Lung Cancer ? Symptoms and Causes of Lung Cancer
Lung Cancer ? Symptoms and Causes of Lung Cancer
The leading risk factor for lung cancer is smoking. More than 80% of lung cancers are due to cigarette smoking. The longer a person has been smoking and also the more cigarettes a person smokes a day, the greater the risk is for developing lung cancer. Not only are smokers vulnerable to lung cancer, but the people around them are at a greater risk as well due to breathing second-hand smoke. Non-smokers who are married to smokers are at a 30% greater risk than non-smokers who are married to non-smokers. Marijuana cigarettes may also increase the risk of lung cancer since they contain many of the same cancer-causing agents that tobacco cigarettes have and are inhaled more deeply.
Lung cancer most commonly begins in the cells that line your lungs. Smoking causes the majority of lung cancers — both in smokers and in people exposed to secondhand smoke. But lung cancer also occurs in people who never smoked. In these cases, there may be no clear cause of lung cancer. Doctors have identified factors that may increase the risk.
Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. It is a leading cause of cancer death in men and women in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes most lung cancers. The more cigarettes you smoke per day and the earlier you started smoking, the greater your risk of lung cancer. High levels of pollution, radiation and asbestos exposure may also increase risk.
Causes of Lung Cancer
Smoking: smoking remains the greatest risk factor for lung cancer. Your risk of lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes you smoke each day and the number of years you have smoked. Quitting at any age can significantly lower your risk of developing lung cancer.
Diet: Scientists are studying many different foods to see how they may change the risk of getting lung cancer. However, any effect diet may have on lung cancer risk is small compared with the risk from smoking. Eating a lot of fat and cholesterol might increase risk of lung cancer. Drinking a lot of alcohol may raise risk as well.
Family History: Studies have found a chromosome that may be resposible for lung cancer. The chromosome can be inherited. If you have had lung cancer before, there is a chance you may develop another type of lung cancer.
Air pollution from vehicles, industry, and power plants can raise the likelihood of developing lung cancer in exposed individuals. Up to 1% of lung cancer deaths are attributable to breathing polluted air, and experts believe that prolonged exposure to highly polluted air can carry a risk similar to that of passive smoking for the development of lung cancer.
Symptoms of Lung Cancer
People often decide to visit the doctor only after they have been bothered by certain complaints over a period of time. Individuals who have lung cancer frequently experience symptoms such as the following:
Metastasis to the bones is most common with small cell type cancers but also occurs with other lung cancer types. Lung cancer that has metastasized to the bone causes bone pain, usually in the backbone (vertebrae), the thighbones, and the ribs.
Shortness of breath usually results from a blockage to the flow of air in part of the lung, collection of fluid around the lung (pleural effusion), or the spread of tumor throughout the lungs.
A cough that does not go away or gets worse over time should be evaluated by a health-care provider.
Chest pain is a symptom in about one-fourth of people with lung cancer. The pain is dull, aching, and persistent and may involve other structures surrounding the lung.
Wheezing or hoarseness may signal blockage or inflammation in the lungs that may go along with cancer.
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Symptoms of lung cancer and emphysema include increased breathlessness, wheezing, coughing and increase mucus production. Find out why vital signs may be normal in a patient with lung cancer with help from a nurse and respiratory care practitioner in this free video on respiratory therapy and healthy breathing.
25 comments
@blade75964 People lose lung function naturally as a function of advancing age so whether you smoke or not you’ll continue to lose lung capacity from where you are now. Smoking will of course hasten the process.
@alexandrepato123
me too, hurts every morning when i wake up
becuz for some people its not eazy to quit and other people arnt even scared of dying me and my brother arnt we can stop anytime we want but we dont care if we get lung cancer or anything
i don’t understand u people that smoke..
you guys are scared to die of cancer but yet u still smoke.
anyways, God Bless
Thank you, you was helpful.
@blade75964 Hi, if it would put your mine at ease, then get a 2nd opinion. She was right telling you that if you quit it will not get worse, but you are basically stuck with it. I too am a smoker now for about 35 years. If you have emphysema please don’t be scared, it is manageable, and it will not kill you like lung cancer can. Please don’t stress over this, stress is not good for your body. Be thankful that you don’t have lung cancer. Hope i was able to help.
dyldonavich1990 same here im paying for it now and also had a rough childhood
Please get another opinion, I just quit smoking tonight 12-15-09 because of what the doctor told me today. I just hope I don’t get that cancer or any worse than I am now. Its what I replied to LifeisDeep00. But yea you need to ask another doctor about that. My doctor will not even give me something to help me quit, just tells me to just quit smoking, and that they really don’t work anyway, You have to want to quit and that stuff will not work. YOu must want to quit first. Will Power.
I agree with you there 100%. My doctor tells me to quit smoking, I had chest X-raw two weeks ago, doc told me today 12-15-09 that I am in the early stages of emphysema, I told her if I quit smoking now will it get better, worse or what. She told me that it will not get better because the damage is already done, but she said at least it will not get any worse,,, Is that part true, scared that it still can be worse later, or even get cancer. YOu think I needs 2nd opinion.
Everybody wants to give up but the fact that sometimes other life stresses are a big factor in the process and sway someone to relapse it jus pisses me off that half the doctors who say dont smoke it is killing you actually have never or mayb once tried it.
but what i feel people need is just the support and research in a possitive way to quit.
We all regret smoking the dreaded death stick called THE CIGARRETTE but it is so damn easy for doctors and friends and family to tell you to stop smoking the words stop smoking is easy to say but not to do i wish to god people would realised that for some not all stopping smoking is so hard specially if u have been smoking for a large amount of years.
Everybody regrets even putting a cig to their mouth but they are so addictive after all stopping smoking is worse than coming of heroin,
@dyldonavich1990 I know how u feel me to
same
iever thing you said relates to me
im scared i might have cancer
Im smoked sincei was 10 im 19 now and sadly i have to go for a second test on my chest nd do a chest function test.
im only young and have been told i am pretty positive case of emphysema.
i never thought my age would get it but how stupid i was its jus torn my family apart
do u smoke? that’d be helpful!
here is my ?last year i had to go in cause my lungs where closing so i had to take a steriod inhaler so i could breath.the doc came in and told me that if i didnt slow down he could see me on a oxygen tank in 2-4 years.and with what systoms i have he thinks i have i guess a stage 2 emphysema.how can he say that with just a xray,listening to my lungs,and giving me a steriod inhaler?dont a pulmanary specialist have to diagnois u?
May GOD Bless each of you and help you get the info and any treatment you may need! Take Care!
I’ve been coughing up white/clear sputum for a couple of weeks, but there is no blood, and no pain. I am a heavy chewing tobacco user (one time smoker), but haven’t smoked in 8 years or more. Today i’ve been extremely light headed. It scares the hell out of me that it might be cancer. I do have a feeling of not being able to get enough air, but i also had a pulmonary embolism last november, and have had that symptom since.
i have smoke for 15 years and have pain in and around my chest. thats why i have stopped. it worrise the shit out of me.
Same to you. I still have to get an X-ray plaque and EKG for the tachycardia. My chest hurts a little less now but I´m still worried about it. I also regret each one of those cigarettes.
i hope this msg finds you well! i to have the same symptoms and go for a ct lung scan this week,,teriffied my years of smokeing have done harm, i wish i could turn the clock back . good luck to you.
I´ve been sick for around 2 months now. It started as a cough with a lot of phlegm. The cough has mostly receded now, I only cough sometimes when in a place with air conditioning. But I have a lot of strange symptoms like lightheadness, tachycardia , some shortness of breath every now and then, and pain throughout my toraxic area, specially the ribs. It hurts when I cough and sneeze. I´m really worried I might be very sick.
i have a pain in my right side under my rib, and hurts when i move around, (havent damaged it anything.)
I would stop seeing that doctor and get sec opinion
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