It’s not unusual for us to take things lightly when it comes to our health. Many of us feel it’s nonsensical to fuss over trivial matters, especially if we feel fine and there’s not much pain involved in whatever it is we’re going through. This is where things can take a turn for the worse. It’s always best to let a doctor determine whether it’s truly nothing – or something serious.
Hypochondria – Or Reality?
Is that bump an ingrown hair – or a tumor? Is your stomach pain an exercise cramp – or appendicitis? And about that headache: could it be due to dehydration – or is it signalling something more cynical, like an an aneurism? According to Dr. Joshua Tobin, director of trauma anesthesiology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, people are often worried that they have some rare disease that had seen on the internet, and it’s almost never the case, but on the flipside too , patients brush off seemingly benign symptoms that could signal something serious.
If you experience any of these 10 symptoms, don’t wait until it’s too late to seek medical attention.
1. Unexpected Indigestion
If you’re a senior citizen, particularly if you have other risk factors for heart attacks, such as being over 65 years old and having high cholesterol, heartburns are not symptoms to be taken too lightly. “Worse still, if the pain feels left-sided, travels down your left arm or leaves you sweating profusely,” says Dr. Ernest Brown, a family medicine physician in the District of Columbia. Adds Dr. Fred Bove, past president of the American College of Cardiology: “Indigestion is … usually related to a digestive problem, but occasionally, it is a cardiac symptom that is a precursor of a heart attack.”
2. Something In Your Eye That Won’t Go Away
While it’s hard to ignore a condition like pink eye – its name says it all – one of the most serious and time sensitive eye conditions is also one of the easiest to brush off. Retinal detachment, or when the light-sensitive layer of your eye pulls away or tears, can blind you. The symptoms though, an increasing number of specks, flashes of light or a “curtain” covering your field of vision. According to the National Eye Institute they are painless and invisible to anyone else, as well as the mirror. If you notice any of these changes, see an eye care professional immediately.
3. Surprise Weight Loss
At first, sliding more easily into your skinny jeans may come as a pleasant surprise. However, losing 10 pounds or more for no clear reason isn’t usually good news. If you haven’t, for instance, taken your fitness regimen up a notch, started a newly diligent diet, tamed your cravings for sugary of fatty foods or even lost your appetite due to stress, and yet you’re shedding off kilos, – it can be the first sign of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Cancers of the pancreas, esophagus, stomach and lung are most often linked to unexplained weight loss.
4. Increasing – And Unexplained – Belly Bloat
Can’t quite button your pants? “When patients have weight gain, the most common reason is definitely poor dietary choices and inactivity,” says Dr. Stephanie Romero, an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. But if those are not the reasons for your belly’s growing girth, you could have an abdominal cancer like ovarian cancer, Romero says. Abdominal swelling, Bove adds, can also be a sign of heart failure, which often causes fluid retention.
5. Painful Periods
If that time of the month is excruciatingly painful, you plow through super-size tampons like nobody’s business or your flow is woefully unpredictable, consider it a red flag. Treatable but frequently undiagnosed conditions like endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome – top causes of infertility – could be to blame. Fibroids, or noncancerous tumors in the uterus, or even pregnancy might also be behind this. Any changes in your cycle, for that matter, warrant a trip to the gynecologist. Any unusual pattern to menstruation deserves a mention to the gynecologist, particularly if it represents a change from what had been going on in the past.
6. Walking- Or Stair-Climbing-Induced Leg Cramps
Any athlete will tell you leg cramps are just the name of the game. But if the pain is tied to walking, relieved by rest and hits consistently when you stride or climb stairs, don’t brush it off as soreness – those cramps could be caused by peripheral artery disease, or when blood flow to the legs gets impinged due to clogged arteries, according to the American College of Cardiology Patient-Centered Care Committee. If the condition goes undiagnosed, the cramps can get more painful and even lead to the loss of your leg. When symptoms persist or recur, a medical checkup should help to nail the reason.
7. New Or Changing Moles
Ninety-nine times out of 100, a mole really is a mole, but if the mole is asymmetrical, has funky borders, different colors or is larger than a pencil eraser, visit a dermatologist who can determine whether it’s melanoma. If it is and it’s caught early, it’s usually relatively simple to remove. Though more prominent in fair-skinned people, those with darker skin aren’t spared. In fact, they are particularly at risk for overlooking cancerous moles, which can even hide under toenails. There’s certain things you don’t want to miss, and skin cancer is one of them because it’s so aggressive.
8. Super Dry Skin
If you are suddenly experiencing super dry skin, it could be due to the weather, it could be a thyroid hormone abnormality, says Dr. Chris Adigun, a dermatologist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who notes that thinning hair often accompanies this symptom when it’s linked to a thyroid issue. Dry skin paired with seriously peeling nails however, can also be a sign of zinc deficiency. In either case, visit your primary care physician, who can identify the cause and offer a solution, be it supplements or a good skin lotion.
9. Breast Changes
If you’re past puberty and, you’re not breastfeeding and there’s no other clear reason for your breast changes – think nipple discharge, different-looking skin, pain or a lump – the wisest thing to do is to visit your gynecologist. You would think people would seek care for these things, and often they do. On the other hand however, there are people who show up at the doctor’s office with advanced-stage breast cancer who then recall having some of these changes for years. In these cases and others, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
10. An Unproductive Cough
Coughs are annoying but harmless, right? Not quite. Patients who are on a type of blood pressure medications called ACE inhibitors can develop a persistent, non-productive cough that keeps them up at night, and yet many just ignore it as it goes on and on and on. It’s just one of many examples of medication side effect that patients ignore – and of a condition that, in many cases, could have been prevented through lifestyle changes. At the end of the day, diet and exercise are the ultimate key to a healthy and happy life.
References: http://health.usnews.com
