Symptoms of pancreatic cancer
Doctors often refer to pancreatic cancer as a “silent disease” due to the fact that the disease usually does not cause any symptoms in the beginning. In the early stages, pancreatic cancer does not cause any symptoms.

In fact, the symptoms of pancreatic cancer are generally vague. Symptoms of pancreatic cancer can easily be attributed to other less serious and more common conditions. This lack of specific symptoms explains the high number of people with more advanced stages of the disease at the time of diagnosis. A person will begin to exhibit symptoms when the cancer grows and spreads. As the cancer grows, these symptoms may include:

• burning feeling in stomach
• darkening urine
• floating stools with a particularly bad odor
• generalized weakness
• itching stool
• clay-colored stool (blockage of the bile ducts)
• loss of appetite
• nausea and vomiting
• other gastrointestinal discomforts
• pain in the upper abdomen
• pain in the upper back
• painful swelling of an arm or leg due to a blood clot
• unexplained weight loss
• yellow skin and eyes

When to seek help
If you notice, exhibit or manifest any of the above symptoms that may indicate pancreatic cancer, seek medical attention. Seeking immediate medical attention is important when you begin to notice any pancreatic cancer symptoms, particularly if pain, unexplained weight loss, or jaundice persists despite initial medical treatments, further evaluation should be pursued very quickly.

• persisting jaundice
• persisting pain
• unexplained weight loss

The sooner a person receives medical attention for symptoms of pancreatic cancer, the sooner s/he can begin treatment. By seeing a doctor, you can start to determine if symptoms are caused by pancreatic cancer or another condition. Continue reading the next section about diagnosis for information on how doctors diagnose pancreatic carcinoma.