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Pancreatic pain
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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If your pancreas hurts, it is necessary to characterize the intensity, nature and localization of pain. All this data will help in making the correct diagnosis and prescribing adequate and effective treatment.
The pancreas is a lobular organ located behind the stomach. The main functions of the pancreas are direct participation in the digestion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
Pain in the pancreas can be of different nature: most often it is localized in the upper abdomen and periumbilical region (around the navel); girdle-like pain is a typical property of pain with damage to the pancreas; acute pain that intensifies after eating fatty or spicy foods, drinking alcohol, or lying on the back.
Pain in the pancreas can be relieved by avoiding fatty and spicy foods, even going without food for several days, applying ice to the left side of the abdomen, taking a knee-elbow position, and 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, with acute pancreatitis, pain in the pancreas is so intense that it can sometimes lead to death due to pain shock. Often the pain is localized around the navel, cutting, radiating to the back and left hypochondrium.
With chronic pancreatitis, the intensity of pain in the pancreas is weak and has a dull, aching character, localized in the upper abdomen and around the navel.
The duration of pain in chronic pancreatitis can be several days, sometimes up to several weeks. In long-standing chronic pancreatitis (more than 10 years), the intensity and frequency of pain in the pancreas decrease, and manifests itself mainly as discomfort.
Often, pain in the pancreas is accompanied by other symptoms: a feeling of heaviness in the abdomen, heartburn, nausea, vomiting that does not bring relief, belching, bad breath, bloating (flatulence), diarrhea that worsens after eating.
In case of complications or exacerbation of the pathological process in the pancreas, the following may occur: tissue necrosis with the formation of cavities (pseudocysts) that are filled with pancreatic juice and tissue remnants; jaundice (due to difficulty in the outflow of bile due to compression of the bile duct by the inflamed gallbladder); ascites.
[ What causes pancreas pain?
Acute and chronic pancreatitis are not the only causes of pain in the pancreas. Often, pain in the pancreas is caused by other diseases not related to the gland itself:
- Excessive alcohol consumption (70% of all cases);
- Smoking;
- Fried, fatty, spicy foods;
- Age-related changes in the pancreas;
- Autoimmune diseases that lead to the formation of autoantibodies;
- Diseases of the gallbladder and bile ducts,
- Gallstone disease;
- Taking hormonal medications (corticosteroids, estrogens) and some antibiotics (tetracyclines);
- Metabolic disorders (hyperlipidemia, obesity, hyperparathyroid crisis);
- Violation of the outflow of pancreatic juice due to tumors, injuries, pathological proliferation of scar tissue in the pancreas or in adjacent tissues;
- Pregnancy.
If your pancreas hurts, you urgently need to see a gastroenterologist who will prescribe the necessary tests to determine the exact diagnosis of why your pancreas hurts.