If you have ever been exposed to asbestos, either directly in construction or from the demolition or renovation of old buildings and homes, you should read this. Mesothelioma is a condition that affects those with a prolonged exposure to asbestos. It is a rare form of cancer, and almost all of the time it is fatal.

Out of the five types of this disease, unfortunately only one is a benign form. If you are diagnosed with this ailment, then your life expectancy is around one year, depending on how far it has progressed and how aggressive you are with treatments. Since there is no known cure, the treatments are meant to improve the quality of the patient’s life.

Common symptoms include chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, pain in the chest area, nagging cough and weight loss. Other symptoms that may occur in some cases may include bowel obstruction, lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, night sweats and irregular heart rate. Since these symptoms are common for other illnesses, it often goes unchecked as being associated with this disease.

The sad part is that if you were exposed to asbestos at some point it could take from twenty to roughly fifty years for it to manifest into the full blown illness. This makes it incredibly difficult to ascertain when the exposure took place, unless you have specific recollection of a time period.

The only effective way to remove any doubt if the disease exists in your system is to have a CT scan or X-ray. If evidence appears then a tube is inserted into the lung area with a needle inside. The needle removes a biopsy which is tested. A needle may also be inserted into the fluid area outside of the lung, where the disease generally attacks, to test for signs.

When it was determined that asbestos was responsible for such a horrendous illness, it was removed from the line of products. But it was too late for many people who were already infected. That’s why it is imperative that if you suspect you were associated with asbestos products that you be checked for Mesothelioma.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 2nd, 2011 at 6:52 am and is filed under Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.