Friday 19 July 2013

A Cough Doesn't Mean Lung Cancer

You may have stop noticing your cough' says the TV advert, 'but if you have had it for 3 weeks or more it could be lung cancer'. WTF!!!
It does go on later to say that it probably isn't but you should get it checked out anyway with a big THINK CANCER slogan filling the screen but how is that not highly irresponsible?
Doctors waiting rooms will now be full of people coughing and spluttering convinced that they have a lung full of malignant growths and a course of chemotherapy is the only answer when a few spoonfuls of cough medicine is all that's needed.
Woke up with a bit of a headache? It could me a brain tumour, probably isn't but get it checked anyway. THINK TUMOUR!! 
I would suggest that 99% of coughs is purely down to the person having a cough and not lung cancer but scaring people into already overcrowded doctors waiting rooms with a simple, got a cough, think cancer, is a poor move. The MacMillan Cancer Support has a long list of lung cancer symptoms such as:

    a continuing cough, or change in a long-standing cough
    becoming breathless and wheezy
    coughing up bloodstained phlegm (sputum)
    chest or shoulder pain
    weight loss
    a chest infection that doesn’t get better
    a hoarse voice
    a dull ache or sharp pain when you cough or take a deep breath
    difficulty swallowing
    feeling extremely tired (fatigue) and lethargic
    the ends of fingers becoming larger or looking more rounded (clubbing)
    swelling of lymph nodes (glands) in the neck area.

Would have been more responsible to have the advert saying if you have noticed two or more of these symptoms then get checked by a doctor rather than cough=cancer which must have caused panic in anyone who has a cough for a few days.

1 comment:

Cheri said...

This is gorgeous!