Good day everyone, it is mid week and its another edition of #WellnessWednesday,
Last week, I gave an introduction (SILENT KILLER Part 1) to
Cancers. Like I said, Oncology (the study and treatment of cancer) is a Specialty in Medicine on its own - it is
that broad...
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Symptoms are the patient’s
complaints, while Signs are those elicited by the Physician. It is pertinent
to, however, mention that signs and symptoms of cancers are non-specific. These
presentations can be present in various clinical conditions. This is the reason
it is important to go for periodic medical check up.
The general ones include;
Weight loss
Anorexia (loss of appetite)
Recurrent fever
Malaise (feeling of being
unwell)
Others are specific to the part of
the body that is affected.
Examples :
Breast - painful and / or
discharging breast lump.
Cervix - vaginal discharge and other
associated features.
Prostate - urinary incontinence,
frequency, etc.
Lungs - breathlessness, cough etc
These are just few out of many.
TREATMENT MODALITIES
This depends on the stage of the
cancer. Each part of the body has its own staging. The last stage is generally
known as "Advanced" in which case only palliative treatment is needed
(and miracle).
Chemotherapy - drugs, which also
have their side effects.
Radiotherapy
Surgery
PREVENTION.
According to Public Health, there
are three levels of prevention viz :
Primary - to prevent before
occurrence via health education, immunization.
Secondary - to reduce the impact of
a disease or injury that has already occurred
Tertiary - to limit disability, and
improve quality of life and life expectancy via support groups, palliative
care.
I hope with these few points of
mine, I've been able to convince and not confuse you that adequate medical
check up, proper screening and prompt hospital presentation will help to reduce
the pattern and burden of cancers in Nigeria and the World as a whole. (wink)
See you next week.
xoxo
Dr. 'Lara
omolaraeniogunleyemd@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment