Everyone fears the big “C” in their life. Whether they want to admit it or not, at some point everyone thinks about what might happen if they get cancer. If you are thinking about testicular cancer, there are some signs that you should recognize immediately to get treatment early. The survival rate for testicular cancer is actually close to 99 percent. So, you do have good odds of treatment if you do get testicular cancer. The most important thing is to recognize the early signs of testicular cancer so you can get into the doctor. It is important that you test yourself. You can do this when taking a hot shower. You will roll each of your testicles between the fingers and thumb. You will be feeling to see if there are any little lumps. You should watch for other problems as well.
Experiencing Torsion of the Testicles
Each of your testicles is hanging from the spermatic cord. This consists of nerves, veins and arteries. If the spermatic cord is twisting (most of the time this will happen spontaneously), the blood flow gets cut off. If this is happening, you will start to feel major pain. You need to get to the emergency room for testing and ultrasounds immediately. If you don’t get this treated immediately (usually this needs done in under four hours or you will lose your testicle). The surgeon is going to untwist the spermatic cord and they will sew the testicle back to the inside of the scrotum so that torsion doesn’t happen again in the future.
Experiencing Varicoceles
Another one of the common signs of testicular cancer is varicoceles. Each of your veins have a valve that will send your blood flow into a certain direction. However, there are times when someone’s valve might have a malfunction. If this is happening in the scrotum, your veins are going to be swelled up from the blood. This could cause a heavy sensation and a lot of pain. This is not something that will be immediately dangerous. However, your temperature will rise in this case and that could lower the quality of your semen. It could also negatively impact the production of testosterone as well. If you have any pain in your scrotum area you should always talk to your doctor about it. When you talk to your doctor, if this is happening, you may need to have veins in that area tied so the valves aren’t leaking any more.
Experiencing Epididymitis
Another sign that you could have testicular cancer is epididymitis. This is when there are bacteria that causes inflammation of your epididymis. This is the gland located above each of your testicles. These glands collect the sperm and send them to your vas deferens. When you are experiencing epididymitis, you may have a lot of pain. It might be tough to determine whether the pain is caused from epididymitis or torsion of the testicles. Due to this factor, you should immediately seek emergency room treatment. They will do testing and an ultrasound. Generally, with epididymitis antibiotics will help in fighting any infection. There are anti-inflammatory medications that can help in treating the pain you experience with this as well.
Concerns
If you have any other concerns that you may have testicular cancer, it is always best to consult with a doctor. Don’t ever underestimate any concerns that you have in regards to cancer. There are some people who just push aside signs that they may have cancer and don’t end up getting treatment in time because of that. If you have concerns, it is better to get them checked out than to regret it later on.
These are some of the most common signs that you may have testicular cancer. Yes, it can be scary to even think about cancer, especially of this sort. However, you should face any of these signs head on. Call the doctor and get checked out. You have a good success rate if you do have testicular cancer. If there is cancer, the sooner you get treatment the better.
