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The pancreas is a relatively small organ but it plays a major role in how your body functions. It has two basic jobs. First, it is responsible for some of the digestion of food and helps to break it down before it enters into your system and is eventually digested. Secondly, it produces hormones such as insulin to help to regulate how the body stores sugar and other important parts of your bodily functions. Although it is a very small organ, very large problems can happen if something should happen to go wrong with it. For example, diabetes is generally caused by an inability of the pancreas to produce its hormone, insulin. Other problems, such as pancreas cancer can strike at any time.
Typically, pancreas cancer strikes in the part of the pancreas in which food is digested. Although it can happen in the other part of the pancreas, it is only about 5% of the time where it is found there. Why is this the case? One reason may be the fact that we tend to eat foods that are not good for us. This can certainly add a lot of toxins into this area of our pancreas which could end up causing some form of cancer. Of course, there may be other reasons but this just seems like a logical one. What are some of the pancreas cancer symptoms?
One of the main problems with pancreas cancer symptoms is the fact that they don't really show up until the disease is quite advanced. Although there may be some symptoms early on, they are typically overlooked or just shrugged off as being something general. Once these symptoms actually display themselves, however, they can include the following.
Upper Abdominal Pain - this is one of the first signs of advanced pancreas cancer. Not only is the pain in your upper abdominal area where your pancreas resides, it also may feel as if it is radiating from your back.
Jaundice - another thing that may be one of the pancreas cancer symptoms is any yellowing that may occur in the skin or even in the whites of the eyes. This is typically known as jaundice and can be a sign that there is something wrong. Of course, there are many different things which can cause jaundice, but pancreas cancer is one of them.
Weight Loss - another one of the pancreas cancer symptoms is loss of weight. This may be due to a loss of appetite but it also might be because of the pancreas not regulating the sugar properly through insulin production. Of course, any unexplained weight loss should be discussed with your doctor immediately.
Depressed Feelings - pancreas cancer may also make you feel as if you are depressed. If this particular symptom goes along with any of the others, make sure that you discuss it with your doctor to rule out any other problems.
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