Colon Cancer Symptoms

Colon cancer is common, and often hard to detect. Colon cancer usually starts in the form of polyps in the large intestine. Unfortunately, this growth doesn’t manifest any visible symptoms. Most of the symptoms of colon cancer are difficult to notice, and are usually non-specific.

Something as casual as breathlessness, fatigue, and irritable bowel syndrome can be colon cancer warning signs. Most patients notice a change in their bowel habits and complain of narrow stool, frequent diarrhea or constipation. Unexpected weight loss, blood in stool, and bloating are commonly noticed symptoms of colon cancer. On the positive side, these non-specific symptoms are also common to relatively less harmful diseases like ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, diverticulosis, and peptic ulcers.

Colon cancer does not develop quickly. It takes years for cancerous cells to take root in the intestine and multiply. Despite the prolonged development lifecycle, colon cancer is difficult to discern, as the symptoms do not show at all until the growth and damage is significant. The right side of our colon is quite large, and detecting a small cancerous growth in this area is difficult. The growth can multiply to a large mass before it creates any blockage. If patients are alert to their health condition, they are likely to notice an iron deficiency in their body if there is a right-sided cancer growing in their intestine. Iron deficiency manifests itself in fatigue and weakness.

In contrast, the left side of our large intestine is narrower and any cancerous growth in this region will block the digestive path much quicker. If the left side of the colon is blocked, the patient is likely to experience constipation or diarrhea, narrowed stool, abdominal pains, cramps, or bloating. These will continue despite regular eating habits and exercise.

All in all, the symptoms of colon cancer are non-specific and none of them can conclusively ascertain if the patient has cancer. The only formal and definitive way of diagnosing colon cancer is clinically testing for it.

About the Author:
Seth Miller
Colon Cancer provides detailed information on Colon Cancer, Colon Cancer Symptoms, Colon Cancer Treatment, Colon Cancer Prevention and more. Colon Cancer is affliated with Colon Cleansing Products.
Added: Mon Apr 10 2006
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