Wednesday, January 25, 2012

When Does Calcification of the Pancreas Occur?

According to the attached article calcification of the pancreas occurs 8-10 years after clinical diagnosis. Article: Pancreas Function

People live with chronic pancreatitis for a wide variety of years before it is diagnosed which makes the 8-10 year guess relating to Pancreatic Calcification seem questionable, at best. Nonetheless, information is information... and I'm looking for it.

My understanding is that if my pancreas becomes calcified it will no longer work. Therefore, I will read all I can about it and discern the information the best I can in hopes of prolonging the health of my pancreas.

The link above has a lot of basic and useful information about pancreatitis and how the pancreas functions. I hope you find this information helpful.

Best to you and yours!


What causes Pancreatic Calcification?

One of my biggest concerns regarding chronic pancreatitis is the calcification of the pancreas. The way I understand it, the calcification is perhaps parallel to petrified wood. It doesn't seem as though there is a way of fixing it once the pancreas becomes calcified.

I did a good search and come up with the following article, Spectrum of Causes of Pancreatic Calcification. I thought I'd share it with you.

My goal is to live as long as possible. The idea behind this research is to learn more about what causes the calcification of the pancreas in hopes of avoiding it altogether or perhaps, at least, slowing down the process.

Chronic alcoholic pancreatitis is the most common cause of pancreatic calcification. I no longer drink so hopefully my pancreas will benefit from the lack of alcohol in my system.


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Does Coffee Ward Off Type 2 Diabetes

pancreatitis diabetes coffeeA recent article coming out of China claims that 'people who drink 4 or more cups of coffee a day have a 50% lower risk of Type 2 diabetes' and each additional cup decreases the risk by an additional 7%.

Here is the article:

This study is relevant to chronic pancreatitis. There is a study that claims 50% of people diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis die within two years. The study states that most of these deaths are caused either by alcoholism or diabetes.