A prompt diagnosis is often very important for someone who has cancer. The earlier the disease can be identified, the better the odds of successful treatment. This is true even with aggressive types of cancer, such as mesothelioma.
However, many symptoms may be hard to identify because they could come from numerous different ailments. If someone has been coughing, they may wonder if they’ve been exposed to asbestos or developed mesothelioma or if they just have a common cold. Is coughing one of the symptoms of early mesothelioma?
Coughing can be a symptom
It is true that coughing is one of the potential symptoms of mesothelioma. This is especially true if it is a dry cough, rather than the wet cough that comes with a cold or a lot of other common ailments. It’s also a red flag if this cough is persistent and does not seem to get better over time. If someone has been coughing for a month, for example, odds are that it is much more serious than something like the common cold.
It’s also important for those who suspect they may have mesothelioma to look at other related symptoms that go along with the cough. These could include things like chest pain, shortness of breath, lower back pain, difficulty swallowing and the like. In some cases, people will experience weight loss – which is common with many types of cancer – and they could also have swelling in the arms or the face.
After a mesothelioma diagnosis is made, the treatment necessary may be prohibitively expensive. Those who are facing this type of diagnosis need to know about the legal options at their disposal.