A man said he was in good health during a medical examination, a week later he was diagnosed with cancer.

A 36-year-old man whose mouth pain and fever were called ‘hypochondriasis’ warns Americans to keep pressing doctors for answers – after he was finally diagnosed with deadly mouth cancer .

A week before the illness was detected, Denver-based Mark went for an annual exam where he was told he was “perfectly healthy.”

The routine tests he had undergone, such as urine and blood tests, came back normal.

Previous appointments with doctors, during which he reported his symptoms, proved unhelpful, with some attributing his symptoms to mental health issues.

It wasn’t until he saw another doctor and requested further tests that his rare mouth cancer was discovered.

“I learned the hard way that the annual doctor visit and standard blood tests done are not always a good indicator of your health,” Mark said in a TikTok video that has garnered nearly 900,000 views.

He added: “They generally cannot predict or diagnose diseases like cancer. You know better than anyone and any doctor and sometimes even better than the results of a test. This is why it is so important to be persistent.

Mark had been experiencing symptoms for several years that were primarily gastrointestinal in origin, mixed with dizziness, chest tightness and brain fog, he said.

These problems led him to frequent doctors’ offices, emergency rooms and many specialized clinics, only to undergo tests that returned normal results.

He was told he was too young to worry about his health and was referred to a therapist for mental health support.

However, early this year, when new symptoms like fever, night sweats and a mouth ulcer appeared, he decided to contact another doctor and request a biopsy of the ulcer, which was scheduled for the week following his annual exam.

The test confirmed he had tongue cancer, a condition that mainly affects people over 60 with a history of heavy drinking and smoking, something Mark never did.

Human papillomavirus, or HPV, a common sexually transmitted virus, is also a major risk factor.

Mark’s diagnosis was stage 1 oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This is the most common form of mouth and tongue cancer, affecting the cells that line the surface along the side of the tongue. .

Symptoms of tongue cancer include weight loss, ear pain, red or white spots in the mouth, persistent sore throat, numbness of the tongue, and swelling of the jaw.

The disease can be treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery to remove all or part of the tongue, and surgery to remove lymph nodes from the neck.

Tongue cancer is rare and accounts for approximately 1% of new cancer cases in the United States. The National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be 19,300 new cases of disease and 3,300 deaths in 2024, representing 0.5% of all cancer deaths.

Overall, rates and deaths from tongue cancer have increased slightly since 1992, while rates of all early cancers, diagnosed before age 50, have increased.

Some attribute this increase to the increase in HPV cases, which have recently increased, particularly among men.

About 70 percent of patients diagnosed with the disease are still alive five years later, on average.

Mark said: “As you can imagine, I am quite frustrated, both with the healthcare system and with myself. I’m not here to disparage (doctors)… my only interest right now is to remind people that no one is perfect, not even the most qualified and experienced doctors.

There may have been early signs of Mark’s cancer as early as 2020.

He developed an ulcer on his tongue in the same place as the cancerous one which eventually grew and did not heal. However, when doctors removed and tested the lesion, it showed no signs of cancer.

But persistent pain in the months following the procedure prompted him to consult a doctor twice. Each time, doctors assured him there was no reason to worry.

And then, in February of this year, the ulcer – which we now know to be cancer – returned.

While the tumor was still in its early stages, it had severely invaded his tongue, leading surgeons to recommend a procedure to remove part of the tongue.

In February, Mark underwent surgery to remove about a quarter of his tongue.

Doctors also performed a partial neck dissection, which involved the removal of 41 lymph nodes from her neck to ensure all of the cancer was removed from her body.

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After the operation, he stayed in the hospital for three days, where he was hooked up to a feeding tube.

After the procedure, he had difficulty speaking and swallowing, but began working with a speech therapist. After just a few weeks, he was almost fully recovered.

More comprehensive testing after her surgery showed there was no cancer in her lymph nodes and clear margins were taken from her tongue to remove all cancer from the area.

Doctors then decided that he would not need further treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. However, Mark had his doubts.

He said: “I feel incredibly lucky and grateful”, but due to being laid off for so long and being told the symptoms were mental, “I think I have a little trauma and distrust because of all this.”

So Mark contacted other doctors for another opinion, but did not post an update.

His overall message to patients everywhere: “Please make sure that if you ever have symptoms (like mine)… listen to your body. »