Layman's Guide to Cancer - Part 2 Cancer Symptoms

Cancers can cause a wide range of symptoms or they can be fully symptomless until the illness has progressed to an advanced stage. It is important to note that symptoms associated with cancer can also be noticed in other illnesses as effectively, for which a cure is on the market. So it is essential to recognize the symptoms and locate out the trigger of the symptom by means of examination ,investigations and tests. Early recognition of the symptoms and therapy might lead to a favorable outcome in a large number of cancer kinds. Some of the commonly encountered symptoms are dealt with below.

• Unexplained loss of weight Unexplained Loss of weight could possibly be due to an underlying cancer.But loss of weight can also be related with numerous chronic conditions like tuberculosis, diabetes and a number of other medical circumstances.Therefore it is needed to rule out other causes of weight loss before suspecting cancer
  
• Swelling anyplace in the body Some cancers like Breast cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid cancer present as swellings. Most of the times the swellings are not cancerous and can be quickly treated. Some of the swellings could be basically secondaries from a cancer at a diverse website.
  
• Alteration in bowel habits Difficulty in passing stools ,constipation, diarrhea, alteration in the caliber of the stools, blood in stools and feeling of incomplete emptying of the stools soon after passing stools ( tenesmus) are some of the symptoms commonly related with bowel cancer.
  
• Difficulty in swallowing Also called as dysphagia is a symptom commonly encountered with cases of upper gastrointestinal tract cancer (e.g. oesophageal cancer).
  
• Unusual vaginal bleeding or discharge Unusual vaginal bleeding or discharge might possibly be an early symptom of uterine or cervical cancer.Excessive vaginal bleeding may be associated with lots of other conditions like menorrhagia, fibroid uterus.Situations which merit a cautious examination are bleeding in in between periods, post-menopausal bleeding, unless expected of HRT(Hormone Replacement Therapy), bleeding occurring immediately after sexual intercourse and bleeding that is a lot more prolonged and heavier than expected.
  
• Non-healing sores Frequently sores heal swiftly but some sores do not heal with usual treatment and merit careful evaluation as some cancers present as non-healing sores.
  
• Hoarseness of voice Hoarseness of voice is typically a symptom of respiratory tract infections and vocal cord polyps. But hoarseness of voice persisting for a bigger duration.> three-four weeks and hoarseness not due to respiratory tract infection could possibly be due to an underlying cancer. Hoarseness of voice in cancer may possibly be due to compression of the larynx by tumor mass or due to cancer affecting the nerve supplying the muscles of the vocal cord.
  
• Unexplained anaemia Anemia, which manifests as tiredness and fatigue, and can't be attributed to any identified prevalent cause may perhaps be due to an underlying cancer.This is a characteristic of colon cancer where the cancerous tissue bleeds leading to loss of blood and anemia. Most of the time the bleeding is not visible to the eye and so is called occult blood loss.Any elderly person with unexplained anemia will need to be advised to undergo a comprehensive radiographic examination of large intestinal to rule out bowel cancer