Harish was a medical doctor. Did all the right things, ate well, daily exercises, followed everything under the sun, and always felt proud that he was a doctor and his health was perfect and would always be so, he was overweight and did not pay much attention to it. But one night when he went to the washroom found blood in his urine. He underwent all the necessary tests under our guidance. Being a doctor we were also extra careful. Harish was diagnosed with 4 stages of colorectal cancer and it had spread to his liver. He did not have any symptoms or signs of cancer, but was shocked with the diagnosis.
His co-operation is worth mentioning. Immediately left the whole treatment into our hands and followed it religiously. He went through chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. It took us 12 hours to remove his colon, rectum, gallbladder, a part of his liver, and all the lymph nodes that were involved. After this, though his cancer has recurred a few times, he went through regular tests and treatment and kept his disease under control. He realized though he ate well he did not eat the right food most of the times and he changed his diet. Today he is an inspiration to his own patients, talking to them about the importance of being slim, eating the right food, and being hydrated.
Any person affected with any illness or disease must get himself treated. The earlier the treatment starts, the better the chances of recovery. This is also a fact with cancer.
Some early symptoms of cancer detection can be fever, abnormal lung sounds, or rapid breathing. These symptoms can be felt by the person going through it and can also be noticed by health care professionals, family members, and friends.
There are other symptoms which can be noticed only by the person experiencing it, they are –aches and pains, weakness, or excessive tiredness. When one experiences these symptoms, it’s always better to consult an experienced doctor we can immediately and accurately diagnose cancer-related illness by conducting a few blood tests, biopsies, X-rays, and other necessary medical tests.
WARNING SIGNS OF CANCER:
You may overlook some early signs of cancer as they look like any other illness. But do not ignore any symptom, especially when these signs of illness continue and become worse, immediately consult us.
7 SYMPTOMS AND WARNING SIGNS OF CANCER:
1. UNEXPLAINED WEIGHT LOSS– Even without changing your lifestyle you may begin to lose weight. If you lose around 10 kgs without a change in your lifestyle consult us. This weight loss may be associated with cancers of the esophagus, stomach, lung or pancreas.
2. FEVER– A fever is a common symptom of many illnesses. But generally when cancer spreads to the other parts of the body you may get fever. Along with fever you may experience sweating at night times and generally fever during nights. As the cancer tumor affects the immune system you will experience fever.
3. FATIGUE/ TIREDNESS- Even if you have taken rest you feel tired. But the tiredness you experience if you have cancer is different than what you feel after a day’s hard work. All the nutrients in the body grow and advance when we have cancer and when the nutrients are not being used by the body because of cancer you feel tired. This you experience generally in the early stages of leukemia and some stomach or colon cancers.
4. PAIN-When you experience a particular type of pain it can be signs of cancer. If you have headache that does not go away even after treatment it can be a symptom of brain cancer. Continues back pain could be rectum, ovarian or colon cancer. If the cancer cells have spread to the other parts of the body then you have pain.
5. SKIN CHANGES-The warning signs of cancer are –
––Jaundice
––Excessive hair growth
––Hyperpigmentation
––Itching
––Reddened Skin.
Always be alert and self examination is better even if we practice sun safety measures. If you notice any changes in your skin like sores bleeding itching and when they don’t heal consult us. If you see a doctor early skin cancers can be cured.
6. CHANGE IN BLADDER FUNCTION OR IN BOWEL HABITS—If you experience constipation, diarrhea or change in stool size it might be colon cancer. If you have pain while passing urine, blood in the urine or change in your bladder functioning it could be because of prostate or bladder cancer.
7. UNUSUAL BLEEDING OR DISCHARGE—In the early or advanced cancer you may have unusual bleeding while coughing it can be a sign of lung cancer. Dark, black or blood in the stool can be a symptom of rectal or colon cancer. In the cervix if you have abnormal bleeding it is cancerous. If blood is being discharged in the nipples it is breast cancer. Blood in the urine could be kidney or bladder cancer.
If you experience these symptoms it’s better to consult us immediately for early detection and treatment. If you have a family history of cancer, during yearly check up speak to your doctor.
COMMON CANCER MYTHS AND MISCONCEOTIONS:
People generally ask questions that may not be relevant to a particular disease. Wrong ideas about cancer can lead to needless worry and can hinder prevention and good treatment. People generally ask—
1. IS CANCER A DEATH SENTENCE?
Worldwide the number of people dying from cancer has dropped steadily. Many survivors of dreadful cancers live longer than imagined. There are many factors for this survival—if the cancer is slow or growing fast, how much it has spread into the body, the person’s overall health and the effective treatment helps.
2. WILL EATING SUGAR MAKE THE CANCER WORSE?
Though cancer cells consume more sugar than normal cells, but eating sugar will not make your cancer worse, but you can put on extra weight. This is a fact and increasing your weight can lead to cancer.
3. DO ARTIFICIAL SWEETNESS CAUSE CANCER?
All the artificial sweeteners are not the cause of cancer as they have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for sale.
4. IS CANCER CONTAGIOUS?
No Cancer is contagious and does not spread from person to person. Except when a person receives an organ or tissue from a donor who had cancer in the past may increase the risk of developing a transplant-related cancer in the future. But we as doctors generally avoid the use of organs or tissue from donors who have had a history of cancer.
Likewise there are a number of doubts, misconceptions, myths and facts about cancer, so it’s always safe to go for a regular checkup after a certain age and clarify all the myths and facts about cancer.
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