Pancreatitis, now what?

@ellamster, you're asking great questions. I'm tagging fellow members like @fogel1960 @astaingegerdm @beachdog @redhead1116 @jojo19 @sonic997 @pml @ladyaceintx1 who may able to shed some light based on their experiences.

You may also be interested in this related discussion:
- Pancreatitis: Questions about further investigations: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pancreatitis/

Have you also ask your doctor these same questions? Have you considered a consult with a dietitian?

@ellamster
I'm so sorry you are going through such a stressful situation, but I'm glad you've reached out for help and answers.
I'm going to try and answer most of your questions.
1. Regarding your diet, I strongly suggest that you Google/internet search "Pancreatic Diet" as it's not just about keeping to a low fat diet. We are also to avoid sugar, salt, caffeine, alcohol and can only have nuts in small quantities. I bought several cookbooks/
nutritional guides and they have helped immensely. I taped most of the "Do's and Dont's" on a cabinet to help me and the family remember.
2. Diagnosing Pancreatic Cancer can be done with imaging such as a CT or MRI but the definitive test is a Biopsy and alot of cancers can be caught early. Finding the right Gastroenterologist is crucial, reporting your symptoms and requesting testing is the key. Be proactive.
3. New ways to diagnose? Specific Cancer Blood Tests can be done as well as fecal tests to determine if the likihood for cancer is present. Labs are a good starting point.
4. How to avoid another attack?
Staying within the Pancreatic Diet guidelines and avoiding Stress.
5. Does preventing another attack lower your cancer risk? Unfortunately no. It does keep you from experiencing an Acute episode of Pancreatitis which is almost unbearably painful however, but it doesn't change what is happening at the cellular level.
6. Grams of fat in the diet? Ask your GI Doctor what they recommend for you as the amount can be based on your current weight and will be different for everyone. I try to avoid all saturated and Trans fat on a side note.
I hope this helps to ease your mind and I'm happy to answer any further questions you may have. Take care.

Hi Ellamaster,
I'm so sorry that you are going through all of this! That's terrible! My husband had Pancreatitis in his 70's. (He's now 82.) It was a side effect of his having Keytruda treatments for his lung cancer. He had the same problems that you are having. Vomiting, hard to hold anything down and pain. His primary care doctor referred him to a pancreas specialist who gave him a medication that makes the pancreas behave so you can eat again. Also one of the foods that helped him the most was homemade beef stew using a high quality of beef with a lot of omega 3 in it. We buy Allen Brothers beef. It's a little expensive but it's worth it. Plus, it tastes great! You can also get the same effect from their steak. However, my husband couldn't tolerate the steak until later. When your body is fighting something like you are, it needs a lot of protein. Also during this time, my husband drank a lot of water. That helps a lot! My husband did recover and is doing fine. The beef not only helped cure the Pancreatitis, his lung cancer is almost non existent. Today, he was outside pruning trees.

I don't know much about Pancreatic Cancer but the Pancreatitis didn't result in that for my husband. He already had lung cancer when he got Pancreatitis. I would suggest looking up Pancreatic Cancer on the Mayo Clinic website. They are very knowledgeable and you can trust their advice. I look up all of our physical problems on the Mayo Clinic Website. They have helped us immensely!

Another thing that helped my husband was prayer. We prayed constantly and it worked!

I know how you feel about your animals. They are part of your family! What kind of animals do you have? We had Snoopy our cat for 11 years. When we went on vacation, we left him at the Vet who was very good to Snoopy. However, we always worried until we got home and called often when we were away.

There is a website called Next Door where neighbors help each other and keep one another informed of safety instances in the neighborhood. You sign up for where you live. I have seen many people on that website who are willing to help people in hard times and help with their pets. You might try that.

I wish you the best of luck! I'll remember you in my prayers.
PML

Thank you so much for your answers! ❤
I did search for pancreas diets, yes, which is how I knew about the fat. But I wasn't sure about the amount. I try to keep this down and could go lower, but as a vegetarian I find that so many replacements have fat in them, more than in lean meat or fish. It's so disappointing.

Nuts - I eat about 30 grams per day. I will tone that down; I only just started with this about 2 months ago, after the attacks.

Fat - I don't eat anything with trans-fat, don't deep-fry et cetera, and don't even use oil to cook; I steam and so on.

My diet is vegetables and fruit, no bread and so on, no added sugar (no 'agave syrup' and all those fancy sugar 'replacements' either). The only fruit I eat is some melon or a bit of apple, or berries. It's about 200 grams per day. Vegetables > about 500/600 grams per day. I season with vinegar and spices, not oil.

I bought fish oil capsules to boost my diet a bit; is this safe? It's saturated since it's from fish 🙁
I was very low in vitamin D, so low that it was almost not present. I got hyper-booster doses and should take the normal dose every day now, but I forget. I will now remember taking it. It's oil-based though, sigh.

Avoiding stress...
This is tricky. I am a survivor of trauma and am still struggling after getting rid of an abusive ex. I have had an accident and something very bad (with a man) happened, after which I decided I'd rather stay alone. I have therapy. But the stress, well, the stress... Being alone also means that I think with 'only my own head' and have to solve everything. I am often nervous, especially since I am the only one 'who can provide'. Financial stress is heavy at the moment.

Thank you for the tips on the blood test and fecal tests. Since I have had diarrhoea since early last year, which was strangely yellow, I was concerned. The GP did nothing with it, each time I told him he said 'Oh well'. Could this be related?
Thank you too for the CT and MRI, and the biopsy tip. I don't know if my GP will allow me to have those. If I explain, well; they are trying to save money. I am not sure what I could tell them to make them understand I need this.

Thank you so much!
The drinking water is a good one; I DO drink enough, but should drink more. I am often thirsty later and fear this might have to do with it. I will drink more and tell the specialist.

Good that your husband recovered, that's wonderful.
Thank you ❤

Thank you so much, Colleen.
It will be good to interact with others since I am mostly alone, and I am 100% on my own.
This is all so sad. I am crushed. I still can't believe it, it's so bad.

I will ask for a dietitian, yes, I think I will need it.
As I type this I feel a bit of pain in my back. It really makes me feel sad.

If cat scan shows you have cysts in pancreas, then, Drs can check your pancreas via endoscopic procedure. They put an ultrasound camera through your throat and check for cysts and if necessary they can get samples. Pancreas is a delicate organ. Don't let them touch it if not necessary. It has juices that can damage itself, and surrounding organs, if they start leaking. You need a real good specialist to do this for you. Don't let just any doctor do this test. They say olive oil and avocados have healthy oils. But, ask your doctor. Smoking, drinking alcohol or sodas, sweets, fat, stress are all bad for pancreas.