4 Tips On How To Get Healthy Skin Naturally - Skin care Tips

Everybody wants to have healthy, glowing skin. However, most people are hesitant to apply chemicals to their skin for fear of suffering adverse and unwanted effects. This makes skin care a very difficult task, despite the many available cosmetics in the market today.



For those who are not comfortable using manufactured products, there are still numerous ways through which one can take care of their skin. One just has to know how to get healthy skin naturally. These are just some tips:

Eat Healthy -
You must remember that the skin is best nourished from the inside. To know how to get healthy skin naturally, one should start with what he eats. This is done by making sure that what you eat is good to your skin.

Specifically, foods rich in Vitamin A and C and Omega 3 will have good effects to your skin. Vitamin A keeps your skin smooth by reducing oil production. So you have to see to it that foods like sweet potatoes, carrots, eggs and milk are part of your daily diet. Vitamin C on the other hand is essential in collagen formation which is responsible in reducing wrinkles.

Some Vitamin C rich foods are oranges, kiwis, apples, grapefruits and red peppers. Omega 3 prevents skin inflammations and helps your skin absorb more vitamins and nutrients. You will get a significant amount of Omega 3 from fishes and nuts. Other skin-friendly foods are tomatoes, dark chocolates, green tea and cranberries.

Exercise Regularly - 
Exercising is not only good for weight-management and blood circulation but is also a good tip on how to get healthy skin naturally. It gives the skin a certain radiant glow as it provides the skin with needed oxygen. Most importantly, exercising is one good stress reliever. Studies show that one major cause of acne and wrinkles is stress. Put one and one together, you'll get a healthier, young-looking skin.

Don't Smoke - 
Smoking is not only a cause of lung cancer. It also increases the risk of skin cancer. Also, smoking hastens skin aging. That is why most smokers have really saggy and wrinkled skin. Dark spots also appear. By not smoking, you don't only protect your internals but also makes you radiate from the outside.

Keep hydrated -
You have probably been told that you have to drink at least six cups of water daily. This cleanses your body from toxins which causes most skin infirmities. Apply body lotion to ward off dryness if necessary.

The foregoing are just some of the many methods on how to get healthy skin naturally, which are very easy to follow and has very significant good effects to your skin. Go natural and you can never go wrong.

In addition to the above natural tips, the use of natural skin care products also prove to be helpful in attaining healthy clear skin.

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DIY Acne Gel With Essential Oils

Aloe vera is the perennial plant growing primary in the tropical part of the world. Traditionally aloe vera is often used as the potent medicine in various part of the world. It is the small herb, which can attend the height of around hundred centimeters in height. The succulent plant has weird waxy leaves that contain gel in the inner part. The gel is used for the various purposes.

Various studies have been conducted found out that aloe vera does, in fact, have several amazing properties that are effective in treating a variety of skin conditions.

Benefits of Aloe Vera Gel for Skin

• It treats sunburn.
• It acts as a moisturizer.
• It treats acne.
• It fights aging.
• It lessens the visibility of stretch marks.

Ingredients Used & Their Benefits

• Aloe Vera Gel Acne is the skin is marked by the inflamed and infection in the sebaceous gland leading to reddish in the skin. The antibacterial quality of the acne is beneficial in the soothing the occurrence of the acne.
• Tea Tree Essential Oil  Tea tree essential oil is renowned for its powerful, purifying, antibacterial properties. It is a popular remedy for acne and pimples. It is good for acne because it has potent disinfectant properties that fight off acne-causing bacteria. The astringent properties in tea tree tighten large pores and reduce excess oils on the skin.
• Juniper Berry Essential Oil  This amazing has natural antibacterial and antimicrobial abilities, making it one of the most popular natural remedies for fighting skin irritations and infections. It is one of the most favored natural remedies for skin problems especially acne. It also reduces stretch marks and helps other skin conditions that occur because of hormonal imbalance
• Lavender Essential Oil  Lavender essential oil also has antibacterial properties and can be used directly on the skin to fight acne. Its useful for reducing acne inflammation and as well as fading away acne scars.
• Clary Sage Essential Oil  Clary sage works wonders in healing hormonal acne.  Clary sage contains a particular chemical called linalyl acetate which works to reduce inflammation and prevents acne scarring.  It balances skin sebum and promotes clear skin. This oil also regulates the oil production of the skin, which can help future acne from forming.

DIY Acne Gel

What you need:

•  cup aloe vera gel
• 10 drops tea tree essential oil
• 7 drops lavender essential oil
• 10 drops juniper berry essential oil
• 7 drops clary sage essential oil
• 4 oz amber glass jar for storage
• Small bowl
• Whisk

Directions:

• In a medium-sized bowl, add  cup aloe vera gel.
• Add drops of all the essential oils required
• Mix by whisking the contents to evenly distribute the essential oils into the aloe gel.
• Transfer your DIY Acne Gel into a jar. (Remember to use an amber colour or blue jar; because exposure to light can make your gel spoil faster. Also, glass storage containers are the best for storing any essential oil products)
• Store in a cool dry place.
• To use, get a dime-sized amount on your clean palm and apply on your freshly washed damp face.
• Let it dry

This DIY acne gel feels incredibly good on the skin. Please try it out and let me know how it goes!

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Weight Loss - Creating Your Personal Weight Loss Plan

Has needing to lose weight been on your mind? If so, you are in the process of following a weight loss plan or not doing anything at all. There is no middle ground. If the latter applies to you, it pays to take a moment to consider why you are not making an effort to reach your goals. Is it because of a lack of guidance and instruction? Surely you want to lose weight; otherwise, you would not be thinking about it. Perhaps the need to lose weight is more significant than your desire to get lean. Often this is the case for many adults, who realize being overweight is more problematic than it initially seems.

You may need some guidance. So let's talk about some tips for creating a weight loss program that will work for you. If you are already making an effort, the following might still be of use to you...

1. Outline your objectives

 First, you must outline your goals. Don't focus so much on the specifics. It is not nearly as important to set how much weight you ought to lose, as it is focusing on the process itself. It is better to focus on losing weight generally, not how much.

Have your "why" adequately figured out before you begin.

2. Eat well

Not surprisingly, it is vital to eat well when starting a weight loss program. Your food choices matter, more than you may think.

It becomes especially important to eat the right carbohydrates if you have high blood sugar. In any case, it will probably do you well to eat more fruits and vegetables than you already do, and eat a healthy balance of proteins and fats. They are all important.

3. Mind your portion sizes

Your portion sizes are just as important as your food choices. Even if you are selecting healthy carbohydrates such as brown rice and sweet potatoes, you can still overeat and losing weight will then be much harder.

Counting calories helps, but is too tedious for most people. By eating slowly, you will have a better idea of how much you should be eating. Always stop eating before you feel full, and don't hesitate to feel hungry for a part of your day.

4. Begin exercising

 If you have not already, start exercising. It will help, no matter which exercise program you chose. Even walking will help get the job done.

5. Anticipate setbacks

Setbacks will occur: know you will not make weekly progress forever. You will stall eventually. You will get frustrated. Relax and make adjustments if needed. Don't stress, and be patient: weight loss requires patience more than anything.

Lastly, remember to make your weight loss program your own. What works for other people will not necessarily work for you. Feel free to experiment with different diets and exercise plans. But know you will have to discover what yields the best results for you and your body.

Although managing your disease can be very challenging, Type 2 diabetes is not a condition you must just live with. You can make simple changes to your daily routine and lower both your weight and your blood sugar levels. Hang in there, the longer you do it, the easier it gets

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What Is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer starts when cells in the breast begin to grow out of control. These cells usually form a tumor that can often be seen on an x-ray or felt as a lump. The tumor is malignant (cancer) if the cells can grow into (invade) surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body. Breast cancer occurs almost entirely in women, but men can get breast cancer, too.

Cells in nearly any part of the body can become cancer and can spread to other areas. To learn more about cancer and how all cancers start and spread, see Cancer Basics.

Where breast cancer starts

Breast cancers can start from different parts of the breast. Most breast cancers begin in the ducts that carry milk to the nipple (ductal cancers). Some start in the glands that make breast milk (lobular cancers). There are also other types of breast cancer that are less common.

A small number of cancers start in other tissues in the breast. These cancers are called sarcomas and lymphomas and are not really thought of as breast cancers.

Although many types of breast cancer can cause a lump in the breast, not all do.  Many breast cancers are found on screening mammograms which can detect cancers at an earlier stage, often before they can be felt, and before symptoms develop. There are other symptoms of breast cancer you should watch for and report to a health care provider.

It s also important to understand that most breast lumps are benign and not cancer (malignant). Non-cancerous breast tumors are abnormal growths, but they do not spread outside of the breast and they are not life threatening. But some benign breast lumps can increase a woman's risk of getting breast cancer. Any breast lump or change needs to be checked by a health care professional to determine if it is benign or malignant (cancer) and if it might affect your future cancer risk.

How breast cancer spreads

Breast cancer can spread when the cancer cells get into the blood or lymph system and are carried to other parts of the body.

The lymph system is a network of lymph (or lymphatic) vessels found throughout the body that connects lymph nodes (small bean-shaped collections of immune system cells). The clear fluid inside the lymph vessels, called lymph, contains tissue by-products and waste material, as well as immune system cells. The lymph vessels carry lymph fluid away from the breast. In the case of breast cancer, cancer cells can enter those lymph vessels and start to grow in lymph nodes. Most of the lymph vessels of the breast drain into:

• Lymph nodes under the arm (axillary nodes)
• Lymph nodes around the collar bone (supraclavicular [above the collar bone] and infraclavicular [below the collar bone] lymph nodes)
• Lymph nodes inside the chest near the breast bone (internal mammary lymph nodes)

If cancer cells have spread to your lymph nodes, there is a higher chance that the cells could have traveled through the lymph system and spread (metastasized) to other parts of your body. The more lymph nodes with breast cancer cells, the more likely it is that the cancer may be found in other organs. Because of this, finding cancer in one or more lymph nodes often affects your treatment plan. Usually, you will need surgery to remove one or more lymph nodes to know whether the cancer has spread.

Still, not all women with cancer cells in their lymph nodes develop metastases, and some women with no cancer cells in their lymph nodes develop metastases later

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Dark Pigmentation on the Face Can Be Unattractive

As with many things cosmetic, a lot of us are less than thrilled with our skin color. We would like to be darker; we would like to be lighter; we would like smoother, less blotchy skin. But it is what it is. The color of your skin is predetermined and you can't change your basic biologic color. Whether you are very fair or very dark, is determined by your pigmentation which comes from the amount of melanin in your skin cells.

Melanocytes are the elements within your skin cells that produce melanin. The amount of melanin in your skin cells determines how light or dark your skin will be. Hyperpigmentation indicates too much melanin, and hypopigmentation indicates too little melanin. When the amount of melanin gets out of balance we develop pigmentation disorders. One of these conditions is Melasma which is an excessive pigmentation disorder often brought on by certain hormonal changes. It manifests itself as dark blotchy spots on the face and is especially common in young white women. We know it by its common name, "the mask of pregnancy." Melasma can also be a side effect of taking higher dose birth control pills. It is generally considered harmless and will fade with time.

For people with dark skin, an imbalance in melanin may result in the development of white blotches. Some people develop a severe condition called Vitiligo. This loss of pigment disorder can occur in any race, but it is particularly distressing for those with dark skin. Many of us suffer from some degree of pigmentation disorder, generally brought on by excessive sun exposure. The results of excessive pigmentation are dark spots on the skin, often referred to as "liver spots," or "age spots." Once again, your first line of defense is protection from those harmful UVA and UVB sun rays.

There are many over the counter products that can lighten and smooth out the appearance of your skin. Check the ingredients of these products being careful to avoid those containing bleach, and especially hydroquinone which may be carcinogenic. Look instead for products that contain Alpha Arbutin which is a new skin lightening ingredient that provides gentle skin lightening without any dangerous side effects. Ageless Derma Anti Aging Skin Brightener contains Alpha Arbutin and can provide gentle and safe skin lightening.

Exfoliating is another technique used to lessen the appearance of dark spots on the skin. Exfoliating can remove the first dead layer of pigmented cells allowing more of your moisturizer to penetrate your skin. The result will be lighter spots, and fresher, silkier looking skin. Many women feel that exfoliating twice a week keeps their skin looking healthy, but older women with dryer skin need to be wary of too much "scrubbing."

In really stubborn cases, you might consider microdermabrasion or laser surgery. These are more involved procedures done by professionals and with considerable cost. They are generally effective with little discomfort or recovery time. Whatever the degree of your pigmentation disorder, there is help available, starting first with prevention. The dark spots on the skin that you see today are likely the result of sun exposure you were subject to ten or more years ago. So keep putting on that sun screen to minimize damage in the future.

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How Is Malignant Mesothelioma Diagnosed?

Mesothelioma is most often diagnosed after a person goes to a doctor because of symptoms they are having. If there is a reason to suspect you might have mesothelioma, your doctor will examine you and use one or more tests to find out. Symptoms might suggest that the problem could be mesothelioma, but tests will be needed to confirm the diagnosis.

Medical history and physical exam

If you have any signs or symptoms that suggest you might have mesothelioma, your doctor will want to get your medical history to learn about your symptoms and possible risk factors, especially asbestos exposure.

A physical exam can provide information about possible signs of mesothelioma and other health problems. Pleural mesothelioma can cause fluid to build up around the lungs in the chest (called a pleural effusion). In cases of peritoneal mesothelioma, fluid can build up in the abdomen (called ascites). In pericardial mesothelioma, fluid builds up in the sac around the heart (called a pericardial effusion). Rarely, mesothelioma can develop in the groin and look like a hernia. All of these might be found during a physical exam, such as when the doctor listens to these areas with a stethoscope or taps on the chest or abdomen.

If mesothelioma is a possibility, tests will be needed to make sure. These might include imaging tests, blood tests, and other procedures.

Imaging tests

Imaging tests use x-rays, radioactive particles, sound waves, or magnetic fields to create pictures of the inside of your body. Imaging tests might be done for a number of reasons, such as:

• To look at suspicious areas that might be cancer
• To learn how far cancer has spread
• To help determine if treatment is working

People thought to have mesothelioma may have one or more of these tests.

Chest x-ray

This is often the first test done if someone has symptoms such as a constant cough or shortness of breath. Findings that might suggest mesothelioma include an abnormal thickening of the pleura, calcium deposits on the pleura, fluid in the space between the lungs and the chest wall, or changes in the lungs themselves as a result of asbestos exposure.

Computed tomography (CT) scan

The CT scan uses x-rays to make detailed cross-sectional images of your body. Instead of taking one picture, like a regular x-ray, a CT scanner takes many pictures as it rotates around you while you are lying on a narrow table. A computer then combines these into images of slices of the body.

CT scans are often used to help look for mesothelioma and to determine the exact location of the cancer. They can also help determine the stage (extent) of the cancer. For example, they can show if the cancer has spread to other organs. This can help determine if surgery might be a treatment option. Finally, CT scans can also be used to learn if treatment such as chemotherapy is shrinking or slowing the growth of the cancer.

A CT scanner has been described as a large donut, with a narrow table that slides in and out of the middle opening. You will need to lie still on the table while the scan is being done. CT scans take longer than regular x-rays, and you might feel a bit confined by the ring while the pictures are being taken.

Before the test, you might have to drink a liquid called oral contrast. This helps outline the intestine so that certain areas are not mistaken for tumors. You might also need an IV (intravenous) line through which a different kind of contrast is injected. This helps better outline structures in your body. The injection can cause some flushing (redness and warm feeling). Some people are allergic and get hives or, rarely, more serious reactions like trouble breathing and low blood pressure. Be sure to tell the doctor if you have any allergies (especially to iodine or shellfish) or have ever had a reaction to any contrast material used for x-rays.

Echocardiogram

This test uses sound waves to look at the heart. It may be done if your doctor suspects that you have fluid around your heart (a pericardial effusion). This test can also tell how well the heart is working. For the most common version of this test, you lie on a table while a technician moves an instrument called a transducer over the skin on your chest. A gel is often put on the skin first.

Positron emission tomography (PET) scan

For a PET scan, a radioactive substance (usually a type of sugar related to glucose, known as FDG) is injected into the blood. The amount of radioactivity used is very low. Because cancer cells grow quickly, they absorb more of the sugar than most other cells. After waiting about an hour, you lie on a table in the PET scanner for about 30 minutes while a special camera creates a picture of areas of radioactivity in the body.

The picture from a PET scan is not as detailed as a CT or MRI scan, but it can provide helpful information about whether abnormal areas seen on these tests are likely to be cancerous or not. For example, it can give the doctor a better idea of whether a thickening of the pleura or peritoneum seen on a CT scan is more likely cancer or merely scar tissue. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, your doctor may use this test to see if the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body. A PET scan can also be useful if your doctor thinks the cancer may have spread but doesn t know where.

Some machines can do both a PET and CT scan at the same time (PET/CT scan). This lets the doctor compare areas of higher radioactivity on the PET scan with the more detailed appearance of that area on the CT.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan

Like CT scans, MRI scans make detailed images of the body s soft tissues. But MRI scans use radio waves and strong magnets instead of x-rays. A contrast material called gadolinium is often injected into a vein before the scan to better show details. This contrast is different than the one used for CT scans, so being allergic to one doesn t mean you are allergic to the other.

MRI scans can sometimes help show the exact location and extent of a tumor since they provide very detailed images of soft tissues. For mesotheliomas, they may be useful in looking at the diaphragm (the thin band of muscle below the lungs that helps us breathe), a possible site of cancer spread.

MRI scans take longer than CT scans   often up to an hour. You may have to lie inside a narrow tube, which can upset people with a fear of enclosed spaces. Special, more open MRI machines may be an option in some cases. The MRI machine makes buzzing and clicking noises that you might find disturbing. Some places will give you earplugs to help block this out.

Blood tests

Blood levels of certain substances are often higher in people with mesothelioma:

• Osteopontin
• Soluble mesothelin-related peptides (SMRPs), detected with the MesoMark  test

Mesothelioma can t be diagnosed with these blood tests alone, but high levels of these substances can make the diagnosis more likely. These tests are not routinely used in most doctors  offices because of their limited value.

Tests of fluid and tissue samples

Symptoms and test results may strongly suggest that a person has mesothelioma, but the actual diagnosis is made by removing cells from an abnormal area and looking at them under a microscope. This is known as a biopsy. It can be done in different ways, depending on the situation.

Removing fluid for testing

If there is a buildup of fluid in part of the body that might be due to mesothelioma, a sample of this fluid can be removed by inserting a thin, hollow needle through the skin and into the fluid. Numbing medicine is used on the skin before the needle is inserted. This may be done in a doctor s office or in the hospital. Sometimes ultrasound (or an echocardiogram) is used to guide the needle. These tests use sound waves to see inside the body.

This procedure has different names depending on where the fluid is:

• Thoracentesis removes fluid from the chest.
• Paracentesis removes fluid from the abdomen.
• Pericardiocentesis removes fluid from the sac around the heart.

The fluid is then tested for its chemical makeup and is looked at under a microscope to see if it contains cancer cells. If cancer cells are found, special tests might be done to see if the cancer is a mesothelioma, a lung cancer, or another type of cancer.

Even if no cancer cells are found in the fluid, a person might still have cancer. In many cases, doctors need to get an actual sample of the mesothelium (the pleura, peritoneum, or pericardium) to determine if a person has mesothelioma.

Needle biopsies

Suspected tumors in the chest are sometimes sampled by needle biopsy. A long, hollow needle is passed through the skin in the chest between the ribs and into the pleura. Imaging tests such as CT scans are used to guide the needle into the tumor so that small samples can be removed to be looked at under the microscope. This is often done using just numbing medicine.

Needle biopsy can also be used to get samples of the lymph nodes in the space between the lungs to see if the cancer has spread there (see Endobronchial ultrasound needle biopsy ).

Needle biopsies do not require a surgical incision or overnight hospital stay. But the downside is that sometimes the samples removed are not big enough to make an accurate diagnosis. This is especially true for mesothelioma. A more invasive biopsy method may be needed.

There is a slight chance that the needle could put a small hole in the lung during the biopsy. This can cause air to build up in the space between the lung and the chest wall (known as a pneumothorax). A small pneumothorax might not cause any symptoms. It may only be seen on an x-ray done after the biopsy, and it will often go away on its own. But a larger pneumothorax can make part of a lung collapse and might need to be treated. The treatment is placement of a small tube (a catheter) through the skin and into the space between the lungs. The tube is used to suck the air out in order to re-expand the lung and is left in place for a short time.

Endoscopic biopsies

Endoscopic biopsy is commonly used to diagnose mesothelioma. An endoscope is a thin, tube-like instrument used to look inside the body. It has a light and a lens (or tiny video camera) on the end for viewing and often has a tool to remove tissue samples. Endoscopes have different names depending on the part of the body where they re used.

Thoracoscopy: This procedure uses an endoscope called a thoracoscope to look at areas inside the chest. It can be used to look at the pleura and take tissue samples for biopsies.

Thoracoscopy is done in the operating room while you are under general anesthesia (in a deep sleep). The doctor inserts the thoracoscope through one or more small cuts made in the chest wall to look at the space between the lungs and the chest wall. This lets the doctor see possible areas of cancer and remove small pieces of tissue to look at under the microscope. The doctor can also sample lymph nodes and fluid and see if a tumor is growing into nearby tissues or organs.

Thoracoscopy can also be used as part of a procedure to keep fluid from building up in the chest. This is called pleurodesis and is discussed in Palliative Procedures Used for Malignant Mesothelioma.

Laparoscopy: For this test, the doctor uses an endoscope called a laparoscope to look inside the abdomen and biopsy any peritoneal tumors. This is done in the operating room while you are under general anesthesia (in a deep sleep). The laparoscope is inserted into the abdomen through small cuts on the front of the abdomen.

Mediastinoscopy: If imaging tests such as a CT scan suggest that the cancer might have spread to the lymph nodes between the lungs, the doctor may want to sample some of them to see if they really contain cancer. The area between the lungs is called the mediastinum, and looking at it with an endoscope is called mediastinoscopy. This is done in an operating room while you are under general anesthesia (in a deep sleep).

A small cut is made in the front of the neck above the breastbone (sternum) and a thin, hollow, lighted tube (called a mediastinoscope) is inserted behind the sternum. Special instruments can be passed through this tube to take tissue samples from the lymph nodes along the windpipe and the major bronchial tube areas.

Lung cancers often spread to lymph nodes, but mesotheliomas do this less often. Testing the lymph nodes can help show whether a cancer is still localized or if it has started to spread, which might affect treatment options. It can also sometimes help tell lung cancers from mesotheliomas.Patients with mesothelioma don t need to have bronchoscopy to see if tumors are in their airways (because that isn t where tumors from mesothelioma are found). Instead, bronchoscopy may be used to biopsy lymph nodes near the lungs (instead of using mediastinoscopy).

Endobronchial ultrasound needle biopsy: For this test, a bronchoscope (a long, thin, flexible, fiber-optic tube) with an ultrasound device at its tip is passed down the throat and into the windpipe. The ultrasound lets the doctor see the nearby lymph nodes. A hollow needle is then passed down the bronchoscope and through the airway wall into the nodes to take biopsy samples. This procedure may be done with either general anesthesia (where you are asleep), or with numbing medicine (local anesthesia) and light sedation.

Open surgical biopsy

Sometimes, endoscopic biopsies aren t enough to make a diagnosis, so more invasive procedures are needed. By making an incision in the chest (thoracotomy) or an incision in the abdomen (laparotomy) the surgeon can remove a larger sample of tumor or, sometimes, remove the entire tumor.

Testing the samples in the lab

No matter how they re obtained, all biopsy and fluid samples are sent to the pathology lab. There, a doctor will look at them under a microscope and test them to find out if they contain cancer cells (and if so, what type of cancer it is).

It s often hard to diagnose mesothelioma by looking at cells from fluid samples. It can even be hard to diagnose mesothelioma with tissue from small needle biopsies. Under the microscope, mesothelioma can often look like other types of cancer. For example, pleural mesothelioma can resemble some types of lung cancer, and peritoneal mesothelioma in women may look like some cancers of the ovaries.

For this reason, special lab tests are often done to help tell mesothelioma from some other cancers. To learn about some of the tests that might be done on tissue samples, see Testing Biopsy and Cytology Specimens for Cancer.

If mesothelioma is diagnosed, the doctor will also determine what type of mesothelioma it is, based on the patterns of cells seen in the microscope. Most mesotheliomas are classified as either epithelioid, sarcomatoid, or mixed/biphasic.

Pulmonary function tests

If mesothelioma has been diagnosed, pulmonary function tests (PFTs) may be done to see how well your lungs are working. This is especially important if surgery might be an option to treat the cancer. Surgery often requires removing part or all of a lung, so it s important to know how well the lungs are working to start with. These tests can give the surgeon an idea of whether surgery may be an option, and if so, how much lung can safely be removed safely.

There are a few different types of PFTs, but they all basically have you breathe in and out through a tube connected to a machine that measures your lung function.

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Signs and Symptoms of Mesothelioma

Many of the early symptoms of mesothelioma are more likely to be caused by other conditions, so at first people may ignore them or mistake them for common, minor ailments. Most people with mesothelioma have symptoms for at least a few months before they are diagnosed.

Symptoms of pleural mesothelioma (mesothelioma of the chest) can include:

• Pain in the side of the chest or lower back
• Shortness of breath
• Cough
• Fever
• Excessive sweating
• Fatigue
• Weight loss (without trying)
• Trouble swallowing (feeling like food gets stuck)
• Hoarseness
• Swelling of the face and arms

Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma can include:

• Abdominal (belly) pain
• Swelling or fluid in the abdomen
• Weight loss (without trying)
• Nausea and vomiting
• Constipation

These symptoms can be caused by mesothelioma, but more often they are caused by other conditions. Still, if you have any of these problems (especially if you have been exposed to asbestos), it?s important to see your doctor right away so the cause can be found and treated, if needed.

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