One of the most serious health-related problems that a person can face in life is leukemia. The reason for this is simply the fact that this is a disease that has a staggering mortality rate. A simple example of the danger of this disease would be that, in 2000 alone, around 26,000 people developed a case of leukemia. However, the real threat is made visible by the fact that 81 percent, which amounts to 209,000, of all the people affected died. Even though the disease is fairly well known in the world, many people still do not know all the symptoms of the disease. The result is that people freak out with minimal signs.

The tendency of a lot of people is to equate the problem of anemia with the problem of leukemia. It is worth noting that even though anemia is a symptom of this disease, it is not certain that a person suffering from anemia would be suffering from leukemia as well. The reason for this is that anemia is a condition which can exist even without its more dangerous counterpart. Anemia, in simple words, is a condition where the person has less than average red blood cells. This means that anemia can be caused by multiple things as well as act as a symptom of a variety of other health problems.

As anemia is not the sole symptom of this disease, the best way to diagnose or detect the problem is by focusing on other symptoms and viewing the bigger picture in which anemia plays a role. In order to do this, a person needs to know all the various symptoms related to leukemia. Most symptoms related to this disease can be traced back to the root nature of the disease. When a patient suffers from this disease, he starts producing flawed white blood cells which gradually start crowding out other cells in the blood such as red blood cells, good white blood cells and even platelets. Consider the following symptoms.

1. The biggest symptom of this disease is the tendency of the patient to get injured easily. Furthermore, whatever injury he sustains, leukemia makes it extremely hard for the body to heal as platelets in the blood get crowded out. Effectively, a simple needle prick can take days to stop bleeding and heal.

2. In addition to this, it becomes particularly easy for the patient to contract contagious diseases if he suffers from leukemia. The reason for this is that the flawed white blood cells crowd out good white blood cells in the blood, which, in turn, results in the body becoming susceptible to outside infections.

3. Also, this disease invariably will lead to the patient getting tired too easily. This is mainly due to the fact that the production of flawed white blood cells draws all the energy and the fact that the blood is short on oxygen which is carried by red blood cells.

4. Additionally, leukemia also ends up changing the color of the patient's skin. The reason for this is that the disease reduces the number of red blood cells in the body and it is these cells which give the human body its rosy or darker pallor. Therefore, as this problem pushes down the red blood cell count, the patient's skin loses its color and starts turning yellow.

5. Swollen lymph nodes can also indicate the presence of this disease. Therefore, a patient suffering from it may develop swollen lymph nodes at the base of the jaw or in the armpit.

6. Weight loss is also a sign of leukemia because the body fails to process the nutrients it gets properly. In addition, the production of flawed white blood cells continues which implies that a lot of the body's energy and nutrients are wasted on this pointless process.

7. Finally, the development of inexplicable headaches and dizziness can also be attributed to this problem. These problems arise when the leukemic cells invade the nervous system of the patient.

Any of these symptoms can exist alone or in relation to some other physical problem. For example, fatigue can be a result of overwork, headaches could be eyesight related and weight loss could be natural. Effectively, none of these symptoms alone can foretell the presence of leukemia and hence should be sought out in groups. This is why anemia should not be treated as the sole signal for leukemia. In fact, there are even situations where leukemia has not had any symptoms herald its arrival or existence.