Do you know the Pancreatic Cancer symptom early enough if you are suffering from Pancreatic Cancer? Understand the early cancer symptoms may mean the difference between life and death.

The most commonest types of pancreas cancer of the pancreas are exocrine tumours.  The cancer symptoms can be quite vague.  And they vary depending on where the cancer is in your pancreas - in the head, or body.  Early symptoms can include:

-  Weight loss     
People who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer may have recently lost a lot of body weight (at least 10% of their total body weight) for no apparent reason at all.  This symptom is more common in cancers of the head of the pancrea.

-  Pain in the stomach area 
About 7 out of 10 people suffer from pancreatic cancer first go to their doctors because they experience pain.  Pain is more common in cancers of the body and tail of the pancreas.  People often describe it as a dull pain that feels as if it is boring into you.  It can begin in the stomach area and spread around to the back gradually.  The pain gets much worse when you lie down and is better if you sit forward.  It can also worsen after meals.  Your abdomen may also be generally tender or painful if your liver, pancreas or gall bladder are inflamed or enlarged.

-  Jaundice
About 5 out of 10 people suffer from jaundice when they first go to their doctors.  Jaundice is the yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes.  The urine is darker than normal and bowel motions may be lighter in colour as well.  Jaundice is much more common with cancer of the head of the pancreas because the tumour blocks the bile duct.  This tube carries bile into the duodenum.  If the bile duct is blocked, then the bile ends up in your bloodstream instead.  Bile contains a lot of yellow pigments so it turns the skin yellow in the process. Jaundice is a common symptom of many liver and gall bladder diseases.  It is often easier to spot in the whites of the eyes rather than the skin.

Jaundice without pain is the commonest reason for first going to the doctor in patients who may suffer from pancreatic cancer

 

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Just over a hundred years ago, mental health disorder issues were considered a disgraceful topic that was never discussed in polite company. If old Aunt Anne was afflicted with dementia, family members only spoke of her, in hushed tones, as crazy old Betty. People with schizophrenia were simply institutionalized and administered painful shock treatments, or worse, frontal lobotomies. Fortunately, much progress has been made in the last century to put this dismissive and painful myth to rest. Acceptance of mental health issues as legitimate disease conditions which should evoke compassion and promote research has been a long, and slow road.

However, most people today understand that many mental conditions are caused by genetic, environmental and cultural factors which are beyond the control of the victim thenselve.

One such mental health issue which has helped to focus society's compassion is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). War is well known to induce this type of condition. PTSD is often characterized with symptoms such as extreme anxiety, fear, paranoia, violent outbursts, nightmares and what are termed 'flashbacks' where the victim relives a past traumatic experience in real time in the present. Sometimes the mental torment can lead to suicide, or violent acts upon others.

This syndrome was first given a name when psychiatric evaluations made observations on Vietnam vets. The findings are found to be consistent with vets of both Iraq wars. World War II and Korean war veterans also suffered from this mental disorder, but at the time, it was not recognized as a result of the patient's war experience.

Children who have been mentally, physically or sexually abused suffer from PTSD as well. This particular mental health issue has wrought serious consequences in the lives of the victims and their families. PTSD is essentially a result of traumatic events which overwhelms the person. Nothing in normal society prepared them to deal with these unimaginable horrors. Before becoming recognized as an 'official' mental health issue, these victims suffered greatly and in most cases, ironically engendered their suffering onto those who were closest to them.

Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit disorder (ADD), autism and bipolar disorder are just a few of the other mental health disorder issues which are finally being examined from a medical perspective. Modern technology has now made it possible to map various areas of the brain and make correlations which help explain what makes a person susceptible to these various types of  diseases. There's still a lot of work to be done in order to find effective treatments to help these patients who suffer from it.

Public awareness may well be the catalyst to finding cures to what were once also known only as a 'crazy' condition.