The symptoms that may require a consultation with a hematologist are:
- Frequent infections (both respiratory, digestive, and of the bladder)
- Ease of bruising, non-traumatic bruising
- Prolonged bleeding tendency even with minor cuts, increased bleeding from the nose or gums
- Bone pain, especially in the spine (vertebrae)
- Painless enlargement of lymph nodes, especially in one limb, for example
- Coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty swallowing, and chest pain
- Chronic fatigue and lethargy
- Loss of appetite, nausea, unplanned weight loss
- Depression, sleepiness, obstructions
- Deviations in blood laboratory tests
Some of the above-mentioned symptoms may result from the presence of other clinical entities, but they are also non-specific symptoms, e.g. of hematopoietic malignancies. It is often the case that patients ignore the symptoms for a long time, not realizing that they may indicate a developing hematological disease.
Early contact with a hematologist (even when the symptoms seem trivial) may be the first step to implementing timely life-saving treatment.
