Early signs of blood cancer

Easy bruising, osteoarthritis, frequent fatigue and swollen glands, which may be an early warning sign of dangerous blood disease .

Signs of blood cancer

Blood cancer (also called leukemia, leukemia) is a malignant form of cancer. When infected, leukemia in the patient's body will increase suddenly. Normally, white blood cells protect the body, but when the mutation increases, large numbers of white blood cells will become "aggressive" and cause harm to the body. At that time, the white blood cells will be short of 'food', leading to erythrocyte 'feeding' which causes the erythrocytes to be destroyed gradually, anemia leads to death.

Stomachache

Abdominal pain is one of the symptoms of blood cancer. It is the result of blood cancer cells accumulating in the kidneys, liver and spleen, causing the abdomen to grow. Stomach pain is often accompanied by loss of appetite and weight loss.

Picture 1 of Early signs of blood cancer
Photo: onlymyhealth.

Anemia

Red blood cells supply oxygen to the body through the blood, but the abnormal proliferation of white blood cells can hinder this process. Anemia is one of the most common complications associated with blood cancer.

Easy bruising

The most common symptom associated with blood cancer is easy bruising and uncontrolled bleeding. This happens because normal blood cells are constantly being replaced by abnormal non-white blood cells. This causes the platelets (clotting factors) to disappear, and the blood cannot coagulate.

Swelling of lymph nodes

Cancer cells can accumulate in lymph nodes. As a result, the lymph nodes under the arm, groin, chest and neck may swell. Lymph nodes are small pea-shaped structures that help filter blood.

Osteoarthritis pain

A common complication of blood cancer is pain in the bones and joints. Pain occurs because the bone marrow is filled with abnormal cells.

Frequent infections

Blood cancer reduces the function of white blood cells that help the body fight infections. Consequently, patients with frequent infections due to bacteria, viruses or fungi.

Shortness of breath

With acute T-cell leukemia, cancer cells tend to surround the thymus gland, causing pain and difficulty breathing. Other complications are wheezing and coughing.

Tired

Due to the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells, patients often feel tired and weak even when they are resting.

Other symptoms

Many other common symptoms of leukemia include sudden loss of appetite, weight loss, excessive sweating at night, high fever, dizziness and nose bleeding.