My back pain varies. Usually it is a dull burning boring internal pain in my mid/upper back across from where the pain would be if it was in my abdomen. Sometimes it is worse than others. I don't usually have it on waking but it starts later, I guess once I begin eating. When it is bad it is like someone is thrusting a red hot knife in my back and twisting it round. I do get front upper abdo pain occasionally and odd little pains on either side.
I have had pain of one kind or another most days since a bad acute attack 2 years last December. I am weary now.
I am not officially diagnosed as yet. My GP firmly believes it is CP and the surgeon does too but there is no visual evidence and my bloods are negative so he can only say Chronic Pain ? Chronic Pancreatitis. It is all so frustrating, upsetting and life changing.

Thank you so much for your reply,it is as you say life changing, I am undiagnosed, my GP keeps fobbing me off, I am so frustrated. You say you are weary, I too feel fatigued. Are you able to work? I have been signed off for weeks now and I am worried I will lose my job, but I honestly do not feel well enough to return. My bloods all come back fine as did my ultrasound, but I have read that the bloods don't show anything until about 90% of the pancreas is no longer working. Are you in the UK? Sorry for all the questions!! My back pain continues all through the night also :(

Yes I am in the UK. I think I am fortunate that my GP said he has another patient just like me so I guess he has either done his homework before for that patient or he has a particular interest in CP. Even when my CT scan came back with nothing remarkable he said that doesn't rule out CP. He sent me to a surgeon to rule out anything else. I think the fact that the pain has been there ever since my acute attack does point towards CP. Anyway hopefully we will both find out definitely soon. We don't want it to be CP but as yet there is nothing else showing and there has to be some reason for the horrendous pain. I am blessed that I sleep well probably due to my meds so the pain settles overnight unless I am in a bad spell.

I am just retired but wouldn't have been able to work and am amazed that some people manage to, they have my admiration. I just about feel housebound though get out for a walk when I can, most days. I can't bear the thought of travelling far as I had a flare up when on a long day trip away from home and it has scared me.

I hope you get somewhere with your investigations. You could ask for a private referral to a gastroenterologist just for a chat through. You can go back to the NHS afterwards.

My pain usually starts mid to left upper abdominal area and radiates to the back....also i get the feeling like a band is tightening around my upper abdominal area. My pain is usually a boring type pain or like I am repeatedly punched in the gut. I always know when its time to go to the hospital when it brings me to my knees, the pain then is 10+++, i get dizzy and i have severe nausea and vomiting.
Dull achy pain is what is called somatic pain and usually works well when you take pain meds in the oxycodone group. It does for me.
My pain does worsen during the day....I relate it cause i have been grazing throughout the day. When I go to sleep i try to sleep on my left side to facilitate the drainage of my stomach fluids. Thats why i think pain can be worst at night related to eating during the day and laying down....I think if we have problems with the pancreatic ducts, the fluids backs up and cause us more pain.
And I am disabled nowsince March 2011 when I was in Icu for hemmoraghic pancreatitis needing blood transfusion...that last bout of acute pancreatitis done me in and I was an RN for only 5 years and loved my job! This disease just plain sucks!

I have Chronic Pancreatitis.I too have the pain in the left side of my back and all the way through the left front side. I have pains in the chest and under the left arm. The first time I went to the hospital it was because I thought I was having a heart attack. I take stadol and dramadol for pain and sometimes the pain still does not go away. I try to eat more often and not big meals. But from where I stand nothing helps but the pain meds. I pray for just one day without pain. Hope this helps. My pain also is ok when I first get up and then within an hour here it comes again. I think that makes you weary and tired most of the day. Hope you find the answers. My prayers and thoughts are with you today and everyday.

I have the back pain problem also though mine is usually in my lower back where you would normally hurt if you perhaps lifted something too heavy and did the lift wrong, however with the cp I haven't been lifting alot of heavy weights of late, lol. It often gets frustrating to go from someone who used to toss heavy weights around with no trouble to being the 95 pound weakling, though I can only wish I only weighed 95 lbs. My pain management doc called it something only wish I could remember exactly how he phrased it, but according to him it is actually your pancreas causing the back pain, transient pain I believe is what he called it, but again my memory is as old as I am so don't hold me to the wording. It seems to be a common thing with cp folks, just another of our wonderful pains as it were! I hope you feel better soon and have a pain free day!