I have all the symptoms of pancreatic cancer.

[Sangam]

Hello everyone. My name is Sangam and I am 28 years old. Since March I have been having the following symptoms that I'm worried could be pancreatic cancer -

* Nausea and headache and vomit like feeling.

* Loss of appetite (I've been eating less and less) and food being stuck in my upper abdomen.

* Burning sensation in my upper abdomen and tender to touch.

* Constant heartburn and chest pain.

* Shooting pain usually below left rib and back but sometimes on right side too.

* Pale / yellow stool always. It used to float before but now I have been avoiding fatty and oily food.

* Also random pain in different parts of my body for no known reason.

I have had three blood tests and two stool and urine tests done at my GP. The results of the last blood test which was on 31st May is yet to come back and is adding to my anxiety. I have been asking the doctors for any type of scan but they refuse and keep telling me I'm anxious.

For the last few days I've been feeling really sick. My appetite is almost gone and even drinking water makes me nauseaus. I have very little sleep as well becuase the pain keeps waking me. On top of that I cannot think of anything else and fear the worse.

I have decided to do a screening privately. I want to do either an Endocopic Ultrasound or an MRI. I would appreciate knowing what test most people have been first diagnosed by.

[Ninette]

I had the same issues, the GP told me I have heartburn and am just anxious. You need a proper CT scan, with contrast. Only there they can see the tumour, if there is one.

It took me about 4 months to convince them to do the scan.

When they finally saw it, everything went very quickly, almost immediately, within a week, I got an appointment for an endoscopy to confirm that the growth is malicious and then an appointment with the oncologist who confirmed the diagnoses. 2 weeks later I started chemotherapy.

[PCUK Nurse Rachel R]

Hi Sangam,

It's Rachel here one of the nurses from the support service at the charity.

I am very sorry to hear that you are experiencing these problems and that they are causing you a great deal of anxiety.

Perhaps if you would like to give the support line a call or email us then we could talk through the tests that you've had already and the results of those, and also talk about suggestions for a possible way forward.

The contact details for our service are in the strip below.

Kind wishes,

Rachel

Rachel Richardson

Pancreatic Cancer Specialist Nurse

Support Team

Pancreatic Cancer UK

email: nurse@pancreaticcancer.org.uk

support line: 0808 801 0707

[Sangam]

Ninette wrote:

> I had the same issues, the GP told me I have heartburn and am just anxious.

> You need a proper CT scan, with contrast. Only there they can see the

> tumour, if there is one.

> It took me about 4 months to convince them to do the scan.

> When they finally saw it, everything went very quickly, almost immediately,

> within a week, I got an appointment for an endoscopy to confirm that the

> growth is malicious and then an appointment with the oncologist who

> confirmed the diagnoses. 2 weeks later I started chemotherapy.

Thank you for replying. Could you please tell me what symptoms you had and talked about with the doctor?

I read in another of your comment you had a Scan in a different country. Could you please tell me where? I am originally from Nepal and my family is telling me to go and get all the scans there because it's quicker. I feel too weak for that but I'm considering out of desperation.

[Sangam]

PCUK Nurse Rachel R wrote:

> Hi Sangam,

>

> It's Rachel here one of the nurses from the support service at the charity.

>

> I am very sorry to hear that you are experiencing these problems and that

> they are causing you a great deal of anxiety.

>

> Perhaps if you would like to give the support line a call or email us then

> we could talk through the tests that you've had already and the results of

> those, and also talk about suggestions for a possible way forward.

>

> The contact details for our service are in the strip below.

>

> Kind wishes,

> Rachel

>

> Rachel Richardson

> Pancreatic Cancer Specialist Nurse

> Support Team

> Pancreatic Cancer UK

> email: nurse@pancreaticcancer.org.uk

> support line: 0808 801 0707

Thank you for the reply and concern . I did call the support service this morning and it was helpful. I am getting more details from my GP and will call back.

[Ninette]

Hello Sangam,

Thanks for your reply.

I have a long history of being misdiagnosed for about 1.5 years. My first symptomps appeared in June 2017. I was living in Dubai, a very unhealthy and hectic life. I myself misinterpreted the symptoms, thought the stomach pain is because of stress or ulcer and the backpain because of overweight and lack of exercise.

I had the same symptoms that you have:

* Nausea and headache and vomit like feeling.

* Loss of appetite (I've been eating less and less) and every time after eating I had severe stomach pain

* Burning sensation in my upper abdomen and tender to touch.

* Shooting back pain in the spine area, going down to my legs until I was not able to move or walk.

* Pale/ yellow stool.

Finally I had some kind of crises, this was in June 2018. 3 days I had severe pain in the abdomen, everything I tried to eat or drink I vomited. On the third day I had to call the ambulance and go to the hospital for emergency. They misdiagnosed me again and wanted to operate me for gall bladder stones. During the operation they realised that my small intestine had parts that were dead, they removed about 1 meter. As cause they identified a blood clot in the liver that was blocking the vein leading blood to the digestive system. They said this caused the ischemia. I was given a prescription for blood thinner injections and sent home.

They did a scan in the hospital, but did not look further to see that the blood clot was in fact a thromboses caused by the cancer.

In Dubai I could not afford the medical bills. Only the hospital stay as "necessary and life saving" was free, but for medication and all other tests and doctor appointments I had to pay a fortune. So I had to leave Dubai and come back to Europe.

I was not aware of my condition so I started a new job in London and step by step got the medical appointments and tests until my diagnoses in February 2019.

I would strongly recommend to do the tests and everything in the UK, if you are here now. Call your GP and insist until they give you the appointments. Once they confirm the diagnoses here - if there is anything wrong - they will immediately start the treatment. If you come with a diagnoses from another country, I think they will not accept it here and still do the tests again, which will take more time.