Unexplained weight loss
Weight loss and muscle wasting (cachexia) are common and occur in over 90% of patients with pancreatic cancer. These phenomena, apart from physiological disadvantage which contribute to fatigue and weakness, often have a pronounced deleterious effect on such factors as a patient’s sense of well-being. Contributors include anorexia, nausea, other gastrointestinal symptoms, depression, the side-effects of chemotherapy, surgery, new dietary constraints, early satiety (sense of stomach fullness), medical procedures and perhaps most importantly the metabolic effects of the pancreatic cancer itself.