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The Hodgkin’s disease directly triggers the body immune system, which fights against any infection or disease. The lymphatic system part of immune system include lymph vessels that branches to every body tissues. Due to this connectivity, the Hodgkin’s disease has the tendency to spread all over the body. This is first found in the lymph node, which is above the diaphragm that separates abdomen and chest. The Hodgkin’s lymphoma can also be found in group and it may start from other lymphatic system parts. The symptoms of Hodgkin’s disease can affect different humans with different advancement and complications.
The Hodgkin’s disease symptoms are almost common for both Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which causes a painless swell in the lymph node at one or more nodes in armpits, neck, groin and collarbone region. However, some times the swell may happen due to some other infection and it should not be mistaken for Hodgkin’s disease symptoms. The lymph nodes that are affected will come to normal size in few weeks or even in months as soon as the infection in cleared. The doctors may observe this condition and decide if to give any antibiotic treatment. Nevertheless, there may also be a need for biopsy if the Hodgkin’s disease symptoms become more suspicious in order to confirm cancer. The Hodgkin’s disease has some characteristic of spreading lymph, which may need diagnosis.
Some of the other symptoms of Hodgkin’s disease include malaise, weight loss, itching and loss of appetite, weakness, night sweat, fatigue cough and shortness of breath. The complication of the disease can be identified by any of these symptoms of Hodgkin’s disease. It can lead to the complication of anemia, which is the low count in red blood cells. This may lead to shortness of breath, pale skin, pallor, wound healing slowly and fatigue. The disease may also lead to another complication of infection. If not treated on time or if the illnesses reach in an advanced stage, the disease can lead to proliferation of white blood cells abnormally and spread through out lymphatic system. The white blood cells that are abnormal may not able to fight against any infection effectively and this will result in infection. This can also metastasize to other parts and organs in the body like breast, lungs, spleen, liver, gastrointestinal system. Because of this, there will be enlarged liver, enlarged spleen, malignant tumors of gastrointestinal, breast, liver and lungs.
The diagnosis for Hodgkin’s disease following the symptoms begins first with taking the family medical history, risk factor of the diseases, stage of the disease and physical examination. Doctors also do blood test for the complete blood count to know the level of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. If necessary, biopsy of the lymph node that has swollen is also done.
