Beating Pancreatitis is vastly different from other pancreatitis sites and blogs. IF you're searching for information about how to heal your pancreas from damage caused by acute and chronic pancreatitis you've found the right site because I've discovered how to heal my pancreas and live pain free. I'm beating pancreatitis and I share exactly what I do so that you too can begin Beating Pancreatitis too.
My Pancreatitis Regimen contains supplements: Vitamin C, grape seed extract and curcumin. I may have dropped the ball in regards to alerting those who begin using them as to the potential "cleansing effect" one may experience and ...
It can be somewhat unpleasant for those who have a toxic body.
Since all 3 supplements are antioxidants they have a tendency to "cleanse" the body of toxins. When this cleansing happens to rapidly for the kidneys and liver to handle unpleasant symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, even vomiting can occur. Because of this fact ...
It may be prudent to begin with small doses and build up gradually to where you are taking enough to eliviate your symptoms of pancreatitis.
I was lucky. I started with large amounts of vitamin C and grape seed extract and to my knowledge did not suffer from the "cleansing effects" that some may experience but then I was still somewhat sick even though I hadn't had acute pancreatitis in quite sometime. So, since I still had bouts of minor pain (non AP), nausea, and sometimes diarrhea anyway I may have simply overlooked any side effects due to cleansing. But ...
You need to be aware of the potential side effects of starting off with large doses due to the cleansing capabilities of vitamin C, grape seed extract and curcumin.
I guess what I am saying is that if you start off with 800mgs of grape seed extract (200mgs 4x per day) and 3 - 4000mgs (1000mgs 4 x per day) of vitamin C like I did you may expeince some unpleasant flu-like symptoms and if they are to unpleasant you should stop the supplements until the symptoms resolve and then start in slowly with much smaller doses and gradually increase the amounts until you find relief from your symptoms of pancreatitis. You may still experience some "cleansing" side effects even at smaller doses if you are extremely toxic but they should resolve once your system is cleansed. Buy the way, this cleansing cycle could take a few weeks. And then ...
There may be those who just do not tolerate larger doses of antioxidants such as vitamin C, grape seed extract and curcumin which would be unfortunate because they have been extremely beneficial for me and some others as well now that I have shared my little secret.
I would have shared what I found that worked for me much sooner but quite frankly until several months ago I didn't even realize how many people suffered from pancreatitis. Like I have mentioned before, when I was extremely sick the majority of doctors I saw didn't even know what the hell to do or what I had so I pretty much thought I was some freak of nature. And ...
I found what to do mostly by pure luck some would say but I believe I had a Guardian Angel and a lot of Divine Intervention that kinda led me to learn and find what I needed to survive.
I am simply repaying a debt by sharing. IF you find this information helpful you can "pay it forward" by simply sharing with someone else who suffers - what you learn and proves to be beneficial to you.
If you are new to this pancreatitis blog you may want to invest some time reading various posts - some are redudndant - read them anyway. It sometimes takes a few "readings" for stuff to "sink in."
Here are some important previously posted thoughts of mine:
If you have questions regarding Pancreatitis or something you'd like me to write a blog post about please let me know. I'll answer any question or request to the best of my ability.
In order to discover the true food triggers for acute and/or chronic pancreatitis pain a food diary is an absolute must. Without taking the initiative and time to create a food diary and log every morsel of food and drink that passes your lips and travels into your digestive system you will never be able to distinguish between what is and what isn't actually causing you pancreas pain and discomfort.
Many people believe that this or that antagonizes their Pancreatitis symptoms such as pain and nausea and for some, certain foods other than simply fats and alcohol may be to blame and I say may be, tongue-in-cheek, because there is only ONE possibility that my limited mind can recognize as a reason WHY you may not tolerate foods I do or visa versa and quite honestly I have real reservations in this regard concerning most pancreatitis sufferers, but ...
That ONE reason is your amount of pancreatic damage, where that damage occurred and how it has affected the enzyme production of your pancreas.
In order to truly KNOW what foods DO and do NOT cause YOU problems you'll need to begin using a pancreatitis diet food diary otherwise you are simply guessing or relying on one blind person (doctor, nutritionist, your buddy down the street) leading another (you). Now ...
There is a right way and a wrong way to begin your quest.
Unfortunately what I am going to share with you in regards to preparation, just to begin your food diary journey, may not be possible if you have become diabetic due to acute or chronic pancreatitis. So in the case of diabetics, you folks will need to improvise (ask your doctor too) and I'll cover that AFTER I share what non-diabetics might consider doing first.
Pancreatitis Food Diary Preparation For Those Who Are NOT Diabetic.
The ONLY way you are going to find out the truth about what foods and/or drinks should be allowed or disallowed in YOUR pancreatitis diet is to keep a food diary and ...
The first step is to BUY a diary or notebooks to log every morsel of food you put in your mouth each and every day for a very long time.
How long?
Long enough for you to know what foods work and which foods do not work for you.
The second step is to prepare your system. This is an extremely vital step. Without this step it will take WEEKS to clear out KNOWN triggers such as saturated fats from beef, pork and so on and IF you do NOT prepare your system in some way you may as well continue doing what you are doing because you'll never know the absolute truth. Without a completely clean intestinal tract you will always be guessing and this preparatory cleaning can only be done properly by FASTING for 3 - 5 days, no food, just water and then ...
The third step is to clean out your digestive system (small intestines and colon) via a water enema or five or 10 whatever it takes to become completely empty and clean (don't use laxatives or colonoscopy prep solutions) and then ...
Once your system is cleaned out you can begin re-introducing food to your pancreas.
I know that sound gross but here is WHY it is necessary.
You've been eating foods such as red meat and pork which take weeks in some cases to digest and eliminate. In order to truly know what foods cause you pain and/or nausea and discomfort you must first eliminate all offending food from your digestive system.
So lets say you become very determined and really want to know the truth about your condition and what foods cause Pancreatitis pain and more importantly lead to more pancreas damage.
You FAST (no food by mouth for 3-5 days).
You drink lots of water to stay hydrated.
Then ...
You cleanse your system via enemas and get clean.
Now, I am betting that after 5 days of fasting (no food) that your pain may have resolved and you feel much better, maybe weak from no food, but I'll bet you have less and possibly no pain.
Introducing Food to Your Pancreas
Once you are clean you begin to introduce food to your system and you begin to develop your own pancreatitis diet. Now pay attention because this is important.
Start VEGAN. This means NO MEAT (NO beef, pork, lamb, duck, goose, chicken, turkey, fish or any mystery meat) and NO BROTH made with or even derived from MEAT.
NO FAT, NO OIL.
Introduce JUICE into your diet.
VEGETABLE juice.
(Buy a juicer and make your own or try low sodium V8)
Drink the same - exact juice for 48 hours then ...
Introduce another vegatable or fruit (ONE maybe two).
Eat it for at least 48 hours and drink the exact same vegetable juice.
Do NOT introduce more than two foods at one time. This goes for spices too. You have to be able to track how the new foods affect your pancreas and if you introduce to many at one time it will be difficult to figure out which is the offending food or spice. Even when introducing two at a time if you have problems you'll have to eliminate one at a time to figure out which is actually the offending culprit. It is best to introduce one new food or ingredient at a time.
Be careful when introducing processed foods. Just a slice of bread for example contains a myriad of ingredients rolled into one bite of bread and of course this is where it becomes increasingly difficult to determine the offending ingredient. Read labels, even on something that would seem to be as harmless as bread because bread makers sometimes use lard and lard is usually PORK FAT, sometimes it is made from beef fat. Neither are a good thing. Got it?
It is better to cover foods in a manner that you test ingredients first, one at a time before launching into processed foods.
Yes, this is and will be time consuming.
Yes, it is tedious.
But, the benefits are astounding. And ...
Yes you have to use common sense in a lot of situations in order to figure out why a processed food may be offensive.
Read labels very carefully.
100% fat free on the label means NOTHING.
Ingredients are EVERYTHING.
I don't care if the label says 200% fat free if the food contains bacon (bacon and bean soup) it will most likely cause you problems.
Labels lie.
People lie.
Ingredients don't lie, bacon contains fat, bad fat.
If a food is offensive it can almost always be traced to some form of fat or alcohol. Baked goods for example use vinilla extract and lard (we've covered lard earlier) in many recipes (breads, cookies, cakes, pies). Vinilla extract, used by most bakeries and bakers, contains alcohol. And ...
Alcohol is so toxic to the pancreas that just a little in that vinilla extract could set off your next acute pancreatitis episode or at least make you nauseous and with continued usage cause AP. The good news is that you can now buy gluten and alcohol free vinilla extract for your own baking, check amazon.com for alcohol free vinilla extract.
Once you have a balanced VEGAN diet and no symptoms you'll thank yourself for having the wherewithall to have followed through on your pancreatitis diet food diary but ...
You aren't done.
It is a continuing process.
Once you have a fairly large VEGAN food profile then you can begin adding ONE protein, like eggs for example, to see how they work. Egg whites are safe and a good source of prtein and vitamin B12 but egg yolk contains some fat so you need to test a whole egg to see how it works for you. In fact ...
TEST EVERYTHING to be safe. So ...
When you begin this portion of the diary go slow.
Remember it takes quite some time to digest animal type proteins so when you introduce one (milk, eggs, fish, cheese) do so slowly and give each at least a couple weeks worth of testing before thinking it is a safe choice for your pancreatitis diet.
I'm not even going to suggest testing red meat, pork, lamb or duck because all are so filled with fat that if you sneak by one time you'll be lucky, if you sneak by for 3 - 4 times, without any symptoms within one - two weeks you'd be a notable scientific discovery.
If you notice I say to give things anywhere from 48 hours (veggies, fruits, whole grains like rice) to two weeks (proteins such as meat) for symptoms to show up. There is a reason for that and it is because despite what people (you, your doctor, whoever) think most foods and drink are not immediate triggers.
Some seem like immediate triggers when they are NOT triggers at all while others seem like they are harmless when in fact they are insidious culprits. Then there are those that will immediately trigger a negative response (AP) a few hours after ingestion yet not do so the next time. This is why so many people think the offender is something (collard greens) when it isn't.
... And it is this enigma or complexity that makes it so important that you get serious about your food intake and do a pancreatitis diet food diary.
Once you get serious and do the preparation and pancreatitis food diary correctly the guessing will cease because you'll KNOW, without a shadow of doubt, whether foods such as grapes (usually safe), additives like nitrites (usually safe and a common component of fresh vegetables), green bananas (usually safe when peel has NO spots), garlic, cayenne pepper, or some other spice (usually safe especially those mentioned because of their highly anti-inflammatory properties) are infact the offender OR if it was really that piece of red meat slathered in gravy you ate two days ago that was the real culprit and cause of your pain.
Instead of blaming that bowl of sliced apples, oranges and grapes you had an hour ago you'll know that the real bad guy was the steak from last night or that pot roast when dining at Grandma's last Sunday just catching up and grabbing you by the midsection. And of course if you still drink alcohol you should simply put a pillow between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye because you are playing with a damn bomb that is gonna explode.
By the way ...
If any of you folks reading this post or any portion of this blog think I am full of shit and that what I do won't work for you I challenge you to do what you think won't work after you read this post: My Pancreatitis Regimen May NOT Work for You?
I have been holding off on this home remedy for pancreatitis pain simply because it is embarrassing, gross and not real fun for most people but an enema may help relieve your pancreatitis pain.
The reason cleansing your intestinal tract helps is simple; it gets rid of the offending food items or at least a lot of it. It isn't to expensive either. What's the cost of an enema bag and nozzel? You have water on hand and so simply flush out your intestinal tract and you may see the pain resolve. By the way ...
It is a good thing to cleanse your colon every now and then but you don't need to buy some hokey-pokey concotion or use those dangerous to the kidneys phosphate cleansers they have you take before a colonoscopy. Just an enema bag and some warm water works like a charm and ...
If you arch your back and let that water seep into your small intestines (yep it is hard to hold'er in for awhile to let that water drain deep inside) you'll flush out even more of the offending foods.
I bet you are wondering how I know this right? Well, if you recall it took some time for me to get diagnosed and I was in agony on to many occassions so I'd do almost anything to help relieve the pain, nausea and so forth and a man can get quite resourceful when times dictate improvisation. Anyway ...
I found that cleansing my system with water until she ran clear would eliviate my symptoms. You may or may not want to give it a try but I can tell you this a series of enemas is necessary to properly prepare for your next journey which is doing a pancreatitis food diary - so go buy an enema bag if you don't already have one and get prepared for some kinky bathroom time because if you don't do this step your food diary will not be as successful as it needs to be.
