Lung Damage Due to Smoking

According to the American Heart Association, approximately 26 million Americans smoke. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that one out of five deaths are due to diseases from smoking. One of the primary concerns about smoking is the lung damage that it causes. Firsthand smoking is not the only factor in lung damage. Secondhand smoking can cause people to develop lung diseases and disorders as well.

Lung Cancer

• A report by the Surgeon General in 2004 shows that an estimated 80 percent of women who have lung cancer are smokers, while 80 percent of men with lung cancer smoked. According to Mayo Clinic, lung cancer is the leading cause of deaths from cancer in the United States.

  Symptoms of lung cancer are chronic coughing, coughing blood, wheezing, hoarseness, chest pain and breath shortness. If you experience any of these symptoms, you should contact your doctor immediately.

Asthma

• Asthma is a condition that restricts the airways and can cause fatal asthma attacks. The Cardiology Channel states that smokers are more prone to develop asthma than people who have never smoked. In severe cases of asthma, respiratory failure is a common risk. Secondhand smoke can also be a cause for asthma, meaning you are not only harming yourself by smoking, but others as well.

Bronchitis

• Bronchitis is a condition that affects the bronchial tubes. When you have bronchitis, your bronchial tubes inflame and produce a thick mucus that restricts breathing. Bronchitis due to smoking is caused by the amount of smoke and tar that you take into your body. Without treatment, bronchitis can lead to pneumonia. People who smoke are more likely to develop bronchitis than people who do not.

Emphysema

• Emphysema is a condition that develops from prolonged damage to the lungs, such as smoking. According to the Mayo Clinic, emphysema restricts your airflow when you breathe out, eventually resulting in less oxygen entering your blood. Unfortunately, emphysema is irreversible, and ultimately results in death.

Treatments

• Lung complications caused by smoking are irreversible, although treatments are available that will ease the symptoms of each of these conditions. Chemotherapy treatment may be able to cure lung cancer, but not in all cases. Asthma, bronchitis and emphysema are not curable. Treatments are available for emphysema that will slow the process down and relieve some symptoms.

  Lung cancer can spread to other regions of your body, completely annihilating your chance for a cure. Once the cancer has started, immediate treatment must begin to stop the process and destroy the cancer cells.