Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

There is a pre-cancer stage for lung cancer too but it is probably shorter and the cells are not often seen in cytology specimens. The next thing is that effective treatment is more possible if pre-cancer or cancer cells are found: part of or all of the cervix can be removed. We can remove part of the lungs but we can’t remove them all, for obvious reasons. Thus with cervix cancer it is fairly easy to get comprehensive samples for cytology tests, it has a longer and more readily identified precancer stage and it can be effectively dealt with once diagnosed (by complete surgical removal). These are the factors which result in screening picking up a higher proportion of curable cases than happens if we wait until patients get symptoms. While mentioning Pap smears, I’ll just take the opportunity to tell you that a clear Pap smear (when properly taken) only really rules out cancer of the cervix. Cancers of the uterus (womb) and ovaries are rarely diagnosed on Pap smears — it is a screening test only for cancer of the cervix.

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These X-rays and scans show up cancer lumps but do not help much when looking for meningeal involvement. To check for this a lumbar puncture is necessary. Under local anaesthetic, a fine needle is inserted into the fluid which surrounds and cushions the spinal cord and brain (the cerebro-spinal fluid or CSF). The pressure in the CSF can be measured through the needle and is an indication of the pressure throughout the central nervous system. A sample of fluid can be withdrawn for testing, including examination under the microscope for cancer cells. When done correctly, a lumbar puncture is not much more painful than a blood test. Headache can occur after a lumbar puncture. These headaches are thought to be due to CSF continuing to leak out through the tiny hole in the meningeal covering. To reduce the chance of this happening, you may be advised to lie flat for some hours after the lumbar puncture.

Central nervous system symptoms can also result from cancer deposits pressing on a part of the central nervous system from the outside.

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This is a bacterial illness and is now rare, but the germ is still active in the community and small outbreaks occur from time to time, especially in the unimmunised.

The incubation period is around two weeks and it is common in the spring and autumn. The infection starts as a heavy cold with a marked cough, and this runs its course over a week or so by which times the temperature usually subsides. The characteristic cough associated with a whoop then develops. A paroxysm of coughing occurs and the lungs are almost emptied by short, sharp coughing.

The tongue may protrude and the child may go blue. Then the spasm in the larynx, or voice box, relaxes and the air is drawn into the lungs with a crowing sound which produces the typical “whoop”. Vomiting frequently follows this paroxysm.

The correct diagnosis is often not made until the whooping stage is reached.

In most children who have been immunised, a modified form of the disease may produce a persistent cough, even if not a severe illness.

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