Doctor reveals signs of 'silent killer' cancer all women need to be aware of
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: ITV
The subtle warning signs of a common cancer have been revealed by a doctor, as he urges women not to ignore it.
This cancer is often described as being a ‘silent killer’ because its symptoms are either subtle or easily dismissed by healthcare officials as something benign.
However, Dr Amir Khan, a General Practitioner in the UK and official doctor for ITV, has revealed the signs that you should be checked out.
Speaking on the No Appointment Necessary podcast, he said the cancer type includes symptoms that ‘are not very specific’ to the area infected, ‘so they feel like they could be coming from somewhere else’.
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But mistaking the signs for something else could be fatal.
According to the American Cancer Society estimates the cancer sees 21,010 women get a new diagnosis, with around 12,450 dying from it, per Cancer.org.
This is ovarian cancer.
When it comes to the cancer type, it impacts around one in 91 women in the US, killing one in 143 cases.
But while it typically targets white women aged 63 years or older, anyone with ovaries can end up developing it.
According to Dr Amir, 'most people don't know' what the signs are.
He said on the podcast: "The symptoms [of ovarian cancer] are not very specific to the ovaries, so they feel like they could be coming from somewhere else."
He explained that the signs can often be 'dismissed’ by both women and their doctors, so as a rule of thumb, any woman over 35 should have any ‘unexplained or persistent’ symptoms that last three weeks or longer, needs to be checked out. Notably: bloating.
According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of ovarian cancer includes:
However, other less common symptoms include things that can also be put down to digestive troubles, like indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, back pain, fatigue, unexplained weight loss and vaginal bleeding outside of your menstrual cycle.
While it’s not known why some people get ovarian cancer and others don’t, doctors have pointed to some risk factors that can increase those chances.
For example, the Mayo Clinic shares those risks include being older, inherited gene changes like the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, a family history of ovarian cancer, being overweight or obese, postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy, endometriosis, the age you start your period, and never having been pregnant.