Telling somebody they have cancer is probably one of the hardest parts of my
job. I had three patients just this past week, one with breast cancer,
one with liver cancer and another with lymphoma that I diagnosed,
and they all had something in common. They all had small, subtle symptoms that started
to get worse over time so they finally decided to come in and talk about. And that was the key,
they recognized something was off and didn t ignore it. So today, I m going to help you
recognize some of the most common symptoms of cancer that you need to watch for if you
are going to catch these early. So keep watching because this very well may save your life!
So let s lay a little groundwork before we start to go over these. First of all,
as we start talking about these symptoms it s important to realize that most of these are
very non-specific and if you have them, it doesn t mean you have cancer. It just means you need
to get in to have them looked at. Second, is that the reason we are going over these signs,
is to help you catch cancer early and give you the best chance at beating it. With a lot of Cancers
though, waiting to have symptoms can still be too late , so it is so important that you talk
to your doctor about what kind of preventative tests you need to do. So please, please, please,
get your pap, your mammogram, your colonoscopy and any other screening tests that you are
due for because that really is the best way to catch some of the most common cancers early.
So here are the top things that you need to be watching for.
The first sign to watch for, is worsening fatigue or extreme tiredness that doesn t
get better with rest. Cancer is a very energy intensive disease, there are cells that are
replicating uncontrollably and that takes a lot of energy from your body. Sometimes it can make
you anemic or change other parts of how your body is working and can make you exhausted.
The next is a very common one and is the exact reason that my patient with liver cancer came
to me. She had about a 20 pound weight loss over the past few months and couldn t figure out why.
So any weight loss or weight gain over 10 pounds or more over a couple month periods
when you haven t been trying, could be a cause of concern. We all would love to lose a little
weight but cancer is not the way to do it. The next is watch for eating problems such as
not feeling hungry, trouble swallowing, belly pain or nausea and vomiting. There aren t a lot
of great screening tests for cancers involving the upper abdomen so watching for worsening
symptoms like these could be important. The next sign could be swelling or lumps
anywhere in the body. This could be your lymph nodes in your neck, armpits, or groin.
In your breasts whether you are a guy or a girl, your testicles or really anywhere else
in your body. If something is getting bigger when it shouldn t, then get it looked at.
Pain can be a symptom that you would want to watch out for. This could be headaches,
pain in your chest or abdomen, back or other bones. Any unexplained pain that just isn t
going away or is getting worse needs to be looked at. One of the saddest examples we can sometimes
see is in children. They complain of pain in an arm or a leg that just doesn t go away but it
gets ignored feeling that it is just growing pains but they end up having cancer.
Keep an eye on your skin for changes such as a lump that bleeds or turns scaly, a new mole or
a change In a mole, a sore that does not heal or a yellowish color to the skin or eyes.
Watch for a cough or hoarseness that doesn t go away. Certainly, if you have a history of smoking
or exposure to smoke or other cancer forming agents you should be even more cautious. But
just because you haven t smoked, doesn t mean you can t get cancer in the lungs or throat.
Another one you may not think about is unusual bleeding or bruising for no known reason.
You can start having bruises, especially in places that you may not normally have them.
Bloody noses or bleeding gums or Your periods may start to be longer and
heavier with no other explanation. Watch for a change in bowel habits,
such as constipation or diarrhea that doesn t go away or a change in how your stools look.
Watch for significant persistent changes in color like it turning black or a change in
the shape of your stool where it may turn really thin like a ribbon or a pencil.
Watch for changes to how you urinate such as pain when passing urine,
blood in the urine or needing to pass urine more or less often. If you are a guy in addition to
these, you may notice a weaker urine stream or may need to get up more frequently at night.
Another nighttime symptom can be having fevers or night sweats. This is when you wake up at
night with your sheets drenched. If this is happening especially with some of these other
symptoms we have discussed like weight loss then you need to get in and have this evaluated.
Watch for persistent sores In your mouth, or areas that are bleeding, painful or numb or
worsening issues with swallowing. Watch for worsening headaches,
behavior changes or other neurologic changes like difficulty walking or arms or legs not
working quite like they should, vision changes like double vision or changes
in hearing on one side versus the other. As you can tell, going over this list can make
us all wonder if we have cancer. We ve all had at least one of these symptoms. So I don t want you
going through this list and picking one thing out of it and worrying yourself to death that you have
cancer. Nor do I want you to look at this list and think just because your symptom is not mentioned
that you don t need to worry about it. The signs and symptoms that I went over are the
just some of the most common ones that we see with cancer but there are all sorts of ways that it can
present. The most important thing that you need to take home today from all that we ve talked about
is that you need to pay attention to changes in your body. I like to explain it like this to my
patients. You need to look for the two P s. if something is persistent meaning it s just not
going away or Progressive, meaning that it continues to get worse, don t ignore it! Get into
your doctor so you can talk about it and see if it is anything that you need to worry about.
Catching cancer early is the absolute most important thing you can do to increase your chance
of treating it successfully. So pay attention to these or any other symptom that just isn t
going away and get into your doctor to talk about it. If you are looking for the best ways to catch
cancer early before you even have symptoms then checkout my playlist here where you can see what
kind of screening you should be doing today! For everybody else, we just want to thank you
for spending a few minutes with us today. We really hope that you ve learned something
that will help you or a family member. That s our aim here at FamilyMed to provide quality
and reliable information to help you make better decisions about your health. So,
until next time, be healthy and stay healthy and we ll see you in the next video.