Mike said:Hello. Is the back pain of pancreatic cancer a sharp pain, a barely noticeable pain, or a pain
that starts out barely noticeable and grows into a sharp pain?
Is it real localized or does it seem like it moves around or is it's location kinda vague?
Is it constant with time or does is get stronger and more painful?
I've had a pain in my back for one month now but it's not constant - some days I don't feel
anything, other days I do. The pain's not sharp or intense and usually not really a pain feeling -
more a sensation in one area I never felt before though I guess I could call it a dull pain at
times. I suspect and hope it's a muscle I'm feeling. I think it's from leaning over while working
on the computer.
The part that kind of concerns me is it's right in the spot where the tail of the pancreas would
seem to be (top of the stomach) though rarely I feel a sensation more in my spine at the same
elevation. But after a month would other symptoms start to show up (such as pain in the stomach or
feelings of fatique or loss of appetite)?
Listen Mike, Maybe you have GERD or an ulcer or a muscle pull or any number of problems.
the severe weight loss usually occurs during the last months of pancreatic cancer. It could be
computer work/posture or it could be pancreatic cancer or it could be something else. I will speak
here of two persons who had pancreatic cancer. My friend's brother sat at his computer, month after
month, and did not go to a doctor. He had pancreatic cancer and by the time he went to the doctor it
was too late.
A poster here, a few years back, kindly described his back pain, and he clearly stated that it
started so vague that he ignored it. He's long gone now but it was caught a little earlier than my
friend's brother.
nci.nih.govpatientOpen ↗ And don't let a doctor say "you
don't have jaundice, so it can't be". Some only get jaundiced near the end, some perhaps never get
jaundice if the ducts don't get blocked to the liver.
As I said, we don't know what the cause of your pain is, but you are better being safe than sorry.
I don't want you to delay if something's wrong. I don't want to have you go through tests for
nothing either. A doctor can do a full medical history, examine you, ask the right questions and
determine some basic tests to rule some things out or in, as the case may be. A doctor could
probably run a chest x-ray and at least a CT-scan and maybe an upper GI barium to see if you have
ulcers. (and maybe some bloodwork for the liver and pancreas). Those would rule out something in
your lung, sometimes rib/bone problems and can sometimes see organ inflammation.
So why wait and wonder?
J - not a doctor
