Kidney cancer has direct links to a person's urine because the kidneys play a vital role in filtering waste products out of our blood. And like other forms of cancer, kidney cancer may not immediately produce symptoms or, if and when symptoms do appear they may have done so for reasons other than cancer. A person with an infection or a cyst for example, will present as would someone with kidney cancer. Initially a tumor in the kidney may be very small in which case there may well be few if any symptoms at all.
Kidney cancer is likely to be found more in people over 55 years of age and is more common in men than in women. There are several factors which are believed to influence the cause of kidney cancer and the interesting thing is that many of these factors are able to be controlled by the patient; two excellent examples being smoking and obesity. Don't smoke and do lose weight are two ways to reduce your risk of developing kidney cancer.
Symptoms of this disease are as follows:
o Blood is seen in one's urine and this is the most common symptom. But this symptom can be because a person has kidney stones, an infection or, in the case of many men, an enlarged prostate gland.
o A lump or swelling in the area of the kidney.
o General lethargy and tiredness.
o A pain or ache which persists in the lower back or lower side.
o Sudden weight loss and/or loss of appetite.
o Sweating, fever and the like.
The kidneys carry out vital roles within the body including filtering blood and making hormones. These hormones regulate blood pressure, control calcium levels and help in the manufacture of red blood cells. Healthy kidneys go a long way to making a healthy body.
There are some interesting facts about kidney cancer. The first is that most kidney cancers are discovered when the doctor is checking a patient for something unrelated to kidney cancer. We each have two kidneys and to have a kidney removed in order to beat the disease normally makes little difference. We are usually able to function quite normally with just one kidney. In fact some elite athletes perform and perform well having had one of their kidneys removed. In some cases of kidney cancer, only a part of the diseased kidney is removed leaving the patient with one and half kidneys, so to speak, to continue living a healthy and normal life.
As with any form of cancer, any patient who has one or more of the symptoms listed above should immediately see their doctor and explain their condition. It may be there no cancer present but if there is, the sooner the tests are carried out and the treatment begun, the better are your chances of a good recovery.
The health of our blood is greatly influenced by the health of our kidneys. Give them the best chance to shine by avoiding bad things and giving your body all the goodness of natural, healthy living.
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