Surprising signs of cancer
If you were to find a lump in your breast, you’d have it looked at, wouldn’t you? Well, odd or unfamiliar symptoms like swelling in your neck, skin sores that won’t heal, or unrelenting pain deserve the same sort of vigilance.
There’s no need to leap to hair-raising conclusions—What if it’s cancer?—when it could easily be something else. But the sooner you get diagnosed, the quicker you and your doctor can take appropriate action.
“With all cancers, early diagnosis is key,” explains Stephen Rubin, MD, chief of the division of gynecologic oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, “so women ought to feel free to see their physician to have these things checked out.”
Depending on your symptoms, medical history, and physical exam results, your doctor may order specific diagnostic tests or procedures to look for cancer and determine if and how far it has spread.
We asked physicians specializing in head-and-neck, gynecologic, breast, blood, lung, skin, and other malignancies to describe little-known cancer symptoms women ought to know about. Some of these indicators are surprising and others are more intuitive, but none of them should ever be ignored.
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Prolonged itching
As strange as it sounds, unexplained itching can be a sign of lymphoma, according to Craig Moskowitz, MD, physician-in-chief for oncology at the University of Miami Health System’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Itch is such a non-specific symptom, people often go from internist to dermatologist seeking relief, he says.
If you’ve seen the dermatologist or sought a second opinion and “nobody can really figure out why you’re having generalized itching, you really need to pursue a possible diagnosis of an underlying malignancy,” he says.
Vaginal bleeding
Spotting or irregular periods may be due to a hormonal imbalance. It can also signal the presence of uterine fibroids or polyps. Sometimes, though, unusual bleeding is a sign of endometrial cancer (also known as uterine cancer).
Dr. Rubin says any abnormal bleeding ought to be promptly evaluated, especially after menopause (because bleeding in older women isn’t normal) or before menopause in women with risk factors for endometrial cancer, such as obesity.
Most endometrial cancers are diagnosed at stage 1, when they’re “highly curable,” he says.
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Breast swelling or dimpling
It should go without saying that any unusual breast changes (not just lumps!) require immediate attention. Breast pain, redness, and swelling are typical signs of mastitis, a common breast infection, particularly in breastfeeding moms. But did you know that inflammatory breast cancer can cause the same symptoms?
Women who develop this aggressive type of cancer may have thickening of the skin of the breast and dimpling, making the breast look like the peel of an orange.
“It can spread very quickly, so it’s managed very differently than routine breast cancer,” says Dr. Sivapiragasam.
Urinary problems
Feeling like you need to pee all the time? Or all of a sudden? Urinary symptoms are common in women with urinary tract infections, overactive bladder, or type 2 diabetes. Much less often, urgent or frequent urination suggests an ovarian mass is pressing on the bladder.
As for blood in the urine, it can signal a nasty urinary tract infection that’s traveled to the bladder. Or it can be a sign of a kidney stone. Less commonly, bloody urine is a symptom of bladder or kidney cancer.
Kidney cancer is one of the 10 most common cancers in the U.S. affecting both women and men.
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