hi everyone,
I have my first bout of acute pancreatitis in April and was hospitalized. Since then I have had a few flare ups but nothing major. I am currently getting over my worst flare up yet and have pancreatic steatorrhea. I am trying to make an appointment with my gastro, but they’re booked out for 2 weeks. I’m feeling pretty scared. Any advice?
Hey Chipandviolet . I'm sorry you're going through this! Most important is to stay hydrated. Pancreatic issues are exacerbated when you're dehydrated. I had one doc recommend Gatorade or Pedialyte with a pinch of salt in it. I use DripDrop most of the time (found it works best for me). But regardless of how you do it, make sure you're staying well hydrated. Would be good to think about what foods may be harder for you to process/digest/handle when you're having an attack too. Personally, I can only safely do white rice and broths. Sometimes I have to go without solid foods for a day or two to reset. Then I go as low fat as possible for however long it takes for my body to heal up a bit, then reintroduce a more "normal" (for me) diet.
It's unfortunately trial and error on what works for one person and what works for someone else.
Your doc may recommend something different, but don't be afraid to ask questions and push if needed. Have they talked to you about EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) and possibly testing for that? You may want to ask about that.
The flare ups are painful, exhausting, and frustrating, but you will get through this! I'm sending positive thoughts your way.
Hello ChipandViolet. I'm hoping you have pain and symptom-free times. What has helped me most in my 10 years of trying to obtain information regarding steatorrhea and abdominal pain is accepting that my body can't handle what our culture routinely suggests is a "normal" diet and social life. Which means no dairy, caffeine, soda, alcohol, fast food, high fat refined carbs (cookies, cake, frosting), nor chocolate, ice cream, mac n cheese, hot dogs and sausage, citrus, lemonade, etc....) This has been mind-altering for me and I'm angry that my body won't allow me to behave in a "normal" way anymore. Yes, low fat broth and rice noodles is a come down and not sure it looks very attractive in a margarita glass! But this is reality. I still rebel. But on bad days I am so glad for rehydrated vegetables, rice noodles and broth. It fills me up and I can easily add a piece of fish or lean meat which satisfies my hunger. I am grateful for this as I know many out there can't handle even this. Taking famotidine with a meal seems to quickly relieve upper right quadrant burning yet bloating and gas is almost constant. I believe that Align probiotic with ashwagandha has helped in making my stool firmer to #4. And using small amounts of olive oil with butter when cooking adds savory flavor with less fat. As I've mentioned before, drinking a glass of water often sets off a few hours of burning pain, bloating and reflux, which none of my doctors have acknowledged in any way. I have no idea why water would cause such vicious symptoms. So, I do the best I can managing my symptoms without a definitive diagnosis. Wishing you healing, C&V.
It does take a while to get into see a G.I. doctor. In the meantime, have your primary care doctor order the EPI test - Pancreatic Elastase, fecal test. This way, when you finally get to see the G.I., you'll know if you have it or not and he can take it from there. It's a simple inexpensive test. Even if he's not familiar with the test, have him order it anyway. My primary dr. didn't know anything about EPI. He had me doing MRI, Ct Scan and ultrasound. Another dr had me do the Hida test. None of those show EPI and I could have avoided all of that. Best of luck to you!
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