Bone Cancer Symptoms

Cancer can and does occur within the human skeleton meaning it is possible to have a malignant tumor or tumors in our joints and bones.  If a cancer begins first in a bone, the resultant tumor is known as a primary bone cancer. It is possible for a tumor located elsewhere in the body to be the primary cancer and from there, a cancer may spread to the bone. This would be a secondary bone cancer. Most bone cancers occur within bones in the arms and the legs.

It is often easy to discover symptoms as they are represented at first by pain when moving and then through swelling. It should be understood though that pain or swelling in joints or bones is not necessarily a sure sign that a tumor has developed. The problem could well be unrelated to a cancer.

But with cancer of the bone, early symptoms may not involve constant pain. In fact at first you may only sense pain at night when resting or through a strong period of activity. It may take some time for the tumor to grow and only then will the pain become regular, if not constant. A person may not have their pain attended to for weeks or even months [in some cases it can even be years] not realizing the cause of the pain being the beginnings of bone cancer. Once a tumor has developed within the skeletal system, other symptoms may be loss of weight and a feeling of lack of energy.

The tumor within the bone weakens the body in overall and specific ways. Fatigue has already been mentioned but the breaking of a bone is common from even a slight fall or accident. The tumor weakens the bone and thus a break can occur, sometimes from even something simple like standing. In most cases, bone fractures occur more in the lower rather than the upper body of the patient.

Other symptoms include nausea, general distress, vomiting and pain in the abdomen. These occur when salt calcium from the tumor escapes from the bone and moves into the blood. Thus a build up in calcium levels in the body causes these other symptoms. Obviously the symptoms become stronger and more widespread should a second tumor develop. Other symptoms include night sweats, chills and fever although these symptoms will more likely occur once the effects of the bone cancer have spread to other parts of the body.

From a statistical point of view, our bodies have more than 200 bones and there are more than 100 types of cancer. Bone cancer is not as common as some other types and bone cancer is found more often in children and teenagers than it is in older people.

There are different types of bone cancers and there are various ways of detecting and treating such cancers. The important fact is for anyone experiencing pain in their bones or joints to seek professional medical attention and to remember that all aches and pains are not necessarily an indication of the presence of cancer.