Re: Pancreatitis - Hospital Treatments

May 16, 2003

My brother in law was admitted to the hospital with pancreatitis.

He was on IV the whole time (to rest the pancreas from the digestive

process). They thought that he had a blackage due to stones, but

could find no evidence in any tests. They released him after a week.

Meanwhile, he had had several attacks prior to this which had lasted

many hours at a time and several times a week. He's sick of it, his

parents and siblings all had their gallbladder removed and he

figures that that's his destiny, So he's scheduled to have his GB

removed.

> " randabra " <randabra@y...> wrote:

>Does anyone have info to share about what went on

> during their hospital stay for pancreatitis? Thanks in advance.

May 16, 2003

The reason we had to stay so long was because when a stone is stuck and the

bile backs up your amylase, lypase, etc can become VERY high. If the stone

doesnt become unstuck it can cause serious sometimes fatal problems. Most of

the time the bile backs up so much that it pushes out the stone and this can

happen very quickley, but your levels are still really high and it takes a

few days for them to go down. During this time your pancreas is still very

inflamed and irritated and if you ate or drank anything you would have

severe pain. I know they didnt do the ERCP on me the first few times because

I was pregnant and they would have to sedate me so they waited and the stone

would pass. After I was pregnant they would just wait and I refused anything

but IVs. So basically the stone probably passed within 24 hours after it got

stuck, but it takes so long for the enzymes in our blood to go down and for

the pancreas to recover. It is wise to stay on the IVs until levels go down,

I had to sign myself out AMA before that once and i had a terrible time at

home because I just couldnt eat anything.

>From: " randabra " <randabra@...>

>Reply-gallstones

>gallstones

>Subject: Pancreatitis - Hospital Treatments

>Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 03:06:22 -0000

>

>Some people have said they had pancreatitis and stayed in the

>hospital for several days. It is my understanding that pancreatitis

>is caused by stones blocking the bile duct. This is because the

>stones prevent the flow of the the pancreatic juices and cause them

>to back up. (Supposed to be very dangerous.) If that is the case,

>then I'm curious why some people stayed in the hospital for a few

>days, but did not need to have an ERCP to remove the stuck stones

>from the bile duct.

>

>The docs thought I had pancreatitis because my liver enymes were high

>and stones were in my bile duct. They did an ERCP to get the stones

>out of the duct. The next day them removed the gall bladder.

>I wonder if I just could have stayted there on IV until the stones

>passed themselves. Does anyone have info to share about what went on

>during their hospital stay for pancreatitis? Thanks in advance.

>

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May 16, 2003

Hello,

The thing about pancreatitis and how it's treated in hospital? This is what

I know from having it, being hospitalised with it and from reading up.

It can be caused by over indulgence in alcohol, it can also be hereditary,

caused by gall stones getting stuck in the ducts or you can get it for no

known medical reason. With pancreatitis your pancreas becomes very inflamed,

hence the pain, plus if you have a stone/s stuck then it is even more

horrendous. You can also be dehydrated/have dark urine. Your eyes and skin

can become jandiced and eyesight " mushy " , as if they are full of sleep all

the time. You might also get really itchy skin/ hair fallout - I did. If

your pancreas continues to be inflamed the enzymes in them eat away at the

pancreas itself , thinking that they are fighting off an attack, and this

can cause really serious problems health-wise. When it gets to that state

the pancreas sort of cannibalises itself, if you know what I mean, and it can

end up not functioning. In hospital they put you on IV's, you can have

NOTHING to eat or drink for days (sometimes weeks) to rest the pancreas so

it's not working harder than it should. You can be in for months, even in

intensive care. Invariably, you will be nauseous/diarrhoea-ey and will

generally feel extremely ill and out of it. They give you powerful

anti-biotics to prevent/counteract any infection. You can have morphine with

paracetamols for the pain and this generally puts you in the land of the

fairies and you end up imagining all sorts of things that could happen to you

(I saw noses coming out of the walls and cherubs in the clouds outside! They

will also give you anti-blood clotting injections. They do blood tests

regularly to check your enzyme levels (amylase primarily) and monitor you to

ensure the levels get back to normal. Normal blood test results do not

automatically mean that your liver is ok. You can have x-rays and

ultrasounds, too to check for stones being stuck or anything untoward. If

you have pancreatitis over and over again it can change from acute to

chronic, which reading from the web sites is extremely dire. Medical books

say that you get chronic pancreatitis from too much alcohol, but on the web

sites there are people who have it and have never drunk alcohol.

Apparently, though, once you have had pancreatitis you should never drink

alcohol again so that you don't become a chronic pancreatitis sufferer. You

can get pancreatitis from a botched gb operation. There can be all sorts of

possible complications, diabetes being one, from having pancreatitis. Having

gall stones seems to be nothing compared to what the people with cp have to

put up with. It's not very well researched. I would hate to have that.

Shan't moan about my gall stones again!!

M

May 17, 2003

If he will go to curezone.com the have a site for those fighting with

gallbladder attacks, please tell him to read this information before he has the

surgery, at least he can be better informed. The surgery doesn't stop the pain

and other discomforts. I had a friend who choose the process of surgery and is

still having the same problems. I pray this info will help him. God Bless

Deborah

----- Original Message -----

From: Suzanne

gallstones

Sent: Friday, May 16, 2003 12:20 AM

Subject: Re: Pancreatitis - Hospital Treatments