Easy question on pancreatitis- who's smart?

[Guest219794]

OK-

acute pancreatitis: No fat or protiens is easy. Why no simple liquids?

Anyone?

Found one reference that said po liquids as tolerated, the rest say NPO. My pt is NPO, wants to know why, and I don't have a good answer.

[CritterLover, BSN, RN]

any food in the digestive tract is going to stimulate the pancreas, causing pain, and possibly damage, to someone with pancreatitis.

[color=#483d8b]

[color=#483d8b]some foods may stimulate it more than others, and some patients may be allowed to have some po intake. it depends on the doc's preferences, how high the enzymes are, and how much inflamation is evident on ct.

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

I agree, our pancreatitis patients are NPO until we see a substantial decrease in amylase and lipase levels. At that point they start clears slowly.

[SaderNurse05, BSN, RN]

Resting the gut.

[RNfromMN, BSN, RN]

Yup, that's what I just learned in school - NPO to rest the bowel to decrease the pain :)

[confused101]

resting=no pain!

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I remember reading that even ice and water can cause the pancreatic ductc/sphincter to contract causing pain.

Liquids don't always cause pain in everyone, so some pancreatitis patients get liquids from the beginning. Others have to be NPO for a while.

[studentIVlife]

WOW it amazes me how some people don't get the same education. Shouldn't you have learn this in school?? I am not trying to put you down but I am curious why your school didn't mention it. ??? :idea:

[studentIVlife]

I just read my previous post and I want to apologize in the way it sounds. I am not a nurse and I just want to go to a school that I feel is going to prepare me once I am out. I am glad you asked the question b/c I believe this is why the fourm is here for to help each other out. So plz don't mind my stupidity.

[miko014]

StudentIVlife, just wait till you get out in the real world. Do you think you're going to remember every tiny detail of every bit of information that you ever learned? It's ALWAYS okay to ask questions, and even worse NOT to ask them!

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

check for guidelines on care at http://www.guidelines.gov

[everthesame, LPN, LVN]

WOW it amazes me how some people don't get the same education. Shouldn't you have learn this in school?? I am not trying to put you down but I am curious why your school didn't mention it. ??? :idea:

Where I went to school, med surg was taken for two semesters. Pacreatitis was part of the content covered in the second med surg semester. The instructors tried to assign students to patients with conditions relevant to the current topics covered in the lecture portion of the class but sometimes students would have to take patients with conditions not yet covered.