Symptoms of Pancreatitis

Pancreas is a small fleshy organ situated inside our abdomen behind the first part of small intestine and responsible for secretion of several hormones and enzymes. One of the fundamental jobs of pancreas is to maintain blood sugar level in our body besides secreting enzymes for digestion of protein and fat. Pancreatitis is a medical term where there is inflammation of the gland. It may be of two types – acute and chronic. Acute variety is commonly occurred due to viral infection and obstruction of pancreatic duct by gallstones. Chronic pancreatitis is either due to long term alcohol abuse or a sequel of repeated viral infection. The symptoms of pancreatitis differ in accordance to the character of the disease – acute or chronic. Here we shall know about both the symptoms of acute and chronic pancreatitis.

Symptoms of Acute Pancreatitis:

• Pain abdomen – classically, the pain is in the upper and central part of your abdomen. It seems that the pain is originated in frontal aspect of the abdomen and going back towards your back. The pain increases in time until it becomes constant throbbing over the same area. Eating something will worsen the situation. Pain in the abdomen in pancreatitis severely affects the quality of life. The pain gets only somewhat relieved when you lean forward.

• Nausea and vomiting – partly because of pain and partly because of gastric disturbance, the patient experiences nausea and vomiting.

• Flu-like symptoms – in acute viral pancreatitis, patient will experience fever, generalized body ache and malaise.

• Headache – due to high blood pressure in acute stage of the disease, the patient may complain of headache.

• Fainting – if there is internal bleeding or severe dehydration, the patient may go into shock.

• Jaundice – in gall-stone pancreatitis, the pancreatic duct gets blocked by a stone dislodged from gall bladder. There is yellowish discoloration of skin, nails and tongue. Urine becomes yellow and stool is clay or white colored. The eyes also become yellow colored.

Pancreatitis

Source – docsearls

Symptoms of Chronic Pancreatitis:

• Foul smelling stool – as the disease progresses, the pancreas becomes unable to produce enough enzymes to digest proteins, fat and other nutrients. Improper digestion leads to foul smelling bowel movements. Undigested fat will come out with stool giving it a fatty appearance.

• Bluish haze around umbilicus – in case of bleeding from the pancreas in chronic pancreatitis, the skin around the umbilicus becomes bluish (Cullen’s Sign). The skin in between the ribs and hip bone may become reddish-purple (Turner’s sign).

• Severe pain abdomen – in chronic pancreatitis, there may be formation of a cyst in the tissue of pancreas. There may be collection of pus inside leading to excruciating pain which is aggravated by changing posture.

• Indigestion – as the pancreas is unable to produce enough enzymes to digest the nutrients, there is chronic indigestion.

• Weight loss – improper digestion will lead to weight loss even after trying hard to gain weight.

• Unconsciousness – severe internal bleeding inside abdomen may lead to sudden unconsciousness.

These are general symptoms of pancreatitis. All of them may not be present in a single patient, but upper abdominal pain is always a constant feature.