After being in pain for YEARS I was finally diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis after an MRI on Tuesday.

I've been having problems with bowel function and had 2 different ileostomies over the past year and a half to try to fix the problems. I just had ileo #3 closed a few weeks ago. It was a little nerve racking because they really didn't know if I'd be able to "go" normally (at least normal for a jpouch) since they didn't really know what the problem was to begin with. While I was in the hospital I was having horrible back pain and they ran blood work for acute pancreatitis which came back normal. FYI--I guess if you have chronic pancreatitis it will not show up in blood work. It's only with a CT or MRI that they can see this.

My question is...could this be the cause of at least some of my disfunction? I mean I was using a catheter last year when I couldn't empty at all. My function is better now (thanks to MiraLAX!!) as long as I keep output really watery. I'm a little upset that I've been living with this chronic pain for so long now and who knows how much damage has been done in the mean time. I will ask all of these questions when I go see the specialist. I guess I expected more from the Cleveland Clinic.

Does anyone here with a jpouch and/or ostomy have chronic pancreatitis??
I'm reading more about this disease online and it sounds like I'm really going to need to change my diet. Low fat (I don't eat a lot of fat but I occasionally like a cheeseburger), no alcohol (I'm not a big drinker but a couple times a month will have a glass of wine or two), no caffeine my one big vise is my coffee in the morning). Because of how recent my ostomy closure was I can't eat a lot of fruits and veggies yet...what the heck am I suppose to eat!! I'm feeling really depressed and afraid that I'm heading toward becoming a diabetic and/or having pancreatic cancer(other fun complications of this disease). OK, it's official...I'm FREAKING out! Any advise would be GREATLY appreciated. I'll update once I see the specialist. Thanks!

Thought I'd try bumping this up. I'm a medical freak.

Going on Tues. for an Endoscopy and they will do a pancreatic function test. I really wonder if this is part of my bowel not functioning well?
Thanks.

Well, it can be associated with mild to moderate acute pancreatitis:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r416328234552020/

Are you on pancreatic enzyme supplements to prevent further adsorption?

Jan

Could it be a medication side effect? I got pancreatitis (once) when I took Cipro. It was such an uncommon reaction (at that time) that the specialist pulled out the "big" medication book and was looking things up while I was sitting there in his office! My GP brought it up at a big important "doctor conference" so she could look brilliant and she stumped all of them too! Anyway, the back pain was horrible! Of course, I can't take Cipro now, but I haven't had pancreatitis again. I too, sometimes wonder if there was any permanent damage done.
Hopefully it gets cleared up soon!

Jan, I was thinking that the pancreatitis was causing the dysfunction. Do you think it's the other way around? This pain started with my last ostomy which functioned like crazy (no function problems there). What came first the chicken or the egg. I'm not on the enzymes yet. The new GI doctor i saw this week said he wanted to wait until after the endoscopy. Not sure why he didn't just start me on them. It seems like it couldn't hurt.

designmom, the GI doc did check over my med. list and there wasn't anything on there that would cause the pancreatitis.

From the abstract I posted, it looks like the pancreatitis causes the delayed transit time. They may not want to start you on any treatment until the scope, so that any endoscopic evidence is not altered.

Jan

Jan, That makes total sense now.
Do you think that if they can get the pancreatitis under control with the enzymes and diet that it would get my bowels to kick in again?

I think I'm really desperate and grasping for some explanation.

If the pancreatitis is the cause, then controlling it would make sense to also alleviate your other symptoms. Sometimes pancreatitis is autoimmune and I would imagine that it would be more difficult to get a handle on in that case. But, cross that bridge if you come to it. Better to hang on the hope that this is your solution.

Jan

Believe me when I tell you I am hanging onto that hope like grim death. I'm trying to laugh and have a sense of humor here but it's not working!

It's funny that you mentioned the autoimmune thing. I also have ankylosing spondylitis which is also autoimmune and the reason I got the jpouch in the first place was UC, also autoimmune, so I'm seeing a pattern here.

What's the difference between having pancreatitis from drinking too much (which seems to be the case most of the time but not in mine) or if it's autoimmune? Why would it be harder to get a handle on? What else can they do besides giving me enzymes and changing my diet?

I am also on sulfasalazine for the AS and I asked the GI Dr. that I'm seeing now if that could be a medication that would cause the pancreatitis and he said "no" but I've been looking around online and on the pancreas foundation web site (http://www.pancreasfoundation.org/learn/askthedoctor.shtml) it IS listed as a drug with a "strong correlation with pancreatitis". I've been on this drug since I was a teenager. What do you think of that?

I developed severe pancreatitis while taking Asacol & Colazol. It went away after a stay in the hospital for a couple of weeks and discontinuation of the drugs.

I also developed it again when my doctor tried Imuran right before I had my large intestine removed.

Those are the only two times I have had issues with my pancreas, both due to taking certain medicines.

I hope you can figure this out soon because those were seriously painful times in my life!