WCIV-TV | ABC News 4Chronic pancreatitis: Daily pain, costly cure

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) –- Doctors describe the disease as someone jamming a knife into your stomach and twisting – pain which can last for days or weeks at a time.

The last seven years of Rita Graziano's life have been a struggle.

"It's like you are getting electrocuted," she said. "It's usually pain on a daily basis. It's a raw kind of burring pain."

Graziano was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis in 2004.

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is one of only three hospitals in the country offering a radical procedure to ease the pain of chronic pancreatitis. But, that cure comes with a significant cost, one Granziano, who has been on disability because of the pain, simply cant afford. 

She said her experience has been a nightmare, one that only got worse when doctors she went to for help in her native New York, wouldn't listen.

"With pancreatitis people often get stigmatized," she said. "Especially if you are young, often times it's like you are seeking pain medication."

After months of searching for a doctor who would help her, Graziano finally landed at MUSC - in the care of Dr. David Adams, a leader in gastrointestinal surgery for over 20 years.

"The procedures I do involve bypassing the pancreas or taking out the damaged tissue," Dr. Adams said.

After several examinations and treatments, Dr. Adams recommended a relatively new but proven procedure called islet isolation.

"We take the cells that make insulin and isolate them in a laboratory situation and then inject them back into the patient's own liver," Dr. Adams said.

Those cells then live inside the liver and produce insulin with out the need for a pancreas.  

Sara Gibbins recently had the procedure and says the surgery stopped the pain and is allowing her to live a normal life.  

"I feel so much better than I ever thought I would feel," Gibbins said during a taped interview with MUSC. "Coming out of the surgery was like wow."

The procedure has caused some patients, like Gibbins to develop manageable diabetes. But, Graziano says it's time to take back control of her life and worth the risk.

"Only about 25 percent of people with chronic pancreatitis will live another five years from when they are diagnosed," she said. "I just don't know how much longer I have as far as my quantity but my quality is not great and I just thought about it and did some research and came to Dr. Adams and something had to be done.

Pancreas Back Pain Symptoms

Pancreas Back Pain Symptoms

Posted May 15th, 2011.

If a person is struggling with acute or continual troubles of the pancreas, then Back Pain Types  discomfort is one of the most popular symptoms with the exact same. It has been observed that the pancreas can result in significant health challenges and they’re generally signs of pancreatic cancer. There are lots of researches and surveys performed with this reference which reveal that it truly is incredibly hard to diagnose pancreatic cancer. This happens so because the pancreas is so deep within the body. 

Also the symptoms of those pancreas challenges vary according to the precise location from the tumor inside the pancreas. Another element here depends upon which cells or operate with the pancreas is impacted from the tumor or cancer. It is really popular to possess pancreatic cancer or tumor and identifying the normal symptoms with the identical is one of the greatest techniques for treating and stopping the difficulty. The pancreatic tumor or cancer is principally a illness impacting middle-aged and older sufferers. 

Even so this may perhaps not often be the case plus the diagnosis can be missed in more youthful patients. It has been noticed that a number of the commonest type of pancreatic cancers incorporate the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. This form of cancer is so deadly, that you will discover hardly every other like rarer forms. The endocrine tumors that affect the more youthful patients possess a much much better treatment process as a result of medical procedures and chemotherapy or immunotherapy. 

However it has also been noticed that you’ll find often no signs and symptoms of these forms of cancer in the really early stages. The tumor may perhaps have grown significantly even prior to the affected individual is able to realize a few of the signs and symptoms connected to this type of cancer. For instance, even though again pain is really a symptom of pancreatic cancers, most people suppose it to become induced due to tiredness or muscle pull or other similar reasons. Hence the symptoms of pancreatic cancer can also be very vague and non certain. 

So you’ll find instances once the cancer might be caused by a lot of other additional widespread and less severe circumstances. On the other hand the delay in diagnosis can also be triggered as the medical doctor is attempting to rule out other leads to such as hepatitis, gall stones, irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety. Another symptoms of pancreatic cancers also vary rather than everyone has just about every symptom. Basically the signs and symptoms of cancer rely incredibly much to the place with the tumor in the pancreas.

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