Understanding Mesothelioma Symptoms

If you have been exposed to asbestos, either through your work, in a home, school, or office building, or through a spouse or parent who brought home asbestos fibers on work clothing, it pays to be vigilant for signs of asbestos diseases. The thin, spiky fibers of this toxic mineral can lodge in lung tissue and cause long-term irritation that may eventually lead to mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases. It can take many years – often decades – for this irritation and inflammation to lead to mesothelioma symptoms.


While researchers search for a cure for mesothelioma, the best way to improve your life expectancy if you have this form of cancer is to catch it early, when surgery or chemotherapy have the best chance to slow the progress of the disease.

As we age, it can be harder to tell the difference between normal aches and pains and signs of something more serious. Understanding mesothelioma symptoms can help you decide when you should consult your doctor and ask for testing.

 Mesothelioma Basics

Although you may not have heard of it, the mesothelium is a membrane that serves a vital function in your body. This thin lining surrounds your abdominal organs, giving them a lubricated surface so they can move. The mesothelium also protects your heart, lungs, and reproductive organs.


Malignant mesothelioma is a rare cancer, caused by exposure to asbestos, that affects this membrane. Pleural mesothelioma, is cancer of the lining around the lungs. Pericardial mesothelioma affects the sac around the heart and peritoneal mesothelioma attacks the protective lining around the organs in the abdomen. Like many cancers, mesothelioma comes in a number of different forms. Asbestos exposure is the known cause of mesothelioma.

Recognizing Mesothelioma Symptoms

Mesothelioma symptoms may be hard to recognize because, taken individually, most symptoms could have a range of other, more mundane, causes. Here are some symptoms that might be a warning sign of mesothelioma as well as other types of cancer:


    Excessive tiredness without a clear cause
    Unexplained or sudden weight loss


The warning signs for each type of mesothelioma may be slightly different. Here are some signs that you should get checked for pleural mesothelioma, which affects your lungs:


    Chest or back pain
    Difficulty breathing, short of breath
    Persistent cough, wheeziness, or hoarseness
    Coughing up blood
    Difficulty swallowing
    Fever
    Swelling in the upper body, especially around the face or arms.


In addition, if your doctor notices that you have fluid around your lungs or a blood clot in one of the arteries that supplies blood to your lungs, you might want to get checked for pleural mesothelioma. If you are experiencing some of these mesothelioma symptoms, and especially if you have been exposed to asbestos, you may want to ask your doctor to check for mesothelioma.

For peritoneal mesothelioma, which affects the lining around your abdominal organs, you may experience a somewhat different set of mesothelioma symptoms, including:

    Pain in the stomach or groin
    Swollen belly caused by excess fluid
    Difficult bowel movements or constipation
    Nausea that can’t be explained by other causes

Pericardial mesothelioma, which affects the lining around your heart, can look a lot like other heart problems. Symptoms may include:

    Chest pain
    Difficulty breathing, especially when lying on your back
    Coughing
    Tiredness
    Swelling in your abdomen
    Heart palpitations (fast, irregular heartbeat)
    Heart failure

In advanced cases of mesothelioma, you may notice some additional mesothelioma symptoms:

    Jaundice, which gives your skin and eyes a yellowish tinge
    Extreme and noticeable fluid retention or swelling
    Low blood sugar


Mesothelioma Diagnosis

If you have worked with or otherwise been exposed to asbestos, you should keep an eye on your health. If you are experiencing mesothelioma symptoms, your doctor has several tools to determine whether you are suffering from this cancer or if there is another reason you aren’t feeling up to par.

Your physician will probably start by checking your breathing and listening to your lungs. The next step may be X-rays to look for telltale signs of mesothelioma. Your doctor may want to do additional imagining such as a CT or CAT scan or an MRI. If these tests indicate that mesothelioma may be present, a tissue biopsy will be needed to make the final determination whether this rare cancer is the cause of your symptoms. In most cases, the biopsy can be done through minor, outpatient operation that requires a very small incision.

Early Detection to Help Fight Mesothelioma


No one wants to hear the bad news that they have cancer, least of all one as malicious as malignant mesothelioma. The only thing worse is not getting diagnosed. If you think you may be having mesothelioma symptoms, make sure your doctor knows your full work and medical history.

While there is no cure yet, there are treatments that can slow the growth and spread of mesothelioma, so you can have more time to spend with the people you love. If your doctor thinks you might have mesothelioma, early testing is your best chance to extend your life.

source:  .mesotheliomacircle.org

Large breakfast, small dinner tied to better diabetes blood sugar

Big breakfasts and small dinners might be a healthier way to eat for people with type 2 diabetes, according to a small new study.

Diabetics in the study who ate big breakfasts and small dinners had fewer episodes of high blood sugar than those who ate small breakfasts and large dinners, researchers found.

Blood sugar—also known as blood glucose—is controlled by the body’s internal clock, with larger blood sugar peaks after evening meals, Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz told Reuters Health in an email.

People with type 2 diabetes often time their meals in opposition to their internal clock, said Jakubowicz, a researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Wolfson Medical Center in Israel.

“They frequently skip breakfast while eating a high-calorie dinner,” she said, adding that skipping breakfast is linked to obesity and poor blood sugar control.

The new study involved eight men and ten women with type 2 diabetes, ages 30 to 70, who were being treated with either the diabetes drug metformin and dietary advice or diet advice alone.

Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes and is often linked to obesity. In type 2 diabetes, the body's cells are resistant to the hormone insulin, or the body doesn't make enough of it. Insulin gives blood sugar access to the body's cells to be used as fuel.

The participants were randomly assigned to follow a meal plan that consisted of either a 700-calorie breakfast and 200-calorie dinner or a 200-calorie breakfast and a 700-calorie dinner. Both diets included a 600-calorie lunch.

After following the assigned meal plans for six days at home, the participants spent a day at the clinic, where blood tests were taken. They repeated the experiment two weeks later with the other diet plan.

The study team found that post-meal glucose levels were 20 percent lower, and levels of insulin were 20 percent higher, when the participants consumed the large breakfasts and small dinners, according to the results in Diabetologia.

“Our study demonstrated that a large breakfast and reduced dinner is a beneficial alternative for the management of glucose balance during the day and should be considered as a therapeutic strategy in type 2 diabetes,” Jakubowicz said.

Jakubowicz said longer studies are needed to see if the benefits would continue over time.

The new results support the advice to eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch and a pauper at dinner, said Anna Taylor in an email to Reuters Health.

“Select your calories with care, however; what you eat, how you eat, and when you eat all play an important role in your nutrition as well as your health,” said Taylor, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. She wasn’t involved in the study.

She added that it’s important for people to keep in mind that the study’s participants took few medications and had no major complications.

The results might therefore not apply to other groups with diabetes, Taylor said.

She said that people with diabetes who take insulin should speak to their endocrinologists before experimenting with drastic dietary adjustments. — Reuters

'Smart' nanoparticles may replace injections for diabetes treatment

In the near future, diabetics may no longer have to suffer multiple injections of insulin daily. Injections may be reduced to just once per week, and instead if insulin being fired into the bloodstream, nanoparticles may take its place, according to Time.

Scientists at North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Children Hospital Boston are behind the research that may change the lives of an estimated 366 million people worldwide suffering from diabetes.

“We’ve created a ‘smart’ system that is injected into the body and responds to changes in blood sugar by releasing insulin, effectively controlling blood-sugar levels,” said biomedical engineering assistant professor Dr. Zhen Gu of North Caroline State University. “We’ve tested the technology in mice, and one injection was able to maintain blood sugar levels in the normal range for up to 10 days.”

Diabetes is a metabolic condition in which the sufferer has increased levels of glucose, or “blood sugar”. Glucose is important because it release energy the body requires to function properly. Insulin is the hormone responsible for bringing this energy to the body’s cellular network. Problems arise when not enough insulin is produced, leading to an unhealthy buildup of blood sugar. Symptoms can include frequent urination as well as increased thirst and hunger.

If left untreated, diabetes can lead to death. Diabetics therefore have to closely observe their blood sugar levels daily, as well as inject themselves with insulin several times a day. This has proven as much of a hassle as it is painful to sufferers of the disease.

The proposed new treatment involves introducing nanopartciles, each containing insulin and special enzymes modified to detect glucose, into the bloodstream. The enzymes will circulate throughout the body, immediately converting the glucose they come into contact with into insulin. The enzymes are “fully biocompatible and dissolve in the body,” according to the researchers.

“This technology effectively creates a ‘closed-loop’ system that mimics the activity of the pancreas in a healthy person, releasing insulin in response to glucose level changes,” said Gu. “This has the potential to improve the health and quality of life of diabetes patients.”

The research was recently published in the science journal ACS Nano. The scientists are keen to commence human testing. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com