Do I have lung cancer?
I'm 17 years old and eleven months ago I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the core of my brian. The tumor was removed, but that's not what I'm curi...
I'm 17 years old and eleven months ago I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the core of my brian. The tumor was removed, but that's not what I'm curious about. I've been smoking cigarettes for about a year now and a few months ago I developed a cough. It doesn't sound like anything worse than a common cold cough and I dismissed it as nothing, but it hasn't gone away. It isn't a constant cough either.. one to three times a day i'll just cough out of nowhere, sometimes there is phlegm in the cough, but I've never examined it for any signs of blood. On top of the cough, I went to a grade school for 9 years which was very very old and falling apart in some ways. Supposedly the building carried asbestos and even though the risks of that are mainly in the demolition of a building....there were holes in the walls and many patches among the piping. In the past 2 years, 3 kids (myself included) who attended the school were diagnosed with some kind of cancer. I had a brain tumor, another had lymphoma, and the last one had something in his leg. Are the coughs normal or should I be concerned? Let me know
Something I forgot to add...a few months ago I lost 30 lbs in 3 weeks doing almost nothing. I went from 195 lbs. to 162 lbs. I've always had a fast metabolism but this striked me as a little extreme
No, I’m 99.99999999999999% sure you haven’t got lung cancer, but please read the points below:
1. Lung cancer just doesn’t happen to 17 year olds. I’m also 17, and I’ve been smoking for about 18 months. Last year, I got some severe symptoms of lung cancer – coughing up blood, weakness, non stop coughing, losing weight, chest pain. I went to the doctor, and he still assured me without even examining me or sending me for an x ray, that I didn’t have lung cancer, as it is so, so, so incredibly rare in those under 35 or so
2. If there was asbestos in the school, and there was any chance at all it was posing a risk (asbestos isn’t dangerous when it’s left undisturbed), no-one would be allowed to go there.
3. Asbestos related illness takes year to kick in anyway, so it’s unlikely to be anything to do with asbestos
4. It sounds like you were linking asbestos to Lymphoma and a cancer in the leg, possibly soft tissue cancer, and your brain tumour. None of these are related to asbestos.
5. Brain cancer, Lymphoma, and cancer in the limbs – soft tissue cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma etc are among the most common cancers in children. Lung cancer just doesn’t happen to children.
6. STOP SMOKING! I’m not saying this from the point of view of some idiot who has never been addicted and has a go at people who struggle to quit. I myself am horribly addicted, and it is so hard
If you’re still worried, go to the doctor
P.S. Don’t ask how I know all this
The cough is not normal…it is probably a "smoker’s cough". When you smoke, you damage the small hairs called cilia in the respiratory tract. These hairs are responsible for clearing irritants, such as dust, from the lungs. In a nonsmoker, the cilia sweep back and forth to protect the lungs. In a smoker, the cilia do not move. So in order to clear irritants from your lungs, you must cough.
Good news…if you stop smoking, the cilia will be able to do their job and the cough will disappear.
Stop smoking. Both of my grandfathers died of lung cancer due to smoking.
Of course you should be concerned, especially since you smoke and the school you went to. And with your surgery, your immune system probably isn’t up to par.
You NEED to go to the doctor, even if it’s just a precaution. You’re obviously concerned (understandably), the only way to ease your mind is to get a real test from your doctor. You’re not going to get the answer here.
Good luck! I hope you’re okay.