Referring to its name, breast cancer does not mean that cancer only located in the breast, it starts with cells in the breast but can spread to other areas in the body. Early symptoms in most breast cancer cases are the changes in the breasts. Remembering how the effects of breast cancer can easily and quickly spread to other areas of someone’s body, it is always better to act immediately and see the doctor whenever you feel even slight change in your breast.
The effects on the body
In the beginning, breast cancer will only affect the area of the breasts. At this stage the effects of breast cancer only noticeable in the breasts area, while other possible attacked areas are hard to tell before the examination.
Breast cancer is like other types of cancer is divided into some stages. The earlier stage is stage 0 with so few noticeable symptoms that can be detected, and stage 4 means cancer has expanded and infected other areas in the body.
When cancer has spread, the affected areas that show symptoms are usually in the liver, lungs, muscles, bones, brain.
Breast changes
The commonly found early symptom of breast cancer is the existence of a lump or mass in the breast. The lump is usually in irregular shape and it is painless. Some cancer lump can also be round and painful, this makes it is important to screen for cancer whenever you found any newly formed lump in your body.
It is possible that breasts can undergo some changes in size and color like swollen and red. The breast cancer is usually not painful but the swelling can result in breast pain. Pay attention to your nipples too, they can change in some ways such as clear discharge and not because of breastfeeding. The discharge can sometimes have blood in it even in a small amount.
The effects on other systems
The effects of breast cancer are not isolated only in the breasts area. In later stages when cancer spreads, it can also affect other systems. The skin system will be affected as the surrounding skin of the breasts becomes dry, cracked and itchy. Excretory and immune systems are affected if the tumor is spreading to lymph nodes causing underarms to feel tender and swollen. Other systems are skeletal and muscular and also the nervous system. Knowing the effects of breast cancer on the body is useful before you search for appropriate breast cancer treatment guidelines.