Early on, the symptoms of breast cancer primarily affect the breast. As the disease progresses, the physical effects of breast cancer are often felt throughout the entire body. Understanding the physical effects of breast cancer can make handling them easier and help you maintain a more positive attitude through treatment.
Physical Changes to the Breast
Changes in the breast may be barely noticeable in the early stages of breast cancer. Most women know to be suspicious of a lump, but the Mayo Clinic reports that an area of thickened skin is also often a symptom of breast cancer. It is important to realize that the changes in the skin or the development of a lump can occur in the main area of the breast, but they may also appear farther back, under the armpit. Other physical symptoms of breast cancer include an inversion of the nipple, a discharge, often bloody, from the nipple and pain in the breast.
Physical Effects Throughout the Body
Once the disease progresses to the point of diagnosis, there are physical effects that are the result of treatment. They include fatigue, nausea, weight loss and depression. It is important to ask your doctor for relief from these effects. While it is impossible to eliminate them, your treatment will be more successful if you can maintain both physical and emotional strength.
Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Inflammatory breast cancer is different from more traditional breast cancer. Many people have never heard of inflammatory breast cancer, a cancer that affects less than 6 percent of new breast cancer patients, according to the National Institutes of Health. Inflammatory breast cancer is extremely aggressive and it is easy to mistake the physical effects of inflammatory breast cancer for a breast infection. Someone suffering from inflammatory breast cancer often notices a rapid change in the appearance and feeling of one breast. Over the course of a week, she may go from having no physical symptoms to having an enlarged breast, with red or purple discolorations on it. It may be abnormally warm and the nipple may become swollen, according to the National Institutes of Health. By the time physical symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer develop, the disease has spread into the surrounding tissue and lymph nodes.
