Hi there,
Almost 4 weeks ago I had my first (and hopefully last) acute pancreatic attack. I was hospitalized and put on nil by mouth for 36 hours. My hospital stay was for three nights and then I came home.
The first few weeks at home were very average. I was in quite a bit of discomfort (especially during and after doing a wee). It was very depressing as I am an active person.
But, today, I am feeling heaps better! Finally.
I must say that taking great heed of diet and rest was instrumental to my recovery. Small meals of the following was what I ate: jelly, fruit, mashed potato with veg and salmon, chicken and veg soup (which was put in the fridge and the fat scraped off the top before I ate it), English muffins with jam, corn thins, plain cooked pasta etc. I stayed away from oil, butter, dairy as well as checked labels on everything I purchased - the advice I was given was 70g fat in total per day...this is not much.
I was also unable to stand upright until today and was hunched over like Gollum in LOTR.
Hopefully my recovery will continue, but I just wanted to write this so any future people with an attack the same level as mine can take comfort that it will get better.
Oh, drink pear juice regularly as pancreatitis is synonymous with constipation. ;-)
I had a severe acute attack of pancreatitis on April 21. 2013. I was in the hospital for 9 days....unable to eat for five of those and three spent in ICU. I went back on May 8 with lots of pain and had developed a pseudo cyst. I was in there for 5 days then. Then, I went back in again on May 30 with pain again, cyst had grown by 10% and I had acquired colitis and a urinary tract infection. I was in for four days this time. It is now June 13 and I am still out. I have my good days, when I don't feel like there is anything wrong at all and then other days, I am nauseated all day long, even with Zofran for nausea and everything stinks to me. I cannot eat very much food before becoming very full. Nothing tastes good and I cannot drink much liquid and thus stay dehydrated. Any suggestions as to what has worked for you? This is truly miserable. I live in Houston, TX. I just happened to find this posting and wanted to talk to someone else familiar with this terrible problem.
Thank you,
Sheri
Burneye wrote 'Oh, drink pear juice regularly as pancreatitis is synonymous with constipation'
Not true, this symptom more to do with the medication used for pancreatic pain.
I had an attack of acute pancreatitis which started on July 16th I was in hospital for 7 nights .
This was my first and only( hopefully) attack .
I came home from hospital still in pain and swollen up like a ballon ,I couldn,t lay on my side or stand upright .After 3 days at home resting I started to recover and cut out the pain killers which were ,nepofam,tramadol,and paracetamol ,also morphine whilst in hospital .
I just felt the need to put something out there positive as when I searched for some info everything was quite negative.
I am now well I have lost some weight (which is a positive thing ) I have cut out alcohol completely and started eating much healthier and am feeling great.
I have an appointment at the hospital next week , I have my own idea what caused my attack (not alcohol or gall stones ) and will post on here after discussing my thoughts with consultant .
Keep positive x
Hi Carol331
I've just come out of hospital after 7 days, was rushed in with stomach pain and diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, I had ct and mri scans, my confusion (and doctors ) is that I had my gallbladder removed 7 years ago due to gallstones and I am not a big drinker at all , like yourself, they have not mentioned my diet or to change what I eat, but I have no appertite, my interest in your post is your idea to what caused your attack? Like you say the internet doesnt have anything good to say about pancreatits, I'm still in pain and just would like answers.
Hi juliet340,
Its been a year on the 16th of this month since my attack of acute pancreatitis .I am well and healthy and have had no further attacks thankfully !. .
My ideas of what may have caused my illness wasnt taken seriously by the doctor at the hospital .I thought maybe the fact I had been on the 5.2 fasting diet , ( some weeks 4.3) and practicaly starving myself could have caused an inbalance of sugar and insulin etc but the doc said it was likely to have been a virus ( coxsackie or mumps ).
I eat more healthily than before and still am teetotal but thats a small price to pay to keep well .I take grape seed extract every day which is an excellent antioxident and helps with healing, also turmeric which is great for anti inflamatory properties ., and thats all really ,just getting on with life ( off to greece next week 
).
Try not to read the doom and gloom forums to find out info like I did at first ,I became a bit obsessed looking for good news , sadly the people who seem to post on these forums are the ones who get repeated attacks, and that is not always the case .
Hope you are soon feeling better ,It does get better !!!! x
God Carol, thankyou for your fast reply, you have made me feel so much better, I'm reading everything on line and not read a good thing yet about pancreatits, its all bad news. I'm still in pain and been given the same painkillers you had. I'll definatley give up drinking, not that I was a big drinker anyway. And I'll try the grape seed extract also, I'll try anything!! I also was doing the 5.2 diet!!
How long did your pain last when you came home and did you have a follow on appointment, I still want to know when my pancreas returns to normal.
thankyou again
Julie
Hi juliet340 , patient uk sent a notification to my email and when I read your message I felt I had to answer as I was in your situation year ago .
The pain gradually got better over a couple of weeks after I got home ,it still hurt when the car hit pot holes in the road !!! . I didnt have any appetite at all for a couple of weeks but it did come back completely.
I had my mri scan 4 weeks after I was discharged from hospital ,I still had fluid and inflammation on my pancreas ,I then had a ct scan in Oct and was told then the inflammation was settling down .My last appointment was in Apr this year and I was discharged completley.
The fact that you were also on the 5.2 diet really makes you think that there could be a link ,I was talking to a girl in the hairdressers a few month ago who also got an attack of pancreatitis while on the 5.2 !!.Its a horrible illness and does take time to recover ,but it does get better and doesnt always come back !
Carol
Thank you again for taking time out to reply, Atleast I now know that my pancreas won't mend quickly, struggling with a low fat diet, as I love a takeaway and I'm a chocoholic ! Now wondering if my high fat rubbish diet contributed to my pancreatitis attack in the first place. I'd also just returned from Barbados 2weeks earlier so also wondering if all the eating and drinking on holiday or picked up a virus but the Dr's said a virus would of showed up in my bloods. Fingers crossed its just been a freak one off like yours.
Julie
Just out of curiosity, what were your enzyme counts during the attack? I just got out of the hospital yesterday. My doctors said they'd never seen numbers so high.
I wanted to post as well, as my experience was very similar to yours. I am posting on Oct 28, 2015 and was hospitalized on September 20. I was in the hospital for 11 days, and had complications from my Acute Pancreatitis caused by Gallstones such as recurring pain, fever, and SupraVentricularTachycardia. On several occasions the entire crash team came rushing into my room saying "your heart is way out of rhythm." SCARY. Heart problems run in our family, so this worried both me and my husband. I had a GREAT care team and I was released on October 1, a Thursday. It will be 4 weeks tomorrow, and frankly, I never believed I would feel as good as I do today... EVER AGAIN. It DOES get better, and I agree - it is all about sleeping, resting and eating to regain your strength. I lost 15 lbs while I was in the hospital for 11 days, and I have been so careful with my diet I have actually lost another pound since coming home. (Anyone who has been through this has experienced the fasting required to rest the Pancreas. The lack of food I could live with - but I was so thirsty I thought I would croak!) Since coming home, I am sure to get 8-9 hours sleep per night, and I am eating small snacks throughout the day. Lots of soup, half sandwiches on wholewheat bread adorned with tomatoes and spinach instead of cheese, and lots of Outshine popsicles! I have eaten grits, mashed potatoes, and spagetti with fat free sauce. I have also developed an appetite for lemon sorbet, and doc says it is good for me. I was told just 30 grams of fat per day - thats tough to do, but possible. I also take care of my 99 year old mom at home, so I was determined to get back to normal ASAP. Today was the first day I felt that way - "normal" - energetic and back in a positive mood. So eat as your doctor has recommended, get plenty of rest, and keep asking the good Lord to make you better - and YOU WILL GET BETTER! (I cracked up when I read your comment about Gollum. I was finally able to straighten all the way up YESTERDAY - so I can relate!) Thanks for posting. Hope all are feeling better or will be soon. THIS IS NO FUN!!!
Sorry - I forgot to mention, I had 13 Gallstones removed while in the Hospital and still have not had my GB out. I am hoping to do that in Jan. Drink lots of Organic Apple Juice - really good for your pancreas... and if you have a juicer, Beet Juice helps too. I'll shut up now!
Hi Everybody . My only acute pancreatitis attack was 2 yrs 3 mnths ago and i,m still okay. I,m still taking 2 grapeseed extract tabletsand 2 turmaric capsules a day .
Keeping well hydrated at all times and being completely teetotal .
Hopefully I wont get another attack as I think anyone who has had it lives with the fear of it returning , but it definitely doesnt always come back and it does get better ! .
Keep positive guys x
Hi There, Hoping you see this since your post was from a year ago. I found your post the one and only encouraging post. I recently had a few acute pancreatitis attacks. For the first two, I didn't know what it was and did not seek medical attention. On the 3rd, I was admitted to the hosptial for 3 days. I seem to be recovering. I've cut out alcohol, although I was never a heavy drinker and fatty foods. Now that it has been some time for you, can you tell me, will I ever be able to go back to a normal diet with the occassional slice of pizza? I expect that alcohol will always be out of the question, but Im trying to figure out if I need to stick to this new lifestyle forever or if there is ever any wiggle room? Any advice or help you can offer would be apprecated. Thanks.
I had pancreatitis for the first time about 6 years ago but didn't thought it was an anxiety attack and went to the er a couple days later because I was still feeling bad and my lipase numbers obviously went down because they didn't find anything and I got on celexa for anxiety. I was in pain for the next month or so and was fine until I had another attack last September and went to the hospital with acute pancreatitis. The pain was exactly the same that's how I now know the first time was pancreatitis. I was in the hospital for 3 days with no food and ate little but then felt better. My gi told me to eat less fat bc he saw fat on my liver he never said it was because of pancreatitis that I have to stop eating fat so 6 months later in February I was back with another attack and in for another 3 days. I don't drink so I didn't have to stop that but I eat no fat now and have felt better. A month ago I thought I was having the pain again and was nauseas so I went to the doctor and he wanted neme to have a ct scan and founkidneyey stones and said my right rib cage was inflamed but it wasn't my pancreas! I was excited but now I sometimes feel nauseas and I'm scared it's my pancreas sometimes and I'm scared to eat. These posts being positive had really helped. I'm under the impression the new horrible diet is a forever thing and that sucks because I'm only 4 10 and was 113 pounds and now I'm only 99 pounds and I don't want to lose more!
Hi I know this is an older post but I recently had my mother admitted into the hospital for stomach pains.. she was in severe pain for 3 days and ended up in the hospital for 3 more days. She's out now after asking to check out. I'm very worried. I read so many negative comments about pancreatic cancer and it scares me. I live with my mom to help her out around the house and she still seems to be in a bit of pain. It's nice to read posts if people being on after an attack, but is there anuthing I can tell my mother on how to avoid this in the future? She's not a big drinker but she does have diabetes. What changes should we make in life to help her out?
This is a very interesting discussion and I do think I may keep having recurring bouts with pancreatitis..I had my Gallbladder removed going on 2 years ago at the end of this month but I have still been in varying degrees of pain. I have a pretty high threshold for pain but lately it has been rocking me especially at night and I have been extra nauseated. Now my appetite is about all the way gone, I can drink very little although I am crazy dry in the throat and mouth. The only relief I get is drinking something hother or something that forces me to burp...my digestive tract is at a stand still and I am frankly very tired and worn down. Doctors act like I am making stuff up and sometimes I feel like I'm crazy but the pain is real without a doubt. Maybe I should scream and roll on the floor and they will believe me??
Hey all,
I had my first bout of pancreatitis April 28, 2016 and was in the hospital for 9 days. I'm not a drinker at all and they didnt find gall stones in me but I was eating a very high amount of fat in my daily diet. And that's what triggered my attack. It took me about two weeks after getting out of the hospital to get my appitite back, and frankly I wish I didn't get it back because now I am always hungry again and find myself inching ever closer to my previous diet even though I know the consequences. So if any of you are curious pancreatitis related to triglycerides is a possible cause. And if you are experiencing prolonged mild attack like feelings try cutting way back on your fat intake and you'll likely feel loads better. Thanks for posting this guy's it's really encouraging to me!
Hi , just got home from a 6 day hospital stay for acute pancreatitis
I had been on a low fat diet for about 8 weeks so it hit me out of the blue for no apparent reason
Is there a link with the 5:2 fasting diet ?
I have come home armed with lots of pain relief and no answers also the hospital encouraged eating which made me nauseous and caused pain
now that I'm home am I best to start fasting
I'm confused in pain and need advice
Please help
I never been sick before or had any probs I'm 28 years old and feel alone so I thank you for this positive helpful message