I was doing fine until...

Take the focus off diet for now--since they've given you a new one anyway. This is just another learning experience. You've done so well so far, so you just have to change things up a bit. Best of luck to you and hope you are home soon.

thebestyear2017 wrote: »

ladyreva78 wrote: »

Oh dear! That is extremely unpleasant and painful, and I wish you a good and speedy recovery!

You've rightfully said that health is your priority - as it should be.

Look at it this way: even if it takes you 1 year to get back on track, and if we assume an average lifespan of 80, that's less than 5% of your total life. It's no fun having to take a detour, but in the end, what you learn while on the detour can only make you stronger once you hit your path again.

Good luck and get well soon!


(PS: lost my gallbladder in 2015 because of exactly that. Had a stone blocked in the passage at the level of the pancreas and the gallbladder was showing signs of permanent inflammation. I was pretty depressed as I'd lost a good 10kg before that with 40kg more to go and I was worried that it would totally derail me. It simply made me realize that my chosen plan wasn't very good and that I needed to tweak some things to work for me. I've since gone and lost another 22kg.)

Thank you for this! Has removing your gallbladder impacted your life much?

It hasn't for my wife. Although, she has to be careful about eating fried foods.

thebestyear2017 wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

That really sucks. Be thankful it was only acute pancreatitis; my wife was pretty much in a hospital for 1.5 years with it. At one point, her Lipase was so high, it almost killed her. BTW, it was caused by a gallbladder that ruptured.


Are they planning on doing the surgery? If so, I'd do it. It's a very simple surgery and you don't want things to get worse. Also, you will probably end up losing some more weight since you will be limited on how much and what you can eat. I'd actually take a look into whey protein or BCAA's to help support some kind of muscle retention since it will be harder to get adequate levels.

But definitely make sure you are doing whatever to get healthy.

Thank you for your post! My goodness, your poor wife. I can only imagine how awful it must have been to experience that pain! Do they know what caused her pancreatitis?

I am still undecided about the surgery - I feel like the surgeon is recommending it too soon, before we know exactly what caused my pancreatitis. I am reluctant to remove an organ so quickly! I have so many questions about my diagnosis, I'd barely heard of pancreatitis before and now it's taken over my life!

Hope you and your wife are happy and healthy

My wife's pancreatitis as caused by the ruptured gallbladder (so it literally fell apart).. which was causing bile to seep into her body, which cause a variety of infections.

The gallbladder is mainly there to help breakdown fats to ease the transition into the stomach. It's not overly important and a variety of factors can cause stones and other issues (i.e., aggressive dieting can cause stones). So you may or may not be able to find the cause.

thebestyear2017 wrote: »

ladyreva78 wrote: »

Oh dear! That is extremely unpleasant and painful, and I wish you a good and speedy recovery!

You've rightfully said that health is your priority - as it should be.

Look at it this way: even if it takes you 1 year to get back on track, and if we assume an average lifespan of 80, that's less than 5% of your total life. It's no fun having to take a detour, but in the end, what you learn while on the detour can only make you stronger once you hit your path again.

Good luck and get well soon!


(PS: lost my gallbladder in 2015 because of exactly that. Had a stone blocked in the passage at the level of the pancreas and the gallbladder was showing signs of permanent inflammation. I was pretty depressed as I'd lost a good 10kg before that with 40kg more to go and I was worried that it would totally derail me. It simply made me realize that my chosen plan wasn't very good and that I needed to tweak some things to work for me. I've since gone and lost another 22kg.)

Thank you for this! Has removing your gallbladder impacted your life much?

I have to be careful with overly fatty meals. Fried food especially is painful. It tends to cause discomfort and a sense of being so full that one more bite will cause me to vomit. It's not as bad as right after the surgery (I also had an adverse reaction to the anesthesia, so that didn't help.) but I still need to be mindful of what and how much I eat. Somethings I gave up completely because the taste just wasn't worth it (deep fried stuff mostly - but I will make an exception for tempura every once in a while). Others I decide I would allow myself in smaller quantities and just suck it up (a walk after such meals tends to help).

My Mom, who had her gallbladder out 6 months before me, went back to eating as if nothing had happened. I am somewhat jealous but c'est la vie.

You'll actually only know how your own body reacts once it's in the situation.

Good luck!

thebestyear2017 wrote: »

My wife's pancreatitis as caused by the ruptured gallbladder (so it literally fell apart).. which was causing bile to seep into her body, which cause a variety of infections.

The gallbladder is mainly there to help breakdown fats to ease the transition into the stomach. It's not overly important and a variety of factors can cause stones and other issues (i.e., aggressive dieting can cause stones). So you may or may not be able to find the cause.

I'm sorry - I meant to ask what caused the gallbladder to rupture if you know?

I do wonder if my dieting caused the build up of sludge to cause my pancreatitis - will have to do more researching. Thank you, I will definitely consider the surgery. I'm glad that removing it hasn't seemed to be detrimental to your wife.

They don't really know. They say based on what happened, her gallbladder was probably wasn't working for a few years.

That sounds horrible! Sorry you have to go through it. I had my gallbladder out 20 years ago and have not had any issues with it. I can eat pretty much anything with no problem and not having the gallbladder attacks has been wonderful.

I wouldn't worry too much about that last 8 pounds while you are healing, you have more important things to think about. I know it's frustrating but you can always lose those few pounds later. In my case, much later. I have been maintaining for awhile but decided early last year I wanted to lose another 10 pounds. I immediately came down with a bunch of issues that included 4 major surgeries in the last 15 months and I have just about given up on losing that last few pounds. But at least I haven't gained any weight.

thebestyear2017 wrote: »

I was admitted to hospital with pancreatitis! Has anyone else faced a "small hiccup" in their plan like this? If so, how did you get past it/work around it?

After a year of graft, CICO and as much PMA as I could muster - I'm now just 8lbs from goal weight. I had a sustainable workout routine, was prepping meals and enjoying daily treats - and mentally, for the first time in a long time, I felt like I could keep this up for LIFE!

But last week, I was admitted to hospital after diagnosis of acute pancreatitis for 3 days - put on an IV and told I should have my gallbladder removed. On top of all this, my diet has been restricted, even further, to super low fat food. No more daily treats. No more avocado. No more salmon. Definitely no more chocolate.

My health is priority, so I've given up trying to lose more weight right now but I am struggling with this change mentally.

How do I deal with this?? Any help/shared situations/triumph stories gratefully appreciated.

Oh my gosh, this was me in February of this year. After a successful 25lb weight loss I had a random bout of acute pancreatitis. I had my gallbladder removed in 2015, hardly drink alcohol, and just yesterday had an endoscopic ultrasound to see if there are any lesions/cysts on my pancreas because they had no idea why my lipase level was as high as it was. Thankfully, nothing is wrong with my pancreas, but no answers as to why I had acute pancreatitis. They offered me an MRCP (MRI) or the endoscopic ultrasound (which is more invasive but produces better quality images), so I went with the ultrasound.

Regardless, I stopped working out for nearly 4 months after the episode. I was eating VERY low fat and ZERO alcohol for 6 weeks to let my pancreas heal. I was limiting myself to 30g or less of fat per day. Definitely higher carbs for the first few weeks, then I incorporated more lean protein. Turkey burgers were, and still are, my best friend lol. I also ate a lot of egg whites (still do, but now eating a whole egg 1-2x per week or so). I was still losing weight during the no-exercise period (pancreatitis can do this). I did not lose that much muscle tone once I returned to the gym, surprisingly. I still try to cap my fat intake at 50g/day because I'm so scared of it happening again, but I am starting to eat more healthy fats (including avocado!) because my HDL was too low during my last blood test. I do drink alcohol - about 2-3 drinks on the weekend. I add these things slowly into my diet to avoid the sick feeling.

So, fret not - there is a possibility you could start having avocado, alcohol, and chocolate again after a short break. I'm not exactly sure how to move upwards from here after finding that nothing is wrong with my pancreas - definitely not binging out on red meat, full fat cheese, charcuterie, or fried foods. Even with occasional indulgences, my body is NOT used to them and going too hard on some full-fat ice cream and french fries makes me nauseous for days. I'll likely (responsibly) enjoy these things occasionally. I'm still losing weight after starting to exercise again at the end of April, about 21lbs down since having pancreatitis.

NOTE - I am not a health care professional, this is just my experience with acute pancreatitis. You might be feeling well enough to exercise before I did. Just take it day by day.