Colon cancer is something that affects a number of women every day. This is a dangerous cancer and will spread to other vital organs if left untreated. It is important to recognize the symptoms of colon cancer in women to help your doctor diagnose the problem as quickly as possible.
What Is the Colon For?
The colon is made of a muscle and is shaped like a tube. It measures to around 4 foot in length and travels from your small bowel and down to your anus. It offers three bodily functions.
The first is to be able to digest food and absorb the nutrients from it. The second is to be able to take any fluid and electrolytes from the fecal matter and the third is to help with the evacuation of the fecal material.
What Is Colon Cancer?
In short, this is the cancer of the colon. Cancer is when normal cells become abnormal. These cells then multiply rapidly and will start to grow all over the body.
Over time, the cancer will spread to other organs and to the wall of the colon. This will then pass to other body parts, including the brain and the bones. It requires a lot of treatment to help battling colon cancer and it is important to know about the symptoms of colon cancer in women to know when this is something to go to the doctor.
Causes of Colon Cancer
There are no real known reasons why the cancer develops. There are very few foods that can be pinpointed to getting this type of cancer and it is impossible to find any other health problems. All that is known is that adenomatous polyps clusters start to develop in the colon and this leads to the growth of abnormal cells. This usually happens in a person under 40 years of age.
However, the diet has been linked to the cancer. Thos with a high fiber and low fat are thought to be able to reduce the risk of developing the disease. Exercise is also a way to help prevent the disease from occurring.
This is also something that runs in families and there are a number of people who will have checks if a previous family member has had the disease. In severe cases, there are people who will have their colon removed to help with preventing the cancer from occurring at all.
The risk of developing this cancer increases two to three times if a parent or sibling has the disease.
There are some others who are at high risk of developing the cancer of the colon. Those with Crohn’s disease or with cancers of the ovaries, breast or uterine are likely to develop this at some point. Those who are obese are also more likely to develop the disease, as well as those who smoke or do drugs.
Symptoms of Colon Cancer in Women
There are a number of symptoms that need to be looked out for. The problem with many is that they can also mimic other conditions so it is important to look at them on a whole. Two of the most common symptoms are fatigue and skin that is pale – of course, these are common with many other diseases and conditions.
Another common symptom is rectal bleeding or blood in the stool. Bleeding hemorrhoids are also something that may be noticed, which is a common symptom that is ignored at first because of other conditions that it may be. Of course, the rectal bleeding is also linked to conditions like iron deficiency anemia too.
There are times that there will be obstruction in the bowel, this is often due to the tumor blocking all or some of the colon. This often leads to the stomach sticking out much more even though there is no gain in weight. While rare, pain in the abdomen may also be found. This is often noted when the bowel starts to tear and the content leaks into the pelvis.
Weight loss and vomiting are also common but are often unexplained since there are no other symptoms linked to it. There may also be some change in the look of the stools when they are passed.
