Asbestos symptoms are pointers of the harmful asbestos effects on health. More than one million people get exposed to asbestos every year because of working in environments where the levels of asbestos are quite high. Therefore, it is important for people, especially those who are working or have worked in asbestos mining industry, shipyard, railway industry, and automobile and construction industry over the last 40-60 years to be aware of several asbestos symptoms that may later lead to more serious and complicated health issues.
                             
Many of the deadly diseases caused by harmful asbestos effects lie hidden for number of years before any of the asbestos symptoms associated with them can be seen. That is why it is difficult to determine them in early stages. The most common of the many deadly asbestos effects is lung cancer and there are few asbestos symptoms that can help in determining if one is suffering from it or not. Few of the very noted asbestos symptoms are listed below.

Shortness Of Breath:
                              Do you often run out of breath? Climbing stairs leaves you gasping? Shortness of breath is the most common asbestos symptom and it happens because of the asbestos fibers that have entered the body causing irritation in the lungs. Asbestos fibers in the lungs scar the tissues of the air sacs obstructing the free flow of air leading to shortness of breath. This makes you breathe in more frequently. The worst thing about this particular asbestos symptom is that it increases with time. This means the activities that you were able to do easily and without getting out of breath a couple of weeks or months ago, you are unable to do them that easily today. It worsens over the time.

Coughing:
                             Coughing is another symptom associated with harmful asbestos effects on health. Asbestos symptoms like shortness of breath and coughing are triggered because of the asbestos fibers that get lodged in the lung tissues. Asbestos fibers cause difficulty in breathing and irritation in the lungs which in turn stimulates the body immune system to release cough in order to clear out the air passage. But as the asbestos fibers are lodged in lung tissues it becomes difficult for the body get rid of them, resulting in persistent coughing. More advance stage of this asbestos symptom is observed when a person coughs up blood while coughing. This actually points to the fact that the lungs are bruised and injured.

Chest Pains:
                              Chest pains caused by asbestos fibers in the lungs are very severe and very hard to bear. As the irritation and wounds caused by asbestos fibers in lungs increases so does the pain in the chest. This worsens due to the involuntary act of the body’s immune system which is unable to clear the lungs of asbestos fibers by itself. This kind of asbestos symptom is difficult to handle and very painful.

Sputum:
                              Increase in the amount of sputum is other asbestos symptom that should not be ignored. Lungs in trying to wash out the asbestos fibers produce more sputum. However, asbestos fibers are not that easy to get out of the tissues causing more irritation resulting in lots of spitting.

Excessive Loss Of Weight:
                              An unexpected fall in weight is another asbestos symptom to watch for. Sharp decline in weight often indicates that the asbestos disease may have expanded to other organs of the body.
Swelling, nausea, infection in stomach and intestines, anemia, fever and sweating are some of the other asbestos symptoms to look for. If you have been exposed to asbestos for long duration in past you should always watch for these asbestos symptoms. It is also important to note these asbestos symptoms often appear in advance stages; therefore it is better to get yourself checked regularly.