If you are dealing with mesothelioma you may be able to improve your life expectancy if you stop smoking. It can be hard to kick the habit, but you could be rewarded with a much higher quality of life and possibly a better chance of survival after a mesothelioma diagnosis.
You will find that smoking does not actually affect the disease but it can affect your ability to fight the disease. Quitting smoking is always a good thing and without a doubt is what’s best.
Live Longer – You will live longer if you stop smoking. You are going to see that you will be making your life healthier and you will be able to fight the cancer.
Comfort – You are going to be more comfortable because smoking with make the symptoms of mesothelioma worse.
Smoking Cessation – If you are struggling to stop smoking then it may be time to talk to your doctor. They will be able to help you find a solution to help with this problem.
There have been studies that have shown that smoking does not cause mesothelioma. However, it can make the symptoms worse. It may also contribute to the development of other diseases. It most certainly affect your life expectancy and it can potentially contribute to the tumor growing.
One study that was in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology said the “percentage of current or former smokers among cases with BAP1 mutations was significantly higher” but it “did not suggest that this association was because of a causative role of smoking.”
Right now there is no connection between smoking and this cancer but it goes without saying that more studies need to be carried out.
Before you undergo a prognosis, go prepared to ask the right questions. Learn about treatment options, survival rates and more.
Not every mesothelioma prognosis is the same. Learn about survival rates here.
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Here are a few of the factors that are the same between those that smoke and those that have this type of cancer:
It is important to know that there are mesothelioma patients that smoke and have actually lived longer than they were told they would.
You will see that there are many individuals that do not want to stop smoking. Even though smoking may not cause this cancer, it can make it more difficult to get better. The prognosis could be shorter because your body may not be able to go through all of the treatments that you will need to go through.
It is important to quit smoking so that you are able to get through the treatments and live longer. There are a number of resources that you can find to help you quit. You can even talk to the doctor about ways to quit.
If you have smoked you should not give up hope. There was a study that was carried out at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 1980 to 1995. It was conducted on 120 patients who had an extrapleural pneumonectomy. It found a median survival rate of 21 months.
What intriguing and relevant, is that more than three-fifths of the patients that were studied had a history of smoking. Most of the time the prognosis of mesothelioma patients will be 4 to 12 months, but this time was doubled in the study.
A mesothelioma diagnosis can be devastating, but you don’t have to deal with it alone. Many groups and organizations offer different types of support for patients with mesothelioma and their families.
