Cancer is one of the common diseases in the world, and almost 10 million people die every year because of it. In general, cancer can be defined as a disease occurring in the cells. There are many types of cancer around, the most common one is skin cancer. Cancer occurs when the abnormal cells grow out of control and it starts to damage invade not only the surrounding tissues but also other parts of the body. Therefore, it is very important to diagnose cancer early, because it can spread to the whole body through the blood and lymph systems. You should get health checkup regularly to not suffer from cancer and other diseases, of course. Cancer, actually occur in one organ which is called a primary tumor, and this tumor is separated into two: benign and malignant. While benign tumors do not spread the whole body, malignant tumors can invade other tissues if it is not diagnosed early. In this article, we will explain the symptoms of cancer in general sense below.
Causes of Cancer
Knowing the symptoms of cancer is important for the early diagnosis of the disease, but having one or more of these symptoms does not mean that you have cancer. If you experience any of these that we will mention above, you need to consult your doctor and get a health checkup. These causes or symptoms can also be a sign of other diseases.
Unexplained weight loss: Losing weight is actually one of the early signs of cancer especially in stomach, pancreas, esophagus and lung cancer. However, losing weight is normal and cannot be a sign of cancer by itself.
Biological Risk Factors: Biological risk factors are your physical features like gender, age, or race. Physical and biological features’ being risk factors for cancer or not actually depends on the type of cancer. Here:
- Gender: Some types of cancer can be associated with gender. For instance, prostate cancer only occurs in men. The prostate gland is between the bladder and penis in a male body. Breast cancer is actually seen in both genders, but women are at more risk of having breast cancer than men.
- Age: People over 50 have a higher risk of cancer.
- Race: Race also plays a role in occurring some types of cancer. For instance, prostate cancer is more in common in Afro-American people in the world.
- Skin: It can be actually related to race. Studies show that skin cancer is more common in blonde people.
Environmental Risk Factors: The environmental conditions in which you live or work can be a risk factor for cancer development. Radon, air pollution, UV radiation, and tobacco are among the environmental risk factors. In addition, some foods in a diet may increase the risk of cancer, while others may be protective.
Genetic Risk Factors: Genetic Risk factors are related to your genes that are inherited from the family. Having a family member who is diagnosed with cancer in his/her early ages, having three or more generations with a history of the same type cancer, or having the same or different type of cancer in more than one in your family means that you have a high risk of having cancer.
The Symptoms of Cancer
- Fever: It is frequently seen in the last steps of cancer.
- Fatigue: It may occur early in cancers such as stomach or colon cancer, which can cause blood cancer or anemia.
- A mass in the body: A masses felt in the body can be a sign of cancer. It is generally most common in breast cancer.
- Bleeding: Unusual bleeding may occur in both early and late stages of cancer. Blood in the sputum can be a sign of lung cancer, blood in the stool of colon cancer and vaginal bleeding can be symptoms of the uterus or cervical cancer.
- A change in bowel habits: Chronic constipation or diarrhea may be the first sign of colon cancer.
- Changes in mole and warts in the body: In any change in the shape, size or color of a mole or a wart in your body, you should consult your doctor immediately. Because it is important to early diagnosis and treatment of melanoma is known as skin tumors.
- Coughing and snoring
