Pancreatitus - Trip to the Emergency Room with my sister

[Catherine Vincent]

Does anyone suffer from this? My sister was diagnosed with pancreatitus and she has these awful bouts with unbearable pain that we have to rush her to the emergency room. It's been happening off and on the last year or so. She has gone through all sorts of tests and the only relief for it is one of those powerful pain medications and anti-nausea medication. My family seem to think she is addicted to both because she always asks for it. Her pain is so bad that she screams and yells for someone to help her, she falls on the floor and everything. We try and calm her down and have her sit in her seat but she ignores us. So we just let her yell like that. Today she was sprawled on the floor. I couldn't help her to her seat. I didn't know what to do. Everyone that has gone with her before says she does the same thing everytime. They just let her do what she does. One of the hospital emergency rooms threatened to make her leave because she was disrupting the other patients. My parents thinks it's all in her head. We are at our wits end. Does anyone here have that problem or know someone that has it? She's gone through pain management and anything you can think of, she's gone through it. Nothing helps. When I left her today, she was in her room dozing off. She called my mother earlier tonight and said they admitted her. What will happen is, they will keep her a couple of days. Her pain will go away. She'll be okay for a few days and the cycle will start all over again. :(

[Warpy]

1. Pancreatitis is so painful it can send people into shock and kill them.

If she has been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis, take her pain seriously.

I hope for her sake they can resolve it during an admission. Sometimes it takes weeks of being on intravenous nutrition to give the pancreas a sufficient rest to heal, even though symptoms resolve in a few days.

Pancreatitis isn't just diagnosed by patient history. There are specific lab tests for it. It's nothing you can fake.

On edit: The Mayo Clinic has a great overview: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pancreatitis/DS00371

[Catherine Vincent]

2. Thank you for responding, Warpy

Now I'm finding out that the pain was from diverticulitis (sp?). The docs from the emergency room did admit her and he gave her pain medicine through her iv. They ran tests and one of the docs said she tested positive for Lupus. Even though it doesn't run in the family, anyone can get it. But her daughter had her collegue who is a rheumotologist to talk to the physician that gave the test and the rheumotologist said that the tests for lupus is negative. Now we are back to square one and some of us are thinking she is addicted to the pain medicine (dilaudid). I'm hoping we can get to the bottom of this real soon.

[elleng]

3. Please don't rush,

that is, don't rush to a conclusion about 'addiction.' Sounds like lots of docs around, etc; is there ONE PRIMARY physician involved/concerned here? and/or one friend or family member taking notes/supervising what goes on? You've heard 'pancreatitis,' diverticulitis, and lupus.

About diverticulitis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverticulitis

These things can get SO complex. Don't let HER get lost in the weeds.

Good luck.

[Catherine Vincent]

6. Thanks. She has been diagnosed with diverticulitis.

She was out of the hospital a few days ago but her husband is taking her back to the emergency again...tonight. The only way to get rid of her pain she say is to have dilaudid thru an iv, not the pill form. She has gone to these different hospital emergency rooms so often that they recognize her and think she is addicted to the dilaudid because she says that's the only meds that can help her.

[w8liftinglady]

10. our normal treatment is hydration,iv pain meds and complete bowel rest for several days.

and yes-we have patients come back.Once their symptoms(pancreatitis-elevated amylase and lipase) are regulated,the pain improves.It is easy to become dependent on something that brought such relief when she was in pain.Have they tried a fentanyl patch to get her over the hump?It time delivers narcotic through the skin.

[Warpy]

4. Although she might be dependent on pain medicine

it sounds like there's a very good reason for her to take it. They can wean her off it later after they nail down a definitive diagnosis and manage to control whatever it is.

Dependence and addiction are different. An addict can never get enough of the drug of choice, the craving is always there. A dependent will have physical symptoms if the drug is withdrawn suddenly but won't have cravings. Think of it as a diabetic being dependent on insulin or an asthmatic being dependent on steroids. Their bodies need these drugs in order to function. So it is with people in serious chronic pain.

Once they treat the underlying cause--if they can treat it--you can start talking about lowering the dosage gradually to get her off the stuff. Until then, it's not really appropriate.

[elleng]

5. Warpy, thats a GREAT distinction

that so few ever even THINK about; THANK YOU!

[Catherine Vincent]

7. That's the problem. It's like it can't be controlled.

Every month or few weeks, she gets the horrible pain and she wants to go to the emergency room for her dilaudid thru an iv. Her husband is taking her there tonight. I think she may go with the partial colon removal. She is willing to try anything. I sure hope that helps her.

[grasswire]

8. there's a thread in the health forum somewhere...

....about new studies showing that alpha lipoic acid can help with the pain of chronic pancreatitis. Worth checking out.

[Catherine Vincent]

9. I will do a search.

Thank you.