“That was the last bruise I’ll ever ignore.”
If you’re anything like me, you might Google every single symptom you’ve ever experienced.
Well, at the risk of increasing your health anxiety, sometimes little ailments actually mean big problems.
Here’s what people said in response.
My eyesight was fine.
Over the next few weeks, I also noticed I was squinting…"
2.
“I went to my regular checkup with my cardiologist in January.
I felt pretty good except for some ongoing chest pressure and fatigue.
I had a stress test, echocardiogram, and event monitor within the previous ten months.
Boy was I wrong.
I was stunned, to say the least.
I am feeling much better since the bypass!”
Karen V.
3.
“I was working a double at a restaurant one night.
It had been exactly one month since my 21st birthday.
Towards the end of my shift, I just felt off.
I thought maybe I was dehydrated or something else that wasn’t a big deal.
I decided to go to the ER to get checked out and be safe.
My coworker drove me to the hospital after my shift was over.
I went to the check-in desk and briefly explained what was going on.
Despite the ER being full, I was immediately taken back to triage.
A nurse mentioned to another nurse that my breath smelled sweet.
“In April 2020, I noticed a little bump growing on my upper lip.
It felt like an ingrown hair from shaving.
I said, ‘Well, I’ve got a crusty-looking wart on my left calf.’
The story’s moral is: wear sunscreen more often than I did!”
Lloyd H.
5.
“I started feeling a little tired and noticed a rather large bruise on my right forearm.
I couldnt remember doing anything to get it, but there it was…”
6.
One armpit was more indented than the other.
It wasn’t an enormous difference between the two armpits, but it was undeniably there.
It didn’t seem natural to me.
“It was April 2006, and I was getting ready to go out with some friends.
I lived at home, and my mom yelled at me to put the flea collar on my cat.
Roxie, my somewhat feral cat doesnt love affection.
Anyway, I put it on her, she lost her shit and bit the palm of my hand.
“My 12-year-old daughter got her period when she was 11.
Everything seemed normal, and I didn’t think anything of it.
We were seen by a nurse practitioner who was very thorough and asked us many questions.
The one question she asked us probably saved my daughter’s life.
She asked about her period.
My daughter’s hormones were way off.
She had a testosterone level the same as a 25-year-old man and hardly any estrogen.
She ordered a bunch of tests that included an MRI of her brain.
An ultrasound of her uterus sent us to a specialist for hormones.
Everything turned out to be fine.
Stephanie W.
9.
I didnt give it much thought until it didnt go away after a few days and started swelling.
He slept for about an hour and woke up feeling worse.
He decided to go to the hospital.
They did a CT scan and some blood work.
Turns out he had acute pancreatitis…”
“…He was in a coma for 43 days.
He had a breathing tube and was on life support.
The doctors said that he was going to die.
He woke up and had no idea what had happened.
He went to the emergency on September 30 and woke up in the ICU on November 12th.
He was in the hospital in another unit till November 20th.
He didn’t die, but it was very close.
Everyone said he wouldn’t make it, but I’m so grateful to have him home.”
Jennifer S.
11.
“I lived in Germany with my mother and father as a child.
We used to travel back to the UK occasionally to see my grandparents.
I remember being about six years old and examining my grandmother’s leathery-looking hands that were spotted with age.
Then, I noticed a tiny bruise under her thumbnail.
Like all children, I was worried she’d hurt herself and asked what happened.
She couldn’t recall and shrugged it off, saying it was probably nothing…”
12.
She was having some back pain and feeling a little sick to her stomach.
She decided to get it checked out to see if she had a kidney stone.
After they did X-rays and scans, they found a huge cancerous mass on her kidney.
The cancer had also spread to her lung, liver, spine, bladder, and uterus.
She never left the hospital and died exactly two weeks later.
We never had a clue.
She was feeling fine until about two weeks before going into the hospital.
We were sure it was a kidney stone.
I miss her terribly.”
“In mid-March 2012 my husband started waking each morning with pain in his lower right abdomen.
It would last about five minutes, then be gone for the rest of the day.
This occurred every morning for about ten days when I finally told him he needed to see his doctor.
He finally agreed and made an appointment for that afternoon…”
14.
“When I moved to Thailand, I got terrible acne on my chin.
I figured it was from the hotter climate, different food, pollution, or water.
Whatever the cause, it was worse than it had been in years.
“I had been having nagging neck and shoulder pain for months.
I went to my doctor, who was an internal medicine doctor.
He did a cursory check of things and decided I was most likely depressed.
I didn’t believe I was, but I figured the doctor knew best.
I left his office with a prescription for Prozac.
I took it for a month and didn’t feel any happier or any less pain.
We tried muscle relaxants also.
They didnt help much, but they made me sleep well.
I was fit then, doing 100-mile cycling rides, sprinting, and Olympic-level triathlons.
They were intense yet momentary.
The rehab doctor decided it was time for MRIs of my head and neck.
I went and had the injections.
The injections didn’t work for more than a couple of days.
I called the doctor, and he was dumbfounded.
He said the injections should have relieved for weeks, and we would try another round.
He was referred to a neurologist for nerve testing.
The testing showed nothing notable.
During that time, I found a large lump in my neck.
When I went for my appointment, I asked him what he thought about it.
He looked shocked and sent me for more MRIs.
The entire process to get the diagnosis was close to a year.
He had concerns but took the case.
We scheduled the surgery for a couple of months forward.
Then, my partner suddenly died.
As I write this, I still don’t know how I survived those days and weeks.
What a horrible nightmare.
I had the surgery, which saved my life.
They had to completely cut out my C-2 nerve and my vertebral artery on my right side.
Permanent bilateral rods were placed in my neck.
Much to everyone’s surprise, I could walk, talk, and breathe independently.
I survived and could return to my whole duty as a police officer seven months later.
I will be forever grateful and indebted to the staff at the chief of neurology at Wake Forest.”
Stacy C.
16.
I was terrified and had no idea why this just happened.
I’ve dealt with TMJ for many years and assumed it had to be just that.
I could only fit about the size of my pinky in my mouth.
I couldn’t even fit a spoon in.
So I made an appointment with an oral surgeon to determine what was happening.
“I was out of town and had stopped to go to the bathroom.
As I relieved myself, a blood clot the size of a cigarette butt came out in my stream.
The next evening, it happened again.
I went to the ER, where they performed a CT scan…”
18.
“My Dad was having headaches.
He thought he needed a new prescription for his glasses.
Two shots of Demerol later, and Dad was still in agony.
The ER doc asked me how long my dad had been an addict, and I got extremely angry.
My dad never did drugs.
The doctor ordered a CT scan just to shut me up.
It turned out my dad had a brain tumor.
He lived six and a half years, and he lived very well…
He spent the time visiting everyone he loved.
When he died, there was nothing left undone or unsaid.”
DeAnn R.
19.
“A few weeks before my nineteenth birthday, I was sitting next to my mom.
