Heavy drinking is by far the most usual cause of pancreatitis among adult males. I'm no doctor, but have spent some time learning about this stuff, both from the inside and outside.

"They" were careful to point out that he had "gallstone pancreatitis", something of which I've never heard. Having had pancreatitis caused by a gallstone, it was just "pancreatitis".

And his symptoms aren't those of a gallstone caused pancreatitis. The gallstone causes excruciating pain, followed by the chemical burn of the pancreatic juices overflowing into the intestines and trying to digest them. The pain gets to be such that one can't walk, and increases to where one can't talk.

Ashcroft was able to go home, thought he had stomach problems, and wait for a doc to come. With a gallstone that's possible but they are so sharply painful they don't seem like stomach problems. Just before getting my gall bladder out I had another stone, and drove to the ER, had to crawl from my car. Hurt too much to walk. Absolutely no thought of "stomach problems"

With pancreatitis, though there is a range of symptoms, that certainly seems mild, too. My pancreatitis left me unable to even talk.

What does seem consistent with his symptoms is an alcohol inflamed pancreas. That could be mistaken for stomach problems. And I don't know, obviously. But if he had a gallstone and pancreatitis, it was a "kinder, gentler" pancreatitis and gallstone than any of which I've heard.

Arf