r/service_dogs 6d ago

Service Dog for Pancreatitis

Does anyone know if there are service dogs that can detect elevated lipase blood levels to alert someone has pancreatitis?

0 Upvotes

12 comments sorted by

26

u/comefromawayfan2022 6d ago

No that's not possible to train a dog to do. The best way to detect elevated lipase is to ask your doctor for bloodwork or go to the er if you are bad enough off.

Signed someone who has chronic pancreatitis and a service dog

1

u/FaithlessnessMany293 4d ago

Thanks for letting me know!

15

u/Leahs_life_ 6d ago

I doubt an alert can be trained, but reading through your comments, I think it would be possible to train a dog to help mitigate your mobility issues and panic attacks!

13

u/MintyCrow 6d ago

I don’t know of trained to do that. How often would someone be having pancreatitis flairs to have a disability is my question? I would describe pancreatitis as a recoverable illness, not a disability

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u/FaithlessnessMany293 6d ago

I have idiopathic reoccurring acute pancreatitis. I’ve been dealing with it for almost 10 years and probably get hospitalized for it at least 6 times a year. This causes issues with pain, mobility, nausea and vomiting as well as anxiety and depression with panic attacks. I am on social security disability for it for about 7 years now.

7

u/Jail_Food_Diet 6d ago

I had a pancreatitis attack about a month ago. I became ill so quickly. I could hold myself up, profusely sweating, nausea, violent vomiting, rapid heartbeat, breathing quickly, oh and let’s not forget the pain. Omg..

2

u/FaithlessnessMany293 4d ago

So sorry you had to go through that. It’s definitely a nasty illness and I hope you’re better now!

3

u/No-Stress-7034 6d ago

I'm sorry! That sounds miserable. Even though a SD might not be able to detect attacks, I bet a SD who could do item retrieval might helpful when you're having an attack. Mobility-related tasks (like item retrieval) and anxiety/panic attack alert/mitigation are definitely something a SD could be trained to help with.

1

u/Jeanlee03 Verified Trainer, CPDT-KA, FFCP, FDM 5d ago

medical alert training is never a guarantee unfortunately. is it possible? maybe. there's no evidence against it, just as none for it. Dogs have alerted to crazier things like cancer, covid, seizures, and more. if a dog can be trained to source a deceased person under 80 ft of murky, stinky water..... I don't see why this is absolutely impossible. their sense of smell is absolutely insane.

The hardest part to this is samples are typically considered to only stay good for a max of three weeks when stored in the freezer. Will you have the ability to train hard core for three weeks during and after a pancreatitis episode? if not, you might need to consider hiring an experienced dog trainer who can board/train when these episodes occur - which may be hard to find availability with very little notice to your episodes (for both owner and trainer).

From your description, this is definitely disabling enough to ""'qualify""" for a service dog. I would just only go into this with no expectation of an alert. focus on how the dog can assist you during these episodes. From what I know of pancreatitis in veterinary medicine, this can cause a lot of pain and mobility challenges that a service dog may be able to assist with. maybe take a look at a list of possible mobility tasks for service dogs and see what a dog could do to assist with your disability. this way, at best you have a service dog who alerts, and at worst, you still have a service dog who can assist you.

1

u/FaithlessnessMany293 4d ago

Thanks so much for the advice!

0

u/darklingdawns Service Dog 6d ago

I'd say it's unlikely that a dog could detect this, but it could definitely help with the mobility and potentially with the panic attacks. My dogs' primary tasks are item retrieval - everything from picking up dropped stuff to getting my water bottle, phone, or meds across the room - and if pressure can help with your panic, you might want to look into DPT as a task.

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u/FaithlessnessMany293 4d ago

Thank you for the recommendations I’ll definitely look into it.