Symptoms and Treatment for Blood Cancer Patients

One form of cancer is blood cancer, also known as leukaemia. This blood cancer caused when the white blood cells of the body over produce. The white blood cells are part of the immune system and play a large in dealing with foreign “invaders” to the body, such as bacteria and other viruses. When someone has blood cancer, the person’s bone marrow makes way too much white blood cells of abnormal nature, affecting the person’s bone marrow and ability to fight off infections.

Blood cancer can be broken down into two types. The first type of blood cancer is chronic leukaemia, which is a slowly progressive type of blood cancer that usually affects more mature blood cells. Some symptoms of chronic leukaemia include tiredness, which is brought on my anemia, bruising, which happens frequently and is not usually caused by a fall, many infections, swollen lymph nodes, and weight loss. This form of blood cancer usually develops over time and can occur for a while before a person even feels any symptoms. This type of blood cancer can usually be treated through chemotherapy with can be given in caplet form.

The second, most common, form of blood cancer is called chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, or CLL. This form of blood cancer is diagnosed in about 4000 people in the UK every year. This form of blood cancer affects a certain group of white blood cells, called lymphocytes, which creates a weakened immune system within the patient. This disease is usually found in people between the ages of 40 and 65, and primarily is found in men. Symptoms of the blood cancer CLL include painless enlargement of the lymph glands, enlarged spleen that is sometimes painful, and consistent feelings of being sick. If a person believes they might have a form of blood cancer, they should get a bone marrow test done to make sure and to see what type of blood cancer they have.