Really scared I have pancreatic cancer

Posted , 10 users are following.

Hi all

For the last two weeks (maybe a little more), I've had a pain on my left side, under the ribs, between the bottom of my bra and the base of my rib cage. Its mostly a dull ache. It seems worse at night, especially if I lie on my left side. My appetite has completely abandoned me, and I never feel hungry. sometimes it radiates across my back, or over to my right rib (but on a lesser pan scale)

My bowel movements seem loose, but then again, have been mostly like that all year, I even had a colonoscopy to investigate, but it came back clear.

I feel like I am urinating less often too, but its light or clear.

I have an urgent referral to the gastroentorolgist on Monday, but I am not really coping with the waiting,

when I mentioned my pan can frar to my GP, he said "its on the list, but not top of the list". I didn't ask what was at the top of the list, was too busy freaking out.

I know what will be, will bem but I just can't get a grip on this 😦

Has anyone else had these symptoms?

Thanks

0 likes, 18 replies

18 Replies

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  • Posted

    how old are you? do you smoke or drink? are you in good health? your symptoms are quite common with indigestion possibly gastritis or GERD or a number of other ailments.

  • Posted

    Hello Jules, I really feel for you. Anxiety is horrible. So is the wait to see a consultant. I've just been through similar (not the same symptoms as you) and am waiting further tests. I am not medically qualified but I always understood a symptom of PC was pale stools. I have had gastritis before (prob still have) and I had pain across my upper abdomen in a similar area to which you describe and also across my back. Try and take deep breaths and try and calm yourself if you can. You may find if you are a little less tense some of the pain may subside. I wish you all the very best for Monday and will keep everything crossed for you. Try and take care of yourself. D.

  • Posted

    hi

    thank you all for replying, it means a lot.

    i am 57 years old, i don't smoke and i rarely drink.

    I am just worried, I haven't been diagnosed with anything yet. sometimes i also get a strange pain in my shoulder, its like a burning pain, or like a graze, but inside , not on the skin...very hard to describe.

    My stools vary in colour, yesterday it was very dark.

    I am trying to cling on to the thought that a week before i had these pains, i had a raft of blood tests ( fbc, esr, liver, kidney function, bilirubin, creatine) and tgey came back normal. no specific cancer marker tests though).

    monday seems an age away ☹️

    thank you again

    Jules

    • Posted

      keep us updated. burning pain in the upper back can be linked to heartburn especially from gastritis i get this a lot. i was diagnosed with chronic gastritis via endoscopy over a year ago.

    • Posted

      If you have a burning sensation inside your shoulder, this may be an separate thing such as a nerve problem. Trapped nerves can cause this. I have nerve problems and I get burning and other sensations in the affected areas, It is good news that your tests came back normal; keep hanging onto this and keep hoping.

  • Posted

    Thank you for your replies.

    I thought it was getting a little better, very little pain in the day, and even the nights were better, but maybe it was because I was taking Valium at night to help me sleep and control my out of control anxiety.

    Yesterday I even thought my appetite was returning. So, to prove to myself I ate some oven baked battered fish with oven chips, two chocolate biscuits, and then rather stupidly a small piece of cheese just before bed. No Valium

    Well, I didn't sleep at all, the pain was (and still is), quite bad. Now I don't know whether it was the food, or the fact that the Valium was helping me sleep through any pain 😦

    • Posted

      Probably, the vallium was helping you sleep and numbing the pain.

  • Posted

    just to add, the fish and chips were not a large portion.

  • Posted

    hi julie just wondering how your appointment went? hope everything is ok

  • Posted

    Hi

    thanks for posting. The appointment got cancelled at the last minute. So I went to see someone privately, and I am booked in for a CT scan with contrast on Monday. I don't know how long until I get the results.

    My appetite is still non existent, and I have lost almost half a stone 😦

    As for my bowels, well they have gone from loose to no bowel movement for 3 days (that is almost unheard of for me).

    I am absolutely terrified.

    Jules

  • Posted

    hi all

    I have had my CT scan, and my consultants secretary rang me yesterday to tell me my abdominal scan came back normal!! I could not believe my ears, and asked her to repeat it 3 times. Of course I am so relieved to hear that, but I now need to find out what the problem is.

    I think it might actually be my kidney, but there I go speculating again, and I have proved myself to be a rubbish doctor. I do have a follow up appointment next Weds, so I will have to see what the next steps are

    I am just holding on to the thought that whatever it is, its not a tumour on my pancreas, liver, spleen, gallbladder or kidney. I'm pretty sure the pelvic organs were scanned too, but my health anxiety brain wont let me thing the words "abdominal scan all normal" doesn't translate as "abdominal scan normal, but next week we will drop the bombshell about your overies/cervix/womb"

    Thank you all for your support, I so very much appreciate it.

    Jules

  • Posted

    Hi all

    I have had my follow up with my GI consultant, who confirmed that the CT was normal, which included gallbladder, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, pelvic structures and base of lungs.

    I am still suffering pain on left side, sometimes radiating to the front, and sometimes to the back. The next test is an endoscopy, so of course I am really scared that it will be a stomach tumour (don't you just love health anxiety).

    It is like torture having to wait another week for this test, and being in near constant pain is really making me feel low. I think I may be slipping into depression.

    Tying to stay positive, I had an endoscopy about 18 months ago, and apart from a little gastritis type erosions, it was all clear, and stomach cancers are apparently slow growing; my consultant told me that stomach cancer is "vanishingly rare, and on the decrease"; the pain no longer wakes me up at night, and my appetite, although still not what it was, has improved a bit.

    I did also have a lot of blood tests about a week before this pain started, and they were all normal.

    Still, 5 weeks seems like a lifetime to be having this pain daily

    Jules x

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