What Is Stomach Cancer?
Your stomach helps you digest food and absorb nutrients. In rare situations, cancerous cells grow in the lining of your stomach causing inflammation or ulceration, resulting in the condition known as gastric cancer. This process happens slowly over years or even decades before you notice symptoms. This makes it hard to identify because most people don’t show symptoms until it’s more progressed.
Risk Factors
Stomach cancer is directly linked to stomach tumors. Yet, there are numerous risk factors that might increase your chances of developing these cancerous cells. Some of these risk factors include certain diseases and conditions, such as:
- Lymphoma
- H. pylori bacterial infections
- Tumours in other areas of the digestive system
- Stomach polyps
- Eating a lot of salty foods, processed food, meat, or inadequately stored or cooked food
- Alcohol abuse
- Not enough exercise
Stomach cancer is most common in:
- People 50 years or older
- Smokers
- Men
- People with family history of the disease
- People of Asian and South American descent
Symptoms of Stomach Cancer
Symptoms include:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Frequent heartburn
- Loss of appetite
- Sudden weight loss
- Constant bloating
- Feeling full after small amounts of food
- Bloody stools
- Yellowing of skin and eyes
- Excessive fatigue
- Stomach pain
- Sore stomach after eating
Diagnosis
Because stomach cancer rarely shows symptoms in early stages this condition is usually only diagnosed after it has progressed a lot. If stomach cancer is suspected the following diagnostic tests can be performed
- Physical exam to check for abnormalities
- Blood test
- Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy
- Biopsy
- Image testing (CT scans, X-rays)
Treatment
Treatment for stomach cancer, similar to other cancer treatment, involves:
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation therapy
- Surgery
- Immunotherapy
Your exact treatment will depend on the conditions of your cancer and your lifestyle. Without the right treatment this cancer can spread to your liver, bones, lungs and travel through your lymph nodes.
Prevention
There is no definite method to prevent stomach cancer, although there are a list of suggestions that can help to lower your risk. These suggestions are
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Eating a balanced and low-fat diet
- Don’t smoke
- Regular exercise
If you feel you are susceptible to stomach cancer, consider getting an early screening test to detect cancer earlier on. Tests done to catch signs of stomach cancer include
- Physical exam
- Lab tests (blood, urine, etc)
- Image procedures
- Genetic testing
If you’d like to learn more about stomach cancer, please click here.
How Can Acupuncture Help?
Acupuncture has been proven as a great treatment for people diagnosed with this condition. According to research, it has been found to be safe for patients with advanced gastric cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Determined to effectively and safely reduce chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, in short, while offering relief from other side effects of the medicines. As a result, the patients receive better quality of life while their extended life expectancy is observed. Acupuncture is a holistic method that bases treatment around the body functioning as an entire system. The goal of acupuncture is to restore harmony in the body and optimise function to improve many conditions.
To learn more about acupuncture and how it may help you with conditions such as stomach cancer, contact us at Centre of Balance.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5330633/
https://www.healthline.com/health/gastric-cancer
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15812-stomach-cancer