10 Signs of Pancreatic Cancer You Should Never, Ever Ignore
The pancreas is one of the most important organs in the body, but everyone does not contemplate much about it. It is six inches in size, but it helps in the digestion of food and controls your blood sugar. It generally ensures it’s work effortlessly, overdue the scenes. However, it can affect the whole functioning of your body if something goes wrong. According to National Cancer Institute (NCI) only 2% of the people in their whole life are detected with pancreatic cancer. Most commonly it is found in old people of over 60 years of age, but this cancer has also been found in young people of twenties and thirties.
The most terrifying thing about pancreatic cancer is that unlike most of the other types of cancer, it has the highest rate of deaths-according to NCI, only 8% of the people survive five years after the diagnosis.
Why Does Pancreatic Cancer Have Such High Death Rates?
Why is it so? Because it is very difficult to identify this cancer in the early, curable stages. Because pancreas is present deep inside our body that is why initial tumors can not be felt or seen and mostly people ignore or do not notice its symptoms, until it has spread to all other organs of the body, the American Cancer Society notifies.
Therefore, it is very important to understand the initial symptoms of pancreatic cancer and to take them seriously if you experience any of them.
I have observed that women are inclined to wait and visit the doctor when the symptoms become severe, but do not take such a risk because of such a high rate of deaths in pancreatic cancer, call the doctor if you have any of these symptoms; it is not senseless, we would rather see you and its nothing than miss a cancer.
Dr. Anton Bilchik, Professor of surgery, and Chief of GI research at John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica
Here are some of the common indications of pancreatic cancer that everyone must know.
Click “Begin Slideshow” to find out what these indicators are.
Yellowing in Eyes & Skin
One of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer is the yellowing of eyes and skin. It is never good if the withes in eyes and skin turn into yellow. It can be an indication of many health problems such as liver failure, alcoholism, and pancreatic cancer. The reason of yellowing of eyes and skin is that many pancreatic tumors begin at the top of pancreas, which is close to the bile duct, is explained by Bilchik.
The bile duct carries the bile from liver and transfers it to the gallbladder via pancreas. This bile duct is often blocked by the pressure exerted by small tumors. One role of bile is to take away leftover of red blood cells normally called bilirubin, but when bile can not carry out its function properly, the excess bilirubin leads to jaundice and yellowness in eyes.
Irrespective of the cause, this symptom should never be ignored.
You look four months pregnant
Bloating is normal after a great meal is normal but remaining that way for days is not normal. Bilchik says that the pancreatic tumors grow larger in size, they cause your belly to swell. This is one of the initial signs that women usually notice but as bloating looks like an insignificant thing to worry about, they do not talk to doctor about it. Possibly it is not a cancer but can be (and ovarian cancer at an early age cause bloating).
Your favorite dessert makes your stomach turn
Another sign at the early age of pancreatic cancer is the loss of appetite. The reason is that as the tumors tend to grow in the abdomen, they cause presure on the stomach and the nearby organs.
As a result, you feel full or even nauseous. Even eating may feel painful.
The unintentional weight loss
Loss of appetite causes weight loss quickly, well-defines as within the span of six to ten months losing more than 5% of your body weight. Bilchik says that if anyone can not give some other reason for their weight loss, they must undergo checkup”.
Your lower back is killing you
As the tumor starts to grow it causes a constant dull pain on your back muscles and lower spine as well. However, women on a regular basis are used to deal with low-back-pain because of menstrual cramps. So how anyone can find out that the lower back pain is because of PMS, a lot of dead-lifts, or anything else? Bilchik says that is the pain continues, it is something to be checked.
Darker urine
One of the signs of dehydration is dark-colored urine, but the first sign of jaundice is also the same. As the level of bilirubin in te blood increases and reduced excretion of bile due to the tumor, the color of urine becomes brown, the American Cancer Society describes.
By increasing the consumption of water, if does not change the color of urine to normal light lemonade, it is the right time to get it checked because jaundice is also an initial indication of pancreatic cancer, Bilchik says.
Continued itching
An initial warning of pancreatic cancer and jaundice is an itchy skin. By the time bilirubin accumulates in your skin, causes itching before it changes to yellow. Bilchik says that I have seen patients who come in and said, I have an itchy spot and when they show that, it is turning into yellow.
Thus, if you cannot find another reason of your itchiness, like an allergic reaction or bug bite, get it checked out.
You have alien poo
Greasy, lighter toned or grayish poo is bad for everyone. The reason again is bilirubin. The fecal substance gets its typical dark-brown color, because bilirubin is usually excreted through bowls, as poo. But the absence of enough amount of bile, the bilirubin stays inside instead of getting out through poo. As a result, can change the color and the texture of bowl movements, says the ACS.
Pancreatic cancer is one possible cause but other options (like gastrointestinal infection or liver disease) are not good as well, so call your doctor if the condition is consistent.
Stomach hurts
Complaining about stomachache, though it may give the impression of something done by toddlers only, but this unidentified pain is one of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer, Bilchik said. Because the pancreas is located behind the stomach, at the back of lower abdomen, thus a tumor can give a persistent low-key stomachache despite of what you ate.
You just feel off
The terrifying thing about pancreatic cancer is that once the signs are noticeable and definitive, the prediction is very poor, says Bilchin.
To find it initially, one needs to pay full attention to the ambiguous symptoms, together with a feeling of being not well that lasts for longer period and is not related to a clear reason like having the flu.
It is always good to get checked and have it be nothing, to miss something serious.