Lung cancer signs and symptoms.

Breathlessness

• Blockage in part of the airways (cancer)

• Rapid breathing• Anxiety & panic• Overuse of muscles in

shoulders and upper chest

• Cancer treatments

Cough

• Debilitating and affect all areas of life, by causing:

• Distress• Anxiety• Sleep disturbance• Tiredness• Pain• Loss of appetite.

Pain

• Pain can be due to tumour pressing on muscles or nerves.

• Pain can extend across the chest to other areas causing deferred pain.

• Pain after treatment

Managing pain

• Simple pain killers (using the pain ladder increase medication accordingly)

• Paracetemol-Codeine-Morphine etc• Neuropathic pain (nerve pain use

Amitriptyline etc.)• Bone Pain (NSAIDs – ibuprofen, volterol etc.)

Tiredness / Fatigue

• Feeling of having no energy or strength

• Lacking in concentration• Insomnia• Memory problems

Weight loss / loss of appetite

• Reduction of the total body loss. 10% total loss of body mass is seen as a medical problem indicating an underlying disease.

• No appetite• Difficulty swallowing

Constipation.

• Less frequent bowel movements

• Straining to pass motion• Stools hard• Feeling bloated and

experiencing wind• Pain in your stomach

and back passage.

Hoarse voice

• Caused by tumour pressing on the laryngeal nerve (vocal cord palsy) likely to improve in some patients but not at all in some patients.

Clubbing

• Finger nail clubbing is associated with mainly non small cell lung cancer (54%).

• Clubbing may be present in one of five stages:[5]

1. Fluctuation and softening of the nail bed (increased ballotability)

2. Loss of the normal <165° angle (Lovibond angle) between the nailbed and the fold (cuticula)

3. Increased convexity of the nail fold4. Thickening of the whole distal (end part of

the) finger (resembling a drumstick)5. Shiny aspect and striation of the nail and

skin