Symptoms of lung cancer, asbestosis or other asbestos - related diseases may include chronic cough and hoarseness, wheezing, chest pain, weight loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, dysphonia, coughing up blood and shortness of breath.

If you think that you may have an asbestos - related disease because you worked exposed to asbestos many years and you show any of the symptoms above mentioned, you should visit a specialist doctor to be explored by him and decide whether you need more exams or not.

The doctor may send you for a chest x-ray or chest computed tomography (CT) scan, to determine the existence of lung scars, and pulmonary function test (PFT), to measure the power of your breathing.

Workers with asbestos benign diseases should visit their doctors regularly, because they have higher risks of getting ill of more serious cancer pathology. Therefore, these patients may be send to specialists like a lung expert or an occupational health doctor. (note: other specialists could be helpful too).

Overall, these workers can keep working, but if they do not feel sick, as research states that these patients will avoid more harm to their lungs if the amount of asbestos dust is kept low.

But if the doctor thinks that is better to have no more contact with asbestos or if you have another illness or disability, you may not be able to keep working.

Is so difficult to say you do not must to work on asbestos related jobs, because you need to work if you want to pay the bills, but in this case your decision could have many risks. On the other hand, there is many alternatives for asbestos compensations, so you need to find an specialist lawyer in this subject, this could be very useful if you decided not to be asbestos worker any more.