Top 5 health symptoms you shouldn't ignore
Top 5 health symptoms you shouldn't ignore
Not sure if a trip to the doctor is in order? Here are five health symptoms you should never ignore and what to do about them
we don’t want to negate anything." Kerr adds that any odd health change, big or small, is worth getting checked out by your family physician. This is especially true for the following five particularly tricky’and potentially dangerous’symptoms.
1. The worst headache of your life“We’re not talking about a typical headache or migraine pain,” says Kerr. "We’re talking about the pain being a 10 out of 10 on the pain scale." In this case, he explains, an aneurysm (a swollen, blood-filled vessel) may have ruptured in your brain. The bleeding pushes brain tissue against the skull, causing incredible pain. Kerr points out that many people have aneurysms, but only a few will experience a rupture in their lifetime.
2. Bleeding, no matter how minorThere are four scenarios that are worrisome, says Kerr: bleeding from your rectum, coughing up blood, urinating blood and, for women, unusual bleeding from your vagina (especially post-menopause). In many cases, these situations are harmless. "Often bleeding from the rectum can be as simple as hemorrhoids or an anal fissure, for example," he explains. But Kerr adds that the goal is to head off more serious possibilities, which are colon cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer and endometrial cancer.
3. The worst heartburn symptoms ever and/or shortness of breath
Any combination of sweating, heartburn, nausea, dizziness and shortness of breath could be signs of a heart attack. The discomfort you feel is caused by a lack of oxygen reaching the heart muscle because a main artery is blocked. Kerr says that not everyone will experience the classic heart attack symptoms: pain radiating into the jaw, or down the left (and sometimes the right) arm. Women in particular experience less telling symptoms. “In fact, heart attacks symptom can be mixed up with anxiety attack symptoms,” adds Kerr.
4. Unexplained, significant weight loss
"We’re not talking about a five pound drop," stresses Kerr. "We’re talking about losing 20 pounds over the last six months. That gets me worried." The particular combination of significant, unexplained weight loss with a loss of appetite may be signs that your body is fighting cancer, he says. "Cancer is the abnormal growth of cells that just keep replicating themselves over and over. That takes a lot of energy, a lot of food, and a lot of nutrition." Don’t panic though, adds Kerr, because there are other explanations’which should be screened for’including thyroid disease and depression.
we don’t want to negate anything." Kerr adds that any odd health change, big or small, is worth getting checked out by your family physician. This is especially true for the following five particularly tricky’and potentially dangerous’symptoms.
1. The worst headache of your life“We’re not talking about a typical headache or migraine pain,” says Kerr. "We’re talking about the pain being a 10 out of 10 on the pain scale." In this case, he explains, an aneurysm (a swollen, blood-filled vessel) may have ruptured in your brain. The bleeding pushes brain tissue against the skull, causing incredible pain. Kerr points out that many people have aneurysms, but only a few will experience a rupture in their lifetime.
2. Bleeding, no matter how minorThere are four scenarios that are worrisome, says Kerr: bleeding from your rectum, coughing up blood, urinating blood and, for women, unusual bleeding from your vagina (especially post-menopause). In many cases, these situations are harmless. "Often bleeding from the rectum can be as simple as hemorrhoids or an anal fissure, for example," he explains. But Kerr adds that the goal is to head off more serious possibilities, which are colon cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer and endometrial cancer.
3. The worst heartburn symptoms ever and/or shortness of breath
Any combination of sweating, heartburn, nausea, dizziness and shortness of breath could be signs of a heart attack. The discomfort you feel is caused by a lack of oxygen reaching the heart muscle because a main artery is blocked. Kerr says that not everyone will experience the classic heart attack symptoms: pain radiating into the jaw, or down the left (and sometimes the right) arm. Women in particular experience less telling symptoms. “In fact, heart attacks symptom can be mixed up with anxiety attack symptoms,” adds Kerr.
4. Unexplained, significant weight loss
"We’re not talking about a five pound drop," stresses Kerr. "We’re talking about losing 20 pounds over the last six months. That gets me worried." The particular combination of significant, unexplained weight loss with a loss of appetite may be signs that your body is fighting cancer, he says. "Cancer is the abnormal growth of cells that just keep replicating themselves over and over. That takes a lot of energy, a lot of food, and a lot of nutrition." Don’t panic though, adds Kerr, because there are other explanations’which should be screened for’including thyroid disease and depression.
5. Sudden, extreme pain between your shoulder blades
This could be a sign of one of the most feared things in medicine, says Kerr: aortic dissection’a tear in the wall of the largest artery in the body (which originates from the heart). While the condition can potentially become fatal very quickly, there is a window of time to get to hospital for life-saving surgery. The pain is extremely sharp, adds Kerr, so you won’t mistake it for just a nagging muscle pain.
Top 5 health symptoms you shouldn't ignore
Reviewed by Mukesh Soni
on
23:33:00
Rating:
Reviewed by Mukesh Soni
on
23:33:00
Rating:
