Blood Cancer Statistics

In the Indian context, almost 1.5 percent of males and females are diagnosed with Blood Cancer at some stage of their life. Studies show that close to every three minutes, one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer in the United States. The cases of blood cancers such as leukaemia, lymphoma, and myeloma are going to be more in the year 2018. However, the good news is, you can avoid cancers by cutting the causes up to 70%. For this, you need to bring out smart changes in your lifestyle. Having a healthy nutritious diet, sticking to a physical exercise routine and of course, getting rid of a few bad habits – like tobacco consumption, can help you reduce chances of blood cancer. Giving up on bad eating habits will surely be the first step towards staying safe from life-threatening diseases like blood cancer. In this article, we discuss the symptoms as well as the important tips for blood cancer prevention.

Symptoms of Blood Cancer

When you have blood cancer, you are likely to experience these symptoms. Take these as warning signs of cancer.

• Anaemia: Anaemia is a condition when the body is unable to manufacture enough red blood cells. Or, you have enough of them but they cannot do well in their normal routine. You may feel tired and weak, dizziness, pain in the chest and shortness of breath.
• Low blood clotting: Platelets in the blood are responsible for clotting. When you don’t have enough of them, blood clotting becomes hard. Thus, when you get a minor injury resulting in bleeding, it doesn’t impede. Often you might experience bleeding from the nose as well. Besides bleeding gum, stools looking black or streaked red, small dots on your skin from broken blood vessels and unusual bruising are some of the symptoms.

Apart from this, you might get sick and it takes longer to get well. This is because of poor immunity.

Blood Cancer Prevention

The causes of blood cancer include the age of the individual, history of cancer in the family, immunity and certain infections.

Prevention is the best way to avoid cancer. Instead of getting affected by the disease knowingly, feeling the pain, you can just avoid certain things to avert blood cancer. You need to bring minor changes in your lifestyle, which we have pointed out earlier in the article. Here are a few tips on blood cancer prevention that will help you.

1. Give up tobacco – Tobacco smoking is associated with many types of cancer. By avoiding tobacco you can prevent cancer easily. If you’re a smoker, stop smoking immediately. The sooner you do, the better will get the result.
2. Make sure to eat healthy food – Include fruits and vegetables, reducing high-calorie foods (refined sugars and animal fats), giving up alcohol or drinking moderately, consuming less processed meats would be the best to follow. All these measures will help you prevent blood cancer. These are some of the suggestions with regard to blood cancer prevention food
3.  Use good drinking water – Make sure to filter off potential cancer-causing and hormone-disrupting chemicals. Instead of bottled water drink filtered tap water. Store water in a stainless steel or glass vessel in order to prevent chemical contaminants like BPA that can come from plastic bottles.
4. Drink plenty of water – Drinking a lot of water and other fluids are likely to reduce the risk of cancer in the bladder. Water dilutes the concentration of cancer-causing chemicals in the urine and thus sends them out through the bladder.
5. Protect yourself from sunshine – Avoid sunshine between 1000 hours to 1600 hours. During this time, the sun rays are strong and can cause damage to your skin and other vital parts such as blood. Of course, when you’ve to be outdoors, make sure to rest in shade as long as possible and wear sunglasses or a hat with a broad brim. Use sunscreen as much as required. Don’t’ tan beds and sunlamps.
6. Avoid dry cleaning – Perc is used in dry cleaning and is one of the carcinogenic agents responsible for blood cancer, kidney cancer as a 2010 study by National Academies of Sciences. The better option is washing your clothes manually with soap or detergent.
7. Consume whole grains – A Harvard Medical School study on 38,000 women shows that when the food is of the type that raises the blood sugar level rapidly, the risk of colorectal cancer is higher as compared to women who consumed less glycemic foods coming from whole grains. Foods such as white bread, pasta, potatoes, etc. have a high glycemic index.
8. Avoid cell phone too long – As far as possible, use your cell phone only for short call or texting. Using a hands-free mobile is the best advice to reduce any unforeseen risk rather than protecting against the danger.
9. Exercise regularly – Studies show that moderate exercise like walking briskly two hours a week is likely to reduce the risk of cancer. Regular exercise would help you in burning fat, which is likely to produce estrogens known for causing breast cancer.
10. Consume Brazil nuts – Brazil nuts are an excellent source of selenium. Selenium is best known for its antioxidant properties that reduce the risk of bladder cancer in female as shown in studies by Dartmouth Medical School show. Selenium protects cells from damage by free radicals that are responsible for the growth of tumours.
11. Choose the right colour – According to doctors in Spain, choosing your outfit for outdoors would help you protect against cancer. The research shows that blue and red fabrics act best in protection against UV radiation from the sun.
12. Healthy weight – Maintaining your health at a healthy level as per your age and height would help you lower the risk of cancer of prostate, breast, colon, kidney, and lung.
13. Don’t ignore the pain – If you feel there is a pain in the pelvic region or bloated stomach the first thing you need to do is urinate and see your doctor. These are the symptoms of ovarian cancer.
14. Get immunization properly – Your cancer prevention should include protection against viral infections as well. The infection that you should go for immunization is Hepatitis B and human papillomavirus (HPV). Hepatitis B is likely to increase the risk of liver cancer, and immunization is recommended for high-risk groups. HPV is an STD virus that may result in cervical and other genital system organs and squamous cell cancers of the neck and head. The HPV immunization should be performed on girls and boys aged 11 and 2years respectively. It’s also useful for adults for both genders (26 or younger) who didn’t have the vaccine before.
15. The fewer scans, the better – CT scans are a great breakthrough tool, but they are not as safe as X-rays. In many instances, CT scans are done even if they’re not needed. When more such scans are performed, it leads to high amounts of radiation going to the body, which can initiate blood cancer like leukaemia. So avoid CT scanning, and instead go for MRI or ultrasound according to doctor’s advice.
16. Don’t risk your life – Avoid such risky behaviour that may contract you with infections: unsafe sex, sharing needles, etc. Make sure to be involved in safe sex. Trust your partner and be a trusted as a reliable partner. Also, by sharing needles, you run the risk of infections that may ultimately lead to cancer. When you go to the hospital, insist on using a syringe needle each time unless it’s not so there.
17. Get checked – Check yourself and see the doctor if you are unsure. Even if there is any abnormal symptom, that is a suspicious symptom of potential cancer, the best thing is to take professional advice or it might be too late.

Every individual dreads cancer. Be it blood cancer or any other type, once it comes to you, you’re almost gone. However, taking certain sensible steps without going by the intense desire to please your five senses can help you prevent cancer. The blood cancer prevention tips are a few of the myriad solutions available.  However, in the busy day-to-day life, you need to be smart, sensible and exercise wisdom while keeping your lifestyle at a reasonable level without risking your health. Following the correct diet and regular exercise will definitely help you in reducing the risk of undergoing any kind of blood cancer treatment. Along with these take a trip to your doctor’s clinic and discuss if you are undergoing any variation inside your body in a negative manner. It is suggested to take precautions and also to be extra attentive to every change you encounter. Spread the knowledge with your friends and families and let them get aware of blood cancer.

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