Asbestos Exposure Symptoms

Asbestos in general are minerals having silica in them. They are naturally occurring and have thin fibrous crystals. These minerals have been getting its importance felt in industries due to various parameters---it is resistant to heat, can be used to extinguished fire as it has flame retardant properties, and it can also be used as insulator. But using this mineral has also caused severe problems. It is a threat to human health on prolonged exposure. Asbestosis, lung cancer and cancer in mesothelial cells are some of the deadly diseases prolonged exposure to asbestos can cause. But the tricky part is that asbestos exposure symptoms developed are generally imitations of other diseases, thereby making it difficult for proper diagnosis of asbestos infection.

It is a long drawn out process for the asbestos exposure symptoms to develop. Another challenging aspect of the symptoms is that the symptoms vary from person to person. The variation is due to the span of time for which an individual is exposed to asbestos and is also dependent on the type and nature of asbestos exposed to.

Development of asbestos exposure symptoms is a slow process. There are different symptoms generated for long and short term contact to the mineral. The symptoms that are likely to develop due to proximity to high levels of asbestos can lead to the development of the cancer in lungs and abdomen (mesothelial lining) and asbestosis. The asbestos exposure symptoms for these major health effects are detected over years. The indications are generally in their latent state and surface only after years. Some of the general symptoms developed are chest getting stiff accompanied by pain, chronic cough that sometimes has blood, crackling sound in the lungs while inhaling air, clubbing of fingers and toes, bluing or discoloration of lips and fingers called cyanosis, loss of appetite and weights getting reduced.

Asbestosis comes with symptoms that include breath shortness, pain in the chest, chronic cough, and problems related to proper breathing, and an individual also faces problem with physical exertion. Mesothelioma affects chest and abdomen lining, the mesothelium, thereby causing stiffness in chest, chest pain, constant cough, fatigue and there is a remarkable weight loss. Mesothelioma can actually lead to peritoneal or pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure symptoms in case of peritoneal mesothelioma are abdominal cavity getting swollen, smooth flow of bowel getting obstructed, night sweats and fever that get accompanied by others like weight loss, nauseating tendency and anemia.

Short term exposure can happen to people who work in industry or who inhaled some asbestos while their house got renovated. The symptoms that are developed are pain in one's chest and also in the abdomen, and certain irritating sensation in one's skin and mucous membrane. These get added up with breath problems.

The pericardial lining of the heart can also be affected by mesothelioma. It comes with the palpitation, chronic cough and fatigue. Asbestos exposure symptoms that accompany lung cancer are dryness of cough, infections in the lungs, blood getting mixed with sputum.

The asbestos exposure symptoms if reported early to the doctors, then proper diagnosis and treatment can help cure all the ill effects produced due to the proximity to the naturally occurring minerals named asbestos

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