Blog > Bladder Cancer Symptoms and Risks

Bladder Cancer Symptoms and Risks

Bladder cancer occurs when the cells inside the bladder begin to mutate. Instead of dying off, which is a normal process for cells, the DNA changes and tells the cells to multiply rapidly. These abnormal cells then begin to form a tumor that can destroy and invade the healthy body tissue around it, growing and possibly spreading throughout the body. Elder care providers should be aware of bladder cancer symptoms and your loved one’s possible qualifications.

The most common symptoms of bladder cancer are connected to urinating, making it sometimes embarrassing for many older individuals to share with their family members, elder care providers, or even a trusted physician. Your loved one may feel like what he’s struggling with is normal for an older man or he thinks it’s no one’s business. In that vein, it may be important for you or his elder care provider to notice these symptoms and start the conversation.

Bladder cancer symptoms include:

Frequent urination, sometimes urgent. If your loved one needs to use the bathroom a lot more often than he did, he should go get it checked out.
Painful urination. Hopefully, your loved one will share if urinating is painful, but it might come down to you or his elder care provider hearing him moan while urinating and then asking the right questions.
Blood in the urine that is either bright red or cola-colored.
Back pain.

While many symptoms for bladder cancer can also be the same symptoms for less serious health issues like prostate problems or a urinary tract infection, bladder cancer may need to be more on your radar if your loved one has multiple high-risk qualifications.

Elder Care Hawthorne FL – Bladder Cancer Symptoms and Risks

Some risk qualifications are:

Being a man. Men are more likely to develop bladder cancer than women.
Being older than 55. While bladder cancer can occur at any age, the risk increases with age.
Is a smoker. Those who smoke are more likely to develop bladder cancer. Smoking cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or using a vape, can cause harmful chemicals to accumulate in the urine. When a person smokes, the body processes some of the chemicals from the smoke and excretes them through the urine. Those chemicals damage the walls of the bladder, making it more susceptible to cancerous cells developing.
A previous vocation that had exposure to chemicals. The body’s kidneys are responsible for filtering harmful chemicals in the bloodstream and delivering them to the bladder for removal from the body. Those chemicals in turn can cause damage to the bladder. Chemicals that seem most likely to increase the risk of bladder cancer are arsenic as well as the chemicals used in the production of dye, textiles, rubber, leather, and paint.
Having chronic bladder inflammation. Repeated urinary infections or use of a urinary catheter may increase the risk of bladder cancer.
A family history of bladder cancer.

If caught early, most bladder cancers are treatable and your loved one will be able to treat it. Remind your loved one that having a conversation, even if it’s uncomfortable, is better than waiting until it’s too late.