If you or someone in your care has these symptoms, please seek immediate medical attention. The most common symptom of chronic pancreatitis is long-standing pain in the middle of the abdomen. People with chronic pancreatitis might get repeated episodes of acute pancreatitis, where the pain gets worse.
The pain may get worse with eating, drinking and drinking alcohol. People with chronic pancreatitis can have trouble digesting food, particularly fats, because of the lack of digestive juices. This can lead to diarrhoea , weight loss, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and loose, greasy, foul-smelling stools that are difficult to flush.
They may also develop jaundice. In severe cases, the pancreas may not produce enough insulin, leading to diabetes. Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content. Diseases of the pancreas include diabetes mellitus, pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis and pancreatic cancer. Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. The main symptom is pain in the upper abdomen that feels as if it goes through to your back.
Read more on myDr website. If this isn't possible, you can call NHS for advice. You may be admitted to hospital for further tests and treatment. Page last reviewed: 29 October Next review due: 29 October When you can't sufficiently break down food, it isn't absorbed as it needs to be, and this is what creates a change in the nature of stools. This difficulty absorbing food and its nutrients can lead to weight loss as well.
Symptoms of chronic pancreatitis often manifest themselves only when complications arise or the condition worsens. The pain of chronic pancreatitis takes two forms.
In the first kind, the pain may come and go, flaring up for several hours or several weeks, with no discomfort in between flare-ups. In the second, the pain is steady and debilitating. In some cases, those with this form of pancreatic may feel pain in parts of the body other than the abdomen. There may sometimes be no pain at all. Some of the defining symptoms of chronic pancreatitis include:.
Whereas mild or moderate pancreatitis lasts for days, severe pancreatitis can last for a number of weeks. Severe pancreatitis, which occurs in 15 to 20 percent of acute pancreatitis cases, can lead to multiple complications.
The first stage of severe pancreatitis is marked by organ failure that doesn't subside on its own within 48 hours. Scientists are still not sure exactly how this organ failure occurs, but they think that pancreatitis, being an inflammatory condition, sets off a chain reaction of inflammation that damages and compromises the systems related to or near the pancreas.
The lungs are affected first. Inflammation causes surrounding blood vessels to leak into the air sacs, and the fluid in the lungs makes it hard to breathe. Respiratory problems caused by organ failure are the most frequent complications of acute pancreatitis. If organ failure is treated within a few days, the risk of dying is low. It's been estimated that if the organ failure persists for a week or more, there is a 1 in 3 chance of dying.
In severe pancreatitis, the tissues in the pancreas die — this is called pancreatic necrosis — and often become infected. This complication occurs after organ failure has been detected. For example, right- shoulder pain may result from acute cholecystitis;testicular pain may result from renal colic or from appendicitis. The common sites for referred pain are shown in Figure The locations of pain in abdominal disease are summarized in Table The time of occurrence and factors that aggravate or alleviate the symptoms e.
Periodic epigastric pain occurring 1 to 1 hour after eating is a classic symptom of gastric peptic ulcers. Patients with a duodenal peptic ulcer. Pancreatic cancer Pancreatitis. Appendicitis Diverticulitis have pain 2 to 3 hours after eating or before the next meal. Food tends to lessen the pain, especially in duodenal ulcers.
Perforation of a duodenal ulcer to the pancreas may produce backache , simulating an orthopedic problem. Nocturnal pain is a classic symptom of duodenal peptic ulcer disease.
Pain after eating may also be associated with vascular disease of the abdominal viscera. Patients with this condition are older and have postprandial pain, anorexia , and weight loss. This triad is seen in abdominal angina resulting from obstructive vascular disease in the celiac axis or the superior mesenteric artery.
Table summarizes the important maneuvers for ameliorating abdominal pain. Continue reading here: Nausea and Vomiting.
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