The symptoms of asbestosis are something that develops over a period of time, sometimes even taking 20-30 years after the initial exposure before they start to manifest.

Asbestosis is a disease of the lung that comes from either frequent or serious exposure to asbestos; however, even a little intake can sometimes be enough to cause harm. Those that work in an industry that works with asbestos would be of a high risk; however, anyone that comes in contact with it runs the risk of developing the symptoms and asbestosis.

Disease Understanding

Our lungs are one of the major organs and are responsible for the intake of oxygen for the body. Due to their important nature they are equipped with a very expansive system of defense. This is in order to prevent any harmful fibers or other foreign substance from being able to enter into the lungs cavity.

The problem with this when it comes to asbestos is that its fibers are so tough compared to any other invasive material that the lungs eventually are unable to fight off the repeated and continuous exposure. Once they continually go into the lungs tissues it will lead to the hardening of the lungs tissue as the fibers continually build in the lungs.

Symptoms

The symptoms of asbestosis are going to occur over time, usually over many years. They are usually correlated to breathing problems which is due to the fact that it’s mainly a lung infection.

Some of the symptoms include:

• Persistent cough
• Chest pains
• Shortness of breath
• Upper respiratory infections
• More

Due to the inability to be able to take in enough oxygen it is really hard for those with the disease, even in the early stages, to do any heavy work and/or physical activity. There is also a very high risk of very severe asthma symptoms to develop.

There are some instances where there can be deformities in both the hands and the fingers can develop as a result of the asbestosis. Some will experience some or all when it comes to the deformities of the hand, those include:

• Clubbed fingers (happens to those usually right in the clutch of the disease)
• Thickening of the skin
• Brittle nails (can get to the point where they might actually fall out)
• Color change

When it comes to the initial symptoms of asbestosis it’s not a life threatening in and of themselves; however, they can be quite discomforting.

As the asbestosis condition continues to escalate it’s going to progress to more and complicated symptoms. This is going to include things like:

• Lung cancer
• High blood pressure
• Heart problems
• Other

Prognosis

The symptoms of asbestosis are something that can be treated by using pain medication but there is actually no cure at this time.