Mesothelioma Symptoms and Diagnosis

The symptoms of mesothelioma are often hard to distinguish and recognize. Due to the fact that this disease has such a long latency period, many of the symptoms are overlooked, and the connection with mesothelioma is not made. This causes the disease to develop and become more deadly.

Pleural mesothelioma has symptoms that are often similar to various respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and the common cold. The symptoms include, but are not limited to, chest pain, cough, raspy voice, shortness of breath, and fluid in the chest. Clearly, these are also similar to other ailments, which might cause a physician who is not well versed in mesothelioma to prescribe medication to treat a nonexistent condition while the cancer grows into a more serious problem. What doctors don’t realize is these symptoms are due to a tumor thriving in the pleura that is causing pain as it limits the area that the lungs have to expand and bring oxygen into the body.

Peritoneal mesothelioma is connected with a great deal of pain in the abdominal area. Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, bloating or swelling, and obstruction in the digestive tract. Doctors may mistake these as flu-like symptoms and prescribe bed rest and fluids in hope that the symptoms will diminish. Again, this gives the cancer time to grow, and symptoms worsen, putting the patient in more danger. When the lungs don’t have proper room to fully function, they will not be able to bring enough oxygen into the blood, causing increased health problems.

Pericardial mesothelioma is very hard to diagnose and has been confused with heart disease and other heart conditions. Symptoms include chest pain, heart palpitations, feeling short of breath, and moderate to intense fatigue. Victims of this form of mesothelioma have tumors that restrict the amount of space the heart has to expand to push blood through the body. This results in the patient’s inability to exert a lot of energy without feeling very fatigued. As the tumor grows, the space continues to decrease until the heart is no longer able to supply the body with enough blood.

Overall, it is important to make your physician aware of your work history, as well as the work history of your family members. If you work, or have worked, in an asbestos related industry, your doctor should be alerted. That way, when symptoms such as these develop, an early diagnosis may be made. Many people are not happy when their doctors have questionnaires that seem endless. It is clear that they ask these questions for a reason, and it is important that you answer them truthfully and provide as much detail as possible. Because the symptoms of many diseases, including mesothelioma, mimic the symptoms of other diseases, sometimes it is the smallest detail that might lead a doctor to test for mesothelioma and make an early diagnosis. In turn, coping with the disease may be much more tolerable for the patient.

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