Pancreatic disorder or pancreatitis is an irritation, inflammation or infection of the pancreas. The pancreas is a gland that releases digestive enzymes and hormones which play an important role in digestion and metabolism.
Symptoms and characteristics:
Pancreatitis can develop suddenly, lasting a few days (acute) or reoccur over a long period of many years (chronic).
Acute pancreatitis is essentially a sudden, debilitating attack of severe abdominal pain, often accompanied with fever, bloating, nausea, vomiting and sometimes collapse. In most cases, attacks of acute pancreatitis often improve on their own or after simple changes to diet but may require initial hospitalisation.
With chronic pancreatitis, although some people may never experience discomfort, most will have intermittent bouts that can be severe. People with chronic pancreatitis typically experience recurrent or constant abdominal pain with general stomach upset symptoms, as well as steady weight loss due to reduced capacity to digest food. They may also develop diabetes or in more severe cases, pancreatic cancer.
Workplace solutions and adjustments:
In the workplace there are various factors that would greatly assist people with pancreatitis to better manage their symptoms. Some examples include:
-
reducing working hours or allowing flexible work hours to accommodate symptom management and treatment
-
modifying duties to reduce heavy lifting on either a temporary or more permanent basis
-
consideration be given to setting up an employee to work from home when symptoms don’t allow travel to the workplace.
There are solutions and adjustments for the following job requirements:
(Better Health Channel 2008: MayoClinic.com 2007; WD 2008)
References:
Better Health Channel 2008, Pancreatitis explained, State Government of Victoria, Melbourne, viewed 9 January 2009, <http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Pancreatitis_explained?open>.
MayoClinic.com 2007, Pancreatitis, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Rochester, viewed 9 January 2009, <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pancreatitis/DS00371>.
WD 2008, Symptoms of Acute Pancreatitis, Health Grades Inc., online, viewed 9 January 2009, < http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/a/acute_pancreatitis/symptoms.htm>.