Symptoms of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)

It’s often discovered by chance when a blood test is taken for another reason, such as before an operation or as part of a routine health check.

The signs and symptoms of CLL can include the following:

• Feeling tired (fatigued) or unwell.
• Frequent infections due to a shortage of healthy white blood cells that make antibodies and fight off infections. Infections may be more severe and take longer to clear.
• Enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, armpits or groin, caused by a build-up of CLL cells. The swollen lymph nodes are usually painless.
• Breathlessness, tiredness and headaches caused by too few red blood cells (anaemia).
• Bruising and bleeding easily, which may happen if there aren’t enough platelets in the blood. You may have nosebleeds that take a long time to stop (more than 10 minutes). You may get bruises in unexpected places and they may be much bigger than they should be.
• A tender lump in the upper left-hand side of the abdomen caused by an enlarged spleen.
• Severe sweating at night.
• Weight loss.