Medical Signals You Shouldn't Ignore -

You need not fear when next you feel
that pang of headache, not all medical
symptoms will become serious but
Shulman, in his book, ‘Your Body’s Red
Light Warning Signals,’ gives some
medical symptoms that mean that you
need urgent medical attention.
• If you have unexplained weight loss
and/or loss of appetite, you may have a
serious underlying medical illness.
“If you’re on a diet, you’re expecting this
to happen. But if you’re eating the same
way – and now have to adjust your belt a
few notches tighter – you could have a
serious problem,” Shulman says.
“With ovarian cancer, the opposite is
true,” he says. “Fluid builds in the
abdomen, and women think they are
gaining weight. But if you have been at
the same weight range for years, and
doing nothing different, see a doctor.”
• Slurred speech, paralysis, weakness,
tingling, burning pains, numbness, and
confusion are signs of a stroke, and you
should get to an appropriate emergency
centre immediately. Early treatment may
prevent permanent damage to the brain
or even save your life.
Slurred speech can often go unnoticed,
says Shulman. However, you might have a
blood clot in a blood vessel going to the
brain or bleeding in a blood vessel.
• Black, tarry stools may indicate a
hemorrhage from an ulcer of the stomach
or the intestine. It is important to stop
the bleeding and to rule out cancer as a
cause.
What you eat changes the colour of
stools. But black, tarry stools mean there
may be bleeding higher in the intestine,
says Shulman. It could be a sign of a
bleeding ulcer or cancer in the intestine.
• A headache accompanied by a stiff neck
and fever is an indicator of a serious
infection called meningitis.
In fact, if you can’t put your chin on your
chest, that’s a sign you may have bacterial
meningitis, says Shulman. You need
antibiotics immediately to kill the bacteria
before it infects and scars the brain.
• A sudden, agonising headache, more
severe than any you have felt before,
could mean you are bleeding in the
brain. Go to an emergency room
immediately.
A brain aneurysm is rare, but it can
happen – even in people under 40. “It
can be very disastrous if it’s not treated,”
says Shulman. If you have a severe,
crushing headache, you may have an
aneurysm, which is a blood-filled pouch
bulging out from a weak spot in the wall
of a brain artery. If treated before it
bursts, it could save your life.
• For women, womanly bleeding after
menopause is a warning sign of possible
cancer.
Some women are in denial when they
discover postmenopausal bleeding.
“Others think it’s a little cut, or something
in their urine,” says Shulman. But
bleeding after menopause is a sign of
uterine cancer, which is treatable if
caught early.
• For men, a lump in your testicle with or
without a small lump in the groin could
be serious. Testicular cancer is more
commonly found in testicles that did not
naturally descend from the abdomen to
the scrotum.
Guys, when you take a shower, check
yourself, says Shulman. “That doesn’t
mean you have to do it every day, but
once in a while. It’s so simple, simpler
than washing your hair. It becomes an
automatic thing, then it’s easier to
remember. If you know what ‘normal’
feels like, then you’ll know when it feels
abnormal.”
http://www.punchng.com/healthwise/
medical-signals-you-shouldnt-ignore/

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