Pancreatitis :(

[SymphonyOfDreams 21]

I have had a wonderful first two weeks postop experience. But the last few days I’ve been getting horrible pains and finally broke down and went to urgent care. I thought I had a kidney stone. Turns it is pancreatitis. Does anyone know if that is a common side effect post op? If so, do you know when I might stop being a problem?

The pain had inched up close to kidney stone level, but now I am on some narcotics to keep the pain down

[GMaJen 79]

I just surfed Google for a few minutes and it seems that Pancreatitis after gastric surgery is not common, but one study said 1% after 3.5 years, and more common after sleeve than bypass. One site mentioned caused by blood clots, bowl obstruction, and gall stones. I know it isn't uncommon for people to have issues with their gall bladder after the surgery.

[catwoman7 11,216]

I agree it's probably not common. I've been on this site for eight years and I think this is the first time I've seen a post about it.

[Roxane 8]

Do you think it's possible that you have gallstones?

[Arabesque 7,335]

I wondered gall stones too which can cause pancreatitis. As can high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity & abdominal surgery (though like catwoman7 I can’t recall any mentions of it here either). Gall stones are common with obesity & high cholesterol & can form as a result of rapid weight loss & high. Often cholesterol levels increase with weight loss too (releases into your blood as you lose fat). So it seems your chances for it occurring are probably higher at the moment. Hopefully this is just temporary & it responds quickly to treatment.

[SleeveToBypass2023 2,637]

I had pancreatitis back in 97 when I was pregnant with my son. Turns out my gallbladder was about to burst from so many gall stones. Was admitted to the hospital, put on IV antibiotics and pain meds for 3 days, had my gallbladder removed, went home 2 days later (spiked a fever after the surgery and had to stay until it was gone for 24 hours). I would definitely look into seeing if you need your gallbladder removed.

[SymphonyOfDreams 21]

!!!Turns out it was an intestinal blood clot!!!

I went to ER on Saturday in a fair amount of back pain, some abdominal pain--I thought it was a Kidney Stone. They did CAT scan, diagnosed be with acute pancreatitis. Said gallbladder looked fine. Went home after some primo narcotics, and prescribed norcos.

On Sunday pain started coming back, and I started vomiting. Went to a different ER. ER Doc there was POd at the other ER for not using dye/contrast, so he ordered CAT scans with oral and IV contrast. THAT'S when they detected I had a blood clot in one of my intestinal veins. Said I had to be transferred to a hospital for treatment, but they could not release me due to the severe nature of the clot. Nurses were talking maybe needing surgery to fix it, etc etc etc.

I was told since I didn't have my sleeve surgery there, NONE of the doctors were willing to treat. I had to travel 60 miles to a hospital my gastric surgeon had privileges in, and it *had* to be by ambulance. They said if I didn't use the ambulance that I would have to go through that hospital's ER since they would no longer direct admit me. OMG, I KNEW insurance would not cover a 60 mile ambulance trip, nor a 3rd ER visit.

They could not arrange ambulance that day, so I spent the night in my crappy ER bed. Got IV narcotics to keep pain under control. Next day, they said a bed had opened up at the destination hospital that my gastric surgeon had privileges for, and they were sure they could get transport by noon.

Around 10 am they said transport pushed back to 2 pm. At this point I called my surgeon again, and he was surprised I wasn't already at the hospital yesterday. Apparently he called the on call ER doc that morning and spoke very (VERY) sternly to them, and suddenly it was ok to drive ourselves (wife driving) and be direct admitted, no issue.

Spend night at hospital and they immediately started an IV heparin blood thinner and started taking blood ever 6 hours to make sure the amount of heparin was good. My gastric surgeon visited, explained that I'd be on blood thinners for several months, and everything should resolve on its own.

I am no home now. The ordeal is done.

But I keep thinking if I had decided to go to Mexico instead of JourneyLite 60 miles away from me, that I might not have found any doctor willing to take my case. Terrifying!

[Arabesque 7,335]

I can’t believe you went through all this. Why didn’t they have you on a blood thinner as soon as they diagnosed the clot? Any of those doctors could have prescribed it. If they were concerned to start you on the meds because of your surgery, they could have simply rung your surgeon & asked. For gracious sake.

I’m glad you have finally been correctly diagnosed & are being properly treated. All the best.

[SymphonyOfDreams 21]

7 hours ago, Arabesque said:

I can’t believe you went through all this. Why didn’t they have you on a blood thinner as soon as they diagnosed the clot? Any of those doctors could have prescribed it. If they were concerned to start you on the meds because of your surgery, they could have simply rung your surgeon & asked. For gracious sake.

I’m glad you have finally been correctly diagnosed & are being properly treated. All the best.

Thanks. The feeling of helplessness, and having no control over my health and well being was super stressful.

Hearing that no doctors would care for me was shattering. In my mind, this is criminal. The more I think about it, the angrier I get.