There are many medical symptoms in this world that might instill fear into any of us due to its severity and scary appearance. One of the most feared symptoms is coughing up blood. Yes, who is not afraid of dying if we start coughing up blood? Automatically, our mind will start to think about many possible bad things that will happen to us upon experiencing this symptom. Of course, coughing up blood can indicate a severe medical problem. However, it can also sometimes be a moderate issue. Coughing up blood symptoms is called hemoptysis in medical terms. It means that your blood comes mostly from your respiratory tracts. As stated before, some of these symptoms might indicate something serious, but some might be some minor problems. In this article, we will try to list out and explain about common diseases that show this symptom. Hopefully, any questions (soalan) inside your head about this thing will be answered.
- Lung cancer
Cancer is one of the most common chronic diseases in this world. It is also one of the most feared diseases among us. Why? Simply because the mortality rate for cancer is very high and cancer patients usually do not survive it. One of the common cancers is lung cancer. This type of cancer usually affects smokers. This is because when we smoke cigarettes, all the harmful materials inside the cigarette will go inside your lung and damage the lung’s wall. This is the reason why bleeding might happen. As a result, this blood might come out from your mouth through your respiratory tract. For lung cancer, the treatment usually uses a combination of radiotherapy, medicine and also surgery.
- Trauma to the chest
Your chest contains a lot of major organs such as heart, liver, stomach and also spleen. Most of these organs contain a lot of blood. Spleen, especially, is also known as the ‘blood factory’. So, you get what it means. Any major trauma to the chest might increase the chances to injure these organs. When this happens, one usually will vomit or cough up blood due to the pressure inside the chest. One of the most common trauma to the chest is vehicle accident. Any trauma to the chest that involves coughing up blood needs to be treated as an emergency. It is vital to save the organs because they are very important to our life.
- Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis or simply known as TB, is one of the common diseases that show this symptom. TB is caused by TB bacteria. This bacterium is usually spread through the air droplets and will enter your lung. Once it is there, it will cause damage and this is how you will cough up blood. Usually, other symptoms for TB might include fever, night sweat and also cough. For this disease, the only way to treat it is to take antiviral medication.
- Pneumonia
This is another type of infection that can cause hemoptysis. It is also one of the common infections in this world. The pneumococcus bacteria are the main culprit for it, but it can also be caused by other types of organisms. This is why it has become very common. Anyone that is infected by it will likely develop symptoms such as cough, fever and also shortness of breath. If the infection is too severe or is prolonged, there is a high chance that you will find blood in your sputum. Usually, doctors will try to treat this infection by giving you antibiotics in order to kill the organism. Besides, you will also be treated symptomatically. Get Vaccinated