Work and Asbestos-related diseases, Part One
Symptoms of lung cancer, asbestosis or other asbestos - related
diseases may include chronic cough and hoarseness, wheezing,
chest pain, weight loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, dysphonia,
coughing up blood and shortness of breath.
If you think that you may have an asbestos - related disease
because you worked exposed to asbestos many years and you show
any of the symptoms above mentioned, you should visit a
specialist doctor to be explored by him and decide whether you
need more exams or not.
The doctor may send you for a chest x-ray or chest computed
tomography (CT) scan, to determine the existence of lung scars,
and pulmonary function test (PFT), to measure the power of your
breathing.
Workers with asbestos benign diseases should visit their doctors
regularly, because they have higher risks of getting ill of more
serious cancer pathology. Therefore, these patients may be send
to specialists like a lung expert or an occupational health
doctor. (note: other specialists could be helpful too).
Overall, these workers can keep working, but if they do not feel
sick, as research states that these patients will avoid more
harm to their lungs if the amount of asbestos dust is kept low.
But if the doctor thinks that is better to have no more contact
with asbestos or if you have another illness or disability, you
may not be able to keep working.
Is so difficult to say you do not must to work is asbestos
related jobs, because you need to work if you want to pay the
bills, but in this case your decisions could be very risk. On
the other hand, there is many alternatives for asbestos
compensations, so you need find out an specialist lawyer in this
subject, this could be very useful if you decide not to be
asbestos worker any more.