to ask, during blood cancer awareness month. if people know the symptoms?

[iVampire]

Without googling?

Because there are many forms of leukaemias, lymphomas and myelomas, so individually they are each rare cancers. But together, they are in the top 5 commonest, and leukaemia is one of the commonest cancers in children,

September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month, and yesterday was World Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia Day. Those events have been much on my mind,

And just led me to wonder - do you know the symptoms?

[sashh]

Well I have just googled them and I have most symptoms.

BUT I know the pain is from arthritis, the SOB is asthma etc etc.


I have always bruised really easily so as there is no change from my usual illnesses/conditions I suspect I'm OK.

[ThanksHunkyJesus]

Here are the symptoms From blood cancer uk:

"There are lots of possible signs and symptoms of blood cancers like leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma. The most common symptoms include:

extreme tiredness (fatigue),
repeated infections,
unexplained weight loss,
easy bruising and / or bleeding,
drenching night sweats,
itchy skin,
lumps or swellings in your neck, head, groin or stomach, and
bone and / or joint pain.
It’s important to remember that not everyone will have the same (or even any) symptoms. Each person is different."

[ATowelAndAPotato]

I think when it says bruising easily, a lot of people don't realise what that means. One of my husbands' symptoms was bruising easily - that meant when he held our 2 month old DC for 20 mins, the weight of their head on his arm left a bruise... It's not always the same as just bruising more than someone else might when you've bumped against the door frame, etc.

[TheOxymoron]

Yes I do OP as I had a child that died from a rare Leukaemia, not AML or ALL.
Sometimes one of the signs can be flu like symptoms, I know many children that were sent away with a virus diagnosis from their GP. So as not to scare people, other symptoms followed.
Moving pains around the body. My son even complained his teeth hurt.
Lethargy, loss of appetite.
I am more than happy to chat with you.

[Kool4katz]

Yes, as my DH has been treated for a blood cancer. What's really frustrating is that he has some of the symptoms again but is refusing to go to the GP as his annual cancer check-up at the hospital is in a couple of months so he wants to wait until then.
The more I try to cajole, the further he digs his heels in. I guess it's his body at the end of the day.

[ApplesinmyPocket]

My poor little sister (aged 3) was taken to hospital screaming in pain from what was thought to be an ear infection, turned out to be mastoiditis, and then AML was diagnosed. My mother did say she had seemed unhappy and tired for a long time, but this is the trouble, you could say the same for many a child in the winter who gets cold after cold - 'never quite right' and nearly all of them don't have leukaemia.

Because of sister and my poor mother (she never, ever got over it) I had a great deal of health anxiety over my DC when they were small, and I still think of it every time one of them (now adults) looks a bit pale or mentions tiredness.

Thank you for raising awareness, iVampire. Hope you are doing ok.

[wink1970]

DH is in 11 year remission for Hodgkins, a form of lymphoma. His first symptoms were mistaken for flu, then asthma. His primary tumour (in his throat) was the size of a golfball in the end. So:

fatigue
lymph area swelling
persistant cough
change of skin colour (he went quite red)
serious night sweats
weight change

9 rounds of chemo & radio, but so far so good. If caught early (his was stage 2a) things can work out OK.

Best wishes to you, OP

[Allineedyoutodois]

Not a clue, but I do now that I've looked it up. Thanks, it's always good to be aware...

[SockQueen]

Different symptoms for different types of blood cancer.

DH had Hodgkin's lymphoma 8 years ago, his only symptoms were lumps in his neck and itching all over. No night sweats, no easy bruising, his bloods were all completely normal. We later discovered he had several larger tumours in his chest but they had been completely asymptomatic.
It's not as dramatic as the acute leukaemias, so slightly less of a rush into treatment, but 4 months chemo and a month of radiotherapy was hard going. He's fine now physically but still has some related MH problems.

[Jenijena]

My Mum’s second bout of lymphoma was only picked up on an ?xray for something else totally unrelated. This was despite regular monitoring by the hospital as it had only been about three years since the first (which in itself presented in an unusual symptom for lymphoma).

She’s been cancer free for over six years now though.

Another friend had a blood test as a result of an ongoing cough on a Friday. Diagnosed on a Monday, treatment started on a Tuesday. Not such a happy ending I’m afraid :(

[DearSergio]

Both my parents have different blood cancers. My DM has just finished a second round of chemo, her initial symptom was a persistent migraine for over a week and extreme fatigue. DFs symptoms included bruising horrifically, swollen legs and an enlarged spleen. One of the treatments he receives is blood letting, I had no idea in 2018 this was still a " thing ".
for you OP

[Sallystyle]

Yes, pretty much.

My children lost their father to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma so doing some research around it lead to me knowing most of the symptoms of blood cancers. I don't know if I know them all, but certainly most of them I imagine.

OP.

[MyNameIsArthur]

I am in remission for a type of blood cancer called Myleodysyplastic Syndrome (MDS) . Over time MDS can transform into leukaemia (AML) . I had a week of intensive chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant and am doing okay now. MDS affects some or all your blood lines so you can bleed and bruise easily because of low platelets, get lots of infections because of low white cells, and suffer from fatigue, low energy, breathlessness, chest pain because of low red cells. I needed weekly platelet transfusions and fortnightly red cell transfusions and a few times was admitted to a&e because of neutropenic sepsis.

I came to be diagnosed as went to my GP because of the chest pains and breathlessness assuming I had angina . I had also been bruising alot and got petichiae but hadn't thought much about them before.

There is a discussion forum about blood cancer and other cancers on the Macmillan website with some very knowledgeable people on there, if anybody wants to find out anything.

[BastardCancer]

Sadly yes I do know the symptoms as I have Splenic marginal zone (None Hodgkins) Lymphoma.

Even more sadly it took over 5 years to get a diagnosis. I had several symptoms, but as it is a slow growing type and doesn't produce swollen lymph nodes as most other types do, my doctor ignored my frequent visits and differing symptoms. He just gave me strong painkillers (including naproxen that caused Reflux disease - so thanks for that added problem Dr )

Not until my spleen became so swollen it was bigger than a rugby ball and I collapsed in horrific pain, so was carted of to A&E, was any proper investigation done. I lost years of my kids childhood, being too tired to join in family walks and activities. I wasted weeks in bed with awful fatigue. I was in agony some days with awful pain that travelled around my body - always the same 'toothache in my bones' type of pain IYSWIM but it sprang up in different locations, mainly in my arms and legs. GP just told me some people were more attuned to feeling pain that others.

Oh I could go on but mainly I would just like to tell people to keep on seeking help if they are not believed. GP's often have no idea of the early signs of lymphoma, and it may be too late by the time you end up in an emergence situation. I thankfully have survived and am now being treated, but I am terrified of the future as part of my treatment involved having my spleen removed, which leaves me at risk of Septicemia and I know a lot of doctors are not great at spotting or treating that either - both in hospitals as well as at GP surgeries.

[Sallystyle]

My children's father's (ex husband) first symptom that he recognised something was wrong was awful stomach pain and an enlarged spleen that looked like a rugby ball.

Turns out he was having night sweats and extreme tiredness but he didn't think anything of it. Until he went to A&E with the stomach pain he had no idea he was so unwell. There were other symptoms but he didn't know what they were and his wife didn't either, and sadly he didn't think it was worthy of a GP visit.

His treatment started quite late as a result. So many rounds of chemo and a bone marrow transplant, the treatment was brutal. Sadly he died roughly 6 months after his transplant.

He had chemo so many times and he was in hospital for 10 weeks after his transplant. Then he had to deal with graft vs host. Multiple infections throughout the four years of treatment. It was just brutal.

[MyNameIsArthur]

At the same time as having MDS, I also had another type of blood cancer called Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) . This is much rarer and would have meant having weekly injections of a very expensive drug for the rest of my life but luckily my stem cell transplant cured the PNH.

Symptoms may include:
Abdominal pain.
Back pain.
Blood clots, may form in some people.
Dark urine, comes and goes.
Easy bruising or bleeding.
Headache.
Shortness of breath.
Weakness, fatigue.

[MyNameIsArthur]

To the OP and anyone else going through cancer, my thoughts are with you all and hope you get through it okay x

[MyNameIsArthur]

community.macmillan.org.uk/

[5Yearplan4000]

Someone I know sadly died of a blood cancer a few years back. There were few symptoms to distinguish it from many other everyday illnesses. Unfortunately it killed the person in just a few weeks from first “symptoms”. Although many blood cancers are very treatable, they can also be incredibly quick in development (weeks) and some can progress rapdily when triggered and they can kill unbelievably fast. More research and awareness is vital.

[Babyroobs]

Symptoms can be very vague. I come across a lot of patients in my clinics who have leukemia, myeloma, Lymphoma , MDS. A good percentage of them were misdiagnosed for some time, especially the Myeloma ones where GP's were just treating them for vague back pain. I have had other leukemic patients who were being treated for the flu for a couple of weeks and then ended up in ITU for months on end , it escalated that quickly.

[Spuderoonerism]

Dad had no signs whatsoever though and it was only picked up when he had a blood test for something else. Not quite the same for my dad but close - it was a routine blood test that finally prompted further tests that picked up his blood cancer. It's really important that people attend routine health screenings, prostate tests etc. as these give your GP a chance to spot anything else that is out of whack on your blood results (very high red blood cells in my dad's case).

[iVampire]

Thank you to all the lovely posters who have added good wishes. I have CML, which is being very effectively suppressed right now by a targeted drug

[iVampire]

Staccato series of posts, because the current lack of carriage return on MN means it’s an unpleasant block of words otherwise

[iVampire]

I won’t list the symptoms, as it’s already been posted, but yes, aside from the bruising, it’s all pretty non-specific. But it is something, that when those come together, should lead an HCP to include a full blood count in the investigations, to rule it in or out.

[NoSleepTil2030]

A family member had AML. Their symptoms were: tiredness, breathlessness after any exercise (even walking across a room), not recovering from a cold, not recovering from tiny cuts from shaving etc.. I think it had progressed quite a lot by the time it was discovered and chemo didn't work initially but they're now over a year past a transfusion and in remission.