible situation that I have sort of resigned to the fact I will

have to work with pain, and only if it becomes a matter of life or

death will I go to the hospital.

I said all that to get back to the original question if someone has

simular circumstances with triglycerides being the main reason

anyone has chronic pancreatitus due to triglycerides.

, you mentioned the high calcium levels, is that a contributing

factor for your attacks?

Brother and sister-hood and love and caring!

Bob Potter

Waukesha, WI

[Guest guest]

It has been ages since I posted (or read) this support group. I hope

everyone is doing well. Hi to the NJ/Ny parents I have met - Jodie,

Jodi, .

Kedhar is doing well. He is 3.5 years now. He started zantac in

November and periactin in May. He gained significant weight on zantac

in the first 3 months but gained only height in the next 3 months.

So, he was put on the periactin. We see both Dr. H and Dr. Starkman

at MMH. So far, both are on the same page regarding Kedhar's

treatment.

-Malathi

[Guest guest]

oh my malathi i have been thinking of you guys!!! i couldnt find your

email address!! i am glad everything is going well!! are you planning

on going to convention this year? how is the rest of your family? you

can email me at jlcals2003@ yahoo.com

jodie c

> It has been ages since I posted (or read) this support group. I hope

> everyone is doing well. Hi to the NJ/Ny parents I have met - Jodie,

> Jodi, .

>

> Kedhar is doing well. He is 3.5 years now. He started zantac in

> November and periactin in May. He gained significant weight on

zantac

> in the first 3 months but gained only height in the next 3 months.

> So, he was put on the periactin. We see both Dr. H and Dr. Starkman

> at MMH. So far, both are on the same page regarding Kedhar's

> treatment.

>

> -Malathi