6 weeks ago, I went to my PD with what I thought was severe heartburn. I went to pharm. and he suggested Pepcid. I took it, no luck in an hour (like he said). I called and asked PD how long Pepcid takes to take it away, she said an hour, I said it’s been 4 hours and I was in agony. Severe abdominal pain, some vomiting, low grade fever. I had what I thought was the flu for 3 days prior (no pain, just didn’t feel well, diarr and low grade fever. She said come in. She took a blood test … Highly elevated Amylase and Lipase, somewhat elevated ALT, AST. Had weekly blood tests since then, and it’s been going down. Nearly normal Amylase, still 3 times normal Lipase (which is much lower than it was… nearly 3000).
I read the following on internet as far as causes: 1) Alcoholism: “Alcohol is the leading culprit. Usually, it takes several years of heavy drinking — such as a 12-pack of beer of every day.” I drink, but not more than 3-4 drinks per night, 3-4 nights per week (if that!) however, I had a life altering even a few weeks before attack and did drink a bit more (nightly, maybe 4 drinks), but no ‘binge drinking’. Rarely drunk more than 4 times in the last year, no hangovers. 2) Gallstones: never had a symptom. 3) heridedary: nope, nobody. 4) Meds: rare cases of Lamictal and Ativan have been reported “after market, and reported on ‘compassionate please’ cases. I am on both. (BTW, Lamictal was raised from 150 mg to 200 mg 1 wk before attack, and due to stress, went from 1 ativan per day to 2-3). 5) no traumas.
The pain was severe (I have little tolerance for pain), but not enough that I felt ER was necessary. Nor did she. I was still walking around and doing what shopping I had to do, etc. OTC painkillers helped.
Background: 48 yrs old, F, somewhat healthy diet. I feel fine now. Having another blood test Monday. Also have history of ovarian problems…. recently, cysts, fibroids. Any known relation? Any herbal/alternative cures or remedies? Is this permanent? She says never another drink of alcohol, not even cough syrup. Is that true? Even socially, a couple here and there? Due to my two year history of drugs (antidepressants, Lamictal, Xanax, Ativan … all prescribed by Dr’s), I have also taken Milk Thistle and Alpha Lipoic Acid to counteract the med’s effect on liver.
Just can’t find enough general information on this on the internet. Just doom, gloom, not so great mortality rates, and a future of horror to live with … kidney dialysis, heart failure, liver failure, extreme pain, narcotic addiction, surgeries.
Please advise… Thank you and God bless.