Hi everyone I was wondering if maybe a gallbladder that dose not function could possibly cause c.p I’m not sure if their is any connection. Mu doc says my g.b problem is not from my c.p I have been reading alot of stuff on this website about Bowell movements being oil like sorry to be gross but I do not have any problem like that at all everything in that department is not typical of c.p. When you first got c.p was the b.m thing a problem right away or did it start some time after you were told you had c.p I’m hoping that my g.b problem is the cause of it all but I will not hold my breth I was just wondering if any one knows of the gallbladder being the source of the c.p thank you everyone all of you have been a god sent I’m so glad to have found this website I hope everyone has a good week and any info you have would be great thanks mike12
Hello, everyone!
I actually sent this email to one member here and felt that I should
share it with everyone as what I wrote applies to everyone here. Also,
this is mostly for the newbies and serves as a reminder to the long-
term veterans!
I had my first attack of pancreatitis on July 16, 1995. I almost died
that day! I will NEVER forget the pain that I felt from that attack. I
wound up in hospital for 10 months after that, getting out in May of
1996.
Yes, the removal of your gall bladder could cause another attack. How
severe? No one knows until it happens. Also, you will, more than
likely NOT have a pancreatitis attack after this procedure.
One thing that you will learn over time is that worrying about any
"possible" problems includes both positive and negative outcomes. Over
time, I have learned to NOT worry about any of it at all and to accept
that whatever happens, happens. Do you know that the very stress of
the “worry” itself can cause another pancreatic attack? Stress is a
biggie and alleviating any stress is probably more valuable overall
when it comes to this disease/condition. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Take care of the BIG stuff like your family, children and such . . .
Those positive relationships will be more valuable in the long run
than almost anything else. Having people around you who support you is
important. If you have someone around all of the time who is
constantly being negative about your condition, you should have a nice
"talk" with that person, stating that he/she has to cut the negative
crap or to “move on.” If you have people around who do not “believe"
that you are sick (and, believe me, there are many) even though you
know you are and are suffering so, you need to remove them from the
scene. You don’t need the additional stress of doubters and “the sky
is falling” types. You have enough to deal with already. You have to
"protect” yourself and to do it as gracefully as possible.
As to medications, DO NOT let a whole slew of medications stack up on
your bedside stand or bathroom drug cabinet! No one should have to
take 9 or 10 different medications 3 or 4 times each day! Go over your
medications with your doctor to make sure that you can get rid of a
few every 6 months or so. At one time, I had 15 medications to deal
with every day! I was actually stooping forward in a drug haze! So, I
went through them on my own and kept only the “essential” medications,
reducing the number to 5, and then threw all of the rest away! It was
one of the best decisions I made during this illness.
As to pain, you deserve to be as “comfortable” as possible! If you are
in pain ALL of the time and it is not so easy to maintain yourself as
a result with the pain meds that you have, you ABSOLUTELY need to have
a pain management doctor who will listen to you and with whom you can
rationally work with to get the “correct” pain medication AND the
correct dosage. NO doctor should be able to tell you that you do NOT
feel pain after reaching any given level of medication! What’s right
FOR YOU is what’s RIGHT FOR YOU! I would say that a pain medication is
effective if you can sustain a level of “1” on the pain scale 24/7. Do
not accept any level HIGHER than this! You also will need some form of
"BREAKTHROUGH" medication, whether it be fentanyl lollipops, liquid
morphine or whatever. DO NOT SETTLE FOR LESS THAN THE OPTIMAL COMFORT
THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH PAIN MEDICATION FOR, IF YOU DO, YOUR
DOCTOR WILL HAVE AN IMPROPER SENSE OF YOUR ACTUAL LEVEL OF PAIN. BE
HONEST AS WELL AS ADAMANT!
Whenever ANYONE does ANYTHING with you, ALWAYS ask who they are, what
is the procedure or medication, and what it is for or supposed to do.
I have had to STOP people from doing things to me that I knew were
incorrect and could have resulted in some damage to my person! THEY DO
NOT KNOW ANYTHING! Take that attitude and it will definitely serve you
well. If they don’t check your wristband in the hospital before
someone starts to do something to you, STOP THEM! Make sure that they
are working with the right person! One time someone was going to put
in a catheter and I certainly did not need it!
If you have ANY questions, get in touch. I have been around the block
many times now over the past 13 years now. I have just about seen it
all!
Take care.
Anyse
My bm did not change right away. I was born with hereditary pancreatitis and my bm did not really change to what you are describing until about 5 years ago is when it got really bad. I am 26 now so I guess 21 years of attacks and scaring finally did enough damage to cause me not to be a able to digest. Since then I have changed to new enzymes and this has really helped decreasing the problem to maybe two to three times a week instead of everyday. Hope this helps your one question. As far as my gallbladder my doctors continue to run tests on it but so far it is has yet to have any problems. My mother who also had hp had wb
Hi Lindsy thanks for the info but what is hp and wb?? sorry I do not have a clue what that is do your doctors have you go in for cck hyda scans and if so how long dose your gallbladder take to fill up for the # 2 injection.
Hp is hereditary pancreatitis. Basically it is chronic pancreatitis
but it is a genetic form and I was born with it I got it from my
mother and I have had attacks my entire life. Wb I probably meant hp
and miss typed. I have never had the test done that you are referring
to so I am not familiar with it. Right now they have just been
monitoring my gallbladder and pancreatic scaring through ultrasounds.
I may have had that done as a child but not since I have gotten older
and taken over my health care.
Lindsey
To my understanding, a bad GB CAN cause pancreas problems. Like causing the juices not to flow properly, thus causing them to back up into the pancreas.
When I was dx with CP, 3 years ago, I didn’t believe it either. I didn’t have all the symptoms I read over the internet. Soooo, dumb-as* me decided to drink alcohol, and that caused an acute attack that lasted 2 weeks , I will never touch alcohol again.
And I have never had the oily stools either. I think a certain percentage of your pancreas must be damaged before this happens. Now, if I eat high fat without my enzymes, my BM’S become “looser”, but not oily and really smelly.
This is kind of a gross subject,LOL, but for those of us with CP, it is, or will become, a fact of life. Hopefully, later than sooner. Iv’e never understood the really stinky part about steatarrhea, aren’t ALL Bm’s stinky? Sorry to be gross:-)
Take care, everyone
Cindy Lou
Hi again:
I had to respond to your post in regard to your dr telling you that your cp was not caused because of your gallbladder problem? No offense but I don’t think your doc knows what he is talking about because it’s just
not possible for him (or anyone else for that matter) to KNOW such a thing & unfortunately there are a lot of “him” out there.
In regard to oily bm’s, again this varies from person to person but personally this didn’t happen to me until I began experiencing more pain and I still don’t experience all of the bowel problems that can happen with
cp. Again, this is just my experience & opinion.
Warm regards,
Grace
My pancreatic specialist did not feel that my gb problem lead to the cp and was quite surprised when he did the first EUS to see such scarring of the pancreas based on the history I gave him (“I highly doubt you have chronic pancreatitis but we will see” is what he told me just before putting me under for the EUS). The oily stools came in conjuction with the pain many years back and continue if I forget to take my enzymes (Creon 20 3 with meals and 2 with snacks). Ultra low fat diet is very helpful (20-30gms of fat per day) along with low protein for the pain. I do take Resource Breeze for my protein, which is a juice like supplement with zero fat. I continue to have a great deal of pain and nausea with food so I need to supplement as best I can, and the Resouce is helpful.
Good luck to you and wishes for pain free days and nights
Teresa
Hi macbeth how are you I’m ok just enjoying the nice weather i have learned lots of things from this website the biggest thing is that no one person’s medical problems are the exact same as the next persons it’s true that my c.p at this point is not as bad as most people in this website but I’m at the beginning of a long and painful road my form of c.p is idiopathic i do not drink alcohol or use drugs and my doctors can not explain it to me. I have had lots of bad flair ups and lots of hospital stays many e.g.d’s e.r.c.p’s c.a.t scans and pain all the time as a result of the c.p I have severe gastritis, acid reflux, peptic ulcer disease gastric pareses scaring of the stomach and throat in the past mo I was in the hospital for 1 week n.p.o to calm down the c.p as far as meds go I am on pangestyme ec 6 pills w-meals 4 pills w-snacks before I can eat I take 10 mill reglan and 100 mcg cytotec 30 mill prevaced 2 per day and 60 mill morphine cr twice a day all of my meds have gone up and up in the last 4 years. I know this is some what minor compared to everyone else and I know what I’m going through is not as severe “yet” as everyone else but I use this website to learn about what the future will bring to me and how to best deal with it. Living with chronic pancreatitis for 4 years now has destroyed my life and it is hard to talk with friends and family who have no clue how to help or what to say that is why I like this website because people care and know what what it’s like and they can teach and lend a helpful ear to people like me my heart goes out to all of you with this terrible disease and may you all find comfort and compassion hear thank you all mike
Thank you Theresa RESOURCE BREEZE is the name I have been trying to think of, it is the one I can say I like. I live on simi liquids it seems. I had my gall bladder removed after a long time of pain as it did not empty. The waited the extra time on the test and it still hadn’t begun to empty. Things have been much better until the attack.
Anyse did I understand you correctly that after you remove the gall bladder you won’t have pancreatitis??? Or did my brain blink
If so what happened to me, well all the gross oily poo and smell and it’s different than the stinky poo of hep c.
Can anyone help me clear this up in my mind?
Thanks
TM2:
I did not read Anyse’s e-mail but based on personal experience, I believe
you did have the old brain blink.In my case they are always unmistakable brain farts !
My gallbladder was removed when I was 16. I was diagnosed last year ( Age 42 ) with chronic pancreatitis and was told that my lack of a gall bladder for so many years was most likely a factor in my Chronic Pancreatitis. But, as always, there is no certainty…
Take Care.
Sherry
Pink Coffee Mom/Sherry
Thanks, I hope I didn’t good by agreeing to have mine out… but I have only had one of these attacks so far. It’s a real learning lesson.
I appreciate any and all the help. This forum is outstanding the way you all support each other. I feel safer on this forum than on any other one on the site, You all should feel really good about this.
Hi Sherri,
how are you? I wanted to ask a ? on this post, hope you don’t mind? I had my gallbladder taken out 10 years ago, lazer and wow what a pain that was after a complete blood transfusion, and 18 days in the hosp. the lazer bounced they said who knows…But I too was diagnosed with CP at 41 and had a 29 day stay with all kinds of IV’s then just last month I started seeing a IM doctor and he went in and done a EUS and said that I have Acute Pancreatitis I guess I am wondering how the heck you go from one to the other in 4 years? also I was diagnosed with cirrhosis and now they said the blood flow is good, so he don’t think I have that either? just bad liver damage? Anyone that reads this that can help with answers would be wonderful!!! Thanks so much Sherri for touching on this 
Sending all big big hugs, and love…
Barb
So I am assuming that you do have CP with all the scarring? I had my EUS done last month and my IM doctor told me the same thing, then after surgery told me I had a “white spot” on the tail of the pancreas then saying well it seems you have AP not CP sure don’t know how they came up with that, considering I was hosp. for 29 days 4 years ago with several IV’s and put on enzymes to help with the blood and oily stools. I just don’t know how a person can go from CP to AP??? My husband said he did say something about if a person has CP that they will have like logs? in the bottom of the pancreas??? I’d be interested in seeing if your doctor said anything of the sort to you???
Sending you all my love and big hugs…
Barb
Hey to you Sweet Barb !
Oh how I wish I had the answers to your questions…why is it with this disease that we all seem to have a mirage of physicians whose knowledge base of this disease is so variant from one physician to another ? How do we know who to trust and believe ???
I KNOW I had a wonderful team of doctors at MUSC ( Medical University of South Carolina ) who originally diagnosed my CP and performed my spincterotomy last year but unfortunately they can not follow me up on a regular basis and I am left to my local GP who treated me for 15 years and in all that time never diagnosed me with any pancreatic problems ! So I have some of the same questions - How did this not get diagnosed until I was past the Acute stage and in the CHRONIC stage ???
I will never know. I switched doctors after returning from MUSC last year and have only seen my new GI doctor sporadically this past year. This is only because my company tried to fire me last year after I was diagnosed and was out almost the full 12 weeks of FMLA as my boss did not want me if I couldn’t work the 60+ hours he was used to me putting in. Needless to say I have not only myself but a family to care for and our health insurance (through my employer of 16 years ) is very much needed. So, I have tried to lay as low as possible this past year so I do not exceed my 12 weeks of FMLA and my boss can legally fire me…anyway, that is another story !
I WISH I knew the answers to your questions Barb - oh how I do. Have you seen multiple doctors ? If you are anywhere near South Carolina the doctors at MUSC are beyond excellent. I know they could help you understand what exactly is wrong and how to deal with it. I have never been excited about a doctors visit but I seriously can’t wait until my one year follow-up coming up soon !
Take Care. I wish I could help more.
Sherry
Barb,
There has been medical literature that seems to statistically show
that there is a greater propensity for those who have had their gall
bladder removed to also get pancreatitis. I have read so many reports
from pancreatitis sufferers who actually had their first HUGE
pancreatitis attack just days after the removal of the gall bladder,
which is why those studies were done as doctors were seeing a trend.
Maybe, to my mind, the removal of the gall bladder is more traumatic
to the body, overall, than anyone has known in the past. In my case,
they had to remove a lousy gall bladder 2 months after my first and
most horrendous acute pancreatitis attack ever. It was found to be
pretty ugly when they got it out.
I wonder if the “American” fast food diet, which is not very friendly
to the gall bladder, actually destroys the gal bladder bit by bit and
that bit by bit there is a reflective injury (like how pain reflexes
from the pancreas to the back and to the right shoulder a lot) that
also occurs over the time of the destruction of the gall bladder. I
feel that there is some “connection” between the two organs that has
not yet been discovered.
The best to all.
With heart,
Anyse
WOW, thank you so much for responding I can say that I have now learned something new today I know when I had my removed the surgeon said that my GB was egg shell like, meaning there was really no gb left??? But it does make since that I had my attack shortly after removal??? Ok hon gotta run, I will try and get back on later 8-9 cdt…
Big Hugs and Love to YOU! Thanks again for responding…
With all my love, Barb