As well as producing the local symptoms which I have described (symptoms which depend on the location of the cancer), cancer also produces some general symptoms. These are often vague such as lack of energy, loss of weight, loss of appetite and just not feeling your usual self. Lack of energy can be due to anaemia and doesn’t always mean that the cancer is extensive. ‘Anaemia’ means not enough red blood cells to carry the oxygen around the body. You need oxygen for energy. If you have lost so much blood (and what seems like a little bit in the bowel motion every day soon adds up) that your body can’t make enough red blood cells to keep up, you become anaemic. Anaemia can also develop because the presence of cancer in the body sometimes impairs the bone marrow’s ability to produce blood. This can happen even when the cancer is not actually growing in the bone marrow. Another possible reason for anaemia is that some cancers make the red blood cells very fragile, so that they don’t live as long as normal. Again, if the bone marrow can’t keep up with the unusual demand, anaemia is the result.

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