People living with leukemia commonly face mental-health-related symptoms, such as depression and anxiety. In fact, it's estimated that 1 in every 4 people with cancer has clinical depression and about 15 percent of people with cancer have both anxiety and depression.
You can have emotional and social effects as well as physical effects after a CLL diagnosis. This may include dealing with difficult emotions, such as sadness, anxiety, or anger, or managing your stress level.
The most common symptoms of leukemia—fatigue, pale skin, weight loss and night sweats—are often attributed to other less serious conditions, such as the flu.
In fact, anxiety and depression occur at a higher rate among people with blood cancers like lymphoma than in the general population. Approximately 25 percent of people with lymphoma may experience persistent mental health symptoms, even after diagnosis and treatment.
They can be tender to the touch and feel more swollen than usual. There is a link between can stress cause swollen lymph nodes and mental illness. Swelling lymph nodes can occur when we face stress triggers and is a physical symptom of mental illness.
"A patient may be tested for leukemia if he or she has unexplained weight loss, night sweats or fatigue, or if he or she bruises or bleeds easily," Dr. Siddon says. "Sometimes routine blood work shows an unexplained elevated number of white blood cells."
Acute leukemias — which are incredibly rare — are the most rapidly progressing cancer we know of. The white cells in the blood grow very quickly, over a matter of days to weeks. Sometimes a patient with acute leukemia has no symptoms or has normal blood work even a few weeks or months before the diagnosis.
By looking at a sample of your blood, your doctor can determine if you have abnormal levels of red or white blood cells or platelets — which may suggest leukemia. A blood test may also show the presence of leukemia cells, though not all types of leukemia cause the leukemia cells to circulate in the blood.
Less often, ALL spreads to other organs: If ALL spreads to the brain and spinal cord it can cause headaches, weakness, seizures, vomiting, trouble with balance, facial muscle weakness or numbness, or blurred vision. ALL may spread inside the chest, where it can cause fluid buildup and trouble breathing.
Leukemia starts in the soft, inner part of the bones (bone marrow), but often moves quickly into the blood. It can then spread to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, central nervous system and other organs.
Cancerous, immature white blood cells crowd out the healthy white blood cells in your bone marrow. This can lead to joint and bone pain. Without treatment, leukemia can also lead to a condition known as bone marrow failure, which shares many symptoms with leukemia, including: fever.
Some symptoms, like night sweats, fever, fatigue and achiness, resemble flu-like symptoms. Unlike symptoms of the flu, which generally subside as you get better, leukemia symptoms generally last longer than two weeks, and may include sudden weight loss, bone and joint pain and easy bleeding or bruising.
While the exact cause of leukemia—or any cancer, for that matter—is unknown, there are several risk factors that have been identified, such as radiation exposure, previous cancer treatment and being over the age of 65.
Many types of leukemia produce no obvious symptoms in the early stages. Eventually, symptoms may include any of the following: Anemia and related symptoms, such as fatigue, pallor, and a general feeling of illness.
Chronic leukemia often causes only a few symptoms or none at all. Signs and symptoms usually develop gradually. People with a chronic leukemia often complain that they just do not feel well.
Age-specific incidence rates fall gradually from age 0-4 and remain stable throughout childhood and early adulthood, rates rise sharply from around age 55-59. The highest rates are in in the 85 to 89 age group for females and males. Incidence rates are significantly lower in females than males in most age groups.
If this disease is left untreated, a person with leukemia becomes increasingly susceptible to fatigue, excessive bleeding and infections until, finally, the body becomes virtually defenseless, making every minor injury or infection very serious. Leukemia may be fatal.
For instance, leukemia, a cancer that affects the body's blood-forming tissues, can sometimes be detected in a routine blood test. Specifically, the CBC test measures the levels of the various types of blood cells circulating in the bloodstream, including red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
Stage 1 – A patient has high levels of white blood cells and enlarged lymph nodes. Stage 2 – A patient has high levels of white blood cells and is anemic. He or she may also have enlarged lymph nodes. Stage 3 – A patient has high levels of white blood cells and is anemic.
If you have leukemia, your blood cells count will likely show higher than usual levels of white blood cells, which include leukemic cells. You may also have lower than usual red blood cell and platelet cell counts. If all three types are low, this is known as pancytopenia.
The adrenal glands produce hormones such as cortisol, aldosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. These hormones help control a variety of important functions in the body, including stress and anxiety.