My City Wellness Summer 2022

when its cells break away and metastasize to other parts of the body. It is still unclear what exactly causes the mutation, but there are known risk factors. Factors that increase the risk of developing sar coma include genetics and inherit ed syndromes, exposure to viruses (such as herpesvirus 8), exposure to chemicals (herbicides), chronic swelling of the lymphatic system, and exposure to radiation. Symptoms e primary symptoms are an ab normal lump that can be felt through the skin with or without pain, an un expected broken bone due to a minor injury, constant abdominal pain and sudden weight loss. Treatment ere are multiple treatments, initially depending upon where the sarcoma is located in the body. e most common is surgery to remove the tumor or cancer cells. In extreme cases, amputation becomes neces sary. If surgery cannot remove all of the cancer cells, other treatment methods are needed. Radiation and chemotherapy to kill the cells are the next most common treatments; others include targeted therapy, in which medications are used to attack weaknesses in cancer cells; immunotherapy drugs to force the immune system to ght back against the sarcoma; and ablation therapy that destroys cancer cells with use of extreme heat, cold, or high-frequen cy sound waves.

3 Gastroparesis is disorder a ects the normal spontaneous movement of the muscles in the stomach interrupting the rhythm in which food is moved through the diges tive tract. O en, motility of food through the stomach and tract is slowed signi - cantly or does not move at all, preventing the stomach from emptying properly which can cause a whole range of negative symptoms and future problems. Gast roparesis currently has no cure. Cause e movement of food through the stomach and digestive tract is controlled by the vagus nerve (parasympathetic nervous system). When the vagus nerve becomes damaged, gastroparesis can occur. e most common cause of vagus nerve damage is consistent high blood glucose as a result of unchecked diabetes. Less common causes are stomach surgery, viral infections, nervous system diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, and muscle disorders such as scleroderma. August 

2 Sarcoma is all-inclusive term refers to a large group of cancers that originate in the bones and connective tissues. Connective tissues include muscle, nerves, blood vessels, tendons, fat and lining of the joints. ere are more than 70 distinctive sarcomas categorized by location. Exam ples include angiosarcoma (blood vessels), chondrosarcoma (bones), liposarcoma (fat cells), rhabdomyo sarcoma (so tissue/organs) and synovial sarcoma (joints). Cause Cancer forms when mutations happen in cellular DNA that in struct the cell to grow and divide uncontrollably. Cancer cells tend to continue living when normal cells would die. e resulting ac cumulation of abnormal cells can form a tumor. e cancer “spreads”

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