r/pancreatitis

I am a 22 year old girl, I have been dealing with chronic pancreatitis and chronic cholecystitis and bile sludge for past 4.5 years. It all started when I was 17. I am also depressed and have been depressed for past 10 years. Only recently my depression eased and i have been able to get my health into my hands and start working on it.

My pancreatic elastase stool test came back at 90.

I get diarrhoea without creon. I have been put on 50,000-75,000 creon per meal. My poop looks very stiff and weird and lumpy despite coming out as sausage.

Ultrasound shows diffused pancreas changes, mild bile sludge, gallbladder kink and shape deformity. The pancreas is normal size, shape, borders, but is patchy increased echogenicity, while the overall structure and granular texture are preserved.

I am extremely worried about my future and wellbeing. My skin is very dry, my eyes are dry and i feel like i am malnourished and lack lipids/fats, lack all vitamins despite being normal weight. I have been gradually losing weight, might be related to eating less too, but i am scared it’s pancreatitis.

For the past 4 years i have been having constant pain in the back and stomach, right where my pancreas is. Pain is about 3-4/10, it is noticeable. it doesn’t disrupt my sleep or distract me from work/study. I also feel burning sensations/weird discomfort in the same area.

I never had acute pancreatitis. Even when i had flare ups and was in severe pain, i never had elevated amylase or lipase. I have never drank alcohol or smoked in my life. I have gotten flare up about once in a year, by flare ups i mean a lot of pain and mild fever, my blood tests didn’t show any inflammation and amylase/lipase was perfect despite testing multiple times.

I am very afraid to get diabetes, getting more malnourished and i am afraid to lose life quality and living a normal life.

I have only one pancreas and it’s scary to think about how my pancreas cells will not recover. I have 50-60 years to live, i’m so young i have my entire life ahead.

I assume my pancreatitis started with missing meals, i have adhd and autism so it’s very difficult to feed myself and eat at time. I don’t have any appetite and all i want to eat is junk food, which I can’t eat. Any food with a bit of higher fat sends me into pain. Tbh i didn’t have particularly unhealthy diet, but rather skipping meals, never eating breakfast/lunch and eating more in the evening.

I have been working with gastroenterologist, celiac disease ruled out, no helicobacter, no lactose intolerance. Upper endscopy was clear. Currently waiting parasite testing results. Blood tests look normal except mild anemia, protein levels are lowish.
Pee has 1.5 ketones.

I feel very fatigued and weak.

Currently taking creon 50-75K per meal, duspatalin(mebeverin 200mgx2), ursofalk 500mg, lactobacteria supplements, iron IV infusions venofer.

What should i do? I feel so lonely and lost and very worried. What should i work on? What should i tell my gastroenterologist?

What has been your experience?

Hi everyone,

I'm from India and have been taking Jan Aushadhi Pancreatin capsules (10,000 and 25,000 units). They work very well for me and are much more affordable than Creon, which is nearly 10 times more expensive.

Unfortunately, for the past few months I've been unable to find them. I've checked pharmacies in multiple towns, but almost everywhere they're out of stock.

Is anyone else facing the same issue?

If these capsules are available in your city, could you please let me know the pharmacy or Jan Aushadhi Kendra? If possible, I'd also appreciate any help in getting them couriered.

Thank you.

I had my gallstone AP attack just over 3 months ago and still dealing with some pain daily. I have been eating pretty well but might have been delaying my healing by eating some things I didn’t realise would cause issues like honey, oysters, and some other “health foods” I was also told just low fat for my gallbladder surgery and that was it so after leaving the hospital I did eat some red meat, raw foods, apple cider vinegar and things I probably shouldn’t have straight away. I’m trying to dial my diet right down to chicken soup, mashed potatoes and herbal tea maybe some almond milk? What was everyone eating especially those who had a longer recovery? I am on creon from low elastase test and my CT and MRCP show nothing. I feel like my pancreas is still inflamed. I did not have any necrosis or anything.

(EDIT MEANT THC NOT THE) I got diagnosed with acute pancreatitis after having my gallbladder removed and forming a back up of sludge and gravel. During my ercp I received a spincterechtomy. Wondering if I could still get away with using thc after recovery

Hello gang, I’m wondering what pain relief people are having. I am currently on Oxy, and not a big fan of opioids, and ordering if medical cannabis has helped anyone? I’m also having chemo for blood cancer (which caused pancreatic damage). Any advice is much appreciated.

I have been experiencing abdominal pain (mostly middle left part near above the belly button) since May 21 but have been experiencing bloating since April 29 of this year and sometimes my stools are a bit yellowish brown (but this was only lately as I had brown mushy stools in the past)

I have undergone a lot of tests but I think the most relevant one was the CT scan with triple contrast which states: “The pancreas is normal in size and density. The main pancreatic duct is not dilated.”
Ultrasound: normal sonogram of pancreas.

I have been also losing weight since May 21 (around 3-4kgs) I have been eating less because of my fear of pain and sometimes I have difficulty sleeping because of thinking a lot.

I have had 2 GI doctors already. My current GI doctor recommends that I get an endoscopy because according to her, the CT scan and ultrasound did not show any signs of pancreatitis and thus the source of the pain might be somewhere else.

This situation has significantly impacted my life and the people around me. I have been reading a lot in this subreddit but only got the strength to post now. Please help me.

I am 25M, Firstly, I am not an alcoholic, I don’t even occasionally drink. I drink once or twice a year and that too in moderation.

History:
In October 2021, I had my first attack. They couldn’t diagnose the reason. It was a mild Attack.

[Used to Vape]

In January 2024, I had my second attack. They also couldn’t diagnose the reason. It was too a mild Attack. and Quit Vapping.

[Started Smoking regularly in 2025, drank very little occasionally, last drink November 2025]

In March 2026, I had my third attack. It was mild too. However, I had a splenic pseudoaneurysm. Got it embolised. Gastroenterologists said to stop Creon as i don’t have Chronic Pancreatitis.

[Quit Smoking]

(Maintained a very strict low fat diet, no alcohol, no smoking, no cheating)

In 15th May 2026, again got an attack had to be hospitalised. I was fine next day. They kept for further tests had an EUS done no sludge in Galbladder. Genetic Test has been done. Results are yet to come.

Advice Wanted:

1. Why Can’t they diagnose me with cause? What can be the trigger?

2. I am lactose intolerant. Can Dairy Product trigger it?

3. I know the general advice. I am not even asking 1 serving (60ml). I love collecting liqueurs. Almost all of them unopened. I am asking can i taste those? maybe in very light cocktail with 10 ml or so? I am willing to take all the precautions. And How can shall I wait?

HONEST REPLY PLEASE.

I’m 33 years old. I had a very mild flareup. My lipase was 75. On my CT scan it said I may have developed an early case of pancreatitis. My question/concern is obviously I am reading everyone in the group who has issues that last a lifetime. I have not seen too many people who have had a flareup or issue once and never again.

Last August I developed AP which I had accidentally prolonged the pancreatic damage for 3 months because I continued to drink coffee every day, which caused my condition to deteriorate month by month. I quit drinking coffee by november and my pancreas started to heal, I started to gain weight and look fairly healthy again.

I still cannot have anything acidic, such as tomatoes or citrus fruits. I unfortunately, still can't have coffee either which is the biggest bummer. I feel so much better and happier when I am able to drink coffee. Not even a full cup a day is all it takes for me. But caffeine makes this whole condition so much worse. I don't drink alcohol, and have not drank regularly in over 10 years.

I miss coffee so much. How long did it take for you guys on the long haul to be able to eat and drink foods that had initially triggered you? It's been 7 months of abstaining from coffee - i had a little bit recently for about a week, i decided to drink coffee and it led to my pancreas deteriorating again + rapid weight loss.

I feel like i'll never get to fully enjoy my life again :( It would help to hear some of your success stories. Thanks in advance.

So, in my country, medically: anything above 200 is fine.

My first test about 6-8 years ago, my elastase was 386. I googled what it was supposed to be: 200. So I replied to my Doc: "Well, to my understanding, that's perfect..?"

He replied: "Yes, perfect!"

My symptoms didn't stop, and I had a painful post-pancreatic-pseudo-cyst that burst in both 2021/22 and then now in March/April/May 2026.

I learned first from this group that a 386 is far from perfect. To my understanding, a lot of countries use above 500 or even above 600 "perfect" and anything less is considered mild chronic (or EPI?) and that less than 200 means severe.

It does state in small writing on our guidelines tho: over 200 does not rule out mild or moderate. (But, we just don't care until it's under 200 I guess, lol🤷🏼‍♀️)

Luckily, I do have a Doctor that cares atm. He is inches from retiring tho, so I am scared/fearful about having to start advocating real hard to be heard, because "I don't have EPI or CP, because my results are perfect" or something like that.

I even asked my Doctor, after having many bouts over the last few years: I get that we don't do anything unless under 200, but it seems like a lot of countries in the rest of the world operates on 5-600 for it to be "perfect".

He nodded and replied: Yes, that's true, above 5-600 is usually considered normal elsewhere, but more like..

Then I filled in while he was looking for the words: like, under 200 is when it's serious, severe CP or EPI or something?

He said: yeah, we could say that. I've had many patients over the years with pancreatitis, and one thing I have learned is that above 200 does not mean no treatment (he still put me on Creon 6 months ago, after I asked) or that your pancreas is working perfectly. And that lipase and amylase is not reliable at all, but I still wanna take some bloodtests and include them: when they are high, I rely on them, but if low, then I rely on you and your other symptoms and pain — because catching them elevated can be hard, with a small time window, and often when they stay elevated it is already dangerous.

He also mentioned having a patient dying pretty early of pancreatitis, so he seemed to have ... idk, like a lot of "respect" for the pancreas and how what I tell him weighs more than what any bloodtests says. And I am so thankful for that! (But, also scared for when he retires).

So rn, I am trying to do almost everything that can be needed for my future. Pretty sure I do not have EPI or CP as a official diagnosis yet, since I am over 200.

I am going to be taking a new elastase after the summer, and prob some type of imaging (because of the cyst that burst a couple of months ago).

Anything else I should remember to get a refferral to or get done while I have my current Doctor?

Worth mentioning that this same Doctor was the only colleague of my old Doc that is already retired. So, they were both there telling me that my pain (gallstone and eventually acute pancreatitis with beginning multi-organ-failure) was because of me being so skinny(wtf?), constipation, my period (even tho I had only had ONE SINGLE PERIOD CRAMP in my entire life before and told them it wasn't), gluten, all kinds of stuff. Not one single imaging over the 2 years. Until I was peeing pure blood, jaundice, acute pancreatitis and having beginning multi-organ-failure.

Then, about a week into being emergency-admitted at the hospital, both me and the Docs got told by the hospital that I prob wouldn’t make it over the night.

So, the fact that this man takes me so seriously in an instant, because I almost lost my life once before while crying for help and not being taken seriously is something I am scared to lose — and then possibly having to experince it again.

When my last Doc retired, I had to get a new one replacing him, because my current Doctor's list was full: I sat there with both kidney stones from the huge amounts of Vit D that this new doc prescribed me (side-effect) and this man wanted me to fill out a 15-page form about Fibromyalgia. I could barely breathe, think or talk from the intense pain atm, I said: I can't rn, I can not. I am here for kidney stones, do you think my pain right here is from kidney stones or Fibromyalgia?

He said: "No, that's kidney stones."

Well, then can we maybe focus on that? Literally what my appointment is for; in this exact moment, all due respect, I could not care less if I have Fibromyalgia or not — because it is not helpful to me rn.

Then he continued giving me all sorts of other meds, because he didn't want to prescribe pain killers (with KIDNEY STONES and a diagnosed pseudo-cyst bursting!!!). All the shit he prescribed me only gave me more problems: migraine, ulcer, even prescribed me some shit that has ACUTE PANCREATITIS as a SIDE-EFFECT! He refused to give me pain meds "until you try this".

I lied, I picked up the prescribtion and said I was having major issues on day 2, vomiting and symptoms from pancreas worse. That got me ONE prescribtion and then it was a fight every single week (kidney stones lasted for almost 2 years, multiple ER and hospitals, bladder almost bursted and etc.)

This became longer than I expected, was just going to ask about elastase, but it seems I had a lot more questions when I first started writing.

Thanks for reading🤍 And I appreciate any advice or insights given✨️

Side questions: The tumor marker, P-CEA, it was a bit elevated on me (6, for my age is supposed to be less than 3, but above 60yo or something then it can be "normal" with a 7 or when your body has been through something; like my recent bout) , but from my understanding it's the P-19-9 that is for the pancreas? So, I need to do a follow up on the P-CEA but, also ask about the P-19-9; does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this?

He checked 2 markers, but the other one wasn't P-19-9. The other one was fine tho.

Kinda scared to post now, please don't scare me😅

TL;DR: What is considered normal/perfect elastase in your country?

Hi everyone!

I am looking for some support and insight as a caregiver to someone currently going through severe acute pancreatitis within the St. Luke's Healthcare system. We are on week 6 in the hospital and just got a GJ tube placed yesterday. It seems like every time we take one step forward and feel positive we end up taking 3 steps back afterwards.

I personally am not impressed with the care from the facility. I am wondering if anyone else has dealt with St. Luke's and how your experience was. Also once discharged they will be living with me so please give all the advice on how I can make my home as comfortable as it can be for their arrival.

Sending everyone who has experienced pancreatitis so much love because this is not easy at all. I feel so lost trying to figure out how to best support my family member and this group has been helpful to not feel so alone on this journey 🖤

Has anyone noticed milk helping relieve pancreas pain? Or is this a fluke for me.

Whether you’re having a good week, a terrible week, or somewhere in between, what’s one thing that made things just a little easier?

It doesn’t have to be big.

Maybe you tolerated a meal you haven’t been able to eat in months. Maybe you finally got a diagnosis, had a good appointment, found a medication that helped, discovered a comfortable sleeping position, or simply managed to shower today.

Or maybe your “win” is just that you’re still here.
Sometimes reading what helps other people reminds us we’re not as alone as this illness can make us feel.

This is a support thread, not a medical advice thread. Feel free to share experiences, encouragement, or celebrate someone else’s victory, but please leave diagnosing and treatment recommendations for individual posts.

If you’ve been lurking for a while and haven’t commented before…we’d love to hear from you. 💙

Lengthy post alert.

Your doctor is the right person for your diagnosis.

Below is just my experience, not a recommendation for others.

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd share my journey in case it helps someone who's newly diagnosed or struggling with pancreatitis. I'm a 40-year-old male from India (born in 1986). My first episode was in 2009. It started with excruciating upper abdominal pain. I was admitted to the hospital, and my serum amylase had shot up to around 1300. I was kept NBM (nothing by mouth) for about four days before I gradually started feeling better.

At that time, I weighed only 54 kg (I'm 6'2"), was living in a hostel in South India, and surviving mostly on hostel food. I had absolutely no idea what the pancreas was or what pancreatitis meant. Initially, I was prescribed Panlipase/Creon because I would get stomach discomfort after almost every meal. Those months were mentally very difficult. Every time I ate, I'd worry because my stomach would hurt until the food was digested. The anxiety became almost as bad as the pain itself. Creon gave me bad constipation, so later stopped it.

About a year later, the episodes started recurring. I consulted another gastroenterologist, who suggested placing a pancreatic stent. I underwent the procedure, hoping it would solve the problem, but unfortunately the pain persisted, so the stent was eventually removed.

After that, I was prescribed Panlipase 25,000 along with Ultracet for pain management. Ultracet was simply too strong for me, so I had to stop taking it. Once things settled down, I reduced my pancreatic enzyme dose to Panlipase 10,000.

Around 2014, I started reading everything I could find about pancreatitis—medical articles, blogs, and patient experiences. One patient blog mentioned that ibuprofen helped with mild flare-ups. I discussed pain management with my doctor, and over time I found that when I feel the familiar mild pain starting, taking a Combiflam (ibuprofen-based pain relief available here) early often prevents it from becoming a bigger episode. (Obviously, everyone's situation is different, so please don't take this as medical advice.)

Fast forward to today: I'm 63 kg. Pain recurrences are now very rare. I live a fairly normal life. Over the years, I've noticed certain foods seem to trigger discomfort for me, so I mostly avoid: Chocolates, Ghee,Sweets and mithai,Coffee,Milk (not completely sure, but I suspect it's a trigger)

Foods I tolerate well include: Paneer,Meat,Vegetables,Wheat,Jowar,Rice.

One thing I've learned is that pancreatitis can be a long journey. There were years when I thought I'd never feel normal again, but things gradually improved. It took patience, learning my triggers, and finding what worked for my body. If you're newly diagnosed, don't lose hope. Recovery isn't always linear, and everyone's pancreas behaves differently, but life can absolutely get better. Has anyone else found that their trigger foods changed over the years? I'd love to hear your experiences.

*Chatgpt assisted article for a story flow.

36/M Turns out it wasn’t heartburn. Acute Pancreatitis diagnoses on June 29th. I’m terrified. But Iv never been someone who could be beaten easily. I was a big drinker, 3-4 bottles of whiskey a week for the last 3 months since I was fired. I can’t sleep on my side anymore. I’m excited to join the team. We gonna handle this shit.

Hello everyone!

I'm new on this sub as I stumbled upon here through my own (very long) 'mysterious' health journey which might finally be the answer I've been searching for through my life. (Sorry for the lengthy post in advance)

Some context I've struggled with chronic bowel/health issues my entire life, mostly chronic constipation and bloating/stomach pains on reaction to food (with never any real 'correlation' except high fatty/sugary foods).

On top of this about once or twice a year I would get these severe 'bowel attacks' were I would get a VERY intense stabbing pain around my stomach/lower ribs about 30 mins after a random meal (but more often after fattier/sugary foods like waffles with cream or something) lasting for about 1-2 hrs were I can only walk/sit bend over in fetal position.

Fast forward to the past 5 years - the frequency of these episodes has increased from a few times a year to almost 1-2x a month and often 1-2 days after another. I've also lost almost 20 kg without any dietary changes, heck I need to eat up to 3000 calories a day to maintain my VERY underweight body at the moment.... ( 30y old female, 1.65 and 35kg....)

Doctors can't find 'anything wrong' and think that I'm just anorexic (I even bring my mother with me to F'ing confirm I eat!).

The past week I suddenly started feeling nauseaus, cold/chickenpox and very weak for several days after eating my lunch up to the weekend where suddenly I had another 'pain attack' after eating breakfast that for some reason lasted all day long (which never happened before). No meds helped, untill (as actually a junior doctor myself) something clicked and thought "what if it's a pancreatitis"?. Hence my mom drove to the nearest pharmacy to get some enzymes and behold after taking them the pain went down to only an annoying background level and I was able to eat again!?

The nausea and low-level pain remained for the next days but was bearable with the enzymes. I went to the GP 2 days after the episode but he wrote it off once again as 'just a bowel flare with the heatwave'. I've demanded an ultrasound nonetheless which will be next Wednesday.

I'm sorry for the lengthy post but for my questions:

- Does anyone recognize themselves in my story? How and when did you get diagnosed?

- Anyone diagnosed by normal abdominal ultrasound?

- Did anyone also suffer mainly from constipation and random hypoglycemias mainly after eating and VERY hardly responding to additional food?

Once again I'm very sorry for my lengthy post but I'm hoping to finally put an end to this life-long puzzle of my health and I want to thank anyone who takes the time to read/respond to my post! ❤️

Since December 2025, I've been to the ER 10+ times because of severe chest burning and nausea, vomiting with bile, after eating especially spicy or hard-to-digest foods. My main symptom was intense chest burning—not the typical right upper abdominal gallbladder pain. Over the past several months, I was given several possible diagnoses, including GERD, hiatal hernia, gastroparesis, functional dyspepsia, and gallbladder disease.

Last week, I went to the ER again because the same burning and nausea symptoms. They found I had acute gallstone pancreatitis. The doctors said gallstones and sludge had moved into my common bile duct and caused a blockage. I underwent an ERCP with a sphincterotomy, and a bile duct stent was placed.

The surgeons told me my pancreas is still too inflamed to remove my gallbladder right now, but they strongly recommended having it removed within the next 2–4 weeks to prevent another attack.

Has anyone had a similar experience, especially with severe chest burning instead of the typical gallbladder pain? If you had your gallbladder removed, did those symptoms improve?

I also see many educational videos from people saying the gallbladder is an important organ that should be preserved, including Dr Bergs videos. But there doesn't seem to be any clear direction on what the alternatives.

If you've been through this, I'd really appreciate hearing what your doctors recommended and how you decided what to do.

TLDR: have had these attacks for 17 years, finally found out what it was. What are next steps anything to reduce chance of future attacks? Currently lipase is back to normal and AST, but ALT is continuing to rise 3 days after pancreatitis.

After 17 years of these attacks (starting as a senior in high school) I finally have a diagnosis. Normally I would pass out from the pain and ER would just say syncope. Then I just stopped going. I am 6 weeks postpartum so actually went to make sure it wasn't c-section complication.

Ive had these attacks before and after gallbladder removal. I hate the unpredictability and pain involved. Looking for others experience and what next steps are and if there are potential medications/ procedures to reduce or prevent attacks.

So, just for a bit of background, for the last decade I’ve always had a touchy stomach, I’ve been diagnosed Coeliac for the past 15 years, but over the last few years it had gotten much worse. I saw some doctors and it turns out my gallbladder was functioning at 7%.

I had it removed and I felt great - cured me completely of my constant nausea which has been life changing! Then 2 months later my stomach went back to being worse than before (running to the bathroom multiple times a day - I was basically housebound) it was really unpredictable and consuming…

More tests were done and my doctor diagnosed me with bile acid malabsorption AND exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) - my fecal elastase test was 150 (doctor said for my age at 33, it should be sitting between 800-1000). So I’ve been on Creon 25,000 since then and I’m still struggling.

I had a MRI (MRCP) done and everything came back normal. There was no structural damage or tumours, no physical reason in those scans for EPI, I just seem to have it and need to live with it? I’ve also been on a very strict gluten free diet for 15 years and expose myself to very limited cross-contamination scenarios (I barely eat out ever).

My question is… Is this normal? should I accept this as an answer? Has anyone else been diagnosed with EPI with absolutely no answers/reason as to why?

Well… I was admitted to the hospital and this is my 4th stay in the past 12 months due to idiopathic acute pancreatitis. My lipase was around 2400 this time (unusually it’s been normal for the last two pancreatitis flareups).

Unfortunately, this time, not only did I have the severe pain associated with this condition, but severe nausea and vomiting and because of this, I had to take an ambulance to the hospital. I was in too much pain to drive myself and was too sick to sit in a cab. Also because of the vomiting I had an electrolyte balance was out of whack and they are currently trying to fix this with I believe oral sodium phosphate and IV potassium phosphate.

Pain is starting to improve at least, but the fatigue is on a whole different level. I am sleeping for 20/24hrs per day. I hope you guys are doing better today :)