Medical expert of the article
New publications
Pain in the pancreas
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
If you have a pancreas, it is necessary to characterize the intensity, nature and localization of pain. All these data will help in setting the right diagnosis and the appointment of an adequate and effective treatment.
The pancreas is an organ of the lobed structure, which is located behind the stomach. The main function of the pancreas is to directly participate in the digestion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
Pain in the pancreas can be of different types: most often it is localized at the top of the abdomen and near the umbilical region (around the navel); shingles the nature of pain - a typical property of pain in the defeat of the pancreas; acute pain, which is worse after taking fatty or spicy food, drinking alcohol, lying on the back.
To alleviate the pain in the pancreas can reject fatty and spicy food right up to hunger for several days, putting ice on the abdomen on the left, taking the knee-elbow position, taking medications.
It is important to take into account the intensity of pain in the pancreas, which depends on the severity of the inflammatory process in the pancreas. So, in acute pancreatitis, the pain in the pancreas is so intense that sometimes it can lead to death due to pain shock. Often the pain is localized around the navel, cutting, radiating to the back and left hypochondrium.
In chronic pancreatitis, the intensity of pain in the pancreas is weak and is aching and dull, localized at the top of the abdomen and around the navel.
The duration of pain in chronic pancreatitis can be several days, sometimes up to several weeks. With chronic chronic pancreatitis (more than 10 years), the intensity and frequency of pain in the pancreas decrease, and manifests itself mainly as discomfort.
Often the pain in the pancreas is accompanied with other symptoms: a feeling of heaviness in the abdomen, heartburn, nausea, vomiting that does not bring relief, belching, bad breath, bloating (flatulence), diarrhea that increases after eating.
With complication or exacerbation of the pathological process in the pancreas, there may be: tissue necrosis with the formation of cavities (pseudocysts), which are filled with pancreatic juice by tissue debris; jaundice (due to difficulty in the outflow of bile due to compression of the bile duct with an inflamed biliary gland); ascites.
[What causes the pancreas?
Acute and chronic pancreatitis is not the only cause of pain in the pancreas. Often, pains in the pancreas cause other diseases unrelated to the gland itself:
- Excessive use of alcohol (70% of all cases);
- Smoking;
- Fried, fatty, spicy food;
- Age changes in the pancreas;
- Autoimmune diseases that lead to the formation of autoantibodies;
- Diseases of the gallbladder and bile ducts,
- Gallstone disease;
- Admission of hormonal drugs (corticosteroids, estrogens) and some antibiotics (tetracyclines);
- Metabolic disorders (hyperlipidemia, obesity, hyperparathyroid crisis);
- Disturbance of outflow of pancreatic juice due to tumors, injuries, abnormal growth of scar tissue in the pancreas or in nearby tissues;
- Pregnancy.
If you have a pancreas, you urgently need to consult a gastroenterologist who will prescribe the necessary examinations to determine the exact diagnosis of why the pancreas hurts.