Re: Do pancreatic problems run in families?

[Guest guest]

I have suffered with middle of the night belly aches for 3 years,

> directly after the removal of my gallbladder. But, I had had a

very painful attack in my upper abdomen, below my

breastbone....landed me in the hospital for 6 days with

peritonitius and abdominal distention, fever, and nausua, no

vomiting. No gallstones found, .

....today, I am still having recurring belly aches in the middle of the

night, and constant pain that radiates/pulsates into my right back

and I have a constant pain under my right side ribcage area. I

My GI is treating me with Nexium 40mg a day, and it has seemed

to help with the lessening the belly aches, but not eliminated

them. Then I had a change in my stools and began to have

some severe constipation recently, which lead to a colonoscopy.

Everythings fine down there...

Due to two prior upper GI's I have been dianosed with a huge

hiatle hernia and excessive acid production

This constant pain in my right side into my back is what bothers

me...

I learned the other day that my mother's sister is in the hospital

being tested for pancreatic problems .

.....another 1st cousin has been diagnosed with pancreatic cysts.

My mother has complained for years of similiar abdominal pains

and vomiting but has refused to ever go to a doctor.

My GI now tells me he says I have IBS and that is my cause of

bellyaches back pain.

Would many of you convey your symptoms?

....hardest time trying to convince my GI that I don't have IBS.

He had me have another HIDA scan in January and said it was

'fine.' ....mentioned testing me for liver problems, but not my

pancreas.

Sandi in Southern WV

Dear Sandi,

Certainly, pancreatic problems can be genetic. We have

members of this board that have chronic pancreatitis, and so do

their sons, daughter, sister's, brothers, mother's, father's, etc.

There is a gene that all these people share in common which

ties them to the diagnosis of heritary pancreatitis.

It appears that all other tests and procedures, i.e; HIDA scan,

upper endoscopies, colonoscopy, and gallbladder removal have

eliminated other organs that could be causing this pain. IMHO I

don't understand why the doctor's haven't tested your pancreas.

Have they done any blood work to check your amylase, lipase

and triglyceride levels? These are easy, inexpensive tests and

could be done as a starting point in determining whether there is

something wrong with your pancreas.

I was never one who suffered too much from nausea or vomiting.

It only bothers me during the build up to an acute attack. Others

with CP suffer with this problem every day, so you can see that in

some regards, we are all different. Your upper (beneath the

breastbone) abdominal pain that radiates to your back is a

standard symptom of chonic pancreatitis, this IS something that

we all share. For some, the back pain is as debilitating as the

abdominal pain, and it can be on the right, left or both sides.

You should ask your doctor to look more into pancreatic

problems than IBS. Unfortunately, a large majority of our CP

members here were first told the same thing, that it was IBS, and

it only took their perseverience and knowledge of their own

bodies to deny that diagnosis and keep searching for the right

answer. Hopefully they will speak up, too, and encourage you to

stand your ground and insist that your physician look further. It

may be that this GI is one that doesn't specialize in the pancreas

as much as some other's do. You may need to seek a second

opinion if this doctor will not look beyond the copout of the IBS

diagnosis.

Let us know how we can help you.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and

should not be substituted for professional medical consultation.

[Guest guest]

Sandy in Southern WV,

I believe that makes two of yen in beautiful WV. You may recognize Louie from

her posts.

I am sorry that you are having so much continuing problems with aches and

pains in your stomach and such. You asked, " Would many of you convey your

symptoms? " That was a good way to ask the question because I can definitely

speak from my own experience. I don't hesitate for a second to tell my

physician about anything that is bothering me. And, by that I mean both

physically and if I am just worried about something. There have been times,

when I have been told that there was nothing they could do about a particular

complaint or situation, but if I felt like my body was trying to tell me

something, I felt obligated to my body first. I become worrisome when the

gastric paresis becomes severe, and my post meal bloating is more like a race

car going 0 to 50, leaving me feeling 9 months pregnant. Though, I may

understand the physiological problem, sometimes it just doesn't seem like

that is good. Sometimes, I am just scared. Another situation recently is that

I have been having my physician monitor my moles on my back, because Tull

thinks there are more of them and they look like they are changing. (I

personally can't see them, even with a mirror--thank you very much--I think

they are yucky!) The doc says they are benign, but when I know the stats on

basal cell carcinoma, it just seems prudent to have a dermatologist (or her)

do a biopsy to be sure. And, regardless, I would just as soon have them

removed.

So this went way off task from what you were probably wanting some feedback

on. Sometimes, I find that when I am posting it makes me remember things I

need to do or things that I hadn't thought about for a while.

The most important thing top remember is that there is no question that

doesn't warrant asking. We are the healthcare consumers.

Blessings,

Karyn , RN

Executive Director, PAI

Symposium August 28 & 29, 2003

PS: What city do you live in?