To Cate....Re: Pancreatitis without elevated levels

[Guest guest]

...I'm concerned that it would only add to your worry for us to

tell you that these things can be related....please promise me you

will check with your daughter's doctor.

Don't assume the worst right away...but at the same time you need to

know that elevated triglycerides (how high are her levels?) CAN cause

pancreatitis...and then the very fact the TG's are elevated creates

false normals for the amylase and lipase levels that the doctors rely

on so heavily... It's either the Mayo or the s Hopkins site that

talks about having a pancreatitis attack with normal A/L levels....

My levels were in the 500/5000 range for Chol/Trig after not eating

for about 8 hours, and my A/L levels were normal. I was sent home

from the ER on pain meds and told to come back in the morning to get

an Ultrasound of my abdomen as they were looking for gallbladder

disease or a stone in the duct.

My A/L levels *doubled* overnight (less than 12 hours later) and yet

they were just barely over the high end of normal,,,,so they did the

US looking at the gallbladder and instead found the changes going on

in the pancreas....

I was admitted to the hospital for 4 days, not eating or drinking

anything, on IV's and PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesia...the " pain

pump " )...at one point the nurse came in and said they were going to

take it away because I wasn't " using it enough " !?!? Huh?! I looked

at her in such shock and said " If I'm not mistaken here, this is the

whole *purpose* of letting the patient control the dose...to use less

pain meds?! " It didn't get taken away until I was able to take

medication by mouth...I did NOT want injections as it take me months

to get over the pain from them.

Another thing I found helpful in my web search for information was to

go to google or altavista and type in " triglycerides+pancreatitis "

without the quote marks, but with the + sign...I found several

helpful articles that way. Merck.com has a good site...look for

Gastrointestinal Disorders first then look for pancreas then look for

Hypertriglyceridemia.

It might also help you to know that pancreatitis doesn't usually

occur until the TG's are over 1000..... And TG's can easily be

brought under control by decreasing the amount of carbohydrate

foods...unless you're like me with some genetic flaw or something

where my body makes TG's out of thin air ! I am on three times the

normal dose for Lopid (Gemfibrozil)...it should be 600mgs twice a

day. I take Two 600mg pills Three times a day.,...AND a Pravachol

(pravastatin) at bedtime....and I still had a pancreatitis attack !

ANd now that I'm a diabetic and eating much less in the carbohydrate

category I still have not been able to reduce the number of pills or

the level of medication I take to control this!

I hope this helps you and doesn't instead add fuel to your worry (I'm

a worrier too so I know how it can be!).

Take care....

Jeannine (juh-neen)

> Hi, I was wondering if anyone out there might know if you can have

a pancreatitis attack without out amalyse & lipase levels being

elevated. My daughter was diagnosed with raised

cholesterol/triglycerides and she has been complaining of pain in her

left side. ....snip..... Thanks in advance,