In NZ they know of two factors that cause acute pancreatitis and that is gall stones, and drinking alcohol. I don't drink and I didn't have gall stones on the ultrasound examination. But at the re-examination, they were trying to talk me into having my gall bladder removed. I said no way for I know this whole episode I've gone through was Covid related. I'm 70 -80% recovered now, and my strength is improving slowly. I'm normally pretty fit for my age, so 70 -80% recovered is probably fitter than many others.
There is a third -albeit, rare- cause. Idiopathic, in other words, unexplained. This was what I'd believed my late partner's to have been. However, it turned out to be his second bout, 60 months to the week, from the first, undiagnozed, bout. Now, we know that it's an absolute that alcohol and pancreatitis shouldn't be said in the same breath, but whilst he was only a moderate to light drinker, it was something he shouldn't have been doing, AT ALL. Undoubtedly, he'd have experienced bouts of great pain during that time, but whilst he rush to the doctor for a minor ailment, he ignored it...................and so there it sat, for 60 months -which according to American studies, is always going to be fatal- evolving into chronic, necrotizing, pancreatitis.
I'm really interested to learn that it can be Covid related, especially since hearing that some of the symptoms of Covid in the most poorly patients, are exactly those of pancreatitis. Well done on your recovery. May it continue.
