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Attack of pancreatitis in children
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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[Causes
Manifestations of acute pancreatitis occur in children in the case of two causes - aggravated heredity or pancreatic injury. Children who suffer from cystic fibrosis - an incurable lung disease - can also be exposed to inflammatory processes in the pancreas. But in the vast majority of cases, the cause of the onset of unpleasant symptoms can not be clarified.
Symptoms
For children, sudden appearance of pancreatitis attacks is characteristic. In rare chronic cases of the disease, exacerbation can trigger stress, a simple overeating or an improper diet, as well as various diseases.
In this difficult situation, the main complaint of the baby is a severe pain in the abdomen. Children with different pain threshold sensitivity, with a different form of the disease - chronic or acute, differences in age and temperament tolerate pain very individually.
Pain can vary in intensity - from moderate to very severe. Such manifestations of painful sensations depend on the stage of activity of the inflammatory process, its prevalence on the pancreas, as well as on the existing concomitant diseases. It happens that some children with a similar attack suffer a pain shock.
Children such a sharp situation can last in different ways: several minutes, and several days. The younger the baby, the more difficult it is to diagnose an attack of pancreatitis, since in this case the child can not clearly explain what is happening to it. And the behavior with abdominal pain is the same as in many other cases of body dysfunction with pain syndrome. Children in this case cry, behave restlessly, press their legs to the tummy. This is how the youngest behave, and older children can already say something, but they find it difficult to explain where the pain is localized. Kids three to four years of age show that the pain has swept the entire abdomen or the area around the navel, which also does not contribute to the successful diagnosis of the disease.
Children aged 7-8 years and older show the navel or upper half of the abdomen to adults, where they have painful sensations. In some cases, pain can be given to the back or hip area, as well as to the zone of the right hypochondrium. The character of the sensations is quite unpleasant at the same time - the child is tormented by aching cramps or constant pains, which are also shrouded. The behavior of children in such cases is very troublesome: the child spins on the bed and tries to lie down in a position in which he would not be disturbed by heavy feelings. Most often, the children take a pose on the right side with legs clamped to the abdomen - in this case the pain becomes a little less. An attack of pancreatitis in children happens without pain, but it is so rare that such cases should not even be described.
In childhood, this peak state of the disease does not cause a rise in body temperature. But at two-three-year-old children the temperature can rise to 37 or 37.5 degrees. This is due, rather, to their restless behavior and constant crying.
In addition to pain, characteristic symptoms of a pathological condition in pancreatitis in children will be the bothersome child's bouts of nausea and repeated vomiting, which does not alleviate the condition of the patient. Against this background, the baby develops an acute intoxication of the body, so the child needs urgent hospitalization.
The chair of the toddlers also undergoes changes - either constipation or diarrhea appears with a liquefied consistency and the smell of stench. In the mouth dryness is formed, as well as white plaque of sufficient density. Children in this state do not want to eat, play, become irritable, sluggish and whiny.
In acute cases, the onset of an attack is usually sudden and sudden. In the chronic form of the disease - wavy, which manifests itself as periods of rest and well-being and replace this state with phases of exacerbation. With a rare chronic form of the disease, the occurrence of an attack can occur at any time - this is known to the parents. Therefore, they try to protect their child from problems that are provoked, most often, by malnutrition.