Symptoms of Cancer

Cancer…everybody dreads this word. In spite of all the modern technological innovations in the field of science and medicine nothing has ever been discovered to finally treat this life threatening disease. Thousands of lives are lost to different types of cancer every year.

This is the reason why people should know the symptoms of cancer as similar to any other type of diseases; early detection will help in the battle against cancer.

Cancer symptoms would generally depend on the size, on where the cancer has chosen to grow and on the effect the cancer would have on the nearby organs of the body. Once the cancer has metastasized, symptoms would appear on the different parts of the body. In some instances, cancer would develop in places where it would not manifest any symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage.

The following are the general symptoms of cancer:

• Unexplained weight loss. A person (especially an obese one) may be glad of losing 10 or more pounds without really trying to lose weight. This however, may be the first sign of cancer.
• Lasting fatigue is a most common sign of cancer. This may signify that the cancer is on its advanced stage
• Fever in cancer patients mean that the immune system is already affected. It can also be due to the cancer itself. Fever is a most common symptom in all types of cancers.
• Pain- people with bone cancer or with testicular cancer would experience pain even at the onset of the disease. Pain in other types of cancer is a symptom that the disease has spread.
• Skin changes- skin cancer would naturally manifest skin changes. Other types of internal cancers would also show darkening or reddening of skin, itchiness as well as excessive or abnormal hair growth
Different cancers have different symptoms. As there are more than a hundred types of cancers it would be best to take note of these general symptoms of cancer.