Symptoms

            So how exactly do we know if someone actually has leukemia? At first, there are no early symptoms, meaning you really don’t feel or notice anything in the earliest stages of leukemia. Not seeing early symptoms often occur with chronic leukemia, but generally, not much symptoms can be seen when one has developed leukemia.

First, let’s divide leukemia into the four common types. There is chronic lymphocytic leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia. These types of leukemia are similar to each other, and in the same way, are different from each other.

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

In chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the cancerous lymphocytes form in the lymph nodes, liver and spleen, forcing them to enlarge or grow. This cancer usually happens to people around or over the age of 50.

Some symptoms include:
swollen lymph nodes
painless swellings in the neck, armpits
fatigue, mainly due to anemia
fever
infection
loss of appetite and weight loss
unusual bleeding
night sweats
pressure under the left ribs from enlargement of the spleen
bone pain
abnormal bruising (occurs after a while)

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia

In acute lymphocytic leukemia, too much lymphocytes are produced and attack other cells and gather in the blood or bone marrow tissue. This type of cancer usually happens to kids, and usually chromosomal abnormalities occur in people with this type of leukemia.
Some symptoms may include:
• anemia
• bleeding
• bruising
• fever
• persistent weakness
• fatigue
• aches in bones and joints
• swollen lymph nodes

Acute Myeloid Leukemia

This type of leukemia may from carcinogens such as tobacco smoke or radiation. This type of leukemia also targets people who are aging or has had chemotherapy radiation for another type of cancer from the past.
Some symptoms of this type of leukemia include:
-fatigue/tiredness
-fever
-infections
-night sweats
-bleeding
-weight loss
-lymph pain
-aching over body

Some symptoms include:
• anemia
• bleeding
• bruising
• fever
• persistent weakness
• fatigue
• aches in bones and joints
• swollen lymph nodes

As you can see, most symptoms from each type of leukemia are VERY similar to one another. That is because basically, leukemia is the abnormal white cells in the bone marrow affecting other organs and red blood cells, causing the body to weaken and malfunction. If you ever develop these symptoms and have not been feeling well lately, please be sure to go visit your doctor or go for a check up. Your health matters.
 

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