by Carisa Silvesan

Created on: June 05, 2008   Last Updated: June 09, 2008

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed or is expecting to be diagnosed with lymphoma this general guide will help you understand the basics of the disease. Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes in the body. It makes up less than 1% of cancer in the US, every year more than 40,000 people are diagnosed with Lymphoma.

How do you know if you have lymphoma? The symptoms of lymphoma can vary somewhat, but even with all the symptoms present in a human body they may not necessarily be the cancer. Instead the symptoms can be indicative of an infection or other illness. Only a doctor can make that diagnosis.

The following are symptoms of lymphoma. It is recommended that in order to be tested for lymphoma that a patient portray all or most of these symptoms with the first one always being present: 1. Lumps in the neck, armpit and groin that are not painful 2. Rapid weight loss 3. Fever 4. Weakness 5. Feeling itchy all over your body.

The painless lumps you may find in your body are the most common of all symptoms and may be the only symptom. Due to the nature of lymphoma, any or all symptoms may not affect the patient at first and may take time to even be noticeable. The lumps may not be lymphoma and some doctors won't even do a test for lymphoma until one or more of the other symptoms are present.

Rapid weight loss is another symptom that, if accompanied by the lumps, may show a need to be tested for lymphoma. Usually lymphoma will cause a loss of appetite, but so do many other common illnesses and infections.

Fever can come with almost any illness, condition or disease. With lymphoma, fever can be accompanied by severe sweating at night. Again, this symptom alone may not be indicative of lymphoma. Women going through menopause and anyone with other conditions can sweat excessively at night and have a fever at the same time. Weakness is something many people who are overworked can have. People with cancer feel weak due to the amount of nutrients the cancer cells use up in their bodies. But, again this symptom must be accompanied by enlarged nodes and other symptoms before a doctor will suspect lymphoma.

Because of the chemicals the lymphoma cancer cells can secrete your body may be feeling very dry and itchy all over. This is a symptom, that when accompanied by enlarged lymph nodes may give your doctor more reason than anything else to test your for lymphoma. There can be other symptoms of lymphoma depending on where the lymphoma is located in the body.

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