What symptoms are caused by digestion problems?

What are the digestive symptoms of pancreatic cancer?

Problems with digestion cause symptoms including:

• losing your appetite
• losing weight, or struggling to put weight back on
• indigestion or heartburn
• frequent runny poo (diarrhoea)
• finding it harder to poo (constipation)
• pale, oily, floating poo (steatorrhoea)
• tummy pain or discomfort
• bloating or wind
• feeling full up quickly
• feeling sick
• needing to poo quickly, especially after eating.

There are other symptoms the cancer can cause.

• Pancreatic cancer can also cause diabetes.
• The cancer can cause jaundice. Symptoms include loss of appetite, taste changes, feeling and being sick, dark urine and pale poo, as well as yellow skin and eyes.
• The cancer can block the duodenum, which causes symptoms such as feeling full quickly, feeling and being sick, and losing weight.

Read about how pancreatic cancer causes digestion problems.

Talk to your doctor, nurse or dietitian about any symptoms you have. There are ways to manage these symptoms, including pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT).

What else can cause these symptoms?

Some of these symptoms can be caused by other things. For example, chemotherapy can cause side effects including diarrhoea, sickness and appetite loss.

Some treatments or medicines can hide symptoms. For example, medicine for diarrhoea may manage it, but the diarrhoea could be due to digestion problems and need PERT.

Your medical team will help you manage your medicines and any symptoms you have. Do not stop taking any medicines without speaking to your doctor, nurse or dietitian first.

How does pancreatic cancer cause weight loss?

Losing weight is a common symptom of pancreatic cancer. This is because the cancer affects how well you can digest your food. Diabetes can also cause weight loss.

Weight loss can affect how you deal with the symptoms of the cancer, and with treatments such as chemotherapy or surgery. Weight loss can be upsetting and affect how you feel generally. Read about emotional support.

What can help with weight loss?

Your doctor, dietitian or nurse will work out what is causing the weight loss, and how this can be managed.

• You may need to take PERT to help you digest your food and maintain your weight.
• Your medical team will also help you make changes to your diet so you can get more calories (energy) and protein.
• Your dietitian may recommend enriched food, which has extra nutrients added to it. This can help you get more calories and protein without needing to eat more. This is called a build-up or fortified diet.
• Your dietitian may also recommend nutritional supplements, which have extra calories and protein in them.

When someone loses weight quickly, they often lose muscle and strength too. Having more protein in your diet and doing gentle physical activity can help rebuild muscle. This can help you to feel better and have more energy.

What is steatorrhoea?

Steatorrhoea is caused by fat in the poo. Your poo may be pale, oily, smell worse than normal, and be difficult to flush down the toilet. It happens if your body isn’t making enough enzymes to digest the fat in your food properly. It also happens if the enzymes are blocked from getting to the bowel, where they are needed for digestion.

It is not caused by eating too much fat. You should not reduce fat in your food. Talk to your doctor or dietitian if you notice any changes to your poo.

Updated March 2025

Review date March 2028