Even though many midlife adults worry about getting colon cancer, the truth is that it is actually a treatable disease if it’s discovered early. However, because it is so serious, you should be attuned to the signs of colon cancer and know the risks.

First of all, if you or someone in your family has a history of colon disease—not necessarily cancer, but perhaps colitis or polyps—or if you are over 50 and have chronic constipation, you should be monitored regularly by your doctor.

Besides chronic constipation, some of the other signs of colon cancer include a slow change in bowel habits that occurs over the course of several weeks or months. Diarrhea might also be present, as well as bloating, gas, weight loss, a change in appetite, anemia, and depression. These, however, are what I call “soft” signals; people might think they are appearing due to a change in lifestyle or another health problem. When they do seek help and recognize that it may be colon cancer, they will do so when their intestines become blocked by the tumor or they experience a serious blood loss from a tumor that begins to bleed.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under General health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.