Several decades ago, asbestos was fairly ubiquitous at home since it was used for the house’s drywall and plaster. This exposed a lot of people to it for various amounts of time. But the truth is: after prolonged exposure, the substance asbestos can actually be extremely dangerous to humans and could result in a disease called mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma symptoms don’t surface very fast. In fact, it could even take up to forty years for the symptoms to show up after the first exposure. This is a cancerous disease that can cause cancer in the body’s mesothelium cells – cells that can be found in the whole upper body (mostly in the abdominal cavity, the chest, and the surrounding heart area) and the internal organs’ outer linings.
Mesothelium cells secrete fluids that lubricate the organs inside of the body, so that they can move against and over one another with less friction. So, when it comes to the lungs, for example, the fluid will let the lungs move without chaffing and friction while inhaling and exhaling.
Because this disease can take a long time to develop within most people, they are totally unaware of the fat they might be victims of for quite some time. Usually, patients will develop abdominal and chest pain first. However, because these symptoms could come about because of various things, the majority of people end up overlooking them completely and blame another disease for them. Older patients in their seventies, for example, are usually told that the symptoms are just there because of aging.
However, while the mesothelioma disease gets worse, the symptoms that come with it end up becoming more painful, more frequent and more severe, as well. Patients will start to have difficulties breathing and will experience shortness of breath. They might also suffer from heart problems, fever, coughing, muscle fatigue, weakness, sweating, and general fatigue, as well as a loss of senses and faculties. Tumors will then begin to show up on various body parts while the fluid will start to accumulate within the organs of the body.
As with any other kind of cancer out there, mesothelioma comes with four stages that will spread throughout the victim’s body. Stage one of the cancer will hit every major organ’s lining, including the stomach, the heart, the diaphragm, the esophagus and the chest. Some victims might be lucky enough not to have the cancer spread or progress more than that. If caught early within stage one, some treatments can even push it back into remission.
Stage two sees the body’s lymph nodes getting affected while the cancer begins to spread in a gradual manner and as it takes over the whole body. Swelling will then happen and problems in the lymphatic system will start to arise. Stage three of the cancer will make it progress so much that the whole chest wall begins to get affected along with the inner organs. Stage four of mesothelioma is even more widespread and victims of it can usually no longer be treated.