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Causes, Symptoms and Prevention of Colon Cancer

One of the notable aspects in the life of an entrepreneur is his or her health status. Your health as a business person has large impact on your business and its productivity. Before customers patronize you, they access not just your products but you as a person; they measure your intelligence, appearance, confidence amongst others; If they notice a flaw, their confidence in you and your products would be shaken. Imagine a person selling health related products and battling with a deadly disease, your customers would loose total faith in you and your products. Therefore, it is important to take care of yourself as a person as your health status represents you. I would be disclosing to you a deadly disease that you should guard against.

No matter your faith or religion, you can always take a moment to say a prayer or have a moment of silence in honor of the Black Panther superstar actor Chadwick Boseman who died of Colon Cancer at the age of 43 after battling with this disease for four years. It helps to include in your thoughts the family left behind who’s also mourning a significant loss. Since 28 of August 2020. Before the painful death of Chadwick Boseman, how many people knew of Colon Cancer?

Colon Cancer although not popular is a deadly disease. In this article, I will disclose all you need to know about Colon Cancer, what it is, its causes, symptoms, and prevention.

What is Colon Cancer?

Colon is the large intestine. Colon cancer is a type of cancer that affects the large intestine and rectum which are the last section of the digestive system. Colon Cancer is also called Colorectal Cancer. Most Colon Cancer starts as a Polyp (a small clump of cells that forms on the lining of the colon or rectum.) Overtime, that polyp can develop into cancer, spreading through different layers of the colon or rectum and eventually into the blood stream.

Colon Cancer has different stages which shows how far the cancer has spread through the body and the survival rate of the patient. The stages of Colon Cancer is between stage 0 and stage 4 (four stages).

Stage 0.

This is the earliest stage of Colon Cancer. The abnormal cells forming are only on the inner lining of the colon or rectum, and has not spread beyond that.

Stage 1.

In this stage, the cancer has spread beyond the inner lining of the colon or rectum, but has not gone beyond the colon/rectum wall.

Stage 2.

The cancer has grown beyond the wall of the colon or rectum in this stage, but has not spread to or affect the lymph nodes (the immune system glands.)

Stage 3.

At this stage, the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, but has not spread to other parts of the body.

Stage 4.

This is the advanced stage of Colon Cancer. The cancer has spread to the body organs (the lungs, bladder, liver. Etc.).

Those are the four stages of Colon Cancer according to their severity. Now that we have known what colon cancer is, What are the causes of Colon Cancer?

Causes of Colon Cancer varies between genetics and lifestyle. For genetics, people can have Colon Cancer from inherited genes of family members with an history of Colon Cancer or cancer syndromes. For lifestyle, some people may bring this deadly disease upon themselves by their choice of lifestyle.

These lifestyles includes.

  1. Smoking- smokers have an increased risk of developing colon cancer.
  2. Abuse of alcohol- heavy intake of alcohol also increases the risk of developing colon cancer.
  3. Type of diet- eating certain foods can increase your risk of developing colon cancer– Processed meat, red meat, cooking meat at high temperature.
  4. Less physical activity- people who barely move around and engage in physical activities has high risk of developing cancer.
  5. Consuming much fatty foods.
  6. Body weight- putting on too much weight increases your risk of developing colon cancer.

Other causes of Colon Cancer includes- obesity, diabetes, and if you had an history of cancer, you are likely to develop it again, maybe in your colon or rectum.

Symptoms of Colon Cancer

Some symptoms of Colon Cancer are.

  • Blood in your stool
  • Rectal bleeding and pain
  • Sudden weight loss
  • Difficulty in breathing
  • Jaundice
  • Abdominal pain
  • Fatigue
  • Bone pain
  • Black stools
  • Loss of appetite
  • Diarrhea
  • Shortness of breath
  • Vomiting

How can we prevent this deadly disease?

Seeing how dangerous colon cancer is and how easy to contract it, it is important to know how to prevent it.

Some causes of Colon Cancer can’t be prevented like genetic factors and history of cancer. However, other factors that leads to colon cancer can be prevented and they includes-

  • Reducing your intake of red meat, processed meat, and cooking meat using low heat.
  • Eat more of vegetables and fruits.
  • Drink lots of water.
  • Avoid eating too much fatty foods.
  • Exercising regularly.
  • Stop smoking and limit your intake of alcohol.
  • Maintain a healthy weight by dieting and exercising.
  • Taking lots of calcium and vitamin D reduces the risk of developing colon cancer. Good sources of vitamin D includes sunlight, liver, orange juice, egg yolks. Etc. Sources of calcium includes leafy vegetables, milk, fish bone, Etc.

According to medicinenet.com, Colon cancer (bowel cancer) facts

Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer in the U.S.

Colorectal cancer is a malignant tumor arising from the inner wall of the large intestine (colon) or rectum.

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer in both men and women in the U.S.

Common risk factors for colorectal cancer include increasing age, African-American race, a family history of colorectal cancer, colon polyps, and long-standing ulcerative colitis.

Most colorectal cancers develop from polyps. Removal of colon polyps can aid in the prevention of colorectal cancer.

Colon polyps and early cancer may have no cancer-specific early signs or symptoms. Therefore, regular colorectal cancer screening is important.

Diagnosis of colorectal cancer can be made by sigmoidoscopy or by colonoscopy with biopsy confirmation of cancerous tissue.

Treatment of colorectal cancer depends on the location, size, and extent of cancer spread, as well as the health of the patient.

Surgery is the most common medical treatment for colorectal cancer.

Early-stage colorectal cancers are typically treatable by surgery alone.

Chemotherapy can extend life and improve quality of life for those who have had or are living with metastatic colorectal cancer. It can also reduce the risk of recurrence in patients found to have high-risk colon cancer findings at surgery.

There you have it– colon cancer is a deadly disease. Now, we need to follow all prevention measures to make sure we don’t fall victim of this deadly disease. So in summary, in order to prevent developing Colon Cancer-

  • Don’t smoke
  • Don’t drink excessively
  • Avoid putting on too much weight
  • Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
  • Drink lots of water
  • Reduce your intake of red meat, processed meat, and cook meat with low heat
  • Avoid eating too much fatty foods
  • Exercise regularly
  • Take lots of calcium and vitamin D

Please be cautious, protect your health and save your business!

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