Hi, I'm a 36 year old male, 5'10'', 179 lbs. Zero health issues or history.
I don't smoke, don't use any drugs, I drink alcohol only a few times per year in moderation, and my diet is healthy. On Nov. 21 2015 I attended a wedding and drank a significant amount of alcohol. Between 5pm and 2am I probably had 12 vodka drinks. When I woke up the next day I was very ill. More than any hangover I have ever experienced. I was cold, shivering, foggy, weak, tired, trembling and the most nauseous I have ever been. I also had aching, gnawing pain in my left flank...low rib cage area that extends around to my left kidney area. The pain wasn't severe but enough to hurt. It would vary from 2-4 on the pain scale. After several days I wasn't getting better. So, 1 week after the wedding I went to the ER, on Nov 28th. They took blood and urine, and said everything looked normal. They gave me nausea meds and iv bag for hydration and sent me home. They said I might have a bug and/or pulled muscle. Another week went by and I wasn't getting much better. I was still so weak, tired, lethargic, cold, and nauseous. The nausea and weakness stand out the most. That pain was still there too. Just aching and gnawing on my left side, low ribs and under. But not bad enough to need pain meds. I didn't have any stomach pain in the front. Just left flank and around to my low back/kidney area. So on Dec 5th, two weeks after the wedding I went back in to the ER. I told the doc the same stuff as the first time I was there a week earlier. He drew blood and had me pee in a cup again. The doc said everything looks good. I told him something was wrong and I felt terrible for 2 weeks now. So he took a chest x-ray and sent me for a CT scan of my abdomen (with contrast). He said those looked fine too and sent me home. Over the next week I started to feel better. Slowly each day got a couple percent better. By Christmas I felt pretty much back to normal, took me 5 weeks! I haven't had any alcohol since that wedding. Now, on Feb. 6/7/8th, I started to get that small pain in my left flank again. It was mild...1-3 on the pain scale and would come and go. No nausea or any other symptoms, just a mild, dull ache under my left ribs on the side with a little bit of soreness around to my left kidney area, but now it started to creep up my left shoulder blade area. So I saw my GP on Feb 11th. He reviewed my history, I told him about the wedding and all the stuff that happened...ER visits, etc. He examined my test results and told me he thinks it's a pulled muscle. Then, all of the sudden, on Feb. 13th (2 days later) I got the same thing again as happened after the wedding. Only this time, it was during the middle of the day. Out of nowhere, when I was grocery shopping, I felt a huge wave of nausea come over me and I got a bad burning sensation and pain in the left flank area...all simultaneously. The pain was moderate under and around my lowest left rib on the direct side/flank area...maybe a 5 or 6 out of ten. Again, with some pain radiating to the back kidney area. I got tired and weak in the legs and cold, etc. All the same symptoms as the first time. I felt like I could collapse and pass out. The nausea and sick feeling was the worst. I went home and continued with these symptoms for a few hours. I was so sick I felt like I was going to die. I was extremely nauseous but didn't vomit. All of my strength left me and I was so weak and tired and so cold I was shivering. I felt the need to drink copious amounts of water which I think helped me feel a bit better. I probably drank 100-150 ounces of water over a 2-3 hour time frame because that all my body craved. The symptoms let up a bit over the next several hours but not completely. The pain simmered down to a dull ache (1-3 pain scale) and the nausea and weakness and tiredness and coldness all began to lessen from a "10" to a 5 or 6. I have been feeling ill now for 2 weeks. I have lost 13 pounds in the past 2 weeks because I am so nauseous I dont want to eat. I haven't had any solid food in 2 weeks, just juice and broth. I'm so weak and tired I just want to lay down all the time. The pain is there every day for the past 2 weeks and is a dull, gnawing ache in my left side area, just like after my first episode from the wedding! I went back to my GP and he ordered more blood work which all came back normal. I had been feeling great for about a month and a half until this came out of nowhere. I've been reading a lot about my symptoms and I see a lot of commonality between what I have and pancreatitis. Could one night of heavy drinking caused pancreatitis? My doc says my amylase and lipase levels are normal and the CT scan I had in the ER back on Dec 5th (which I guess looked at all my organs including my pancreas) looked normal too. My amylase and lipase levels have been checked 3 times now. First ER visit, second ER visit and then again with my GP. All normal. My stool is normal too. My stomach doesn't hurt, just on the side and back/flank area on the left. I go to bed and wake up with this dull, gnawing ache. I have the hardest time getting out of bed, going to work, playing with the kids or doing anything because Im so tired and weak. My doc also had an h. pylori blood test done and it was negative. He was thinking ulcer, which makes sense too but now that h. pylori has been ruled out I'm not sure what to think. I'm not a regular user of NSAIDS either. All of my other blood work has been normal. CBC, metabolic panels, etc. The only one commonality that I can see between these 2 incidents, is that I have been under a large amount of stress at work and at home at the beginning of each one of these episode and I know stress can do weird and bad things to me. I'm just extremely concerned about pancreatitis.