Describe your chronic pancreatitis pain

Hello I am 35 years old and about 3 years ago had a very scary episode where I developed a suddocyst in my pancreas wich started to leak.i underwent major surgery and was in the hospital for about 7months.then in February of this year I was hospitalized again and was diagnosed w chronic pancreatitis.I have been having some pain on my abdomen and don’t know if it’s my pancreas but since I don’t have any insurance it’s really hard to get a doctor to see me.i would appreciate any info on what to look for when ur having an episode 

I haven’t been diagnosed with either form of pancreatitis because my labs were all normal. I went to the ER on 11/19 for pain up under my left ribs and was diagnosed w/ulcers and slow stomach. The pain is severely worse, feels like a softball under my ribs, nausea, vomiting, bp is high for me, heart rate faster than normal, mouth and nose are dry as sand. Can you have pancreatitis and labs be normal??

Hey Mark.........I've just been for a ultra scan and they told me they weren't able to see the pancreas with that test and that I would have to have a CT scan and blood tests to see if it was my Panceras. I have pain to the left upper abdominal pain that goes into my chest. I have tests on my heart because I first thought it was my heart but that seems to be be ok. I had the ultra scan to see it it was gall bladder stones but they never found anything apart from a fatty liver. Do you get the chest pains? I do believe a ultra sound test isn't the correct one for the Panceras. Hope this finds you well 🙂

Hello everyone,

Martin here. Have been experiencing upset stomach with some pain and slight nausea for 7 weeks. When it started I also experienced extreme fatigue which diminished over 3 weeks. Energy is fine now but in the past three days I started to experience a more pronounced pain on my left side just under the rib and more diffuse discomfort in the left flank, kidney area. Like a sore muscle from sleeping wrong. The discomfort has radiated to the right slightly but is firmly on the left lower back. My GP is unconcerned. Has prescribed Pepsi’s in addition to emeraprozole. Prior to this I’ve never had stomach issues. Heartburn yes but stomach has always been stable. Dr ordered alkaline phosphatese which was normal and alt which was slightly elevated, at 70.

My heart goes out to those on this thread suffering. Obviously I’m worried. Any advice? I feel like I really got to get to the bottom of this.

Hello Martin here,

My heart goes out to all of you. About 7 weeks ago, I started having extreme fatigue and upset stomach. After about two weeks the fatigue had subsided.

But the upset tummy continues. In the past 3 days I’ve had a fairly sharp pain on left abdomen coupled with a soreness in the lower left flank kidney area that radiates toward the right but is most specific on left.

Prior to these lates side pain symptoms Dr gave me liver test, hpylari and alkaline phosphates. Liver was slightly elevated to 70 and other were normal.

Should I be concerned? Do these symptoms seem consistent with pancreas? Particularly the lower kidney area? Could they be something else? What should I pursue as next steps?

Thanks and best health to you all!

Im not sure about the Chronic Pancreatitis as I was diagnosed with the "Acute Pancreatitis" when I got hospitalized. And I will tell you, you will know it if you have acute pancreatitis, the pain is almost unbearable and you literally feel like you are going to die and feel if you arent going to die, you wish you would just to be out of the pain. I was in so much pain I was disoriented and I could barely walk...I kept falling down and when Id fall I would double up, oh yes, you will know it if you get hit with Acute Pancreatitis. Please check back in with us if this is Chronic or not of yours, I do understand there is a differance between the Acute and Chronic.

Hello there. My first acute attack of pancreatitis, after gallbladder attack, was absolutely horrible. I've had chronic pancreatitis for 6 years now. It is always horrible. Delaudid is only thing that will touch pain. Starts out constant tolerable, then escalates. Probiotics really help.

Your doctor is wrong about the enzymes.  Lipase and Amylase are useful for diagnosing acute pancreatitis, but chronic pancreatitis is a different matter.  I had acute pancreatitis the first time at age 17.  My amylase was around 900 U/L.  I am now in my 40s and have chronic pancreatitis and my amylase rarely even rises to the lowest level of the reference range - usually about 18 U/L.  After your pancreas has become damaged, lipase and amylase are not useful for diagnosis.  Other tests such as EUS and ERCP are used to diagnose chronic pancreatitis.  Fecal Elastase is used to diagnose pancreatic insufficiency that often accompanies severe chronic pancreatitis and levels below 200 ug indicate damage and malabsorption.  With all due respect most general practitioners don't know anything about diagnosing chronic pancreatitis, but are good at diagnosing acute pancreatitis because they can run the simple blood tests.  I was diagnosed very quickly for acute pancreatitis.  Getting diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis took years and I had to consult with a specialist.  Low Lipase and Amylase below the reference range are often associated with chronic pancreatitis and high levels are rarely seen except during acute flareups.  There have been a few studies written on this very topic very recently and I suspect many if not most doctors don't know much about chronic pancreatitis.  Also, if you begin to develop diabetes or even prediabetes, I would recommend further testing with your other symptoms such as fecal elastase, ERCP, EUS and seeing a specialist that specifically treats the disease.  

I've had acute pancreatitis and I would describe it as getting one those stomach cramps that makes you double over for a minute. Then magnify that by about 25x or so and have it last for a couple of days non-stop and that's what my pancreatitis pain was like. They shot me full of morphine but even that didn't dull it completely although it did put me to sleep for a couple of hours when I was injected. I imagine it must feel a bit like being slowly disembowelled.

Hi. I've been dealing with some weird symptoms for the last few days. Moderate pain on the left upper side of my belly. It's pretty much constant. Whenever I eat or drink it gets much worse and I burp and burp and burp. The pain is very crampy and I can't quite catch my breath. I am not constipated nor do I have really any bowel symptoms. I feel full quickly, carbonated anything is horrendous. I love sparkling water and it is miserable. I do not have a gallbladder, it was removed 9 years ago. My energy is zapped, I sleep more but do not feel any more rested. I have tried antacids which do not help, anti gas meds which don't work. Normally I eat a small to medium breakfast, medium lunch and dinner. All my meals are smaller, my appetite has been reduced and the pain over 3 days has increased daily. My blood pressure which trends high has been bottoming out. This is kind of miserable. The 2 year battle I went through to have my gallbladder out was less painful not as up and down as this.