[widget id=”ad_unit-10″]ad_unit-10[/widget]Smoking is one of the leading causes of death in the US today. Tobacco smoke contains thousands of harmful chemicals and more or less fifty among these chemicals are known potent carcinogens. Maybe this is the reason why it is not surprising that tobacco use is attributed to the 30 % of cancer deaths and 80 % of lung cancer. So if you know someone who smokes, maybe it would help to identify ahead of time any serious illness associated with smoking if you know the signs or symptoms of a severe smoking related illness.
1. Productive Coughing
If you noticed mucus or blood discharge when you cough, this could be a sign of serious respiratory illness. You don’t want to just ignore this sign. You may want to seek the advice of your doctor.
2. Constant Cough Symptoms
If your cough won’t go away for several weeks already, maybe it’s about time you visit your doctor. Constant coughing may indicate a serious lung problem. However, coughing alone is not conclusive.
3. Wheezing
There are a number of reasons why a person has difficulty in breathing. Wheezing can be a result of other lung conditions like asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia. But it cannot be ignored that wheezing might be caused of a tumor obstructing your airways. Constant wheezing may be a sign of tumor growing in your lungs.
4. Shortness of Breath
It is a natural occurrence for smokers to often catch their breath, but a sudden change in the pattern of your breathing, might be a sign of advancing health issue. You may want to closely monitor your respiratory health.
5. Lasting Chest Pains
One of the known symptoms of lung cancer in smokers is chest pain or the feeling of tightness in your chest area. The mutant cells penetrate your chest walls causing the pain or tightness. High risk persons or known smokers should consult their physicians.
6. Post Obstructive Pneumonia
This can be caused by the growing malignant cells in your air passages. It obstructs your airways causing pneumonia.
7. Change in Voice Pattern
One of the alarming signs of a severe illness related to smoking is the gradual change in your voice pattern. The growing tumor applies pressure on your laryngeal nerves affecting your vocal cords.
8. Fluid in Your Lungs
Fluids start to accumulate between your lungs and your chest wall (plural effusion) when the malignant tissues spread and invade your lung’s inner lining (plura). The increase in plural infusion can worsen your shortness of breath.
9. Joint and Skeletal Pains
Tumors developing in the upper part of your lungs may likewise affect the neighboring nerves and may cause pain in your shoulder and arm.
10. More signs
Diseases linked with smoking can cause several signs and symptoms including difficulty in swallowing, swelling on the upper part of your body, and pericardial effusion. It is important that you become aware of the sudden or gradual changes in your system to possibly find the cure or better yet stop smoking as early as possible.
