Pancreatitis: A quick guide to its causes, symptoms, treatment and...

Pancreatitis: A quick guide to its causes, symptoms, treatment and more

Posted 2024-06-14 12:13:09

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Introduction

Pancreatitis can hit you out of nowhere or creep up on you gradually. Let's delve into what causes it, what puts you at risk, the signs to watch for, and how it's treated.

First off, what's the deal with the pancreas? It's this organ hanging out in your belly, chilling behind your stomach.

The pancreas does double duty:

It makes and lets out enzymes to help break down your food.
It also produces hormones that keep your blood sugar levels in check.

So, when you munch on something and it heads down to your small intestine, your pancreas gets the memo to release those enzymes to aid in digestion. These enzymes do the heavy lifting, breaking down fats, proteins, and carbs. They're sent into this duct called the pancreatic duct, which hooks up with another duct called the bile duct, and together they ferry those enzymes into your small intestine.

Now, onto pancreatitis. When your pancreas gets all swollen up, that's pancreatitis. If it swells up suddenly and hangs around for a bit, that's acute pancreatitis. It usually happens when something gives your pancreas a sudden smackdown. If the swelling takes its sweet time to build up over years, that's chronic pancreatitis.