Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)

CLL usually develops very slowly so there may be no symptoms in the early stages. Possible symptoms include:

• Getting infections more often and recovering more slowly from infections.
• Tiredness and looking pale, shortness of breath - due to fewer red blood cells
• Unexplained weight loss / loss of appetite - your body may need to use up fat stores causing weight loss 
• Headaches
• Night sweats, aching bones and joints - these symptoms can happen when there are too many abnormal cells in the bone marrow. The exact reason why people with CLL and other blood cancers experience night sweats is unknown
• Swelling of your spleen and/or tenderness on the left side of your abdomen, caused by an enlarged spleen
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Unexplained bruising or bleeding - caused by lower numbers of healthy platelets in the bone marrow, which help blood to clot..

Testing for CLL when you have no symptoms is called screening. There is no leukaemia screening programme. This is because there have been no tests proven to help predict leukaemia. 

If you are worried about leukaemia, contact your family doctor (GP).