Lung cancer symptoms: The recurring sign you may have the deadly disease

Lung cancer can dramatically cut a person’s life short. But Cancer Research UK predicts one in 10 people diagnosed with the condition can survive their disease for 10 years or more. Which recurring sign signals the disease?

The British Lung Foundation (BLF) states people take around “25,000 breaths” every day, without thinking.

Broken down, that’s breathing up to 20 times per minute.

The lungs function by absorbing oxygen from the air your breathe and transfer it into the bloodstream.

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Oxygen is then delivered to cells throughout the body – a vital component to make things work properly (or, at all).

Cells within the body produce a waste product called carbon dioxide, which the lungs are responsible for removing from the body with every exhale.

The left lung is smaller than the right lung, because it shares that side of the chest with the heart.

When cancer cells reproduce in the lungs, they reproduce in such an uncontrollable manner that they then form a tumour.

One recurring sign you may have developed the deadly disease is a continuous cough.

This is a cough that has lasted for more than three weeks. Medical News Today add that the cough can either be dry or wet.

A wet cough means phlegm is produced, and any sign of blood in phlegm is another indication of lung cancer.

The cough can even interfere with a person’s sleep at night.

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The BLF lists seven other symptoms of lung cancer. These include:

  • Lots of chest infections
  • Feeling out of breath either at rest or when doing day to day tasks
  • Chest pain
  • Feeling tired
  • Appetite loss
  • Weight loss
  • A hoarse voice

Usually, coughing helps the lungs clear harmful objects out of the airway.

Such a response is triggered when irritants and foreign bodies stimulate receptors in the lungs.

A cancerous tumour does exactly the same thing. Coughing is also caused by an immune response.

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Cancer Research UK confirm that 79 percent of lung cancer cases in the UK are preventable.

This is because 72 percent of lung cancers are caused by smoking.

The BLF adds: “Your risk of getting lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes you’ve smoked and the number of years you’ve been a smoker.

“If you stop smoking, the risk gets lower over time – after 10 years, your risk of lung cancer falls to half that of a smoker.”

Breathing in second-hand smoke over an extended period of time can also increase a person’s risk of developing lung cancer.

Cancer Research UK go further to explain that smoking “causes at least 15 different types of cancer”.

This is because harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke enters the bloodstream.

The charity continues: “Research has shown that for every 15 cigarettes smoked, there is a DNA change which could cause a cell in the body to become cancerous.”

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