Hey Andy,
I would encourage you to go to the GI AND to get yourself a pancreatic specialist if you don’t already have one.
I am a newbie here, so take what I write with that in mind. I may have some of this wrong, so I hope someone here will correct me if I have misinterpreted you. Many on this list have much more expertise than I.
I just recently found out that I do have CP. Apparently I have had it for years. I had one Acute episode which is how all this got brought to the surface. I did not have pain anywhere that I didn’t have when I had what I thought then was the “stomach flu” or “food poisoning”, but in retrospect must have been pancreatic flare ups.
CP flare ups may have normal or elevated levels of amalyse and lipase. My last trip to the hospital I had normal levels. So your normal labs do NOT indicate that you are NOT having an episode. Do NOT let believe them even if that is what the hospital tells you (which is what mine did, but my pancreatic specialist about throttled them). With CP, you may have CP flare ups (with normal or elevated levels) AND you may have Acute episodes (with elevated levels).
My husband and I are struggling with the same question. When is it severe enough to go to the hospital? Here are our criteria (subject to change at any time) for when I am running to the hospital. These may be a bit extreme, but we scared the heck out of ourselves. The first 4 suggestions are from my pancreatic specialist, the others are ones my husband and I agreed to so that I won’t argue when he thinks I need to go see to the hospital. I can be a stubborn twit esp. when sick and scared.
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If I am vomiting for more than a 6-8 hours AND I am unable to keep water down, then I have to go to the hospital/dr’s office to at least get hydrated. (my pancreatic specialist said being dehydrated raises the chance of having renal failure associated with pancreatitis, which I had with the acute episode)
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Any vomiting that looks like “coffee grounds”, blood or anything else that I didn’t eat.
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Any jaundice (yellowing of the eyes &/or skin)
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Any pain that feels like my pancreatitis pain (except this one is not helpful for me since my "stomach flu"s felt just like the pancreatatis, except in intensity)
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If the pain is over a 5 for more than a few hours AND is not controllable with my prescription meds &/or I can’t keep the pain meds down (I’ve had some incredible "10"s on the pain scale, so you might was to raise or lower the 5 as your limit)
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Any prolonged position with me holding my pancreas as I did for weeks during and after the acute episode (I did hold that position for some of my previous "stomach flu"s, but not all of them.
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Any sitting in the pancreatic pain relief position for an extended (as of yet undefined amount of) time. With the flu, I can sit upright or lean back propped up on a mountain of pillows. With pancreatitis, I spent days sitting on the bed, leaning forward with my head over my knees and holding my stomach. Several websites have diagrams of what this position looks like.
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Any time we feel that something is just not right.
I am sure we will add more to this list as we go along.
Hope this helps. More importantly, I hope you feel better soon!
–Laura
