The pancreas is the largest gland in the human body. Its role in digestion is the formation and secretion of a secret containing enzymes for the breakdown of fats, proteins and carbohydrates in the duodenum. In addition, pancreatic juice contains bicarbonates, which neutralize the acidic contents that enter the intestines from the stomach. About 700 ml of pancreatic secretion is produced per day by the gland. Special cells in the pancreas produce insulin and glucagon. These are hormonal substances that are directly involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Their action is opposite: insulin reduces, and glucagon increases the glucose content in the body.
Chronic pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease of the pancreas that has a long relapsing course, with alternating periods of deterioration and remission, leading to a violation of its functions. Chronic pancreatitis should not be confused with acute. The latter is a rather severe life-threatening disease that should be treated only in a surgical hospital.
How to restore the pancreas in chronicpancreatitis and is it possible to do this? This will be discussed in the article.
Reasons
Before you learn how to restore the pancreas, you should understand the causes of the disease. They are as follows:
- Alcohol abuse. The toxic effect of ethanol on pancreatic cells has been proven, which leads to their damage and necrosis. As a result of increased pressure in the ducts, the production of enzymes is activated. Alcoholic pancreatitis mostly affects young men who regularly drink low-quality alcohol.
- Eating errors: excessive consumption of fatty, fried, spicy, overeating.
- Presence of other diseases of the digestive system: chronic gastroduodenitis, duodenal ulcer.
- Cholelithiasis. More often it causes pancreatitis in women over 50 who have obesity, high blood pressure and excess cholesterol in the blood.
- Violation of the outflow from the pancreas: pathology of the sphincter of Oddi (spasm, inflammation, swelling), tumor of Vater's nipple.
- Smoking.
- Stress. Cause dysmotility of smooth muscles.
- Hereditary defects of the pancreas (found in members of the same family).
- Autoimmune pancreatitis. It develops when, due to a malfunction in the immune system, antibodies to pancreatic cells begin to be produced.
- Acute poisoning.
- Helminthiases.
- Injuries.
- Cystic fibrosis is a conditionin which sclerosis of the pancreatic tissue occurs. It is the most common cause of pancreatitis in young children.
- Idiopathic pancreatitis.
Clinic
One of the first manifestations of the disease are pains that are localized in the upper and middle sections of the abdomen, in the middle or in the left hypochondrium, radiate to the back, often have a shrouding character. In the initial stages of the disease during exacerbation, they can be quite strong, boring. In the future, as fibrotic changes develop, the pains become dull and aching, their intensity noticeably decreases.
Due to the violation of the normal functioning of the body, the digestion of food is disturbed: nausea, lack of appetite, periodic vomiting, unstable stools with a greasy sheen, weight loss. Symptoms of intestinal dysbacteriosis develop: increased gas formation, belching, fetid stools.
Many patients with chronic pancreatitis develop endocrine disorders due to a decrease in hormone secretion - the so-called pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus.
Can the pancreas be restored?
How to restore the pancreas? The answer to this question depends, firstly, on the causes of the disease, and secondly, on how far the process has gone. The best results of treatment are achieved in the early stages of the disease, if the cause was dietary errors. But even whenlong experience of pancreatitis, if desired, you can restore the pancreas.
With the development of diabetes, unfortunately, full recovery will not be achieved.
How to restore the pancreas?
Compliance with the diet is the key to restoring impaired functions. Its main principle is the use of food that is easily digested in the digestive tract. This allows the injured pancreas to rest.
General principles of diet for pancreatic disease
How to restore the pancreas? As mentioned above, our nutrition plays an important role here. In case of illness, a strict diet is necessary, namely:
- Complete exclusion of fatty, fried, spicy.
- Food should be boiled or steamed.
- Don't eat hot or cold.
Recommended Products List
How to restore the pancreas? What can you eat? Recommended products are as follows:
- chicken, beef, veal;
- fermented milk products (natural yogurt, cottage cheese, fermented baked milk, kefir);
- hard mild cheeses;
- low-fat fish (Haddock, hake, pollock);
- eggs in the form of omelettes or soft-boiled eggs;
- tomatoes, limited quantities of potatoes, other vegetables (excluding white cabbage);
- fruit, excluding citrus fruits (recommended baked apples andpears);
- berries, except raspberries and strawberries;
- all kinds of cereals;
- desserts: biscuit cookies, marshmallows, marshmallows, lean croutons;
- drinks: chamomile tea, rosehip decoction, weak tea.
Foods that are prohibited for consumption
Is it possible to restore the pancreas and how to do it? As mentioned above, this is quite real, but one of the main conditions will be diet. It is strictly forbidden to eat:
- sausages;
- smoked meats;
- whole milk;
- tomatoes, garlic, legumes;
- citrus;
- raspberries and strawberries;
- coffee, black tea, carbonated drinks;
- ice cream;
- mushrooms, etc.
During the week, you should cook food in a pureed form. Further, as the state of he alth improves, the need for this disappears. This diet should be followed for life.
Medications for pancreas recovery
Since one of the most important signs of the disease is a violation of exocrine function, substitution treatment with drugs containing enzymes (amylase, protease, lipase) is prescribed for the recovery period. Preparations that restore the pancreas: Mezim Forte, Creon, Pancreatin, Panzinorm. Doses of drugs and the period of their intake are selected by the doctor in each case.individually.
Under the action of enzymes, food digestion improves, intra-intestinal pressure decreases, stool normalizes, pain sensations decrease, the patient's well-being improves.
For the correction of intestinal dysbacteriosis, preparations containing bifidobacteria and lactobacilli are prescribed: "Bifiform", "Bifidumbacterin", "Bifiliz", "Linex Forte". Normalization of intestinal microflora helps to reduce flatulence, nausea.
The use of alkaline mineral waters gives a good effect: "Borjomi", "Essentuki".
To reduce pain, drugs are prescribed from the group of antispasmodics that relax the smooth muscles of the biliary tract and intestines: No-shpa, Duspatalin, Buskopan.
The most proven traditional medicine recipes for pancreas recovery
Is it possible and how to restore the pancreas with folk remedies? Such therapy is carried out after the signs of exacerbation of the disease subside.
- Take 100 grams of oat grains, rinse, pour water in the amount of one and a half liters, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 40 minutes. Mash the boiled grains and cook for another 20 minutes. Turn off. Cool, strain through a fine sieve. The resulting milk can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Consume 100 grams 3-4 times a day before meals.
- Take buckwheat, rinse and sort, then dry onbaking sheet in the oven. Cool down. Grind until flour. Dilute a tablespoon of the resulting flour in a glass of kefir in the evening. Take in the morning on an empty stomach.
- In the evening, pour half a glass of buckwheat flour into 250 ml of kefir, leave until morning. Further according to the scheme: half a serving in the morning of the next day, half two hours before bedtime. Take for 10 days, then 10 days off, and so alternate. This recipe is especially useful for patients with diabetes.
- Take 10 bay leaves, pour a glass of hot boiled water. Infuse overnight in a thermos. Take a quarter cup half an hour before meals
- Based on ready-made pharmaceutical herbal preparations containing corn stigmas, plantain, calendula, chamomile, peppermint, decoctions are prepared. The method of preparation and use is usually indicated on the package.
For best results, traditional medicine treatment should be carried out with the obligatory observance of a diet and in combination with medicines prescribed by a doctor.