Living With Pancreatitis Pain?

Living with Pancreatitis pain is not something I wish to do nor did I want to live with pain years ago when I was very sick with Pancreatitis. It simply wasn't something I wanted so ...

In order to overcome the pain of Pancreatitis I looked at what Pancreatitis actually IS.

I know I have covered this before and I also realize that you probably know what Pancreatitis IS but what we are going to do is review because repetition is the mother of invention or in this case the teacher of truth and enlightenment.

Pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas.

It doesn't matter what the cause is, it is the meat of the problem we are going to address and the meat is inflammation.

Eliminate the inflammation and two things happen.

1) The pain subsides.

2) Further damage is prevented.

The pain of Pancreatitis is caused by two factors:

1) Swelling of the pancreas due to inflammation

2) The pancreas devouring itself due to backed up enzymes (this is what causes the major damage)

The swelling can be relieved, diminished and resolved by eliminating the inflammation and the digestion and/or destruction of the pancreatic tissue by pancreatic enzymes can be resolved by also eliminating the inflammation in a majority of cases however ...

Some situations will not see total resolution simply by the elimination of inflammation because there may be underlying circumstances that need to be rectified first before the inflammation can be completely resolved. For example:

1) If a gallstone is stuck in the common bile or pancreatic duct the stone obviously must be removed before the inflammation can be totally eliminated.

2) If there is some other underlying cause which blocks the flow of enzymes such as an obstruction in the pancreatic duct due to scar tissue, fibrosis (as in cystic fibrosis), a tumor, a cyst or some anomaly.

3) An autoimmune disorder which may or may not be able to be controlled.

4) A hereditary disorder such as hyperlipidemia or hypertriglyceridemia (high blood fats) very difficult to control or cystic fibrosis which has no cure and becomes progressively worse.

5) Alcoholism is a common cause of pancreatitis that of course needs to be addressed and overcome before healing can take place.

And so, unfortunately, there are certain complications that could result in the inability to permanently resolve the inflammation without removal or repair of the the underlying cause which may or may not be possible to accomplish.

Obviously, in my case, I was extremely lucky and seem to have suffered no lasting complications or damage and I certainly can not commend the medical community for this stroke of luck due to 7 ER visits and 6 other doctors with no diagnosis and certainly no resolution.

I must have had an Angel riding on my shoulder because doctor #14 told me "You are lucky to be alive" when he was able to gather all the information and facts from various tests and observations to make a difinitive diagnosis.

Once the diagnosis was achieved the healing began but the healing was not achieved quickly. In fact, it was mostly due to a lot of luck (Divine protection) in the beginning, then, research, trial and error and more luck (Divine protection).

When I look back, I have no idea how I survived. Whether you believe or not my survival had to be due to God's love and the protection of Angels sent by Him to help me live through one horrible nightmare. And why He chose to help me survive I have no idea.

Maybe it was so I could share what happened and what helped me so that you too may be able to receive help and relief from pain.

I don't know.

You figure it out.

What I do know is that for some reson I started drinking grapefruit juice.

Lots of grapefruit juice.

I was told I could no longer drink alcohol (man I miss a cold beer on a hot summer day at times) and when I started drinking grapefruit juice the Acute Pancreatitis episodes disappeared. Of course I had cut the mjority of fat from my diet at that point as well but ...

Since I have recently found where grapefruit juice seems to stop acute attacks I must conclude that it was grapefruit juice that began my healing
and ...

I can NOT take credit for discovering grapefruit juice.

It was something I was led to drink.

No research.

Nobody said "hey this will help."

I just started replacing alcohol with grapefruit juice. I'd hit the bar (all timeshare resorts have bars) after work and drink grapefruit juice with my fellow associates or while shooting pool.

People would ask me what I was drinking and I'd say "grapefruit juice" and they'd make a sour face and weird noises and ask me "How can you drink that stuff?" and I'd just tell them I liked it.

I did.

It went down easy, didn't get me drunk and I drank a ton of it.

Why did I choose grapefruit juice in 1981 when there was absolutely no research on it as far as pancreatitis was concerned?

I have only one thought on that.

You figure out what it might be.

Now, 30 years later, I find that grapefruit juice stops acute pancreatitis. And ...

Back then it did stop mine.

It did NOT totally heal me but it did stop the acute attacks and that was one big benefit. I'm almost positive it was the GFJ along with low fat diet since there is now research that points to GFJ as a major Acute Pancreatitis arrestor.

So, if you want to prevent Acute Pancreatitis try Grape Fruit Juice or better yet ...

Grape seed extract, vitamin C and curcumin because those are the 3 supplements I started taking that eliminated all pain, abdominal tenderness and stopped the Acute Pancreatitis episodes from happening and have protected and healed my pancreas.

Leave a comment and let me know you're alive!