Five early symptoms of pancreatic cancer to watch out for

Pancreatic cancer is a malignant tumor with a relatively high morbidity and mortality rate, and can be regarded as the top cancer. Due to the low early diagnosis rate of the disease, many patients generally develop to the middle and late stages during treatment. Coupled with the poor prognosis, it has resulted in a very high mortality rate. In fact, there are many signs in the early stages of pancreatic cancer, and you can detect abnormalities by paying close attention. Let us now learn about the early symptoms of pancreatic cancer.

Any disease will have certain symptoms in the early stages. If you don’t understand these symptoms well, you may miss the best time for treatment. This article will introduce the symptoms of pancreatic cancer and call on those at high risk to pay attention.

Early symptoms of pancreatic cancer

1. Lose weight due to anorexia and indigestion

The most common early symptoms of pancreatic cancer are anorexia and indigestion, and patients will also experience significant weight loss. Some experts believe that decreased food intake, nausea and vomiting, abnormal stools, and weight loss are early symptoms of pancreatic body and tail cancer, so when these symptoms appear, we should be alert.

2. Upper abdominal pain

If there is sudden discomfort in the upper abdomen, even stuffiness, and the pain occurs in severe cases, the overall symptoms are unclear, and sometimes the degree of asymptomaticity varies, then we should also consider the early symptoms of pancreatic cancer.

Moreover, the pain in the body will become more and more severe, and you will feel dull pain. The swelling and pain will develop to the later stage of radiating to the waist and back. The pain of pancreatic head cancer is located in the right upper abdomen, and the pain of pancreatic body and tail cancer is more obvious in the upper left abdomen. The pain is more severe when lying on your back, and even affects sitting posture, bending over, etc. We must pay attention to it.

3. Jaundice

Pancreatic head cancer mainly presents with obstructive jaundice caused by extrahepatic bile duct obstruction. For pancreatic body cancer and pancreatic tail cancer, jaundice may not appear in the early stage. But if jaundice occurs, it is mostly obstructive jaundice, and its symptoms will become more and more obvious as the color of the disease deepens.

4. Abnormal blood sugar

Diabetic patients with pancreatic cancer may experience periods of unexplained blood sugar fluctuations that are not effectively controlled with medication.

Symptom 1: Upper abdominal discomfort and dull pain. Upper abdominal discomfort and dull pain are the most common first manifestations of pancreatic cancer, but the location of the abdominal pain is unclear and the range is wide. The typical location is the middle upper abdomen and left hypochondrium, which can radiate to the back, chest, and right scapula. The abdominal pain can be manifested as dull pain, heavy tenderness, gnawing pain, etc., which is mostly persistent and can be aggravated after meals.

Sign 2: Jaundice. Many pancreatic cancer patients will have jaundice, and occasionally some patients with early pancreatic cancer will also have this symptom. Obstructive jaundice is the most prominent manifestation of pancreatic head cancer, with an incidence of more than 90%. In the early stage, the pancreatic body and tail may not have jaundice. Jaundice is generally persistent and progressively deepens. When the obstruction is complete, the stool may be clay-colored, the skin may be brown or bronze, and it may be accompanied by itching.

Sign 3: Weight loss. Pancreatic cancer patients will also have a more obvious weight loss performance. Generally speaking, 90% of patients have weight loss, which is characterized by rapid development, lack of pancreatic juice and bile, poor digestion and absorption function, poor appetite, sleep, heavy energy burden and direct effects of cancer cells.

Sign 4: Fever. At least 10% of patients have fever during the course of the disease. Pancreatic cancer can be clinically manifested as low fever, high fever, intermittent fever or irregular fever. The cause may be related to the pyrogen released by the cancer cells themselves or secondary biliary infection. If the high fever continues, it will also accelerate death.

Sign 5: Gastrointestinal symptoms. Gastrointestinal symptoms mainly include loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation or gastrointestinal bleeding.

Pancreatic cancer is a disease that develops very rapidly and brings great harm. We must be alert to these early symptoms and actively go to the hospital for examination and treatment once they are discovered. For this disease, we must start with prevention, eat more vegetables and fruits, participate in appropriate exercise, develop a regular lifestyle, and eat some natural anti-cancer foods appropriately.