One of the main reasons I created this website was because there was so little out there on Pancreatitis. I hope that this website will somehow help. I'm not very good about updating it because I'm busy with life. I'm thrilled to have a life to be busy with! Also, perhaps because I'm not sure I'm a good representative for those suffering from pancreatitis.Honestly, I'm probably a rather average example of a person living with pancreatitis. I try to do the right things. I try to eat well and stay away from the things that are harmful to my pancreas. But, in all honesty, I'm not great at achieving this goal.
I remember when I first came out of the hospital - over two years ago now - and I had a very difficult time eating. At one point, I had a spoonful of honey. Immediately, there was a calming sensation in my pancreas. I don't know what the relationship is between honey and the pancreas but I believe it is a healing and healthy relationship.
If you are having a difficult time with food but you are hungry all I can tell you is what worked for me. I had a teaspoon of honey and it made my pancreas feel better... and I wasn't so hungry.
Honey is filling. If you try this let me know your results. Don't eat a gallon of it (or anything else) and expect positive results with or without pancreatitis. Or, if you know why the system seems to react positively to honey, please share. I'm guessing it probably has enzymes that the pancreas prefers... but that's just a guess.
Below are a couple articles I found on the topic:
THE BENEFITS OF BIOPOLLEN HONEY
HONEY AS A SWEETNER
HONEY AND DIABETES
im 24 and been hospitalized 4 times from this disease. its the most pain iv'e ever felt in my life. the doctors went as far as saying that the extreme pains i felt were like a woman giving birth. IT REALLY HURT! any ways i just wanted to say thank you this website is very helpful.The honey was a very soothing quick solution. i use to take a spoonful of peptobismol to quickly calm the pains. also the doctors told me with the disease its just a time game....theres no solution so im fighting the need to go to the hospital for a 5th time...ill just wait it out.thank you for your help will donate when i can
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ReplyDeleteMy personal experience is that doctors suggest bad antidotes to my problem of pancreatitis. When I listen to them I don't heal and sometimes doctors have made my symptoms worse. I have regretted listening to doctors at times but felt they knew better than me so 'why not!'. Why not? Because if they are wrong, it's not them who dies. It's not them who's pancreas because more inflamed. The scarring doesn't occur on their pancreas. It's not their life that is shortened.
So, here's my motto. "We all die. It's just a matter of when". No, I don't have a death wish. Not at all. I'm just not afraid of death. In fact, I'm not interested in death. I'm interested in life. I want to live it to the fullest and I'd like to live as long as possible. I can't live a full life by cutting it short. Therefore, I try to extend it by treating my body the best I can.
As you know, it is going to be important to completely stay off food for a little while. Take you time. Let your pancreas heal. The better you treat it now the better it will feel in the long run.
Pancreatitis is like old age. The pancreas never heals just like we never get younger. There are things we can do to increase our chances of living a long life. This is so for both healthy people and people who suffer from pancreatitis.
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ReplyDeleteI have found that the foods I eat as well as the foods I don't eat have a profound impact on the health of my pancreas. Just as is the case with old age.
If you drink alcohol... IT WILL KILL YOU. I'm not on a 'don't drink it's bad for you kick'. Not at all. I love drinking. I love being drunk. The only problem is that I drank so much that I destroyed my pancreas and so now I'm grounded FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE from drinking any kind of booze for any reason or having it in things like food, cakes or candy. So, if you drink, you must stop doing so.
There is a very good chance you can live a long healthy and happy life... but not if you drink. You never have to feel as bad as you do now - ever again. But that will depend in part on what you put into your body. Which foods you eat. What you drink. Your whole food and liquid intact must drastically change now. And guess what!!! It gets to change for the better, so it's all good.
And by the way, if you don't want to give up the drink then that just means you are an alcoholic and NEED to give it up. You see, non-alcoholics wouldn't mind if they didn't drink anymore. It's only the alcoholics that pitch a fit.
If you're not drinking but you're still having a pancreatic attack then consider your food and liquid (non-alcoholic) intake as well as your stress levels. I had a full blown attack from stress. It lasted two months and I thought I'd never gain the weight back. That was about a year ago and I've (finally) gained the weight back and have never let myself get so stressed out again. Stress isn't worth it. Whatever is causing the stress needs to be looked at, addressed and fixed. If you're unhappy about something change it. Remember, for us stress kills. So no stress is worth the hassle. There are no exceptions. Just fix it!
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ReplyDeletePancreatin seems to help when I have three tablets. Sometimes, my pancreas feels a little tend so I try to make its job easier by taking pancreatin. Then, the pancreas doesn't seem to need to work so hard.
No chocolate. No fatty foods. It took me a long time to adapt to non-fat milk (gross! I'm a whole lot a fat milk girl and I love half-and-half) and fat-free half-and-half, as well as non-fat yogurt.
Chocolate is just a no-no. It sent my system whirling one time. It wasn't the only time I had it but when I was stressed already I decided to have a nice big piece of chocolate cake at the California Pizza Kitchen and that was the beginning of a miserable two months for me. Therefore, I learned the hard way that chocolate is too hard for my pancreas to digest and if I have it at the wrong time (even if I don't know or think it's the wrong time) I can be fighting to get back to a healthy place for months to come. Let's put it this way, I didn't think I would ever recover or ever feel better again. This was a solid two years after my hospitalization and I had been feeling quite well before this stressed out chocolate episode. I couldn't put anything on my stomach area or lay on my side. I didn't think it would ever get better. But in time, with proper and limited eating, and with the help of lower stress-levels and some vitamins my pancreas began to heal.
You know the drill. Just wait it out. Again, I'm so sorry you are going through this. Chronic pancreatitis is such a miserable disease.
I'd personally like to tell your doctor to go screw himself and his crappy advice. I'd also like to remind you that we all die at some point. Life is a losing proposition. No one makes it out alive. No one. It's all a matter of time and how you act and what you do can make a huge difference in how long you life.
Exercise, food, stress levels... the way you deal with these things makes a difference in your overall longevity. Live as long as possible. It is a game. Play it and win. The longer you live, the longer you are winning. Ultimately, there is a cure... we just don't know what it is yet. So the goal is to live long enough for a cure. Be good to yourself. Live the life you want to live (as long as it's a healthy life that doesn't involve drinking) and be happy!
I know you wrote your post a while ago. Perhaps by now you are beginning to feel somewhat better. I hope you! I'd love to hear how you are doing.
I found a link with information on pancreas and honey described here: http://healthhubs.net/diabetes/is-honey-a-better-option-than-table-sugar-for-diabetics/. It explicitly says, "Honey also contains trace amounts of the minerals: calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese and selenium, many of which play a role in glucose and insulin metabolism as well as the health of the pancreas." That sent me off on a Google search for honey+pancreas, it brought me to this site among others. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting on this subject! My senior chihuahua has chronic pancreatitis, and I have given her raw honey for quite some time now. I got out of the habit for a while but I gave her some honey today because she wouldn't eat her food this morning (she's on a low-fat prescription diet from the vet). I also gave her kayopectate for dogs. I don't know which one worked better, but raw honey is good for days when she doesn't want to eat her regular food, or when she's been ordered to fast by her vet. Other times, I offer her baby food because it's super-bland and that's what she was fed when she was hospitalized. Her vet prescribed probiotics, but I've given her those in the past and didn't see any drastic improvement. She also takes an herbal supplement with pumpkin, fennel, and papaya with her food twice a day. She gets small meals throughout the day, but lately she's been eating different treats as well (her vet has advised against this -- he recommends that she ONLY eat the same canned food every meal for the rest of her life). After this latest flare-up and visit to the vet, I've decided to limit her treats to 1 or 2 a day -- one for her teeth/breath, and another for her digestion. It's tough because I think she'd be better off having some variety in her diet, but I think the prescription food has been excellent for managing her symptoms.
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