You can have a high amylase level and it can just be the gallbladder too, though pancreas, liver, and gallbladder are all sort of interconnected.
I would recommened you cut back heavily on fat for a week and see what happens. Sometimes with the gallbladder it's not even gall stones...it can just become sensitive to high amounts of fat and become somewhat spastic. They actually do a test in the hopital that hepatologists (liver specialists) call the "fried egg test." You literally eat a fried egg sandwich, they inject you with a compound (I think it's a radioactive isotope) and then watch to see what your gallbladder does.
Interesting, I've never heard of that. I will admit that my diet right before the episodes of pain was LOUSEY! I told the doctors that I had basically been on a 4-day Fast-Food binge (had McD's 3 times in 4 days!) but they seemed to shrug it off - I would need to be eating high fat for a LONG time before it had this effect.
So that makes me think based on your egg comment, that it could easily be the issue. It all has to do with how well your body processes fats.
If cutting back heavily on fats for a week doesn't help, try cutting out anything with wheat or gluten in it for the next week or 2. It wouldn't really affect the amylase levels, but you could have celiac disease and the amylase increase could be unrelated.
I'm Glucose intolerant, but I don't have celiacs. I've been cutting out fat, dairy and gluten since I've posted this thread - no effect on the pain.
See what your lipase levels were too ...even if they're right around normal, everyone's normal differs, and that level may be too much for your body to take.
I'm in Canada, so I can't request what the doctors test (or so they told me - I should really look that up now that I have a chance...) . I asked for Lipase, and ALT and pretty well everything you've mentioned, as I found an article online listing out blood tests I should check when you have abdominal pain.
Make sure to see what your ALT's and AST's were, as they will give an indication of your liver's health. If they tested for BUN's and creatinine too, check that out. That's your kidney function, and while not really related to a fat issue or amylase, can still cause pain that radiates to other regions.
Your best bet is to stick to ibuprofen ...it will help the pain and inflammation. Go easy on the tylenol, as that detoxes through the liver (ibuprofen is filtered through the kidneys). Take it easy on sugars for awhile, simply because your pancreas is already working hard to make up for the cells (and therefore function) lost from the inflammation. You don't want to overwork it producing insulin in this recovery period.
Ibuprofen wouldn't get be through the day - I'm taking morphine and even that's not fully doing the job. I'm in - like - a LOT of pain. Although I have to admit that today isn't bad so far.
Stay hydrated (64 oz of fluid a day) ...it's overstated, but such a key element to healing ...especially in the major organs. Whatever you do, stay away from alcohol for the next month. Pancreatitis can be a slippery slope if not brought under control.
If you're a dancer, you aren't going to like hearing it, but your body needs rest. Dancing through the pain will only drag out the healing process.
I drink a lot of water, and I'm taking time off work. No way I could work like this.
If the pain is still there after ruling out fat and then gluten, and waiting about a month, you're really going to need to see a specialist (GI or some hepatologists treat that). You'll need to be monitored for sugar levels and potentially diabetes if it's found you have chronic instead of acute pancreatitis. They'll also need to run other blood work to stay on top of everything, and hopefully they can find the cause of the problem.
I have an appointment with a specialist in April. Yay socialized medicine! Super long wait times for appointments. I think the doctors are crazy for expecting me to live like this for a month, but what can I do? I'm just a patient....
Even if it's acute pancreatitis and goes away, you really want to find out the cause, so you can try to avoid a recurrance. Viruses can sometimes cause that. Some medications can too. Try to think if you were feeling flu-like not long before that happened, or even if you ate anything different (high fats as mentioned above, or even sushi which can contain parasites or crustaceans, crab, shrimp, etc, which can carry Hepatitis A), if you switched from a name brand med to a generic version (they can be very different in total chemical makeup), etc.
I had - and still have - an earache that's lasted since October/November. Again - told the doctors, but they blew it off.
If you do coke, you also need to get a Hep C test. (They won't do that in an ER because it takes time for the viral load to come back and can be expensive.)
Traditional coke use causes microscopic drops of blood to be shed onto whatever you're putting up your nose (most dancers just use dollars). If someone used the same dollar before you, even if you don't see it, their blood got on the dollar. If they had Hep C, which is a spore former, the disease will live virtually forever ...can't be killed with basic boiling or bleach ...so you will then get Hep C (hence why I used to lecture the girls to use a new straw each time ...you're at a club, they're readily available ...it's an easy preventative solution).
I don't say the Hep C thing to scare you ...it's just something to consider. Also if the coke or whatever drug is cut w/something bizarre, that can wreak havoc on your organs ....you just never know. If it's cut w/something odd, unless you show signs of distress and poisoning in the ER, they will not draw bloods to look for poisonous substances. Just because you aren't fatally dying right after ingestion/inhilation, doesn't mean there wasn't something toxic in it that could cause long term organ damage.
No drugs. I'm clean and boring. No drugs, not even pot. No crazy party lifestyle. I dance, I come home. Once in a while I'll have a volka-cran or a glass of white wine, but it's rare. I've cut out alcohol altogether until this is figured out.
Remember too, that not all hospital's tests are created equal. The major cities w/med schools usually have state of the art MRI, UltraSound, and CT scan machines and will see a hell of a lot more on an image than will usually be detected via the same test at a smaller hospital in even a mid-sized town. You're problem could really just be gall stones, and they just may not have shown up on the test. If they only used ultrasound and the stone is stuck in a duct, it can sometimes be missed due to shadowing, and therefore you'd need a CT scan. MRI is really best and you don't get the added radiation of a CT scan. CT scans are just cheaper, which is why they will usually use that before ordering an MRI.
I didn't know that. I figure all CT machine's were alike, as long as they're current. Thanks for telling me this - I've never thought of it before.
Hopefully that will give you more insight and you'll be able to pinpoint the source of the prob. Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery

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