Re: Am i destined to become a diabetic?

[Guest guest]

Dear Andy,

It's hard to say whether or not you would get diabetes. Many CP

patients don't. I will try to find the percentages if that will be of

any help to you. I did get brittle diabetes, but my progression

was very quick, and the deterioriation of my pancreatic function

from slighly damaged to burn-out might be a record breaking

statistic for all I know, since it happened in less than 18 months.

Yet this is very, very uncommon.

One other thing you could do other than a low fat diet and no

alcohol, that you didn't mention as part of your preventative

measures, would be to purchase a glucometer and test yourself

on a frequent basis. While you can't stop diabetes, if you are

aware of your blood glucose levels on a regular basis, you could

certainly determine any change in your levels that would indicate

the onset of the disease. The earlier one determines this, the

more chance there is of getting immediate medical supervision

and care that would help prevent complications in the future.

Another thing you can do, which many don't, and is directly linked

to the onset of diabetes type 2, would be to keep yourself on a

healthy diet, avoid refined sugar products and fattening foods, be

very careful of your carb intake, and by all costs avoid obesity.

There is an alarming rate of young people and children, all

across the country, who are recently developing diabetes. This

is due to their eating habits and obesity, not anything genetic. I

was at my diabetes support meeting this month and my

endocrinologist had just returned from the annual diabetes

medical seminar where this was the major topic of discussion -

that children and young people were now the highest percentage

of new diabetics!

Other than this, Andy, I don't know of anything else you can do.

As I said earlier, some people with pancreatitis get it, other's

don't. Testing your blood glucose on a regular basis would let

you know what's going on. As you already know and are doing,

being strict with your low fat diet and abstinance from alcohol will

do much to help, and as much as you can, try to avoid stress, as

too much stress (good or bad) can cause an attack.

I wish I could answer with more suggestions, but this is all I can

think of right now. I hope this helps in some way.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

http://www.pancassociation.org/ourstories/#Heidi

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

should not be substituted for professional medical consultation.

> I'm currently a 24 year old male. I've had accute pancreatitis

since i was a child, though it wasn't properly diagnosed until i

was 15. Every day i get more scared my pancreas is just going

to get damaged permanently and i will become a diabetic.

So do any of you do anything special to prevent attacks other

than the basics (healthy diet, no drinking, etc.)?

Andy

[Guest guest]

Hi, Andy!

Just wanted to chirp in on your question ... my husband (Barry)

recently developed necrotizing pancreatitis as the result of an ERCP

in April. All but the tip of the head of his pancreas is dead

tissue. It's still new (3 months) and even with just an itty bitty

bit of pancreas functioning, Barry isn't diabetic and possibly will

not become one. (The pancreas is an amazing and yet wicked gland.)

Just wanted you to hear a 'possibly' positive situation on that

note. As Heidi said, keep aware though - as Barry must also do.

Hang in there!

Beth

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/21/2003 5:56:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

beck_0316@... writes:

>

> >>

> >>What type of success rate does this surgery have?

> Is it good for a lifetime? I am very interested in

> this for my husband.

>

The pancreatectomy and islet cell transplant was first performed on a patient

in the 1970s and she is healthy and doing very well today. It would be very

wise to read the web site that I posted and also give Dr. Sutherland a call or

e-mail him. You can tell him your condition and he will let you know if you

are a candidate for the surgery. He is very nice and would be very easy to

talk with. I had my surgery December 2000 and I am well but I am now a mild

diabetic. If enough islets can be harvested from the pancreas to inject into

the

liver then a patient will probably not be diabetic. I had two hundred and

seventeen thousand islets taken from my pancreas and injected into my liver.

Some patients have more and some have less. I believe the ideal amount is over

300,000 islets.

Where are you from? It would be great if you could attend the symposium in

Indiana. Dr. Sutherland will be speaking there Friday, August 29 and you could

learn so much about the surgery that I had. Please feel free to ask me any

questions you have. I will be happy to help in any way that I can. Shirley

[Guest guest]

Anita,

I have had a stent put in that passed through without any problem 2

weeks after it was put in ..which is what it was supposed to do.

This last stent I had placed, so it wouldn't fall out, the doctor

put it in upside down so the little claws on it are embedded into

the pancreas tissue. It is beginning to get blocked, (it's been in

for 3 months now) so they need to take it out and put another one

in. They don't want to put a permanent stent in me because of the

problems that can occur, so they came up with this idea, just to

keep me home and out of hospital..so if it means I have to have an

ERCP once every 3-6 months, but get to stay home during that time,

unlike what was happening before they did this, then so be it..It's

working fairly well so far.