Lab tests alone can't detect cancer: you also need to listen to your body, which tells you when something is wrong. Many strange symptoms are simply ignored.
Warning: each of these symptoms can have many causes and is rarely cancer. This list is here to make you careful, not worried. If a symptom worries you, see your doctor.
1. Shortness of breath and wheezing
Many people with lung cancer have trouble breathing.
2. A chronic cough or chest pain
Several cancers, including leukaemia and lung tumours, cause symptoms like a cough or pneumonia. Some lung cancers cause pain that spreads to the left shoulder and down the arm.
3. Persistent fever or infections
Leukaemia stops the body making normal white blood cells, which defend it. This weakens the immune system and leads to repeated infections.
4. Difficulty swallowing
A symptom of cancer of the oesophagus and throat, and sometimes of lung cancer.
5. Swollen lymph nodes or lumps in the neck or armpit
Enlarged lymph nodes point to changes in the lymphatic (immune) system, which may mean cancer. Lymph nodes are found in the armpits, the groin, around the intestines, in the tonsils and around the salivary glands.
6. Heavy bruising or bleeding that won't stop
This usually points to a problem with platelets and red blood cells and may mean leukaemia: cancer cells crowd out red cells and platelets, causing clotting problems and a poor oxygen supply.
7. Weakness and tiredness
Fatigue and weakness together with other health problems go with many cancers. If you feel chronically tired and sleep doesn't help, see a doctor.
8. Bloating and weight gain around the belly
Women with ovarian cancer often complain of bloating that appears fairly suddenly and comes and goes over a long time.
9. Feeling full and unable to eat
Another symptom of ovarian cancer: women say they don't feel hungry even long after their last meal.
10. Abdominal or pelvic pain
Pain and cramps with a bloated belly can point to ovarian cancer. Leukaemia can also cause abdominal pain from an enlarged spleen.
11. Rectal bleeding or blood in the stool
A symptom of colon cancer. Blood in the stool on its own is reason enough to see a doctor and have a colonoscopy.
12. Unexplained weight loss
An early symptom of colon cancer and other digestive cancers. It can also mean that cancer has spread to the liver, affecting appetite and the body's ability to get rid of waste.
13. Stomach pain
Constant stomach cramps and pain can point to colon cancer.
14. A red, sore or swollen breast
This can be a sign of inflammatory breast cancer. See your doctor about any unexplained change in your breast.
15. Nipple changes
The change most women notice before a breast cancer diagnosis is a nipple that flattens, turns inwards or points to one side.
16. Unusually painful periods or bleeding between periods
This can be a sign of uterine cancer. If you are worried, ask for a transvaginal ultrasound scan.
17. A swollen face
Many people with lung cancer notice swelling or redness of the face. Small-cell lung cancer often blocks blood vessels in the chest, so blood can't flow freely from the head and face.
18. A sore or lump on the skin that won't heal, crusts over and bleeds easily
This can be one of several skin cancers, such as melanoma or basal cell carcinoma. Check unusual lumps on your skin and watch whether they grow.
19. Nail changes
Nail changes can point to different cancers. A brown or black line or spot under a nail can be skin cancer; swollen fingertips with nails curving over the ends (clubbing) can point to lung cancer; and white or pale nails can point to liver cancer.
20. Pain in the back or the lower right side
Many people with liver cancer have pain on the right side. Breast cancer can show up as back pain when the tumour presses into the chest or spreads to the spine and ribs.
About one in four deaths in the United States in 2009 was caused by cancer, and cancer cases and deaths are expected to rise sharply worldwide. But many deaths can be prevented when cancer is found early and treated in time.
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