Cancer may not be on your radar, especially if you’re relatively young and healthy. But it should be, regardless of your age or family history.
Each year, nearly 90,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer, such as endometrial (also known as uterine cancer), ovarian cancer or cervical cancer. More than 242,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Most of these cancers occur in women after menopause. But gynecologic cancers can strike women before menopause, too.
“Your risk for all cancer types rises as you age, but it’s important to know what to look for at any age,” says Therese Bevers, M.D., medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center. “That way, if symptoms appear, you can tell your doctor right away.”
The signs of cancer, particularly gynecologic cancers, can be vague and similar to those of other conditions. Only breast and cervical cancers can be detected through screening.So recognizing these symptoms and talking about them with your gynecologist or primary care doctor can increase your odds of finding cancer early, when it’s most treatable.
Here are 10 cancer symptoms that every woman should be on the lookout for.
