Question: Over the past week I have been experiencing pain/aching in my lower abdomen that wraps around to my back. At times it has gotten back enough that I have vomitted profusely. I visited the ER, a Gastro and even had to be admitted to the hospital for 24 hours because of the severity. Blood work was all normal except that my lipase is high (174) and white blood cells were apparently present in my stool. They did two CT scans (one with contrast) as well as an ultrasound which all came back normal. They released me basically still saying that it was some sort of food poisoning or virus and didn't ask to check my lipase again in the future which suprised me. I'm still having the admoninal discomfort which is causing me to not sleep at night and from what I have researched online it would appear to me that I have pancreatitis (also what the ER doc initally thought) but my gastroenteroligist says no. I am a 35 five year old male, I do drink more than I should (approx. 15 drinks per week on average) and I was drinking the night that the symptoms started. Not sure what to do at this point as my gastro specialists essentially says not to worry about it and that I'll be fine. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the reply Dr. XXXXXXX

Two quick follow up questions if that is not one too many. First, is there a test they can do to determine if I am in fact in need of a round of antibiotics versus it being something that the body typically disposes of independently? At this point it has been 8 1/2 days since it started so not sure if the length of time with pain/discomfort might be the deciding factor. Also, should I demand to have my lipase tested again at some point or is a number like 174 not really a concern? My gastro insinuated that it was only elevated because of the gastroenteritis and is not worth the trouble of repeating.

Thanks again.

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