Chronic pancreatitis can present as episodes of acute inflammation in a previously injured pancreas, or as chronic damage with persistent pain or malabsorption.
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I started in February with a stitch-like pain in my left side when standing too long. It got better when I laid down on a heating pad. Then it started to get worse and cover a larger area of my left side and around to my back. THEN it began to hurt into my stomach and across my stomach. Now I have pain both in the left and right sides, around my back and across my upper stomach. I take Nexium for GERD and I was diagnosed prediabetic. By dieting I've lost 40 pounds in the last 5 months and my fasting sugars are staying in the 80's for the most part. My liver enzymes are also elevated but CT showed probable fatty liver. When I lay down the pain subsides somewhat. It usually feels okay in the morning but gets worse as the day goes on, especially if I'm really active or just even stand up a lot, like tonight I went to a Halloween carnival. OTC pain relievers do NOT help and I can't take them really because of my liver enzymes. Some days I don't have much pain at all. It seems to come and go in cycles. Does this sound at all like possible chronic pancreatitis? I've read on the internet and it suggests it, but I'm not sure. My stupid doctor won't test my pancreatic enzymes because he said "if it was pancreatitis you'd be a LOT sicker than you are". He swears it's musculo-skeletal, but isn't. It's soft tissue. I can't really tell if eating makes it worse because I'm on a diabetic and low-fat diet, so I think I'm avoiding most of the things that would set off a pancreatitis attack. Should I insist my doctor do the tests and fire him if he won't? I'm tired of being in pain all the time. Thanks!
Posted on 10/26/07, 09:10 pm |
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Hi Merrycat ~ I'm in the healthcare profession and YES I think you should insist your doc to run the exams. You know your own body and how much pain you are in. You must be an advocate for your health and wellbeing!!! Best wishes. 
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Hi Merrycat.. yes, I would insist that you have you pancreas checked. My sister started with pain in the sides, then behind the stomach that radiated to the back. Sometimes the pain to the back was worse. She always felt worse as the day went on.It was not always about what she ate either. She is a diabetic and was already on a strict diet. She has had to have a Whipple due to the pancreattis and she had a genetic defect to the pancreas. They found cancer during the surgery 17 days ago. We would not have ever found all this out had we not been insisting about having things checked out. Be proactive. Tell your MD that you want more testing done. Good luck and hope you feel better.
Patrn
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Pat, did the pain subside some for your sister when she laid down or sat down? When was she diagnosed? Mine does feel better when I rest. Can pancreatitis cause a feeling of shortness of breath and some pain in the chest wall under the sternum? I get that occassionally too but my heart and lungs check out okay. If I do have chronic pancreatitis, what sort of treatments are available? What is the prognosis for something like this? Can a person live a long time with it or is this a terminal illness? Would my blood sugars be staying under control with diet alone and no medications if my pancreas was malfunctioning? This scares me a great deal. I've been dealing with this since February and no doctors would take me seriously. They kept telling me it was muscular or all in my head and gave me anti-anxiety medications. A CT in June said my pancreas appeared normal. Would they have been able to see it on CT if there was something wrong? That's what the doctors kept telling me (3 of them!).
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Merrycat, you should definitely insist that your doc run the tests. I was hospitalized a few weeks ago with viral pneumonia and viral hepatitis - I had a fever of 104.2 that they could not get it to come down for 5 days, and I had had a fever of 103.7 for 5 days before going to the ER. The doc also said that I had fatty liver, and that it should not cause pain, but I had A LOT of pain. They had me on dilaudid and it didn't help at all.
Last week I followed up with my doc, and the tests not only showed that my liver enzymes were elevated, it also showed that my pancreas enzymes were also elevated. My doc is repeating the tests to see if anything has changed, and she is getting enough info to refer me to John's Hopkins. Everyone feels pain differently, and I have been told that I have had chronic pancreatitis for at least 30 years, but I have never been hospitalized for it. I had pain, but nothing that I couldn't deal with by taking Ibuprofen. I have heard of people who were hospitalized for a week because of pancreatitis. The docs are surprised that I only have the pain on my right side under my ribcage. Everyone is different, but please insist that your doc run the tests before anything else happens. Sorry for the long reply.
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It's so frustrating when we can't get the answers we need. After being hospitalized about a year ago with Acute Pancreatitis the symptoms and pain never totally went away. When my dr would test my Pancreatic Enzymes, they would be normal. I SUGGESTED to him that he give me lab slips for when my symptoms are intense so I could "catch my pancreas acting up". :-) He agreed and that's how it was confirmed that I have chronic pancreatitis. I'm slowly learning not to be intimidated by drs. Good luck and keep us posted on how you are doing.
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hi merry cat ! i would certainly insist they run tests at the end of the day you are in pain they need to find the cause of it ! i was diagnosed about 3 years ago, i done loads of tests n tried all sorts of stuff. i had an operation 10 months ago and recovered well, i thought i had put all this behind me however im currently back having further tests as about 2 months ago it seemed to flare up again ! unfortunately for me they never knew why i had it and even now i seem to have it again they still no wiser apparently im in the unknown group for all the help that is ! i was taking morphine which helped however loads os sides effects plus addiction plus other tablets for gas and vomiting i also have high blood pressure so that may or may not be the cause of my pancreas i dont think any food helps or not for instance i could have a cup of tea n be fine however i could have another cup later that day and be very ill from it its very random for me anyway anything can start it even if i been fine with that food before! i find the bath very usefull even at 3.30 am but really its playing hell with my life hopefully my scan date will be thru again soon and i might get some ansewrs. anything you wanna ask feel free !
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