Often, a cancerous tumor does not manifest any specific symptoms. Therefore, most people learn about a terrible diagnosis only when dealing with the disease is already very difficult, and sometimes even impossible. And there is such a category of citizens who, for any ailment, think about the worst and try to find signs of cancer. Perhaps excessive vigilance is also useless, but if you really notice something is wrong in your condition, you should undergo a medical examination. Better safe than sorry!
Cancer: Signs and Symptoms
Diseases of this kind manifest themselves in different ways. But there are common signs of oncology in children, women and men. In general, three groups of symptoms can be distinguished:
- Unsuccessful treatment of diseases. When you carry out enhanced therapy for any pathologies, whether it is a stomach ulcer, inflammation of the bladder or pneumonia, and improvement does not occur over time, it is worthwhile to beware. Perhaps this indicates the presence of cancer.
- Small manifestations. Decreased performance, a constant feeling of discomfort, fatigue, a decrease in interest in the surrounding reality, causeless weight loss - all this can talk about oncology.
- Tissue proliferation. If during a visual examination or palpation you find in yourself a deformation or asymmetry of any part of the body, it is worth being wary. Perhaps such a tumor is dangerous.
10 signs of oncology
Now we will list the first symptoms of cancer, the appearance of which is necessary to consult a doctor.
- Sudden weight loss. Very many people at the early stage of the development of the disease begin to lose weight rapidly. If in a short time you have lost more than five kilograms, immediately visit a doctor.
- Fever and fever. This symptom usually appears when the cancer has spread quite widely. But it is he who can become the first bell.
- Fatigue and weakness. This is perhaps the most important first signs of cancer, characteristic of absolutely any type of cancer. However, many simply ignore them.
- Bone pain. This symptom may indicate malignant neoplasms in the bone tissue.
- Change the quality and color of the skin. Dermatological signs, such as darkening, redness, yellowness of the skin, itching and others, can indicate the presence of skin cancer or oncology of internal organs.
- Change in the size, color, thickness, shape of moles, as well as the occurrence of wounds or ulcers that are not amenable to therapy. Moles can transform into malignant tumors, so do not ignore such manifestations.
- Bladder dysfunction and stool disorders. You should consult a specialist if you suffer from persistent constipation or, conversely, diarrhea. Changes such as soreness during emptying, more frequent or rare urination should also alert.
- Persistent headache. This symptom may indicate the presence of a brain tumor.
- Unusual discharge, bleeding. Impurities of blood in the feces, urine, vaginal bleeding in women - all this can be a manifestation of cancer.
- A persistent cough, sore throat, hoarseness, as well as problems with swallowing and indigestion. If you find blood clots when you cough in sputum, you need to urgently visit a doctor, because you may have lung tissue oncology. Problems with swallowing and digestive disorders often do not appear to be signs of cancer, but if they occur together, then oncology of the pharynx, esophagus or gastrointestinal tract can be suspected.
Symptoms of different types of cancer
Of course, in addition to general manifestations, there are specific signs of cancer, characteristic only for a particular variety. And still, even if you find any characteristic symptom, you should not immediately think that you have cancer. First visit a specialist, and then draw conclusions.
Stomach cancer
In the early stages of the disease, the symptoms are inaccurate and meager. Often, not only patients, but also the doctors themselves attribute the symptoms that appear to gastritis. In this case, everything is limited to the appointment of medicines, and a full examination is not carried out. Nevertheless, specialists who carefully listen to patient complaints sometimes pick up the first signs of cancer. These include:
- reduced ability to work, causeless weakness;
- steady unmotivated loss of appetite or its complete loss, up to an aversion to food;
- stomach discomfort: lack of pleasure from eating delicious food, a feeling of heaviness even after taking a small amount of food, soreness in the epigastric zone, and sometimes nausea and vomiting;
- progressive weight loss, accompanied by blanching of the skin;
- depression: alienation, loss of interest in work and life in general, apathy.
The described first signs of oncology can appear both against the background of a previous stomach disease (for example, an ulcer), and against the background of absolute health. Only when a malignant tumor becomes widespread, vivid symptoms appear: persistent vomiting, intense pains radiating to the back, severe weight loss, severe weakness, earthy skin color.
Breast cancer
The first signs of oncology in women in this case are retraction and flattening of the nipple and spotting from it. Soreness is not a diagnostic symptom. With a breast tumor, the pain may be completely absent, but with mastopathy, on the contrary, it has a pronounced character. Depending on what form the cancer has, signs and symptoms will vary. So, with a mastitis-like form of the disease, the mammary gland greatly increases, swells and hurts. The skin becomes hot to the touch. The erysipelas form is characterized by a sudden appearance of redness on the skin of the chest, as well as a significant increase in temperature. Carapace oncology is manifested by a tuberous compaction of the skin. A shell is formed, as it were, covering part of the chest, and sometimes its entirety.
Rectal cancer
As already mentioned, usually the signs of cancer in the early stages are not particularly pronounced. Colorectal cancer is no exception . Symptoms that can be noticed: dull pain during defecation at the time of movement of feces, excretion of mucus and blood with stool, subsequently ribbon-like stool. Such manifestations are often mistaken for signs of hemorrhoids. However, there is a difference: with hemorrhoids, blood in the feces usually appears at the beginning of bowel movements, and with rectal cancer - at the end. At a later stage, constipation, followed by diarrhea, frequent urge to defecate, and discharge of fetid, purulent-bloody masses are added to the listed symptoms.
Skin cancer
This type of oncology can also have different forms: ulcerative, nodular, infiltrative. However, often the first signs of skin cancer, regardless of shape, are the same. Dense, painless nodules of a waxy pinkish-yellowish color appear on the body. Gradually they grow. Very rarely there are forms with sluggish growth, which for many years do not show visible changes. But such cases do occur.
Lung cancer
Depending on where the primary tumor occurs in the lung tissue or bronchus, the first signs of oncology will vary. In the case of central cancer (bronchial cancer), an annoying dry cough develops first, later sputum appears, often it has blood impurities. For this form of the disease, the causeless occurrence of pneumonitis (pneumonia) is very characteristic, accompanied by an increase in temperature, increased cough, general weakness, and in some cases chest pains. Peripheral cancer, which originates in the lung tissue, proceeds at the initial stage is almost asymptomatic and is often detected during a preventive x-ray examination.
A brain tumor
Signs of brain cancer are numerous and cannot be called specific. It is noteworthy that many neoplasms do not appear at all and are most often found only after death, at autopsy. This applies, for example, to the pituitary tumor. It should also be borne in mind that not all formations are malignant - benign tumors often manifest in the same way as cancerous ones. The only way to check the nature of the signs is to get tested.
Symptoms in these types of oncology are associated with the pressure of the tumor on the brain and, in this regard, a violation of its work. The symptoms are similar in both the primary and metastatic (when the neoplasm enters other parts of the brain) stages and are characterized by weakness, headache, distraction, the appearance of seizures and cramps, difficulty in motor processes. Nausea and vomiting are also possible (especially in the morning), impaired vision, weakened intellectual activity associated with impaired memory and concentration, a gradual decrease in mental activity, changes in the emotional state, and difficulty in speech processes. The listed symptoms, as a rule, do not immediately appear, therefore, over time, the disease may go unnoticed.
Finally
We listed the signs of the main oncological diseases, but, of course, not all types of cancer were affected. There are a lot of them, and the symptoms in each case will be different. For example, the main manifestations of uterine cancer are bleeding and vaginal bleeding. The main sign of esophageal cancer is pain when swallowing food, and the most common symptom of bladder cancer is blood in urine. Do not be negligent in your health and immediately consult a doctor at the slightest suspicion of a terrible disease!