Bladder cancer may catch anyone off guard. And although your GYN care is perfectly regular it can still affect a number of people especially men and patients over the age of 65. When all is said and done, don’t let the statistics fool and learn to point the symptoms out.
The number of women with bladder cancer exceeds 17,000 a year in the U.S. It is further reported by The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network that it is highly probable for women to be diagnosed at relatively late stages of cancer since early signs usually go unnoticed. Don’t miss these Signs Of Bladder Cancer.
Thus, keeping a vigilant eye on the early signs could disturb the hasty course of your cancer and save your life.
Dr. Paul Littman provides precious information about these symptoms that you might have contracted and didn’t know were signs of bladder cancer. The next pages reveals more.
Blood in the urine
This is the best known early symptom of bladder cancer. This especially hard for women to notice since it is pretty sporadic , painless and can often be mistaken for menopause or menstruation.
UTI-like symptoms.
Bladder cancer can also appear as a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) since they have similar symptoms. Some patients may feel that they have to urinate way more frequently than normal, experience pain with urination or urinary incontinence. Therefore, the slightest abnormality in the function of your bladder like – always going to the toilet or having a hard time emptying your bladder or if your antibiotics haven’t been clearing your UTI symptoms – should make you pay your doctor a visit.
Unexplained pain
Advanced stages of bladder cancers are definitely going to make you feel pain. You may experience this pain in the flank area, abdomen, or pelvis. Some patients can even experience pain in their bones that is if cancer has proliferated to the bones. Hence, if any of these pains are experienced, tell your doctor—especially if you’ve also had the aforementioned spotting or UTI symptoms.
Decreased appetite
One of the other common symptoms of cancer is appetite loss. In cases where cancer has notably spread, patients may experience weight loss and changes in the appearance of the body or they may feel constant tiredness and weakness. This may be baffling especially because a lot of things may be the cause of your weight loss but don’t hesitate to contact your doctor about it.
Smoking
The National Institutes of Health reports that about 50% of the women that are diagnosed with bladder cancer happen to smoke. Therefore it is assumed that smoking is one of the most common risk factors for bladder cancer. So if you’re a smoker and you notice any of the aforementioned symptoms, getting a medical check would be a wise decision to make.
Prevention
Guaranteeing a way to prevent bladder cancer may be far-fetched, however, reducing the risk of bladder cancer is possible. Mayo Clinic Staff says:
Avoid smoking as much as possible, and if you are already a smoker then it is best to work out plans with your doctor to help you reduce and eventually quit. A number of solutions are nowadays possible, like medication, support groups, or even rehab.
Extra caution should be made if you work in the chemical industry and following instructions to avoid exposure should never be taken for granted. Opting for a diet that contains various fruits and vegetables and that is rich in antioxidants can put you at a lower risk of contracting bladder cancer While bladder cancer can affect men more than women, it usually goes unnoticed in women because of the easy confusion with UTI symptoms or vaginal spotting.
This denotes that women are usually diagnosed with bladder cancer at advanced stages of cancer which, unfortunately, makes it very hard to treat. So never overlook any symptoms and give your doctor a call to confirm whether it’s just a minor infection or if it is bladder cancer. An early diagnosis of bladder cancer makes it much easier to treat.
