Need help with SOD meds

[Guest guest]

Hi Sandy,

thank for your reply. Your information is exactly the type of stuff I

am looking for!

Your advice on actions to take during an attack are interesting. I

have found that pacing and other movement to be the only thing

that gets me by during that time. You are so right that laying

down is the absolute worse thing to do. However, once the intial

attack is over, the " reverberation " as I call it, can be just as bad.

This is when I feel so sore and achy - like I have been dragged

miles under the wheels of a semi truck. At this point, I usually

can lay down on my back with my knees drawn up to my chest.

And I take massive amounts of pain pills for the next twelve

hours to knock me out. Then over the next week I will slowly

recover from the acute pain (and the dark urine or pale stools -

depending on how long the obstruction lasted - and my liver

enzyme levels will go down) and then over the next month it will

gradually return to a " baseline " pain level.

The attacks themselves are basically unbearable and I fear

going through those. That is why I am hoping that there may be

some medicine to take that can interupt the whole process so I

do not have to go through this cycle......I can't help but believe that

if I can go a few years without them that my pancreas will have a

chance to heal and " reboot " itself to a new, painless level.

Thanks!

Laurie

[Guest guest]

I know that some doctors prescribe calcium channel blockers for

SOD. I have never taken these because I was scared to. But

theoretically they relax smooth muscles and are thought to relax the

smooth muscle of the sphincter. It would take several weeks of

taking it before one might see any therapuetic effects. When I had

SOD nothing helped but I did have a transduodenal sphincteroplasty

and that worked wonderfully. Unfortuneately it was too little too

late for the rest of my panc was already damaged.

I hope this helps in some way.

Chrissy

[Guest guest]

Hi Laurie,

I also have SOD. In the beginning (before they new about the CP and

all that and were diagnosing IBS, etc..), I took a drug called

Levsin (anti-spasmodic). It comes in tablet form and sublingual and

also liquid. The liquid is mostly for infants with colic, but it

helped to stop my SOD attacks in their tracks. Although I have to

say that after using the med for about 2 years it must have stopped

working and I went into full blown attacks again and needed the

sphincter cut, etc.. Now I take Donnatal (also an anti-spasmodic).

That seemed to help mostly for about 2 years also. I still take it

twice a day to help keep my system calm, but since my last

sphincterotomy (3-04), I have started to get full blown SOD attacks

again (started last month). Then I reach for my meperidine

(demerol) and suffer for about 30-45 minutes while the meds take

effect. Then I am fine once the meds are in my system. I know that

it's scarry and I also know that it hits SUDDENLY. Can I ask why

Dr. Lehman didn't cut your sphincter muscle?? Sorry if you

mentioned this before. Of course, the sphincterotomy only helps

sometimes too. At least it gives me relief from the SOD for about

6 -7 months. I plan on seeing Dr. Lehman again this spring for

probably another sphincterotomy, since my SOD attacks are back

again. I just wish there was a procedure or something to take away

the daily pain of the CP. Hope some of this helps.

Take care

Kris in TN