longsuffering

Needless to say, it's been a helluva year for me physically speaking. Over a year ago I started having excruciatingly painful attacks in my stomach. Painful to the point I was ready to call an ambulance for help. At the peak of pain-vomiting bile. I had my gall bladder removed because I was loaded up with gall stones. Thought that was the end of it, but was so wrong! I continued to suffer from periodic attacks/vomiting exactly like the ones before my gall bladder was removed, yet no one could find out what was causing them. It was determined that I had a condition called Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction CLASS III. (Class III being the hardest to treat because all tests are otherwise normal, you just have pain).

I just figured I would never get it solved, but after having 4 major attacks fairly close to each other this summer, something had to be done. I had become depressed by my physical condition and it was greatly affecting my quality of life.

More testing, more doctors appointments and I was finally referred to Virginia Mason Hospital Gastroenterology Department in Seattle. They are currently doing a study on people (mostly women) with SOD III. The doctor told me flat out that they really don't know what to do for this condition. Well, that's hopeful! Turns out I didn't qualify to be in the study anyway.

So, apprehensively and with some anxiety I went in Monday for an ERCP. The put a scope down my throat, injected dye into my biliary and pancreatic ducts to check the anatomy and make sure there wasn't a retained gall stone somewhere. Then they measured the pressure in my the biliary and pancreatic sphincters. He said the pressure should be under 40 and my pressures were 150. Wow! He also found what looked like to by polyps possibly and took some tissue for biopsy. Luckily, they are not polyps, but chronic inflammatory tissue caused by passing gall stones and crud prior to my gall bladder removal. This is good news, because it means no more surgery.

So, he cut both sphincters and placed a stent to help with drainage from the pancreas (so I don't get pancreatitis) which should pass in a week or two.

I'm skeptically hopeful that this is the end to a very long, emotional road for me. It's still scary because there isn't a lot of positive data about this condition, the procedure I had and the long term outcome. I'm nervous about it.

I hope that the centers conducting the study will be successful in learning more about this condition and how to treat it so others won't have to suffer.