Early Symptoms of Leukemia

Early symptoms of leukemia might only show through blood tests. Get the facts about leukemia to inform patients of treatment options.

Leukemia can be caused by a variety of conditions. However, the facts about leukemia show that it can occur from an abnormal production of leukocytes (white blood cells).

When white blood cells to not die off naturally, they accumulate in the blood and essentially overtake healthy cells.

Leukemia often occurs as a result of previous cancer treatments, but is also suspected to come from unsuspecting causes such as hair dyes.

Early Symptoms of Leukemia

Acute leukemia is a type that grows quickly and shows symptoms much more rapidly.

Some of the early warning signs of leukemia are:

• Unexplained Fever
• Persistent Night Sweats
• Extreme Tiredness
• A General Feeling of Weakness
• Bleeding gums with no known cause
• Difficulty breathing (resulting from anemia)
• Easy Bruising
• Frequent bacterial infections
• Swollen neck and armpit lymph nodes that are not painful
• Abdominal discomfort and swelling
• Unexplained weight loss
• Painful joints or bones (similar to arthritis

In many cases, a routine blood work and a visit to a physician can rule out cancer.

Children can develop cancer but many of the initial stages of leukemia mimic normal childhood sicknesses. However, parents of children who have been diagnosed with leukemia often report that their child had a case of the flu prior to confirmation of the disease.

Leukemia Statistics

Types of leukemia are found in all races and cultures, with the highest concentration found in Caucasian men and women.

Chemotherapy is the traditional approach to treating leukemia. However, survival rates for infantile acute leukemia are greatly enhanced when using early high-dose chemotherapy and stem-cell support therapy.

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