Hi - I too live in Ohio and have had 3 acute attacks of Pancreatitis (hospitalized each time) My docs here have no idea why I have these. I had my gallbladder out March of 2010 and the attacks were June Aug and Oct. My doc's said if I have one more hospitalization they will refer me to Dr. Sherman at Indiana. I did call there, and they recommended the Levbid. My doc did not want to add the antidepressant to it (don't know why) so I have been on Levbid .372 2 a day for a month. Did this help you? How long have you been on it? I am praying it will work as I hear too many bad stories regarding ERCP and cutting the duct. I appreciate hearing from you. In between attacks I am fine, sometimes just a slight pressure, but I will take the cotton mouth and Levbid over attacks, anytime! Any advise you can share will be most appreciated. Thanks Dianne in Ohio
I posted prematurely...that's what I get for not having my coffee before I got on the computer.
You should ask your doc about trying Levbid (.375 dose) and Elavil. Levbid is an antispasmodic which is supposed to work on smooth muscles, and the SO is a smooth one. Elavil is an old school antidepressant which is really only used anymore to help manage pain. It numbs your nerve endings all over your body which basically increases your body's pain tolerance level. I should warn you that there's a 50/50 chance of them working, and there are some side effects but in my opinion they were very tolerable like dry mouth and sleepiness, but they did work on me fairly well. I even slept through the night on them!!!
This combination is a very common "sod cocktail" in the sod world. I have met many people online in different groups who have also been on these two meds. This was the first line of defense that I tried before anything else, and luckily, I did have success with them.
Good luck!!! Keep us posted.
PS Levbid can be prescribed in two different dosages...I had much more luck with the 12 hour timed release which is the .375 dose rather than the "as needed" dose.
I could not agree with you more on all accounts that you mention. Unfortunately, if there's not BIG funding for research for things like this, we just get no where fast.