Some signs of leukemia, like night sweats, fever, fatigue and achiness, resemble flu-like symptoms. Unlike symptoms of the flu, which generally subside as patients 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.
In very rare cases, prolonged or recurring nausea can be a sign of something more serious such as leukaemia. According to our 2018 patient survey, 5% of leukaemia patients will experience nausea or vomiting as a symptom prior to their diagnosis.
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. The disease is often found during a routine blood test.
People often feel ill quite quickly. Most symptoms of acute leukaemia are caused by leukaemia cells filling the bone marrow. This means healthy blood cells do not move into the blood as normal.
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. The change can be quite dramatic.
The main symptoms include: tiredness and/or anaemia (pale complexion, weakness and breathlessness) repeated infections (mouth sores, sore throat, fevers, sweats, coughing, frequent passing of urine with irritation, infected cuts and scratches, and boils) increased bruising and bleeding.
Here is a list of some symptoms you might have if you have cancer related fatigue: lack of energy – you may just want to stay in bed all day. feeling you just cannot be bothered to do much. sleeping problems such as unable to sleep or disturbed sleep.
Your doctor will conduct a complete blood count (CBC) to determine if you have leukemia. This test may reveal if you have leukemic cells. Abnormal levels of white blood cells and abnormally low red blood cell or platelet counts can also indicate leukemia.
Some signs of leukemia, like night sweats, fever, fatigue and achiness, resemble flu-like symptoms. Unlike symptoms of the flu, which generally subside as patients 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.
Leukemia or Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)
This bone pain is most often felt in the long bones of the arms and legs, in the ribs and in the breastbone. Joint pain and swelling of the large joints, like the hips and shoulders, sometimes starts several weeks after bone pain begins.
Age: The risk of most leukemias increases with age. The median age of a patient diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is 65 years and older. However, most cases of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) occur in people under 20 years old.
Often referred to as a “silent disease,” CLL can be difficult to diagnose, because people often don't have any symptoms until later in the disease, and others have symptoms that resemble signs of other conditions, such as a cold.
Leukemia can produce a variety of symptoms, although most are not often apparent in the earliest stages of the malignancy. 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.
You might feel pain in your bones or joints. This might be a dull ache or more of a stabbing pain. It might be worse at different times of the day. Too many abnormal white blood cells collecting in the bones, joints or lymph nodes may cause pain and swelling.
Small, pinhead-sized red spots on the skin (called “petechiae”) may be a sign of leukaemia. These small red spots are actually very small bruises that cluster so that they look like a rash.
A diagnosis of leukemia is usually made by analyzing a patient's blood sample through a complete blood count (CBC) or microscopic evaluation of the blood, or by using flow cytometry.
During the progression of leukemia, white blood cells (neoplastic leukocytes) found in bone marrow may begin to filter into the layers of the skin, resulting in skin lesions. “It looks like red-brown to purple firm bumps or nodules and represents the leukemia cells depositing in the skin,” Forrestel says.
If caught early, leukemia can be cured by undergoing several cancer treatments.
Many people with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) won't have any symptoms at all. They are diagnosed because they have a routine blood test for something else. In CLL symptoms tend to be mild at first and get worse slowly. Many symptoms are vague.
What is Leukemia (Blood Cancer)? 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.
New cases. In 2018, there were 4,516 new cases of leukaemia diagnosed in Australia (2,740 males and 1,776 females). In 2022, it is estimated that 5,202 new cases of leukaemia will be diagnosed in Australia (3,198 males and 2,004 females).