Acute pancreatitis- anyone had experience of this?

[Caralarms]

My lovely DH (59) who is NEVER unwell was admitted to hospital late last night after two days of stomach pain and feeling unwell.

CT scan and bloods revealed acute pancreatitis and he’s on fluids and pain relief.

Going forward it looks like a low fat diet and no alcohol, that’s doable although a bit sad as we love our meals / drinks out at weekends to unwind from work.

We are meant to be going to Greece for a week on 16th September though, any idea if this should be cancelled? Naturally I’ll speak to the doctor and get their thoughts but has anyone with experience of this know the timeline for recovery? He was able to walk around, not vomiting etc just no appetite and a constant gnawing pain.

He’s hating being in hospital already, been in about 12 hours so far, he doesn’t make a good patient!

My dad had it at one point.

I think it resolved pretty quickly.

don’t cancel yet.

Yes, mine was courtesy of a gallbladder attack. (First time I knew there was a problem with gallbladder.) Gallbladder "urgently" removed three months later. Low fat diet and no alcohol was needed to prevent further gallbladder issues. I had no appetite either - can highly recommend as a weight-loss method!

As far as the pancreatitis side of things went, once in hospital and on IV drugs, it took about ten days before they would let me out. Around a fortnight before I was fairly normal in myself, bar appetite. I was much worse to start with than your husband though by the sound of it - much vomiting and plenty of morphine required.

I'd look carefully at your holiday insurance - you'll need to inform them before you go. To be honest, I personally would think about cancelling.

I have no direct experience but acute pancreatitis as I’m sure you’re aware, can be very serious. As pp has already said, check your insurance.

Hope he’s on the mend soon though!

Can I ask did you have the pancreas issue after your gallbladder was removed?

OP I’d be holding fire on holidays, see how he is and check insurance, as a really recent admission I’m not sure you’d be covered if he had a flare when you are away. How far are you going?

I found out I had gallstones when I had pancreatitis diagnosed by a blood test due to red hot poker pain going through to the back below my sternum. Told not to drink and have fat free diet needed prescribed co codomol for the pain. Seemed to settle in a week or so. Had another blood test that confirmed it had gone back to normal. Had to have gallbladder out. Have never had problems with pancreas since.

If he has gallstones causing the pancreatitis then I’d cancel the holiday, firstly cos he’ll need his gallbladder out asap, and secondly as if you went and it recurred it’s likely it would be a worse attack and your travel insurance would likely not cover (you’d need to check this).

If no gallstones he may be able to go if he recovers quickly, ie by within the next week, but he will have to make sure he avoids alcohol and watches diet. Might not make for the best atmosphere, I’d ask how he feels.

No more probs after gallbladder was removed. All of it just hit me out of the blue - didn't have a clue I had any issues.

they will have to find root cause before he can be discharged, likely through a scan, highest chance is a gallstone crept into the duct. Could mean gall bladder removal. Management by diet is only temporary, unless he is an alcoholic then stopping all alcohol is a must.

you don’t get acute pancreatitis for no reason - it’s a symptom of a problem.

they should be booking in a scan to verify - check this happening or booked before they let him out.

Yes, it's very painful, but usually linked with gallstones. Once I had my gallbladder out, the pancreatitis quickly disappeared and I've been absolutely fine for the last 14 years (and I do drink alcohol).

You can but it's very rare
My son acute necrotizing pancreititis, he was 16 and they couldn't find a reason for it ,no gall stones ,he didn't drink any alcohol at all it waa a bit of a mystery .

Thanks all, I’ve been to see him this evening and he’s a lot better.
Hes been given insulin into his tummy which googling appears to be because he has high triglycerides (I may be wrong) and perhaps that’s the cause of the poorly pancreas.

Hes eaten today and is pain free, however it’s early days yet. I think we’ll give it a week or so and see how he is before making the call.

If he has pancreas damage it might lead to diabetes, he would be type 3c ,at this stage they won't know how much is affected and wether it's longterm
Things can fix themselves.
But it might be wait and see I wish you all the best

I don't know how people are getting treated for gallbladder and pancreatic pain. I ended up in A&E with a gallbladder attack with pancreatitis and couldn't have cared less. Had to go home in the end and take everything kind of painkiller and sleeping tablet I had in the house and knocked myself out due to the intense pain. GP called the next day greatly concerned due to blood results. Too late buddy, the pain has resolved.

15 years later my gallbladder is still diseased but remains in situ as they can't find any stones and aren't interested in removal. People are lucky if they're receiving any treatment.

I hope your dh recovers soon op. Pancreatitis is sheer agony.

you don’t get acute pancreatitis for no reason - it’s a symptom of a problem.
This, the first thing the Dr said when I was diagnosed with pancreatitis was did I drink a lot. I hadn't had a drink for 3 months as I just seemed to not fancy any during that time. That's why I was sent for a scan.

Had to go home in the end and take everything kind of painkiller.
They should have given you strong pain killers it was only the strong co codomol that the Dr prescribed that kept me sane when having an attack otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do anything not even move. I just had to lie there until the pain subsided The worst pain I have ever had.

That's not always the case though if you read my above post my son got acute necrotizing pancreititis at aged just q
16 and they couldn't find a cause it completely destroyed his pancreas and he's now insulin dependent Diabetic,
Obviously his case Was very rare but it happen,s

Mine(gallstones set it off and as I have a high pain threshold I carried on till I collapsed) made me unwell, very very unwell to the point they wanted me in ICU instead of HDU. It can make you incredibly ill hence the hospital stay and tests.
I was lucky and survived, Drs were of the opinion that if I had enjoyed alchohol it would have been a different outcome. I spent a week on I/V fluids, discovered the joy of I/V paracetamol, was offered a morphine pump but argued for patient request morphine instead, finally was well enough to have surgery to remove the cause before going home. I was in hospital for around two weeks and it took me six months to recover as it had made me so unwell.

In your shoes I would check your holiday health insurance WILL cover you for any issues possibly related to pancreatitis and ask the doctors if your husband is fit to fly.

There is a Chronic Pancreatitis recipe book by the Pancreas Foundation free online here. https://pancreasfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/NPF-Cookbook-2015-Update.pdf

I can recommend Guts UK for both information and support.
https://gutscharity.org.uk/advice-and-information/conditions/acute-pancreatitis-symptoms-diagnosis-treatment-and-support/

TBH I spent weeks living mostly on home made from scratch fruit jelly, fluids, and thin soup. it was very slimming. Once I felt a bit more able to look at food I used recipes from this booklet and ate snack sized small meals to begin with. I still cannot eat polyunsaturated fats and still avoid any alcohol.

Thank you, this is really helpful.

He’s home now, came home yesterday. All a bit of a mystery as no gallstones were found, bloods and blood sugars all back to normal yesterday. He has no pain, has an appetite and feels good.

He doesn’t have high triglycerides?

I would definitely be going for regular blood tests in this situation . Raised triglycerides can trigger acute pancreatitis and that can be fatal.

I would also definitely look at diet - I have high triglycerides and I have stopped drinking alcohol and I can only eat small amounts of high fat food in a single sitting. So think a slice of pizza with salad instead of a whole pizza; no fish and chips; no crisps etc.

Yes. I had it two years ago combined with duduonitis. It was awful. I was in the hospital for a week on antibiotics. It literally came out of no where

Obviously there are degrees of acute pancreatitis. My husband had it - I was in the Himalayas, out of communication (late 90s). The GP had been giving him stronger and stronger indigestion remedies but said essentially it was nothing to worry about.
My daughter (aged 16) found him collapsed on the floor and phoned an ambulance; his heart stopped twice on the way to hospital. Essentially a tiny gallstone had escaped into his pancreas and it was shutting down or trying to digest it.
Luckily the gastro-intestinal consultant at the regional hospital was a bit of a pancreatitis specialist. Husband was in hospital for more than 2 months, the first few weeks in ICU - He was incredibly ill, had several operations, was close to death on at least one occasion, lost a third of his body weight and was in a shocking amount off pain. It left him a type 1 diabetic. It was eight months before he could go back to work in a modified way (university professor). It absolutely destroyed his health- he had been very fit with no issues previously - and after 20 years of constant digestive problems, hospital stays and increasing weakness, he died.
Your DH has been lucky,OP.

This happened To my then 16 year old he had acute necrotizing pancreititis and it came completely out of the blue ,he was also in intensive care, but I think because he was an a young and otherwise healthy 16 year old he recovered. far more quickly thsn they immediately thought he was in hospital for just short of 4 weeks
He's type 3c diabetes now treated as type one ,type 3c is caused by pancreas damage, so i think maybe your husband wastoo?
Although the treatment is essentially the same as type one ,did your husband also take Creon,?
I'm sorry ti hear he died it's a horrible condition.

Im not sure if this was checked in hospital. He has to go to the GP on Tuesday for a sick paper, I’ll get him to ask then, maybe they can do that test.