Getting diagnosed with stage 4 cancer is not something anyone wants for themselves or their family members. To avoid such a thing, it is a good idea to keep getting regular checkups.
However, even apart from regular health check ups, it is also important to do self checks. This means keeping an eye on signs that could be a warning sign.
A UK-based content creator, Georgie Swallow, is raising awareness about Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer attacks the lymphatic system, a part of the immune system. Swallow wants to talk about some signs that could cause concern, which she herself had found in herself.She was diagnosed at 28 years old. Because of her treatment for the cancer, she went into early menopause before she was able to have children.
The symptoms she wants to raise awareness about are ones she ignored in herself, thinking she was experiencing them because of stress. And going to a doctor would only be “wasting everyone’s time.”
She did not think it was serious even she even noticed a lump in the side of her neck.
Swallow is now 32 years old and has confessed that her cancer did not just impact her physical health but also her mental health. The three symptoms she had that she ignored were itchy legs, nocturnal sweats, and general fatigue.
“I would itch until I broke the skin which would keep me up all night. I went to the doctor and they thought it could be stress, allergies or urticaria but no cream or lifestyle change would make it go,” she shared.
“During this time I was losing weight, having night sweats, constantly exhausted and a never-ending stream of colds and flus but I just thought I was on the go too much and wearing myself out.”
The content creator wanted to highlight these symptoms because often people will shrug them off as irrelevant. However, these symptoms could lead to a cancer diagnosis being delayed.
Her early menopause, according to her, feels like “being hit by a bus.”
“Cancer can take quite a lot away from you but losing my fertility before I’d had a chance to have children was difficult,” she shared.
“The menopause at any age can be difficult, but at 28 I didn’t have anyone my age to talk to about it,” she went on, “None of my friends understood what I was going through, and as supportive as they were, it’s hard to comfort and relate to something you don’t understand.”
She wants to raise awareness about these symptoms and hopefully help others identify them and perhaps get a diagnosis much earlier than she did.
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