Pancreatic Cancer
What are the symptoms and signs of Pancreatic Cancer?
It is difficult to detect the signs of Pancreatic Cancer at an early stage. The survival rate of the patient often ends up depending on how delayed the Pancreatic Cancer diagnosis is. While there are very few cases of Pancreatic Cancer each year, it is safer to remember these symptoms and keep them in mind, just in case. Not only will it help in a quicker Pancreatic Cancer diagnosis, but it also helps control the metastatic nature of the Pancreatic tumor.
- Abdominal Pain- Pain in the abdominal region; often, sharp/shooting pains in the abdomen may be caused because of the tumor pushing against abdominal walls.
- Abdominal bloating- Ascites or abdominal bloating refers to an increase in the number of fluids in the abdominal region, swollen or bloated abdomen.
- Lower back Pain- Abdominal Pain is often accompanied by lower back-pain due to the same reasons; the tumor may be blocking the digestive pathways.
- Weight loss- Aversion from food, change in food palate, inexplicable weight-loss, feelings of anorexia, recent and enormous changes in body weight.
- Digestive problems- This occurs when the pancreatic tumor presses against the walls of the stomach, causing food to remain inside the stomach for long durations, which results in nausea, fatigue, irritability, and frequent Vomiting.
- Changes in stool- Digestive problems cause changes in stool, black(tarry) stool or faded(light-colored) stool, irregular bowel movement, difficulty in passing stool, the patient may suffer from constipation or diarrhea, stool may be watery or fluid.
- Changes in blood density- Cancer often causes changes in blood density, which may result in blood-clot formation, which may go unnoticed for a long period.
- Skin problems- Itchy skin, the occurrence of recurring rashes, inexplicable changes in skin problems.
- Enlarged gallbladder- Pancreatic Cancer can directly affect the gallbladder due to its proximity with the pancreas.
- Diabetes- Irregular amount of insulin or glucose levels, severe increase or decrease in glucose levels, frequent urination, diabetic symptoms, may cause Fatigue or coma.
- Jaundice- This is caused due to an increase in the levels of bile content in blood. Symptoms include eyes and skin becoming yellowish, change in the color of urine, itchiness or rashes, change in the color of nails.
There are two types of Pancreatic tumors- Malignant Pancreatic tumors and Benign Pancreatic tumors. Any Pancreatic Cancer survivor will tell you that catching the symptoms at an early stage can help reduce the chances of the tumors becoming malignant.