15 most common questions about Cancer?

Cancer is a disease that happens when the cells in our body start to grow abnormally. Naturally, the cells in our body grow and eventually die when it's no longer required. However, if a cell grows abnormally and doesn’t die even though your body doesn't require it, it further becomes malignant.

Similar to cancer being a group of different diseases, its causes are also various kinds. Here are the most common ones that develop into cancer.

• Smoking and tobacco consumption
• Exposure to the Sun or Industrial radiation
• Diet and physical activity
• Viruses and other infections

There are more than 100 types of cancer known to us. Each type of cancer affects different regions in our body with associated symptoms.

Since there are different types of cancer, their causes are also different and vary from person to person. For eg, cancers like retinoblastoma, breast cancer and ovarian cancer, a small proportion of their causes are due to inheritance. In other cases, an individual lower threshold of cells results in becoming malignant. That means that the person is more prone to cancer by triggers such as tobacco or the sun’s exposure than the person with a higher threshold who can tolerate more.

In recent years, cancer is getting common among people, over half a million are getting diagnosed each year. The major risk of developing cancer is mostly at an older age. About 9 of 10 cancers are diagnosed in people of age 50 and older.

No! It's a widely known false statement about cancer development. Not just injuries fall, bruises or broken bones are linked to cancer. With some injuries, cancer can turn more severe but cancer must have already been found at that time.

Risk factors are habits or situations that can increase your chances of developing cancer. Here are some of the well-known risk factors which could be controlled to remain cancer-free:

• Tobacco Consumption
• Lack of Physical activity
• Obesity
• Improper Diet
• Alcohol Use
• Sun Exposure
• Industrial exposure of chemicals like radon, leads and asbestos
• Exposure of Infection such as hepatitis, HPV and HIV

Even though cancer is caused by a virus much like your flu or cold but they are not contagious. Most people stay aware of patients who had cancer due to the fear of catching it but you can never catch cancer from anyone. Hence don’t show any kind of fear to be people around people with cancer, at such vulnerable times, they need your support.

Cancer can not be prevented but there are some changes you can do to be less prone to developing it. Here are some significant changes:

Tobacco: Cigarettes, pipes, cigars and oral tobacco products must be ceased from use. It is one of the largest cause of causing cancer

Alcohol: Ethanol found in many alcoholic drinks like beers, wines or liquors are linked to a higher risk of causing a certain type of cancer. Hence alcohol consumption must be limited or completely ceased for better.

Diet: Food that is rich in nutrients and fibre are one of the biggest factors in preventing cancer. However limiting your diet to processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages or highly processed food is highly risky for causing cancer.

Yes! Most cancer treatments result in curing it successfully. A remission cancer stage is where cancer shrinks but doesn’t disappear. While a complete remission is a sign off of complete treatment and no chances of cancer. The longer anyone cancer treatment remains in complete remission, the lesser it is likely to come back.

Cancer is grouped into four major stages. Some even have a 0 stage. Here’s what each stage tells you:

• Stage 0: It’s the mild stage where the cancer is located and it hasn’t spread to any nearby tissues. It’s possible to cure stage 0 cancers.
• Stage 1: It represents a sign of a small tumor or cancer that hasn’t grown thoroughly in the tissues. It’s called early-stage cancer.
• Stage 2 & 3: This stage is pretty severe and represents large tumors formation that’s grown deeply to the surrounding tissues. The possibility of spreading of cancer can be to lymph nodes also. However, there are fewer chances of spreading it to other organs or parts of the body.
• Stage 4: It’s the most concerning phase of cancer where cancer has spread to other parts of organs. It’s known as the most advanced stage of cancer.

There are rare cases of symptoms showcasing any symptoms, but it doesn’t apply to every kind. The shared signs of symptoms are limited to certain types and the location they are formed. Due to the tumour increase in size, it affects the neighbouring tissue or organ of the body by which doctors can guess the type of cancer but there’s no optimal sign that warns you about cancer. It is because many cancers only show any changes in the body after being too advanced. Here are some of the common signs and symptoms of cancer:

• Abnormal weight loss
• Pain and discomfort
• Fatigue & Fever
• Skin Changes
• Bowel movement or bladder function
• Abnormal bleeding
• Unhealing sores
• Occurrence of a lump in any parts of the body
• Indigestion

You don’t come to know enough about cancer with just a few signs and symptoms. It can be a normal disease or a cancerous early stage, it's hard to differentiate with just common symptoms. Hence there are various diagnostic steps available for cancer like x-rays, blood tests or a biopsy. At some level, a biopsy is the only stage which ultimately assures about the presence of cancer.

The three main treatments of cancers are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. With a few cases of cancer, any of the treatment might work while other types might need all three of them. The right treatment for cancer mostly varies with the cancer type and position where it developed and also its stage. Other factors that are significant are the health of the patient, its side effects to the treatment and many more.

Yes! Each type of cancer treatment comes with different types of side effects. It’s difficult to say which side effects you’ll suffer from. However, there are treatments available for curing or decreasing the pain caused by side effects. Cancer treatment is tough for many along with the side effects it can turn extremely hard to manage. But the side effects are not always severe, they are mild and can be treated too. Here are some of the most common side effects of cancer:

Chemotherapy side effects

• Nausea and vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Hair loss
• Mouth Sores
• Anemia
• Higher risk of infections
• Radiation side effects
• Skin irritation
• Fatigue