This cancerous sickness has been associated with a great deal of deaths around the world and a lot of research money has been sunk into finding a cure or a vaccine. Mesothelioma, is a cancer that affects mostly the lung tissue but it can also spread to other tissues such as the heart and the stomach lining. While many associate it with smoking, this disease is causes by exposure to asbestos. What makes the disease deceptively deadly is that symptoms may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos.
Exposure
While it is associated with the latter years of one's life, mesothelioma can afflict anyone at any age. This is because exposure to asbestos is not limited to a certain age group. There have even been cases where people who have never worked close to an asbestos plant or mine have resported contracting the disease. This is because it can be transmitted by being exposed to asbestos substances which may belong to someone who was directly exposed, for instance, washing asbestos-laced clothes.
Familiarizing yourself with the symptoms
One of the symptoms that mesothelioma sufferers report is shortness of breath. This can also be accompanied by wheezing and chronic fatigue. Others also experience a chronic cough and pain in the chest cavity. This is usually caused by fluid accumulating in the pleural space and at this stage it is known as pleural mesothelioma.
Other symptoms include abnormal weight loss and cachexia. Sufferers can also experience swelling in the abdominal area and buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity which may cause pain. In many other cases of mesothelioma, sufferers report difficulty with bowel movement. Internally, one may also experience blood clotting abnormalities and anaemic symptoms which may also lead to a fever. In advanced stages of the disease where it has spread to the rest of the body people experience swelling in the areas such as the neck and face.
Do not panic
Notice that many of the above symptoms resemble many other regular and ordinary sicknesses. Common colds may at times produce similar symptoms so the only way to know for sure is to pay your doctor a visit. This will enable him or her to conduct a battery of tests that will determine whether or not you have asbestos-induced mesothelioma.
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