While the first painful attack can fully resolve, continued alcohol ingestion can lead to relapses of pain. Acute pancreatitis may also progress to chronic pancreatitis if a significant amount of the pancreatic tissue is destroyed during the initial attack. Symptoms Abdominal pain is the most common symptom. In the early course of disease, episodes of pain vary from several hours to several days, and attacks of pain become more frequent and prolonged as the disease progresses. Eventually, intervals between episodes of pain will vanish and constant pain will develop.
Alcohol tends to make pain worse, while eating usually has no impact on pain.
Steatorrhea causes frequent, loose, oily, odorous stools with bloating and cramping. It develops when the pancreas is no longer able to secrete adequate amounts of lipase, the enzyme required for fat digestion. Without this enzyme, fat is malabsorbed and lost in the stools. In advanced disease, people can lose a significant amount of weight due to the pancreas' inability to secrete enough digestive enzymes. Nutrients from food are not well-absorbed.