“It’s Only a Flesh Wound”

I visited with a married couple recently, and was reminded of this famous clip from the Monty Python movie, The Quest for the Holy Grail. (Warning: the clip is a bit graphic in a 1970’s bloody kind of way.)

In practice, I find men are often more prone to disregard symptoms. Perhaps for them it feels like the right thing to not complain, but it makes it a challenge to get them to fess up when they aren’t feeling well.

So…if you have a brave knight or pathological non-complainer in your life, here are 10 symptoms that you should INSIST he (or she!) take seriously.

  1. Chest pain. A squeezing, pressure or tightness in the chest that may also include pain in the arm, nausea, vomiting, sweating or difficultly breathing. This symptom can be caused by something as benign as reflux, but it can also signal a heart attack.
  1. Shortness of breath. This can be a symptom of something as benign as an anxiety attack, but it can also be a symptom of a blood clot or embolism in the lungs, which is very serious.
  1. Sudden intense headache. This is the type of head pain that far exceeds the average headache. It could signal a burst blood vessel in the brain, which is very serious.
  1. Unexplained weight loss. Losing more the 5% of your body weight in less than six months without trying is a troubling symptom. Many cancers present in this way and need to be ruled out.
  1. Unusual bleeding from any body part. This can be a result of a simple, easy to treat infection, but it can also be a sign of something more serious, like cancer.
  1. High or persistent fevers. High equals anything over 103 degrees. A fever of around 100 degrees for several weeks is also an issue. This means the body is fighting something–you want to make sure you use all the tools available so it wins.
  1. Sudden confusion. This symptom could be as simple as low blood sugar, or as serious as a stroke or brain tumour. Checking it out quickly is important.
  1. Swelling in the legs. Can signal vein problems or thyroid issues, but can also be associated with heart failure.
  1. Sudden and severe abdominal pain. Many people with irritable bowel syndrome can have this symptom and it is not life threatening. It can, however, also signal very serious issues like abdominal aneurysm, a perforation of the intestines, or loss of oxygen supply to the intestines.
  1. Flashes of light or other visual disturbances. This symptom could be a sign of a migraine, but it can also be a symptom of a retinal detachment that needs to be dealt with immediately to prevent permanent vision loss.

Any one of these can be no big deal, but they can also be signs of something serious. Don’t let the people in your life fall for the “flesh wound” syndrome. If they’re not going to take a symptom seriously, that doesn’t mean you can’t!