Often, a cancerous tumor does not show any specific symptoms. Therefore, most people learn about a terrible diagnosis only when it is already very difficult, and sometimes completely impossible, to cope with the disease. And there is also such a category of citizens who, with any ailment, think about the worst and try to detect signs of cancer in themselves. Perhaps excessive vigilance is also useless, but if you really notice something is wrong in your condition, you should undergo a medical examination. Better play it safe!
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 be a stomach ulcer, inflammation of the bladder or pneumonia, and there is no improvement for a long time, you should be wary. Perhaps this indicates the presence of a cancerous lesion.
- Small manifestations. Reduced efficiency, constant feeling of discomfort, fatigue, decreased interest in the surrounding reality, unreasonable weight loss - all this can talk about oncology.
- Tissue growth. If, during a visual examination or palpation, you find yourself deformed or asymmetric in some part of the body, you should be wary. Perhaps such a tumor is dangerous.
10 signs of cancer
Now we list the first symptoms of cancer, the appearance of which you should definitely consult a doctor.
- Dramatic weight loss. Many people at an early stage of the development of the disease begin to lose weight rapidly. If you lose more than five kilograms in a short time, visit your doctor immediately.
- Fever and fever. This symptom usually appears when the cancer has already spread widely. But it is he who can become the first call.
- Fatigue and weakness. These are 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.
- Changing the quality and color of the skin cover. Dermatological signs, such as darkening, redness, yellowness of the skin, itching, and others, may indicate the presence of skin cancer or oncology of the internal organs.
- Changing 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 growths, so do not ignore such manifestations.
- Disturbances in the functioning of the bladder and disorders of the stool. You should consult a specialist if you suffer from persistent constipation or, on the contrary, diarrhea. Changes such as painful bowel movements, more frequent or rare urination should also alert.
- Permanent headache. This symptom may indicate the presence of a brain tumor.
- Unusual discharge, bleeding. Blood in the stool, urine, vaginal bleeding in women - all this can be a manifestation of cancer.
- Incessant cough, sore throat, hoarseness, and trouble swallowing and indigestion. If you find blood clots in your sputum when you cough, you should immediately visit a doctor, because you may have lung tissue cancer. Swallowing problems and digestive disorders are often not signs of cancer, but if they occur together, you may suspect a cancer of the pharynx, esophagus, or gastrointestinal tract.
Symptoms of different types of cancer
Of course, in addition to general manifestations, there are specific signs of oncological diseases that are characteristic only for one or another 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 signs are inaccurate and scarce. Often, not only patients, but the doctors themselves write off the symptoms that have appeared on gastritis. In this case, everything is limited to the appointment of medications, and a complete examination is not carried out. And yet, specialists who listen attentively to the complaints of patients sometimes catch the first signs of an oncological disease. These include:
- reduced ability to work, causeless weakness;
- sustained unmotivated decrease in appetite or its complete loss, up to disgust for food;
- stomach discomfort: not getting pleasure from eating delicious food, feeling of heaviness even after eating a small amount of food, soreness in the epigastric region, 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 manifest themselves both against the background of a previous stomach disease (for example, an ulcer), and against the background of absolute he alth. Only when a malignant tumor becomes widespread do vivid symptoms appear: persistent vomiting, intense pain radiating to the back, severe weight loss, severe weakness, sallow skin color.
Breast cancer
The first signs of oncology in women in this case are retraction and flattening of the nipple and bloody discharge from it. Pain is not a diagnostic symptom. Atbreast tumors, pain may be completely absent, but with mastopathy, on the contrary, it can be pronounced. Depending on what form the cancer has, the 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 erysipelatous form is characterized by the sudden appearance of redness on the skin of the chest, as well as a significant increase in temperature. Shell oncology is manifested by a bumpy thickening of the skin. A kind of shell is formed, 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. Colon cancer is no exception. Symptoms that can be noticed: dull pain during bowel movements at the time of the passage of stool, mucus and blood in the stool, subsequently a 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 a bowel movement, and with rectal cancer, at the end. At a later stage, constipation, followed by diarrhea, frequent urge to defecate, 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 form, are the same. On the body appear densepainless nodules of a waxy pinkish-yellowish color. Gradually they grow. Very rarely there are forms with sluggish growth, which for many years do not show visible changes. But such cases also happen.
Lung Cancer
Depending on where the primary tumor occurs, in lung tissue or bronchus, the first signs of oncology will vary. In the case of central cancer (cancer of the bronchus), a hacking dry cough develops first, later sputum appears, often it has blood impurities. For this form of the disease, the causeless occurrence of pneumonitis (inflammation of the lung), accompanied by an increase in temperature, increased cough, general weakness, and in some cases chest pains, is very characteristic. Peripheral cancer, which originates in the lung tissue, is almost asymptomatic at the initial stage and is often detected during a preventive x-ray examination.
Brain tumor
Signs of brain cancer are numerous and cannot be called specific. It is noteworthy that many neoplasms do not manifest themselves at all and are most often found only after death, at autopsy. This applies, for example, to a pituitary tumor. It should also be borne in mind that not all formations are malignant - benign tumors often appear in the same way as cancerous ones. The only way to check the nature of the symptoms is to get tested.
Symptoms whenSuch types of oncology are associated with the pressure of the tumor on the brain and, in connection with this, a violation of its work. The signs are similar in both the primary and metastatic (when the neoplasm penetrates into other parts of the brain) stages and are characterized by weakness, headache, absent-mindedness, the appearance of convulsions and spasms, and difficulty in motor processes. Nausea and vomiting are also possible (especially in the morning), blurred vision, weakening of intellectual activity associated with impaired memory and concentration, a gradual decrease in mental activity, changes in emotional state, difficulty in speech processes. These symptoms usually do not appear immediately, so the disease may go unnoticed for a long time.
In conclusion
We have listed the signs of the main oncological diseases, but, of course, we have not touched on all types of cancer. 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 discharge in the form of whites from the vagina. The main symptom of esophageal cancer is pain when swallowing food, and the most common symptom of bladder cancer is blood in the urine. Do not be negligent about your he alth and immediately consult a doctor at the slightest suspicion of a terrible disease!
