cancer experts
i want to know about small cell lung cancer i've read that usualy cancer is dormant for years before it start to grow.
my question is how long usualy takes for the cancer while is growing to show symptoms does it happen realy fast or does it take less than a year les than six month less than three months or does it just take weeks. thanks

That really all depends on when a person decided to get checked. Many times the only symptoms are fatigue or shoulder pain, or shortness of breath.. or all of the above three. most of these symptoms are put down to over work, stress and perhaps an injury so are left untreated. In my case, I thought it was overwork and was just real tired, I developed what I thought was a bronchial attack so went for a routine xray.. the xray looked suspicious, a CT scan was set up.. within a month of tests I was diagnosed with stage iv inoperable, terminal cancer. I know one lady who fell down, hurt her shoulder so went to have it xrayed, her stage four cancer was found. She had no other symptoms… so it really depends on the person. all I can really say is you have to know your body and when something doesn't feel right…. go and have a check up. Its just too difficult to put a time frame of when symptoms will appear.

When lung cancer starts exhibiting symptoms, it is in an advanced stage (III or IV). Early stage (I and II) are often found by accident during an X-ray performed for other reasons, as early stage does not exhibit any symptoms.

The length of time for grow depends on the cancer type. Squamous cell is a slow growing cancer, whereas small cell is a fast growing.