Suspected Pancreatitis
Suspected Pancreatitis Interesting case recently. I'm currently treating a young gentleman with suspected pancreatitis. This is not an official diagnosis but his lab tests showed slightly elevated pancreas levels, based on what he told me. I should say that pancreatic conditions with diabetes aside are not a common clinical problem. It could also be the case that it has been misdiagnosed by medical doctors most of the time. Of course I'm not a western medical doctor so this is the closest thing I would suspect---pancreatitis.
Regardless, the patient complains primarily of abdominal bloating and nausea with vomiting. Prior to coming in he was just hospitalized for a violent gastric episode where he got the lab test results. Every other test/scan was normal. In Chinese medicine bloating is a stagnation of qi, which causes the restricted motion of the digestive tracts, and the backed up pressure finds a way to release itself by causing vomiting upwards. I could tell this by feeling his pulse at the wrist, which is one of the diagnostic methods we use to interpret and formulate the patient's treatment. The way we treat this problem is by rectifying the qi so the digestive contents can smoothly move their way down the way they should.
After a few weeks of treatment with Chinese Medicine and acupuncture the problem has come under control and it is only at around 25% of what is used to be. The pulse shows similar changes as well. The patient is currently undergoing treatment and gradually getting better with each successive visit.
Pancreatitis usually is associated with irregular eating habits. However this patient doesn't have that as an issue. I suspect it could be due to his earlier surgical history.