Mesothelioma and Asbestos

Before we go in more detail to find out about the most commonly seen asbestos exposure symptoms, let’s first discuss what asbestos is and what role the material played in the past and up to this day.

When I got diagnosed with kidney cancer back in October 2009, I first didn't think of asbestos exposure being a potential cause for my Renal Cell Carcinoma. My wife had received her breast cancer diagnosis seven month earlier and naturally we were desperately trying to find out the reason behind our illnesses. First, we thought that there might have been something wrong with our living environment, maybe we were exposed to toxins in our house or on our property. Well, we learned that my wife's breast cancer was as old as 7-10 years, and as for my kidney cancer, the doctors told me that based on the pathology, it could have started over 20 years ago. That, of course, was good news since we were concerned about our two daughters and if there would have been a problem with our home, we obviously would have been forced to move out as soon as possible. Okay, but what on earth was the actual cause for my cancer of the kidney? I was trying to track back where I was and what I did approximately 20-25 years ago. The truth of the matter is, I will never find out why I got cancer, however, there is indeed a good chance that my diagnosis was caused by asbestos exposure. Because around that time back then I was working with my father putting asbestos sheets for insulation purposes up on the walls around our house. That was a rather common practice back then I vividly remember that over the course of a few years, I inhaled and ingested little chips of asbestos cement sheets as we trimmed and installed them.

What is asbestos?

Asbestos belongs to the group of naturally occurring minerals. It is made of very thin fibers. Asbestos is usually categorized in two groups, chrysotile and amphibole. It is then divided up further: the subgroups of amphiboles are tremolite, amosite, crocidolite and actinolite.

However, it is the chrysotile asbestos that found more and wider use in a brought spectrum of commercial applications. The material was mined and utilized since the late 1800s. But it was most heavily used between the 1940s and 1980s, because it was found to have some outstanding product properties that made it rather unique among similar minerals.
Those properties included:

- Resistance to fire
- Resistance to heat
- Outstanding resistance to chemicals
- Poor conductor of electricity

Where was asbestos used?

As we just learned, asbestos containing materials were extensively used up until the mid-1980s. But is asbestos still being used these days? The answer is yes, to some extent. The material was an ideal candidate to mix into cement, strengthen plastic products, insulation, roofing, tiling and anywhere where a sound-proofing played a major role. In addition to that, the automobile industry used it to manufacture brake liners and clutch plates. Further to that, it found widespread use in the ship-building industry for steam, boiler and hot-water pipes insulation.

Lastly, asbestos found its way into many households in the form of adhesives, paints, ceiling and flooring tiles. What are the health issues associated with asbestos exposure? Studies indicated that prolonged asbestos exposure can cause a variety of severe and even fatal health problems.

Here are the three most commonly diseases associated with exposure to asbestos:

Asbestosis: This condition is defined by excess accumulation of asbestos particles in the lungs which ultimately leads to fibrosis and lung scarring.

Mesothelioma: This is a rare form of cancer which originates in the so called mesothelium, a thin and protective lining that embeds the lungs and a number of other internal organs.

Lung Cancer: This malignant disease is one of the leading causes of deaths related to exposure to asbestos.

Occupational exposure to asbestos ranks number one among all causes for asbestos induced diseases.


What are the usual asbestos exposure symptoms?

The symptoms of asbestos exposure are often deceiving as they typically resemble the signs of other, less sever conditions. Here is a list with the most commonly cited symptoms of asbestos exposure:

- Difficulty in breathing

- Pain while breathing

- Shortness of breath

- Persistent dry coughing

Between the exposure to asbestos and the development of related symptoms, many years or even decades may pass. If you experience any of the aforementioned signs, even if you rules out asbestos exposure as a probable cause, you should definitely seek medical attention as soon as possible.

I did not encounter any of those symptoms; however, I did have to deal with discomfort in the abdomen. One day while working out, I had to go to the bathroom urgently and I was shocked when I saw the blood in my urine. I literally urinated blood with clots in it. After that, I made an appointment with an Urologist who then sent me to get a CAT-Scan, which a few weeks later confirmed my kidney cancer. Again, I will never find out what it was caused by, but I must consider asbestos exposure as a potential reason.