Hi … my name is Paul Miller aka The Health Guy and I am beating pancreatitis. I am just an average ordinary guy who was diagnosed with acute and chronic pancreatitis years ago. I learned how to beat it.
I am NOT a doctor.
I haven’t even attended college or a University.
There probably isn’t one good reason you should listen to me except …
I’ve been there, done it.
I’ve got the pancreatitis t-shirt.
I know what I am talking about when it comes to pancreatitis.
I’ve invested tons of hours, led by Almighty God, learning how to heal myself. I had divine help both in staying alive and finding the information I needed in order to learn how to heal so …
My Almighty, Most High, Living God gets ALL the Glory!
The BIG Difference? I Am Beating Pancreatitis!
The BIG difference between what you hear or read from me or some other person whether they are a doctor, nurse or your neighbor is that I AM HEALED.
I’m NOT cured but I am healed.
Which means I don’t suffer acute or chronic pancreatitis symptoms. I don’t feel sick like I did years ago and I KNOW what you are going through. In other words I’ve been there, done it, went through it. I own the t-shirt. I won.
I have several sites about pancreatitis and for those who suffer (HubPages, two (2) blogs and two (2) Facebook pages). Some people who have read my stuff and tried what I do, have left comments. You may want to read the comments on all the sites to learn what others say about my regimen and what I do.
Great CT Scan Results! (“no evidence of disease in pancreas”)
This is ONE of the best comments I have seen posted on any of my sites:
“Hi!
I thought I´d share my story on this post since I got some very happy news yesterday.
A little under a year ago I was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis after several bouts of stomach pain over a period of about five years, the last one lasting for several weeks with fever and everything.
I was sent to ultrasound and there the radiologist found scar tissue having formed in my pancreas and he said that this was caused by inflammation of the pancreas due to drinking too much (which is what caused the attacks) and ordered me to stop drinking altogether. I haven´t touched alcohol since.
Shortly after I came over this blog and adopted the regime of a low fat diet, grape seed, vitamin C, curcumin and enzymes before meals. I also took Ibuprofen whenever I felt the slightest sign of pancreatic stomach pain (you kinda know how it feels if you´ve had it before). I also made sure to get cardio-vascular exercise at least three times a week and have a certain amount physical activity every day (walks, biking etc).
Yesterday I got the results from a recent CT scan, (which is a more precise form of diagnosis than ultrasound) and to my surprise they found “no evidence of disease in pancreas”. This means that the scarring in my pancreas has healed in less than a year and I stand a much better chance of escaping this horrible disease, and the future looks bright!
I will continue to stay away from alcohol, and will also continue to take supplements, although maybe not as many as before, just to stay on the safe side.
This goes to show that there is indeed hope if you get an early diagnosis and implement measures immediately and stick to them.”
The above comment was posted on my other blog. You’ll have to find it but you can read it in original form here.
My Pancreatitis Info Can Be Found In These Places
I have I think 5 sites about pancreatitis. This one you are on now is going to be my major focus point but …
Here’s my other sites:
Living With Pancreatitis (HubPage)
Overcoming Pancreatitis (original blog)
Beating Pancreatitis (Facebook Page)
This Beating Pancreatitis blog that you are on right now is the best place to obtain my information. Right now it contains about 70 pages and posts. Some of the best free information you’ll find anywhere about pancreatitis. It will have more information including a forum as soon as I get it working properly.
I welcome questions, comments, your stories but …
I can NOT give blatant medical advice.
I will answer all questions to the best of my ability using the terminology “If it were me” as often as I can remember to do so because that can only be construed as telling you what I would do or have done, not suggesting that you do or take anything I say as medical advice.
I am not here to give advice.
I am simply sharing knowledge, stuff I learned and/or figured out that works for me.
Will what I do work for you?
All I can say is that there are others who have adopted my regimen (lifestyle changes via diet and supplements) and some are feeling much better and as far as I know none have died or gotten worse simply because they adopted my eating and supplement lifestyle.
None of my sites are about making money via the suffering of pancreatitis patients.
I make a buck if you buy stuff on this site and it’ll help support my coffee addiction 🙂 however; you can get all the supplements at your local health food store.
It doesn’t matter to me. In fact …
Going to your local health store makes more sense, especially if you are sick as you read this. You could have them today by going to the store.
Just try the supplements because they work, at least for me they work.
In the right doses they may also work for you.
Just remember the supplements aren’t a cure.
They aren’t miracle potions that will allow you to eat or drink whatever you want but coupled with a low fat pancreatitis diet they may help change your life into a whole new ball game.
You may be the next person doing the happy dance and wouldn’t that be cool? 🙂
For me it took BOTH diet and supplements.
I’ve been told I should write a book. I have no intention of writing and selling a book or becoming famous. In fact, I would rather not. My mission is to simply share, what Almighty God taught me, what I did to heal and still do to stay well.
That’s it.
The info is free.
I wish you healing and better health.
Oh wait …
One Favor Please
If you like this blog and the beating pancreatitis information contained herein please do me a favor and “like” my blog, pages and posts on Google+ and Facebook. Tweet it, Pin it and so on.
I’m not sure exactly how much doing so helps my blog to rank in search results but I know it helps and I’ll appreciate the help! You’ll find the “like” and “share” buttons at the bottom of each page or post. Thank you! 
Good luck and God bless you!
Hi paul ,
Thanks for your great help by sharing your experience . I wanted to ask you that , my mom is a patient of chronic pancreatitis and recently she is feeling that whenever she eats the pain disappears for some time …..Though other times she has high intensity pain . What do you think ?
She is on 80% vegan diet and also taking the supplements .
Thanks
Aakash Girdhar (INDIA)
Hi Aakash – What is an 80% vegan diet? Does that mean she is eating 20% bad stuff (red meat, pork, oils, other high fat content foods) or veggies, grains, legumes with some chicken and fish? How much of the grape seed extract, curcumin and vitamin C is she taking each day? Most people with damage don’t see dramatic results without taking high doses of grape seed extract (600 mgs or more each day spread out over 3 – 4 doses). If she doesn’t get relief with 600 mgs of grape seed extract try more. Increase the doses slowly until she gets relief. The same with the C. Large doses. Curcumin should be around 500 mgs 2 – 3 times per day. Be advised – Large doses of curcumin can cause stomach upset in some people so less is often better.
Hi Health Guy,
Thanks for your very informative site. I have spent the last two days reading through it. I need your opinion on something if you have a minute. Im a 40 year old woman. About 3 years ago I started getting a pain under my upper right ribcage. CT scan showed nothing. Ultrasound and Hida Scan of gallbladder showed nothing. Gallbladder surgery was offered and I declined. Then about a year and a half ago I went off of a prescription drug I had been using for insomnia called trazadone (opiod) and my whole gut blew up. I was so sick I couldn’t walk or eat. I lost a total of 50 pounds. After the initial all over pain my symptoms seemed to settle in the upper abdominal area. With swelling and discomfort on the right and middle and eventually the left. I immediately change my diet but didn’t know what i was fighting. The past year and a half has been miserable. I have had 2 upper endoscopy of the stomach ( mild gastritis was found), a colonoscopy (no findings), additional ultrasound of my digestive organs, another ct scan this time with contrast (no findings) and finally most recently an mrcp (normal). They keep telling me my pancreas is fine. But I have been requesting pancreatic enzyme blood tests throughout this ordeal and the lypase has been either at the lowest normal of the reference range or slightly below normal. Of course none of my doctors are concerned about this. only me. ive been vegan/pescatarian for the last year but have included some fats. interestingly enough I have recently been getting ozone therapy for lyme disease and during the last three months and a lot of my gut issues (70 %)subsided and i was eating a mild amount of fat but now feel horrible again after eating a bunch of nuts. That is what lead me back to the pancreas and your site. I say all that to ask you this…. Is it possible to have severe damage in there but it hasn’t shown up on any of those tests? Are there other diagnostics I should push for? And what are your thoughts on prescription enzymes? Right now Im super uncomfortable but fasting and taking the vit c and grapeseed oil. I haven’t taken the ib profen because im worried about the stomach gastritis. Thanks again and Blessings to you and your family.
Hi Michelle – sorry to hear you have been ill. Before I forget grape seed oil will do nothing to help in fact IF it is your pancreas or gallbladder or sphincter of oddi the “oil,” which is always pure fat will do more harm than good. You need grape seed extract not oil. There is a huge difference. Grape seed extract is a highly anti-inflammatory powder made from grape seeds and usually used to make grape seed extract capsules/tablets. Grape seed oil is a quality high temp cooking oil. Anyway …
Nothing showed on a CT, Ultrasound and Hida scan yet they wanted to remove your gallbladder. Sounds like doctors lol. Of course there is always the chance that you had stones and/or sludge and passed them before the tests could show them present. Did a doctor mention that your gallbladder wasn’t functioning properly or that there were signs of GB inflammation? I’m not familiar with Trazodone so I had to look it up and learn. It is used for many conditions, some off-label. The side effects are intimidating.
In regards to blood work and the MRCP – if the blood work (enzymes lipase and amylase) were done at appropriate times (about 4 hours after first symptoms) and were not elevated chances are rare it was acute pancreatitis especially when nothing showed on the MRCP which a very good test for discovering pancreas damage. The Endoscopic Ultrasound and ERCP seem to be the only tests you haven’t had that are common and ERCP can have dangerous complications.
To answer your questions:
1) “Is it possible to have severe damage in there but it hasn’t shown up on any of those tests?” ANYTHING is possible but not very probable in this instance.
2) “Are there other diagnostics I should push for?” IF you are really bad again go to the ed/er and ask them to check your lipase and amylase. Check your watch and count off 4 hours from time of symptoms starting (bad ones) because lipase usually takes 4 hours to elevate. And an EUS is about the only other test that may find minute damage.
3) “what are your thoughts on prescription enzymes?” They are expensive but if needed can be truly helpful.
Now there are some things that are often missed simply because the person reading the scans didn’t think them important or missed them. One is pancreas divisum which can cause symptoms and acute pancreatitis but again AP will usually show up via blood work (enzymes) and scans US, CT, MRCP. Another is sphincter of oddi dysfunction. You might ask about those conditions. The latter is difficult to diagnose but class 1 and especially class 11 will often have a common bile duct dilation which shows on scans whereas class 11 is simply difficult to diagnose because of the lack of obvious signs other than symptoms.
One thing I noticed is the lack of pain or the exclusion of it as a symptom. RARELY does acute pancreatitis or chronic pancreatitis exist without pain in fact most biliary disease has pain as a commonality and pancreas pain can be absolutely horrible.
Michelle- I am so sorry. I am an idiot. I don’t know if you are still following this blog or not. I wouldn’t be if I were you cuz I’m an idiot and I owe you a HUGE apology for being stupid. I can’t even explain how I wrote the last paragraph. I must have started smoking weed again? Something … because you mentioned pain and being miserable and my brain must have exploded with a huge fart and blew my sense out. Obviously something is going on and why damage doesn’t show on scans etc at times I have no clue except humans read those scans and humans do the scans and humans make mistakes. I sounded like some of the doctors i have met and/or heard stories about. I’m sorry. I know of one case study where an older guy 66 I think presented at the ER with uncontrollable vomiting, no pain and no enzyme increases. He died and it was found on autopsy that his pancreas was destroyed. I sincerely hope you find a good doctor who puts it together and gets you well.
I think you could have definitely had/have pancreatitis. And unfortunately nobody gets it right all the time. Patients do not always present with “classic” symptoms and damage, especially slight damage or even slight inflammation (which can be just as painful/symptomatic as major inflammation) doesn’t always show or someone just misses it. Anyway … I apologize again for being an idiot.
Paul,
Di you ever completely lose your appetite during this ordeal?… If so, how long did it take to come back?
Thanks,
Lee
Lee, heck ya I lost my appetite. Almost every time I ate I got VERY sick (when I was really ill). And when I’m in massive gut pain, like with AP (acute pancreatitis) or have nausea the last thing I am is hungry. Then, I simply became AFRAID to eat. What happened from eating simply wasn’t a fun experience! How long it took for my appetite to come back is a great question. Unfortunately I don’t have a great answer. I simply don’t remember. I do know that when I didn’t feel hungry and ate anyway, usually to please some family member, I got sick. So what I can tell you, emphatically, is that if you aren’t hungry, I mean HUNGRY, don’t eat. It isn’t worth it. Don’t worry about losing weight. You won’t die because of not eating for a couple days or even a week or more unless you have some underlying issues. However going past a week with no food of any kind is pushing the envelop. That’s why I suggest organic vegetable juice. If you can’t make your own, buy some low-sodium V8. It isn’t organic but it works.
Paul,
Sorry for the misspelling on the last post ;-)… I am asking because I haven’t had an appetite at all for six days but have been juicing to slow down the weight loss.
Thanks again,
Lee
Hey Lee, 6 days isn’t long. I’ve went for almost 4 weeks with nothing but juice (after some of the worst AP’s). Just was to sick to be hungry and knew if I ate I was gonna pay. You’re welcome, hope you feel better soon.
I do not have acute pancreatitis (yet and hoping to avoid) though many mysterious pancreas-related events have been happening over the past few years (nausea, difficulty digesting processed foods of any kind, difficulty digesting fats/carbs/sugars, and most recently pancreas pain and a skin rash). I already conquered chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia holistically, so I know the rudiments of healthy living, diet, and exercise. But, what may have appeared as celiac may in fact be low-grade acute pancreatitis. Am fasting for half my day and eating small amounts of yellow squash, lentils, and kale while juicing since I am a breastfeeding mother while I try to dig out of my first encounter with pancreas pains. Ordered curcumin as well as some other supplements. So thankful my mom is an herbalist. My question is, in your opinion, do you think pancreas issues once begun will always be chronic and therefore my lifestyle must completely be built around avoiding triggers from this day forward? How long should I remain vegan? Any guesses? If I cannot completely fast for 3-5 days while I breastfeed, would you suggest a total fast once baby is weaned (in about 6 more months)? Baby girl is 18 months. I could start weaning her now of necessary. Thoughts? Resources?
Hi Noelle,
Have you been tested for celiac disease? You have a lot of classic symptoms, rash and all. IF you haven’t been tested you should be. Has any doc looked at your pancreas in any way (blood enzyme levels, ct scan, etc)? The reason I keep asking about your doc visits and any diagnosis’ is because I have had many people, like you, ask me about my thoughts regarding their symptoms and I can’t legally diagnose or play doctor. Plus what you and others think (who haven’t been diagnosed properly) in regards to pancreas pain could actually be coming from the intestines or liver, both reside in the area. In certain instances it could also be gallstone/gallbladder disease symptoms (this has turned out to be the actual case in several). So IF you have not gotten a complete evaluation, including all appropriate tests necessary for an accurate diagnosis I would suggest you start there. Your mom may be an herbalist but like me she isn’t a doc and like me she can’t perform the clinical tests necessary to pinpoint an accurate diagnosis. An accurate diagnosis is critical. Without that everyone is guessing. Good luck to you, I hope you find a good doc 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge. I have referred people to your website and will continue to do so. Soon I will be creating a pancreatitis tab on my blog and will be referring people to your site. Check out my blog at jillshope.blogspot.com.
Also, thought you’d be interested in our latest pancreatic attack experience…Spent another week in the hospital with my husband for his 6th pancreatic attack over the Christmas holidays. I know that these attacks are happening because toxins from toxic mold exposure have colonized in his gut, but the whole medical profession looks at me like I am a complete moron. Never mind that I have credible tests showing toxic mold found in the house we were living in and tricothecenes (the most deadly of the toxic molds) were found in my husbands urine and I have been working with one of the top toxologists in the US. Their way is THE only way and because I need their help with pain management we are forced into doing things their way. The ER doctor that was on call took the whole 30 min. that she legally had to respond to my husband’s plight for pain control while he lay there in horrific pain. Then she comes into the room and very rudely ask if he is going to listen to her this time (the last visit he had 5 mos. ago this same dr. had him in tears because she basically called him an idiot for not having his gall bladder removed)? To say I was irate is an understatement. I calmly ask her if she could please get his pain under control and then we could take the conversation in the hall. What I wanted to do was punch her in the face, but I figured it would not be a great idea for my 7 children to have their mother in jail and their father in the hospital. They held him in the hospital for a week until they could remove his gall bladder. Yes, legally we could have left, but to willingly get help from them in the future would have been next to impossible. When they did take out his gall bladder there were no stones (which is what all of the many tests he had run showed), but they did find black sludge which from what I’ve read is the build up of the toxins in the gall bladder which was its way of protecting the other organs. So now I still have to take the time to do the 3 mo. mold killing cleanse (a very intense diet and supplements) and we have to make up for what the gall bladder is no longer able to do. Is all I wanted was one more chance so that I could do a cleanse (we got out of the toxic mold environment and seemed to be doing better so we started to get lax). Now the medical community is convinced that they have once again saved the day as he is eating again. We will do the cleansing work (which was the root of the problem in the first place) behind the scenes and they will be more set in their ways because they think what they did fixed the problem. While at the hospital I was shocked by how many people told me their stories of having their gall bladders removed and everyone acted like it was no big deal, including the surgeon who very matter of factly stated to me that “you don’t need a gall bladder.” As nicely as I could I just responded that the God I knew was very intelligent and would not create an organ that we didn’t need. I recognize that there are some that have to have their gall bladders removed, but I fear that has become the latest “fad” in the medical community and studies in the future will show that this was a big mistake. For now I will just carry on using the humor from my sister who commented that at least I now only have 5 organs to worry about! Grrrrrrrr!!!!
Hi Jill, thank you for your visit, comment and referrals.
Hello Health Guy! Thanks for you response. I had the Celiac blood test 6 years ago and it was negative. It was the opinion of my doctor then that I did not have Celiac. However, a pain specialist doctor was pretty convinced I have Celiac but did not want to do further tests just to put something on my chart. She suggested I follow the SCD eating plan laid out in the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle. I did for almost two years and healed tremendously. Then, I got married and strayed from SCD eating plan. Anyway, paying for that now. Pretty sure this is a Celiac inflammatory reaction as you suggested. I was unaware that Celiac can be accompanied by that tell-tale rash and that level of pain. Been grain, refined sugar, dairy, and meat free for three weeks now. The pain and rash are gone. I feel great! Taking Curcumin anyway since it is so anti-inflammatory. Thanks again for your answer.
You are welcome Noelle. Glad you are feeling better.
Hi Paul,
A sincere thank you!
I am 53 yrs. young, 160 lb.’s and pretty good shape.
I have recently been diagnosed with AP, been having the pain for over two years but only lasted for 3-5 days and would only come every other month or so. Last June the pain started coming every other week (I was still drinking alcohol then) and ended up in the ER with pain. Of course the young doctor bone head sent me home with “nothing wrong with you” and the next morning after the meds wore off I was right back in the ER only with a better doc and more tests. My GE doc came up with the diagnosis and I quit the alcohol, caffeine, sweets, fats…you name it. Problem was I quit so much I didn’t know what my alternatives were and kept relapsing, about every two weeks for 3-5 days of pain. A little fat to me was a chicken breast with Marsala sauce – wrong. I thought since I quit all that stuff in my regular diet a little now and then would be okay – way wrong…Then my loving wife found your blog!
Sorry for the ramble but I am in the middle of an attack as I write this and my wife is shopping for veggies, white grapefruit juice and Motrin. Today I begin the “regimen” starting with food diary and will let you know how it goes. I now have some direction thanks to your blog, my doc is good but never told me this stuff.
Thanks again, I’ll try to post as I go through the next few weeks. I’m in it to win it!
Take care,
Steve T.
Hi Steve,
Hopefully you’ll heal up and feel a lot better soon. Keep in touch. Good luck to you.
Okay, well its been a few weeks now and have had relatively no pain. By that I mean when I feel an attack coming on I go to the “safe place” diet as prescribed and take Motrin and Tylenol together. The attacks have been only lasting a day or half-day and I have been introducing things like Shrimp and Fish with no problem. Its really hard to go out to eat, that is the stumble point; on the road and hungry, get a Kale salad form a deli…oops, its laden with oil…but I’m starving so I eat it…sure as shit a day or two later here it comes….but since I am taking the enzymes and my diet is 98+% good it only lasts a short day or half. Immediately go to broth, Grapefruit juice and V8. So seems like I am almost in control but need more discipline.
The world we live in is like a field of landmines for the diet we need and I have found that when going out with friends I preview the menu of the place we will go and decide on what I will eat before I leave the house; “I’ll have the shrimp tacos with no sauce or sour cream please, I am on a strict diet of no fat or oils, please tell the chef” It seems to work – somewhat. I have thought of writing down my request and just handing it to the server also, otherwise in a business situation the conversation always turns to my AP (ugh).
Thanks again, you are a life saver and I’ll keep updating to give hope to others.
ST
I am glad you are doing better Steve. I understand the ” field of landmines.” It is extremely difficult to eat out and be safe. Thanks for the update. Good luck and keep us posted.
I’ve been having pancreatic attacks every 3 months since having my gall bladder taken out 2 yrs ago. Right now I’m in the middle of an attack and was wondering if I should take my pancreatic enzymes while having pain (and not eating anything) or only when eating. I plan on trying your system when I feel good enough to go shopping.
Hi Tina – I apologize this is a late reply but anytime you are in an acute attack you shouldn’t eat and taking enzymes without food would do more harm than good. In fact if you are in an acute attack you should probably go to the hospital. Just because I’m a stubborn idiot doesn’t mean it is a good thing to emulate. I hope you are feeling much better by now.
Dear Paul, I have just printed off your entire website, including comments, for my husband to read. With his Chronic Pancreatitis, sitting at the computer (except as required for work) is not an easy thing to do. He is progressing through your information even as I write. Thank you for posting your experience in such a concise, readable way. Please consider collecting your information into an ebook or pdf to print out for this kind of situation. I’m sure he’s not the only one out there. I read your home page to him to see if he was interested, and he said to print it all!
His is an ongoing journey, four years since diagnosis. We knew the diet was not right and have been following SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) for about 2 years. That helped tremendously. But comparing your recommendations with that of Elaine Gottschall, we see that the restrictions need to be in somewhat different areas. Since he just had an MRI, colonoscopy and endoscopy yesterday–with all the prep that entails–your work came in at just the right time.
When you first posted in this blog last year, he was in the hospital for the fourth time, and it was a 10 day stay. The SCD intro diet got him back on his feet then. We’ll being following your recommendations now. What the hospital wanted to feed him was unbelievable. Our doctor intervened to allow me to bring in what he needed to eat. The nursing staff was interested; the dietitians were not.
About the grapefruit juice. He wanted me to let you know that sometimes fentanyl is prescribed for pain management for chronic pain in pancreatitis. (He suffers every day and any AP flare sends him back to the hospital. We were told this is true, origin unknown, in about 15% of Chronic Pancreatitis cases.) Grapefruit juice and fentanyl patches are a deadly combination. If using fentanyl, grapefruit and grapefruit juice must NEVER be consumed. Just FYI.
I didn’t see a subscribe button for your blog, but note that it is a choice when commenting. Please consider adding that to your sidebar!
Thank you for your continuing efforts on behalf of all of us.
Hi Janet – you’re welcome. I hope the info helps your husband. I know how rotten it is so I really he finds relief.
It’s unfortunate that grapefruit (fruit, seed extract, juice) doesn’t play well with others because it protects the pancreas from acute pancreatitis. Check out reference #2 at the article end. I put the grapefruit warning on the page however i mention it from time to time and probably forget to do so each time.
The good news is that he should still be able to take grape seed extract, curcumin and vit c with no problem unless he’s on blood thinners like warfarin, pradaxa or plavix. Both grape seed and curcumin have a tendency to thin the blood a bit so IF he’s on any of those meds he may want to ask his doc first. If he can take Ibuprofen or aspirin as well to help resolve his inflammation that’s a plus. Some people have issues with NSAIDS. I prefer ibuprofen to stop an AP attacks and in smaller doses with grape seed, c and curcumin resolve inflammation because narcotics just mask the pain and demerol didn’t do anything for mine. Anyway …
Thank you again for the kind words and best wishes to your husband for better times. 🙂
I am a 45 year old white lady who was diagnosed with CP with stones and calcification in early Jan 2014. I thank the Lord Jesus that I haven’t had pain since early March 2014. I am on a high protein low fat diet. I have been stumbling around looking for a cure for so long and came across your website and it has given me such inspiration and knowledge esp about the grape seed, your Faith as I am a re-born Christian and have been praying for a miracle, but now realise the miracle lies within me. My eating plan and supplements and my way of life as life is short and you must live it to the fullest. Thank you for your website and I wish everybody else there living with CP to never give up. God loves you. Take care. Heather from S.A.
Hi Heather – Thanks for all you nice comments and kind words. I wish I could tell you there is a cure for pancreatitis but there isn’t. My personal opinion is that if one does everything right there is a good chance of a “remission” you might say. The chance to either relieve the pain and other symptoms, even live pain free for years (I’ve done that). However it does take extreme dedication to diet and supplements. And there is no guarantee it will work. There are beginning to be a fair number of people who are doing what I have done and still do that ARE experiencing good results. There are also some who have not realized the significant changes that I have. There have also been some who have been extremely damaged applied my regimen of diet and supplements, saw promising results and then for some reason back-peddled. So unfortunately my regimen or whatever you want to call it is NOT batting 100%. Just being truthful. But …
If it helps just 30% of those who suffer now when what they have been told by others simply is NOT working then I think it’s well worth it. Heck, ONE in TEN would be worth it. But I think the numbers could become significantly better than what I just said as long as the adherence to both diet and supplements is rigidly followed. But in all reality I am simply guessing at numbers and possible outcomes. The ONLY thing I can be absolutely sure of is what I have experienced. But I am NOT cured. If I went to Carl Jr’s and had a doubly bacon bourbon burger with fries and a shake I know exactly what would happen and it wouldn’t be pretty. Good luck, God Bless you Heather 🙂
Perhaps I missed it somewhere, so forgive me if I’m asking something that is already on your site. Did you ever discover the cause of your pancreatitis? So far, we have been unable to find the cause of mine. And while managing symptoms and healing damaged tissue is a priority, I guess I’m equally interested in figuring out what caused it all to begin with.
Hi Tom – I started getting sick after being injured playing high school football. It was an abdominal injury that benched me for the rest of the season. I and the doc who finally diagnosed me thought that may have been the cause. Come to find out years later (2009) I am also a celiac. Celiac disease seems to be associated with pancreatitis so who knows which one actually may have been the key player.
I THINK, and it’s only my opinion, that the actual cause is only relevant in certain cases where an underlying condition is KNOWN to be the culprit. I’m talking about an autoimmune disease such a Sjogren’s Syndrome, alcoholism where the patient has the genetic variant that causes alcoholic pancreatitis, a defect such as pancreas divisum or another condition like SOD (Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction) or Hyperlipidemia (high blood fat levels) where that underlying condition causes the pancreatitis and thereby needs to be addressed in order to find resolution. I can certainly understand your curiosity but unless there is a blaring cause that jumps out and slaps your doc in the face and says “hey dude! this is the problem!” chances of you finding out that cause, with 100% surety, is almost nill. Most docs have trouble diagnosing pancreatitis let alone diagnosing and nailing down the condition that may have caused it. So good luck with that! 🙂
Dear Mr Health Guy – thank you so much for your prompt response. I concur completely with your reply. The eating plan that the Professor put me on is a bit difficult as I am hungry especially in the evenings. I have lost weight and now only weigh 47kg although was a healthy 50 kg’s. I eat oats and yoghurt for breakfast with my supplments and then for lunch maybe a plain tuna salad or provitas, apple (only certain fruit) to prevent sugar levels spiking,homemade soup and drink lots of water and rooibos and green tea. But later during the day I feel pangs of hunger. Dinner early with chicken breast with veggies. But later I feel hungry and am also craving sweet things that I have never craved before (am not diabetic). My eating plan am not allowed sweet things, nuts or crisps, creamy foods etc. Would please like your input as to how I am going to pick up weight. Am allowed beef and lean pork but would rather stick to YOUR eating plan to HEAL myself in order to avoid pain occuring. Thank you once again for your Wonderful Website and God Bless you for sharing it with others and being so selfless. Kind regards Heather Kruger from South Africa.
dear MR health guy my son was diagnose with pancreatitis he is 21 years old college student with a bachelor degree I know he went under a lot of stress from college but he is almost done I am so proud of him . last month he was admit at hospital for 14 days left and went back 3 times during his stay they give him morphine for pain and no food .
I am so upset at every doctor who treated him on his medical report they diagnose him as a 21 years college student that’s mean he party a lot and eat lots junk food which is not the case, we left the hospital with no guidance no information what to do or what to eat or how to manage his pain. I took him to 7 doctors most they said we don’t know what’s going on ,I did not leave any test from blood work to CT scan ultra sound MRA, x-ray ,endoscopy every test shows inflammation of the pancreas lipase and amylase 920 and 530 .
as a mother I am going crazy I can’t sleep my blood pressure is very high my blood sugar is 50 it’s like I am sick not him because I don’t know what to do anymore
My only hope is my faith in god and Jesus maybe he will listen to my prayers and taken this burden of his shoulder
thank you and god bless
Hi Rita – It must be difficult for a mom to watch her kid suffer. The good news is that IF he manages a correct diet and uses certain supplements he may heal up nice and fine. He may never be able to eat or drink like a “normal” human again but who knows? If I were him I’d adopt a proper diet for pancreatitis and start taking grape seed extract, vitamin C and curcumin. It is amazing what proper diet and highly anti-inflammatory supplements can do. I hope he heals. Good luck to him and you! 🙂
Mr Miller. I would like to thank you for handing me the little bit of light I’ve needed. My family and coworkers have been super supportive, but that doesn’t really help ease the fear. In February I experienced some back pains (around kidney level) that I thought were just realted to known spinal issues, thinking back now however, I suspect they were early signs of the pancreatitis. At the end of April I was woken up with my first attack. On the pain scale I have now become accustomed to, I would label that first attack as maybe a 7. A few days later I went to the hospital with my second attack because now I was scared. They did an ultrasound, didn’t really tell me what the results were but sent me home with a scrip for famatodine (Pepcid). I opted not to fill that scrip because I had taken it before for regular indegestion type pains and didn’t see how it would help at all. 2 attacks later (this time a 9 with nausea to boot) I was back in the ER. This time they did another Ultra sound & added an MRI. This time I was told that I had galbladder sludge, and I was admitted. I”m not a heavy drinker and as I was already working on loosing weight, not a high fat diet eater either. Since then I’ve spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital (more in than out). At some point I was given a CT Scan, that showed not only was my pancreas effected, but that it was necrotic (though no infection). The CT showed that there was fluid collection that was actually larger than the original pancreas size. Another CT a week later showed it shrunk by about half (yay good start) and finally able to see at least portions of the actual organ. On May 17th, I was given an NJ tube, through my nose, all the way into my the duodenum, to allow for organ rest, but still give me nutrition. Even with the feeding tube Ive spent much time in and out of the hospital with recurring pain every couple of days. My most recen stay they restarted me on clear liquids (though I find that the italian orange ice they gave me was bad… no orange/lemon/lime for me too acidic). I’m just now on my way to full liquids, and I’m really nervous about what is safe and what isn’t. The dietician and doctors are more concerned with sustainable calories. I don’t find myself very hungry so it’s hard to get the calories up to an acceptable level so the feeding tube can be removed, though I have had it shut off for a couple of days now. In the beginning of July I am scheduled for my next CT scan, and hopefully from there a follow up appointment to have my gallbladder removed. In any event, I appreciate the information on your site and hope to use it on my own path to recovery. Thank you
Hi Christina – you’re welcome for and to any of the info. It sounds like you have been through a lot, none of it fun. Did they say whether the fluid collection was an ascites or a pseudocyst? I hope things go well for you and that you eventually are able to heal up. Hang in there.
They suspect Pseudocyst. I’ve made it nearly a week with only some small dips to the Norco bottle and I’m hopeful to use it less and less.
Hopefully as you heal with diet and supplements the pseudocyst may drain on its own. I wish you better health Christina 🙂
hello i am currently in the “we don’t know what the problem is stage” i have been suffering for about 6 months now and getting worse. i have gotten no answers from these idiot GI docs. i have done multi blood tests ,stool tests ,ct scan ,an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. all showed nothing really bad or out of the ordinary. i have had to change docs as they really know nothing and give no ideas or really seem to care .i am some what at a loss .i was forced to start researching on my own my symptoms and problems and that is how i came across pancreatitis .i know u and any one posting on here is not a doc but these “doc’s” seem to be a dead end .i would like to know if you or anyone posting here has started out with problems like mine. first i will describe myself ,i am 28 years old thin,work out almost everyday,and eat pretty healthy,lots of fruits vegs. i never eat fast food or fried foods. i have lived a pretty healthy life don’t smoke ,dont ever use drugs ,and only drank 2x per month on ave. this all started in the begining of the year when i had diarrhea for about 6 weeks went to the doc and they fond nothing ,then i had my first attack pain in my left side followed by horrible pain in the upper stomach right in the soft spot below my sternum every time i ate. i was unable to eat much for over a week getting worse and worse so i went to the hospital (big waste of time). since then i have been getting attacks unable to eat, more and more often .as of now its been about 3-4 weeks strait and i have gotten worse and worse each day can barly keep a small non fat meal down.i am currently at my worst as of today. the only reason im not in the hospital is because i know they will do nothing to help me .to sum it up i feels like i have rocks in my upper stomach everytime i eat,pain below my left chest ,yellow floating foul smelling stool and pain in my left shoulder blade. i am currently eating as little as i can with a non fat diet and taking digestive enzymes to help.i would guess i clealy have a problem with my pancreas since that is what breaks food down . if these symptoms sound familiar please yet me know i know no one here is a doc but these idiot GI’s could not even locate the pancreas . after reading your blog you seem to know way way more about the gi system than these so called flunk out docs. thank u