My Cancer Help Online

Before starting out with the symptoms of Cancer a person should have an adequate knowledge about what are symptoms and signs of symptoms.

A symptom is a signal of disease, illness, injury or that something is not right in the body. Symptoms are usually felt or noticed by the person who has them or the colleges around him. For instance symptoms of pneumonia would be weakness aches and feeling short of breath. Even when visiting to the doctor, he always asks for symptoms before giving any kind of prescription.
But if you notice these symptoms are very common to doctors. These doctors need more specific symptoms like Fever, fast breathing and uncharacteristic breathing. These are then found when a doctor does a body check up. This is why having one symptom is not enough to judge whether a person is suffering from pneumonia or just a simple fever.

This same happens in case of cancer. But as cancer is a slow growing disease in the body, they are generally spotted when they reach 2nd or 3rd stage. Cancer symptoms are very hard to find with naked eyes. But regular body checks up and screening can spot them at their earliest stage. This is why it is advisable to get a routine check every 6 to 8 months.

It is important to note that the symptoms I will be telling you can and cannot be noticed at their earliest stage. That is why again it is advisable to take regular body check up.

Symptoms of Cancer:

•    Continual Fatigue:

Fatigue is identified as one of the most common cancer symptoms. This is more common in the advanced stage of cancer but it still crops up in the basic stage in some of the cancers. Anemia is the culprit – a condition associated with many types of cancer. Fatigue is a symptom of both malignant and non-malignant conditions.

•    A Sudden weight loss:

While it is a welcome surprise to lose weight without even doing a workout, but it is also the cause of many cancers. Sudden weight loss can be a red flag to may thousand illnesses, and cancer tops it. This weight occurs when not working out or even losing the appetite.

•    Pain:

Pain can be due to an injury or any other disease. It is not an early sign of cancer. But a pain can be a symptom when it spreads to bone. It generally occurs when cancer spreads to other body organs and nerve cells. Pains in lower pack can be associated with ovarian cancer and colon cancer. Pain in shoulder can be associated with lung cancer! Persistent pain in head can be a sign with brain tumor. Again, stomach pain can be related to stomach cancer and pancreatic cancer. But note that pain is not a symptom of cancer at its early stage.

•    Fever:

Fever is not the best symptom to associate it with cancer because fever is usually caused due to a viral infection, malaria, etc. Fever for cancer is associated with types which affect the blood. For e.g. leukemia and lymphoma.

•    Bowel Changes:

Experiencing constipation, diarrhea, blood clots, gas, the thinner stools, and an overall change in Bowel habits, its better you get a check up of the body and consult the doctor. These are the symptoms of colon cancer and other types of cancer too.

•    Chronic Cough:

A cough that doesn’t go away by normal medicines can be a sign of cancer. If Blood and mucus accompanies the cough then lung cancer and throat cancer can be a problem.

Lung Cancer

These are very essential symptoms which are needed to be kept in mind. If you have anyone which is suffering from these symptoms you should better hurry and get a quick body check up. Although these symptoms are not a red flag for cancer but prevention is better than cure.

There are about 200 types of cancer. Cancers cells can replicate on any body tissue without causing harm to any other tissue. For instant consumption of tobacco and can lead to lung cancer, over exposing your skin to sun can lead to skin cancer. But the sun won’t give you skin cancer, only tobacco will.  The causes of cancer are usually multi factorial. This means that cancer can be caused be many factors. Some can be avoided but many can’t. Researchers are still trying to find and eliminate these causes. However, here are the main reasons behind the cause of cancer.

• Carcinogens

• Age

• Genetic make up

• The immune system

• Body weight, diet and physical activity

• Environment

• Viruses

Carcinogen

This term refers to a substance or radioactive substance that is a cancer agent. It is directly involved in cause of cancer in the body. There are several carcinogens that are directly involved in radiation. For e.g.: Tobacco is a powerful carcinogen. Tobacco is the direct cause of lung cancer.

Age

Many cancers become common after a certain age. This is because genetic changes in a cell make them cancerous. These cells take long time to develop that is why certain cancers happen only after particular age. Although several changes are required before a cell can be transformed in a cancerous cell. This may happen during the cell division or when a cell gets damaged by carcinogens. These damages are then passed on to the other daughter cells, which then slowly turn into a tumor in the tissue where the accidents have taken place. In other words, smoking only once or everyday in your life will ultimately lead to cancer in lungs.

Genetic make up

Before turning into a cancerous cell, a cell needs number of genetic transmutation. Some people are born with it and some develop during their living. Statically the people who are born with this defect develop cancer during their life years. Doctors usually call it ‘genetic predisposition’. For e.g. the BRCA1 and BRCA2 are breast cancer genes. The women who are born with it have more chances of having breast cancers in respect to the women who are not born with it. Researchers are trying to find the reasons behind the interaction of genes that increase the risk of cancer.

The Immune system

People who have problems with immune system are more likely to get cancers. These include:

• People who have had organ transplant

• People who have HIV or AIDS

• People who are born with rare medical syndromes

• People who take drugs to stifle immunity.

Body weight, diet and physical activity

Cancer experts says that maintaining a perfect body weight, diet and doing cardio and other physical exercise can decrease the death rates from cancer by one-thirds

Eating too much of red meat and processed food are known to increase the risk of Cancer. People in west usually don’t prefer fresh fruits and vegetable and live on junk foods like chips, burgers, and cold-drinks. In addition too much consumption of alcohol can also lead to dozens of cancers.

Environment

The Environment is also known to increase the risk of cancer. Such include:

• The Sun

• Smoking cigarettes

• Work place hazards – It includes working in factories and dust areas.

• Natural and man made radiations

• Asbestos

• Car smoke

• Noise pollution in big cities

These all are pieces of jig-saw puzzles. Out them some can be solved but some like Sun rays can be lessened but can’t be avoided.

Viruses

Viruses can cause infection but that does not mean that cancers are caused by infection. Virus can cause genetic changes in cells that might make them cancerous. Many people get infection but have never got cancer. The virus can cause cancer in rare situations. In Africa the EBV viruses are known to attack repeatedly and cause malaria in the infants and adults and cause a cancer called ‘Burkitt’s lymphoma.’ In China EBV viruses are known to cause nasopharyngeal cancer.

Liver cancers are cause by viruses named Hepatitis B and C.

Another example is wart virus. They cause Cervical cancer and in the regions of anal. But all in all cases of viruses are very less as compared to carcinogens.

Cancer is a class of disease in which the cells demonstrate an uncontrollable growth in an explicit region of the body. Nearly all the cancers are caused my abnormalities in the body function and its organ and this genetic material in the body. But how do these abnormalities occur in the body?

I’ll leave you to think about that, in the meantime let’s look at the figure of death rates and people being victims of Cancer everyday and every Year.

According to American Cancer society, around 7.6 million people are victims of Cancer every year and on an average a whopping 20,000 people die every day. But the prediction for this year is estimated to around 12 million people in the whole world.

These are just numbers, but what is the truth behind such deaths?

Cancer cells take some time to grow to a stage where it is noticeable. Cancers might take 18 months to 3 years to show any identification in the body. Some even take up to 30 years before being diagnosed by doctors. Some cancers can be treated depending on the size, stage and location. So, when the patient realizes that he is suffering from a cancer, it becomes incurable.

How does it start?

In the very first stage of cancer, a group of these cells loses its touch where it is in the process of ‘synergy’. And suddenly it starts replicating itself leading into a tumor.

Synergy is the interaction of two or more agents, which produces a combined effect greater then the sum of their separate effects.

As I have already said we all have the potential for cancer. Each of our body contains more than billions of cells which combine together to give life. Every cell has specific function. But what clicks these cancer cells in our body to become selfish and self-replicating?