If you’ve got indigestion and stomach ache, and maybe you’re off your food and feeling a bit sick, you might think you’ve just got a tummy bug. And while that’s by far the most likely cause, always be aware that they’re the symptoms of something far worse too – the UK’s fifth biggest cancer killer, pancreatic cancer.
Symptoms of the disease, which is diagnosed in around 10,500 people in the UK every year, can often be mistaken for other, far more benign, conditions, and that’s why many people don’t seek medical help until the cancer is in its later stages and far more difficult to treat.
As a result, pancreatic cancer is the deadliest common cancer – more than half of people with the disease die within three months of diagnosis, says Pancreatic Cancer UK (PCUK, pancreaticcancer.org.uk).
PCUK specialist nurse, Jeni Jones, says: “The vast majority of cases are diagnosed when the cancer is already at a late stage, because the symptoms often overlap with other conditions like indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome. If you have a symptom that’s persistent, you should speak to a GP – it could mean you’re diagnosed early.”
Here are some of the symptoms that could be easy to dismiss as something less serious…
1. Indigestion
Indigestion and/or heartburn can be a common symptom of pancreatic cancer – but one that most people wouldn’t necessarily think was linked to a serious disease.
“A lot of the time people might just take over-the-counter remedies for persistent indigestion – it’s not something that will automatically see you running to the GP,” says Jones. “But there are times when it might line up with other symptoms like pain in your tummy or back, and with several niggling things happening, which could suggest pancreatic cancer.”
2. Tummy or back pain
This can be anything from a dull ache to pain that radiates from your tummy around to your back, explains Jones. “It may be around your bra line if you’re a woman,” she says. “It’s not lower back pain, and it’s often between the shoulderblades. It may be worse after you eat something, and it doesn’t tend to go away easily.”
She says combined tummy and back pain is quite a common symptom, but some people may just have one or the other.
3. Unexplained weight loss
Weight loss connected to pancreatic cancer might initially be seen when people aren’t really trying to lose weight and are eating relatively normally. “They might just notice their clothes are getting loose,” Jones says.
4. Appetite loss
Losing weight is of course sometimes be related to appetite loss, which is another easily-ignored pancreatic cancer symptom, at least initially. “It can range from people thinking they’re not really that hungry, to having no appetite at all and not being able to face food or feeling full after very little food,” says Jones, who explains that such appetite changes may be because the tumour is pressing on the stomach, or just diminishing the capacity to eat.
5. Jaundice
Jaundice is a less easy-to-ignore pancreatic cancer symptom, but it only tends to occur in people whose tumour is towards the head of the pancreas, explains Jones. “Not everyone with pancreatic cancer will get jaundice, although it is very prevalent,” she says. “It’s a red flag symptom – you might notice it when the whites of your eyes turn a bit yellow, before your skin starts to get that yellow tinge.”
6. Itchiness
Your skin might become incredibly itchy before you develop jaundice, because bile salts build up under the skin first. “It’s insanely itchy,” stresses Jones. “I’m not talking about a little itch, it would have you scratching to a crazy degree.”
7. Changes to bowel habits
“This is a very, very important…
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