Re: Does Anyone Know Why This Panc Thing Happens After GB Surgery For So Many People

[Guest guest]

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For what it is worth....I always have thought the pancreatitis thing

came after my gallbladder was taken out ( a retained stone)....but my

pancreas Dr. thinks that the pancreas was the problem the whole time,

and not my gallbladder when I hurt so bad. My gallbladder was full

of stones, at least 50 of them the surgeon said. The gallbladder

needed to come out...and there was a retained stone... So gallbladder

pain first, then pancreas? All I know is that I know exactly what

pancreas pain feels like now...and a regular stomach ache is a walk

in the park. I know I didn't answer your question, but it is a good

one to ask. I thought I had myself figured out, but I don't. I hope

you can figure out your question. Sorry you have been feeling so

badly lately. I have been in the hospital this week too, I did a

blonde thing and took estrogen to stop my bleeding, but didn't check

the list of medicines I shouldn't take. Neither did my OB/GYN. That

was a rough 4 days! I was admitted for pancreas pain, and came out

with a D & C and endometrial Ablasion. What fun! I hope you are

feeling better soon. Many soft hugs!

Hugs,

Suzi

Colorado

[Guest guest]

,

I'm certainly no expert on your question about why so mean seem to end up with

cp after having the gallbladder removed. However, in my case, I think part of

the cause of the cp is probably that the gallbladder had done the damage before

it was every removed. I had my gallbladder removed in June 1998 after an

ultrasound showed stones and the HIDA scan showed the gallbladder only

functioned at 13%. However, I'd had episodes of severe pain under my right rib

a few times a year for at least 3 years prior to having my gallbladder surgery.

I had one HIDA scan and at least one ultrasound prior to the one that showed

problems in 1998 and they didn't show any problems. The episodes of pain I had

prior to having my gallbladder removed were exactly like the pain I have now

when my panc flares. Only thing was that the pain never lasted longer than

about 20 minutes and I never threw up. Anyway, gallbladder was removed in June

1998 as I said. There were stones and sludge in the gallbladder. Several

months after gallbladder surgery, I had another episode of the horrible pain

under my right rib. lasted about 15-20 minutes and was gone. figured it must

have just been a bad gas pain. I had a few more episodes of the same pain over

the next year. However, the pain hit like a freight train, lasted 15-20 minutes

and was gone.

On January 8, 2000, i was hit with the same pain, only this time it didn't let

up and within minutes I was puking. Hubby took me to ER and I was admitted with

acute pancreatitis. When I went to a GI doc a couple of weeks after the attack,

he told me that most likely my gallbladder had caused damage to the pancreas

before it was removed. I told him that it had been 18 months since my

gallbladder removed and asked why I didn't have the acute panc right away if the

gallbladder was what had caused the damage. He told me it could sometimes take

10 years after gallbladder removal for the damage caused by the gallbladder to

result in a full blown attack of acute panc. I had my first ERCP in February

2000 and they found sludge in the common bile duct and bile that didn't drain

well. The GI did a sphincterotomy and pronounced me cured. Finally switched to

a new GI and had a second ERCP in August 2000, showed no sludge but bile still

not flowing well. This GI did another sphincterotomy and again pronounced me

cured.

To make a long story short, I went to a 3rd GI in Nov 2000, had a 3rd ERCP, was

told I had bile reflux gastritis, panc was perfectly healthy, attacks had been a

fluke and would never have acute panc attack again. I did have about an 18

month reprieve with just mild problems, but then was hit with a major attack in

July 2002. It took about 20 admissions to the hospital and finally switching to

my 4th and still current GI/hepatologist in June 2003 to get the official

diagnosis of chronic panc. My GI says I have idiopathic recurrent cp. His

theory is that part of my problem is that my bile still doesn't flow well, gets

clogged up, aggravates the panc, and has now aggravated the panc to the point of

causing permanent damage leading to chronic pancreatitis.

My whole point to this is to say that my theory is that many times the

gallbladder caused some damage to the panc long before it was removed, but it

might take a while to have a full blown attack of pancreatitis.

Don't know if I've made sense because I haven't been able to sleep well the last

few nights and am functioning (or actually NOT functioning) on about 2-4 hours

of sleep a night.

W

alabama