ON BLOOD CANCER ON INTERNATIONAL BLOOD CANCER DAY

International Blood Cancer day was observed on May 28, 2020. Some tumors attack a person’s blood cells and those evolve into blood cancer. Blood cancer is very dangerous as blood keeps circulating throughout our bodies, spreading to all cells quickly, that may cause sudden death in various cases.

Statistics says blood cancer is the cause of death of about 8.5 million people every year. Symptoms of this cancer usually show very slowly. Hence, it is quite difficult to identify in the initial stage. In the last few years, cases of blood cancer have shot up in young people, middle-aged people as well as children.

People have a belief that the treatment for blood cancer is not possible. The fact is, it’s not like that. If the symptoms are recognized and diagnosed at the right time, the treatment can be done. Also there are many after-treatment methods, today, that can help a blood cancer survivor live a healthy life.

How Blood Cancer comes in a person?

The blood cells become diseased and proliferate swiftly. This causes severe damage to the immune and circulatory systems of the body. These blood cells will no longer carry out normal cell functions and they die an unnatural death. Now, these cells are known as cancer cells. They enter the bloodstream and proliferate uncontrollably, washing out the healthy cells. This means the blood in our body can no longer perform its actual tasks, such as circulation to all organs, tissues, oxygen transportation and defense against germs et cetera.

Leukemia is the most common form of blood cancer. Google explains Leukemia as a cancer which starts in blood-forming tissue, usually the bone marrow. It leads to the over-production of abnormal white blood cells, the part of the immune system which defends the body against infection.

Hence in many cases, blood cancer cases can be treated with the help of stem cell treatment. There are possibilities of getting blood cancer from a particular type of infection too. High doses of radiation therapy, used to treat any other kind of cancer may also lead to blood cancer. In addition to this, diseases such as HIV and AIDS affect the immune system, which could risk in developing blood cancer.

What Are The Symptoms? How can we find it?

The person, who has blood cancer, would feel tired and weak many times/all the time. This is because the number of red blood cells in the blood would start decreasing causing lack of blood in the person. Abnormal white blood cells will get accumulated in the liver to cause inflammation and cause problems in the stomach. This type of inflammation can also reduce the appetite.

The patient after eating only a little, may start feeling full. In such a situation, he/she must consult with the doctor. In many cases, patients also start vomiting immediately after eating. In this case, the patient should inform the doctor, in which direction he/she vomited. This will help Doctors take various blood tests to check the existence of any such discrepancies in the blood report.

Other symptoms include:

• A person who has blood cancer may be vulnerable to repeated infections. When leukemia cells develop in the body, characteristics of the disease can be seen in the patient’s mouth, throat, skin, lungs etc.
• People who have blood cancer will witness swift reduction in weight. They would look abnormally low weight. The most important factor to look on is the body weight reduction without any effort. It is the primary symptom of cancer
• Regular pain in bones and joints are also symptoms of blood cancer. While checking for Arthritis, it’s better to have an eye on oncology test too
• Blood cancer is a disease that is found in large quantity in the bone marrow, around the bones and joints
• Heavy, regular headache or migraine could also be symptoms. First step is to consult the ophthalmologist (For eye check-up). If that is clear, then visit oncologist
• Seizures or repeated confusion, which makes the person feel mentally disturbed very easily
• Vomiting sensation at abnormal times, without any reason
• Complaints of skin rash all over the body
• Swelling of the jaws or bleeding in that part