Acute Pancreatitis

ardelis · Silver Member Joined: 13 Sep 2000 Posts: 228

My cousin was complaining about the pain in the upper abdomen. He keeps telling us that for a few days, how severe his pain was. Since he started to looks and feels very sick, finally he visited his doctor. There he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. This sounds like something serious to me, so I would like to hear a little bit more about meaning of acute pancreatitis.

cendejas · Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 19

That is true that Acute Pancreatitis can be a severe and life-threatening illness with many complications. Acute Pancreatitis occurs more often in men than women, that is what statistics says. This disease is usually caused by gallstones or by drinking too much alcohol. Some other possible causes of pancreatitis should be carefully examined so that appropriate treatment can begin. Treatment depends on the severity of the attack that patient is complaining. It is possible that Acute Pancreatitis improves on its own if no kidney or lung complications occur. Treatment, in general, is designed to support vital bodily functions and preventing any possible complications. In severe cases, patient may require intravenous feeding for some time, while the pancreas slowly heals. This process is called total parenteral nutrition, which is not used so commonly. Now you might conclude by your own which type of Acute Pancreatitis your cousin has, according to therapy his doctor recommended.

Guest · Guest

Hi there,

For almost 5 years now i've been having recurrent acute pancreatitis, so I know first hand how painful it can get.

Basically... in most cases yes it is likely due to gallstones or alcohol, but sometimes it may be due to other factors. Often times when admitted to the hospital, the first thing they will do (after blood test) is to put the patient on a no liquid, no food diet until the pain fades and the lipase levels drop (lipase is basically like "fats" in your blood that are used in pancreas). Anyways, oftentimes morphine will be also administered.

The good thing is, most ppl who have Acute Pancreatitis have it once... and if they watch out for the alcohol, they shouldnt ever see it again. The bad news is... its one of the most painful (according to my doctors anyways) ailments you can get. For me anyways, it feels like someone is taking a knife and plunging it into your entire abdomen. Its often characterized by a increasing constant pain either right below the middle of your ribcage (where the 2 halves meet) or right below the left rib cage.

Normally all pancreatitis is is swelling of the pancreas because it is inflammed. With time it will calm down as long as it does not have to overwork itself (aka. by producing enzymes to digest food -- hence the no food diet). Most of the time ppl will be in the hospital for bout a week or 2 so its not too too bad. As soon as the pain starts to drop, they gradually increase the diet by introducing liquids, then semi-solids (jello/puddings) then solids back into ur diet

hope that helps!

Acute Pancreatitis

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