hey guys this week's video is slightly
more serious than our usual videos
we're going to be looking at the
different signs and symptoms that you
should be aware of which can potentially
indicate cancer
now we're going to work through the
entire body looking at different signs
of symptoms for
everyone to be aware of i think it's
super important that more and more
people are aware of these sort of
symptoms
but please do remember if you have any
of these signs or symptoms
it doesn't automatically mean that you
have cancer it can be caused by many
different other things as well but what
i want you to remember
is if you know anyone who has these
sorts of symptoms or if you have any of
these
you need to pick up the phone and make
an appointment to speak to your
healthcare professional
as soon as possible that is the most
important thing
now before we begin i understand this is
going to be quite a long video
so if there's any specific information
that you want to find
i am going to chat to this video i'm
going to timestamp it in the description
below
so please feel free to click on that
description find the information you
want and click on it or
watch the entire video i would highly
recommend that everyone watches the
entire video but that option does exist
now as some of you may already know or
may have experienced cancer can have a
massive impact on people's lives
and it's thought that one in two of us
will develop
some form of cancer at some point in our
lifetime
in the uk about 300 000
newly diagnosed cancer cases happen
every year now cancer can affect anyone
at any age but it's more commonly seen
in those who are 50 and over
the most common types of cancer includes
breast lung
prostate and bowel cancer however
there's over 200 different types of
cancer
and it can all have different signs and
symptoms it can affect
everyone differently so what exactly is
cancer well cancer is a disease where
genetic changes in our body
cause cells or multiple cells to grow
and multiply
more than they're meant to now these
cells can grow in abnormal ways
leading to something called a tumor and
the way that these cells
change in a tumor can sometimes actually
affect
our core body systems such as our immune
system
our hormones and our blood which can
lead to various other problems
and in some cases the tumor can actually
spread away from its primary site to
other organs and other parts of the body
this is known as metastases this form of
secondary cancer
is much harder to treat than when it's
at its primary site on its own
now this was a very simple explanation
of cancer
but i think it's important for everyone
to have this basic understanding
as we then go through the video so with
cancer having the potential to cause so
many problems
and being so common as well this is one
of the reasons why i decided to make
this video
to make more and more people aware of
these signs and symptoms just to be
aware of
that could potentially indicate cancer
and to get
advice straight away from your
healthcare professional if you have any
of these signs of symptoms we know from
studies
that if cancer is caught earlier you can
have a much better life
it has a much better chance of treatment
and hopefully
a longer better quality of life so with
all that done
now let's begin working through these
signs and symptoms okay so first of all
let's begin with the general signs of
cancer we're not going to be working
through body parts yet we're just
talking about the general signs of
cancer for everyone to be aware of
i'm gonna number these so they're easier
to remember and also
like i've been saying at the start of
this video please remember if you have
any of these sort of signs
make an appointment urgently to speak to
your healthcare professional
and please please remember it doesn't
automatically mean that you have cancer
it could be something else that's
causing it
but the most important thing is that you
pick up that phone and make an
appointment to speak to a healthcare
professional so it can be investigated
sooner
that's the most important thing another
thing to remember is even if you don't
have any of these symptoms if you feel
like
something isn't right because you know
your body better than anyone else so if
you feel like
something just isn't right again pick up
that phone
make an appointment to speak to your
healthcare professional there's
no harm in being safe and getting things
checked out
so general symptom number one feeling
very tired
all the time and what i mean by that is
look it's normal for you to feel tired
after an extremely exhausting day
or if you haven't been sleeping well or
if you have certain medical conditions
for example if you're depressed
or if you have an interactive thyroid or
if you suffer from iron deficiency
anemia
all of these causes as well i will leave
in the description below as well i'll
leave more information on them
but if you don't know what the cause is
for this tiredness and you're feeling
tired all the time
then please make an appointment to speak
to your healthcare professionals so they
can investigate
they can do some tests to find out
exactly what is going on
moving on to general symptom number two
feeling pain
without any explanation for it so what i
mean by that is
if you've been out gardening if you've
been up digging or if you've been out
exercising and you found
a bit of paint somewhere around your
joints around anywhere any muscle that
you've been using
this is pretty normal if you've got a
random pain
all of a sudden without any cause for it
and it's lasting
three weeks or more then you need to
make that appointment with your
healthcare professional so they can
investigate and find out what is going
on
moving on to general symptom number
three unexplained blood loss look it's
quite normal for you to bleed if you've
cut yourself but if you have any
unexplained blood loss so
you don't know what the cause for it is
then you need to make an appointment to
speak to your healthcare professional
and get that checked out and that blood
can be in anywhere it can be in your
saliva
it can be in your stools it can be in
your urine
it can be in your vomit it could be in
your vaginal discharge
any of these sort of places if you're
finding any blood in there
please make an appointment speech
healthcare professional please do not
leave it if you see some some blood in
your poo
do not leave it make an appointment to
speak to your healthcare professional
now unexplained bleeding also includes
if you have
any blood between your menstrual periods
or
if you have any bleeding during or after
sex now please do remember as well if
you've just started a contraceptive pill
you can sometimes get irregular bleeding
known as spotting
this can happen for about a month up to
three months actually it can happen
which is quite normal if it does
continue as well or if you have any of
these symptoms i've just spoke about
please do make an appointment to speak
to your healthcare professional so they
can check it out
and find out what is going on moving on
to general symptom number four
it's all about lumps if you spot a lump
anywhere on your body
please make an appointment to speak to
your healthcare professional and let
them know
if it's painful let them know it's been
getting bigger and let them know how
long it's been there as well
and general symptom number five i think
this symptom
is probably one that not a lot of people
know about i think the other ones quite
a lot of people
do know them but this one is all about
night sweats look
if you're someone who sweats at night
sometimes if you're very anxious it can
happen
sometimes if you have low blood sugar it
can happen and sometimes if you have a
bit of an infection you can have a night
sweat which can happen now and then
another thing as well to mention is if
you're menopausal you might have hot
flushes again you might have a night
sweat so there's some causes for these
but if you're someone who's having night
sweats and there's no causes or
you're waking up and the bed sheets are
absolutely drenched
or you're waking up regularly because of
it you need to again
make an appointment to speak to your
healthcare professional and make them
aware of this so they can investigate it
further
okay so with general symptoms now out of
the way the next thing i want to discuss
is more respiratory so we're looking at
coughs we're looking at breathing we're
looking at speech your voice
those sort of things so let's first
begin with a cough
now i know at the moment whilst this
video is being filmed it's the covert 19
pandemic
so as you're all aware if you develop a
new continuous cough
you need to self-isolate and you need to
arrange a covid19 test
and follow the guidelines that are there
for your country in the uk that's the
current guidelines
but i will leave more information and
links in the description below
on this now let's say for example you
developed new cough you don't have
covered
or you've had covered and you've
recovered and that cough has continued
you've had an ongoing cough
for three weeks or more if this is the
case so if you've had an ongoing cough
for three weeks or more
you need to get an appointment made with
your healthcare professional
so they can check you out and find out
what is going on because a cough of
three weeks or more
can put you at higher risk of lung
cancer so this is something that they
need to be checked
out by your healthcare professional now
the second thing i want to discuss
whilst we're on the respiratory topic is
breathlessness look it's normal to be
breathless
after a long run or some strenuous
exercise but if you're breathless
for long periods of time then this is
something that needs to be checked out
obviously there are sometimes reasons
for breathlessness
causes for it for example if you're
obese if you smoke if you're asthmatic
if you have copd
all of these can be potential causes for
the breathlessness but please do not
self-diagnosis
if you are breathless for longer periods
which aren't normal
then speak to your healthcare
professional get yourself booked in and
get this checked out as again
if you're breathless for long periods it
can sometimes be a sign of lung cancer
and the third thing i'd like to discuss
whilst we're on this respiratory topic
this one's more throat related
is a horse voice so if you've had a cold
or if you've been feeling unwell or a
sore throat this can cause a hoarse
voice for a bit can cause
a croaky voice it can cause a raspy
voice can cause a bit of pain when
you're swallowing
it's quite normal but if it lasts for
three weeks or more
then again please make an appointment to
speak to your healthcare professional
and get it checked out
so now let's move on to signs related to
the skin the first thing i want to
discuss
is moles now moles are normal we all
have them
we're born with them they're quite
normal but if you develop a new mole
so you've never seen a mole there before
and you develop a new mole
or you see any changes in a current mole
and by changes i mean a change in its
size
it becomes itchy it starts bleeding it
starts crusting
it starts oozing so any changes like
that to a current mold that you've got
or any new moles
then again please make an appointment to
speak to your healthcare professional
about it you can also use the abcde
checklist to help you identify a
melanoma early
melanoma is a type of skin cancer i
think this is a really useful
checklist i'm gonna leave more
information about it in the description
below
it's definitely worth giving it a read
and trying to remember this
this abcde checklist especially when
you're checking your skin
now the second thing that i want to
discuss is skin or mouth sores
that don't heal and what i mean by that
is look it's normal when you've hurt
yourself you've injured yourself
it takes about a week for a sore scar to
heal
however if you find that it's taking
several weeks
for a skin to heal or a mouse or to heal
or if it still hasn't healed
after several weeks please make an
appointment again to speak to your
healthcare professional so it can be
reviewed
moving on to the third point which is
all about breast changes look breast
cancer is more common in women than in
member it can still happen in men too so
please remember that
anyone can be affected by it now it's
quite common for your breasts to change
during your menstrual cycle when you
have in your period
or during pregnancy but please remember
to check for any permanent changes
in the size in the shape or the feel of
your breath so if something doesn't feel
right
please get it checked out by your
healthcare professional another thing to
be aware of is any discharge
just fluid or blood coming from your
nipples now
a small degree of this is normal during
pregnancy or if you're breastfeeding
however please still make an appointment
to speak to your healthcare professional
about this
so they can check it out another thing
i'd like to discuss as well
is the nhs five-point plan which is all
about screening your breasts
routinely and regularly monitoring them
i will leave a link to it in the
description below it's really really
useful it's a great website it's a great
page
with some great information on it that
everyone should be routinely doing
and please do check it out and point
number four is any other skin
or nail changes look get used to looking
at your body
get used to looking at your skin look
behind you as well we can't see using a
mirror
if you can't see everywhere ask your
partner or a friend maybe that you're
very close to
to have a look for you and get used to
doing it routinely
that way if you spot anything that's out
of the ordinary
you will know straight away to speak to
a healthcare professional about it
and with regards to nails one point i
want to discuss to you is just to look
at your nails quite
regularly look for any black lines in
them if you ever see a black line in
your nail again
they should be prompting you to speak to
your healthcare professional as soon as
you can
okay so the next thing i'd like to
discuss are signs related to eating and
weight loss so the first thing i'd like
to discuss is difficulty swallowing the
medical term for this is dysphagia
so we should all be able to chew and
swallow
food easily without having any pain or
difficulty or having any
food coming back up now with dysphagia
or difficulty swallowing whatever you
want to call it
if you find that you're choking on food
you're finding it difficult to swallow
the food it's coming back up
you're constantly drooling you're having
any difficulty swallowing within your
coughing as a result of it
this can be a sign of dysphagia or
difficulty swallowing and it should be
signaling you to speak to your
healthcare professional about
it so they can find out what is going on
what is causing this problem
moving on to point number two which is
all about heartburn and
indigestion please do not panic i know
this is very common a lot of people
suffer from it
who are overweight if you're pregnant if
you eat a lot of fat foods a lot of
spicy foods if you've got certain
medicines
many people can get heartburn and
indigestion but
what i want to ask you is is your doctor
or your healthcare professional aware
that you have heartburn and indigestion
if they're aware great
they'll probably be actively monitoring
it they might have sent you for an
endoscopy whether it's in the camera
down there
to see what's going on but if they're
not aware please do make them aware of
this because they need to know
they need to be aware that you've got
these symptoms and then they're going to
check for some red flags and ask you
loads of questions and do the
investigations that are necessary to
make sure
there's nothing underlying to be worried
about
now especially if you're 55 and over and
if you've had any weight loss
or if you've got any dysphagia that we
just spoke about these are real sort of
red flag symptoms that you should be
aware of and should
really prompt you to speak to your
healthcare professional but even if
you're under 55 and you don't have these
sort of symptoms if you've just got
heartburn and ingestion
please make your healthcare
professionals aware of it that is the
most important thing
moving on to point number three appetite
loss look it's normal from time to time
to lose your appetite slightly if you're
slightly anxious if you're not feeling
well
however if you feel like your appetite
isn't going back to normal
and you're still having a very very low
appetite you don't want to eat you're
not in the mood to eat you're not
feeling hungry
please make an appointment to speak to
your healthcare professional don't leave
it too late until you've lost all your
energy until you've lost all your weight
before you speak to them if you feel
like your appetite isn't going back to
normal
make an appointment to speak to your
healthcare professional and point number
four which is all about weight loss if
you've lost quite a lot of weight
without even trying so you haven't
intentionally tried to lose weight
you feel like your clothes aren't
fitting you properly anymore they're
feeling loose and baggy
so you've had unintentional weight loss
especially if it's happened quite
quickly as well and you're noticing it
then please again make an appointment to
speak to your healthcare professional
this is super important
so any form of unintentional weight loss
so nothing's changed in your life
you're still eating well you don't
really feel like anything's changed you
feel like your clothes are suddenly
fitted
feeling a lot looser and you've lost a
lot of weight speak to your healthcare
professional please so they can check
you out and find out what's going on and
do the relevant investigations
okay so next up we're going to go
through signs related to bladder and
bowel habit changes so the first thing i
want to discuss is
bloating and feeling bloated constantly
now it's quite normal
if you feel bloated now and then
occasionally when you feel like your
stomach is all puffed out and you feel
all puffy
around your stomach and stretched that's
probably the best way to describe it all
stretched and puffy um this can happen
quite
commonly when you've had a heavy meal or
if you've eaten certain foods that cause
bloating like beans cauliflower broccoli
onions
or if you've had lots of fizzy drinks or
if you've got celiac disease
or especially during your periods some
people feel a bit bloated
so it can happen now and then
occasionally
for certain reasons but the key message
here is that if you suffer from bloating
so that stretching that feel of bloating
on your tummy
for three weeks or more even if it comes
and goes
okay so if it's for three weeks or more
you need to be speaking to your
healthcare professional so even if it
comes and goes
and you've got it for three weeks or
more don't leave it don't think it's
gonna be getting better on its own just
speak to your healthcare professional
make an appointment so i can find out
what is causing this the second point
i'd like to discuss there are any
changes in your toilet habits so
this can be if you're having any
troubles peeing or if you've noticed any
changes in your bowel habits
these can all suggest a potential
underlying reason underlying cause
which is actually causing them and they
will need investigating so you need to
speak to your healthcare professional
about them
i will leave a full list of different
symptoms that you might experience
when you're peeing or with your bowel
habits in the description below for you
i'll also try and leave some here as
well in a box just for you to read up on
it's super important though if you get
any sort of difference if you notice any
difference in your in your toilet habits
then please speak to a healthcare
professional so that's it for this
week's video
cancer can be a very difficult topic to
talk about and it can affect
a lot of people so if you want more
information on any of this that we spoke
about today
and also on charities that people can
get in touch with
for more information or support i will
be leaving all of these
in the description below and please do
remember that in today's video
i've gone through some common signs and
symptoms that could potentially indicate
cancer
it doesn't automatically mean that you
have cancer if you have any of these
signs of symptoms it should just be
prompting you
to speak to a healthcare professional
but please remember i've gone through
the most common signs of symptoms
the list is vast it goes on there's a
lot more things that if you want more
information on
and you want to be aware of that you can
learn more about which i will leave in
the description below i'll leave links
to them
for more up-to-date information that all
of you can learn but the most important
thing to remember
is if something doesn't feel right
because you know yourself better than
everyone else if something doesn't feel
right
pick up that phone or go to your
doctor's surgery make an appointment to
speak to someone
as soon as you can so they can
investigate and find out what is the
cause for that
that's the most important thing to
remember just if anything doesn't feel
right
speak to someone and we remember we
spoke about the science behind cancer
and we spoke about the evidence behind
spotting things earlier and how much of
a significant difference it can make
thank you for watching this week's video
i really hope you find this information
helpful
always remember that you are awesome and
i will see you next week
hey guys thanks for watching this week's
video make sure to click that like
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