Chronic Pancreatitis: The Steps to Pancreas Healing

The steps to healing Chronic Pancreatitis are the same as healing after Acute Pancreatitis however ...

I sorta dropped the ball by not posting the steps like I promised in this post Pancreas Healing: 5 Steps to Pancreas Healing After Acute Pancreatitis.

The thing is, like I said in my last sentence or paragraph of the above post, the protocol I use is almost EXACTLY the same.

The only difference for ME, since I have already done prep and a pancreatitis diet food diary YEARS ago, is that I don't have to do that step. Otherwise acute pancreatitis from damage caused (chronic pancreatitis) is the same as the original in regards to protocol. In fact, if I had pain or symptoms I would, depending upon severity of symptoms, follow what I outlined anyway because:

1) The pancreas needs rest to heal
2) Food has to be re-introduced slowly
3) The right solid food must be eaten when solid food is again able to be eaten
4) The supplements are important
5) Alcohol must be avoided

And if someone with chronic pancreatitis has NOT done a food diary the PREP and DIARY are essential to finding out exactly what does and does not cause problems. That way those who do NOT believe me about the two enemies (FAT and Alcohol) will find that what I say is true and that if they continue to eat foods that shouldn't be eaten they will continue to be sick.

In other words those who would rather eat steak (red meat), bacon (pork), and other extremely high trigger, fat-filled foods and drink alcohol will continue to be sick and progressively become worse while they blame their problems on grapes, peaches, brussel sprouts, cabbage, beans, lentils, spices or some other completely safe, anti-inflammatory, pancreas healing food.

So there ya go, in a nutshell, those with chronic pancreatitis need to do the exact same things in order to begin healing and IF ...

They have suffered enough damage (I do NOT know how much that might be) or have been butchered by a surgeon so their pancreas looks like a filleted fish (whipple procedure for example) they may never truly heal to where they feel decent ever again and that really sucks but it is truthful.

So if you currently suffer from chronic pancreatitis your steps to healing are the same as those found here especially if you are currently in constant pain.

I hope you are able to heal.

Statin Drugs Cause Acute Pancreatitis

I know that sometimes I post joyful news huh? This is probably especially joyful to those of you who may be on statin medication for really HIGH blood fat levels that were the cause of your problems to begin with but sorry - you should know everything don't ya think?

Statins and pancreatitis: a systematic review of observational studies and spontaneous case reports.

Drug-induced acute pancreatitis

The good news is that the benefits in the case of acute pancreatitis caused by severely high lipids is that the statins seem to help lower the lipid levels thus lowering the risk of recurrent AP and worsening CP which carries a risk of pancreatic cancer. Statin therapy when one has severely high lipids seem to actually be a good thing in this case. So actually the news isn't so bad after all huh?

Sometimes I can't help but stir the pot  :-)

If you happen to be on statin drug therapy for a supposed heart attack risk and have suffered acute pancreatitis you may want to re-think why you are on those drugs to begin with since cholesterol isn't THE major player in atherosclerotic heart disease. However ...

Statin drugs are a MAJOR revenue source for big pharma. In fact, Lipitor, before it went off patent, averaged over 5 BILLION in revenue each year. ONE drug, 5 BILLION in revenue. So who is blowing smoke at who?

By the way statins also deplete CoQ10, actually they inhibit the bodies production of CoQ10 and since CoQ10 is found in every cell of the body with the largest amounts found in the heart (it strengthens the heart wall muscle so it pumps good and strong) you should consider supplementing CoQ10 or eating a boat load of salmon each week. Supplements would probably be the best answer.

Pancreas Healing: 5 Steps to Pancreas Healing After Acute Pancreatitis

 

There are certain steps you need to take in order to achieve pancreas healing once you have experienced either acute pancreatitis or you have unfortunately been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis. However ...

Before we get into the steps necessary to achieve pancreas healing from chronic pancreatitis, which are very similar, I think it is best to cover pancreas healing for acute pancreatitis.

Hopefully you have only suffered a mild acute attack which with proper diet will heal and allow you to be one of those lucky few who heal completely and never have another episode of AP or even minimal change chronic pancreatitis.

One of the things I think that the medical teams do wrong is to introduce to much of the wrong foods to those who have just come out of an acute pancreatitis attack. Even though the majority of the pain may have subsided and your nausea has been controlled chances are very strong that your pancreas is still inflamed and has likely sustained some damage that if addressed properly may completely heal yet I read story after story of patients being given solid, high fat content foods to early and foods that most likely will make the person sick again. So ...

Step # 1 - The Introduction of Foods After Acute Pancreatitis
If you have been hospitalized with mild acute pancreatitis and have been ordered NPO (Nothing By Mouth) in order to rest the pancreas and allow the inflammation to subside food should be re-introduced in 'baby steps." For example:

I have read where acute pancreatitis patients are immediately re-introduced to food with a sandwich, salmon or something similar and that is just asking for trouble. If it were me and it has been me to many times, I'd start really slow with food in liquid form such as pure vegetable juice in enough quantity to allow for decent nutrition. Fresh, organic vegetable juice made from tomatos, beets, carrots, celery, green pepper, spinach, broccoli, red onion and fresh garlic if possible (you'll need a juicer and the veggies) but low sodium V8 juice which is high in potassium will work almost as well.

I'd also drink white unsweetened grapefruit juice (Ocean Spray is a good brand). Grapefruit juice has been shown to offer protection against acute pancreatitis so it could protect you against future episodes even stop them from happening, like it did with me in 1981-82.

Step # 2 - Will Someone Please Get Me Some Supplements!
If it were me I'd have someone run to the nearest health food store for vitamin C, grape seed extract and curcumin (those with gallstones or SOD should not take curcumin) and I'd be swallowing 200 milligrams of grape seed extract 4 times per day, 500 milligrams of vitamin C 4 times per day and 500 miligrams of curcumin 4 times per day to fight the pancreas inflammation and begin the pancreas healing. In fact, I'd do this BEFORE I began re-introducing food to my pancreas. See the Product Regimen page for information on supplements.

Step # 3 - Start a Food Diary.
When you begin solid food you should keep a record of what you eat. A food diary is important because the way you introduce a new food and how you keep track will tell you exactly what your pancreas will and will not tolerate. Read my post on how to prep for and start a food diary.

Step # 4 - The RIGHT Solid Food
After 72 - 96 hours (3 or 4 days) with no symptoms from the pure vegetable juice you can be slowly, in small amounts, introduced to solid VEGAN type food such as rice, beans, peas, lentils, egg whites (NO yolk, just egg whites for protein and vit B12) and vegetables that have NO oil or FAT (butter, margarine) either in content or preperation. TRUE vegans allow no animal products of any kind; NO meat, NO Dairy, NO Broths or soups made with meat or dairy, No fish. They do eat things that contain fat and you will not. This means NO nuts, NO Avocado, No Coconut, or anything else that VEGANS may use as ingredients or in preparation that contains fat. Then ...

After several months of a pure modified vegan diet (no oil or foods such as avocado, flax seed, sunflower seeds, nuts, coconut all of which have HIGH FAT content) you can try introducing different foods, one at a time to see how you do. Eat that food several times over the next week, along with your newly acquired modified VEGAN diet and WAIT at least ONE WEEK more after the last serving before introducing another food type. This gives the body time to completely digest the new food to see if it causes pancreas inflammation. IF you notice pain or nausea upon introduction of a new food you'll know that food should be eliminated from your list, at least for now and maybe forever depending on how well you heal.

Step # 5 - NO Alcohol
If you have been diagnosed with alcoholic pancreatitis you'll need to bite the big, bad bullet and stop drinking. Alcohol is an absolute no-no after acute pancreatitis, no matter what caused it, especially if you have enough damage to cause chronic pancreatitis because alcohol is extremely toxic to a pancreas, especially and inflamed, damaged one so ...

If you don't stop drinking make sure you grab yourself a permanent vacation home at the cemetary of your choice because you'll end up there, probably sooner than you expect.

By following the above 5 steps you may be one of the lucky few who have one acute pancreatitis attack and never have a problem after. I hope you are that lucky! However ...

IF your CT, EUS, MRI, MRCP or ERCP have shown you have damage then the damage is most likely enough to cause chronic pancreatitis and we'll cover the necessary steps to achieve pancreas healing with chronic pancreatitis in the next post even though they are very similar.

Alcoholic Pancreatitis: Who Gets Alcoholic Pancreatitis?

Alcoholic pancreatitis may not be caused simply by drinking to much alcohol for years like once thought. There may be underlying factors, like a DNA variant, present in those who suffer from alcoholic pancreatitis.

Over 100,000 Americans (didn't even think this many people had this condition) suffer from chronic pancreatitis and many cases are caused by abuse of alcohol but gallstones, medical procedures, heredity, prescription drugs, viruses, autoimmune disease and trauma also cause pancreatitis.

Doctors seem to think that only alcoholics get alcoholic pancreatitis and granted alcoholic pancreatitis is most often seen in those who abuse alcohol for years but ...

Research indicates it may also be due to genetics since only 3% of alcoholics develope chronic pancreatitis, suggesting a pancreas-specific risk factor.

In a study conducted over a 10 year period, involving over 2,000 patients all of whom underwent DNA testing researchers discovered that there was a common DNA variant on the X chromosome that is present in 26 percent of men without pancreatitis, but jumps to nearly 50 percent of men diagnosed with alcoholic pancreatitis. Women have two X chromosomes, so most women with the high-risk DNA variant on one X chromosome appear to be protected from alcoholic chronic pancreatitis by the other X chromosome, if it is normal. Men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, so if they inherit a high-risk X chromosome, there is no protection.

I find this fascinating but then I am easily entertained when it comes to weird stuff that most other people could care less about. In any event ...

IF you suffer from alcoholic pancreatitis it may not be just excessive drinking that is to blame. In fact according to the study one could have the DNA variant, be a causual drinker and end up with pancreatitis due to some other injury to the pancreas. Now ...

If you find this information regarding alcoholic pancreatitis fascinating as well you can continue to read more about this DNA variant connection here: Genetic Link Between Pancreatitis and Alcohol Consumption

Focus On: Acute Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis is extremely painful and can be life threatening. The following article on acute pancreatitis is actually a good and interesting article. In it you'll see where the Ransom and Apache scoring systems are basically called useless due to time constraints under the section dealing with diagnosis. And in the concluding statement ...

"Acute pancreatitis remains a disease with significant morbidity and mortality. The emergency physician's role in prompt recognition, assessment of severity, and initiation of supportive care is central to the treatment of this disease."  Acute Pancreatitis

Unfortunately ...

I personally have found through experience that ER care for acute pancreatitis is somewhat lacking in "prompt recognition and assessment of severity." In fact in 7 ER visits not ONE doctor recognized the condition or had a clue what to do to diagnose me. You can read the whole article here Acute Pancreatitis

Acute Pancreatitis Diet: What to Eat After AP

On this blog about pancreatitis I have mentioned what people should eat during an acute pancreatitis attack which is, NOTHING, no food, just water for hydration (ice chips may stay down better in many people with intractable nausea). If you are in the hospital, which is prudent, the ONLY thing I think they do right, in most cases, is to stop the patient from eating which allows the pancreas to rest and inflammation to resolve.

The last acute pancreatitis attack I personally experienced was about 6 years ago. It was a very nasty one. I have my own regemine that I use to stop the AP but it kept coming back. 11 times in 12 days. I was a sick puppy. And I was sick, in bed, for another 3+ weeks after I finally got it to resolve. The ONLY things that passed my lips and went down my throat were:

1) 800 mgs of Ibuprofen (stops AP)
2) Phenergan suppositories and compazine (I keep nausea meds on hand at all times)
3) Water
4) The last bout on day 12 was resolved with TWO doses of aspirin (1300mgs each). The first time pain resolved but came back in 12 hours. The second dose resolved the whole episode finally but 2600 mgs of aspirin in less than a 24 hour period was NOT a pleasant experience. I felt like an aspirin. All I could taste was aspirin. It worked but wasn't pleasant.

Once I finally got it controlled I still DID NOT eat for another 72 hours so all told I was 15 days without food. I was sick and I was sick because I was an idiot.

Since I had been feeling so good for quite awhile I quit taking my grape seed extract, vitamin C, curcumin and enzymes about a year or so ago, maybe longer. I don't remember. I also cheated on my diet. Then I forgot to read a damn label and I poisoned myself BIG time with pork and I paid BIG time. Anyway ...

After 48 hours with zero AP pain I dragged my ass to the store and bought some grape seed extract, vitamin C, curcumin, a multi-vitamin fromula, digestive enzymes, orange juice and low sodium V8 juice. I started swallowing supplements right away and began sipping V8 and orange juice a day later. I used orange juice and V8 juice because both are loaded with nutrients, are especially rich sources of potassium and of course they are pure fruit and vegetable juices.

Now, I USUALLY do NOT eat when I am sick but 15 days without food is stretching the rope so I knew I needed some nutrition but that didn't mean solid food. It meant high nutrient vegetable and fruit juices were needed. If you have your own juicer oganic fresh vegetable juice made from tomatoes, spinach, watercress, beets, carrots, celery, red onion and apples (yes I know apples are fruit) is even better nutrition. Now ...

Like I said I was a sick puppy. My abdomen was tender as hell. I had a lump, almost the size of a small fist in about the center of my gut, just below my ribcage. That was about the 3rd or 4th time I'd had that lump after an acute pancreatitis attack. I had chills, nausea, fever and I felt like total shit. Sometime later, a couple weeks maybe, I also noticed a hand-sized mark on my right flank that was not there before.

Could it have been Grey Turner's sign?

I don't know because I didn't notice it till weeks after the acute pancreatitis attack resolved and by that time it looked like a large bruise, instead of a reddish brown color. If I did bleed a little it wasn't much because I didn't puke blood. If I had I probably would have gone to the hospital. But I didn't fall or hit myself in the side so I am not sure what the bruise was from or how it got there. It also took a long time to disappear. Anyway ...

I felt like death warmed over for about another 3 weeks after the AP resolved. I lived on V8 Juice, orange juice and supplemts. Since I was running a fever I also had bought a lot of fresh garlic while on my shopping spree and I ate raw cloves of garlic with my V8 juice because raw garlic is a natural antibiotic. I smelled like a garlic clove.

I probably should have gone to the hospital but my previous experiences told me it would be a waste of effort and time so I didn't but, please do NOT be as stupid or as untrusting as I am and IF you have or suspect you have acute pancreatitis go to the hospital so that incase you have complications they can hopefully treat you appropriately and get you well.

After about 3 weeks I began to feel much better, I even started to get hungry. When I was really hungry I fixed a small batch of rice and veggies. No oil, no butter, nothing but BROWN rice and vegetables. Solid food for the first time in weeks and took some enzymes. I slowly progressed daily, eating small quantities of VEGAN only type foods for a time.

One does need to consume protein and we also need vitamin B12 which only comes from animal sources so in order to consume some protein and B12 without pissing off the pancreas I chose egg WHITES. I had discovered these fat free gems years ago when I was always sick but was inventing my pancreatitis diet. So I began to eat egg whites. No yolk yet, no meat (fish or poultry) and of course NO red meat, pork, lamb, duck or anything made from them, soups or broth.

Egg whites contain the much needed protein and vitamin B12 (necessary for making blood) and they have ZERO fat, no cholesterol; so egg whites are a perfect food source of protein for pancreatitis patients. Yes, I know ...

Dieticians, doctors, and pacreatitis patients who are still suffering after years of eating bad shit say it's ok to eat meat, broths, soups, yogurt, milk, butter, margarine, oils and tons of other shit that is bad for pancreatitis patients, especially those coming out of acute pancreatitis attacks. If you like being sick do what they say. If not, then consider common sense which dictates the two major enemies of an inflamed pancreas are FAT (all fat) and ALCOHOL; then require your meals to be prepared accordingly otherwise you are going to reap the rath of panc!

The first 6 months after an acute pancreatitis attack should include foods found ONLY in a modified VEGAN diet. True vegans do not eat any form of animal products (no meat, no dairy) but they do use oil in preperation and cooking and you should not. Oil, any kind, is NOT good for a damaged pancreas. True vegans do not consume eggs however ...

As I have said egg whites provide necessary protein without ANY fat. So there ya go, a modified vegan diet (veggies, legumes for protein, grains, spices for flavoring, egg whites for protein, no oils of any kind, no fats of any kind).

I have read so many stories of people eating high fat content foods after an AP attack either on their own or actually under doctors orders that it simply makes me wonder what they and/or their healthcare providers are thinking. It's insane and simply asking for more trouble. So ...

I hope this kinda gives you an idea of what a suitable diet for post acute pancreatitis should consist of in my humble opinion because it seems to work for me. After I had been symptom free for 6 months I began adding things like broiled or poached fish, broiled skinless chicken breast and broiled turkey breast for more protein.

Curcumin: People with SOD or Gallstones Should NOT Take Curcumin

Once you read this post about SOD, Gallstones and Curcumin feel free to throw darts at me if you have Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction or gallstones and have taken curcumin because I take it and have not seen the best of results. However ...

IF you have seen good results please hold the darts but consider being cautious :-)

I was just answering some questions for a lady on my facebook page who has SOD and I remembered something that I should have told people about curcumin so ...

This realy proves that I too can be an idiot at times and that I make mistakes. So here it is:

IF you have Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction you should NOT take curcumin or use turmeric in cooking because curcumin induces bile flow and in SOD patients this could prove to be a not so good experience. I am NOT saying that taking curcumin will cause AP in SOD patients but it may contribute. Since it increases bile flow and since the Sphincter of Oddi is narrowed that increased flow of bile can back up and if it backs up into the pancreatic duct it can cause AP.

People who have gallstones should probably avoid turmeric and curcumin as well simply because increased bile flow could cause a stone or stones to pass and if they block the duct then AP results.

The good news is this ...

Like I have mentioned before I used grape seed extarct and vitamin C first and it worked a miracle. I found curcumin later and added it. So curcumin may not be necessary, just a good addition and natural pain reliever for those who do not have SOD or gallstones.

Again, IF you have Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction or gallstones you may want to refrain from using turmeric or curcumin for pain relief.