How long does it take to recover from acute pancreatitis?

Well let's see, one year ago I was told type 2 diabetes. Changed diet to low carb low sugar and started running a few miles per week. I buy only Carbmaster milk which is 75% less sugar and cabs than regular milk and its fat free. Dropped 30 pounds and was free of the diabetes.

I had recently been cheating on the diet and eating lots of chocolate and peanut butter cups due to my kids big score on Halloween. My doctor thinks that is what triggered this. For now it's no treats and I'm also doing a low fat diet just to be cautious. That's the tough part, I love cheese! And chocolate and peanut butter!

Hi, my name is Stephanie I am from Washington State. I also had Acute Pancreatitis September 2014. I do not drink much, just a glass of wine once in a while. Of course the Dr's kept asking if I drank a lot. I had my gallbladder out in 2001 and Acute Pancreatitis is a complication years later as the duct tend shrinks where bile passes. This shrinking causes possible clogging, stones to get stuck, or sludge to build up. What the hospital I went to did was take blood work, x-rays etc... Then they sent me to another hospital Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane Wa where they stretched out the duct by going down my throat and pulling a small balloon through to enlarge it. I never had any problems since. Of course I had to recover and start eating foods that agree with me at first. But now just 4 months later I can eat whatever I use to eat. Hard to believe you have had to go on for months with the pain and vomiting. I hope you find out whats going on and get better soon.

Had acute pancreaitis in October out of the blue my numbers were lipase 22000 was in hospital for four days but I am still having pain nausea and vomiting with no energy lost 40 pounds went to see another doctor and he placed me on enzymes to rest the pancreas but still having pain I'm sick of being sick an don't know what else to do.

Have had every test you can imagine except for the ERCP the docs won't do it said it was too dangerous for me. They don't know what caused it and I don't drink at all don't have exotic pets or so far nothing shows anything is wrong with my gallbladder so they won't take it out. But the pain is lingering the nausea and vomiting has stopped with the pancreatic enzymes they just put me on. So after three months I can finally eat alittle and keep it down. This has been the sickess I have ever been and it's awful but glad to know I'm not alone.

I had gall bladder type pain that resulted in imaging that found cysts in the pancreas and sludge in the gall bladder. This prompted an ERCP by the local Gastro surgeon. This set off a wickedly severe pancreatitis (lipase levels beyond hospital scale) and 2 week NPO hospitalization.  This was Nov 2014, and now 3 months down the line.

I've learned much - most important - do not let *anyone* touch your pancreas or do a procedure unless you are at a nationally recognized center for pancreatic care. An ERCP by a generic Gastro, who will cite a 5% complication rate, will almost always cause problems. There is research that says pancreatic procedures like an ERCP by a non-pancreatic center can have complication rates at 40-60%. My severe bout was directly produced by the ERCP -- it took about 8 hours to develop.

Secondly - pancreatitis quickly overwhelms the ability of your GP or Gastro to understand or effectively manage. Work your insurance system or pay out of pocket to get in with a true expert in pancreatic care. It is a critical, lifestyle disease with nasty consequences if you don't follow best practices of care and lifestyle adjustments.

My recovery has been rigid adherence to the low-fat, low sugar diet. I need to adhere to both to keep pain at bay. My problems come when I eat out or otherwise fail to comply with both low fat and low raw sugar. I've also had to add complex starches (rice, potatoes) to provide energy. Lastly, I've learned to poach/drain or steam white fish or skinless chicken to convert lean meats to low fat. You can buy some products where that is already done. Like many - I've become a rabid reader of labels. I've pretty much moved to not eating things that don't have labels (i.e., no eating out unless it is salad with no dressing).

With the above approach, I've been blessed with low grade pain and sometimes a painfree day. It does seem, ever so slowly, to be getting better. The UCLA specialist said that 6-12 months, sometimes longer, can be anticipated for healing. And that is if I don't irritate it in that process. So it is a very long road.

One surgeon gave me an excellent nugget on their focus to find cause:  surgeons are trained to find and fix. They need to discover a thing or a reason that causes the issue, and then they go in and fix it. So, idiopathic pancreatitis breaks their rules, and their training drives them to ascribe a cause. They go to alcohol due to the problem drinkers' proven propensity to not be fully truthful. But - as he said - it actually doesn't matter at this point. The treatment is going to be the same: low fat, low sugar, no alcohol, followup scans and bloodwork mostly to monitor for any conversion to a situation where surgery is required or cancer is detected.  If the patient continues to drink, that will eventually play out -- but if you are the patient, stop drinking. If that proves hard, seek help for that as well!  I love my glass of wine or a pint on weekends, but it has needed to stop. It makes me sad, but I'd rather be painfree.

The only thing about this disease that I can control is aggressive adherence to the diet, really good hydration (it helps!), and digging until I find an actual specialist with a clue *and* who works with me effectively.  I actually travel about 5 hours to that person now that I have found them........which is really hard, but I want to invest in a life worth living for another 40 years (I am 50).

I did not really anticipate a sudden shift, out of the blue, to managing a serious disease. It has taken me a few months to realize that this isn't like a bad cold I will get over - this is likely going to need attention and care for a very long time, and if I am not aggressive up front, for life. So - while we all have to work to support ourselves, I do really assertively work to make all the little choices in my day (diet, stress, hydration) be really good ones for my health. And - when I shift my timeframe to the long haul for recovery, it helps!

Best of luck in your journey - and I am glad to have discovered this board.

Terri

Hi

My name is chris am from new jersey

I was admited to the ER a month ago for

Severe pain at first the doctors told me

They had to do blood test they told me

I had pancreatitis and they asked me if i

Was a heavy drinker i told him that i was.

Drinking 3 times a week for the past year

I believe thats the cause i was in the hospital

For 3 days after the third day they started

Giving me food till i got better i have no pain

No more but i.still feel bloated all the time

Even if i eat small amounts of food am waiting

For my new blood work results. Now i see people posting all their stories and thank you guys but

My question is does panceeatitis ever heal completely ? Has any body here heal yet?

Reading all this for me worried i just want

To be sure since i stoped drinking comepletely

Thank you for reading wish luck to everybody