Besides The Seven Signs Of Cancer Are There Any Other Ways Of Finding Out If A Person Has The Disease?
Recently a neighbour died from cancer. Although I visited this person, I could not tell. A relative said that the doctor found fluid on his lungs and could do nothing about it.What are some of the common and not so common signs of cancer whether in male or female?
Panda said,
December 29, 2009 @ 4:05 pm
No, you cannot tell . . because the body is a large place . . and cancer refers to one cell that has mutated and begun to grow. Cancer is a progressive disease, which means it will start out very, very small and grow indefinitely. Cancer is your own cells . . any one of them . . any of them at any given time can develop cancer . . a kidney cell is different than a brain cell that is different from a colon cell . . so there is absolutely no way to know in the early stages that you have cancer. The body does not recognize a tumor as anything foreign and can co-exist quite awhile with the tumor. It isn’t until the late or advanced stages that you start to have symptoms . . sometimes . .
Cancer is progressive . . it starts out small and grows . . when it gets big enough it may start to invade local tissue and cause some type of vague pain, uneasiness, or other symptom. By the time cancer becomes noticed it is usually already large, more than one, and it may have metastasized which means it send new metastatic cells into the blood stream. Those new cancer cells can travel anywhere in the body and start a whole new colony of cancer. That is probably what happened to your neighbor. Cancer is often not that painful until the very end stages . . it will hurt only if the tumor is invading tissue, disrupting body functions, or pressing on nerves. Otherwise . . no pain.
Wish there were more signs . . but the truth is that cancer can be totally misdiagnosed for quite some time . . especially in young people.
rtfm said,
December 29, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
There are dozens of kinds of cancer, and hundreds of different symptoms. A doctor would be able to suggest tests to be done if they suspected a patient had some particular type of cancer, based on their symptoms.
If you’re asking if it’s possible for a non-doctor to tell if somebody has cancer just by looking at them or talking to them, the answer is no, not always. Many forms of cancer don’t exhibit any obvious signs until the disease is already fairly advanced.
If you’re worried that you yourself might have cancer and not know it — chances are you don’t. But definitely do talk to your doctor if you’re worried. He/she will be able to reassure you and talk realistically about your own individual risks, based on your family history and lifestyle.
RStJames said,
December 29, 2009 @ 10:14 pm
You can’t tell really, unless it happens to be something like a skin cancer, and even then there is always the likelihood that it could be something else. So really, it’s just impossible to tell by just looking at someone.
I would like to mention that for women, ovarian cancer is known as the “silent killer” because the symptoms are so vague. They can be things like bloating and indigestion which obviously is not something you’d run to the doctor to get checked out. Most people just pop a Tums or a Rolaids and carry on. However, if you hapepen to start experiencing these digestive symptoms out of the blue when it is out of the norm for you, and also along with bloating, and especially if there is any pelvic and/or leg pain (leg pain could be from a tumor pressing on a nerve), please have it checked out. You must be your own advocate because doctors tend to pooh pooh these symptoms and send you on your way with a Prilosec prescription for heartburn or something like that.
So I just wanted to offer a heads up if anyone happened to be experiencing such symptoms. It’s most likely not anything serious but those are the vague signs of ovarian cancer so best to get it checked.
heogog said,
December 29, 2009 @ 10:32 pm
You’ve asked an extremely difficult question to answer. There are many types of cancers- and each one has keynote symptoms. Many people who die of cancer don’t neccesarily look like anything in particular- and those who are in treatment and then survive their cancers look like normal folks. Granted, those undergoing chemotherapy will loose their hair, and those getting radiation treatment may have skin changes at the irradiated area.
Many terminal patients loose a great deal of weight, but outwardly have little other changes. sometimes they have feeding tubes, but they are hidden under clothing.
When patients die, all of the tubes and drains and other things are removed, so you won’t have any idea of what they may have had inserted for treatment.
So- here are some high points on a few types of cancers. This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means.
Breast cancer in either men or women starts with a palpable lump- meaning that if you do a breast self exam you can feel the lump. That may be benign or malignant(cancerous). another sign is discharge from the nipple, dimpling of the slin(looks kinda like an ornage peel), then erosion of the skin with bleeding.
Melanoma is a skin cancer. Look for irregularily shaped “moles” that suddenly start changing colors/shape/thickness. They are brown or black in color.
Rectal cancer symptoms include bleeding from the rectum, obtruction(making it hard to go to the bathroom).
Pancreatic cancer is extremely painful and may cause jaundice(you turn yellow) from an obstruction to the liver and bileducts.
Liver cancer causes pain and jaundice.
Lung cancer symptoms include a dry cough, chest pain and shortness of breath.