Lymphoma Symptoms That Can Be Missed By Doctors

There are many symptoms that are easily recognized by your doctor as signs of lymphoma, such as a swelling of the lymph nodes, weight loss, and a fever. But there are also a few symptoms that your doctor may miss or not associate with you possibly having a type of lymphoma.

First, some people may experience lower back pain that they can’t explain away because of an injury. This back pain could be caused by the expanding of the lymph nodes in the back and pressing on the nerves. This can occur in both Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

If you drink alcohol on occasion, then take note if your lymph nodes become painful after alcohol consumption. This can happen in some cases of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This may not seem like something out of the ordinary, but it can be the underlying symptom of something serious. If it does happen, you will want to specifically bring it up with your doctor and see what they think. They may want to test you to see if you do have lymphoma.

Another symptom that may go unnoticed by doctors are skin patches, lesions, and itching of the skin. This can be indicative of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the skin. You may at first think you are just having an allergic reaction to something or just have a bad case of eczema or dermatitis; however, if it does not go away within a reasonable amount of time, then you should get it checked out by your doctor.

You could also experience itching of your skin without the presence of a rash. Sometimes this itching occurs deep within your skin, rather than on the surface and can happen on different areas on the body. You will need to see your doctor about this to see what the underlying cause is, whether it is lymphoma or something else entirely.

The swelling of lymph nodes alone can even be missed since they can be indicative of an infection of your lymph nodes rather than lymphoma. Or you could simply just have an overworked lymph node from recently being sick. This makes it difficult to determine if the swelling is due to lymphoma. Also, a lack of energy and fatigue is a symptom of lymphoma. Unfortunately, in a lot of the cases this could also be due to being overworked at work or at home, not getting enough sleep, or even stress.

Fevers that come and go can indicate lymphoma. At first you may think you just have a bad cold or virus, but if the fever does not stay away, then you may need to go to your doctor and get checked out. Night sweats are another symptom of both Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. If you are an older woman, you may think that this is due to menopause. Either way, you should get it checked out by your doctor just to be on the safe side.

It can be extremely difficult for your doctor to diagnose if you have lymphoma. The majority of the lymphoma that is diagnosed are found during routine tests, x-rays, or even during a pregnancy. This is how difficult it can be to simply diagnose lymphoma based solely on external symptoms.