Anyone had pancreatitis, what to look out for?

[snestive]

For the past 24 hours I have had some pain under my ribs, more to the front on the right hand side. It isn't severe but more like a niggle or discomfort kind of pain. I did have what felt like a stomach ache when I went to be last night that only came on when I lay down. When I woke up early this morning I felt more of the niggly feeling on my right hand side.

I am worried it is something more serious as I had my gallbladder out last year after trying to lose weight. I have mild issues with binge eating and I haven't been great recently. I also noticed that I had somewhat paler, fattier stools but I thought that was due to drinking benacol and I had an episode of high heart rate the other night but I had put that down to being dehydrated and my blood pressure dropping.

I was worried it might be my pancreas but it seems to be on the wrong side for that. Hopefully it will clear up over the weekend but just in case if it was my pancreas what should I be looking out for?

You might not have classic pancreatitis symptoms, but your pale, fatty stools, right-side discomfort, and high heart rate could signal a bile duct or pancreas issue — especially after gallbladder removal.
🚩 See a doctor if you get:

• Severe or constant pain (especially spreading to your back)
• Nausea, vomiting
• Fever, jaundice (yellow eyes/skin)
• Dizziness or fast heartbeat

✅ For now:

• Eat low-fat meals, stay hydrated
• Avoid alcohol and heavy foods
• Monitor symptoms — if worse after 48h, seek medical help

Better safe than sorry.

My pancreatic pain felt in the middle going through to the back. It was a severe, gnawing type pain and it's the only pain that I didn't feel that I could handle and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. It was set off as a result of a gallbladder attack.

@catholicsinspace That sounds awful, I had emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder during a very severe attack where infection had set in and my pancreas and liver were affected but I've been find for ages now. This is nothing like that, it's just a niggle and uncomfortable I just wander if it is the start of something or if like Gallbladder pain pancreatic pain comes on like a freight train.

You can get chronic pancreatitis and I think you can still have problems with your bile duct, even if you've had the gallbladder removed. I don't know if the constant drip of bile can irritate the pancreas on the way past as all that plumbing is interlinked. The gp can do a blood test to see if there's pancreatic inflammation though.

Mine came on very suddenly, then settled down and niggled, before going away. Took a few days.

Perhaps your pain is coming from your stomach or duodenum. I hope you can see your gp soon. Try describing your symptoms to chatgpt as it's pretty good at diagnosis.