You feel as if you have no energy and could spend whole day in bed. Waking up tired after a full night's sleep. Feeling sluggish or slow. Trouble thinking and making decisions.
It's a common symptom in people with blood cancer, including lymphoma. Many people who are treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy report feeling fatigued at some point during their treatment. If you have lymphoma and another condition that affects your energy levels, you might be more at risk of developing fatigue.
Common symptoms of having lymphoma include swelling of lymph nodes in your neck, in your armpits or your groin. This is often but not always painless and often could be associated with fevers, or unexplained weight loss, or drenching night sweats, sometimes chills, persistent fatigue.
The most common early symptom of lymphoma is one or more swollen lymph nodes, often in the groin, armpit, and side of the neck. Other symptoms may include: fevers, chills, and night sweats.
Persistent fatigue, lethargy, weakness. Loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting. Abdominal pain or swelling, or a feeling of fullness. Skin rash or itchy skin.
It can also begin in groups of lymph nodes under an arm, in the groin, or in the abdomen or pelvis. If Hodgkin lymphoma spreads to areas that are not lymph nodes, the most common locations include the lung, spleen, liver, bone marrow, or bone. Hodgkin lymphoma can spread to other parts of the body, but this is unusual.
Blood Tests for Lymphoma
Blood tests are essential to accurately diagnosing this complex disease. These tests can show whether you have lymphoma cells or abnormal levels of normal cells: Blood smear: We take a drop of blood and look at it under a microscope.
NHL usually starts in an area of lymph nodes. When it spreads to an organ or tissue outside of the lymph nodes, it is called extranodal spread.
Itching caused by lymphoma can affect: areas of skin near lymph nodes that are affected by lymphoma. patches of skin lymphoma. your lower legs.
With lymphoma, the lymph nodes often grow slowly and may be there for months or years before they're noticed. But sometimes they grow very quickly. Usually, the swollen nodes don't hurt. But some people say their lumps ache or are painful.
Lymphoma develops when white blood cells called lymphocytes grow out of control. Lymphocytes are part of your immune system, which helps to fight infection. Lymphocytes travel around your body in the lymphatic system carrying a fluid called lymph.
The best way to find lymphoma early is to pay attention to possible signs and symptoms. One of the most common symptoms is enlargement of one or more lymph nodes, causing a lump or bump under the skin which is usually not painful. This is most often on the side of the neck, in the armpit, or in the groin.
Low-Grade Lymphoma
These grow so slowly that patients can live for many years mostly without symptoms, although some may experience pain from an enlarged lymph gland. After five to 10 years, low-grade disorders begin to progress rapidly to become aggressive or high-grade and produce more severe symptoms.
The lymphocytes that grow out of control don't work properly. If you have too many of these abnormal lymphocytes and not enough healthy lymphocytes, your body can't fight infections as well as usual. You might pick up infections more easily, and they could be more severe or last for longer than they would normally.
Fatigue may develop as a symptom of blood cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma, because these cancers start in the bone marrow, which produces red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body.
Many types of CTCL start as flat red patches on the skin, which can sometimes be itchy. With darker skin, the patches may appear lighter or darker than the surrounding skin. In the early stages, the skin patches can look like other common conditions such as eczema or psoriasis.
Examples of symptoms related to a specific tumor location: A tumor in the abdomen can cause a stretched belly or pain in the back or abdomen. An enlarged spleen may cause back pain and a feeling that the stomach is full. A tumor in the groin may cause swelling in the legs.
Weight gain is also extremely common among patients with prostate cancer, as well as lymphoma, multiple myeloma and chronic leukemia.
Unlike most cancers, rates of Hodgkin lymphoma are highest among teens and young adults (ages 15 to 39 years) and again among older adults (ages 75 years or older). White people are more likely than Black people to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and men are more likely than women to develop lymphoma.
you develop 'B symptoms' (night sweats, weight loss and fevers) your lymph nodes or spleen start to grow quickly or you develop swollen lymph nodes in new places. your blood tests or other test results show that lymphoma is affecting your major organs or is growing in your bone marrow.
A CT scan might show which lymph nodes are enlarged and may be affected by non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). A CT scan is a test that uses x-rays and a computer to create detailed pictures of the inside of your body. It takes pictures from different angles.
The only way to be absolutely sure of a diagnosis of lymphoma (or any other cancer) is for a doctor to conduct medical tests including performing an excisional biopsy to remove an entire lymph node or an incisional biopsy to remove a portion of the diseased tissue.
Ultrasound is used to detect lymphoma and assist in diagnosing the disease. Ultrasound is just one of many imaging tests used for diagnosing lymphoma, including: Computed tomography (CT) scans. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans.