November is Breast Cancer Awareness Month as well as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and Diabetes Awareness Month, and it’s also the month for lung cancer awareness. Along with breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and diabetes, lung cancer is also a problematic disease that affects many people—it’s the leading cause of death by cancer in the US for any ethnicity, and it will claim about 437 deaths a day on average. Lung cancer becomes more difficult to treat as its stages advance, so it’s important to spread awareness about this devastating condition so that people can prevent themselves from developing it or seek treatment for lung cancer as soon as possible.
Some of the symptoms of lung cancer include coughing, chest, shoulder or back pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, feeling hoarse, face and neck swelling, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia, loss of appetite, and fluid in the pleural cavity, which inhibits breathing. These symptoms are associated with the earlier stages of lung cancer. Other symptoms develop when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. When lung cancer metastasizes it can affect the bones, liver and brain. Symptoms of lung cancer that affect other parts of the body can consist of bone and stomach pain, jaundice, headaches, seizures, nausea and vomiting. Developing lung cancer is highly associated with smoking—smoking damages the cells of the lungs by exposing them to carcinogens, and about 87% of lung cancer cases have to do with the patient smoking, or having formerly smoked. Other lung cancer causes are exposure to radon and asbestos, toxic substances often found in old houses that were not constructed recently.
There are many types of treatment for lung cancer, and choosing which option to take is a complicated choice that depends on the patient, the stage of cancer, and the location of the cancer in the lungs. Medical treatment for lung cancer consists of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, which are all techniques intended to remove cancer or to kill cancer cells. Sometimes these options don’t appeal or work for cancer patients, so they might look to holistic treatment for lung cancer, which consists of a variety of techniques like altering diet, doing regular exercise, aromatherapy, and much more. More recently researchers are looking into developing drugs that might help control the symptoms of lung cancer. But whichever method patients choose, it’s important that they start treatment right away to fight the cancer more effectively.
Some of the symptoms of lung cancer include coughing, chest, shoulder or back pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, feeling hoarse, face and neck swelling, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia, loss of appetite, and fluid in the pleural cavity, which inhibits breathing. These symptoms are associated with the earlier stages of lung cancer. Other symptoms develop when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. When lung cancer metastasizes it can affect the bones, liver and brain. Symptoms of lung cancer that affect other parts of the body can consist of bone and stomach pain, jaundice, headaches, seizures, nausea and vomiting. Developing lung cancer is highly associated with smoking—smoking damages the cells of the lungs by exposing them to carcinogens, and about 87% of lung cancer cases have to do with the patient smoking, or having formerly smoked. Other lung cancer causes are exposure to radon and asbestos, toxic substances often found in old houses that were not constructed recently.
There are many types of treatment for lung cancer, and choosing which option to take is a complicated choice that depends on the patient, the stage of cancer, and the location of the cancer in the lungs. Medical treatment for lung cancer consists of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, which are all techniques intended to remove cancer or to kill cancer cells. Sometimes these options don’t appeal or work for cancer patients, so they might look to holistic treatment for lung cancer, which consists of a variety of techniques like altering diet, doing regular exercise, aromatherapy, and much more. More recently researchers are looking into developing drugs that might help control the symptoms of lung cancer. But whichever method patients choose, it’s important that they start treatment right away to fight the cancer more effectively.
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