One difficulty in diagnosing lung cancer is the fact that in many patients symptoms of the disease are not apparent until the cancer is in an advanced stage.

Knowledge of lung cancer symptoms is important for everyone but most especially for those at high risk. Those individuals should contact their physician at once if they have any suspicion that they may have lung cancer.

Hidden Disease

Lung cancer in it’s earlier stages can go unnoticed. Usually symptoms will appear when the tumor has grown or the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. Sometimes lung cancer will be detected when an x-ray of the chest is done for some other complaint.

The lack of early symptoms of lung cancer allows the disease to grow, making it more difficult to treat and making it more likely that it will spread to other parts of the body.

Sometimes what appears to be a chest cold or some other common respiratory illness, is actually a symptom of lung cancer. These symptoms can be difficult to notice as something more serious and ignored or treated with over the counter medication as a simple virus.

Symptoms

Lung cancer symptoms are usually similar to those you would feel with a common virus or infection. They include:

* A cough that will not go away

* Chest discomfort

* Difficulty breathing

Being informed and aware is the best way to catch lung cancer symptoms early. Watch out for the following:

* A new cough that develops suddenly, especially if you smoke or used to smoke.

* A cough that just will not go away no matter what medication you use to treat it.

* Pain in the chest that is dull, yet persistent.

* Gasping

* Hoarseness

* Repeated respiratory illness

Depending upon the type of lung cancer, a variety of symptoms can be seen. One form of lung cancer tumors are Metastatic and may react differently in the body and cause different symptoms. While most do not cause any symptoms, they can sometimes spread to the adrenal glands, the bones and even the brain.

The difficulty of detecting lung cancer in the early stages is part of the reason why it has such a high death rate.

Anne Durrel originally comes from Stockton, California, USA. She has written many articles about Lung Cancer . Other guide you may be interested in reading: lung cancer prognosis tips, and lung cancer stages guide!