Seven Early Warning Symptoms for Catching Cancer Early

We all know just how important it can be to catch lymphomas and all cancers in their early stages, but it's not very easy; many tumors give no indication whatsoever of their early development.

However, the American Cancer Society believes that we can learn to look for and recognize certain symptoms that may indicate that a tumor is building in our bodies. To that end they have established a list of 7 early warning symptoms and packaged them into an acronym, CAUTION:

• Change in bowel/bladder habits
• Asore that won't heal
• Unusual bleeding or discharges
• Thickening, lump in breast or another part of the body
• Indigestion or problems swalloing
• Obvious change in moles, warts
• Nagging cough or hoarseness

Naturally, this doesn't mean that if you have one of these symptoms you have cancer. Rather, the list illustrates how a small but growing tumor starts to encroach upon the organs and functions around it in subtle ways, sometimes too subtle for us to catch. It doesn't have to be that way, it just requires a little more diligence on our parts to pay closer attention to what our bodies are trying to tell us.