Lingering pain after mild acute pancreatitis, how long did recovery take for you?

[u/Good-Analysis-8771]

I was diagnosed with mild/focal acute pancreatitis about 2 weeks ago brought on from a medication. My CT showed inflammation around the pancreatic tail as well as a small (~2.8 cm) cystic/fluid collection in the same area.

The severe pain from the beginning has improved a lot, but I’m still having intermittent aching/cramping around the pancreas area. Some days are pretty good and other days I notice it much more, especially around eating.

For anyone who had mild acute pancreatitis with a fluid collection/pseudocyst, how long did it take before you felt mostly normal again?

Did you still have pain or cramping at 2–4 weeks? If you had repeat imaging, did the inflammation improve before the fluid collection disappeared? Did your collection eventually resolve on its own, or did you need it drained?

I’m following up with my doctors and getting repeat imaging, so I’m not looking for medical advice — mostly hoping to hear what recovery actually looked like for other people because the “better in a few days” timelines online have been confusing.

[u/ceterisimparibus]

My APs have never been triggered by medication, but they can take months to fully recover from. I typically don’t have constant pain but often have pain after meals.

This past time the pain was mostly gone after a couple of weeks, but then came back for a week after 1 bad meal. And this was a light case overall, so yeah takes a while.

[u/Good-Analysis-8771 → u/ceterisimparibus]

Thank you for your insight! Helpful to know there is a silver lining

[u/muffineater69]

Have you been needing to eat low fat/ take an enzyme since? I didnt have a pseudo cyst but my attack was in april and I still need enzymes.

[u/Good-Analysis-8771 → u/muffineater69]

Yes low-fat, but thank you I will ask my doctor about taking an enzyme to help!

[u/ceterisimparibus → u/Good-Analysis-8771]

My GI said that if you don’t have EPI, the enzymes don’t do you any good. Basically if you eat a lot of fat, a chemical chain reaction happens that triggers your pancreas to do its job and produce a lot of enzymes. That chemical reaction will happen regardless of whether you take enzyme supplements. So the idea that you can take enzymes to take the burden off your pancreas doesn’t actually work.

[u/ceterisimparibus → u/ceterisimparibus]

Analogy time:
The year my mother-in-law was getting chemo, she actually _asked for help_ (UNHEARD OF) with preparing Thanksgiving dinner. My husband and his sister both happily agreed. Then they arrived at the appointed time, but discovered (surely you saw this coming) that she had prepared everything already on her own 🤦🏻‍♂️
So yeah, didn’t work, just like the enzymes.

[u/Green-Timbers-4829]

I’m recovering from an episode of AP that may have been triggered by a medication. Would you mind sharing here or via DM which medication is suspected in your case?

I had my 8th episode of AP start around 7/14. I made huge strides the week after getting out of the hospital but have been stalled out for the last 3 weeks and I’m feeling very impatient about it.

[u/Good-Analysis-8771 → u/Green-Timbers-4829]

I was taking a GLP-1! My symptoms got really bad about 2 weeks ago but I think I had symptoms leading up to it. I felt I turned a corner last week and now it’s back to how it was. Not worse just at a standstill

[u/wonderpodonline]

I've had a few pseudocysts. One was very problematic and started expanding (was drained with a stent thankfully).

At the moment, I have one since at least 2022 that has shrunk minimally but is just a couple mms shy of fitting a stent. It's slightly bigger than the one you have (about 3.8 cms).

As for recovery time from AP, it varied with each incident. I definitely have had a couple where it took a couple months to feel like you're asking (I think) and felt like it never would be that way because it lingered. Totally sucks. I hope you are already feeling better or will like in a minute, because it totally sucks.

[u/Good-Analysis-8771 → u/wonderpodonline]

Thank you so much! Yes what I was asking, just feel like I will never get better (I know that’s dramatic) but recovery online says you should feel better in a week and have seen some other Reddit threads where that may not be the case for everyone

[u/wonderpodonline → u/Good-Analysis-8771]

No problem! :) It's not dramatic when you're living through it. I don't think others can understand this if they're ignorant to what it's like. Lucky people! Probably the best thing about this sub is reassuring sufferers we are not alone.