10+ Warning Signs and Symptoms of Lung Cancer

Generally, lung cancers do not show any symptoms until the cancer has completely spread. However, there might be early symptoms in few patients.

Lung cancer surprisingly takes more lives in women in comparison to breast or ovarian cancer or any other cancer. One of the primary reason is that there are few signs of lung cancer and there is no proven method to screen for the disease in its primary stage. Therefore, the diagnosis takes place once the cancer has advanced and spread throughout the body.

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Anyone who has lungs can suffer from lung cancer. Moreover, without a proper screening mechanism, it is important to learn about the symptoms to detect the disease as early as possible.

It is essential to diagnose the symptoms in early stages for effective treatment. Here are the most common symptoms of lung cancer which may tell if you suffer from the disease or not:

• Continuous coughing which gets worse with time
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Coughing up blood or sputum
• Hoarseness
• Difficulty in breathing
• Chest pain
• Excessive wheezing

These are the early stage symptoms which may show you have lung cancer. If not detected earlier, lung cancer may spread and affect distant organs. This may cause:

• Negative changes in nervous systems. You may feel weakness or experience headaches. Many people have reported numbness in legs and arms. This happens as the cancer spreads to the spinal cord and/or brain.
• Lumps on the body. The spreading cancer can create lymph nodes on the surface of body. This could develop above collarbone or on the neck area.
• Severe bone pain in back or hips.

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These symptoms can be a result of something other than lung cancer as well. But, in case you experience any of these issues along with the early stage symptoms - it is recommended to visit a doctor at the earliest. Lung cancer should not be taken lightly. This will help the doctor to be one step ahead and prescribe effective treatment along with medications.

Regardless of the cancer type, catching it in the early stages is a big sigh of relief. You get to plan actions accordingly as you have time at hand. According to Dr. McKee, "There's a big difference in terms of survival between early detection and late detection when it comes to lung cancer. In fact, the five-year survival rate for those diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer is under 10 percent. But when lung cancer is detected in its earliest stages, it's much more likely that the patient will have success with their treatment."