Acute pancreatitis: symptoms, causes and treatment

Acute pancreatitis is a rare disease, of which not everyone knows. That is why many patients with this diagnosis are first of all asked by the question: "What is acute pancreatitis?". Let's look at the symptoms of acute pancreatitis and the methods of its treatment.

• What distinguishes acute pancreatitis from chronic?
• Symptoms of the disease
• Causes of development
• Acute pancreatitis in children
• Home Treatment
• Treatment with medicines
• Treatment with folk remedies
• Infusion of a golden mustache
• Therapeutic infusion of chamomile pharmacy and immortelle
• Infusion of dill
• Diet for acute pancreatitis
• What can you eat?

Acute pancreatitis is a disease in which pancreatic tissue is damaged by its own enzymes. Which leads to inflammation and an increase in size.

What distinguishes acute pancreatitis from chronic?

Disease in acute form develops rapidly, but it flows violently. If there is no treatment, it can end in a lethal outcome.

The chronic form develops gradually, the destruction of the pancreatic tissues is slow. In the absence of treatment, complications such as bleeding and cyst formation may occur. The disease often develops in adult patients.

In a healthy person, the juice produced by the pancreas through its ducts is transferred to the intestine. It consists of a large number of non-activated digestive enzymes. In the event that the pancreatic duct obstructs, the outflow of pancreatic juice does not occur. As a result, pancreatic enzymes are activated in the pancreas itself and instead of food they begin to erode the pancreas, thus provoking severe inflammation.

Important!About symptoms and treatment of reactive pancreatitis, you can find out in our article.

Symptoms of the disease

The main sign of this ailment is a sharp severe pain above the navel. Localization of painful sensations depends on which part of the body has suffered damage. If the patient has a head injury, then he will feel pain under the right rib or in the solar plexus. Destroyed tissues of the body or tail of the pancreas will cause pain in the area of ​​the left rib, which will be given in the back. With complete organ damage, the pain will be shrouded, pronounced and constant.

Patients with pancreatitis are constantly feeling nauseous, they can also have profuse and prolonged vomiting of the contents of the stomach in some cases with an admixture of bile. Sometimes vomiting happens even because of one sip of liquid.

Note!The contents of vomit in pancreatitis never contain the contents of the intestine.

With acute pancreatitis, the patient's state of health deteriorates rapidly, his skin turns pale and becomes earthy in color, while scleras are painted in a yellowish hue.

The skin of such patients is cold and wet. In severe cases, tachycardia can occur with reduced pressure. These symptoms can indicate the development of pain shock and a strong blood clotting as a result of dehydration.

Important!More on the first symptoms and signs of pancreatitis read on the pages of our site.

In a neglected case, the patient may have bluish spots all over the body, including on the face.

The abdomen in these patients is moderately inflated, with palpation along the pancreas they feel severe pain. At listening at them intestinal noises are practically not audible, and sometimes they and at all are absent.

Important!Symptoms of pancreatitis in women are described in detail in our article.

Causes of development

The development of pancreatitis can cause many factors. The most common cause of this disease is the consumption of alcoholic beverages in large quantities for a long time. According to statistics, 40-50% of cases of pancreatitis were caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Provoke the development of the disease can also clogging the bile duct with stones.

Among the other factors leading to the emergence of acute pancreatitis can be identified:

• diseases and pathological conditions of the duodenum, vascular disease;
• injuries or severe strokes in the abdomen;
• surgical operations on the stomach or bile ducts;
• long-term use of certain medications;
• infectious diseases, disruptions in the endocrine system;
• pathology of pancreatic ducts, metabolic disorders;

In 30% of patients, the causes of pancreatitis remain unknown. Sometimes an ailment can be caused by helminthic invasions.

Acute pancreatitis in children

Acute pancreatitis in children is not diagnosed infrequently and they proceed in a lighter form than in adults. Most often they have acute edematic pancreatitis, the main cause of which is an allergy to food or medicine. Children can also develop purulent-necrotic pancreatitis with infection. However, this happens very rarely due to serious malformations of the digestive tract.

Home Treatment

Most people who were first attacked by an acute attack of pancreatitis, what to do is of interest first.

To treat an attack of pancreatitis independently at home is strictly not recommended, as this can lead to disastrous consequences. But if at the moment there is no opportunity to consult a doctor, you can try to eliminate the cause of the delay of digestive enzymes and alleviate the pain yourself.

Important!Which doctor treats pancreatitis, read in our article.

To ease the pain, the patient can sit down and lean slightly forward.

First aid for an attack of acute pancreatitis

1. The patient should be at rest and move as little as possible.
2. At this time it is forbidden to eat any food.
3. The patient should drink water, but not more than 50 ml at a time. Use liquid is recommended every half hour.
4. It is strictly forbidden to take drugs, which contain enzymes of the pancreas (kroene, mezim). This will only exacerbate the situation.
5. To ease the pain, the patient can take a no-shpa or drotaverina hydrochloride.
6. On the abdominal region, in which the pancreas is located or on the side of the back, it is recommended to apply ice.

Important!How to cure pancreatitis quickly at home, find out here.

If the patient is sighing at the moment of an attack, he must breathe superficially. During an attack, you can hold your breath until the pain subsides.

At a pancreatitis it is impossible to restrain vomitive desires, at a nausea it is recommended to clean a stomach, pressing fingers on a root of tongue

note!If the patient has an appetite, he should not at all consume food, as it is guaranteed to exacerbate the disease.

Treatment with medicines

Treatment of acute pancreatitis should be started as early as possible, the complex therapy and speed of recovery depend on this. So, in the first stages of the disease, sparing methods of treatment are usually used, while with a neglected disease, surgical treatment may be needed.

Usually the treatment of pancreatitis is reduced to taking medications. For this purpose, both hormones and anti-inflammatory drugs will help. Antibiotics are prescribed in order to prevent infection of pancreatic tissues. Without fail, the doctor prescribes anti-ulcer drugs to all patients suffering from pancreatitis (omez, gastrozole).

Important!What to do with exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis, find out here.

If the patient's condition improves during the first week of treatment, surgery will not be required. The universal scheme of treatment of the patient does not exist, it is made according to the individual characteristics of each patient.

Although there are general recommendations. All patients with pancreatitis during the first 3-5 days of treatment are given hunger. At this time you can only drink water. During these several days, the patient is fed to the patient through a dropper with nutrient solutions. Only after 5-7 days the patient is allowed to consume soups and broths in small portions. This will lead to a decrease in the level of pancreatic enzymes.

Important!Than pancreatitis is dangerous, you can find out in our article.

Treatment with folk remedies

To enhance the effect of drugs in pancreatitis, you can use the healing herbs.

Attention!Before using these medications, always consult a doctor.

Infusion of a golden mustache

1. Grind 3 leaves of the plant.
2. Pour 600 ml of hot water.
3. Boil for 15-20 minutes.
4. The broth should be infused for 8 hours.

Take medicine 50 drops 3 times a day.

Important!What other herbs are used to treat pancreatitis, you can find out here.

Important!It is interesting to know whether it is possible to eat a watermelon with pancreatitis, read in our article.

Therapeutic infusion of chamomile pharmacy and immortelle

Mix 2 hours. l. dried grated herb immortelle with 2 hours. l. chamomile pharmacy, pour all 250 ml of boiling water. After that, put the medicine in a warm place, insist 40-60 minutes. Take infusion 2 times a day for 30 minutes before meals.

Infusion of dill

To prepare the medicine you need 1 tbsp. l. dry fried dill grass pour 200 ml of boiling water. Let stand for 40 minutes in a warm place. After this, infusion strain and add to it warm water to the original volume. Take the tincture you need 30 minutes before eating.

Diet for acute pancreatitis

The diet in acute pancreatitis should be such as not to overload the pancreas and eventually reduce the amount of digestive enzymes.

Attention!A diet prescribed by a doctor must be observed. It is necessary that acute pancreatitis does not become chronic.

What can you eat?

No matter where the therapy is carried out at home or in the hospital, the patient should starve for 3-5 days. At this time you can drink ordinary water or mineral, but without gas and small sips.

After that, the doctor decides which foods can be included in the diet. Usually, patients with pancreatitis are recommended to consume enough fat, maximize the amount of proteins and minimize the use of carbohydrates. On the day a person should consume 2500-2700 kcal.

Important!On proper nutrition with pancreatic pancreatitis, you can find out here.

You can eat only boiled or steamed dishes.

Completely excluded from the diet:

• fried and smoked;
• citrus;
• fatty foods;
• White bread;
• alcoholic beverages.

Such a diet should be observed for 1 year and avoid overeating. Quite often it is necessary to adhere to a dietary diet all life.

Prophylaxis of pancreatitis is very simple. Limit the consumption of alcohol, harmful food. Eat correctly, in small portions. And in time to conduct diagnostics in congenital malformations of the pancreas.