Lung cancer... or not
Discussion
I'm after a bit of advice please,
weeziness, shortness of breath, cough, pains in chest, feeling 'not right' going on for about a year. Chap had a mucous test and soon to be going for as of now 'other tests'. Obvious and initial laymans candidate is lung cancer. But, are there any other things is could be that are not suffixed by the word cancer.
weeziness, shortness of breath, cough, pains in chest, feeling 'not right' going on for about a year. Chap had a mucous test and soon to be going for as of now 'other tests'. Obvious and initial laymans candidate is lung cancer. But, are there any other things is could be that are not suffixed by the word cancer.
drivin_me_nuts said:
weeziness, shortness of breath, cough, pains in chest, feeling 'not right' going on for about a year. Chap had a mucous test and soon to be going for as of now 'other tests'. Obvious and initial laymans candidate is lung cancer. But, are there any other things is could be that are not suffixed by the word cancer.
Hundreds. Lung cancer isn't the obvious first choice either, it's just the scariest of hundreds of possibilities, most of which are fixable.Could be this:
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/bronchiectasis/Pages/...
Which would fit with the mucus test thing. It could even just be that he's fat (don't tell him I said that though.
)
It could be a combination of things. No sense getting worried about it until you need to worry about it really.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/bronchiectasis/Pages/...
Which would fit with the mucus test thing. It could even just be that he's fat (don't tell him I said that though.
) It could be a combination of things. No sense getting worried about it until you need to worry about it really.
Could be ticker not doing the job quite well enough.
Could 'just' be a really persistent infection.
Could if the person's bl**dy unlucky be TB (although probably still luckier than cancer).
Could possibly be other structural problems like a small hole in the lung (maybe one that keeps closing up and then being re-opened by coughing?) or even a tiny piece of cr*p that's got stuck down there somehow.
LOTS of possibilities other than cancer - and even if it is cancer remember that that doesn't automatically mean hospice etc - not yet, perhaps not ever.
Could 'just' be a really persistent infection.
Could if the person's bl**dy unlucky be TB (although probably still luckier than cancer).
Could possibly be other structural problems like a small hole in the lung (maybe one that keeps closing up and then being re-opened by coughing?) or even a tiny piece of cr*p that's got stuck down there somehow.
LOTS of possibilities other than cancer - and even if it is cancer remember that that doesn't automatically mean hospice etc - not yet, perhaps not ever.
buzzeh123 said:
JumboBeef said:
How old are you? Do you smoke?
If <50, I would be surprised if it was COPD.
My girlfriend is 23, it runs in her family, and she used to smoke like a trooper from the age of 14... definatly a possibility...If <50, I would be surprised if it was COPD.
I hope from the use of the words "used to smoke" she has stopped now. Hereditary COPD and smoking? Darwin Award.
It is still very unlikely for someone under 40 to have COPD, and over 50 more likely. However, for those who are over 40 and who have smoked for 20 years or more stand a very real chance of COPD.
I work for the ambulance service and see a lot of COPD patients. My wish would be for all smokers to spend an hour with a COPD person and see what waits for them unless they stop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3vmSDXHwMI
I'd think a common lung cancer UNLIKELY. The usual types (squamous cell, adenocarcinoma and small cell) generally progress faster than a year from initial symptoms to being obvious. The drive behind the recent campaign encouraging people with symptoms to present to their GP was that the UK has poor survival statistics (~30% 1yr survival from time of diagnosis*) because, while our diagnosis and treatment is good, far too many people present too late, with incurable disease.
*Overall when you look at hundreds of patients - in the individual case it is very variable, depending on the type of cancer and the "stage" (how advanced). Early diagnosis = potentially curable.
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/l...
*Overall when you look at hundreds of patients - in the individual case it is very variable, depending on the type of cancer and the "stage" (how advanced). Early diagnosis = potentially curable.
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/l...
JumboBeef said:
Hereditary COPD is very rare: <1% of COPD sufferers.
I hope from the use of the words "used to smoke" she has stopped now. Hereditary COPD and smoking? Darwin Award.
It is still very unlikely for someone under 40 to have COPD, and over 50 more likely. However, for those who are over 40 and who have smoked for 20 years or more stand a very real chance of COPD.
I work for the ambulance service and see a lot of COPD patients. My wish would be for all smokers to spend an hour with a COPD person and see what waits for them unless they stop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3vmSDXHwMI
I don't know anyone who has COPD/Emphysema but I have heard of it and it's meant to be a really horrible way to spend your life/die.I hope from the use of the words "used to smoke" she has stopped now. Hereditary COPD and smoking? Darwin Award.
It is still very unlikely for someone under 40 to have COPD, and over 50 more likely. However, for those who are over 40 and who have smoked for 20 years or more stand a very real chance of COPD.
I work for the ambulance service and see a lot of COPD patients. My wish would be for all smokers to spend an hour with a COPD person and see what waits for them unless they stop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3vmSDXHwMI
If I smoked, then just looking at this picture of someone's lung who suffered with COPD would be enough for me to give up.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac...
It looks like a slice of fruit cake or something. f
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