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Most people with early-stage lung cancer do not have any symptoms, which means only a few of those diagnosed with lung cancer find it in its early stages.  Typically, when lung cancer is found early, it is often because the individual was undergoing tests for something else.

Unfortunately, most lung cancers do not exhibit symptoms until they have spread throughout the body.  If you exhibit any of the following symptoms, it is important that you report them to your doctor right away: 

• A cough that does not go away
• Chest pain, often made worse by deep breathing
• Hoarseness
• Weight loss and loss of appetite
• Bloody or rust-colored sputum (spit or phlegm)
• Shortness of breath
• Infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia that keep coming back
• New onset of wheezing

When lung cancer spreads to other organs, it may cause:

• Bone pain

• Weakness or numbness of the arms or legs
• Dizziness or seizure

• Yellow coloring of the skin and eyes (jaundice)
• Masses near the surface of the body, caused by cancer spreading to the skin or to lymph nodes in the neck or above the collarbone

Often these problems are caused by something other than cancer. But if lung cancer is found, getting treatment right away could help you live longer and relieve the symptoms.  At this point, there is no known cure for lung cancer, although those who develop lung cancer who were previously smokers tend to have a better success rate than those who were not smokers.