"Thank goodness it was diagnosed in the early stages, otherwise the family would have fallen apart." To prevent stomach cancer, you should start by being alert to early symptoms.

A fan chatted with Huazi and told him that he was diagnosed with stomach cancer not long ago, but fortunately it was in the early stage, otherwise the family would have broken up. This fan is in his early thirties, has just been married for a few years, and his child is over one year old. He usually has a lot of work and social activities, and his diet is irregular. Half a year ago, he always felt uncomfortable in his stomach, didn't eat much, and wasn't hungry, and lost weight very quickly.

He thought he had indigestion and bought some stomach medicine. After taking the medicine, the symptoms were relieved a little, but he still felt uncomfortable. His wife asked him to go to the hospital, but he thought there was no need to make a fuss. Going to the hospital would waste time. The stomach problem was just a minor problem and not serious. He would rest well when he was not busy at work.

But his wife was worried and forced him to go to the hospital for a gastroscopy, which revealed early-stage gastric cancer. After a timely surgery, he has recovered. This incident made him very scared. If his wife had not insisted on him going to the hospital, he would have delayed the gastric cancer to the late stage, and the result would have been very tragic.

1. Early-stage gastric cancer can be cured. Cancer is considered a "terminal illness" and is equivalent to being sentenced to death. But in fact, early-stage cancer can be cured. For example, if this fan suffers from gastric cancer, if it is discovered early and surgically treated in time, the survival rate within 5 years can reach more than 90%. If it is advanced gastric cancer, the survival rate within 5 years is less than 30%.

So, it is unfortunate that this fan has cancer, but he is also a "lucky guy" because he was able to detect it in the early stage and receive timely treatment. According to statistics in my country, the early detection rate of gastric cancer is only 10%, which means that more than 90% of gastric cancer patients are in the middle or late stage when they are discovered, and the prognosis is not ideal.

2. Early symptoms of gastric cancer Many people ignore gastric cancer because the symptoms of early gastric cancer are not obvious and it is difficult to arouse people's sufficient vigilance. Among the early symptoms of gastric cancer, mild discomfort in the upper abdomen is usually the initial symptom, which is very similar to the symptoms of indigestion.

Many gastric cancer patients have indigestion symptoms that last for several months or more than half a year when they go to the hospital for diagnosis. When the symptoms are mild, they think they can get through it, and only go to the hospital when the symptoms become worse, at which point the disease has often progressed to the middle or late stages.

Specific symptoms include gastrointestinal symptoms such as decreased appetite, nausea, and vomiting; unexplained upper abdominal pain or back pain, or digestive tract diseases such as gastric ulcer or duodenal ulcer, but the frequency and severity of pain attacks have increased recently.

Tumor growth consumes nutrients from the human body, leading to unexplained weight loss and emaciation. Many people discover malignant tumors because of sudden weight loss. If cancer invades blood vessels, it can cause gastrointestinal bleeding, leading to vomiting blood or tarry black stools. Therefore, when the above gastrointestinal symptoms occur, you must seek medical attention in a timely manner without delay.

3. High-risk groups should pay attention to screening and prevention of gastric cancer. They should not just passively wait for symptoms to appear before going for examination, but should take the initiative. Especially for high-risk groups of gastric cancer, they should have regular gastroscopy screening once a year. What kind of people are at high risk of gastric cancer?

1. Age: People over 40 years old, regardless of gender. The probability of gastric cancer in men is twice that of women, but there are also many female gastric cancer patients, so it cannot be ignored.

2. Region: In my country's northern, northwestern, and eastern coastal areas, people are accustomed to high-salt diets and pickled foods, and the incidence of gastric cancer is higher than in the southern regions where people prefer light diets.

3. Helicobacter pylori infection: People infected with Helicobacter pylori have a higher probability of developing gastric cancer, so people infected with Helicobacter pylori should undergo Helicobacter pylori eradication treatment and also pay attention to gastric cancer screening.

4. Gastric cancer-related diseases: chronic atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia of gastric mucosa, gastric polyps, partial gastrectomy and other diseases have a high tendency to gastric cancer, so pay attention to regular screening.

5. Hereditary: One’s parents, brothers, sisters or other first-degree relatives have stomach cancer.

In summary, gastric cancer detected at an early stage is not considered a "terminal illness" and can be cured with a high probability, but most gastric cancer patients cannot detect it in time. Therefore, we must be alert to the early symptoms of gastric cancer and not take it lightly. People at high risk of gastric cancer should also pay attention to screening, so as to achieve early detection and early treatment to avoid the threat of gastric cancer to health. I am pharmacist Huazi, welcome to follow me and share more health knowledge.