Weight Loss First Symptom Cancer

There are several causes of weight loss and your doctor can treat many of these.

Weight loss first symptom cancer. On its own it cannot diagnose cancer but will often suggest to doctors that tests be performed to at the very least exclude cancer as a cause. The condition causes decreased appetite which in turn has your body looking at itself for nutrition. This happens most often with cancers of the pancreas stomach esophagus swallowing tube or lung.

Losing weight when you are not trying to is a common symptom in people with cancer. Cachexia is a complex mechanism that causes weight loss in cancer patients. When you lose weight for no known reason it s called an unexplained weight loss.

Weight loss associated with cancer may be different than other types of weight loss. In this we see loss of fat stores and loss of muscle mass along with increasing fatigue. Other cancers such as ovarian.

When first diagnosed with cancer about 40 percent of people report an unexplained weight loss. Weight loss is common among people with cancer. A cold or the flu can make you hack away but it s also a potential symptom of lung cancer along with red flags like chest pain weight loss hoarseness fatigue and shortness of breath.

It might be one of the reasons why you first go to the doctor. Up to 80 percent of people with advanced cancer undergo weight loss and wasting. According to the american cancer society unexplained weight loss is often the first noticeable symptom of cancers of the esophagus pancreas stomach and lung.

It may be the first visible sign of the disease. In fact 40 of people say they had unexplained weight loss when they were first diagnosed with cancer. Unexplained weight loss has many causes medical and nonmedical.