11. Excessive Hunger (Polyphagia)
Anything in excess is bad; and while getting hungry is normal, excessive or extreme hunger, medically known as polyphagia or hyperphagia, might be a sign of an underlying condition that should be checked. Polyphagia is much different from the increased craving for food that you feel following exercise or other physical activity. While your hunger level will decrease after a meal in those cases, polyphagia won’t; even if you consume insane amounts of food.
A common cause of polydipsia is Diabetes. When we eat, the food that we take is broken down by the body into simpler forms which it can absorb: glucose. The body then uses a hormone called insulin to pull glucose from the blood into the tissues in order for cells to use it as fuel.
So how does pancreatic cancer cause polyphagia? When the endocrine glands of the pancreas become involved, the production of insulin, the main hormone that controls the uptake of sugar from the blood into the tissues, becomes impaired. This results in the inability of cells to get the glucose they need from the blood, causing them to starve due to lack of fuel for energy. When this happens, the body signals your brain to keep on eating in order for the body to get the glucose it needs to function properly, hence, the extreme hunger.
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