Cancer Symptoms

Cancer is a term used to describe different types of diseases involving uncontrolled cellular growth leading to invasion and destruction of other tissues in body.  The impact of cancer is far greater than mere numbers. Its diagnosis causes immense emotional trauma and its treatment, a major economical burden. This disease is associated with a lot of fear and despair throughout the world.

More than 70% of the cases report for diagnostic and treatment services in the advanced stages of the disease, which has led to a poor survival and high mortality rate.

Early detection of this disease can improve survival chances by a great extent.

CANCER SYMPTOMS

      One should never ignore these symptoms as these can help early detection of Cancer.

• Persistent cough or blood-tinged saliva can be bronchitis or sinusitis, but can also be cancer of lung, head or neck. Cough lasting beyond a month or with blood in the mucus needs further investigation.

• A change in bowel habits lasting for more than few days can be due to colon cancer, especially if one has pencil-thin stools. Some people with cancer feel as if they need to have a bowel movement, and still feel that way after they have had a bowel movement.

• Blood in the stools is more likely to be because of Hemorrhoids but can also be due to rectal cancer.

• Anemia can be due to many underlying causes but unexplained anemia needs further investigation, as it can be due to bowel cancer which causes iron deficiency.

• All Breast lumps must be thoroughly investigated.

• Lumps in the Testicles, Most men (90%) with Cancer of testicles have a painless or uncomfortable lump on a testicle. Some men have an enlarged testicle. Other conditions such as infections and swollen veins can also cause changes in your testicles, but any lump should be evaluated.

• Changes in urination such as frequent urination, small amounts of urine and slow urine flow. These symptoms may signal Prostate Cancer. Cancer of the bladder and pelvic tumors can also cause irritation of the bladder and increase urination frequency.

• Blood in Urine can be urinary infection or kidney stone, but also can be due to cancer of bladder.

• Hoarseness lasting for more than 3-4 weeks can be due to Cancer of throat

• Persistent lumps or swollen glands lasting for more than 3-4 weeks can be due to cancer. Swelling due to infection or other causes will shrink after a week.

• Change in a wart or a mole with irregular edges or one that bleeds may be cancerous.

• Indigestion and difficulty swallowing can be because of many simple causes but difficulty in swallowing solids especially in elderly persons can be cancer of esophagus

• Unusual Vaginal bleeding or discharge, bleeding after intercourse, between periods, bleeding which comes back and lasts for two or more days, and postmenopausal bleeding can be indicative of various cancers of reproductive system and need proper investigation.

• Unexpected weight loss, night sweats or fever can be present with several types of cancers.

• Continued itching in the anal or genital area not relieved by OTC medications can imply Cancer.

• Change in Skin color can be caused by some cancers.

• Non-healing sores in mouth, white or red patches on tongue and gums are likely to be due to cancer.

• Headaches which do not relent to common OTC medications can be due to Cancer.

• Back pain, pelvic pain, bloating, or persistent indigestion can be due to ovarian cancer.

Many of these symptoms can be because of something other than Cancer but it is better to hope for best but be always prepared for worst.

Happy Mind Is Healthy Mind

Cancer Prevention & Causes

CANCER PREVENTION

Adopting healthy life style, avoiding exposure to harmful chemicals, pollutants and other carcinogenic agents, and maintaining good physical fitness is very important in cancer prevention. During our lives, we are unwittingly exposed to thousands of chemicals associated with cancer and other illnesses. Many of these are man-made including synthetic chemicals found in everyday consumer products and the environmental pollutants. They should be avoided wherever it is possible.

8 Steps to Prevent Cancer.

· Avoid tobacco use: both active and passive smoking, and chewing tobacco.

· Eat a variety of healthy foods: It is important to consume plant-based foods, rich in fruits and vegetables, and reduce the intake of fats and alcohol.

· Stay active and maintain a healthy weight: Regular exercise should be an integral part of one’s daily routine. Apart from helping to lose weight, being fit seems to have an anti-cancer effect in itself. Researchers recommend 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise – like brisk walking – once a day. And once we're fit, then 30 minutes of vigorous physical activity or 60 minutes of moderate exercise every day.

· Protect yourself from the sun: The incidences of Skin Cancer caused by sun’s radiation are very less in India.

· Get immunized: Vaccination against Hepatitis B should be regularly administered, as this infection could lead to liver cancer.

· Adopt Healthy Sexual Practices: Sexually transmitted diseases like human papilloma virus infection, hepatitis B and HIV can lead to an increased incidence of various cancers.

· Get screened: Regular screening and self-examination for certain cancers helps in early detection of cancer and improves the prognosis.

· Self Examination: Women are advised to conduct monthly breast self-examinations. Men are advised to conduct monthly testicular self-examination.

The major Cancer Causing factors

· Tobacco is the foremost cause of various cancers. In India, roughly two-thirds of all patients with lung cancer were found to be smokers, using cigarettes and/or bidis, hand-rolled tobacco. Of the total reported cancer cases 33% are due to tobacco. Chances of getting Oral Cancer are 27 times more, Laryngeal Cancer 12 times, 3 times Bladder Cancer and 2 times Pancreatic Cancer in smokers as compared with non-smokers.

· Chewing tobacco causes oral cancer, esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

· Obesity is major cause of cancers of the esophagus, colon and rectum, pancreas, breast, endometrium, and kidneys.

· Alcohol increases the risk for cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, colon and rectum, and breast; and also causes cirrhosis, which raises the risk of liver cancer.

· Red meat and processed meat were convincingly linked to colorectal cancer. We need to eat less of it, and instead eat mostly foods of plant origin. Legumes such as beans, lentils and soybeans contain proteins and are very healthy. Fruits protect us against several cancers.

· Harmful chemicals, industrial pollutants, synthetic materials and proved carcinogenic substances should be avoided at all cost.

In spite of adopting a better life style and taking all precautions, if one notice symptoms mentioned before, then the family doctor should be consulted immediately and all investigating tests and screening must be carried out immediately to have early detection and treatment. Modifying our lifestyle will reduce our chances of cancer by up to a third.

Kindly preserve this information and if possible distribute copies to others.

Advantages of Smoking: Go ahead and smoke

There was this woman who used to constantly blame her husband for spending money on useless things and husband used to claim that he spends money very judiciously. He challenged her to give one example wherein she can conclusively prove that money spent on buying certain thing was total waste. The woman promptly answered, “See this fire extinguisher hanging on the wall, we have not used it even once since we got married”. In the same manner, if you are good smoker then your health insurance premium will prove to be money well spent.

Apart from this there are many more great advantages of regular smoking.

1.       You will never be required to pay all life insurance premiums. Your relatives will get your ‘Life Sum Insured’ much earlier.

2.       You will never get old age diseases like Parkinson’s, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s or cataract, as you will never reach that stage of life.

3.       You will never need breath fresheners or mouth fresheners as your breath will always smell of tobacco.

4.       You will save money which other people spend on fitness regimes, gymnasiums or on buying jogging/ running sneakers. 

5.       You will not be joining that stupid car-pool as nobody will travel in your car which will be always smelling of tobacco.

6.       You do not have to worry about interest on your savings as you will spend good portion of your earnings on smoking and fighting diseases caused because of smoking.

7.       Your children also will be happy as they will not have to look after old and aged parents. If you are really dedicated smoker,  then you can even help your children in becoming independent and self reliant at very early age.

8.       You shall never experience trauma losing your spouse. It hardly matters to you if your spouse is forced to live lonely life.

9.       You will always find some chain smoker friend who suffers from no health problems in spite of smoking for ‘40’ years. This will strengthen your faith in GOD.

10.   And most importantly, when you get dreadful life endangering disease like Cancer, you will have very clear answer to question “WHY ME?”

Health Questions and Answers

 I have been studying many cancer related sites. I found many site very useful and easy to understand. At first I thought of making summary of such information and posting the same on my blog. On second thought I thought of just posting the links on site and let the individual reader to understand the topics. 

I found following site particularly useful and very easy to navigate.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/

Open the site, click on the topic, condition or disease about which you wish to know more. The topics can be from Acne, cancer, diabetics, different surgeries , child birth or diagnostic tests. 

When you click on the subject of your choice new page will open and  then you can  select either of ‘Interactive Tutorial’, ‘Self Playing Tutorial’ or ‘Text Summary’. You will surely get answers to all your doubts.  

Internet is great tool, complete encyclopedia only thing we must know where to and how to look for. 

Dietary Fibers and Cancer

Good health is most essential to keep all problems far away. All of us know that health is wealth. One must essentially realize that the best weapon to fight /prevent cancer is Good Health.

Diet containing approximately 2.5 gms of fiber per serving is ideal diet. One can get such supply from Bananas, Apples, Oranges, Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Peanuts, Oatmeal and similar grains.

There are two types of fibers

(1) Insoluble fibers found in whole wheat flour, wheat bran, various nuts and vegetables. These fibers are helpful for smooth movement of contents in digestive system, especially in colon.

(2) Soluble fibers are the ones which form gel or colloidal suspension with water inside digestive tract. Such fibers are found in Oats, Peas, Apples, Carrots and Psyllium (Ispagol). These are helpful in formation of soft stools. These also lower blood cholesterol and glucose level.

Daily Fiber Requirement:-

Males need between 30 to 38 gm and females need 21 to 25 gm of fibers daily. For seniors beyond 50 years of age, the requirement of the daily fibers is on the lower side of this scale.

Benefits of having diet with requisite amount of fibers: -

(1) Normal smooth and regular bowel movements is the most important benefit of fibers in diet. For constipated person, fibers soften the stools, and for person having watery or loose stools, fibers help in formation of solid stools.

(2) Diet containing fibers reduces probability of getting hemorrhoids or diverticulitis (development of stagnant pouch in colon or twisting of colon)

 (3) Soluble fibers help in lowering blood cholesterol levels. Studies have also shown that an increased fiber in diet lowers blood pressure.

(4) Fibers slow down absorption of sugar helping in lowering blood sugar especially in people suffering from diabetes.

(5) High fiber diet helps in reducing weight thereby avoiding obesity. The diet with high fiber contents gives feeling of being full for longer time and contains lesser concentration of energy-giving components. This leads to lesser intake of food and weight control.

(6) The studies have proved that seniors who have been regularly taking diet containing proper amount of fibers have lesser problems related to ‘Gums’.

The ways of easily adding required fibers to daily diet: -

(1) Start day with breakfast containing high fiber cereals with bran.

(2) Consume bread containing whole wheat flour. Also use whole grain flour for all baking

(3) Add chopped fresh leafy vegetables and carrots to soups

(4) Eat more legumes such as Peas, Beans and Lentils

(5) Have fruits like Apple, banana, pears with every meal.

(5) Carefully opt for snacks which contain high fiber

Usefulness of Fibers in prevention of Cancer: -
(1) It is claimed that dietary fibers help in preventing colon cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer. This is not conclusively proved as many studies have shown conflicting results. This means, there are some studies showing positive effect of dietary fibers in cancer prevention.
(2) Fibers most certainly improve digestive health. Fibers definitely help in controlling body weight and in avoiding obesity. It is most conclusively proved that ‘Obesity’ is the major cancer cause. Also good digestive health leads to improved general health.
(3) Mostly, we get food fibers from non-starchy vegetables, legumes, fruits and colored vegetables. These food substances contain phytochemicals, co-enzymes, antioxidants, vitamins and also fibers. All these ingredients together help in prevention of many cancers such as Colorectal, stomach, mouth, larynx and esophageal cancer.
The most important fact is that as far as possible, dietary fibers must come from normal food intake and not as ‘Commercial Food Supplements’. Sudden increase in intake of fiber can lead to having intestinal gases, abdominal bloating and cramping. Also it can lead to nutritional deficiencies.

Cancer Scary Facts

Every year, nearly 60 million people die in the world and out of that, nearly 7.6 million die because of cancer. That is 13% of total deaths. It is feared that by year 2030, 13.2 million people will die of cancer each year.

Assuming each cancer patient survives ‘5’ years after being diagnosed, at any given time, there are approximately 38 million cancer patients in the world.

World population is approx. 6500 million. This means there is ‘1’ cancer patient every 171 persons. In civilized society we all have approximately 8-10 close family members and approximately 40-50 close family members, relatives and friends. This means 1 person in every 15-20 people has very close relative like mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter or first cousins suffering from cancer and 1 person in every 4-5 people has somebody among the friends and aquaintances suffering from cancer.

The most common cancers are

Lung (18.0%),

Stomach (10.0%),

Liver (9.0%),

Colorectal (8.0%),

Breast (6.0%) and

Cervical  (3.5%).

The major cause for all these five types of cancers is bad life style and unhealthy eating habits. Nearly 30% of the cancers are caused because of one or more of the five life style factors. These are

(1) High Body-Mass Index,

(2) Low fruit and vegetable diet

(3) Insufficient physical activity

(4) Tobacco

(5) Alcohol.  

It is possible to avoid these risk factors and prevent cancer caused by these factors. With small changes in life style and eating habits, these cancer causing factors can be easily eliminated.

Approximately 70% of cancer deaths took place in low and middle income countries. In these countries, viral infections such as Hepatitis B (HBV), Hepatitis C (HCV) and Human Papilloma (HPV) caused 20% cancer deaths.

Tobacco consumption contributes to 22% of total cancer deaths and 71% of Lung cancer deaths.

Every year 157000 new children take up smoking.

It is possible to prevent cancer to very great extent with simple precautions.

Also, awareness about cancer causes and cancer symptoms will help in early detection.

Useful Diet for Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Diet plays very vital role in prevention and treatment of all types of cancers.
Following are the most important points while planning the diet:-
1. All dietary requirements must be fulfilled through normal food intake and by natural means.
2. Dietary supplements available in market must be taken only on expert medical advice.

 

Substance	Food Source	Effect on Cancer
Antioxidant	Vegetables, fresh fruits, carrots,	Negate effect of cell damaging free radicals in body. These damaged cells can become cancer cells. Clinical trials are yet to prove conclusive usefulness. All the same food sources giving antioxidants are very useful for general health
Beta-carotene	Brightly colored fruits and vegetables,	Good for general health, role against cancer is yet to be proved. High dose in form of dietary supplement can be even harmful.
Lycopene	Tomatoes: vegetables of red family	Lycopene strong antioxidant is claimed to be useful in stopping cancer progress in Breast, lung, endometrial and mainly prostate cancer.
Calcium	Yogurt, cheese, milk, dark green vegetables, peas, beans, lentils and peanuts. Dairy products should be low/non fat so as to reduce intake of saturated fats.	Calcium is likely to have some useful effect of colorectal cancer but high doses have bad effect in case of prostate cancer. For an adult up to 1Gm per day as supplement along with normal diet is recommended.
Vitamin E	Wheat germ oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, nuts and nut oils, palm oil	Very powerful antioxidant and is claimed to be effective in slowing prostate cancer.
Vitamin D	Milk, cereals, fish oils. Produced naturally in body of exposure to sunlight.	It is likely to have positive effect in Breast, colon, pancreatic and prostate cancer.
Vitamin A	Liver oils, carrots, broccoli,  sweet potatoes , spinach, butter, animal liver	This vitamin is useful for general health, eye sight, skin and body resistance but the usefulness in cancer is not proved
Vitamin C	Oranges, Lemons  Call citrus fruits) grapefruits, leafy vegetables	Vitamin C is very strong antioxidant. Its role in reducing cancer tumor is conclusive proved in many clinical studies. It also boosts body’s resistance power.
Omega 3 Fatty acids	Fish, fish oils, krill, Perilla, linseed, eggs and meat	Studies show that these fatty acids retard cancer growth and also stop tumor formation. Omega 3 fatty acids have excellent effects on heart and circulatory system.
Folate	B vitamin source found in vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains.	These are proved to be useful in reducing cancer risk and also useful for maintenance of general body health
Cruciferous vegetables	Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussels sprout	Conclusively proved to be useful against cancer mainly mouth, larynx, esophagus and stomach. These help in improving enzyme system in body that is useful in fighting cancer cells.
Beans	Lentils, Peas, Soybeans	These contain phyto-chemicals such as saponis, protease inhibitor, phytic acid. These chemicals protect cells from getting damaged and also slow down growth of tumors.  These are also good fiber source.
Garlic	Garlic and other from Onion family	Some studies are inconclusive about benefits of garlic in treating cancer but some studies, Chinese medicine and Ayurveda claim that garlic is useful in tumor of prostate , bladder, stomach and colon
Turmeric	Indian/Asian spices made from turmeric rhizome	Contains Curcumin , which is very strong antioxidant. Turmeric also has strong anti-inflammatory properties. It is useful in treating tumors of mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, breast and skin.
Fluids	Water, juices	Drinking sufficient quantities of water and juices lower the risk of bladder cancer but diluting the cancer causing agent and by regularly flushing those out.
Vegetarian diet	Vegetarian diet are normally high in fibers, phytochemicals, vitamins and low in saturated fats. Those opting for vegetarian diet for long time have lower incidences of various cancers as compared to those having non-vegetarian diet.