An introduction to blood cancer - Indian Medical Tourism - Inidatreats - cancer - blood cancer

Cancer can be considered as a group of diseases caused by the abnormal growth of cells which eventually spreads to other parts of the body. All tumors are not caused as a result of cancerous cells. There are benign tumors also. Abnormal lumps in body, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss, abnormal bleeding, and variations in bowel movements etc can be considered as symptoms of cancer. It is believed that  there are about 100 types of cancers  that affects different organs and systems of human body.

Irregular growth of blood cells is the cause of blood cancer. There are red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells. These three types of blood cells are formed by maturing the bone marrow where blood is produced from the stem cells. Abnormal cell growth which results in cancerous cells, prevent the blood in performing its functions like preventing bleeding and fighting infections. Blood cancer can be grouped into three major categories. They are leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

Leukemia: Abnormal production of while cells is the cause for leukemia. This abnormal white blood cells impair human body’s ability to fight infection. They also impair the ability of bone marrow to produce red blood cells as well as platelets.

Lymphoma:  Lymphoma is the cancer that affects the lymphatic system of the human body resulting in the removal of excess fluids and the production of immune cells. The unusual lymphocytes changes to lymphoma cells multiplying themselves at faster rates and accumulating in the lymph nodes and nearby tissues.  As time passes these cancerous cells destroy the human immune system.

Myeloma: Plasma cells in the blood are responsible for the production of white blood cells that produce  immunoglobulin.  In myeloma plasma cells are transformed to harmful myeloma cells and it interferes in the production of blood cells. It is believed that the functional immunoglobulin produced by healthy plasma degenerates quickly in multiple myeloma patients.

Signs and symptoms of caner - Cancer treatments- Indian medical tourism, indiatreats

Cancer is not a single disease, but is a group of diseases caused by the abnormal growth of human cells which has the potential to spread to different parts of the body.  There are about more than 100 verities of cancer that occur in human beings. There cannot be a single symptom or sign which can foretell the formation of cancerous cells. Depending upon the part of the body where cancer affects, its symptoms may be different. But the common symptoms which can be caused by other diseases as well as cancer are detailed below.

1.       Fatigue

2.       Lump felt under the skin

3.       Change in the color of the skin like yellowing, redness, darkening etc.

4.       Change in bladder or bowel habits

5.       Trouble in breathing accompanied by persistent cough

6.       Difficulty in swallowing

7.       Hoarseness in sound

8.       Difficulty after eating followed by indigestion

9.       Muscle and join pains which cannot be explained

10.   Night sweats and persistent fever

11.   Bleeding or bruising without any reason

These symptoms can appear due to various reasons. But if you are worried about risks of cancer, it is better you meet your physician and act according to his opinion. If he suggests to undergo the appropriate screening tests for diagnosing cancer, do it without hesitation.

These symptoms can appear due to various reasons. But if you are worried about risks of cancer, it is better you meet your physician and act according to his opinion. If he suggests to undergo the appropriate screening tests for diagnosing cancer, do it without hesitation.

Causes for cancer

Changes or mutations taking place within the cells to the DNA are the causes for the formation of cancer. DNA of every human being consists of a large number of genes which contains instructions to tell the cell how to grow and divide and what are the functions it has to perform. When errors in these instructions occur, they can cause the cell to become cancerous and the stop it to function normally.

What are duties of gene mutations?

Allow rapid growth of cells: Gene mutations instructs a cell when to grow and how to grow. It can also ask a cell to grow more rapidly. This can lead to the formation of more cells with the same mutation.

Sometimes they are unable to prevent uncontrolled growth: As normal cells know when to stop growing, they are always available in the right quantity. But cancerous cells do not have this controlling mechanism and hence they do not stop growing when sufficient numbers are reached. This rapid growth of cancerous cells results in the formation of tumor.

Make mistakes in repairing DNA errors: The DNA repair genes always search for errors in cell’s DNA.  Whenever some error is found, they are corrected immediately. When mutation occurs in DNA repair genes, it implies that repair in DNA errors are not possible leading to the formation of cancerous cells.

How gene mutations are caused?

Genetic causes: Some people have inherited gene mutations form their parents genetically. Only a small percentage of cancer patients belong to this category.

Gene mutations that occur after you are born: A number of causes like smoking, viruses, radiation, cancer causing chemicals, hormones, obesity lack of exercise etc are  capable of producing gene mutations.

During a normal growth process gene mutations may occur naturally. But the cells has some inherent mechanism to find out such mutations and repair the mistake immediately. Occasionally  a miss occurs resulting in the formation of cancerous cells.

Interaction between gene mutations:  If you are a person born with inherited gene mutations, that will not make you a cancer patient from the date of birth onwards. You will become cancer patient only when some other acquired gene mutations combine with your genetic gene mutation. Inherited genetic mutation only makes one person  more susceptible to cancer than a normal person.

  The number of gene mutation required for the formation of cancer is not known till date. It depends upon the type of the cancer and the body organ subjected to cancer.

Risk factors:

Though doctors have sufficient knowledge about the risk factors, in experience it is seen that cancer generally  affects people who are free from risk factors. However, let us examine the common risk factors.

1 Age: Cancer takes decades to develop to its fullest extent. For this reason cancer is usually found among people who are  above 65 years of age. Cancer is not an adult disease or not a male disease.

2. Life style and habits:  Like style factors like smoking drinking, over exposure to sun, obesity, unsafe sex etc are considered to be major causes of cancer.

3. Family history: In fact, only a small percentage of cancer patients are found to have inherited genetic mutations as the cause of cancer in them.

4. Health condition: Chronic and sever health conditions like ulcerative clitoris etc have found to increase the risk of cancer in patients.

5. Your environment:  Environment  in which you live may be containing harmful elements and this can be a cause for the formation of cancer in you. Secondary smoke inhaled by the relatives of a regular smoker  can lead to the formation of cancer in a secondary smoker.  Chemicals like asbestos and benzene are also capable of producing cancer in its users.

Complications

Cancer and its treatment has often  been found to be followed by certain complications. Some of them are explained below.

Pain:  Pain is a natural accompaniment of cancer and its treatment, though all cancers are not painful. There are medications and other approaches which can reduce the pain caused by cancer and its treatment.

Fatigue: People affected by cancer are often subjected to fatigue especially those who are undergoing radiation therapy or chemotherapy.

Breathing difficulty:  Cancer patients who undergo cancer treatment often find being short of breath. Proper treatments can bring relief to this condition.

Nausea: Occurrence of nausea is commonly experience by cancer patients. Your doctor will be able to predict the occurrence and give medications to reduce its severity.

Diarrhea/constipation: Your bowels are often affected by cancer as well as cancer treatment resulting in constipation or diarrhea.

Weight loss: Cancer takes away food form normal cells and this makes the patient lose weight considerably  resulting in severe weight loss. This is a very serious condition and even artificial nutrition through tubes have been found to be ineffective.

Chemical changes in the body: Cancer upsets the normal chemical balance of human  body and chemical imbalance so produced can lead to frequent urination, excessive thirst, confusion, constipation etc.

Paralyses the brain and nervous system: Cancer has often found to affect the brains and nervous systems of its patients resulting in headaches and stroke like situations.

Paraneoplastic syndrome: This is a special condition formed as a result of cancer which affects the human immune system and healthy cells are being attacked .Symptoms like difficulty in walking seizures etc are caused as a result of this phenomenon.

Metastasize of cancer: Spreading of cancer to other parts of the body is known as metastasize of cancer.  The area where the cancer spreads is determined by the type of the cancer.

Return of cancer: Cancer survivors who have escaped from the clutches of cancer are liable to the return of cancer. Ask your doctor and devise a course of action for non recurrence of cancer if you are a cancer cured person.

(NB: More articles about cancer will be published shortly)

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Obesity- General health problems-Indian medical toursim

Obesity is a complex body state caused by excess fat content in body. In produced increase in weight and much cosmetic concern. Obese persons are prone to diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure,  heart attack etc.

Obesity is a complex disorder involving an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity isn't just a cosmetic concern. It increases your risk of diseases and health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Being extremely obese is a critical health condition and requires immediate and expert medical attention, lest it can lead to serious health problems.

Causes

Though genetic, hormonal influences and behavioral pattern have much importance in the formation of excess body weight, the basic fact is that when the intake of calories through food we eat exceeds the calories burnt in normal daily activities, exercises  etc, the extra calories are converted into excess weight. So the best thing to avoid becoming fat is to keep a balance between the above two facts. However, other reasons for excess body weight can be summarized as given below.

Inactivity A person who is not very active does not burn more calories. A sedentary life style keeps you adding more un burnt calories which in turn adds to your body weight.

Unhealthy eating habits:  Weight gain is natural when you daily eat more calories than needed by  your body. When you eat biriyani, cakes and other  readymade stuff with more calorie value, don’t forget you are increasing your weight.

Symptoms

Obesity  is usually diagnosed by checking your body mass index.  BMI is the ratio of your body mass in kilograms to  the square of your weight in meters.  When the body mass  index exceeds 30, you are diagnosed as obese. BMI between 30 and 35 is considered as class I obese and obesity  between 35 and 40 is considered as class II obese and obesity above 40 is considered as class II obese which is extreme obesity. BMI gives an approximate picture of a persons body  fat. But this is  not true in all cases. For example a muscular athlete may be having a large BMI index which falls under obese category and  they still may not be having any body fat at all.

Risk factors

A person becomes obese not because of a single reason, but usully there are a combination of reasons or circumstances which lead to obesity.

1.  Genetics: Genetic reasons can be there is the storage of more fat in the body. Genetics also play a vital role in deciding the conversion of food into energy and how the stored calories are burnt in e

2.   Family life style: It has been found that there are more obese persons in a family. This is not due to genetic reasons alone. The family diet habits  are also a reason for such obesity.

3.  Unhealthy diet:  A diet that is without fruits or vegetables and rich in calories are considered as unhealthy food. Similarly fast food, beverages and eating more are also causes for obesity.
3. Inactivity:  A person who  inactive does not burn more calories. A sedentary life style can add to the accumulation of balance calorie values in your body. Medical problems like arthritis can compel one to be inactive and this can lead to obesity.
4. Medical problems: Diseases like Cushing’s syndrome, Prader-Willi- syndrome etc can lead to obesity.
5. Some medications: Certain medications like antidepressants, diabetes medications,steroids, beta blockers etc can lead to excessive body weight
6. Social and economic factors: Research has established the effect of social and economic reasons in the increase in body weight of a person. Absence of facility for exercising, improper cooking, lack of  money to buy better food etc are some of such problems.
7. Pregnancy: Weight of a woman naturally increases during pregnancy. This extra weight are not gone after the birth of the baby in some women.
8. Quitting smoking:  It has been found that people who quit smoking usually become obese. In the longer run this extra weight is found to be much better than the problems that can be caused by smoking.

Your appointment with doctor

Discussing your problem of obesity with your family doctor is the first thing you have to do. You can honestly disclose your weight concerns. Sometimes he may refer to an obesity specialist if such a doctor is available in your neighborhood.  He may also refer your case to a dietician, nutrition or behavioral counselor

What you can do

When you prepare for the appointment think about your goals and make a list of questions like the ones given below for which you need an answer.

What eating style or activity pattern is contributing to my increase in weight?

How can I face and manage my challenges regarding obesity?

Have my obesity caused other health problems?

What are the available treatment options for the problems faced by me?

 Is it necessary for me to undergo weight loss surgery?

Let your doctor understand all the medical problems faced by you at present and all the medications taken by you presently. Doctor will ask questions to understand the weight gain pattern, about your eating habits, your activity level, your expectations about the gains etc.

In the meanwhile you can change your daily diet to be healthier by including fruits, vegetables, and grains in it. You portion size can be reduced. Say good bye to sedentary life style and start moving around your house and slowly start walking or doing daily exercises.

Tests and diagnosis

Studying your health history:   Your doctor will review your health history, your exercise habits, stress levels, eating habits, medications etc.  Your family’s medical history also will be reviewed by your physician.

Physical examination:  Measuring your height, recording your heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, examining  your abdomen and listening to  your heart and lungs are done during physical examination.

Finding your BMI:   Your doctor will calculate your emi based on the details of your height and weight. Your BMI value gives him an idea about the graveness of the problem faced by  you and helps him to design the course of action and treatment options suitable for your stage.

Measuring your waist:  Body fat is stored around the waist of your body. Abdominal fat can increase your risk factor. Women with waist size more than 35 inches and men with waist size  more than 40 inch  are facing more health risks.

Your health problems: if you have known health  problems doctor will review its present stage. He will also ask you to conduct liver function test, cholesterol test, electrocardiogram test, blood test for knowing sugar levels and thyroid tests.

Gathering this information is necessary for the doctor to evaluate your problems and take proper decisions regarding the course of action to be taken in your case.

Treatment

Obesity treatment aims at reducing the over weight of the body and make it stay permanent at a healthy weight. Your Co-operation with a team of experts consisting of dietician,  behavior counselor and an obesity specialist can help you to attain your aims.

Initial goal of your treatment will be to reduce your weight by3 to 5 percent. For example if you are a person weighing 91 kgs and is obese, the initial aim will be to reduce your weight by 2-7 kg to 4.5 kg which will be around 3-5 percent.

All weight loss programs insist change in your eating habits and increase in your physical activity.  Other treatment tools include include behavioral change, weight loss medications and weight loss surgery

Dietary changes: Reducing the calorie intake through food and starting healthier eating habits are the expected dietary changes. Initially you may lose weight quickly, but steady and slow weight loss is needed for long term effects.  Don’t make any unrealistic or drastic changes like crash diets in diet habits. Because they are unlikely to produce sustainable results. Plan a comprehensive program for six months and a maintenance program lasting for at least one year.

Participating in comprehensive weight loss program: participate in the program suggested by  your doctor for at least six months and plan a maintenance phase of about one year to boost your success. No best diet for weight loss cannot be suggested generally, but the following changes in dietary considerations can be beneficial.

1.      Reducing calories: Choose healthy food that you feel, will do good for you. You can evaluate the normal calorie value of your present food intake and this can lead to an insight about the places where you can cut back. Typical calorie intake needed for a woman is 1,200 to 1,500 calories for ladies and 1,500 to 1,800 for gents.

2.      Feeling full with less food intake: Taking into consideration vital factors like energy density can lead you to feel full with lesser calories. For a given volume, each food have some amount of calorie in it. Some food like candies beverages, processed food etc are rather high in energy density. That is their calorie value for a given volume will be much  greater that other food. Avoid such food and go for lower energy density foods. Such foods have larger volume with lesser amount of calories in it. Fruits, vegetables etc are examples of foods with less energy density. By eating such foods, you can escape hunger pangs and feel happy about your meal.

3.      Make overall diet healthier: By eating more plant based food, the overall diet of a person can be made more healthier. Food like vegetables, fruits, whole grains etc which are rich in carbohydrates and food like beans, fish etc which are rich in proteins etc make your diet healthier.

4.      Restricting some foods: Certain food items like sweet beverages are a straight way to high calories and hence such food has to be avoided completely or its usage has to be restricted to the fullest possible extent.

5.      Meal replacements:  As per this program you will have to replace one or two meals by their products like shakes or meal bars which contain less calories. You can also replace your meals by low calorie snacks which are very low in fat. It does not require you to change your life style instead, it prescribes a changed eating pattern.

6.      Never go for crash diets:  Crash dieting may show some initial results which may  be tempting.  But in the end they will prove to be useless and you will only gain in weight in the end. So never go for any crash dieting.

Exercise and activity

Increases activities involving physical exertion is very important in  reducing the excess body weight.

Exercise:  An obese person is expected to take moderate physical activity for at least 150 minutes every week. This will  help to stop further weight gain and will maintain a modest weight lost. Increasing the exercise to 300 minutes a week can give you a quicker result.

Keep moving:  Even though aerobic exercises are can help you in weight loss, making simple changes in your day to day life and continuing it regularly can create big changes. Parking your vehicle at distant place form the store or working place, engaging in gardening activity at home etc are some of such works which can keep you engaged and help in burning additional calories. Wearing a pedometer to count the steps you walk everyday can make you addicted to it and produce greater results in the long run.

 Behavior changes:

Programs for modification of behavior can be helpful in changing your life style and improve the rate of weight loss. Studying your current habits and finding out whether stress or situations in your life has contributed to the  fat accumulation in your body can help you very much in understanding some of the root causes and avoid such situations in future. There can be different problems like of time for exercising, late-night eating etc. Find out them and change them or take precautionary step for non recurrence of such situations.

Counseling: Medical intervention and discussion with trained mental health professionals can help to address emotional problems and behavioral problems  related to eating. Therapy will help you to understand what you over eat and overcome the emotional stressed compelling to do so. These counseling sessions can be on individual and group based. Intensive counseling program consists of 12 to 26 sessions per year.

Support groups:  Your physician will help you to come in contact with support group of persons who suffer from similar problems.  This will provide you moral support and instill confidence in you by hearing the true stories of the successful weight loss experiences.

Weight loss medication: It has been found that weight loss medication is useful  in some cases where healthy diet and regular exercises are practices without any positive results. After examining your medical history and understanding the overall health condition of you,your doctor may prescribe any of the below mentioned medications.

 lorcaserin (Belviq), orlistat (Xenical), phentermine, topiramate (Qsymia),  topiramate (Qsymia), buproprion naltrexone (Contrave), or liraglutide (Saxenda).

You can take weight loss medications only under close monitoring. Also understand that weight loss medications may not be effective for everyone and weight lost during medication period may come back when you stop taking medications.

Weight-loss surgery

If none  of the above procedures or techniques prove to be ineffective even after continued usage for about one  more years and if your excess body weight remains very high then  the only option is to go for surgical options.  There are generally three surgical procedures followed for reducing the excess body weigh of human beings. These surgical process will be explained in an another post which will be published shortly in this page.