Symptoms of Lymphoma Cancer often do not lead directly to the
underlying diagnosis and many symptoms can be misleading.
Lymphoma symptoms can be variable because there are so are many
different types of lymphoma. The lymphoma symptoms will vary
depending on the subtype of lymphoma, stage, and age of the
patient. The "classic" B symptoms include fever, night sweats, and
weight loss. Not everyone will have these symptoms, even in the
setting of very aggressive disease.
Other lymphoma symptoms can be general in nature such as
generalized fatigue.
More specific lymphoma symptoms depend on what areas of the body
are involved. Humans have lymph nodes throughout the body and any
of these can become involved. Since the cells involved in lymphoma
"lymphocytes" are designed to go throughout the body, the abnormal
cancerous cells may show up anywhere.
People may get abdominal pain because of swelling of the spleen
(splenomegaly), skin rashes, headaches, confusion, or weakness of
an arm or leg. Other lymphoma symptoms may include bowel
obstruction, or shortness of breath. People may have swelling of an
arm or leg. If the bone marrow is involved, then lymphoma symptoms
related to changes in blood counts may occur. These symptoms occur
because of anemia, thrombocytopenia, or leukopenia.