NOVEMBER 19, 2013 BY BUKOLA ADEBAYO
Diseases, such as cancer, kidney failure, and diabetes, do not
start in a day. The symptoms must have been manifesting one
way or the other, but many that have been afflicted by these
conditions ignored or dismissed them for various reasons –
usually negligence.
In some cases, especially for the religious, life-threatening
diseases only strike the unfaithful or those who have allowed
the devil to interfere. Even when the signs have generated to
symptoms, they would rather choose to live in denial or simply
continue to ‘reject’ the issues.
Doctors state that 95 per cent of diseases claiming people’s
lives daily in thousands could be prevented if people took their
health and some signs they give seriously by going to a
physician.
They stress that not every sickness can be ‘rejected’ and
hypertension, stroke and heart attack are not a reward for
drinking too much, smoking or other vices that many are quick
to blame for serious life-threatening diseases.
The Chief Medical Director, Active Hospitals, Lekki, Lagos State ,
Dr. Odun Johnson, says the joy of any doctor is a patient that
comes on time, adding that by doing so, the life of that
individual who would have died of kidney failure if he ignored
the blood in his urine is saved.
Johnson says, “I see patients suffer diseases that could have
been effectively treated if detected early and no one is more
pained than the doctor whose efforts at saving lives is wasted.
“No death is sudden if not an accident. The body must have
been giving red-light signals like the warnings you see on your
dash board. You have been seeing blood in your urine, is it
wise to dismiss it? You should know that blood is not meant to
show up in that channel, you should complain to a doctor and
not pray that it will stop showing.”
A professor of internal medicine at the Emory University School
of Medicine in Atlanta, United States of America, Neil Shulman,
states that medical symptoms are there to prevent deaths from
occurring.
He says, “It happens all the time, a symptom is missed – and it
leads to a tragic ending. Or it’s caught just in time, and a life is
saved. People feel aches, pains, lumps and bumps. But they
must know when it is important or not for them to take a step or
dismiss it.”
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, vaginal 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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