When filling out the patient's medical history with a diagnosis of chronic or acute pancreatitis, the doctor, describing the clinical picture, often notes such common symptoms as dryness, bitterness, bad breath. Why do these symptoms occur with inflammation of the pancreas? Let's take a closer look.
Causes of dryness and bitterness in the mouth with pancreatitis
Dry mouth or xerostomia, usually manifested when the production of saliva is stopped or decreased. This symptom can manifest itself both in the pathology of the salivary glands, and in other serious organic diseases, which include chronic biliary pancreatitis. The inflammatory process in the pancreas is often caused by cholecystitis or cholelithiasis( SCI), when bile is injected into the organ as a result of the disturbed outflow, irritating its tissues. In this case, the bitterness and yellow coating on the tongue are added to the symptom of dryness.
Often the bitterness and dryness felt in the oral cavity become the first herald of the disease of the gallbladder and its ducts, as well as the accompanying chronic pancreatitis.
Inflammation of the pancreas is accompanied by a digestive disorder due to a failure in the exocrine function of the body and the deficiency of food enzymes. Patients with pancreatitis often suffer from diarrhea, which leads to dehydration of the body and a feeling of dryness and bitterness in the mouth.
In chronic pancreatitis, inflamed and therefore swollen pancreas does not produce enough insulin in the blood, so the level of glucose in the bloodstream increases, exceeding the permissible norm, which causes thirst and drying in the oral cavity.
Smell from the mouth with inflammation of the pancreas
Stale breath or a symptom of an unpleasant, foreign, often fetid odor from the mouth in medicine is usually called the term halitosis. The causes of this phenomenon are of two types:
- physiological( morning smell from the mouth to brushing teeth or breathing after eating garlic or onions);
- is a pathological halitosis caused by a disease of the internal organs. This syndrome is observed in a quarter of the world's population. Neither chewing gum nor refreshing sprays are able to cope with this problem, which significantly reduces the level of the patient's full life.
In chronic inflammation of the pancreas, the patient may experience a persistent smell of bitterness or a sweetish odor of acetone in the breath, indicating a gallbladder disease or an increased concentration of glucose in the bloodstream.
Taste in the mouth with pancreatitis
The taste in the mouth of a sweetish character appears when the carbohydrate balance is broken in the body and the production of insulin processing glucose is inhibited in parallel. The lack of this hormone involves the accumulation of sugar in the human lymphatic fluid, thereby penetrating the oral cavity and this is possible with pancreatitis. In the pancreas during this period there is an increased vulnerability and its endocrine part, consisting of pancreatic islets, inflames. The taste in the mouth can also be sweet and sour - in this case, the movement of enzymes responsible for the splitting of the consumed food in the diseased organ is disrupted.
Disruption of the pancreas, and with it the intestinal microflora, causes a certain discomfort in the patient, namely, sour in the mouth, heartburn, nausea, heaviness in the abdomen. When the acidic contents of the stomach enter the digestive tract, the pancreas changes, and the wrong food diet is the harbinger of it. Chances for a complete recovery have everyone, if in the disease at the initial stage a person turned for help to the gastroenterologist. For prevention purposes, you need to correct your menu by consulting with a certified dietitian.