Recurrent Pancreatitis

Question

My daughter suffers from an atypical form of CF. In the summer she had acute pancreatitis, which has developed into a recurring problem since then. She has been hospitalized five times, but I still don´t understand why. We strictly adhere to the recommended diet. My daughter, who is allergic to milk, takes Creon three times a day. She also takes sodium cromoglicate and does inhalation. The same situation, however, always returns. Because of this, my daughter has missed a lot of her classes and she keeps having problems at school because of the situation. The school wanted her to repeat a whole year because she is always ill, even though she has an individual course plan. Please, give me some advice what to do. To make matters worse, the authorities have taken away my caregiver's allowance. Thank you for your answer.

Answer

Hello,

The answer to your question isn´t an easy one at all. Recurrent pancreatitis is a problem typically connected with atypical CF. For pancreatic sufficient patients (i.e. patients whose pancreas functions normally) this is a frequent and unfortunately unpredictable problem. Five hospitalizations in six months are a lot indeed. However, your question doesn't contain the information necessary for a better assessment of your problem. Please contact your CF doctor, who has a lot of experience in the CF field, cooperates with a well-trained gastroenteorologist and has the most information about your daughter´s condition.

As far as problems at school are concerned, please ask your CF doctor or a CF centre psychologist to contact the school and help you to solve the problems there.

If you are a memeber of the CF Club, you can ask them for advice concerning your caregiver´s allowance. However, we know from our experience that this allowance has been unfortunately taken away from almost all patients´families.

Dr. Vera Vávrová

21.11.2011