I had a mild sore throat that lasted over a year. I'd ask 3 different drs and they each said my throat looked OK. The last one sent me to ENT where they found it to be cancer.
vincent may,would the feeling that something is caughtin your throat be a symptom? cause outside of some occasional light aching in my neck an some phlegm,thats all ive got,yeti still worry
also,what ages do these develop
opaque66, I think U should ask an ENT (ear, nose, & throat) dr about that right away. Other than the phlegm sound like my symptoms. Sure wish I'd gone earlier.
And if it's not cancer, U'll be happy to know that too! BobE
Hi Rayy, There are different kinds of throat cancer. I was diagnosed with cancer on my right false vocal cord in April of 2002. If caught in it's initial stages the survival rate is very high. I smoked two packs of cigs a day and drank a 6 pack of beer a day for 30 years. I was lucky, after about a year of my voice being hoarse, I woke up and found that I couldn't speak at all, not even a whisper, nil, zero, zilch, nothing, not a sound. I never experienced any pain, I just grew hoarser and hoarser til I couldn't speak. The reason I say I was lucky is because if hadn't gone mute I would have continued smoking, not gone to a doctor, and died of suffocation in a year. Cancers are rated in "T"s, standing for TUMOR. I had T-2 cancer, in my case a tumor was on my vocal cord (T-1)
and was starting to spread to my larynx (T-2). Each time a cancer spreads to another organ it's another "T". If it would have continued it could have spread to my esophagus (then it would be called (T-3), and if it got to my lungs (T-4). I bring this up because once you have T-4 cancer is when things start getting bad and you usually need chemo as well as. radiation. Alcohol is a catalyst for cancer, especially in the throat it can also dislodge the cancer and spread it to other organs. I was lucky because even though I drank alcohol and smoked that it stayed in my upper throat and didn't spread to my lungs. If you knew how painful radiation to your throat was (like sucking on the hot end of a highway flare for 6 months) you'd never have another puff or chew for the rest of your life. I'm 52 years old, I sound like a wise guy on the Soprano's. My voice is starting to come back a little at a time. I quit smoking as soon as I heard the diagnosis. In a nutshell...for my type of cancer the symptom was a persistant hoarseness for two weeks or more and there's NO PAIN, no sore throat. That's why the call it the SILENT KILLER. Good luck, hope that helps. Chuck in Indiana
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Originally posted by rayy: what are the early symtons for throat cancer?
I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer late last year, and had my thyroid removed at the beginning of this year.
In the past three weeks, I've developed what I would describe as an ache/numbness in the back of my throat. I have no other symptoms at all, but looking at my throat in the mirror shows a lot of white patches on my throat (they look like they've been drained of all color) around the area behind the soft palate. I went to my doctor and he told me he didn't know what it was and that it didn't appear to be significant.
Having had cancer once already, I'm concerned I now may have another. Any advice gratefully received.
throat cancer 
