Does It Hurt to Have Pancreatitis?
Key takeaways:
Pancreatitis is a medical condition where your pancreas becomes inflamed.
Managing pancreatitis pain involves a combination of medical interventions and lifestyle changes.
Three people who’ve dealt with pancreatitis pain say it’s important to listen to your body and advocate for yourself.
Pancreatitis can be a painful condition. It happens when the pancreas — an organ behind the stomach — becomes inflamed.
Since the pancreas plays a key role in digestion and regulation of your blood sugar, pancreas injury can lead to serious long-term complications.
Pancreatitis is most commonly triggered by gallstones, alcohol, and high triglycerides in the blood.
Symptoms can include severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and fever.
Here’s how three people describe what it’s like to have pancreatitis.
Living with a chronic condition
Derrick Winke, a 59-year-old tax accountant from Clarkston, Michigan, thought he had the stomach flu in March 2016.
He wasn’t eating that much and was in a lot of pain. Once the pain made it impossible for him to work, his wife took him to the hospital emergency department.
“From that point forward, I was in the hospital for 9 months,” Derrick says. It turned out that he had gallstones, which eventually led to necrotizing pancreatitis. “As my pancreas was dying, it was destroying my other internal organs,” he says.
The ordeal caught him by surprise. Just a few months before he went into the hospital, “I had a complete physical,” he says. “Other than being overweight and needing to eat better, I was fine.”
He had 56 surgeries between 2016 and 2019, including the removal of his gallbladder, appendix, half of his pancreas, and most of his small intestine.
The health crisis taught him one thing for sure: Pancreatitis hurts.
“When you’re having an episode or an attack, it is an extremely painful disease,” he says. “I am in a low level of pain at all times, a 1 or 2 out of a scale of 10.”
He manages his condition by getting blood work every 3 months, watching what he eats, and taking a prescription medication called Creon, which contains digestive enzymes, with every meal.
For those living with a chronic condition, he shares the importance of self-advocacy: “If you can’t advocate for yourself, who is going to advocate for you?” he says.
Acknowledging and addressing the pain
Brittney Long, a 27-year-old marketing specialist in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, had no health concerns leading up to getting pancreatitis in April 2022.
“I felt like I had period cramps, and I wrote off the pain for at least a week,” she says.
But the pain got worse every time she ate. At the end of the week, she had a bigger dinner, and things took a turn for the worse. After dinner, “I couldn’t even lay down on the bed,” she says. “I was in excruciating pain.”
Her boyfriend took her to the hospital emergency department that night. When her care team told her she had pancreatitis, Brittney was in disbelief.
“I had never heard of that before,” she says. “I didn’t know what it was, and it was scary.”
After her hospital stay, she saw a gastrointestinal specialist. She eventually learned that her gallbladder was not working properly and had it removed to address the pain.
While she feels better, “I still deal with a lot of the issues that come with getting diagnosed with autoimmune pancreatitis,” she says. She continues to see a specialist for her pancreas and inflammatory bowel disease since having pancreatitis.
She has made lifestyle changes and emphasizes listening to your body. “I’m completely more health-conscious [about] what I’m putting in my body,” she says.
Dealing with recurring symptoms
Monroe Marshall, a 28-year-old researcher in Glenville, New York, says he was not prepared for his experience with pancreatitis.
In May 2021, he was on a trip with his wife and her best friend in New York City. He had severe gastrointestinal issues during the whole trip.
At first, he thought it might have been from a few alcoholic beverages he had consumed, or maybe from his coffee. But it wasn’t getting better.
“I was freaking out,” he says. “And then on the Amtrak, I was in so much pain.”
His bathroom issues continued when he returned home, and he developed a mild fever. The next morning, his pain returned.
“A few days later, I woke up with what I thought was really bad heartburn, and it was only getting worse,” Monroe says. He couldn’t eat at all, and the pain got worse after he threw up. After the pain continued all day, he went to an urgent care center, where they gave him anti-nausea medication. That didn’t help much, either.
“I ended up going to the ER, because it was the worst pain I ever experienced,” he says.
Most of the pain was in his upper abdominal area. It was an intense combination of vomiting and severe pain. “It was excruciating, nonstop,” he says.
The doctors ran some tests and told Monroe that he had recurrent acute pancreatitis. “I went to public health school, and I never heard of pancreatitis,” he says.
He spent 8 days in the hospital. When he got home, he started focusing on his nutrition. He says he continues to make lifestyle adjustments and tries to eat less fat. He also finds support through social media and organizations that deal with pancreatitis from the patient perspective.
“With other people with pancreatitis, you could hear their experiences and get some tips and tricks,” he says.
What does the doctor say?
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH
Senior Medical Editor
Pancreatitis is a very painful condition. Many people feel a constant, intense pain in their upper abdomen that feels like it goes straight through into their upper back. But others may also experience pain that extends into the shoulder and symptoms including indigestion, nausea, and vomiting. Pancreatitis pain eventually becomes unbearable, which is why most people seek medical care. But at first, pancreatitis pain may not be severe. It may even come and go, becoming more noticeable after a meal. But as inflammation builds up, the pain usually gets worse. People also have trouble eating and drinking.
It can be hard to know if you have pancreatitis, especially if you’ve never had it before. Some people mistake their pain for something else, such as kidney stones, ulcers, or really bad heartburn. But you should seek care if you have severe abdominal pain that’s getting worse, especially if it’s keeping you from eating and drinking.
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