In this Cancer Basics article, you’ll learn how to tell if you have cancer. Bedside Manners' mission is to empower cancer patients and survivors through medical enrichment. Enjoy!  Local Signs of Cancer How do you tell if you have cancer? The signs of cancer, which are visible to you as well as your healthcare provider, can vary. Remember in our article “What Causes Cancer” this disease is dangerous because it interferes with the normal functioning of our body’s organs and tissues. There are signs that can tell you there is something wrong with an internal organ (e.g. lung) as well as an external organ (e.g. skin). These signs may be seen locally, such as on the skin. Here are a few local signs of cancer: 1) Lumps or swellings that can be felt or seen under the skin 2) Blood in stool, urine, vagina

In this article, you’ll learn about what causes cancer. Bedside Manners' mission is to empower cancer patients and survivors through medical enrichment. Enjoy!  What causes cancer? There are a variety of known risk factors that cause cancer. For instance, lung cancer is directly linked to smoking tobacco, although environmental toxins have been linked as well.  Smoking is also linked to head and neck cancers, such as those of the mouth and throat.  Smoking and second-hand smoke is a major risk factor in causing damage to our body’s DNA. As you learned in the post “What is Cancer,” damaging DNA can lead to normal cells becoming cancerous. 70% Due to Food, Alcohol, and Tobacco Collectively this group is estimated to cause about 70% of cancers. This may be a surprise that this high of a percentage of cancers are caused by lifestyle. We discussed tobacco