Hi everyone

KM recently wrote to us to explain that her husband is being considered for surgery on a small pre cancerous cyst on the tip of his pancreas.  KM is worried about this - her husband is 73 and she’s not sure it (surgery) is the best options.  If the cyst is pre-cancerous, then maybe it is best left alone.  KM has asked if anyone else has had similar experiences and if so, would they mind posting them - it might be very helpful to her in making a final decision whether or not to proceed with surgery.

Regards

Jenny

Just received a request for assistance from a reader who is not receiving the best treatment from their doctor/s.  This response (see below) to an earlier post is so typical of the plight of so many with pancreatitis, isn’t it!  We’ve written about this situation before - will make sure these articles are included in this blog.  In the meantime, if anyone would like to comment and offer some further advice please leave a comment.

All the best everyone.

Bill

“A month ago I was hospitalized for two weeks with severe pancreatitis and gallbladder stones. After two weeks of no eating or drinking I finally was sent to surgery and my gallbladder and lap-band (of 5 years) was removed.
Two days after returning home from the hospital severe abdominal pains started, mostly down in my right pelvis area. I have been to the ER 3 times since coming home and have been diagnosed with diverticulitis (and undiagnosed), degenerative disc disease and high lipase levels that after one night in the hospital lowered to high-end normal.
My question is this: Are there any of you out there that suffer with this disease, only have pain in the abdominal/pancreas area or do you sometimes have it all over? My pain at first felt like a hot poker was being stabbed in my left hip. Then last week the pain has shifted to my right lower abdomen. This week I feel like I have been punched with an upper-cut by a world prized fighter right under my rib cage. I have been sent home with Lortab which does little- to- nothing for the pain and I have been put on steroids being told that my degenerative discs were causing the abdominal pain. The prednisone course is done and I am still in pain. I’m to the point that I feel as if I am going to have to self treat this because my doctors here in my small community write me off as being nothing but a hypochondriac. I’ve had one Dr. tell me it will take months to get over, while another doctor the same day tell me it’s not my pancreas because I only had an attack because of my gallstones, and not one health professional has given me any feed back as to what to eat, how to live, or information on what this disease is. I feel as if I am going crazy!
I just feel like I am going out of my mind. Any stories of your pain symptoms would be greatly appreciated!! I have purchased each of the three books and am on my way to living with this but trying to make intelligent decisions in my care and see if I really am going crazy or not.”

Interesting to hear of a recent report in Diabetes Care that found a strong relationship between Type II diabetes and pollutants in the body. Some may now argue that because of the use of contaminants in conventional commercial vegetable and fruit growing operations, that people with diminished pancreatic function should stick to organically grown food.

I’ve got to admit I haven’t been able to find a copy of the actual study but the article I read mentioned six particular pollutants as being of concern, including:

• hexachlorobiphenyl
• 2 dioxins: heptadioxin and OCDdioxin
• 2 pesticides: oxychlordane and trans-nonachlor, and
• a pesticide metabolite: DDE, a metabolite of DDT

It seems the study found that these chemicals were found in more than 80 percent of the study participants and this group had almost 38 times greater likelihood of developing diabetes as those with the lowest level of exposure.

As we say in the book ‘Cooking Hints and Recipes for Pancreatitis’ one shouldn’t want any chemical additives to the food one eats. Our preference would be to go organic, but we realize that’s not always possible for everyone because of price, availability and assurance that you are in fact getting organic. (One thing you find when you start looking in to this area of food processing is that there is a ‘range’ in determining whether or not something is organic).

Nevertheless, the evidence seems to be mounting that chemicals used in the growing of food can and do have an impact upon the ultimate consumer of that produce. I can’t vouch for this, but the article I read said that the average American takes in nearly a gallon of pesticides per year by eating conventionally grown fruits and vegetables! For the pancreatitis sufferer, it means continued vigilance in controlling what food one consumes, not only because of the potential poisoning but also because of the greater risk of further impairment to the pancreas and the potential for increasing the potential on-set of diabetes.

Until next time.

Bill

info@pancreatitis-advice.com

www.pancreatitis-diet.com

White is NOT right when it comes to sugar (..and rice…and bread!)

We’ve probably all suspected it for a long, long time but there’s now growing empirical evidence that in the pursuit of perfect-looking white sugar and fluffy white bread rolls and rice, we’ve emptied these products of their original nutritional value and have, in the process, increased our risk of disease. Richard Weisinger of La Trobe University in Melbourne Australia has recently reported finding important nutritional health benefits in products that are removed when processing white sugar.

“When sugar is processed, the stuff that is thrown away seems to have a lot of polyphenols” he explained recently.

Polyphenols are natural plant chemicals that have powerful antioxidant properties and numerous potential health benefits. One of these potential benefits, suggests Weisinger, is to reduce the amount of fat our body retains after eating a fatty meal. Returning polyphenols to our refined sugar has the potential to reduce insulin resistance and diabetes.

In the experiments Weisinger used mice to test the benefits of polyphenols in sugar. He found that polyphenols reduced the amount of fat that mice stored in their bodies. The mice given the polyphenols did not get as fat as the ones without the polyphenols.

Weisinger explained that these benefits are specific to polyphenols from sugar cane which are different from those found in other food sources such as green tea. He hopes his research can be used to benefit individuals at risk of diabetes by reducing insulin resistance. Insulin is produced in the body (as we know by the pancreas). It removes sugar from the bloodstream and stores excess sugar as saturated fat. Insulin resistance, the cause of diabetes, leads to an inability to remove sugar from the blood.

Researchers are unsure precisely how polyphenols act in the body to reduce fat intake, but Weisinger has some ideas:

“Polyphenols increase energy excretion and make it more difficult to store fat, For example, instead of your body absorbing all of the calories from a meal, it will only keep 90% of the calories. The remaining calories are excreted in faeces.”

Weisinger goes on to explain that larger fat cells, that store a lot of fat, release certain hormones that are inflammatory – certainly not something that pancreatitis sufferers need! Any inflammatory inducing hormones could cause inflammation of the pancreas and cause a flare-up.

So, what’s the upshot of this research for the pancreatitis sufferer. Well, firstly as we’ve been reinforcing throughout previous articles, it is best to remove the need for additional sugar in the diet. Any additional blood sugar is going to put pressure on the pancreas to produce the insulin required to remove the sugar from the bloodstream. Everyone’s tolerance of sugar will be different, but if you are currently adding sugar-based products to your cooking or tea and coffee, then it will be best to use sugar cane products with the least level of processing. From the article I read about Weisinger’s research it wasn’t clear what alternatives to white cane sugar there might be. One could presume that raw can sugar would contain a higher number of polyphenols than the white.

There’s obviously a lot more research that needs to be done in this area, but I still tend to think that the pancreatitis sufferer will do well to continue to reduce his/her ‘sweetness habit’ and in the process use natural sweetners such as stevia.

Oh, some may have been wondering why we ever started removing the polyphenols from sugar cane. As Weisinger explains, “Polyphenols are bitter. People like white, beautiful and very sweet sugar”. Just reinforces our belief that we’ve become increasingly addicted to sweetness in our food and we must start to tame the sugar beast before it gets completely out of control! Colour in our food is a very good thing.

Till next time.

Bill

info@pancreatitis-advice.com

It seems as though everyone faces sugar cravings on a reasonably regular basis. Some believe that sugar has become an addiction as a result of it being surreptitiously added to many of the processed foods we eat. Sugar certainly is a sneaky substance – it seems to creep up on us – the more we have the more we want. Who can remember as a child rarely having sugar treats – soda and soft drinks, lollies and desserts were the rarity rather than the norm. Nowadays, sugar is omnipresent!

For the pancreatitis sufferer, added sugar (in fact as we’ve heard previously – added anything – most food additives can prove problematic for pancreatitis) can be a real source of concern. In really basic terms, added sugar means added calories which mean added workload for the pancreas. People with pancreatitis must be concerned with what they put in their mouths and one thing they’ve got to be careful of is adding empty, non-nutritious substances like sugar.

So, what to do about this if you happen to be one of those (let’s face it, that’s all of us!) who can’t seem to crack the sugar habit? Here’s a step process to help you overcome the sugar cravings.

1. Stop adding sugar to the food you eat. People who love sugar in their coffee hate this one, but as any coffee aficionado will tell you, sugar spoils the coffee taste. So, stop putting the 2-3 lumps or teaspoons into your latest brew. Give it a try for awhile and see how it goes – after awhile you really will start to enjoy the flavor!
2. If you really must have a sweet flavor added to your coffee or other food, then replace the sugar with one of the natural sweeteners such as stevia. As we’ve written, Stevia is a naturally occurring substance with minimal calorific value. It’s not quite the same taste as sugar, but it is still adds a sweetness – and what’s more it only takes a very small amount to add the flavor. You can get stevia in powder or liquid form from your nearest health store. I prefer the powdered form.
3. Take a note of what sugar you are consuming. As pancreatitis sufferers we must be reviewing food labels and now you must pay particular attention to the amount of sugar in the food you eat. Remember – look out for anything that has ‘ose’ in it. Sucrose, fructose, - it’s all sugar! As is any form of ‘syrup’!
4. Finally, think before you eat! Consider the food you are about to it. Tell yourself it is nourishing, is adding to your ability to control pancreatitis and that it is naturally sweet. Might sound strange, but try it. As you gradually remove sugar from you life, you begin to realize the sweetness that occurs naturally in the food you eat. And finally –
5. If all this fails, just go ‘cold turkey’. Cut out all added sugar. If you give it a go for a few weeks you’ll be amazed at how your tastes change and if you stick with it, soon you’ll be wondering what all the fuss was about!

Well, everyone, this is probably going to be my last post before Christmas. We really do hope you have an enjoyable, peaceful and pain-free festive period. All the best to you all for 2009 and thank you for being a part of our community.

Oh, nearly forgot! Given the season, here’s a little egg-nog replacement recipe that I really like that is low in fat and high in flavor.

Fill a cup with warm to hot, low-fat milk or soy. (Only use the product you are able to tolerate. If milk or soy don’t agree with you, then try rice milk) Add a small (one quarter teaspoon of stevia powder and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Stir or whisk to add a froth. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Please let us know if you have any thoughts on this. Leave a comment here or email us at info@pancreatitis-advice.com

Bill & Jenny

http://www.pancreatitis-diet.com

Sugar cravings!! My guess is we’ve all had them and on many occasions we’ve probably succumbed to them and reached for the nearest chocolate bar! Why have we become so beholden to sweetness in our food? My take is that it’s happened gradually over time. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect the amount of sugar added to the foods we eat has gradually increased over the decades as food has become increasingly processed and packaged for easier storage and transportation. We spoke about food additives in a recent post, but sugar is probably the most common additive there is.

I read recently that sugar is addictive. Not sure whether that is the case, however what is certain is that we do find sweet foods more enjoyable, mostly I think because our tastes have been diverted from nourishment towards ‘comfort’ and easy access as more and more sugar has been added to the food we consume. Of course, this can have significant implications for the pancreatitis sufferer. With diminished pancreatic function comes the greater risk of diabetes mellitus. So, it’s important for people with pancreatitis to be particularly mindful of their sugar intake (as well as the fat content in the foods they consume!). The extent to which one must do so of course depends upon the severity of your individual pancreatitis, but it is our belief that everyone with pancreatitis (in fact probably everyone in the western world!) can benefit from keeping sugar intake in check.

Reviewing food labels becomes essential though for anyone with pancreatitis. Sugar seems to be in everything! And, you can’t rely on your taste buds. Things that taste bitter, such as tomato sauce, can have a high sugar content. As we mention in the ebook, ‘Cooking Hints and Recipes for Pancreatitis’, when checking labels, look out for anything with ‘ose’ in the ingredients. Glucose, fructose, sucrose are all forms of sugars and all have the same effect in the body – they make the pancreas work harder! Something we certainly don’t want or need. The same goes for ‘syrups’. Oh, one other thing to watch for is when sugar is listed as one of the first three ingredients. In Australia (and perhaps in other countries – can anyone confirm?) ingredients in foods are listed by amount with the largest ingredient coming first and so on down the list of ingredients.

So, make sure you check those labels! More on how to tame the sugar beast in future posts. Please let us know if you have any thoughts on this. Leave a comment here or email us at info@pancreatitis-advice.com

Bill & Jenny

http://www.pancreatitis-diet.com

Hi everyone

We’ve been hearing a bit lately about a persons waist measurement being a good general health indicator.  The focus of much of the television advertising we’ve seen has been on reducing heart disease, but the incidence of cancer has also been mentioned as having a strong link to girth size.  As it turns out there has been some research in this area relevant to the incidence of pancreatic cancer in women.  And the correlation is quite startling!  In an article in the UK newspaper the Telegraph it was reported earlier this year that obese women who have excess belly fat are 70 per cent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.  The article referred to a study published in the British Journal of Cancer which found a link between waist-to-hip ratios and pancreatic cancer incidence in post-menopausal women.

Dr Juhua Luo, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who led the research said, “We found that the risk of developing pancreatic cancer was significantly raised in obese postmenopausal women who carry most of their excess weight around the stomach.  Of the American women surveyed in the study, 251 developed pancreatic cancer and when other risk factos such as smoking and age were factored out, the disease was far more prvalent in the obese than in those with small waist to hip ratios.

As readers of our book ‘Beating Pancreatitis - How to Get Healthy and Enjoy Life Again’ would know, obesity can be a factor in the development of pancreatitis and having pancreatitis increases one’s chances of developing pancreatic cancer.  The relationship seems quite clear doesn’t it - to reduce the risk of developing pancreatitis keep your waist measurement within the recommended levels.  This factor, we believe also has importance in the management of pancreatitis.  We realize that many with pancreatitis have trouble in maintaining healthy weight and their waist measurements are low as a result of having the condition.  As always, it seems to relate to the severity of the condition. Many with pancreatitis who remain overweight should think very carefully about how they are managing their health.  As Dr Luo said, ” We know that carrying a high proportion of abdominal fat is associated with increased levels of insulin, so we think this may cause the link between obesity and pancreatic cancer”.

The message we think is clear - if you have a fat stomach and you have pancreatitis you are putting too much strain on your pancreas and therefore you are raising the risk of not only a greater number of pancreatitis flares but also your chances of developing pancreatic cancer.

To check on your waist-to-hip ratio take your waist measurement level with the belly button, then divide it by the hip circumference at the widest point.  For men, the ratio should ideally not be over 0.9 and for women it should not go beyond 0.85.

We’d welcome the feelings of others on this matter. Please post any information or thoughts you might have on this matter.

In the meantime if you are interested you might wish to visit our site at http:www.pancreatitis-diet.com

Bye for now

Jenny & Bill

Hi again everyone!

Just read a very interesting article in relation to food additives.  It was written by Bill Statham, the author of the international best seller, “The Chemical Maze - Your Guide to Food Additives and Cosmetic Ingredients”.  In this article which focusses on additives to food for the purpose of altering the color of food (and thereby, apparently making it more alluring to the consumer), Bill refers to a study completed earlier this year in the UK.

This study by the UK Food Standards Authority (FSA) called on food manufacturers to voluntarily remove six synthetic colors from processed foods and beverages.  These colors include:

102 - Tartrazine

104 - Quinoline yellow

110 - Sunset yellow

122 - Azorubine or Carmoise

124 - Ponceau 4R

129 - Allura red AC

We haven’t seen anything in the research that states categorically that food color additives can cause pancreatitis but we’re certain that for some people these could be a trigger to a flare up.  The Australian and New Zealand Food Standards authority certainly found some very interesting reactions for some people.  These include: rashes and swelling of the skin, irritable bowel symptoms, behavioural changes in children and headaches.

If anyone has any personal experiences in relation to food color additives and pancreatitis we’d certainly like to hear from you.

By the way, some sites that might be worth referring to if you are interested include:

http:www.feingold.org/Research/lancet.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/10/foodanddrink

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/newsroom/factsheets/factsheets2008/effectsofartificialc3893.cfm

You may need to cut and paste these addresses into your web-browser

Regards

Jenny & Bill

Hi everyone

Firstly, our apologies for not posting for awhile.  We’ve had some technical problems!  Should be sorted out now.

Some people would remember an item we posted advising of the wonderful spirit of pancreatic sufferer Randy Pausch.  Randy, a Professor at Carnegie-Mellon University had become quite famous for his ‘Last Lecture’.  This featured in a series of You Tube video clips.  We watched the whole lot in one sitting - it was very moving and inspirational.  You can see the first of these at http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Unfortunately, Randy has now passed on, but not before passing on his wonderful wisdom on the important things in life.  Our deepest sympathies go out to Randy’s wife, kids and larger family.  He will undoubtedly be sorely missed.

Closer to home we have also been touched by the recent passing of friend Anne Kassulke, who was also claimed by pancreatic cancer.  Anne will be greatly missed by husband Trevor and family.  You have our most sincere and heartfelt sympathies Trev.

Once again, our apologies on being ’silent’ for awhile.  More news to come soon.  Hope everyone is keeping well.  Please don’t hesitate to sign up and make comments on this blog.

Best wishes and best of health to you all.

Jenny and Bil

The final step in my approach, is to clearly state your expectations and goals for the visit to discuss pain management for pancreatitis.  This is the stage when both you and your physician establish the “game plan”.

Again, being specific is the best way to do this. For example, if you believe that more tests should be run to find a possible treatable cause to your pancreatitis pain, then state that. If, on the other hand, you believe that all appropriate tests have been done and all you want is assistance in controlling your pain, state that.

In my case I was up-front with my belief that the pancreatitis pain was not going to “magically” disappear; that I accepted that it was going to be part of my life; but I didn’t accept that there was nothing the medical field could do.  I made it very clear that I expected to leave that day with medicine to reduce the pain to more tolerable levels (I felt that an average pain of a 4 wasn’t too much to ask for) and with a treatment plan that acknowledged that I needed long-term medical care.

Like your pain descriptions, your goals will be unique to you. However, what is common to all pain patients is his or her right to have pain treated.  For most situations, do not accept the advice that pain treatment should be delayed until a cause can be found or withheld completely because all tests and exams are normal. In my opinion, pancreatitis pain should be treated through pain management for pancreatitis, regardless of why it is there.