{"id":27305,"date":"2018-09-18T14:51:21","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T13:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=27305"},"modified":"2018-09-18T14:51:21","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T13:51:21","slug":"dr-jyoti-sood-explains-why-its-important-to-look-before-you-flush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/18\/dr-jyoti-sood-explains-why-its-important-to-look-before-you-flush\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Jyoti Sood explains why it\u2019s important to \u201clook before you flush\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent survey reveals that only 16% of adults aged 50 and over in England say they check the colour of their urine every time they go to the toilet, with women being less likely to check every time (12% vs 20% of men). <\/strong><\/p>\n

Blood in urine is a key symptom of bladder and kidney cancer but you\u2019ll only notice blood in your urine if you look before you flush the toilet.<\/p>\n

People may not be familiar with these cancers but over 8,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer in England each year and over 10,000 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer. These cancers can affect people of all ages, but are most common in people over 50.<\/p>\n

You should visit your doctor if you have blood in your urine, even if it\u2019s just once. Don\u2019t just ignore it or think it\u2019s something you\u2019ve eaten and will go away. The chances are it isn\u2019t cancer, but it could be a sign of something else that needs treatment. If it is cancer, the sooner it is diagnosed the greater the chances of successful treatment. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to pay attention to anything unusual happening to your body.<\/p>\n

Women are less likely to look before they flush<\/p>\n

Men are more likely to notice blood in their urine, as it isn\u2019t the norm for women to check the toilet after they have urinated, but I would encourage women to look before they flush.<\/p>\n

Some female patients have questioned how they can differentiate between menstrual blood and bleeding that could be a sign of bladder or kidney cancer. My advice would be that any woman who experiences bleeding that is unusual for them should see their doctor without delay.<\/p>\n

South Asian communities need to seek help early<\/p>\n

In my experience people from South Asian communities with possible symptoms of cancer tend to seek help late, potentially making the outcome much worse. There are often cultural, religious and language barriers preventing South Asian people<\/p>\n

from seeing their doctors early and this needs to change so that more lives can be saved.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, this year over 250 places of worship in England have lent their support to the Be Clear on Cancer campaign by displaying posters in their toilets encouraging their members to \u201clook before they flush.\u201d I hope this will have an impact and that more people seek medical help if they notice blood in their urine \u2013 it could save their life.<\/p>\n

Dr Jyoti Sood is the face of Public Health England\u2019s latest \u2018Be Clear on Cancer\u2019 campaign. She is a GP partner at Newbury Park Health Centre.<\/p>\n

For further information about the signs and symptoms of bladder and kidney cancer, search \u2018Be Clear on Cancer\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent survey reveals that only 16% of adults aged 50 and over in England say they check the colour of their urine every time they go to the toilet, with women being less likely to check every time (12% vs 20% of men). Blood in urine is a key symptom of bladder and kidney […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,53,98],"tags":[1514,1515,1516],"class_list":["post-27305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-latest","category-press-releases","tag-dr-jyoti-sood","tag-newbury-park-health-centre","tag-public-health-englands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}