Thursday, September 15, 2011

Symptoms of Six Common Cancers




By Melanie Haiken, Caring.com senior editor
Cancer is much more likely to be curable if the symptoms are caught early. In fact, with certain types of cancer, such as ovarian and prostate cancer, early detection can make an enormous difference in prognosis and outcome. It’s worthwhile to be hypervigilant, then, in watching for cancer symptoms and aggressive about asking for screening tests and checkups to make sure you and the people you care about are in good health–and stay that way. Here are symptoms of some of the most common cancers, along with important risk factors.
Prostate cancer symptoms
  1. 1.  Difficulty urinating: either trouble getting started or weak or interrupted flow
  2. 2.  The need to urinate often, particularly at night
  3. 3.  Pain or burning during urination
  4. 4.  Blood in urine or semen
  5. 5.  Erection problems
  6. 6.  Pain during ejaculation or difficulty ejaculating
  7. 7.  Stiffness or pain in the lower back, hips, or upper thighs
Note: Many men — more than half of those in their 60s — suffer from benign prostatic hypertrophy, a set of symptoms similar to those for prostate cancer (in which the prostate becomes enlarged). This common condition is annoying, but it’s neither a disease nor a life-threatening condition. Any male who has had prostate problems should have a regular PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test and be monitored for prostate cancer. Additional risk factors include a family history of prostate cancer or being African-American.

Breast Cancer Symptoms
  1. 1.  A lump or thickening in the breast or underarm area
  2. 2.  Tenderness in the breast or nipple
  3. 3.  A change in breast or nipple shape
  4. 4.  Nipple discharge
  5. 5.  Red, swollen, or scaly skin on the breast or nipple
Note: Other factors that increase risk — men can get breast cancer, too — are family history (particularly breast cancer in the mother or sister), a diet high in saturated fat, obesity, early onset of menses or late menopause, being childless or being older at the birth of a first child, and taking hormones. A genetic mutation known as the BRCA gene (most common in those of Eastern European Jewish descent) greatly increases the risk of breast cancer, particularly when combined with a family history of the disease.





Colorectal cancer symptoms
  1. 1.  Constipation
  2. 2.  Blood in the stool
  3. 3.  Narrow or thin stools
  4. 4.  Stomach cramps
  5. 5.  Gas and bloating
  6. 6.  Sense of fullness after eating small amounts.
  7. 7.  Nausea and vomittng
Note: Because many of the signs of colorectal cancer can easily be confused with the symptoms of some digestive disorders, it’s important to monitor them carefully and inform the doctor if digestive problems reappear frequently, don’t clear up quickly, or become chronic. For this reason, regular screening via colonoscopy for colorectal cancer is recommended for everyone over 50.Having polyps removed from your colon or a history of inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, puts you at increased risk for colorectal cancer. Family history is also important with colon cancer, as is race. African-Americans and Jews of Eastern European descent are at particular risk for colorectal cancer. Eating a diet high in animal fat and low in fruits and vegetables is also a risk factor.


Lung cancer symptoms
  1. 1.  Shortness of breath
  2. 2.  Chronic cough
  3. 3.  A change in a chronic cough
  4. 4.  Pain or aching when coughing or breathing
  5. 5.  Coughing up blood
  6. 6.  Difficulty swallowing
Note: If you or someone you’re caring for was or is a smoker, you’ll want to bring this to the doctor’s attention, even if it was a long time ago. Smoking for any period greatly increases the risk of lung cancer. Exposure to secondhand smoke and certain chemicals is also a risk factor.


Ovarian cancer symptoms
  1. 1.  Pelvic or abdominal pain
  2. 2.  Bloating
  3. 3.  Urgent need to urinate
  4. 4.  Frequent urination
  5. 5.  Trouble eating or feeling full quickly
Note: Family history is one of the most important risk factors for ovarian cancer. And those with the BRCA genetic mutation (most common in those of Eastern European Jewish descent) are at risk for ovarian cancer as well as breast cancer.

General cancer symptoms (cancer of unspecified origin)
  1. 1.  Loss of appetite
  2. 2.  Unexplained weight loss
  3. 3.  Fever
  4. 4.  Fatigue
  5. 5.  Jaundice
  6. 6.  Nausea
Note: Sometimes a person shows signs of declining health but doesn’t have pain or other symptoms in a particular area of the body. This can be a sign of cancer that started in one spot but has spread to the liver or other organs and is affecting overall health. Sometimes a tumor is discovered because it has grown big enough to press on other organs.





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Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins

FACTS

Good Health to all.

I was posted this article, which may have some provoking thoughts:

The below is absolutely 100% true and as a doctor I have been telling people this for 15 years now. No one wants to listen. Folks need to wake up. Cancer treatment is about making money. It is a 120 billion dollar a year industry in the United States alone and estimated to be a 600 billion dollar a year industry worldwide. A successful cancer case according to the American Cancer Society and the American College of Oncology and Hematology means that the person survives for 5 years.

Both the American Cancer Society and the American College of Oncology and Hematology admit that a person is likely to survive cancer for 7 to 10 years even if they do absolutely NOTHING. Of course, only the doctors get those magazines - not you, the cancer patient.

Alternative medicine's track record of curing cancer is 10 times higher than that of conventional medicine. Note that I say CURE.

Remember another thing. A TUMOR is just a symptom. It is not the cause of cancer. Science is cause and effect. Remove the cause and the effect disappears. I am in my third battle with cancer right now. I have not done any chemotherapy or radiation or surgery for any of my bouts with cancer. I survived leukemia, I survived Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and now I have Glioblastoma which is supposedly an incurable form of brain cancer. I was given two months to live 5 months ago. I have been using Chinese herbs, high doses of vitamin C, acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy and nutritional changes. Yes, at first it got worse. It had metastasized to my lymph nodes, my lungs and my bones.

As of this week, I am happy to say that there is no evidence now of any cancer in my lymph system or my bones. I had 6 tumors in my lungs, now there are only two. The tumors in my brain have shrunken tremendously. I never did any of their chemo, radiation or surgery.

Here is a very interesting statistic that you can only have access to by being a doctor. Every year more than 1,000 doctors oncologists (cancer doctors) are diagnosed with cancer. Less than 10% of them choose to do the treatment that they have been giving to their patients. Sort of like the fact that less than 25% of all pediatricians vaccinate their own children because of the fact that the risk of sudden death or serious side effects from the vaccination is higher than the risk of catching the disease one is being vaccinated for. This is not bullshit people - it is truth. Medicine is about money, not about your health and the system traps people, especially the elderly, disabled and poor into a deadly treatment regime that puts them in an early grave. Meanwhile, all the jet set billionaires are flying off to Europe and paying big bucks for alternative treatments and getting cured.

Does alternative medicine work all the time? No. Of course not. Nothing works all the time. But there is a reason for that. You don't die until it's your time to die. Nothing can make you live longer than that time. However quality of life comes into play. Those cancer patients who use alternative therapies for their cancer, yet still die from the illness, suffer a much higher quality of life. They die able to spend time with their families and even recognize their family members. They don't become emaciated like those who do chemotherapy or radiation do and rarely is a person who goes under the treatment of chemotherapy able to recognize anyone for the last few days of their lives. Their bodies become ravaged to the point that you can't even recognize them either. They suffer at a much much higher rate and they have one let down after another as doctors tell them, ahhh - it's looking good, only to tell them on the next visit it's looking worse, you need more chemo and radiation.

What is criminal about this is that YOUR DOCTORS KNOW THIS SHIT.

I took an oath as a physician. I have always followed it. That has certainly not made me successful financially as a doctor because I have consistently refused to go along with conventional medicine's bullshit.

Read the below carefully. It may indeed make a difference in your life.

Rick Cantrell, PhD, MD, PsyD

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY .