Symptoms of Lung Cancer

Symptoms of lung cancer are difficult to spot, even for trained medical professionals, because they're easily mistaken for other diseases and conditions. Going to an oncologist for a cancer screening isn't the first thing that comes to mind if you're short of breath climbing stairs.

A persistent cough could be a long running flu, or allergies acting up.

It's difficult to sort out the symptoms of lung cancer from the symptoms of other, more common, and less lethal maladies. And lung cancer, because it damages the bronchial tubes, makes it likelier that other bronchial infections will occur.

You should definitely get your doctor involved when you have persistent discharges from your lungs. Yes, everyone coughs up gunk when they have the flu. But if you're coughing up something that's black, or mildly pink, it may be because blood is in the mucous of the lungs from a cancer tumor.

Somewhat scarier clinical lung cancer symptom set include:

• changes in the voice - because the cancer has altered the shape of the patient's wind pipe (usually constricting it) which makes it harder to use the vocal cords.
• sometimes lung cancer shows as a persistent 'stitch' in your side (as if you'd just done a bunch of running),
• sometimes as a regular and recurring acid stomach (as the growing tumor puts pressure on the stomach itself),
• sometimes as persistent wheezing, as if someone has asthma.

Other lung cancer symptoms are the generalized 'cancer' symptoms:

• These include constant fatigue (as the cancer steals blood from other organs, making you anemic)
• unexpected weight loss
• unexpected weight loss

You should definitely get your doctor involved when you have persistent discharges from your lungs. Sometimes, the only symptom that lung cancer gives is a spot on a chest X-Ray, and not everyone goes in for them often enough for that to serve as a valid screening tool. It is absolutely recommended that you get a lung cancer screening and a chest X ray for possible tumors at least every other year starting at age 60 if you have a history of smoking or lung ailments.

The Importance of Lung Cancer Early Detection

However, when lung cancer is detected early, it's not quite as dangerous. A recent study from 2006 showed that early detection of lung cancer allowed 92% of the patients to live 10 years or more. Early detection is critical just like any other kind of cancer.

Those detection methods include:

• examining phlegm (the stuff you cough up from a bronchial infection)
• low dose spiral CT scans of the body
• and screening to look for the 'fingerprints' of tumor cells.

A lot of the newest research in early detection is dedicated to finding the traces of tumor cells in lung tissue. That being said, it's still rare to get early detection because it's too easy to mistake symptoms of lung cancer for other, more benign ailments.

To make it easier for you to make informed decisions, we're publishing lots of information on lung cancer symptoms, and what to do if you have clinical lung cancer (or if someone you love has lung cancer.) If you'd like regular updates, please subscribe to the Lung Cancer Insight newsletter.

If You Have Lung Cancer

Many people feel self recrimination; they feel that their smoking habit doomed them to lung cancer. That it's their fault somehow, or that they deserve it. Nobody deserves lung cancer, not even a lifetime smoker.

We won't lie to you - lung cancer is scary. You're entitled to every emotion you feel. If it's detected at Stage III or Stage IV, your odds have gotten better in the last decade, but they're still not great. However, we can provide hope, and we can provide you a way to contact people who've gone through this, and we can give you the information you need.

We're here for you..

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