Nowadays, more and more people around us are threatened by cancer, and cancer has become an “epidemic” in the 21st century, and cancer prevention and fight against cancer has become the most important issue for people. Many people are already in the late stage of cancer when they find out cancer, so what are the signs of early cancer? What can we do to prevent cancer?
1.Change of testicles
Testicular cancer mostly occurs in the age group of 20-39. The American Cancer Society recommends that men should check their testicles every month, including changes in testicular size, obvious enlargement or shrinkage, lumps in the scrotum, scrotal cramps, etc. If there is any problem, they should seek medical attention in time. In particular, if you feel a scrotal cramp, feel like a briquette is placed inside and lasts for more than a week, you should seek a doctor’s diagnosis immediately. This is the most typical precursor of testicular cancer and requires blood test and scrotal ultrasound test.
2.Problems of urination
As men age, urination problems are becoming more common, and frequent, urgent or incomplete urination is more common. If the symptoms worsen, especially if there is a strong sense of urgency in urination, you should be alerted to prostate cancer. Usually a rectal exam should be done and the doctor will tell you if you have an enlarged prostate, which is the main symptom of prostate cancer.
3.Abdominal distension
Many women think bloating is extremely common and there is no need to make a fuss about it. However, this may be a symptom of ovarian cancer. Persistent swelling, pressure and pain in the abdomen, gastrointestinal discomfort, difficulty in eating or feeling full very easily for several weeks may be signs of ovarian cancer.
4.Irregular bleeding
Abnormal vaginal bleeding between menstrual cycles and urinary and fecal bleeding are easily ignored by women. They are likely to be a major sign of endometrial cancer, a common gynecological cancer, and at least 3/4 of women who have this sign are tested for endometrial cancer. And bleeding in stool may be a sign of colon cancer.
5. Inexplicable weight loss
It’s great to lose weight without much effort, but if you lose 10% of your body weight in a month without increasing exercise or reducing diet, you should seek medical attention. Rapid weight loss, anorexia, recurrent diarrhea and constipation are the most common symptoms of lung, stomach, kidney and colorectal cancers, and for women, it may also be hyperthyroidism.
6.Continuous abdominal pain with depression
If you have persistent abdominal pain and depression, you are likely to have pancreatic cancer. This is because experts have found that depression is highly related to pancreatic cancer. Other symptoms include jaundice or abnormal gray color of stool.
7. Fatigue
Generally speaking, feeling fatigue is a sign that cancer has developed, but for leukemia, intestinal cancer and stomach cancer, fatigue may be felt at the early stage of development. What is the difference between fatigue of cancer and ordinary fatigue? Normal fatigue will disappear with rest, while cancer fatigue will be difficult to improve no matter how to rest.
8. Coughing persistently
If inexplicable cough persists for more than 3-4 weeks, you should see a doctor promptly, it may be a sign of lung cancer or throat cancer.
9.Difficulty in swallowing
Long-term difficulty in swallowing may be a sign of laryngeal cancer, esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, and should receive X-ray chest or gastroscopy as soon as possible. The so-called dysphagia, as introduced by Liu Juntian, generally refers to the pain behind the sternum and foreign body feeling in the esophagus when eating. Some people may feel like there are vegetable leaves, fragments or rice-like objects attached to the esophagus wall even if they do not eat, and they may feel that the food goes down slowly or even stays in the esophagus after swallowing it.
10.Skin changes
Sudden appearance of skin lumps or pigmentation with obvious changes may be signs of skin cancer. You should seek medical attention immediately after observing for a few weeks. In addition, no matter old or young, once the skin suddenly bleeds or appears abnormal flaking, you should also go to see a doctor.
11.Abnormal bleeding
Blood in stool is likely to be a symptom of bowel cancer in addition to hemorrhoids and should be screened by colonoscopy for bowel cancer if necessary. middle-aged and elderly people over 40 years old should be alerted to bladder cancer or kidney cancer if they have painless blood in urine or difficulty in urination, except for women during their periods. In addition to blood in stool, if the tumor grows near the anus, bowel cancer may also show symptoms such as thinning of stool and increase in frequency, or even cause difficulty in stool.
12.Oral changes
Smokers should pay special attention to the white patches on the mouth and tongue, which may be the precursor of oral cancer — mucosal leukoplakia.
13.Indigestion
Men (especially elderly men) as well as women (except during pregnancy) with prolonged unexplained persistent indigestion may be symptoms of esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer and stomach cancer.
14.Hard breast lumps
Breast cancer is not exclusive to women, both men and women should actively prevent it. Women should be extra careful if they find red skin and lumps on their breasts. “Especially if there is a rash on the breast and it lasts for weeks, you must go for a checkup.” In addition, she notes that in non-lactating women, sunken nipples that often ooze fluid are also a bad sign. For men, if the skin of the breast wrinkles, nipple contraction or asymmetry, nipple size and shape changes, breast redness and swelling, and the appearance of hard lumps are all signs of inflammation of the nipple and a symptom of breast cancer.
15.Pain
As age increases, body pain will increase. However, if pain appears inexplicably in a certain part of the body and lasts for more than a week, the cause should be identified as soon as possible because pain without any reason may be a sign of cancer. For example, chronic abdominal pain is a symptom of colorectal cancer, chest pain may be caused by lung cancer, and bone ache may be a symptom of cancer metastasis. Liu Juntian pointed out that pancreatic cancer will manifest in the upper abdominal region, such as persistent dull pain or colic around the umbilicus or right upper abdomen, which can be paroxysmal or persistent, and usually gradually worsens and radiates to the lower back.
To prevent cancer, we must first pay attention to these disease signals from our body, which are often the early status of cancer. As long as early detection and early treatment, cancer is actually not terrible.