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Overview

According to researchers, approximately 3,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. and this condition will affect around 30,870 individuals worldwide.

Lifestyle Changes Every Mesothelioma Patient Should Consider
How Many Cases of Mesothelioma Are Diagnosed Each Year?

Mesothelioma survival rates are often low, with around 10% of those diagnosed at a late stage surviving within a five-year period. Visit mesotheliomagroup.com to know more about mesothelioma and its causes, stages, symptoms, and treatment options.

In what ways can mesothelioma patients change their lifestyle to help manage their condition? Can light workouts or dietary changes help with the disease? What are mesothelioma’s causes?

This article suggests various ways mesothelioma patients can manage their condition and change their lifestyle. This article also briefly discusses mesothelioma and what causes this disease.

Recommended Lifestyle Changes for Mesothelioma Patients

A person diagnosed with mesothelioma often undergoes profound changes in their life.

For example, because of the disease’s low survival rate, that person can become emotionally and psychologically overwhelmed. Coping with depression following a diagnosis is often one of the most challenging things when dealing with mesothelioma.

However, getting diagnosed with this type of cancer doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. Treatment options like radiation therapy[1], chemotherapy, and surgery can help reduce, if not remove, the cancer cells.

Someone with mesothelioma doesn’t have to wait for such procedures before taking action to help themselves. There are ways to cope with mesothelioma symptoms so that living with the disease won’t be too difficult. These activities include making changes to your diet and staying active through exercise.

Maintain a Balanced Diet

Dietary needs vary from person to person, so talk to a nutritionist or your medical team to know what foods you should take. Generally, you should eat a healthy and balanced diet that typically includes the following:

  • Proteins: Fish, chicken, eggs, dairy, and plant-based food like nuts, beans, and soy
  • Fruits: All kinds of fruits, including canned or frozen fruit, without added syrups, when not in season
  • Vegetables: All colors and different varieties of vegetables that make up a significant proportion of your daily meals
  • Healthy fats: Olive oil, chia seeds, flax seeds, walnuts, and other foods containing omega-3 fatty acids and other healthy fats
  • Whole grains: Less white and refined grains like bread, white rice, and pasta and more whole grains like brown rice, oatmeal, and whole wheat bread
  • Nuts and seeds: Various nuts and seeds containing fiber, protein, micronutrients, and trace minerals
  • Water: Less sugary drinks like juice and carbonated drinks and more water daily

Try Smaller Meals and Eat Fiber-Rich Foods

Although eating three balanced meals a day may be ideal for many people, it doesn’t always work for everyone. Such a regimen can also be challenging for individuals with mesothelioma experiencing a decreased appetite, especially during treatment.

One alternative to taking your meals is to eat several smaller meals more often. This way, you can maintain the food intake you need to stay healthy. Some treatment options can cause digestive difficulties, like constipation, so you should eat foods containing fiber.

Plant-based foods like vegetables, bran, oatmeal, and fruits are fiber-rich and usually have a mild or pleasant flavor. These factors can help someone who may be nauseous because of chemotherapy.

Keep Active Through Exercise

People with mesothelioma often experience chest pain, breathing difficulties, and reduced energy levels that can affect their ability to exercise.

Putting the patient on total bedrest is an outdated cancer treatment approach. Inactivity can cause poor appetite, muscular weakness, fatigue, and a lower quality of life. Instead, oncologists recommend regular exercise.

As an alternative for mesothelioma patients to prevent inactivity, they should consider performing regular gentle activities.[2] The body usually develops endurance with repetitive action to handle more activity.

Over time, you’ll feel more capable of exercising and experience how regular activity improves your body, mind, and quality of life.

Clinical research suggests that people with cancer who exercise can receive the following benefits:

  • Increased appetite
  • Improved physical function
  • Less fatigue and more energy
  • Reduced stress effects on the body
  • Improved endurance, muscular strength, bone strength, and body mass
  • Reduced peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage or dysfunction) due to chemotherapy
  • Improved mood, mental health, and quality of life

What Is Mesothelioma and What Causes It?

Mesothelioma is a deadly and aggressive cancer that affects the mesothelium (the thin tissue covering most of your internal organs).

Although several mesothelioma treatments are available, a cure isn’t always possible for many people with this disease.

Mesothelioma doctor, categorise mesothelioma depending on the part of the mesothelium that’s affected. Pleural mesothelioma affects the tissue surrounding the lungs (pleura).[3] Meanwhile, mesothelioma that affects the abdominal tissue is called peritoneal mesothelioma. This disease can also affect the heart and the area around the testicles.

In most cases, asbestos exposure can cause mesothelioma. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral containing strong and heat-resistant fibers. These properties make asbestos helpful for various applications like insulation, flooring, shingles, and brakes.

When mining for asbestos or removing insulation made from this mineral, the material can break up and produce dust. If you inhale or swallow this dust, the asbestos fibres can settle in your lungs or stomach and irritate these organs, leading to mesothelioma.

Researchers still don’t understand how exactly asbestos causes mesothelioma. What they know is that the disease can take 20 to 60 years to develop after a person is exposed to asbestos. To know more about mesothelioma or other cancers, contact the National Cancer Institute at 1-800-422-6237.

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Lori Bell, B.A.

Lori Bell former-journalist-turned-novelist. Always an avid writer, she began freelancing in 2015 to fund her travels in South America.