Lymphoma - Some Basic Facts

There are many people that find out they have lymphoma everyday. It is a treatable disease that can affect anyone. It has no certain type of person that it wants to attack. It could be you, your daughter, husband, mother, or anyone else you may or may not know. There are certain things you can learn about lymphoma that will better help you understand what is going on in your body or someone else's body that has lymphoma.

First off, lymphoma is when you have cancer of the lymphatic system. It can include and is not limited to your tissues, organs, blood cells, and lymph nodes. A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell that is in your body. These cells help you fight off infection and disease. However, when you have lymphoma it is harder for these cells to do there job.

There are two types of lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma that can either be slow growing, which deals with the B-cell lymphocytes or fast growing, which deals with T-cell lymphocytes.

This can affect any part of your body and lymph nodes. You may have painful swollen lymph nodes or nothing at all.

The other type of lymphoma is Hodgkin's Lymphoma. HL is more ordering in how it affects the body and grows. It acts in similar ways to NHL, but spreads more throughout the body. It is the more serious cancer of the two.

There are different tests that can be done to diagnosis someone with lymphoma. It is not one thing that diagnosis the disease it is a combination of tests to be certain of the diagnosis. Your doctor will take a medical history, physical exam, blood test results, x-rays, scans, and biopsies to determine if you do in fact have lymphoma. Once they have determined that you have lymphoma they will then figure out what stage you are at in the disease.

Stage one is the earliest of the disease and is where a group of cancer cells are in one part of your body.

Stage two is the locally advanced disease stage of lymphoma. It is where more than one part of your body is being attacked by these cancer cells. This area will range between your chest and stomach area.

Stage three is the advanced disease and will be located in your chest and stomach.

Stage four is widespread disease. It will now have moved into your organs, bone marrow, skin, lungs, spleen, or other parts of your body. This is the most advanced stage of lymphoma and the most serious.

Lymphoma is not something to mess around with. You can have no symptoms in the beginning. Then you could have some symptoms such as night sweats, chills, itching, and weight loss. The last set of symptoms you could have is where the cells have spread to your lymph nodes and organs. If you have or think you have lymphoma it is best that you see your doctor right away. Make sure and caught it before it gets to the last stage.

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