Unlike in the reel life when a heart attack comes with the father clutching his heart and collapsing on the ground with a dramatic background score to accompany it, in real life heart attacks show very subtle symptoms like a feeling of heaviness in the chest and fatigue. Similarly there are other seemingly ‘innocent’ symptoms like fevers and headaches that are often ignored by us but can be warning signs or an early symptom of something as serious as a stroke or a cancer.
Here are a set of symptoms that seem harmless but can signal the onset of some major disease.
1. Extreme fatigue
Unexplained fatigue, one that is not caused due to exertion and which is experienced doing something as simple as climbing stairs or lifting your bag may mean something serious. If you are feeling dull and weak for more than 2 weeks, consult a doctor. Extreme fatigue can be one of the symptoms of depression, sleep apnea, heart disease or even lung cancer.
2. Change in Bowel movements
Everyone has a different pattern for bowel movements from going once a day to even thrice in a week. But if you observe a change in the bowel movement patterns that includes constipation, diarrhea, bloating along with blood in the stool, black tarry stools, you need to consult a doctor. The causes can be bacterial or viral infection to inflammatory bowel and at worst- cancer.
3. Discomfort in chest
This feeling of extreme discomfort in the chest may not always mean gas or heartburn but heart attack! Sometimes the heavy feeling in the chest is caused to heart attack hence do not ignore this symptom and consult a doctor immediately. Some pain near the chest, difficulty in exerting and uneasiness should be taken seriously as these could mean heart attack.
4. Unexplained weight loss
When you start losing weight, you rejoice, but this weight loss is not caused as a result of any efforts on your part and brings along a feeling of weakness. It may mean anything from diabetes to an overactive thyroid or hyperthyroidism to liver disorder. The more serious cause can be the growth of cancerous cells which may affect the rate of metabolism and absorption of nutrients. Refer to your doctor as soon as possible.
5. Severe Headache
We are not talking of the headache that comes due to stress or colds or even hangovers. This headache may seem to be the worst headache of your life. If you experience sudden headache along with stiff neck, confusion and seizure it can be arteritis or inflammation of arteries of the scalp or it may also be something as serious as a brain tumor. If you get chronic headaches your blood pressure may be very high too. So don’t ignore headaches and consult a doctor is they seem unusual or persist for many days.
6. Shortness of breath
Shortness of breath can be caused due to a reason as harmless as a blocked nose but if you feel shortness of breath when you are not exerting or when you are lying down, it may be something serious. The causes can be asthma, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia etc. If you are gasping for air and if breathing seems very difficult it can be also be a clot in the lung or even problems with heart!
7. Numbness in one side of the body
Feeling numb in one side of the body is nothing to joke about. But remember that this numbness is different than your arm falling asleep when you sleep on one side. Numbness in one part of the body especially on the face may be due to transient ischemic attack or TIA. TIA is known as ‘mini stroke’ and goes away without harm but you need to take it seriously because it is one of the warning signals of stroke and 20% patients get a stroke attack within 90 days of getting TIA.
8. Frequent fevers
Fevers are nothing to worry about most of the time, as it means the body’s defense system is fighting an infection but when you have a low grade fever (over 102 F) for a long time or have a high temperature (104 F), you need to see a doctor.
Persistent fevers can be due to a hidden infection or urinary tract infections, tuberculosis and even lymphomas or tumor of the lymph nodes.
9. Blood in the urine or stool
Blood in the urine can be due to harmless reasons but should be taken seriously; it can be due to kidney cancers, bladder cancer and even kidney failure. A burning sensation during passing urine generally however only means urinary tract infection which can be solved easily.
Blood in the stool generally may mean hemorrhoids and even colon cancer.
10. Swelling in legs and pain in joints
Swelling in legs and joints are normally ignored, but if you notice swelling in one leg after sitting for a long time it can be due to blood clot. And if you notice swelling in both the legs, it can be due to liver disease or kidney disorder.
Similarly the common pain in the joint may be due to arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis which would require active treatment.
Thus small, harmless symptoms are often the warning signs of something more serious. If we pay attention to these signals that our body is sending us, we would save the precious time between diagnosis and treatment, saving lives!
