Accidents make us run to the hospital immediately, so do chest pain and severe abdominal pain.
When a person suddenly loses the ability to speak or visualise, the patient is bound to rush to a doctor for immediate attention.
But there exist certain symptoms which require immediate attention and can be precursors to a developing ailment. Numerous online sites for checking symptoms have cropped up and can mislead with their recommendations. So unless the patient has a medical background, it is not advisable to take medical recommendations from online websites. There are some symptoms that can look ordinary but should be taken to immediate online doctor consultation.
Choice of doctor:
The choice of an appropriate doctor is important when diagnosing certain recurring symptoms. There are two types of doctors, a general practitioner and a specialist. The general practitioner can be a famous doctor or even a family doctor who can diagnose on the symptom and lead the patient on to a specialist who can actually treat and cure the ailment.
The general practitioner need not be having a detailed view of the onset of the ailment. So when the symptom is further taken to consideration through the specialist for the particular condition, solutions are met. The choice of a doctor is important. The doctors can be chosen from reviews or from different experiences.
Symptoms of concern:
There are few symptoms which can look like they are normal and can be bypassed but are precursors to far more serious consequences. The symptoms might not demand immediate medical care but in the long run can lead to further ailments in their most dangerous phase and can also lead to scenario wherein treatment might be too late. The following are a list of symptoms that can look normal but require immediate medical attention
- Light flashes and frequent headaches
- Loss of appetite
- Personality disorders
- Changes in bowel movement
- Breath shortness
- Persistent fever and
- Continuous weight loss
These symptoms don’t pose immediate discomfort but can be symptomatic to serious conditions that need immediate attention.
Light flashes and frequent headaches:
Retinal detachment can lead to light flashes. Sometimes light flashes and bright spots indicate migraine. Any of such conditions can end in permanent loss of vision. Light flashes can be clouds or specks in the line of vision and can be seen when looking at a blank wall. The vitreous gel inside the eye can thicken or shrink and as a result forms clumps or strands inside the eye. Sometimes can also tear the retina.
This can lead to severe eyesight issues. Chronic daily headaches may be due to intracranial pressure or inflammation in the blood vessels surrounding the brain. The symptoms that require immediate attention can be chronic headache induced by stress or chronic migraine. The migraine can affect either single or both sides of the head and also develop sensitivity to lights and sound. The pain can vary between moderate to severe.
If the headache is accompanied by fever, speaking difficulty, weakness, seizure confusion or if the headache occurs after a head injury, the headache needs immediate medical care.
Loss of appetite:
The feeling of satiety all the time, i.e., a sensation of feeling full with very little food or no food accompanied by a bloated feeling, vomiting, weight loss and nausea are conditions that need immediate attention and medical care. This condition could be because of pancreatic cancer, peptic ulcer or a gastroesophageal reflux disease. This condition can also occur because of a mental disorder termed anorexia.
Anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder can also result in constant appetite loss. The body attains fatigue state and is tired all the time despite proper sleep. There are few conditions that accompany loss of appetite namely weight loss, breath shortness, fainting, blurred vision, dizziness and confusion.
These conditions are very dangerous and indicate serious ailments that need attention. The doctor might order a series of tests that relate to conditions in which loss of appetite is one of the most important symptoms. When loss of appetite is the cause of a serious ailment, any home remedies cannot be worked upon to cure it.
Personality disorders:
A person is supposed to seek immediate medical help when behavioural changes as difficulty in focusing, sustaining, attention shifting and poor thinking skills. In short the person tends to have an unhealthy behavioural pattern that extends to thinking and functioning.
The patient suffering can sometimes assume their behaviour to be normal and blame the surroundings for any mishappenings. Such conditions can cause limitations at work and also in social activities and relationships. There are three types of personality disorders, cluster A, cluster B and cluster C. personality disorders can be due to the environment or genes.
Personality disorders can affect the lives of the person involved as well as those who care for the person. There are 10 different types of personality disorders that can be grouped into the above said clusters. These personality disorders happen on account of certain causes and can last a lifetime. Even if that is the case, it is necessary to seek medical advice to keep the situation at bay.
Changes in bowel movement:
Bowel movement is different for different individuals. But differences can be observed individually and reported immediately. Bowel movement disorder is one of the most important of ailments that need immediate medical advice. Some of the symptoms can be differently coloured stool as in black, tarry or bloody, diarrhoea or constipation and the sudden urge to defecate.
Bowel habits can be due to viral, parasitic or bacterial infections as in salmonella or campylobacter. Other causes can be colon cancer or irritable bowel disease.
Irritable bowel syndrome is seen in lots of people, a common disorder that includes, diarrhoea, constipation or both, bloating, abdominal pain or cramping. This condition can also be long term. This condition needs attending to and the doctor can cure the disorder through diet management.
When the conditions are severe, the symptoms can be treated through prescribed medication and counselling. The triggers are usually hormones, food and stress. Some people are capable of missing out the symptoms and leaving it unattended.
Breath shortness:
Shortness of breath can cause serious underlying health issues. There are normal scenarios wherein shortness of breath can happen namely obesity, high altitude, hard work out and extreme temperatures. But when shortness of breath happens outside these scenarios, the condition is supposed to be critical and needs medical attention.
Sudden and severe shortness of breath requires seeking emergency physician care. Heart and lung problems can cause breathlessness, clot in the lung, asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are also symptoms.
A sudden panic attack as a result of an episode of intense anxiety can also cause shortness of breath. Shortness of breath also called dyspnea happens when there is difficulty in getting air into the lungs. When breathlessness is accompanied by swelling in feet and ankles, high fever, cough and chills, blue coloration of fingertips and lips, stridor and wheezing, immediate medical attention is required. Shortness of breath that does not reduce even with treatment should be subject to further evaluation.
Persistent fever:
When there is infection inside the body that can lead to fever. Fever is an underlying symptom for an already existing condition and is the first line of defence that can denote any serious condition as in tuberculosis, typhoid, malaria or a urinary tract infection. Lymphomas and some medications can cause persistent, prolonged fever.
A temperature more than 103 degree Fahrenheit requires an immediate doctor appointment and so does a persistent fever of more than three days. When young children have persistent fever, it can lead to seizures. Hyperthermia is a dangerous condition that can cause steep rise in body temperature.
Some serious health issues can have fever that can recur periodically which is a symptom and can be assessed easily through observation. Further examination can help in determining the exact ailment.
The patient will be kept under observation, ordered a blood work and only the blood work with a culture test can conclude the condition. A culture test can take quite some time to be assessed. Antibiotics and over-the counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce the strength of the fever.
Continuous weight loss:
Unusual loss of weight without any specific dieting or exercising, it is necessary to approach a doctor and get the condition checked. There exists a thumb rule that states that when a person loses more than 5 percent of their total body weight within a time period of 6 to twelve months, the person is supposed to get an immediate health check-up done with the doctor.
When the person is an elderly adult even small changes to weight, tiny reduction in weight should be accounted for and checked. The doctor will delve deep into the medical history of the person, perform a thorough medical examination and take all necessary laboratory tests.
When the evaluation is positive, the doctor will proceed with the necessary treatment, if not the doctor might prefer to wait for another six months at least to get an idea on the ailment.
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