Nothing is more difficult for a parent than to watch their child suffer in agony and so I'll tell you what I would do if it were my child in pain due to Pancreatitis.
This is only what I would do.
You have to do what you think is best.
If it were my child in pain I'd give the regimen I use to stop the pain a try with some revisions.
1) Since young children should not be given aspirin I'd check with my doc to find out how much Ibuprofen (motrin, advil) I could safely give my child based on age and weight.
I might also check with a pharmacist to verify.
If I were to check out the link to Ibuprofen and scroll down to over dose I'd see the amount necessary to cause problems in humans.
Problems can arise at 100mgs/kg so adjust accordingly.
1 kilogram = 2.20462262 pounds.
You can get liquid flavored Ibuprofen as Ibuprofen or Advil for kids at the drug store (Walgreens etc ...).
2) Grapeseed extract comes in capsules that most likely are difficult for young children to swallow so I'd want to break one open and add it to a clear juice, like maybe apple juice and have my child drink it fron a sippy cup. Now the dosage is another challenge and I would guess using the ONE milligram per pound of body weight guidline for optimum saturation a 10 pound child would only need 10 - 15 milligrams.
The problem lies in finding 10 or 15 milligram capsules.
I thought liquid grapeseed extract might work better so I may try to locate some liquid grapeseed extract, not oil, just liquid grape seed extract and make sure it isn't combined with or "tinctured" with alcohol or anything such as vinilla extract (contains alcohol) for flavor enhancement.
3) Curcumin. I'd also see if there were some 100mg curcumin capsules available. That way you could break one open and give it mixed in some juice with the grapeseed extract. The only liquid curcumin I found was mixed with alcohol and vinilla extract - BOTH - are big NO-NO's so that may not be a possible option. So I may have to use 500mg caps and wing it by breaking one open and splitting it into 5 somewhat equal shares (using a blade of some sort and a small mirror to create the eqaul shares).
I would imagine that the grapeseed and curcumin is going to taste pretty foul so chances are my child is gonna hate the stuff which may be the biggest challenge of all and that's why disguising it in some way (juice) may be a marginal solution.
If my child is old enough to swallow capsules easily that solves the problem of taste (looking over shoulder to see if my kid is old enough) but either way it is, in my opinion, essential to stop the pain and inflammation as quickly as possible to avoid pancreatic damage.
Leave a comment and let me know you're alive!
what experience do you have or do you know anything about a pseudocyst on the pancreas? I have a 14 yr old and 11 yr old son with chronic pancreatitis. The older one has the cyst. About 3 weeks now in hospital for a week,now home.
ReplyDeleteHi tickerbell32 - I personally have zero experience with pseudocysts which means as far as I know I have never had one, of course once I was diagnosed and my doctor left for Texas I never went back in for any tests or treatment simply because of the poor quality of care that was available at that time.
ReplyDeleteI do know that cysts usually develop as a complication of acute or chronic pancreatitis. I imagine you have "googled" for info but I'll give a link you can visit here: Pancreatic Pseudocysts
You could also check with a friend, Simon Conabeer. You can find him on Facebook and he's a member of a support group called "living with pancreatitis." Simon has a cyst and massive damage. He has also found relief, I believe. You should chat with him and get his take on his cyst and experience with pancreatitis.
tickerbell32 - Here is a previous blog post that gives the link to the Pancreatitis Support Group
ReplyDeleteIbruprophen for children is 5mg per kg...therefore a 20kg child should have no more than 100mg of Ibruprophen 3 x a day. I noticed 100mg per kg is what was stated above...that means the 20kg child would be given 2000mg 20x the recommended dose...wtf!? I am a qualified children's nurse in the u.k. And have never seen such a high dose given....maybe another stronger nsaid should be prescribed such as diclofenac. I have chronic pancreatitis and understand the agony it causes...if it was my child i would consider giving pain relief via others methods such as post rectal or injection. I find these routes give much better pain relief.
ReplyDeleteFirst off I did NOT state a dose of 100mg/kg was a dosage recommendation. I stated and I quote myself: "Problems can arise at 100mgs/kg so adjust accordingly." So ...
DeletePlease, I know you are a nurse, but IF you are gonna chastise me for something at least read what I have said a couple times to make sure you comprehend correctly because ...
You should have also noticed I said to contact their doc to find out what dosage would be safe for thier child and here it is word for word again: "1) Since young children should not be given aspirin I'd check with my doc to find out how much Ibuprofen (motrin, advil) I could safely give my child based on age and weight.
I might also check with a pharmacist to verify."
I can empathize with your suffering due to having chronic pancreatitis but if you are still suffering maybe you are doing something wrong unless you are so damaged nothing will help you so again ...
Next time, before you get your panties in a wad re-read what is said before you start dolling out your medical wisdom. And by the way ...
I personally use Ibuprofen for acute pancreatitis ONLY and why do I use Ibuprofen?
1) It is safer for adults than other NSAIDs such as Naproxen which becomes toxic in doses larger than 500mgs
2) It works. It addresses the problem which is inflammation and the pain resolves because it resolves the inflammation.
3) I have yet to see post rectal or injectable Ibuprofen, or any other NSAID in those mediums, available on the shelf at my local drugstore or Safeway.