Exacerbation of pancreatitis: drugs, treatment at home
Chronic pancreatitis is a common disease, especially in the 35-45 age group. The course of the process is characterized by a change in exacerbations and remissions. With exacerbation of pancreatitis, the secretion of digestive enzymes and hormones decreases due to the formation of scars, pseudocysts and calcifications in the tissues of the organ.
Let's look at how to relieve the aggravation of pancreatitis, how long it lasts and what to do to avoid it? Answers to these questions are important for patients with a chronic form of the disease.
How long does the exacerbation last?
The acute phase can last from several hours to seven days, sometimes longer. How much the exacerbation of pancreatitis lasts depends on the length of illness and the aggressiveness of the provoking factor. A simple violation of the diet causes a short-term deterioration of well-being, and taking large amounts of alcohol, a long course of antibiotics, cytostatics or exacerbation of cholelithiasis leads to a long-lasting symptomatology.
If the experience of the disease is small, exacerbation of the process with severe pain may last for a week or more. In patients with a long history of illness, the intensity and duration of the pain component of the exacerbation decrease, the remaining symptoms persist for a long time, but they do not manifest themselves so brightly.
The duration of exacerbation also depends on the patient's age, the presence of concomitant diseases. Usually treatment lasts for a month, and maintenance therapy lasts at least 6 months.
Signs of exacerbation of pancreatitis
In the early stages of the signs of exacerbation of pancreatitis resemble a clinic of an acute form of the disease, which proceeds with severe pain syndrome. As a rule, the pain decreases with leans forward, squats.
In addition to abdominal pain, the patient presents the following complaints:
- belching with air or eaten food, heartburn;
- rumbling in the abdomen, increased gassing;
- unstable stool with a tendency to diarrhea;
- presence of undigested food particles, mucus, blood in the feces;
- nausea, vomiting with an admixture of bile, not bringing relief;
- fever, muscle pain, chills;
- fatigue, lack of appetite, irritability.
If the process is long, the pain syndrome is no longer the leading one. In adult patients, complaints of yellowness of the skin and sclera come to the fore. There may be light feces and dark urine.
Symptoms of
Symptoms of exacerbation of pancreatitis in patients with a short history of the disease are very similar to an acute attack. The main sign in the clinical picture is pronounced and prolonged pain. More on the symptoms and treatment of acute pancreatitis →
There are several types of pain syndrome, depending on its nature and localization:
- Yazvennopodobnye pain. Characterized by night and hungry pain in the epigastric region, which requires differential diagnosis with a stomach ulcer.
- Pain reminiscent of left-sided renal colic. Localize in the left side and lumbar region to the left.
- Pain simulating exacerbation of cholecystitis or acute appendicitis. They are localized in the right hypochondrium and every 2-3 patients are accompanied by the appearance of jaundice of the skin and sclera. When jaundice occurs, an exclusion of the tumor process is necessary.
- Pains, accompanied by a violation of intestinal motility( belching, nausea and vomiting after eating make them similar to manifestations of dyskinesia of the intestine).
- Intense pain without definite localization, as in the case of a picture of an acute abdomen with the development of peritonitis.
On examination: the skin is pale, dry, in a whitish tongue, with the long course of the disease atrophy of the taste buds is possible. When palpating the abdomen, the doctor can determine the dense, enlarged and painful head of the pancreas. The abdomen is swollen, painful in the epigastric region and the left hypochondrium.
With exacerbation of pancreatitis in patients suffering from this disease for many years, abdominal pains are less expressed, disturb for a short time. This is due to the progressive insufficiency of the pancreas due to fibrotic changes in its tissues.
The following manifestations of pathology become dominant:
- Intermittent jaundice of varying severity.
- Steatorea( frequent offensive stool with characteristic fatty shine).
- Malabsorption syndrome with pronounced weight loss.
- Diabetes mellitus with high glucose levels in the blood, resistant to correction by sugar-reducing drugs.
Even a chronic process taking place in an erased form with a weakly pronounced clinic of exacerbation is dangerous, as it leads to a gradual degeneration of the pancreas.
Exacerbation during pregnancy
Chronic pancreatitis can become worse during pregnancy. During this period, the body experiences overloads, resulting in the risk of activation of any inflammatory process.
Deterioration of the pancreas function during pregnancy can also be caused by an unbalanced diet, diet disorders due to altered gustatory preferences of a woman.
What should I do if I'm exacerbated?
What should I do if my pancreatitis worsens? First of all you need to call an ambulance.
If symptoms of pancreatitis have appeared, first aid for exacerbation includes the following steps:
- complete exclusion of food and liquid intake;
- observance of rest, you need to lie in bed on your back, when you vomit you can take a position lying on his side with his knees pressed to the stomach;
- use of an ice pack in the form of a cold compress on the abdominal region.
After delivery to the hospital, the patient will be examined, based on the results the doctor will choose the most effective therapeutic tactics. It is forbidden to prescribe tablets and administer medications for exacerbation of pancreatitis.
If the exacerbation of the chronic process is limited to nausea after eating, the appearance of diarrhea, discomfort in the abdomen, you still need to consult a specialist for advice to avoid complications. After the examination the doctor will decide where to go for treatment - in inpatient or outpatient settings.
Is it possible to relieve the aggravation at home?
Exacerbated pancreatitis always carries a potential threat of developing necrotic changes in the gland tissue. Pancreatic necrosis requires urgent medical help in the conditions of a surgical hospital, as it can lead to a fatal outcome in the shortest possible time.
Many patients are more interested in exacerbating pancreatitis than in relieving pain. But it is important to remember that at home, in anticipation of doctors, the patient in no case should not take painkillers. They will not have the proper effect, but they can distort the clinical picture. The patient will relieve the condition of the spasmolytic pill( No-shpa, Papaverin).
If the degree of exacerbation of a chronic inflammatory process allows you to be treated at home, you must strictly follow all the doctor's recommendations. In this case, the main therapeutic method is to comply with diet, drinking regimen and taking prescribed medications. Read more about what medications are prescribed for pancreatitis →
Treatment methods
If pancreatitis is in the acute stage, treatment is aimed at suppressing the production by the gland of proteolytic enzymes that destroy its own tissue. Complex therapy should be applied against the background of a protective regime with the complete exception of any loads. The main role is given to drug therapy.
Medications for exacerbation of pancreatitis in adults are as follows:
- solutions for detoxification infusion therapy;
- anesthetics;
- antacids;
- protease inhibitors;
- antispasmodics;
- pancreatic enzymes;
- anticholinergics;
- antibiotics;
- sedatives.
Which drug from different groups is optimal, always solved individually. In the phase of remission of inflammation, confirmed by laboratory and instrumental methods, LFK, physiotherapy( electrophotophoresis with anesthetics and antispasmodics, mud therapy, magnetotherapy) are added to the treatment.
Than and how to treat an exacerbation of a pancreatitis if conservative methods do not help, pains are saved, the threat of development of complications is created? All these circumstances make urgent surgical intervention necessary.
Folk remedies
How to relieve pancreatitis exacerbation at home using folk remedies? At an aggravation to resort to use of national recipes not only it is useless, but also it is dangerous. Various infusions and decoctions of medicinal plants are widely used in the chronic form of the disease in the stage of remission. Their choice should be coordinated with the gastroenterologist.
Trying treatment with folk remedies, you can lose valuable time and create a serious threat to life. In the hospital, after the suppression of inflammatory phenomena, if the treating specialist allows, the patient can take herbal and vitamin teas, decoctions, infusions.
Cholagogue grasses are effective in exacerbating pancreatitis, but their use is possible only in the absence of stones in the gallbladder. The collection should include corn stigmas, tansy, hips, St. John's wort, chamomile, immortelle, mint. It is necessary to mix the dry medicinal raw materials, prepare the infusion and take it in a warm form before meals 3 times a day for a month.
The decoction made from chicory root also has a good effect. It should be taken between meals 3 times a day for 100 ml.
You can mix the following dried medicinal herbs in equal parts: St. John's wort, sage, chamomile, calendula, wormwood. Then cook the broth in a water bath and take half the glass before eating for a month. More information on what herbs are useful for pancreatitis →
Diet for exacerbation of pancreatitis
The diet, frequency of food intake and its volume are regulated by the treating specialist.
Recommended feeding scheme for exacerbation of pathology:
- 1 day - starvation;
- Day 2 - drinking of alkaline mineral water, broth of rose hips;
- allow liquid cereal porridges on water for 3-5 days.
Then there is a gradual expansion of the diet: it is allowed to use vegetable soups, lean sorts of meat and fish. Proper nutrition is the basis of therapy for inflammation of the pancreas and its prevention. More on the diet for exacerbation of pancreatitis →
Food should be boiled or steamed. Eat often, take food in a warm form and small amounts. Categorically prohibited fried, spicy food, carbonated drinks, canned food. It is important that the mineral water used in pancreatitis in the acute stage is degassed.
Prevention
To avoid the progression of pathology, you need to know why the disease can become aggravated, and avoid the influence of negative factors. More details on the causes of pancreatitis →
The following preventive measures are required:
- strict adherence to diet number 5a;
- rejection of alcohol;
- compliance with the work and rest regime with the exception of physical and neural overload;
- dispensary observation at the gastroenterologist with the passage of the appointed analyzes and examinations at least twice a year;
- course application of pancreatic enzymes designated by a specialist;
- control of cholesterol and blood sugar levels;
- courses of drugs that normalize the motility of the stomach and intestines, several times a year;
- therapy of concomitant chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- elimination of toxic effects on the body - uncontrolled use of medicines, occupational hazards;
- treatment in the sanatoriums of the appropriate profile.
Chronic pancreatitis is an insidious and dangerous disease whose aggravations significantly reduce the quality of life and cause serious damage to health. To avoid them, you need to regularly see a gastroenterologist, take maintenance therapy, lead a correct lifestyle. Complete recovery is impossible, but the main task of the patient is to live and be treated so that the exacerbations are rare and not dangerous for health.
Author: Olga Schepina, doctor,
specially for Moizhivot.ru
