7 Silent Signs Your Lungs Could Be In Trouble

You have swelling, pain, and tenderness in one leg

At first glance, this seems like it’d have nothing to do with your lungs. But this can be a sign you have deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in your leg, says Andrea McKee, MD, Chairman of Radiation Oncology at the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC) Sophia Gordon Cancer Center in Burlington, Massachusetts. McKee also serves on the Lung Association’s Lung Cancer Expert Medical Advisory Panel and works with their LUNG FORCE initiative to help raise awareness and educate women about lung cancer. The risk here is that the blood clot can break off and get into your lung, a condition called a pulmonary embolism. A clot in your lung can block blood flow and cause serious damage. Other clues include shortness of breath, problems breathing, and chest pain. (But you may also have no lung symptoms.) It’s important to get help as soon as you can: 30 percent of patients with this condition die, reports the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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