The symptoms of cancer, as well as cancer signs, are significant for multiple reasons. Cancer symptoms occur for multiple reasons. Symptoms of cancer such as pain and discomfort occur because of the physical pressure the tumor puts on tissue, nerves and other organs in the body. Other cancer symptoms occur because the disease itself uses most of the body's nutrients and energy, leaving little of either to maintain health. Some cancers do not cause symptoms during the disease's initial stages. This is why early detection of the disease is crucial in terms of successfully treating it. A cancer can continue to develop and spread without the patient knowing he or she even has an illness. Many symptoms of cancer can be caused by less threatening and dangerous infections, diseases, or other medical conditions. If you experience consistent cancer symptoms, it is in your best interest to see your primary health care provider as soon as possible, in order to determine what is causing the abnormalities. While cancer symptoms are limitless, and different types of cancer can cause any type of symptom, there are some general symptoms that are more common in all cancers, such as pain, weight loss, fatigue, changes in appearance of skin, and fever-like symptoms.

Early Detection

Most types of cancer can be successfully treated if they are detected during the disease's early initial stages. This is why early detections is so important. Even though many cancers cause symptoms, and cancer signs can be more obvious, there are also many types of cancer that do not cause symptoms until it develops into later stages. This can cause cancer to continue to spread through out the body without the patient knowing, making it much more difficult to treat when, or if, it is detected. Therefore, people should go for screening of certain cancers routinely. If there is a family history of a certain type of cancer, or a specific cancer is more common for a person's age, gender and general health condition, they should be screened for that type of cancer.

Early detection is often not possible for many because of a couple different reasons. Many symptoms of cancer, or cancer signs, are similar to those that come from more common conditions such as the common cold, a stressful lifestyle, and other less serious conditions. Therefore, they may ignore it and pass it off as a simple sickness or condition that will go away on its own, as a cold or tiredness often does. Another reason early detection does not occur as much as it could is because cancer signs can cause the patient to fear what is actually happening in their body. If a person experiences one or multiple symptoms of cancer, they may not want to definitely know that they have a life threatening illness. This fear and anxiety, can cause the patient to act foolish and not get screened. This situation will most likely result in the cancer spreading further through out the body, which makes it much more difficult to treat successfully with either surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy.

If cancer is detected early, it will most likely be treated successfully. Therefore, patients who experience any common cancer signs, or cancer symptoms, should see their primary health care provider immediately. The health care provider will determine if screening for cancer is necessary. Do not be scared to talk about your symptoms with your doctor. Doing so can only make the situation worse, and reduce your chances of survival if you do have cancer.

How Cancer Causes Symptoms

There are multiple ways that different types of cancer can cause symptoms. Pain and discomfort can be caused by the tumor itself, growing and putting pressure on surrounding tissue, nerves, and eventually other organs in the body. Cancer symptoms such as changes in appearance of the skin, are caused by the cancer killing certain cells that work to maintain normal and healthy skin color. Many symptoms of cancer are caused by the cancer cells damaging important genes in the body. The genes, known as oncogenes, stimulate and promote cells to grow and divide faster. The tumor suppressor genes slow down the rate at which cells grow and divide. If these genes are damaged or altered in any way, pre-cancerous and cancerous cells can grow and divide uncontrollably. This causes many normal and healthy cells to die, and/or not develop the way they are supposed to, or instructed to by the patient's DNA.

It is common for cancer patients to feel excessive tiredness, as well as fever-like symptoms because of the damage the cancer does to the patient's immune system. The immune system is intended to fight off anything that is hazardous to the body, including infections and diseases. Many types of cancer can weaken the immune system, while other types can completely destroy it. Therefore, it is common for patients to suffer from a fever and constant fatigue.

General Cancer Symptoms

As previously mentioned, cancer can cause many types of symptoms. The symptoms of cancer depend on the type and stage of the cancer, as well as where it is in the body. However, since most types of cancer cause similar damage to cells, hormone levels and important systems within the body, there are many symptoms that are general and more common:

Dramatic unintended weight loss is common in cancer patients, because cancer can often disrupt the way that the body digests food and retains fat and nutrients.

Excessive tiredness is also a common symptom of cancer because the cancer is using up most, if not, all of the body's energy. Therefore, even if the patient sleeps, the body can not restore itself the way it is supposed to.

Since many types of cancer can damage or destroy the immune system, most cancer patients will suffer from a fever at some point during the duration of their illness.

Changes in the appearance of skin are also common because of the damage the cancer does to genes and cells that keep the patient's skin normal and healthy in appearance, as well as texture.

These symptoms are the most common for all cancer patients. However, there are many other possible cancer symptoms. This is why it is important to see your primary health care provider, if any abnormalities persist for an extended amount of time.