Contents:
- Medical Video: 5 Signs of Leukemia
- What are the symptoms of leukemia?
- 1. Blood is hard to freeze
- 2. Often bleeding and bruising
- 3. Vulnerable to infection
- 4. Joint and bone pain
- 5. Anemia
- Other symptoms
- Leukemia diagnosis and treatment
Medical Video: 5 Signs of Leukemia
According to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, as many as sixty thousand people are estimated to be diagnosed with leukemia in 2016. Leukemia is one type of blood cancer that affects the production and function of white blood cells in fighting infection. Although leukemia most often affects children and adolescents, in fact this cancer can also affect patients at any age.
What are the symptoms of leukemia?
The symptoms of leukemia are basically difficult to recognize because they do not have distinctive features. Even so, leukemia has many symptoms that can help detect this disease, such as:
1. Blood is hard to freeze
Leukemia occurs because immature white blood cells disrupt blood platelets which are important for the blood clotting process. This makes leukemia patients often experience bleeding.
Generally if someone is injured, then the blood that comes out will immediately clot and the blood flow will immediately stop. But if the wounded and bleeding are people with leukemia, the blood flow will be very difficult to stop. If seen, the blood released is not thick red, but is pink.
2. Often bleeding and bruising
The common symptoms of leukemia are frequent bleeding and bruising in parts of the body due to lack of platelets. Platelets are cell or cell fragments that help blood to clot.
The low number of platelets in the body results in a delay in blood clotting. Not infrequently, red or even purple spots appear called petechiae due to minor bleeding inside the skin.
3. Vulnerable to infection
Leukemia occurs because of abnormal white blood cells, as a result various types of germs that attack the body cannot be resisted by white blood cells. This makes the body vulnerable to infection and often has a fever.
Generally, fever in leukemia often occurs and lasts for several days with a temperature rise that reaches more than 38 degrees Celsius.
4. Joint and bone pain
Furthermore, leukemia sufferers usually often feel pain in their joints or in the spine. Even this extraordinary pain can make a sufferer experience a high fever. In addition to pain in the joints and spine, leukemia sufferers also often feel pain in the abdomen due to liver or spleen experiencing swelling.
5. Anemia
Anemia is a symptom of leukemia. Because anemia occurs because someone lacks red blood cells. Therefore, leukemia sufferers generally experience anemia which causes a person to experience shortness of breath, pale skin tone, weakness, fatigue, and lethargy.
Other symptoms
Other symptoms of leukemia are frequent nosebleeds, inflammation of the gums, nausea, fever, chills, headache, decreased appetite, drastic weight loss and excessive sweating at night.
Leukemia diagnosis and treatment
If you or the person closest to you has the above symptoms, it's good to immediately check with your doctor. Especially if you experience symptoms that often recur and don't improve for a long time.
In the initial stages of treatment, most doctors will ask about your symptoms. Then to ascertain further, the doctor will conduct a physical examination and laboratory examination such as a blood test and biopsy by doing a sample in the spinal cord.
Basically, this treatment depends on the type of leukemia experienced, the age of the patient, and the state of his health. In order to get the most effective treatment, patients must get intensive and centralized care where the treating doctor really has experience and is trained in treating leukemia patients. Early treatment of leukemia will reduce a person's risk of developing advanced blood cancer.
