Asbestosis Symptoms
Asbestosis symptoms vary depending upon the severity of the condition but they generally include:
- Shortness of breath
- Coughing
- Chest pain
- Reduced mobility or exercise capacity
It can take between and 10 and 20 years for the symptoms to appear after being exposed to asbestos.
Many people who are eventually diagnosed with asbestosis have a long history of attendances at the GP with repeat chest infections and breathlessness over many years .
The GP will then send the sufferer for further investigations and tests at hospital. Initially this is usually a chest x-ray, which may show the asbestosis. The sufferer is then usually sent to be reviewed by a consultant in a local hospital’s chest clinic where the diagnosis is explained and the options of symptom control can be discussed.
There are other chest conditions which have the same symptoms as asbestosis and are very similar. To assist the treating consultant it is important that you discuss your asbestos exposure with them so that this can be taken into account when they come to consider the diagnosis.