Cancer is a scary word that nobody enjoys hearing but the reality is that the sooner it’s diagnosed, the sooner treatment can begin and your life can get back to some sort of normalcy.

Knowing the facts and understanding the symptoms is a good way to make sure if something isn’t right, it’s caught early.​

Here are six signs that you may have cancer.

1). Unintentional weight loss

Unless you are actively trying to lose weight, randomly losing a significant amount of weight is definitely worth seeing a doctor over. If you’ve noticed that you’ve managed to lose 10 lbs in the last few weeks without any changes to your diet or exercise regime, go and ask your local doctor.

 2). Severe pain

Depending on the type of cancer you may experience prolonged periods of pain in the affected area. Cancer’s like bone, brain and ovarian cancers do tend to first be noticed because of the pain associated with it.

However, a lot of cancers have no pain whatsoever.

3). Changes to your skin

It’s important to take notice of your actual skin condition and not just the moles and freckles you have. A lot of the time yellowed, reddened or darker patches of skin can be a sign of something sinister.

It can also be a symptom of skin problems lurking beneath and not cancerous but it’s always best to double check with your doctor.

4). Unhealed sores

From mouth ulcers that haven’t healed to scabs that have taken far too long to disappear, these scabs can be a sign that either your immune system isn’t functioning normally or that the type of cancer (like mouth or oral) is showing up on the surface.

5). Unexplained bleeding

If your morning cough has started to turn bloody or your normal discharge doesn’t look so normal anymore, it’s a sign that you need to see a doctor as soon as possible.

Cancer’s like lung can take a while to develop enough for you to see the physical effects of it so as soon as you notice a change in your body, consult a professional ASAP.

6). Changes in bowel movements

While everyone’s bowel movements change depending on what food they’ve recently indulged in, if you notice things changing relatively quickly or have gone from solid to liquid or painful then it might be a sign that your intestines and bowel aren’t working the way they are meant.