Symptoms ?? - Cancer: Lung Message Board

anniefannie · 11-01-2006, 02:10 PM

Those of you who have been diagnosed (or a loved-one diagnosed) with lung cancer, can you list the symptoms that got you to the doctor. Also, if you had no symptoms, how was it discovered?

I know there's a list on the cancer websites, but it might be helpful to hear from people who have been through the diagnostic process. It's so important to know what to look for so this cancer can be caught early.

Janmarie2 · 11-01-2006, 03:31 PM

I can tell you about my mom's experience. Four years prior to her diagnosis she started felling short of breath with activity. She was not wheezing at all just felt short of breath, She went to the doctor they did all the respiratory tests, Her pumonary function tests were all normal next they did cardiac tests and everything came back normal so thinking maybe she had a pulmonary embolism they even did a Cat scan once again normal so everyone was stumped and mom just sort of did the best she could and became less active but was still active for a woman in her late 70's.

Over those 4 years she developed other symptoms like she was sweating alot, she felt fatigued and each time she went back to the doctor they really could not find anything wrong and started thinking it was a blood sugar issue so had her measuring her blood sugars which were on the high side of normal . About 3 years into this she lost about 20 lbs which she and her doctor thought was from increasing her calcium. Now she was at the weight she had always wanted to get back to having shed that excess 20 lbs that came with having 4 kids. Still the doctors thought nothing was wrong. Then In June 2004 she got very short of breath and this time it kept getting worse so she went to urgent care and they discovered she had a pleural sffusion. It was the pleural effusion that lead to finding the cancer. They did not see the tumor on the Xray but on a CT there it was and it was 7 CM. They have looked back at that old CT from 4 years prior and there is nothing visible. Sad for my mom was the cancer which is NSCLC adenocarcinoma had already spread to her liver so she was stage IV.

My mom was a nonsmoker.She had no other health issues except low thyroid and some allergies.. She never had a nagging cough or coughed up blood or had any chest pain which is what so many people believe are the symptoms of lung cancer, She did start coughing with the pleural effusion but nothing before that.( except years ago when her allergies were acting up at night she would cough and cough and when visiting I remember thinking could she have lung cancer? but this was about 20 yrs ago and when I told her to ask the doctor for nasal steroids which she did and within a week or two the cough was gone and has not come back).

I think you will find alot of people had no symptoms that screamed Lung cancer. Alot of people that are caught in the early stage end up finding out because the had an Xray or CT for some other reason, like a car accident , pre surgery, pneumonia etc and the tumor was spotted and it came as a huge shock. That is the bad thing about lung cancer is it usually does not have alot of symptoms until the later stages. and even then it can be things like back pain from bone mets and not things that scream lung cancer.

I hope this helps you some as I tell people if you feel there is something wrong with your body listen to it and have it checked out until yoiu feel satisfied with what the doctors tell you. Hope this helps some. JanMarie

burpee · 11-01-2006, 05:40 PM

Quote:

That is the bad thing about lung cancer is it usually does not have alot of symptoms until the later stages. and even then it can be things like back pain from bone mets and not things that scream lung cancer.

The other "whammy" about lung cancer is in it's primary cause - smoking.

The fact that smokers know their increased risk does not translate to additional health care or otherwise positively affect their health care choices. In fact, all statistics regarding lung cancers are skewed by the refusal of screenings by the smoking population that needs it the most.

It is absolutely ludicrous that health care providers do not mandate yearly CT screenings. This topic will see considerable discussion as the 60/70s smoking "boomers" present with late stage carcinomas......

DaveInVA · 11-01-2006, 07:45 PM

My cancer was caught when my doctor had me go in for an abdomen CT scan for prostate symptoms to rule out prostate cancer. That was negative but they saw the bottom of a lung mass so they also did a chest CT and found a 7cm mass which turned out to be typical carcinoid cancer that had probably been there 7 years or more as that type of cancer is relatively slow growing at 1 cm a year or less. I did have prior symptoms such as chronic bronchitis, chest pains etc but it had all been written off as allergy problems and Valley fever by the docs as I was a life long non smoker. Not one doc suspected cancer. My right middle lobe and nearby nodes where removed in March and so far its staying away but this type of cancer according to studies can stay microscopic as long as 10 years before returning so I have to stay with getting regular follow up exams. As I was a CT scanner FE in the past I know getting regular CT scans is a mixed blessing as they subject you to a pretty fair amount of radiation (1 chest CT = 500 standard chest xrays average) and its effects are accumulative and can eventually cause more cancer years later. Thats one reason why many doctors won't order a CT without some suspicion of cancer first. On the other hand a standard chest Xray can miss even fairly large tumors especially if they are near bone or another structure. My Mom went from clean chest Xrays to stage IV lung cancer in about 3 months. The cancer was almost certainly there already when the chest xrays looked clean. Many times lung cancer will not show symptoms until its spread enough to cause problems elsewhere. Also, many times symptoms are wrongly diagnosed as other problems. You can always request other tests like blood tests that may show cancer markers, pulmonary function test etc first if you are worried.

Dave

anniefannie · 11-03-2006, 08:07 AM

JanMarie - good to hear your Mom may get some medication to help her appetite. I pray for her and everyone here. I am currently awaiting doctor appt on Monday to find out what is causing my symptoms of shortness of breath and chest discomfort. I have no history of lung problems but I did smoke on and off for about 15 years so naturally I fear the worst. Quit 6 years ago.

What caused your Mom's sweating? That's a symptom I've never heard before.