Re: diabetes testing/ct scans, etc.

September 11, 2004

Kris,

I think you did the right thing by purchasing your own glucose monitor. Even if

you never end up with diabetes, you will have piece of mind by checking it

yourself. If you start experiencing high or low blood sugars, I'd recommend

that you then test daily for a couple of weeks and keep a record of it to show

the doctor. I hope that your blood sugar stays perfectly normal, but at least

now you will know!

As for the ct scan or mri, I don't have a lot of faith in either. I've had a

couple of ct scans that showed the bile and pancreatic duct to be dilated, but

then I've had others that said they were normal size. The ct scan that I had

done when my current GI was first called in as a consult while I was in the

hospital was the first scan that showed any damage or even inflammation to my

pancreas. Even then, the report from the radiologist said the pancreas was

normal. However, my GI said there was slight damage consistent with cp and

current inflammation consistent with an acute attack. That was June 2003,

almost a year after my panc attacks returned and 3 1/2 years after my first

attack. That was my first meeting with my current GI. He diagnosed me with

idiopathic chronic recurring pancreatitis by the time he discharged me from the

hospital. He put me on actigall to thin my bile and keep it flowing a little

better and pancreas enzymes with meals and snacks. He told me that since I have

cp and autoimmune liver disease, both of which are chronic and progressive

diseases, I cannot expect to live my life pain free or even expect to never have

to go to the ER or be admitted to the hospital. He said his hope was that he

could minimize my bad days, increase my good days, and give me longer stretches

between ER visits and hospital admissions. For several months it seemed that

was happening. However, that has not been the case for at least the last 3

months. I've been in the hospital 7 times since the end of May and have

probably been to the ER about 10 or 11 times, 7 of those times resulted in being

admitted. It seems that I have the most trouble at night so it's typically

after 8 or 9 p.m. when we end up heading to the ER.

Mostly I just wanted to let you know that from my experience, x-rays, MRIs, ct

scans, etc. aren't nearly as valuable as the medical profession would like us to

believe. It just seems that an awful lot of the time there are lots of things

they just don't show. Also, I've found that the same films can be read by

different doctors and they may see different things!

Take care and best of luck to you.

W

alabama

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