What are the Common Symptoms of Leukemia

Leukemia is a cancerous condition of the blood cells and bone marrow. There is abnormal and uncontrolled proliferation of white blood cells. Leukemia can be broadly classified as acute and chronic variety. Again these are classified into Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia (AML), Chronic Lymphoblastic Leukemia (CLL) and Chronic Myeloblastic Leukemia (CML). ALL is common in child age group but adults may also be affected. Common symptoms of leukemia include –

• Pain in the bones and joints – this is typical of any kind of leukemia. There is deposition of abnormal white blood cells under the periosteum. This inflates the periosteum and thus the nerves under this get tense. This tense nerves cause pain.

• Headache – for the same reason, the person with leukemia suffers from intense headache. The patient may suffer headache in a particular area of the scalp or there may be global headache. Deposition of abnormal lymphocytes causes this.

• Bleeding – this is again a common feature of leukemia. Platelets present in the blood helps is coagulation. In case of leukemia, the bone marrow is filled up with abnormal white blood cells as there is uncontrolled production of white cell line. Therefore, in absence of adequate platelets, easy bruising like bleeding gums, bleeding from the nose and hemorrhagic spots in the skins are noticed.

• Easy fatigue – in a patient with leukemia, the bone marrow produces excess WBCs and the precursors of red blood cells (RBC) become less. RBCs carry oxygen and other nutrients in every tissue of our body. As the organs do not get enough nutrition, the patient suffers from easy fatigue. The patient also suffers from breathing difficulty even after minor exercise as the oxygen is poorly carried from the lungs into the RBCs.

• Swelling of lymph nodes – excess abnormal WBCs accumulate in the liver, spleen and other peripheral lymph nodes. So there is abnormal swelling of these organs. Lymph nodes present just below the skin can be easily palpated, but those are located in the abdominal cavity can only be diagnosed by either CT scan or MRI.

• Weight loss – as with any other cancerous condition, leukemia also produces weight loss. All the metabolic processes are jeopardized by the cancer cells and eventually the patient loses weight.

• Fever and recurrent infections – cancer cells produce several tumor necrosis factors. There is also release of some metabolites. All these factors impair our body’s normal temperature regulatory function and there is increase of temperature. WBCs are the key factor in our immunity. As the WBCs produced by the bone marrow are defective, they cannot fight against the infectious agents like bacteria and viruses. Lowered immunity results into frequent infectious diseases.

• Neurological changes – in chronic leukemia, deposition of dead cancerous WBCs and other metabolites in the central nervous system can cause disorientation, mental confusion and difficulty in balance during walking. There is loss of appetite and mental apathy. This can be further aggravated if the patient in undergoing chemotherapy.

Symptoms of leukemia can be vague to clinch an accurate diagnosis. Several laboratory investigations can confirm the diagnosis and the type of leukemia.