I feel young and healthy in most ways. I recently had a baby that kept me on bed rest but other than that, I'm pretty active, no smoking or drinking (although I do work around second hand smoke...casino life). I'm not overweight, I don't eat lots of fatty or spicy foods. I've had upper abdomen pain for a few weeks, chewing tums daily didn't help. So over the weekend I went to the ER and was admitted for pancreatitis. Some of my other blood work came back abnormal, but the ultrasound showed no gall stones, and CT scan came back normal, only showing inflamed pancreas. They sent me home the next day, saying pancreatitis unexplained cause. I've had diarrhea for over a month, and blood in my stool. They have to be missing something right? It's nearly impossible to work or carry my baby. Heavy food makes me throw up, so now I'm trying to feel better with soup and broth. I hate taking meds but they prescribed Norco and I take it to sleep. The pain is stabbing sharp, and feels like scissors under my left ribs. What foods should I eat so the inflammation goes down? All advice welcome.
Hi Rachel...I'm sorry to hear you're going though this, especially with the demands of a new baby! Diarrhea can unfortunately be an issue but if you are seeing blood in your stools you really need to go back to see your doctor and get that checked out.
Even though you don't eat alot of fatty food, you'll be surprised at how much fat there is in commonly eaten foods once you start looking at the total fat content per serving on the packets. You need to be on a strict low fat diet to give the pancreas a rest. Small meals more often can help too. The Cleveland Clinic website ( amongst others) has some information on Pancreatitis and if you scroll down to Chronic Pancreatitis they have a link to a low fat diet page. Avoid nuts, avocado, cheese and fried food. Look for low fat dairy, and eat chicken, fish and only small amounts of lean red meat. I use olive oil spray to saute onion etc, and now dry roast vegetables tossed in seasoning and set on baking paper, and they're delicious! Fruit is fantastic in all forms, fresh, dried etc.
Hope you settle soon, it's not great to have to take Norco with a small baby to look after, but stress can increase pain so you need to look after yourself. A heat pack can be really comforting too. Hope you have some help at home! Cheers, Veeanne
Thank you so much for your response. I'm going to check that website and hope a diet change will bring me some comfort
Rachel, I have chronic pancreatitis and have had the whipple surgery. I still fight throwing up, not eating and diarrea.......as far as what to eat or drink, try Carnation Instant Breakfast, it tastes WAY better than ensure and boost and it will give you some protein.......I like the choclate but there are different flavors. I drink it until I can eat food again.......
Rick
Thank you. I went in for 2 liters of IV fluids, that seemed to help so much. I've blended fruit shakes everyday, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. I will definitely try carnation. Thanks and hope you feel better.
Ok, let me know if it helps.........