Hi Emma,
Iv'e had acute pancreatitus twice in the
past 2 years, and have found the hospital
services very inadequate.
I don't know alot about the condition, im
only 16 but i hope i can help. Obviously
there will be many differences between our
two experiences, and the Nurses and
Doctors were totally stumbled by my age
and why i had the condition.
They carried out the exact same procedure
with me- Went to hospital, given morphine,
was put on a drip, given antibiotics,
couldn't eat for 4 days, then i was
introduced to small meals then left after
several tests.
They didn't find the usual cause-
Gallstones. I had several x-rays and
ultrasounds to check for them. I don't
drink much alcohol, don't smoke and
exercise regularly, and have a regular fat
intake.
I wasn't given much advice, but have been
researching to try and find the cause to
try and prevent it happening again, seen
as ive had it twice and missed alot of
time off school.
Its suggested to have a low fat diet, if
you smoke its advised to stop, and
obviously avoid excessive alcohol
consumption.
The chances of happening again if they
didn't find a cause, are small, but
clearly from my experience, there is a
chance it can happen again. Even when
tests were taken a couple of weeks before
i had my second spell of it, there were no
signs of it; and the hospital wrote me off
saying they didn't think i would have it
again and it was a one-off.
My best advice is that, although the
chances are minimal of getting it again as
many patients have it once and never
again, its best to have a plan in place.
The pains you got when you first got
pancreatitus are quite memorable, and if
you have any signs of getting them again,
its best to get down to the hospital as
soon as possible to avoid it getting even
worse. The quicker you can catch it; the
speedier the recovery. When i had it the
second time, i recognized the symptoms and
told my mum to take me straight to the
hospital and the experience was alot
less-worse than the previous time when i
was on 24 hour survelliance and being woke
up every half an hour for injections.
I hope this is a help, and hope you don't
get it again, i know how bad it is!
This website i found is pretty good in
giving an overview of the condition and
the possible causes for it, half of them
werent even mentioned by my consultants!
http://www.emedicine.
com/MED/topic1720.htm
