Chronic pancreatitis: symptoms and treatment of chronic pancreatitis

The list of causes that cause symptoms of chronic pancreatitis takes more than a dozen lines, because inflammation of the pancreas is varied, and the disease itself is considered polyetiological.

The emergence of acute pancreatitis, and the development of chronic inflammation are links in one chain, the beginning of which lies in a person's lifestyle and state of health.

But, despite the increase in the incidence of morbidity and the rejuvenation of the age, its appearance does not in any way stimulate people give up addictions, resort to healthy food or pay attention to motor activity.

Timely treatment for acute pancreatitis allows you to get rid of the disease in 2/3 of cases.

Lack of proper therapy leads to the onset and development of chronic inflammation of the pancreas, the treatment of which rarely has such a chance.

The nature of the problem

Chronic pancreatitis is a consequence of permanent neglect of one's own health, ignoring alarming signs and symptoms of not only pancreatic diseases.

This is the result of the development of multiple disorders in the body, which not only did not receive the necessary treatment, but were also aggravated by the continuation of the previous lifestyle, addictions, abuse alcohol.

Inflammation of the pancreas is a frequent consequence of cholelithiasis and liver pathologies, and this is natural, because it is with them in the same hepato-biliary system.

Acute pancreatitis, proceeding in an untreated state, turns into chronic pancreatitis. This process begins to develop according to its own scheme, due to provocateurs, pathologies present in the body, the age and sex of a person,

The individual clinical picture is diverse, symptoms and signs at an early stage are practically not manifested.

The vague signs of chronic pancreatitis do not give much cause for concern.

A visit to a doctor for diagnosis and treatment often occurs at the stage when the tactics of treatment are reduced to maintaining the quality and prolonging life.

The period of exacerbation, which is easy to confuse with other pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, is replaced by a lull, and the treatment of chronic pancreatitis never comes, because the person is unaware of its presence.

It is possible to independently diagnose inflammation of the pancreas only with minimal medical knowledge and an unclouded mind, therefore, among people who drink alcohol, it often reaches 3 stages. suggesting pronounced symptoms of significant development:

• at an early stage, an exacerbation of pancreatitis occurs no more than 1 time in six months, resembling food poisoning in a mild form or indigestion, which is easily dealt with by familiar medicines;
• at the middle stage, attacks become more frequent, exacerbations of chronic pancreatitis occur more often, weight changes, the composition of feces, in it undigested inclusions appear, the pain symptom intensifies, and the duration of the discomfort;
• the severe stage of chronic inflammation develops according to its own scenario, since chronic pancreatitis is a collective a term for variable conditions that even physicians find it difficult to classify according to all the signs present.

How to treat, which methods of treatment to choose, depends on many factors and tactics are determined by the gastroenterologist on the basis of a thorough and reliable diagnosis.

The present symptoms and treatment are determined in chronic pancreatitis by the severity, development mechanism and stage: exacerbation of pancreatitis or its temporary attenuation.

How successful the treatment of chronic pancreatitis will be depends on the timeliness of treatment, therefore each a person can listen carefully to their body and consult a doctor if they have a reason to suspicion.

How to identify symptoms of the disease

Chronic pancreatitis is a multifaceted and polyetiological disease, but certain signs always indicate its presence.

To identify it in the body, it is enough to carefully analyze your condition:

• A sign of chronic pancreatitis can be spontaneous weight loss, which occurs without obvious explanations (taking fat burners, strict diets, playing sports, expressed emotional experiences. Although weight loss is an uncharacteristic sign, because it can indicate various diseases: oncology, bowel disease, cystic fibrosis. However, they will already have other negative symptoms, while here at the initial stage there will be only mild signs of exacerbation.
• Abnormal discharge of natural needs, disturbances in stool, its frequency, composition and consistency may indicate any a problem with the digestive system: intestines, liver, gallbladder, but in the presence of pancreatitis, the symptoms are caused by specific condition. Lack of pancreatic enzymes results in a specific appearance of the stool, which may in itself be a distinctive feature.
• A permanent, but uncharacteristic sign of problems with the pancreas may be the presence of a pain symptom in the epigastric region under solar plexus), however, it is inherent in several intestinal pathologies, it can be a sign of cancer, metastasis and even diseases spine.

Much is known about pancreatitis, and its signs at a severe stage are so pronounced that it is impossible not to notice it.

But in the early stages, you can already focus on this triad in order to undergo diagnostics.

And if in the anamnesis, after research, there will be hr. pancreatitis, perhaps, it is the above-described signs that will reveal it at the time when diet and drug treatment will avoid serious consequences.

Classification of states

Symptoms and treatment depend on many components, and since chronic pancreatitis is only a general characteristic of the process, it is especially important to understand the necessary tactics of therapy of the pancreatic process in the tissues, it is the diagnosis of the present varieties.

Chronic pancreatitis is usually present in two stages - remission and exacerbation, and the symptoms during exacerbation of pancreatitis differ significantly from the manifestations during the rest period.

Domestic researcher-gastroenterologist V. T. Ivashkin, developed a classification of the disease according to several of the most characteristic features.

It is used by gastroenterology diagnostics. Thanks to him, in clinical practice, several signs of a negative process in the pancreas are taken into account:

• by the main provoking factor (etiological sign), which makes it possible to eliminate in time the reason that affects the onset and exacerbation of the disease (alcoholic, toxic, biliary, drug, destructive and etc.);
• by the localization of the lesion (which part of the gland has undergone a destructive effect (inflammation of the head of the pancreas, its body or tail, or total defeat);
• by the nature of the course - symptoms often or rarely appear, or are practically present constantly (rare relapses, frequent signs of exacerbations of chronic pancreatitis, persistent chronic pancreatitis pancreatitis);
• morphological characteristics that cannot be detected without reliable research, but can be assumed by the symptoms and clinical picture present;
• clinical signs - verbally collected data when the patient talks about the symptoms present (astheno-neurotic (subjective, sometimes contrived), latent (proceeding in a mild form), hyposecretory, combined (combining features of 3 or more types), pain (with permanent negative sensations).

Treatment of exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis is carried out symptomatically and is aimed at eliminating the present symptoms that bring the patient permanent discomfort.

In the stage of remission, preventive measures are added to treatment aimed at preventing the development and not provoking exacerbation symptoms.

The main differentiation of the disease is to distinguish between the state of attenuation and exacerbation, but to treat chronic pancreatitis is needed constantly, diet and restrictions, and sometimes taking medications allow you to prevent the occurrence exacerbation.

At the same time, it is extremely rare to cure chronic pancreatitis, and certainly not at home with folk remedies.

The mechanism of development and forms of the disease

The pancreas in the body performs the most important functions, its activity is aimed at producing digestive enzymes that enter the intestinal lumen and break down food entering the body.

The pancreatic duct, being blocked, cannot transport the enzymes produced, as a result of which inflammation develops.

Reactive pancreatitis, sometimes isolated in a separate clinical form, occurs against the background of chronic disorders occurring in the digestive organs.

That is why its pronounced symptoms resemble an exacerbation of a chronic process.

There is a widespread point of view that acute and chronic types of the disease differ only in the continuation of the course of inflammation inside the cells after the elimination of the pathogenic agent.

In fact, the time of exacerbation, ignored repeatedly for any reason, inevitably leads to the appearance a permanent source caused by endogenous or exogenous insufficiency, a change in the composition of pancreatic juice glands.

Destructive changes appear depending on the form that the disease has acquired:

• in the recurrent stage, attenuation and external calm are replaced by a worsening of the condition and the occurrence of a relapse with a corresponding set of signs;
• painless is relatively rare, symptoms are extremely weak, mainly related to defecation disorders, so that persons who constantly drink alcohol may not notice the disease, up to a significant deterioration and severe stages;
• in the sclerosing form, there are pain and stool disorders, nausea up to vomiting, but the main changes can be detected only with morphological examination;
• in constant pain, to which every 5th patient is subject, pain is constantly present, and just as persistently patients complain of negative symptoms localized in the epigastrium and radiating to the back;
• icteric or pseudotumor form manifests itself in every 10th, exacerbation of pancreatitis provokes yellowness of the skin, and this is caused by compression of the bile duct caused by inflammation in head.

An exacerbation of pancreatitis, the symptoms of which cannot be overlooked is a set of external signs, which does not always contain all those listed by patients.

Because the exacerbation of different forms is a manifestation of variable destruction processes that develop in a certain course.

Chronic pancreatitis is a collective term for several forms of the disease with their destructive processes and associated complications.

Exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis, the symptoms of which depend on the form of the course - the same collective a term denoting different clinical pictures, united by one sign - inflammation of the pancreatic tissue glands.

General clinical picture: similarities and differences

Exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis is a set of characteristic signs, one or more of which may be absent in the course of a separate form.

For example, with a painless form of inflammation of the gland, practically no pain sensations are possible (although in an exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis, the norm is precisely the present attacks).

In its opposite, painful form, the patient constantly experiences negative sensations, but jaundice does not develop either in it or in the other 3.

Nevertheless, an approximate picture remains common for any form, which is caused by the impaired exocrine function of the gland.

• pain of the most variable nature (constant, episodic, paroxysmal, in the form of contractions, poorly distinguishable);
• pain of various dislocations (with irradiation to the back from the epigastrium, in the epigastric region with recoil to the scapula or a shoulder of a girdle character in the peritoneal region, on the left under the ribs and in the region of the spine, etc.);
• the pain experienced during an exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis can be associated with the use of a provocateur or its action, or manifest itself completely independently, for no apparent reason;
• aversion to food, lack of appetite, vomiting and nausea, which are present almost constantly (with alcoholic pancreatitis, this is attributed to a hangover and a state of alcohol intoxication):
• defecation disorders, mainly of a dyspeptic nature, although constipation is also sometimes present, due to the fact that the enzymes of the pancreas do not enter the intestinal lumen, but attack and digest the producing them organ;
• the characteristic consistency and appearance of the stool - in the form of gruel, greasy, of an indefinite grayish shade, greasy due to steatorrhea, which is associated with a violation of the production of pancreatic lipase;
• temperature, often subfebrile, which may rise slightly if the process of inflammation of the pancreas is complicated by additional factors;
• common symptoms, reminiscent of many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - belching, flatulence, bloating, rolling gas in the intestines, nausea, indigestion;

In order to suspect an exacerbation of pancreatitis, the symptoms are pronounced, but not very characteristic, especially if the patient did not pay attention to the stool.

Therefore, palpation of the abdomen is usually performed at the location of the organ.

At the same time, exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis gives constant soreness, sometimes it is possible to grope thickening of the transverse shape or the appearance of hypertrophied soreness in the left hypochondrium (not always).

Morphological signs of changes are difficult to take into account without special diagnostics (laboratory tests, during which it can be found, that pancreatic enzymes increased significantly in urine and blood levels), coprograms, duodenography, CT and MRI, endoscopic studies and etc.

It is necessary to treat chronic pancreatitis in any condition, purposefully and methodically, but with an exacerbation of the pancreas, treatment may be urgent and require terminal measures.

During the period of remission, all measures are aimed at maintaining a relatively normal state.

Treatment in different stages

In the matter of choosing a treatment tactics, all components are taken into account, starting with the one in which the disease is relapsing or calm.

If the condition allows, a thorough diagnosis is carried out, which determines the nature and form of the lesion, the primary directly in the organ) or secondary (when chronic pancreatitis occurs in the gland region due to other diseases of the digestive systems.

Eliminating the provoking factor and reducing the suffering of the patient is of paramount importance.

Initially, a conservative tactic is used - the patient is prescribed therapeutic fasting, drugs to suppress inflammation, and antienzyme drugs.

Then an extremely gentle diet is gradually introduced, an abundant alkaline drink is prescribed, drugs are prescribed that can even out the enzymatic background, raise it in the stomach and intestines and reduce it in the gland itself.

Treatment for chronic pancreatitis includes replacement therapy and diet therapy, along with taking moments and using alternative medicine.

Sometimes the disease is in such a state that surgery is required.

During the period of exacerbation, the treatment of chronic pancreatitis pursues the following goals - to eliminate provoking factors (obstruction of the bile duct, fistulas, intestinal stenosis, tumors or abscess.

In general, the treatment of chr. pancreatitis largely depends on what form of the disease is diagnosed, dictated by its stage, the presence of external provocateurs and the individual subclinical picture.

Symptoms of chronic pancreatitis is the general name for signs of the development of various forms of the disease, known under the general collective name.

Not only a favorable outcome, but also the quality of life and its duration depend on how timely the negative process is diagnosed and the treatment is consistently carried out.

Useful video