Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Symptoms, Causes,and Diagnosis

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare cancer that develops in the tissues that comprise the lining of a lung (pleura). The majority of individuals who develop malignant pleural mesothelioma have experienced chronic exposure to asbestos during the course of their lives.

“The average age of onset is sixty and the latent period between exposure to asbestos and development of mesothelioma can be up to forty years,” says Dr. Warwick Carter in his book The Complete Family Medical Guide. “It has a very insidious onset, with symptoms little different to asbestosis itself.”

The early symptoms of mesothelioma are generally non-specific, and may lead to a delay in diagnosis, according to the website Mesotheliomaweb.org. “Sometimes resembling viral pneumonia, pleural mesothelioma patients may present with shortness of breath, chest pain and/or persistent cough; some patients show no symptoms at all. A chest x-ray may show a build-up of fluid or pleural effusion. . . The right lung is affected 60% of the time, with involvement of both lungs being seen in approximately 5% of patients at the time of diagnosis. Less common symptoms of pleural mesothelioma include fever, night sweats and weight loss.”

“X-ray changes may not be apparent until the disease is quite advanced,” says Dr. Carter, “and CT scans are more useful in making the diagnosis in suspicious cases. A biopsy of the cancerous area is the only way to make a definite diagnosis.”

Treatment with surgery, drugs and radiation has been tried, but with virtually no success as the cancer is extremely virulent and spreads rapidly. Three quarters of malignant pleural mesothelioma victims die within a year of the diagnosis, and 98% within two years.

Lung Cancer: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis and Prevention

Lung cancer: A malignant growth, or tumor, affecting one or both lungs.

Introduction
Symptoms
Duration
Causes
Complications
When to consult a doctor
Prevention
Outlook

Introduction

The growth usually starts on the bronchial tubes which carry air to and from the trachea (windpipe). In such cases its medical name is bronchogenic carcinoma. Other terms sometimes used are pulmonary neoplasm (lung tumor) and respiratory cancer.

There are several different types of lung cancer, depending on the cells within the lungs that are affected.

The disease usually appears in middle to old age, and is 15 times more common among cigarette smokers than among those who do not smoke.

Symptoms

A dry irritant cough which at first resembles that of a heavy smoker. Later, yellow phlegm may be coughed up.
Spitting blood more than once in a week. Pure blood may be coughed up, but more commonly streaks of fresh (red) or altered (brown) blood are mixed with phlegm.
Shortness of breath, loss of mass, and a dull continuous pain in the chest or shoulders.
Sometimes the first sign of the disease is a sudden feverish illness which is often mistaken for pneumonia.
Duration

Lung cancer can become irreversibly established before it is detected, because it can take weeks or even months for the symptoms to reveal themselves. Even regular chest X-rays and sputum tests often fail to detect lung cancer at its earliest symptom-free treatable stage.
If the cancer is not treated, it progresses steadily.
Causes

Smoking. Stopping smoking at any time before the disease has started greatly reduces the otherwise high risks.
Air pollution. Lung cancer occurs more frequently in towns than in the country. Prolonged exposure to some industrial dusts (for example asbestos) increases the risk of lung cancer, particularly in smokers.
Complications

The cancer may spread to other parts of the body, most commonly to bone and the brain, and the veins draining the head and arms may become blocked (superior vena cava syndrome).
When to consult a doctor

If any of the symptoms appear.
If the patient’s general state of health causes him or her friends or relatives to think of lung cancer.
Anybody over 35 who has a cough which persists for more than a month should seek medical advice. This applies particularly to smokers or someone who has recently had pneumonia.
Diagnosis

The cancer is diagnosed by chest X-rays, CT scans, sputum examination, and a biopsy of the tumor using a bronchoscope if possible.
Prevention


Keep your lungs healthy!
Do not smoke, and quit smoking if you do. Even in heavy smokers, after five years of non-smoking, the risk of developing lung cancer will reduce to near normal.
Smokers and other high-risk groups should have regular chest X-rays.
Observe industrial safety regulations strictly in working areas where there are harmful dusts such as asbestos.
Outlook

If the disease is detected in its earlier stages it may sometimes be cured.
The outlook, despite treatment by surgery or chemotherapy, is not usually good. Fewer than 20% of all patients with lung cancer survive more than five years from diagnosis. Those with small cell (oat cell) carcinoma usually die within a year. That is why it is vital to stop smoking in order to reduce the risk of lung cancer.

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A Natural Treatment for Lung Cancer?You won’t find it on the shelf of your local garden center but the natural plant extract called deguelin, used as an insecticide in Africa and South America, appears to prevent the growth of precancerous and cancerous lung cells without harming normal cells. Read more…

Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Symptoms, Causes, and DiagnosisMalignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare cancer that develops in the tissues that comprise the lining of a lung (pleura). The majority of individuals who develop malignant pleural mesothelioma have experienced chronic exposure to asbestos during the course of their lives. Read more…

Hypoglycemia: Symptoms,Causes and Diagnosis

Hypoglycemia: Low Blood Sugar
by: Gabe Mirkin, M.D.



If your doctor tells you that you suffer from hypoglycemia, he must then tell you the cause because low blood sugar is the result of something going wrong in your body. It is not a cause.

Your brain gets more than 98 percent of its energy from sugar in your bloodstream. There is only enough sugar in your bloodstream to last about three minutes, so your liver constantly releases sugar from its cells into your bloodstream. But your liver can store only enough sugar to last 12 hours at rest, so it must manufacture new sugar from protein and other energy stores.

When blood sugar levels drop, you may feel anxious, shaky, sweaty, hungry, a tingling in your skin or your heart may beat rapidly. More severe symptoms include confusion, a sensation of warmth, weakness or fatigue, loss of memory and in its extreme, seizures and passing out. As you suffer repeat attacks of low blood sugar, they affect you less and your symptoms lessen.

There are two types of low blood sugar. First, when your blood sugar rises too high, causing your pancreas to release a large amount of insulin that drops your blood sugar too low, and second, a slow drop in blood sugar caused by your liver running out of stored sugar. Doctors used to think that insulin-induced hypoglycemia follows meals and that your liver running out of sugar doesn't follow meals, but they now know that both types can occur any time.

It is almost impossible to diagnose hypoglycemia by drawing blood after you suffer an attack of dizziness, weakness or fainting because your body produces adrenaline immediately and raises blood sugar levels to normal before your doctor can draw blood. It can be diagnosed by feeding you lots of sugar and measuring your blood sugar level every half-hour for several hours. If you indeed suffer from hypoglycemia, your doctor then has to find a cause, which might include liver damage, an inadequate amount or excess of many different hormones, tumors or glandular abnormalities.

About The Author
Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

OTHER RESOURCES

Hypoglemia: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment on Medicinenet.comHypoglycemia is the clinical syndrome that results from low blood sugar. The symptoms of hypoglycemia can vary from person to person, as can the severity. Classically, hypoglycemia is diagnosed by a low blood sugar with symptoms that resolve when the sugar level returns to the normal range. Read more…

Hypoglycemia at MayoClinic.comHypoglycemia is a condition characterized by an abnormally low level of blood sugar (glucose), your body's main energy source. Hypoglycemia is commonly associated with diabetes. However, a wide variety of conditions, many of them rare, can cause low blood sugar in people without diabetes. Like fever, hypoglycemia isn't a disease itself, it's an indicator of a health problem. Read more…

Hypoglycemia DietHypoglycemia is the term for a blood glucose level that is lower than normal. When foods are digested in the body, they are broken down into many nutrients. These nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream to be used in performing various body functions. One of these nutrients is glucose, a sugar that provides fuel to the body. Read more…