Howes x's List: Symptoms

• Symptoms of leukemia depend on how much  the cancer has grown and may include:

   
   
  • Fevers  and night sweats.  
  • Frequent or unusual infections.  
  • Weakness and fatigue.   
  • Headaches.  
  • Bruising of the skin  and bleeding from the gums or rectum.  
  • Bone pain.  
  • Joint pain.  
  • Swelling in the belly or pain on the left side of the belly or in the left  shoulder from a swollen spleen.  
  • Swollen lymph nodes in the  armpit, neck, or groin.  
  • Decreased appetite and weight loss because you feel  full and don't want to eat.
   

  The chronic forms of leukemia often  cause no symptoms until much later in the

• leukemia cells travel through the body. The symptoms of leukemia depend on the  number of leukemia cells and where these cells collect in the body.
• chronic leukemia may not have symptoms. The doctor may find the disease during a  routine blood test.
• People with acute leukemia usually go to their doctor because they feel sick. If  the brain is affected, they may have headaches, vomiting, confusion, loss of  muscle control, or seizures. Leukemia also can affect other parts of the body  such as the digestive tract, kidneys, lungs, heart, or testes.

• Common symptoms of chronic or acute leukemia may include:

   
   
  • Swollen lymph nodes that usually don't hurt (especially lymph nodes in the  neck or armpit)
    
     
  • Fevers or night sweats
    
     
  • Frequent infections
    
     
  • Feeling weak or tired
    
     
  • Bleeding and bruising easily (bleeding gums, purplish patches in the skin,  or tiny red spots under the skin)
    
     
  • Swelling or discomfort in the abdomen (from a swollen spleen or  liver)
    
     
  • Weight loss for no known  reason
    
     
  • Pain in the bones or joints
• Most often, these symptoms are not due to cancer. An infection or other health  problems may also cause these symptoms.

• Diagnosis
• • Physical exam: Your doctor checks for swollen lymph nodes, spleen, or  liver.
    
     
  • Blood tests: The lab does a complete blood count to check  the number of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Leukemia causes  a very high level of white blood cells. It may also cause low levels of  platelets and hemoglobin,  which is found inside red blood cells.
    
     
  • Biopsy: Your doctor removes tissue to look for cancer cells. A biopsy  is the only sure way to know whether leukemia cells are in your bone marrow.  Before the sample is taken, local anesthesia is used to numb the area. This  helps reduce the pain. Your doctor removes some bone marrow from your hipbone or  another large bone. A pathologist uses a microscope to check the tissue for  leukemia cells.
    
    

5 more annotations...

• • Fatigue
   
  • Malaise (vague feeling of bodily discomfort)
   
  • Abnormal bleeding
• • Excessive bruising
   
  • Weakness
   
  • Reduced exercise tolerance
   
  • Weight loss
   
  • Bone or joint pain
   
  • Infection and fever
   
  • Abdominal pain or "fullness"
   
  • Enlarged spleen, lymph nodes, and liver