Serious answer: its for a love one who was diagnoise with it.

here are a couple of links that may have info for you:

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/idc.jsp

http://cms.komen.org/komen/AboutBreastCancer/BreastFacts/WhatIsBreastCancer?ssSourceNodeId=284&ssSourceSiteId=Komen

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=545046

take care.

i am an idiot. last year in october of 2006 or so i guess outside there was like burning of liek the stuff they use to make roads or w/e and i inhaled it, in the summer i smoked a cardboard cigar looking thing with nothing in it. i smoked weed here and there, no cigs. i bet i have lung cancer or some disease. what are the symptoms and how long does it take? i havent had anyhing lately.

Caleb you do not have lung cancer but you may have sustained lung damage.

General symptoms of lung cancer

The symptoms of lung cancer can be

* Having a cough most of the time
* A change in a cough you have had for a long time
* Being short of breath
* Coughing up phlegm (sputum) with signs of blood in it
* An ache or pain when breathing or coughing
* Loss of appetite
* Fatigue
* Losing weight

Less common symptoms of lung cancer

There are other symptoms of lung cancer that are less common. They are usually associated with more advanced lung cancer. You may have

* A hoarse voice
* Difficulty swallowing
* Swelling of the face caused by a blockage of a main blood vessel from the head (SVCO)
* Swelling in the neck caused by enlarged lymph nodes
* Pain or discomfort under your ribs on your right side (from the liver)
* Shortness of breath caused by fluid around the lungs (called pleural effusion)

WHAT CAUSES LUNG CANCER?

Smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer. Lung cancer may also be the most tragic cancer because in most cases, it might have been prevented — 87% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 different chemicals, many of which are proven cancer-causing substances, or carcinogens. Smoking cigars or pipes also increases the risk of lung cancer.

The more time and quantity you smoke, the greater your risk of lung cancer. But if you stop smoking, the risk of lung cancer decreases each year as normal cells replace abnormal cells. After ten years, the risk drops to a level that is one-third to one-half of the risk for people who continue to smoke. In addition, quitting smoking greatly reduces the risk of developing other smoking-related diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Many of the chemicals in tobacco smoke also affect the nonsmoker inhaling the smoke, making "secondhand smoking" another important cause of lung cancer. It is responsible for approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually.

Radon is considered to be the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. today. Radon gas can come up through the soil under a home or building and enter through gaps and cracks in the foundation or insulation, as well as through pipes, drains, walls or other openings. Radon causes between 15,000 and 22,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States — 12 percent of all lung cancer deaths are linked to radon.

Radon problems have been found in every state. The EPA estimates that nearly 1 out of every 15 homes in the U.S. has indoor radon levels at or above the level at which homeowners should take action — 4 picocuries per liter of air (pCi/L) on a yearly average. Radon can be a problem in schools and workplaces, too.

Because you cannot see or smell radon, the only way to tell if you are being exposed to the gas is by measuring radon levels. Exposure to radon in combination with cigarette smoking greatly increases the risk of lung cancer. That means for smokers, exposure to radon is an even greater health risk.

Another leading cause of lung cancer is on-the-job exposure to cancer-causing substances or carcinogens. Asbestos is a well-known, work-related substance that can cause lung cancer, but there are many others, including uranium, arsenic, and certain petroleum products.

There are many different jobs that may involve exposure. Some examples are working with certain types of insulation, working in coke ovens, and repairing brakes. When exposure to job-related carcinogens is combined with smoking, the risk of getting lung cancer is sharply increased.

A recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association suggests that particulate matter pollution can cause lung cancer.

Lung cancer takes many years to develop. But changes in the lung can begin almost as soon as a person is exposed to cancer-causing substances. Soon after exposure begins, a few abnormal cells may appear in the lining of the bronchi (the main breathing tubes). If a person continues to be exposed to the cancer-causing substance, more abnormal cells will appear. These cells may be on their way to becoming cancerous and forming a tumor.

HOW IS LUNG CANCER DETECTED?

In its early stages, lung cancer usually does not cause symptoms. When symptoms occur, the cancer is often advanced. Symptoms of lung cancer include:

* Chronic cough
* Hoarseness
* Coughing up blood
* Weight loss & loss of appetite
* Shortness of breath
* Fever without a known reason
* Wheezing
* Repeated bouts of bronchitis or pneumonia
* Chest pain

These conditions are also symptomatic of many other lung problems, so a person who has any of these symptoms should see a doctor to find out the cause. When a person goes for an exam, the doctor ask many questions about the person’s medical history, including questions about the patient’s exposure to hazardous substances. The doctor will also give the patient a physical exam. If the patient has a cough that produces a sputum (mucus), it may be examined for cancer cells. The doctor will order a chest X-ray or specialized X-ray such as the CT scan, which help to locate any abnormal spots in the lungs. The doctor may insert a small tube called a bronchoscope through the nose or mouth and down the throat, to look inside the airways and lungs and take a sample, or biopsy, of the tumor. This is just one of several ways in which a doctor may take a biopsy sample.

A growing number of doctors are using a form of CT scan in smokers to spot small lung cancers, which are more likely than large tumors to be cured. The technique, called helical low-dose CT scan, is much more sensitive than a regular X-ray and can detect tumors when they are small.

More studies on this type of screening will show whether routine screening of smokers and others at risk for lung cancer will save lives.

If you are diagnosed with cancer, the doctor will do testing to find out whether the cancer has spread, and, if so, to which parts of the body. This information will help the doctor plan the most effective treatment. Tests to find out whether the cancer has spread can include a CT scan, an MRI, or a bone scan.

=======

You can see a doctor and voice your concerns, but you haven’t really listed any symptoms. Your lung function can be tested as well. And lay off cigarettes or weed. Marijuana has many more carcinogens than cigarettes (and RESIN) that sticks in your lungs.

You only have TWO lungs…protect them.

Image via Wikipedia

Mesothelioma Cancer

Mesothelioma cancer is a rare type of cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, abdomen, and heart. Men develop this about four times more often than women. All types of Mesothelioma are usually fatal with the exception of benign Mesothelioma.

Once this cancer has been diagnosed the prognosis is not very promising. Most patients have a life expectancy of only less than one year. However, it is also dependent upon how soon the cancer is diagnosed and how aggressively it is treated. These factors can lengthen or shorten the patient’s life expectancy.

Mesothelioma cancer is rather odd in the way it behaves. The cause of it is exposure to asbestos. Yet it can take anywhere from 20 to 50 years following exposure to the asbestos before symptoms begin showing up. These symptoms can include:

* Shortness of breath

* Persistent cough

* Fatigue

* Lumps under the skin in the chest area

* Weight loss

* Nausea

* Pain and swelling in the abdomen

* Obstruction in the bowel

* Heart palpations

* Irregular heartbeat

* Trouble breathing

* Night sweats

* Testicular lumps that may or may not be painful

Anyone experiencing these symptoms needs to contact their doctor immediately. If Mesothelioma cancer is suspected, the doctor will perform certain tests to confirm the diagnosis. These tests may be in the form of X-rays, different types of scans, and a biopsy.

Once the diagnosis has been confirmed the next step is to find the best treatment options for the patient. These can be anything from chemotherapy to surgery. The most common types of treatments are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or surgery.  Immunotherapy and gene therapy are experimental treatments that can also be tried. Many patients use a combination of treatments to try to fight this cancer.

As the dangers of asbestos were known long before anything was done to protect workers from Mesothelioma cancer, there have been many ongoing law suits against companies who either produced or used asbestos products. The exposure to asbestos occurred in the 20th century until the danger was exposed in the 1970’s. It was at this point in time that asbestos started to decline. Today, families of the victims of Mesothelioma are winning large law suits everyday due to the negligence of the companies who were responsible for exposing their loved ones to this deadly mineral.

The sad thing about this cancer is that it is one that could have been avoided completely with a bit of research and study into asbestos before assuming it was safe to use.

Technorati Tags: Asbestos Mesothelioma Cancer Symptom, Mesothelioma Cancer Symptoms

PROSTATE CANCER – NEW TREATMENT BY RADIOTHERAPY

Research is continuing to try and improve technology and techniques to allow radiotherapy to the prostate gland to be more effective and to have fewer side effects. One way is to reduce the amount of radiation received by normal organs (bladder, bowel etc) and this has been improving over the last few years with better machines and techniques such as “conformal radiotherapy” and “IMRT”.

Work is also being carried out on combining brachytherapy with external therapy to allow some of the benefits of brachytherapy (fewer side effects, higher overall dose to the prostate cancer) to be used for men with more advanced prostate cancer without compromising the chance of cure.

NEW HORMONE THERAPY FOR PROSTATE CANCER

Some newer prostate cancer hormone treatments have fewer side effects than older hormone based drugs. Some are also felt to be more effective. All the time researchers are testing to try and find the best hormone tablets or injections for use in prostate cancer.

Other research is going on to try and work out the best time to give hormone treatment in prostate cancer and whether it is best to combine this treatment with other types of treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Trials are currently being run to answer these questions and the results should be available in the next few years.

IMPROVEMENTS IN CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENT FOR PROSTATE CANCER

In the past prostate cancer did not respond very well to chemotherapy drugs. However now there are newer drugs which are more powerful against prostate cancer and these have started to be used with more frequency in late prostate cancer which has already spread to other organs and which has become resistant to hormone treatments. The best drug found so far is Docetaxel, a new type of chemotherapy drug. It has several side effects including hair loss, nausea and risk of infection. Doctors are now looking to see if Docetaxel would work even better as a combination with other drugs.

USE OF BISPHOSPHONATE DRUGS FOR PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT

These are a group of drugs which are most often used in treating osteoporosis. It has been recently found that they can also help reduce pain associated with cancer deposits or secondaries in the bones. They may also help reduce the risk of these abnormal bones from breaking or fracturing, by slowing down the damage caused to the bone by the cancer.

Research is ongoing to look at which of these drugs is the best for treating prostate cancer with bone disease and when the best time to start treatment with these drugs is.

ALTERNATIVE TO SURGERY FOR TREATMENT OF EARLY PROSTATE CANCER

There are 2 new treatments which are being researched as an alternative to surgery for some men with localised prostate cancer. Both options would not require a general anaesthetic (you would not need to be put to sleep) making them lower risk. Both treatments also have fewer side effects than radical surgery (“prostatectomy”). However neither has been in use long enough to know if it will prevent prostate cancer from coming back as effectively as standard treatments (surgery and radiotherapy).

Cryotherapy is the killing of cancer cells by freezing them. Needles are inserted into the prostate gland under local anaesthetic and liquid nitrogen is passed along them to freeze the prostate and the cancer cells within it. Currently it is being used for men whose prostate cancer has come back despite a first more conventional treatment and so is only being trialled for use as a first treatment option.

HIFU stands for high frequency ultrasound. Here ultrasound waves are directed to where there are cancer cells and are these are used to heat them up, thus killing them. In prostate cancer the ultrasound probe would be put into the back passage and from here ultrasound waves would be fired towards the prostate gland. The results so far have been good in that the treatment is safe and effective.

NEW TREATMENTS FOR PROSTATE CANCER IN VERY EARLY STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

There are a number of alternative treatments which are still at a highly experimental stage of development. Gene therapy aims to replace the faulty genes in cancer cells with good ones which would allow the cell to self destruct if it felt it had become too mutated. (Cancer cells have lost this self destruct ability and continue to grow and divide despite having many abnormalities which would normally force the cell to die.) Vaccine treatment looks at ways of making the bodies own immune system recognise and kill cancerous sells. Endothelin blockers are a new type of drug treatment which works by preventing the prostate cancer cells to grow.

Many people may have heard that Vitamin D is being used in the treatment of prostate cancer however this therapy is in the very early experimental stages and is no where near being used in clinics as a cancer treatment. Vitamin D has been reported to block receptors on prostate cancer cells thereby slowing the rate of their growth but there is NO clinical evidence that this is in fact the case. Some researchers claim that the active form of Vitamin D slows the growth of prostate cancer but as yet this has only been tested on mice and other small animals.

Beta-sitosterol is a herbal remedy that people have started to associate with prostate cancer treatment. This natural plant fat has apparently been proven effective for the treatment of an enlarged prostate but not necessarily prostate cancer. According to research Beta-sitosterol MAY help to prevent the emergence of prostate cancer but this has not been clinically proven yet.

Adrian Jones
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/new-treatments-for-prostate-cancer-106680.html

It is stated that for each action, there may be an equal and reverse reaction. Most cancers is one of the commonest deaths today. This concept might be cliche nonetheless, it’s the truth. For years and years now, now we have not stopped discovering the remedy and treatment for cancer. Prostate most cancers for instance occurs when the most cancers cells envelop the prostate among men.

Therapy and remedy of this type of cancer require medical surgical procedures and remedy to stop the rapid unfold and completely kill the most cancers cells throughout the prostate. For treating the prostate most cancers, we are targeting the most cancers cells immediately or indirectly. These are most cancers cells which can be spreading quick and causes demise for different healthy living cells.

Have you learnt that whereas we are treating these cancer cells inside the prostate, we are also on the sting of killing healthy dwelling cells? The method of treating the most cancers cells would possibly injury the non-cancer cells throughout the target area, inflicting the healthy ones to deteriorate, and eventually die.

On the similar time, whereas we’re treating the cancer cells with therapies and different medical means, the sufferers’ health is deteriorating as well. On account of the use of chemical compounds and medical instruments, the affected person is exposed to all types of stress.

The pain, agony, bodily exhaustion, and psychological trauma may place the patient’s physical, psychological, emotional and psychological state out of control. At the identical time, this may result in the patient’s body to refuse the treatment. If worse came to worst, the patient will eventually die because the remedy not works for him.

In a particular viewpoint, prostate cancer may also lead to a extra critical facet effect like the lack of the bladder to voluntarily maintain the urine and keep away from dribbling and leaking. At times, the patient is unconscious that the urine is out of control and comes out voluntarily because the muscle tissue of the bladder is not environment friendly to hold the urine if necessary. Another facet effect of prostate most cancers remedy is erectile irregularities. Keep in mind that the prostate gland constitute the reproductive system. If one is diagnose to have prostate most cancers, there might be some malfunctions with the hormones secreted during sexual intercourse.

At some point, there might be insufficient erection throughout sexual intimacy since individuals with prostate most cancers will have an inability to achieve or preserve erection. This outcomes to unsatisfied partners.These side effects mentioned above are only a few of the issues which may happen if a person has prostate cancer.

But essentially the most tough to deal with is the physical, emotional, and psychological stress the illness might give a patient. During this trial instances, the affected person shall be exposed to all sorts of stress. Stress that might lead to giving as much as the illness and eventually demise concedes.

If we have now a family member or a pal who has prostate most cancers, encouragement and guidance are the methods to remove stress. At the same time, they need to feel they belong with us, that we value them in as a lot as we worth him being alive. Doing so will make them feel safe and reduce the burden of being a prostate most cancers patient. Find more other useful articles about cryosurgery for prostate cancer, proton therapy for prostate cancer and prostate cancer radiation treatment

Technorati Tags: prostate cancer article, prostate cancer guide, prostate cancer information, prostate cancer tips