Health Awareness

Health Awareness

Health awareness means being aware of how your body looks and feels and what is normal for you and to notice any changes.

This fact sheet is a guide to some signs and symptoms to look out for.

Any changes or symptoms you find rarely mean you have cancer. In fact they are nearly always caused by something much less serious and some will just disappear.

But if changes or symptoms last more than 2 weeks and do not get better, please see your GP as soon as possible for a check up.

Don’t wait to feel pain as early cancer usually does not cause pain.

Early detection and prompt treatment are directly responsible for a higher survival rate.

Your risk of cancer is increased if you have the following:

• A family history of cancer
• Are using or have used tobacco products, such as cigarettes or shisha.
• A regular consumption of alcohol.
• A high-fat diet for most of your life.
• High exposure to radiation such as x-rays and ultraviolet rays from high exposure to the sun. The use of tanning beds or sunlamps. Ultra Violet rays from a tanning bed may actually be more harmful than the sun because they are more intense.
• Being exposed to chemicals through your work such as, metals or pesticides. E.g. asbestos, nickel, cadmium, uranium, benzene.

Signs To Look Out For

Change in Bowel or Bladder habits: Look out for chronic constipation, diarrhoea, change in size of stool, pain in urination, blood in urine or change in bladder function.

A sore that does not heal anywhere in your body or mouth: Look out for persistent sore in the mouth especially if you are smoking, chewing tobacco or frequently drinking alcohol. Also look out for any spots or lumps that remain for a long time, any cracks, ulcer or lump on the lips or inside the mouth that does not heal or persistent white or red patches inside the mouth.

Unusual Bleeding or discharge: Look out for blood in the sputum (phlegm), blood in the stool (dark or black stool), blood in urine or a bloody discharge from the nipple.

Thickening or an unusual lump or swelling anywhere on your body: Look out for lumps in the breast, testicles and lymph nodes (glands) such as round, dimpling, thickening, swelling, discharge or any abnormal change in shape or colour. Most lumps are non-cancerous tumours such as cysts.

Indigestion or difficulty swallowing: Look out for difficulty and pain in swallowing solids and liquids.

Obvious change in a wart or mole: Look out for new moles, which are a raised growth on the surface of the skin or other organs, and any changes to a mole e.g. swelling, colour, increase in size, itchiness, bleeding.

Nagging Cough or Hoarseness: Look out for severe pain when you cough or have any blood in your phlegm.

Unexplained Weight Loss: Monitor unexplained (unintentional) weight loss of about 10 pounds.

Fever or Night Sweats: Monitor temperature if over 38 degrees centigrade and you are feeling flushed and have low resistance to infections such as frequent colds/flu.

Fatigue: Look out for constant tiredness and fatigue.

Pain: Look out for severe pain in bones, or parts of your body.

Skin Changes: Look out for visible skin changes such as darkening, yellowing, reddening or itching.

Headaches: Look out for a severe unrelenting headache including vomiting that feels different from usual and fails to improve from over the counter medicines.

Cancer Facts

• More people in this country survive cancer now than ever before, due to early detection and better treatments.
• Knowing what to look out for gives you better chance of finding the cancer early.
• It is important to know your body so that you notice any changes and see your GP if the changes last for more that 2 weeks.
• 1 in 3 people will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives.
• Most cancers occur in people over 60, but not all. A few cancers such as cancer of the testicles mainly affect men under 35. Cancer can also occur in young people under 14.
• There are over 200 different types of cancer that may cause many different symptoms.

Advice

• Don’t smoke.
• Drink sensibly. Don’t drink too much alcohol.
• Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and high-fibre foods.
• Be active. Avoid getting overweight.
• Protect yourself in the sun. Don’t burn.
• Take care with chemicals. Follow health and safety instructions.
• Check yourself out. Be aware of any changes in your body.
• Get checked regularly.

For more advice, information and support contact

NHS Direct 0845 46 47

24 hrs

www.nhsdirect.co.uk

Digital TV

The Afiya Trust

The Afiya Trust is a national charity. Its mission is to “reduce inequalities in health and social care for racialised groups”.

Projects include:

Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Carers Network, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Mental Health, Cancer Information Provision.

The organisation is actively involved in partnerships with government bodies, health and social care services and the voluntary sector.

Cancer Equality works with black and minority ethnic communities to produce cancer information to raise awareness of cancer and how people can reduce their risk of cancer. The organization works in partnership with organizations that provide and develop cancer services to highlight the needs of black and minority ethnic communities.

This factsheet “Health Awareness” was originally created for the Afiya Trust with the support from the Department of Health.

The Afiya Trust, BME Cancer Awareness, 27-29 Vauxhall Grove, London, SW8 1SY

Tel: 020 7582 0400, Fax: 020 7582 2552

http://www.afiya-trust.org