Is coughing just a symptom of a cold?
After two weeks of dry cough, Kao Ching-yuan, president of Uni-President Group, was diagnosed with a lung tumor by doctors.
Do you often ignore a cough? Be careful, a big crisis may be lurking beneath the surface...
Kao Ching-yuan, president of Uni-President Enterprises Corporation, who is health-conscious and rarely smokes, recently went to the hospital for a checkup after experiencing a persistent dry cough for two weeks. Unexpectedly, a 2-centimeter tumor was discovered in his upper left lung lobe, and he immediately underwent surgery and treatment.
A small warning sign from your body could actually be a major health crisis – have you ever thought of that?
It causes almost no physical pain, and the cough is often easily overlooked.
For example, in the slightly cooler autumn, when you hear someone coughing, the first thing that might be assumed is, "You have a cold?"
However, coughing is not just a symptom of a cold.
"Coughing and wheezing are the two most common symptoms of respiratory diseases," said Kuo Shou-hsiung, director of the Department of Thoracic Medicine at National Taiwan University Hospital. He pointed out that all chest and lung diseases can present with these two symptoms.
In terms of cough, in addition to bronchitis caused by a cold, it can be caused by a variety of diseases, including pneumonia, asthma, tuberculosis, lung cancer, etc. Even taking certain types of high blood pressure medication can have a cough as a side effect.
However, "if you have a persistent cough for more than two weeks without any other symptoms such as a cold, fever, or sore throat, you should seek medical attention to find out the cause," Guo Shouxiong reminded.
People with chronic coughs should pay special attention when the type or appearance of their cough changes.
For example, a heavy smoker may develop a cough over a long period, but it shouldn't always be accompanied by blood; or in addition to coughing and phlegm, he may recently start to have noticeable shortness of breath.
Or perhaps a middle-aged man in his forties, recentlycoldIt caused pneumonia, fever, and cough. After undergoing X-rays and treatment at the hospital, the cough persisted for over two months, suggesting it might not be just a pneumonia issue.
To help doctors gradually uncover the true cause of illness from the subtle clue of "coughing," Guo Shouxiong suggests that patients can inform their doctors when seeking medical help:
1. How long have you been coughing?
Be specific about the duration of the cough. For example, say whether it has lasted a month or two weeks. Do not use vague terms like "coughed for a long time" or "not long ago" to tell the doctor.
2. Under what circumstances will you cough?
Is the cough during the day or at night? In the first or second half of the night? After exercise? Or after lying down and sleeping for a while? These questions can help doctors determine the symptoms.
For example, asthma patients cough most severely in the middle of the night, around four or five o'clock before dawn; lung cancer patients cough at any time of day; and patients with bronchiectasis usually cough all day long, but have a lot of phlegm after waking up in the morning.
3. Is there any phlegm?
If it is a wet cough (with phlegm), it is usually caused by inflammation, such as bronchitis; as for lung cancer patients, theoretically they usually tend to have a dry cough (without phlegm).
4. What does a cough look like?
Is it a throat-clearing cough, or a short, sharp cough?
If it's a throat-clearing cough, it might not be a cough at all, but rather something like talking too much or having other issues.Postnasal dripquestion.
A small cough can be a big deal. Can you afford to ignore it?
Why do people with lung tumors cough?
When something irritates the bronchi, it can cause a cough. Lung cancer is scientifically known as "bronchial carcinoma," meaning the tumor grows from the bronchi. It may "possibly" cause a cough, but it doesn't always.
Many patients have no symptoms in the early stages of lung cancer, and even when the lung cancer grows quite large, there is no sign of coughing. "It depends on the location of the tumor," explained Kuo Shou-hsiung, director of the Department of Thoracic Medicine at National Taiwan University Hospital.
Tumors, even small ones, can cause significant irritation and trigger coughing, even in the early stages of lung cancer, because they obstruct airflow. However, tumors located on the periphery or in smaller parts of the bronchus, which do not obstruct airflow, cause less irritation and may not trigger coughing.
Lung cancer is not easy to detect in its early stages, but if you have an unexplained cough or difficulty breathing, or if you have a history of respiratory illness that caused the cough, or if the cough pattern has changed (for example, if you cough more severely, wheeze, or have phlegm or blood streaks), you should pay special attention.
Should I get an X-ray?
Kuo Shou-hsiung pointed out that having a chest X-ray every year doesn't significantly help in the early detection of lung cancer. In particular, X-ray examinations can only see about 80% of the lungs.
However, for high-risk groups such as heavy smokers or those exposed to polluted industrial fumes, annual X-rays can still help detect health problems early.
When a doctor suspects that a patient may have signs of lung cancer, they will arrange for the patient to undergo more detailed CT scans and other tests to confirm the diagnosis.
In addition, in recent years, the Japanese medical community has tended to perform CT scans directly on high-risk groups, which is very helpful in detecting small tumors.
6 ways to protect your lungs
1. Quit smoking and avoid secondhand smoke.
2. Install and use the range hood correctly, and replace it regularly.
3. When cooking, try to avoid inhaling cooking fumes. Reduce frying, stir-frying, and deep-frying, or don't wait until the fumes start to rise before putting food in the pan; use steaming, boiling, braising, or stir-frying with water and covering the food, or adopt a Mediterranean diet that mainly consists of cold dishes.
4. Reduce workplace pollution. For example, wear a mask in environments with high pollution sources.
5. Establish good exercise habits and promoteCardiopulmonary function。
6. Establish good eating habits, eat less oil, and eat more vegetables, fruits and high-fiber foods.
How harmful is secondhand smoke?
Amidst the billowing smoke and puffs of smoke, did you know that a single cigarette can release approximately 4,000 chemical mixtures, including nicotine, irritants, carbon monoxide, and at least 43 carcinogens?
Smoking is not only harmful to one's own health, but unfortunately, it also harms the health of those around them. Of the same volume of first-hand smoke and second-hand smoke, second-hand smoke is far more toxic.
This is because the force of mouth inhalation when lighting a cigarette results in a smaller, more concentrated stream of smoke containing more oxygen, leading to more complete combustion. The surrounding sidestream smoke, however, burns less completely. And a smoker is inhaling not only the sidestream smoke but also the smoke exhaled after inhaling.
How harmful is secondhand smoke? Some data have shown:
■ One-quarter of lung cancer patients who do not smoke are caused by secondhand smoke.
Children who are frequently exposed to secondhand smoke have a 1.6 times higher risk of developing respiratory diseases in infancy and a 1.3 times higher risk in preschool children; their risk of developing asthma is 1.2 to 3.8 times higher.
■ A Japanese study found that women whose husbands smoke are twice as likely to die from lung cancer as women whose husbands do not smoke.
