What Does The Endometrium Do
The endometrium is the inner layer of the uterus. It changes during the menstrual cycle.
A hormone called estrogen causes the endometrium to thicken in case of pregnancy. If no pregnancy occurs, the body produces less estrogen and more progesterone, a different hormone. When that happens, the endometrial lining sheds. Thats when periods take place.
Prognosis Of Uterine Cancer
It is not possible for a doctor to predict the exact course of a disease, as it will depend on each person’s individual circumstances. However, your doctor may give you a prognosis, the likely outcome of the disease, based on the type of uterine cancer you have, the test results, the rate of tumour growth, as well as your age, fitness and medical history.
In most cases, early diagnosis of uterine cancer has a good prognosis.
How Atrophic Uterus Develops
During menopause, the period in a womens life between the ages of 45 and 55 where she has stopped having a monthly menstrual cycle, her ovaries begin to produce less and less estrogen.Estrogens are an essential group of hormones which are responsible for the regulation of reproductive cycles and the development of the female secondary characteristics such as pubic hair and breasts. These hormones also affect the urinary tract, bones, the muscular system, and the cardiovascular system.
In the uterus, estrogen works to thicken the endometrium lining when you begin to ovulate. This strengthens and toughens the uterus in preparation for pregnancy every month. If no eggs are fertilized during this time, the uterine lining sheds and blood and other tissue are expelled from the vagina. This cycle continues over and over again until you finally get pregnant, or up until menopause.
During menopause, the body does not need to maintain its reproductive cycle anymore. So, it gradually reduces the number of eggs released from the ovaries, along with sex hormones such as estrogen, in a stage known as the perimenopause stage.
As your body prepares for actual menopause, where no eggs are produced, and estrogen production has declined significantly, the function of your sex organs begins to change or slow down. During this time, self-care and diet become super crucial as nutrient deficiency along with hormone imbalance can lead to the shrinkage of your uterus, causing atrophy.
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What Is Endometrial Hyperplasia
Endometrial hyperplasia is a condition in which the endometrium is abnormally thick. There are four types of endometrial hyperplasia. The types vary by the amount of abnormal cells and the presence of cell changes. These types are: simple endometrial hyperplasia, complex endometrial hyperplasia, simple atypical endometrial hyperplasia, and complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia.
What Are The Complications Of Endometrial Hyperplasia
All types of hyperplasia can cause abnormal and heavy bleeding that can make you anemic. Anemia develops when your body doesnt have enough iron-rich red blood cells.
Untreated atypical endometrial hyperplasia can become cancerous. Endometrial or uterine cancer develops in about 8% of women with untreated simple atypical endometrial hyperplasia. Close to 30% of women with complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia who dont get treatment develop cancer.
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Causes Of Cancer Fatigue
Someone with cancer may experience fatigue for several reasons.
With leukemia and lymphoma, cancer cells in the bone marrow can interfere with the normal production of blood cells. This can lead to anemia, and anemia can then lead to fatigue.
Colon cancer and stomach cancer can cause anemia through blood loss in the bowels, likewise leading to fatigue.
The metabolic processes of tumors can also contribute to fatigue. Cancer cells aggressively compete for nourishment with normal cells.
Some cancers lead to fatigue by disrupting normal hormone functioning. Others secrete substances known as cytokines, which in turn can cause fatigue.
Fatigue has many causes besides cancer, though. In that respect, fatigue accompanied by unintentional weight loss is more concerning than fatigue alone.
Lonneke V Van De Pollfranse
1Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation, Utrecht, the Netherlands,
3Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, CoRPSCenter of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands,
4Division of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
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When To Consult A Doctor
If you begin to experience any change in your normal menstrual cycle or any abnormal sign or symptom after menopause, you should not ignore it. Signs such as intermenstrual bleeding, postmenopausal bleeding, pelvic pain, drastic weight loss, and loss of appetite should be given attention and an appointment with a physician should be booked as soon as possible.
Unusual Vaginal Bleeding Spotting Or Other Discharge
About 90% of women with endometrial cancer have abnormal vaginal bleeding. This might be a change in their periods, bleeding between periods, or bleeding after menopause. Non-cancer problems can also cause abnormal bleeding. But it’s important to have a doctor check out any irregular bleeding right away. If you’ve gone through menopause, its especially important to report any vaginal bleeding, spotting, or abnormal discharge to your doctor.
Non-bloody vaginal discharge may also be a sign of endometrial cancer. Even if you can’t see blood in the discharge, it doesn’t mean there’s no cancer. Any abnormal discharge should be checked out by a doctor.
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Pain During Sexual Intercourse
Most instances of pain during intercourse point to a medical event or condition that should be examined, and could, in rare instances, be an early sign of cancer in the cervix or uterus. It is important to take note of the pain if it occurs outside of intercourse, as this may indicate a different diagnosis.
Stages Of Womb Cancer
Health professionals use a staging system to describe how far womb cancer has advanced. These stages are:
- stage 1 the cancer is still contained inside the womb
- stage 2 the cancer has spread to the neck of the womb
- stage 3 the cancer has spread outside the womb into nearby tissues in the pelvis or the lymph nodes
- stage 4 the cancer has spread to the soft tissues of the abdomen, or into other organs, such as the bladder, bowel, liver, or lungs
Your chances of surviving womb cancer depend on the stage at which it’s diagnosed.
If womb cancer is diagnosed at stage 1, the outlook is good and around 95% of women live for at least 5 more years. Many women with stage 1 womb cancer are cured.
If womb cancer is diagnosed at stage 2, you have around a 77% chance of living at least 5 more years.
If the condition is diagnosed at stage 3, you have a 40% chance of living at least another 5 years.
Around 1 in 4 womb cancers are diagnosed at stage 4. By this point, you only have a 15% chance of living at least 5 more years.
Want to know more?
- Cancer Research UK: womb cancer research
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It Is Not Clear How Cancer Treatments Cause Fatigue
It is unclear how cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy cause fatigue.
When cancer treatment begins, many patients are already tired from medical tests, surgery, and the emotional stress of coping with the cancer diagnosis. Fatigue may get worse during treatment.
Different cancer treatments have different effects on a patient’s energy level. The type and schedule of treatments can affect the amount of fatigue caused by cancer treatment. Some patients have more fatigue after cancer treatments than others do.
Fatigue related to surgery
Fatigue is often a side effect of surgery, but patients usually feel better with time. However, fatigue related to surgery can be worse when the surgery is combined with other cancer treatments.
Fatigue caused by chemotherapy
Patients treated with chemotherapy usually feel the most fatigue in the days right after each treatment. Then the fatigue decreases until the next treatment. Some studies have shown that patients have the most severe fatigue about mid-way through all the cycles of chemotherapy. Fatigue decreases after chemotherapy is finished, but patients may not feel back to normal until a month or more after the last treatment.
Fatigue during chemotherapy may be increased by the following:
- Pain.
- Lack of sleep caused by some anticancer drugs.
Fatigue caused by radiation therapy
Fatigue caused by hormone therapy
Fatigue caused by immunotherapy
Current Testing Practices Supported
Currently, testing for endometrial cancer in women experiencing abnormal vaginal bleeding consists of transvaginal ultrasound imaging, biopsy, or both.
Although people tend to think of biopsies as invasive and frightening, an endometrial biopsy is a simple procedure similar to a Pap smear, Dr. Chu explained. Like a Pap smear, it can be done in the doctors office and doesnt require anesthesia.
In their study, the researchers ran simulations in which they estimated how many women with postmenopausal bleeding would need to undergo additional testing to detect one case of endometrial cancer, based on varied levels of risk and different testing strategies. Assuming a 10% risk of endometrial cancer and that women underwent subsequent testing with ultrasound, they estimated that 7 women would need to have a biopsy to find 1 cancer.
Before sending a woman for testing, doctors should ask themselves: If she has postmenopausal bleeding, how high is her risk of cancer?” explained Dr. Wentzensen. “Our estimate of 10% supports the current practice of further evaluating these women.”
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Changes To Sexuality And Intimacy
Cancer of the uterus can change your body and how you feel about yourself, and both can affect sexuality.
Some treatments for cancer of the uterus can cause dryness and narrowing of the vagina. If this makes sexual penetration difficult or painful, you may have to explore different ways to orgasm or climax. Your treatment team may also advise using vaginal dilators, lubricants, moisturisers or hormone creams. Other physical and emotional factors may affect your desire for sex . These include the hormonal changes of menopause, the stress of the cancer experience, the fatigue caused by treatment, and changes in how you feel about your body .
It may help to remember that for most people, sex is more than arousal, intercourse and orgasm. It involves feelings of intimacy and acceptance, as well as being able to give and receive love. Give yourself time to get used to any physical or emotional changes. If you have a partner and do not feel like having sexual intercourse, or if you find it uncomfortable, talk openly with them about how youre both feeling, and take things slowly by starting with hugs or a massage rather than penetrative sex. You may both need to be patient things often improve with time and practice.
If you have ongoing concerns about how treatment has affected your sexuality, you can talk to your GP or gynaecological oncologist or ask for a referral to a sexual therapist.
Fatigue After Surgery At 6 Months And At 12 Months
Table displays participants’ baseline characteristics. At T1, 48% reported FAS scores 22, which indicated clinically significant fatigue. The prevalence of clinically significant fatigue at 6 and 12 months was 44% and 39%, respectively this included 19 participants with new-onset fatigue at T2 and 17 participants at T3. At T2, 67% of the patients who were fatigued at T1 remained fatigued. Similarly, at T3, 63% of the patients still reported fatigue .
| Characteristic |
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What Is A Risk Factor
Anything that increases your risk of getting a disease is called a risk factor. Different cancers have different risk factors.
Having a risk factor does not necessarily mean that you will develop cancer. Also, not having any risk factors does not mean that you definitely wonât get cancer.
Some factors lower your risk of cancer and are known as protective factors.
Symptoms Of Womb Cancer
The most common symptom of womb cancer is abnormal bleeding from the vagina, although most people with abnormal bleeding don’t have cancer.
Bleeding may start as light bleeding accompanied by a watery discharge, which may get heavier over time. Most women diagnosed with womb cancer have been through the menopause, so any vaginal bleeding will be unusual.
In women who haven’t been through the menopause, unusual vaginal bleeding may consist of:
- periods that are heavier than usual
- vaginal bleeding in between normal periods
Less common symptoms include pain in the lower abdomen and pain during sex.
If womb cancer reaches a more advanced stage, it may cause additional symptoms. These include:
- pain in the back, legs, or pelvis
- loss of appetite
- Macmillan: symptoms of womb cancer
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How Long Does Fatigue Last
I was diagnosed with endometrial cancel April 2013. Had hysterectomy end of April, and chemo from June to October 1st. Shortly after that had 6 weeks of radiation that ended on December 31, 2013. I am now cancer free. However I am still experiencing fatigue. How long does the fatigue last? I was hoping it would be gone six months after my last cancer treatment. I know my body has gone through a lot, but I am getting impatient.
- Post #1
Do you know your current blood counts? If you have anemia or anywhere near low normal blood counts, you might want to work on increasing your protein, etc. My healthcare team thinks it takes nutrition to rebuild and the doctors dont have that as their specialty. However, I would have blood count check and get with a nutritionist about the results.
Allopathic doctors and organizations documentation say it is normal to take up to 5 years to get over fatigue. Personally, I find that information unacceptable. But I understand that Allopathic doctors are trained on only part of important medical needs of body, and surgery/drugs/serious injury & infections are their specialties and very important. But not everything we need.
- Post #2
- Post #8
- Post #10
Questions To Ask The Doctor
- Do you know the stage of the cancer?
- If not, how and when will you find out the stage of the cancer?
- Would you explain to me what the stage means in my case?
- Based on the stage of the cancer, how long do you think Ill live?
- What will happen next?
Surgery is the main treatment for most women, but sometimes more than one kind of treatment can be used. The treatment plan thats best for you will depend on:
- The stage and grade of the cancer
- The chance that a type of treatment will cure the cancer or help in some way
- Your age
- Other health problems you have
- Your feelings about the treatment and the side effects that come with it
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Cancer Fatigue: Does Cancer Make You Tired
Do you feel like you are tired all the time and that most, if not what seems like all of your energy has been zapped? If so, you should know that what you are feeling is quite common among cancer patients. Why? Because fatigue is a common symptom of cancer and side effect of cancer treatment.
Before we delve deeper into how and why cancer can make you feel tired, lets review just how common having cancer and having cancer fatigue really is.
The American Cancer Society predicted that there would be 1,658,370 new cases of cancer within the U.S. in 2015. That figure represents nearly 4,544 new cases each day. There are many different types of cancer. Some of them are easier to identify than others.
Different cancers affect the mind, body, and spirit differently but most of them make their recipient feel tired at some point or the other. This tiredness, known as cancer fatigue, is something that happens to a majority of cancer patients so it is quite common. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society estimates that more than 50 percent of people who have cancer will experience cancer-related fatigue while living with the condition.
What is Cancer Fatigue?
Does cancer make you tired? You better believe it can. It can cause a bone-deep sense of tired that feels like no other form of tiredness that youve felt before. You might even feel like there is no end to the tiredness in sight.
This fatigue isnt just physical exhaustion either. Its mental and emotional exhaustion as well.
What Causes Uterine Cancer
Researchers are not sure of the exact cause of uterine cancer. Something happens to create changes in cells in the uterus. The mutated cells grow and multiply out of control, forming a mass called a tumor.
Certain risk factors can increase the chances youll develop uterine cancer. If youre at high risk, talk to your healthcare provider about steps you can take to protect your health.
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Targeted Therapy For Cancer Of The Uterus
Targeted therapy is a new kind of drug treatment that attacks specific features of cancer cells to stop the cancer growing and spreading. Your oncologist may discuss additional testing of the tumour to see whether any of these drugs might be an option, particularly for cancer that has returned. Targeted therapy drugs are not yet standard treatment for cancer of the uterus, but you can ask your oncologist whether you may be able to access them through a clinical trial.
Uterine Fibroids And Stress
Speaking about the symptoms of uterine fibroids, it is necessary to pay attention to the presence of disorders of the cardiovascular system, which are caused by the presence of overt or latent anemia, i.e. a decrease in hemoglobin in the blood .
Because of this, the patient notices the appearance of chronic fatigue syndrome, decreased mood and performance, the appearance of constant stress.
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