Lung cancer used to be rare in younger people. No longer.

Christopher Reeve's wife, was 44 and died of lung cancer a year after he passed away. She was not a smoker. It was a tragic loss of both.

Lymphoma also presents in the chest in some, along the mediastinal lymph nodes, and will show up on CAT scan.
In women the ovary can also be a culprit.
This link shows the mediastinal anatomy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediastinum

Typically the paraneoplastic symptoms precede diagnosis of the cancer.

I agree that paraneoplastic PN is not one of the more common types. You could forgo the CAT scan in the beginning because other tests may show something instead. Then you can decide later if you want to explore that possibility.

I don,t have any history of lung cancer in my family or anything like that as far as l know.
It's interesting because l close friend of mine, had heavy chest pains, along with sore joints and she had an X-ray on her chest and found something, they then went to a ct scan which they were certain it was hodgkinsons disease. For 3 weeks she was a mess, preparing for chemo. During that time, they did a biopsy from her chest and found she didn't have hodgkinsons, but Sarcordosis. She so happy when the doctor rang of the good news. But we both thought, how could they make such an error of judgment, and how could have they been so certain without a biopsy? What she went through in those 3 weeks was the scariest thing she ever went through. She isn,t thrilled to have Sarcordosis either, but at least it's to cancer. So we are both traveling down these painful days together. Both of us are in our 40's, both with young families and both always watched our health. She is a personal trainer.

As l don,t have any kind of other symptoms except the PN ones, l think maybe l should wait and see what happens. If anything l will do an X-ray first, I really don't want to expose my body to radiation.

I do have a bit of chest pains here and there, but it is very slight, and it could very well all be anxiety related. It could all very well be in my head.

I can't believe Reeves's wife died. Poor children, without parents now.

sue

Pardon me for responding to the thread in reference to a few posts ago. I just wanted to say Mrs D that I think this was a very appropriate topic and hopefully it will be viewed as another tool and not seen as a personal attack. People need to know what role their additudes and behaviors have in addressing pain, it helps. I'd like to see more.

I thought there was a trend towards having fewer ct scans too, I'd also ask Dr why.

judi