anyone deal with pancreatits?

Sherri0706 · July 2011

I just got home after 5 days in the hospital with pancreatitis. They suggested a low fat diet for awhile. Has anyone else ever dealt with this? Did you do a special diet, or just go back to normal eating? And I noticed that my low fat or fat free foods seem to be higher in sodium. The pain was so bad that I'm fearful of everything that I eat now. Thanks for any suggestions!

cranmuffin · July 2011

My husband was diagnosed with pancreatitis in the ER about 10 years ago. They told him that it was caused by his gall bladder and did emergency surgery. Turned out that he had three stones and the gall bladder itself was so infected that it was ganggrene. After the surgery, he was not given any diet restrictions. He has not had any problems since. (Both of his parents also had their gall bladders removed and, prior to each of their surgeries, were told to eat low fat diets avoid pain/flare-ups.) You might want to look into having your gall bladder checked.

Sherri0706 · July 2011

I had my gallbladder removed 7 years ago, although they still think that it could have been a stone clogging the duct. They were pretty much baffled as to the cause.

BettyMargaret · July 2011

My husband was also diagnosed with pancreatic problems. He was in the hospital for 6 weeks and on life support for two months. His was also due to gallstones blocking ducts in his pancreas. That stemmed from the high protein, high fat diet we were on. (atkins)... We chose to try eating vegetarian, our son is vegan and was prompting us, and we were afraid to eat anything with fat in it anymore. Anyway, last September 5th, we went vegetarian and haven't looked back... I've lost 60 pounds so far and he has lost approx 30 with making no other changes at all, not exercise, actively "dieting", nothing. just quit eating meat. His pancreas healed itself without surgery, he's fine now. Diets high in fat are worse than I ever thought they were. I mean I knew high fat diets could make you fat, raise cholesterol, cause gallstones, etc, but this pancreas thing really scares me.
I hope you are doing well now and I hope I gave some sort of answers to you. Good luck!

Sherri0706 · July 2011

@BettyMargaret. I am really grateful now that my stay was only 5 days. I couldn't imagine being there longer. I saw 4 different doctors while there but only one took the time to talk to me about my diet now and how I might change it. It has me worried too, because the gallbladder you can do without, but not the pancreas. Thanks for the advice. I have a daughter who while not a total vegetarian, is very close, and she's pushing for me to at least drop all the red meat!

theflyingartist · July 2011

My father was admitted to the hospital for pancreatitis after a "much-too-fun" trip to Vegas.
It had been building up for decades, though.

Anyways, the doc told him to change up his diet. He also has colitis.. so there's a lot of intestinal issues there. He said eating yogurt really soothed his intestines, and to this day he still has a cup of it each day. I recommend FAGE 0% greek yogurt, plain in the big tub. Add some honey on top and mix in it, it tastes much better that way.
Secondly, my Dad had to learn how to love beans and rice again. Literally

He started eating blackbeans on his salads, soups, with his dinners, ect.. try to eat more of those things: hummus is also a great snacking food/dip.. has a great fresh flavor and full of protein.
Bland foods work well also. Oatmeal, bananas, apples, cabbage, mushrooms, low acid foods (stay away from citrus and spice and ketchup [or anything with tomatoes for awhile]), and lean protein like fish, soybeans, and turkey.

Good luck to you!

theflyingartist · July 2011

@BettyMargaret. I am really grateful now that my stay was only 5 days. I couldn't imagine being there longer. I saw 4 different doctors while there but only one took the time to talk to me about my diet now and how I might change it. It has me worried too, because the gallbladder you can do without, but not the pancreas. Thanks for the advice. I have a daughter who while not a total vegetarian, is very close, and she's pushing for me to at least drop all the red meat!

Just a little tid bit about the pancreas..
it secretes insulin, what your body uses to digest sugars. Keep away from processed sugars and carbohydrates for this reason. A lot of people don't realize it, but if your pancreas has to work to digest all those sugars, it can get irritated again.
I'm not saying go sugar-free, just avoid it when you can. Stick with whole versions of carbohydrates: whole grains, multigrain breads (no white/wheat/potato breads), brown rice or basmati rice, and a lot of great sugars come from berries, apples, pears, and nectarines. Go for the cherries, they are in season!

BettyMargaret · July 2011

I used to hate it when I was pushed towards vegetarianism! I was a meatasaurus through and through! I had a meat sandwich, with bacon, on 2 slabs of meat with meat on the side! There was no way! BUT giving up meat was sooooo much easier than I ever thought it was gonna be! If you could just try giving up red meat, just for awhile, say a week... you can always go back. Just see how you like it! That's what I did, sometimes just for a day at a time! It does/did work for me!

BettyMargaret · July 2011

@BettyMargaret. I am really grateful now that my stay was only 5 days. I couldn't imagine being there longer. I saw 4 different doctors while there but only one took the time to talk to me about my diet now and how I might change it. It has me worried too, because the gallbladder you can do without, but not the pancreas. Thanks for the advice. I have a daughter who while not a total vegetarian, is very close, and she's pushing for me to at least drop all the red meat!

Just a little tid bit about the pancreas..
it secretes insulin, what your body uses to digest sugars. Keep away from processed sugars and carbohydrates for this reason. A lot of people don't realize it, but if your pancreas has to work to digest all those sugars, it can get irritated again.
I'm not saying go sugar-free, just avoid it when you can. Stick with whole versions of carbohydrates: whole grains, multigrain breads (no white/wheat/potato breads), brown rice or basmati rice, and a lot of great sugars come from berries, apples, pears, and nectarines. Go for the cherries, they are in season!

This is very true, the pancreas does produce the insulin. Where my husband got into trouble is the gallstones blocked the pancreas ducts causing several pseudo-cyst, one was softball sized. His pancreas had to be bypassed with a feeding tube, which made him "diabetic" temporarily, thank goodness. I had to give him insulin injections... but the point is, the pancreas problems where caused by the gallstones, which were cause by the high fat diet.

live4something · July 2011

This really has nothing to do with your diet, but I just wanted to say how lucky you are. My brother had pancreatitis a few years ago. He was in ICU for 4 months, on life support, went through multiple organs failing. He is now a insulin dependent diabetic as his pancreas no longer functions. It is a very tough life for him. Wishing you all the best!

Sherri0706 · July 2011

This really has nothing to do with your diet, but I just wanted to say how lucky you are. My brother had pancreatitis a few years ago. He was in ICU for 4 months, on life support, went through multiple organs failing. He is now a insulin dependent diabetic as his pancreas no longer functions. It is a very tough life for him. Wishing you all the best!

Wow, I really had no idea just how serious that this could have been for me. I actually waited it out for 14 hours of constant pain before deciding to go to the ER. Even when the doctors kept commenting on just how high my counts were, I didnt get it. I will be taking a very serious approach to my new eating habits. Thanks for sharing your story and I pray the best for your brother.

anyone deal with pancreatits?

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