Asbestosis is a chronic lung condition that causes damage to the tissue of the lungs. Asbestosis symptoms tend to begin to show after fifteen to twenty years after the initial asbestos exposure occurred. Some symptoms begin quite mildly but then become more sever over time- shortness of breath is a common example of this.
Asbestosis is a medical condition that results from being exposed to asbestos. To put it simply, asbestosis is an inflammation of the lungs due to exposure to asbestos. Asbestos is a group of minerals consisting of thin microscopic fibers. It's been used in a multitude of products including paint, floor and ceiling tiles, plastics, automotive brake shoes and clutch pads and adhesives.
1. Asbestosis is a respiratory illness that affects the lungs. It's not always obvious, as the symptoms are similar to aging, and being overweight.
2. It can take around 15 - 20 years for asbestosis to develop, and so it's affecting many older people, who may think that their symptoms are just a sign that they are getting old.
3. Most foreign objects that are breathed in are broken down by microphages, before they reach the lungs. Unfortunately, asbestos can't be broken down easily. The method the microphages use to break down asbestos, causes damage to the alveoli, which then leads to breathing problems, as the lungs are damaged.
4. Particles of asbestos that are breathed in can't be broken down by the body properly. The lungs are damaged by the microphages which try and break down the asbestos, but attack the alveoli instead, which makes breathing much harder.
5. Early symptoms of asbestos related diseases such as asbestosis include generally feeling a bit under the weather, short of breath, and having a dry cough. These symptoms could point to any number of conditions, not necessarily asbestosis, which makes this illness even harder to diagnose correctly.
6. In the advanced stages of asbestosis, you'll experience much more chest pain. You won't be able to sleep well, and will need to stay reclined in order to breathe well. Your hands hands, feet and ankles may swell. In addition, you might be coughing up blood and other fluids from the lungs.
7. Once diagnosed, it can be treated and kept under control, so that your quality of life is better, and that you can hopefully still retain your independence.
8. Asbestosis can lead to other serious illnesses such as lung cancer and mesothelioma which can prove fatal.
Asbestosis lung disease is the most common form of asbestosis. The fibers that have entered the lungs cause inflammation that the body tries to fight back. The resultant effect is increased fiber deposits (natural body fighting mechanism) leading to a condition known as fibrosis.
Few patients actually die as a direct result of asbestosis despite the many different possible complications resulting from asbestosis that can somewhat shorten the patient's life span. But asbestosis often develops into lung cancer or mesothelioma cancer, a virulent cancer that drastically shortens a patient's life expectancy.
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