Chronic pancreatitis

For a lay person:

Chronic pancreatitis is long-term inflammation that permanently damages the pancreas. It causes repeated or constant upper abdominal pain and, over time, poor digestion of fat and diabetes.

For a trained medical person:

Progressive fibroinflammatory disease of the pancreas, most often related to alcohol and smoking, with pain, exocrine insufficiency and endocrine failure. Diagnosis is by imaging (CT, MRCP, endoscopic ultrasound). Management: abstinence, analgesia, pancreatic enzyme replacement and treatment of diabetes.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Liver Qi Stagnation; Qi and Blood Stagnation; Liver-gallbladder (spleen-stomach ) damp heat; Cold-Damp Encumbering the Spleen; Food Stagnation. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Get urgent care for severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, or yellowing of the skin.