Not just a cough: Lung cancer signs that might surprise you

When you hear about lung cancer, I bet the first thing that comes in your mind is that “nagging cough” as the common symptom especially in smokers or people with the history of smoking. Yes it is! However, let’s not forget that in most cases, cancer has no symptoms when it knocks at your door, and by the time it shows symptoms, it has already advanced. That’s why, to the best of our knowledge, we are always preaching on the how regular checkup matters.

Coughing, wheezing, and chest pain are the most common symptoms that a patient can go through when lung cancer is still at its initial stages. But there are others, rarely known symptoms that can show up too that you may find them surprising and let us take a look on them. And it’s my hope that from today onwards, you won’t take these rare lung cancer symptoms for granted.

Not so common signs

Finger tips: Did you know that your finger tips can say a lot about your health? Yes they do! Sometimes you may find minute abnormalities that tend to appear in your finger tips. In most cases they are caused by certain types of infections but sometimes they mean more than that.

When lung cancer is at initial stage, the tumours form in the lung. And as they grow, they produce chemicals that look like hormone, which push more blood and fluid to the tissues in your fingertips. Hence they look thicker or larger than usual. The skin next to your nails may seem shiny or your nails may curve more than usual when you look at them from the side.

And when this happens, finger tips start to appear fatter and swollen. It’s my advise that when you find your finger nails swelling unusually, take it seriously.

High calcium levels: There is a medical condition, scientifically known as hypercalcemia, which happens when there is too much calcium level in the blood than what the body needs.

Almost four to five people out of 10 with lung cancer develop high calcium level, and when this happens, you will find yourself getting various tummy troubles and irritations.

Sometimes you can experience belly aches and constipation that don’t go away accompanied with the loss of appetite. Although it is highly assumed, it can be just common irritation, but it’s better to get it checked to find any lung cancer symptom.

Back pain: Lung cancer can also disguise itself as the back or shoulder pain. Lung cancer that has spread to the bones may produce pain in the back or in other areas of the body.

This pain may worsen at night while resting on the back. It may be difficult to differentiate between bone and muscle pain. Bone pain is often worse at night and increases with movement.

Additionally, lung cancer is sometimes associated with shoulder, arm or neck pain, although this is less common. Be attentive to your aches and pain and discuss them with your doctor.

I would like to remind my readers one more time that early detection can save a life. Don’t ignore any symptoms that go unnoticed and have regular [lung] cancer screening done.