What Caused My Acute Pancreatitis?

I see questions regarding "what caused my acute pancreatitis?" in different phrasing. Here's the deal: t's very important, especially IF this is your first attack, to find the cause in order to stop any recurrance if possible because ...

The more acute pancreatitis attacks you experience the more your pancreas will be damaged which could lead to a "chronic" condition. So ...

Don't let them (doctors) sit on their thumbs acting stupid, telling you: "your case is idiopathic." "Idiopathic" simply means you have an ignorant or lazy doctor. And that's the real truth. NO pancreas EVER becomes inflamed for no reason.

GET THIS: There is ALWAYS A REASON. Tell them to find it asap.

What Caused My Acute Pancreatitis?

There are a myriad of acute pancreatitis causes yet most doctors think of alcohol first (that you're either a social drunk or a full blown alcoholic). And they often drill you first thing in the ER about your alcohol consumption and if you tell them you don't drink or rarely drink then you're branded as a liar because most of them only know the two most common causes which are: 

Acute Pancreatitis Causes

Gallstones are the #1 Cause

The #1 top cause now is gallstones. IF you have gallstones and you pass them that passing of gallstones can cause one or several to become lodged in the common bile duct within the Ampulla of Vater. They can also drift into the pancreatic duct and cause all kinds of havoc. When gallstones become stuck you suffer what is called Gallstone Pancreatitis.

Often there will be no gallstones eveident on ultrasound. Not because the test sucks but because they have passed and are no longer residing in the gallbladder. And most doctors do not pay attention to microlithiasis which is gallbladder sand also known as sludge; small granular particles that accumulate inside the gallbladder. These particles are typically made of cholesterol, calcium salts and other crap just like the larger gallstones, only the size of small sand.

Passing this "sludge" can also be a problem just like stones because it clumps and gets stuck in the common bile or pancreatitic duct and boom! Acute pancreatitis.

Alcohol Is the #2 Cause

The #2 cause is alcohol consumption. Alcohol is the "go to" for most doctors because they think most cases are caused by heavy alcohol consumption. They're wrong. It's the number two cause soon to be replaced by big pharma witch brews, An interesting thing to know is "alcoholic pancreatitis" is often the result of a genetic variation which predisposes the one with that genetic variation to get pancreatitis even though they may be only a now and then social drinker. And alcoholic pancreatitis is one of the few types of pancreatitis that often starts off with mild "chronic" pancreatitis type symptoms before the full blown acute pancreatitis attack happens.

The list of other acute pancreatitis causes, not necessarily in order, are:

Big Pharma Witch Brews

Drug induced pancreatitis is way more common than they want you to know. I'm not talking explicitly about illicit drugs sold on street corners, in schools and doled out at parties but they are certainly in a potential realm of possibility. I'm talking about physician prescribed medications. What drugs are the most suspect?

Diabetes Drugs

Diabetes drugs, especially GLP-1 class (Byetta, Victoza, Ozempic, Trulucity, etc) which contain lizard venom from the Gila monster found in the south western United States and some parts of Mexico. SGLT-2 inhibitors such as canagliflozin (Invokana), ertugliflozin (Steglatro), dapagliflozin (Farxiga) and empagliflozin (Jardiance) are also known to cause acute pancreatitis. Metformin as well. AND they are testing other venoms from snakes, scorpions, cone snails, etc to determiine if they may also have benefits for diabetic patients. Like venoms are good for us! 🤣

Heart Drugs

Heart drugs such as ACE Inhibitors (Lisinopril contains snake venom), diuretics such as furosemide and thiazides both of which contain sulfa (think antibiotic Bactrim).

Immunosuppressants

Immunosupressants are used to combat organ transplant rejection and autoimmune diseases. Prednisone, which is a steroid, causes acute pancreatitis yet it is used successfully to fight autoimmune pancreatitis. That's ironic.

Narcotics

Narccotics such as morphine, codeine and derivities along with the newer, more powerful synthetic narcotics like dilaudid and fentanyl are used for pain management yet the morphine class has been proven by rechallenge to cause acute pancreatitis. Narcotics: morphine and opiates have been recognized as a class 1 (top tier) via rechallenge as a cause of acute pancreatitis.

Antibiotics

Antibiotics are extremely useful when you need them to combat bacterial infections but some do cause acute pancreatitis. Sulfa drugs such as bactrim; tetracyclines such as tetracyline and doxycycline; erythromycin; and many more are hard on the pancreas and have been known to cause acute pancreatitis.

Analgesics

Analgesics such as:

1) Acetaminophen aka Tylenol which destroys the liver, even in small doses harm is caused and Tylenol is absolutely useless in combating pancreas pain. I see no reason at all to use it especially when it can cause acute pancreatitis.

2) Aspirin which can help resolve pancreas inflammation in proper doses for the job. It can be used alone or in combination with other analgesics. And it's relatively safe yet there was an Aspirin side effect of "frequency not reported: pancreatitis" which sounds like possible garbage but who knows? No drug is safe.

3) NSAIDS there are many different forms of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Some have been suggested to cause acute pancreatitis which is rare 0.01% with the cox 2 inhibitors such as celebrex and toradol had postmarketing reports of acute pancreatitis along with a laundry list of side effects both common, rare and severe. The good news is I could find nothing saying that Ibuprofen causes acute pancreatitis but like all NSAIDS it does or can cause bleeding and cardiovascular events that can be severe.

4) Narcotics are also analgesics yet I menetioned them above separately because they cause pancreatitis and morphine and opiates have been recognized as a class 1 (top tier) via rechallenge as a cause of acute pancreatitis. The article you'll be taken to will show you a list of teir 1, tier 2 and tier 3 drugs that have been either proven or like tier 3 associated with or suggested to cause acute pancreatitis. However, the article downplays the significance of drug induced acute pancreatitis saying it's only 2-4% of cases. That I believe to be horse shit. I honestly think, drug induced pancreatitis is far more common and will soon need to classified as the #3 cause.

Cancer drugs

There are a myriad of cancer drugs (they are poisons) that cause acute pancreatitis. Below is a partial list but instead of listing them I took a screen shot:

Statins

Statins used to lower cholesterol are also causes of acute pancreatitis. These are prescribed like candy if you even have cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol, which is a little on the high side. They are a huge money maker for big pharma.

Estrogen

Estrogen used in hormone replacement therapy or HRT drugs are used to help women who have a hard time going through menopause. Estrogen seems to be the culprit and can even cause acute pancreatitis via birth control pills, and those with chronic pancreatitis often have flairs during period time.

More Causes of Acute Pancreatitis Include:

Viruses/bacteria

Viruses: epstein barr, consackie, covid, mumps virus, etc. Bacteria: H. pylori. as you can see several viruses and bacteria cause acute pancreatitis.

Congenital Birth Defects

Congenital birth defects such as Pancreas Divisum where the main pancreatic duct doesn't form properly can ofeten cause AP and cause misery for that patient. Pancreas Divisum often goes unnoticed causing no problems, according to the medical establishment.. I find that almost impossible to believe because picture a bridge washed out. You can't get acrross that river. Likewise how do the pancreatic enzymes escape the pancreas when there is no way out?

Venoms

Venom from snakes, spiders, scorpions, lizards, bees, catapillers, cone snails, stone and lion fish, blue ringed octopus, jelly fish, etc are all potentially deadly to the pancreas and you too if you're bitten or stung. The thing to be aware of is this: you don't need to be bitten or stung by these creatures to be in danger because big pharma has put snake, lizard and other venoms into their witch brews. That's why ACE inhitors for heart failure and high BP and GLP-1 class diabetes drugs, which contain venoms, cause acute pancreatitis.

Abdominal Trauma

Abdominal traumas from collisions, knife fights, gun shots, etc are another known cause of acute pancreatitis.

Cancers

The first sign of pancreatic cancer can be acute pancreatitis. A lady I met from my blog had recurrent acute pancreatitis and the doctors didn't look hard enough for a cause. Once they found the probable cause it was too late. She died a few months later from small bowel cancer.

Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, RA, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's, Sjorgren's, Celiac Disease and several others all cause acute pancreatitis.

Genetics

Genetics testing will indicate what genetic variants such as PRSS1, which causes hereditary pancreatitis, may be contributing to your illness. This is important to find out because mutations in the PRSS1 gene can lead to the producting of an abnormal type of trypsinogen more prone to premature activation leading to autodigestion of the pancreas and pancreatitis.

Hyperlipidemia

Hyperlipidemia aka high cholesterol/blood fats. Hyperlipidemia, commonly referred to as high cholesterol, is a condition characterized by elevated levels of lipids (fats) in the blood. These lipids include cholesterol and triglycerides. Hyperlipidemia usually runs in families and can lead to severe health complications, including acute pancreatitis when they become exceptionally high.

Hypercalcemia

High calcium blood levels aka hypercalcemia can be caused by several diseases and conditions but most often is due to high levels of PTH released from the parathyroid glands. When blood calcium reaches high levels it can cause acyte pancreatitis.

Sphinchter of Oddi Dysfunction

The sphincter of Oddi is a muscle that opens and closes to allow bile and pancreatic juice to flow into your small intestine. In sphincter of Oddi dysfunction, your sphincter muscle doesn’t open when it should, which causes a backup of digestive juices and severe pain in your abdomen. This pain can either mimic acute pancreatitis or actually be acute pancreatitis caused by the digestive juices backing up into the pancreatic duct.

Intestinal worms/flukes

Intestinal worms and flukes can cause acute pancreatitis when they migrate from the intestines into the biliary and pancreatic ducts causing inflammation and duct blockage.

This is NOT a complete list. But gives you a place to have your doctor start the discovery process. The sooner you find the REAL, ACTUAL CAUSE and fix it, if possible, the better. IF ...

You get flack, hesitation, any bs FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR because the one in front of you is USELESS.

I imagine there are other factors for causation as well.

And there is idiopathic pancreatitis which simply means doctors and the medical profession have no clue to the cause of your suffering. I believe this is due to two reasons. 

#1 Lack of knowledge. They just have no clue to the many causes.

#2 Lack of time due to the amount of patients they see.

#3 Laziness

I may post more causes at a later time.

Here are some pages you should probably visit:

Pancreas Healing: 5 Steps to Pancreas Healing After Acute Pancreatitis

The steps you take to heal your pancreas can mean the difference between total healing if you had a mild case or continued attacks that could damage your pancreas enough to where you are a "chronic pancreatitis" sufferer.

Chronic Pancreatitis Diet: A Food Diary Is Necessary

This is an important step especially if you have already been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis or you've been damaged enough to highly suspect you'll have problems down the road. Large amounts of damage or recurrent acute pancreatitis (you keep having acute attacks because nobody has found the actual cause) which will cause damage during each attack make this step necessary. The cool thing about doing your own diary is that you'll create your own personal pancreatitis diet.

Pancreatitis Diet - Diet For Chronic Pancreatitis

A proper pancreatitis diet is extremely important and necessary if you want to be well. If you continue eating a normal American/Western diet you're going to be sick. It's just that simple.

At this point I just want to say thank you for visiting my site. If you like what you see share it on your social media platforms and in your support groups so that maybe someone may be helped.

Ibuprofen For Acute Pancreatitis

Would you like to know how to stop and acute pancreatitis attack? You do it by resolving the inflammation and that takes highly anti-inflammatory drugs and supplements.

Supplements to Help You Heal Your Pancreas

These are the highly anti-inflammatory supplements that I used to heal my pancreas and then continue to stay well. In combination with a proper diet you'll likely become a brand new person.