A woman who was unknowingly battling an aggressive stage 4 kidney cancer says she was confused a subtle warning sign for the symptoms of menopause.
Louise did experience high blood pressure and blood in urine initially, which she thought was her menopause setting. Menopause is a natural decline in reproductive hormones when a woman reaches her 40s or 50s. However, this assumption proved to be dangerous for her as according to doctors, you must not conclude a diagnosis without proper checkup and investigation. Also known as renal cancer, kidney cancer originates in your renal system on either side of the spine beneath the ribcage. Doctors say kidney cancer does not have any specific symptoms and can be spotted during tests for other conditions. "Symptoms are unfortunately vague, especially for women, as it includes high blood pressure, night sweats, blood in your urine, and flank pain. GPs often relate these to menopause symptoms," Louise explained on her TikTok channel. "I had high blood pressure but unseen blood in the urine. I was lucky routine blood picked up an issue with my liver, prompting ultrasound," she said. "I have now had two major surgeries to remove cancer and my kidney within the last 15 months. I'm three weeks post open surgery and recovering well," Louise added. "My cancer was the most aggressive at grade 4 so there will always be a high chance of it coming back, but medications and research are changing all the time, and I have faith that the surveillance scans will help us nip anything untoward in the bud," she said.
What is kidney cancer?
Kidney cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in your kidney tissue when they form a mass known as tumour. Doctors say cancer begins when something triggers a change in the cells, they divide out of control. A cancerous or malignant tumour spreads to other tissues and vital organs, causing metastasis. Kidney cancer is most common in people between the ages of 65 and 74 years with men being twice as likely as women to develop the disease. Doctors say the deadly disease is much less common in children.
Signs and symptoms of kidney cancer
Doctors say usually kidney cancer does not produce any noticeable symptoms in its early stages. But as the tumour begins to grow in size, symptoms may begin to appear. For that reason, kidney cancer often isn't diagnosed until it has begun to spread. Kidney cancer symptoms may include:
What are the risk factors for kidney cancer?
Even though the exact cause of kidney cancer is not known, there are certain risk factors that increase your chances of getting the disease, which include:
