Symptoms of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

The symptoms of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia affect the entire body from head to toe. This article should not be used for diagnosis but rather a guide to what types of symptoms you or a loved one may be experiencing because of having Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia.

In this form of Leukemia, the white blood cells go into over-production mode and flood the bone marrow. This puts a huge amount of stress on the body and makes the patient feel awful in every way imaginable.

The patient will feel weak all over, and very fatigued as if they really need a nap although they feel they have not accomplished much at all. This can lead to depression, alienation from family and friends.

The patient will also experience unexplained bruises, and may bruise quite easily due to the low platelet count within their body. They become anemic. Anemia is a 'shortage' of red blood cells. Simply put the hemoglobin levels in the patient's body have decreased and caused this anemia.

The hemoglobin is what carries the oxygen through the body, so when that count is low the oxygen rich blood is not traveling thought the body that in turn causes the patient to be more weak than usual, have a general blah feeling, or short of breath. There is evidence on the skin if a patient has anemia and this includes a yellowish tin to their eyes and skin.

There may be a noticeable weight loss because the patient simply does not feel like eating. Loss of appetite, pain or even the blah feeling that keeps these patients from eating. It might be best to offer small bits of food at different times of the day or night to help ensure the Leukemia patient gets enough nutrition to stay as healthy as they can be in order to fight the cancer.

Unexplained fevers and infections that seem to come out of nowhere leave the patient feeling even more lethargic. The pain in bones will also make the patient feel like not doing anything. The joints may hurt as well because of the blast of white cells into the marrow in the joints. This blast of cells can also make the surfaces of the bones to hurt.

Enlarged liver, spleen, and lymph nodes add to the discomfort of the patient, and the pain gets so bad that over the counter medications will not touch it. The patient may seek the relief of pain in many possible ways, but when it gets this bad, it is best to consult your doctor.

Petechiae (prounnounced as pa- tiki) can be seen on the skin. These little red dots or lines occur when the platelet levels are low in the blood stream. This is a common occurrence in many illnesses of the blood such as the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and of course anemia.

http://www.marrow.org/PATIENT/Undrstnd_Disease_Treat/Lrn_about_Disease/ALL/index.html

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/leukemia-acutelymphocyticallinadults/index