Breast cancer symptoms

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer in the world, women must to pay atention to the first sign of breast  cancer. 

Screening program hellp women to get acces to a mammography in the early stages.

 Symptoms of breast tumors vary from person to person. Some common, early warning signs of breast cancer include:

• Skin changes, such as swelling, redness, or other visible differences in one or both breasts
• An increase in size or change in shape of the breast(s)
• Changes in the appearance of one or both nipples
• Nipple discharge other than breast milk
• General pain in/on any part of the breast
• Lumps or nodes felt on or inside of the breast

Symptoms more specific to invasive breast cancer are:

• Irritated or itchy breasts
• Change in breast color
• Increase in breast size or shape (over a short period of time)
• Changes in touch (may feel hard, tender or warm)
• Peeling or flaking of the nipple skin
• A breast lump or thickening
• Redness or pitting of the breast skin (like the skin of an orange) 

Symptoms of invasive breast cancer

Breast cancer that’s spread from where it began into the tissues around it is called invasive or infiltrating. You may notice:

• A lump in your breast or armpit. You might not be able to move it separately from your skin or move it at all.
• One breast that looks different from the other
• A rash or skin that’s thick, red, or dimpled like an orange
• Skin sores
• Swelling in your breast
• Small, hard lymph nodes that may be stuck together or stuck to your skin
• Pain in one spot

Symptoms of metastatic breast cancer

Without treatment, breast cancer can spread to other parts of your body, including other organs. This is called metastatic, advanced, or secondary breast cancer. Depending on where it is, you may have:

• Bone pain
• Headache
• Changes in brain function
• Trouble breathing
• Belly swelling
• Yellow skin or eyes (jaundice)
• Double vision
• Nausea
• Loss of appetite and weight loss
• Muscle weakness

Symptoms of triple-negative breast cancer

Breast cancer is called triple-negative if it doesn’t have receptors for the hormones estrogen and progesterone and doesn’t make a lot of a protein called HER2. This kind tends to grow and spread faster than other types, and doctors treat it differently.

Triple-negative tumors make up 10% to 15% of breast cancers. They cause the same symptoms as other common types. Get an overview on triple-negative breast cancer symptoms and treatment.

Symptoms of male breast cancer

About 1% of breast cancers happen in men. Because it’s so rare, you may not pay attention to the symptoms until the cancer has grown. Watch for:

• A lump or thick spot in your breast or armpit
• Changes in the skin of your breast or nipple, such as redness, puckering, scales, or discharge

Learn more about breast cancer in men.

Symptoms of Paget’s disease of the breast

This type often happens along with ductal carcinoma. It affects the skin of your nipple and areola. Symptoms may look like eczema and include:

• Nipple skin that’s crusted, scaly, and red
• Bloody or yellow discharge from the nipple
• A flat or inverted nipple
• Burning or itching

FOTO from VectorStock

Rheumatic Heart Disease

Rheumatic Heart Disease

Rheumatic Heart Disease is an illness that occurs when the heart muscle is damaged due to rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is known as an inflammatory disease that will affect many areas of the body in addition to the heart. Other areas that can be affected are the brain, skin and joints. In the case of the heart, however, rheumatic fever, silently damages the valves to the point where they are not doing their job of regulating blood flow into, and out of, the heart. If you have had rheumatic fever in the past then it is a good idea to get checked for rheumatic heart disease. The disease can quietly cause many symptoms in a person that can slowly lead to heart failure. The important thing to remember is that if you are experiencing any of the symptoms to head to your doctor right away to get checked out.

Symptoms of Rheumatic Heart Disease

In most cases a person who gets rheumatic heart disease will have had rheumatic fever, and before that strep throat. If the strep throat is not properly cared for it can turn into rheumatic fever which can turn into rheumatic heart disease. The symptoms of rheumatic fever will begin to show up about three weeks after the symptoms of strep throat show up.
* Fever.
* Swollen and painful joints all over the body.
* Pain that starts in one joint but suddenly jumps to another joint without warning.
* Heart palpitations and a rapid heartbeat.
* Shortness of breath or trouble breathing during normal activities.
* Skin rashes all over the body.
* Extreme fatigue at all points during the day.
* Nodules under the skin that are small and pain free.

Preventing Rheumatic Heart Disease

* Treat strep throat with penicillin in order to prevent rheumatic fever from developing.
* Continuous antibiotic treatment until the symptoms of rheumatic fever subside.
* Living a healthy lifestyle. Take care of your body so your body takes care of you.

If you have been diagnosed with rheumatic fever then you are at risk for developing rheumatic heart disease. The disease can occur at any point in life even after you rid yourself of rheumatic fever. Since the onset is quick and sudden, it is important to take the time to properly monitor the condition with your doctor. If you are diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease your doctor will be able to get you on a treatment plan that can help to minimize the potential of serious consequences.

Left sided heart failure

Left sided heart failure is the term used to describe the incapacity of the left heart to supply tissues with blood. Left heart has two chambers known as left atrium and ventricle, which communicate thorough the mitral valve. The left atrium (the left upper chamber of the heart) receives oxygenated blood from the lungs, through pulmonary veins and this blood will be delivered to left ventricle (the lower left chamber). The whole amount of blood is pumped by left ventricle in the aorta (which is the main artery of the body) and then into the less large arteries that supply all the tissues and organs (kidney, liver, digestive organs, brain, limbs). Imagine blood flowing in the arteries as a liquid passing through a tube (pipe) and all the factors and interactions between them, which have great influence on the amount of blood that in the end each tissue will get and also the influence on the whole organism: e.g. blood consistency (a viscous blood will allow clots to appear), pressure that blood develops on arterial wall, the influence of arterial walls pressure on blood flow etc.

What is the cause for left sided heart failure?

Left sided heart failure is caused by different pathologies:

• congenital heart diseases,
• heart attack (the ischemia determines cardiac cells to die and a part of the heart is no longer functional),
• coronary heart disease (a chronic ischemia of the heart tissue, a chronic deprivation of oxygen will determine tissues changes in order to adapt to the new condition and in the end cardiomyopathy and left sided heart failure)
• high blood pressure forces the left heart to increase its labor and force, and the only way this can be possible is to increase number of muscle fibers (but the numbers of vessels will remain unchanged, so the same number of vessels will supply a larger number of muscle fibers, which will determine heart ischemia with all the consequences that result from this condition) and increase inside pressure (this pressure will act on heart walls to and will press the vessels which won’t be able to fill enough and this will lead to ischemia)
• another cause of left sided heart failure is heart valves pathology: leaking valves (an amount of blood remains in the heart chambers creating a blood deficit in the tissues and forcing heart, at the next contraction, to throw in the aorta a larger amount of blood, this means a greater labor, which in time will lead to left sided heart failure) or narrow valves (the heart muscle must defeat the obstacle represented by the narrow valves),
• heart muscle infection will determine cardiomyopathy and left sided heart failure,
• excessive alcohol consumption will determine dilated cardiomyopathy and left sided heart failure,
• thyroid dysfunctions,
• heart muscle disorders,
• major cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heart beats).

What happens in the systemic blood circulation, when there is a left sided heart failure?

Left sided heart failure

Compromise of left ventricular function will result in poor systemic circulation: muscle weakness, cool extremities, fatigue, low tolerance to effort, fainting, chest pain, palpitations, rapid heart beats, dizziness, confusion, memory impairment. Backward failure of left ventricle results in pulmonary congestion (blood will remain in the pulmonary veins creating a great pressure and determining shortness of breath, first on exertion and then at rest), hypoxemia (low level of oxygen in the blood), cyanosis (blue coloring of the extremities, because of the hypoxemia), tachypnea (increased rate of breathing), pulmonary edema (because of the great pressure in the pulmonary veins, the fluid from the blood will go through veins walls into the lung). Valvular heart disease may occur due to the increased pressures in heart chambers and pulmonary veins. Another symptom of left sided heart failure is paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (sudden and severe breathlessness attack during night, several hours after going to sleep).
If you have signs of left sided heart failure please call an MD for medical advice.