Person Asks For The Craziest Stories Of When Mild Symptoms Proved To Be Serious, 30 People Deliver

This is a story from my mother who was a sex therapist. She was treating a teenager who basically was masturbating so hard and often that he was rubbing his junk bloody and bleeding through his pants. The kid insisted it wasn't sexual, he was just really uncomfortable and his skin hurt. He got boners rubbing the skin. The doctors didn't believe him and sent him to my mother.

My mom, devil she was, had a saintly moment and listened to the kid. She suggested he see a dermatologist. Kid literally had d**k cancer. Something with an s- cell carcinoma. My mother never saw the patient after their parents called to cancel appointments because they found the cause and he was no longer in need of her services.

Saw a patient with minor cardiovascular symptoms and a slight pain in his upper back. The senior debated back and forth whether it would make sense to run a CT to rule out anything more serious. She finally decided to do it and it turned out he had a massive aortic dissection and was basically wheeled right into the OR

I thought I pulled a calf muscle. I did the whole RICE protocol, but nothing helped. I was limping because of the pain. I ended up going to urgent care which was a waste of time because it could be a blood clot—so they sent me to the ER. The ER did an ultrasound of my leg and found nothing. So, they gave me muscle relaxers and sent me home. They noted I should follow up with my PCP, though, because my blood pressure was really high. I chalked it up to the anxiety of being evaluated for a blood clot.

A few days later, I develop this little cough and an intermittent sharp pain between my shoulder blades on deep inhales. Being that this was September 2020, I thought that this was for sure Covid. But I also then remembered that I needed to follow up with my PCP about the blood pressure thing, so I called to talk about both items at once.

The nurse was alarmed and told me in no uncertain terms to go straight to the ER to be evaluated for a pulmonary embolism.

And that’s how I found out that I had multiple bilateral pulmonary embolisms.

My local hospital sent me home twice after I went there for chest pains. I had a massive heart attack, and my son had to resuscitate me soon after arriving home the second time.

Not a doctor but I had a massive head ache, fainting and extreme light sensitivity. Dr came and said it was sinusitis. I struggled on, saw another dr at same practice who confirmed sinusitis. Started slowly recovering but had extreme vertigo. Got a second opinion, confirmed sinusitis. Went private (was in the uk) and was seen by very dismissive dr. I insisted on further tests and he reluctantly ordered an mri. Turns out I had meningitis.

A man came to the hospital because his wife always complained about his bad breath. Long story short, I met him because they consulted my department when the tissue biopsy came back as esophageal cancer.

Many years ago, when I was in my residence, a man entered ER with a hand in his forehead, walking by himself, asking for a doctor.

You can imagine my surprise when I said "yes?", to him removing his hand and showing his injury - a perforating hole from a bullet.

He was quickly moved to surgery after that. Later I found the bullet didn't reach the brain, it was well buried into the skull bone.

Not a doctor but my husband suddenly lost 15lbs over a few days. No changes to diet or exercise. I told him it sound like diabetes and please go. He finally went after a week and by that time he was skin and bones. It was diabetes and his blood sugar level was dangerously high. The doc said if he had waited 1 more day, he might have gone into a coma

Not a doctor (annoying, I know) But my mom kept having foot pain. Told her it was plantar fasciitis. Wouldn’t heal. Then told her it was a fracture. Wouldn’t heal. Then told her there was a growth. Did a biopsy and it was LUNG CANCER! Stage 4. So from foot pain to lung cancer. Totally wild. She has also never smoked a day in her life.

Not a doctor but my dad went to his Dr because of a stuffy nose that had been going on for weeks. Dr looks into his nose and noted a deviated septum. Said that's not right and sent him for tests. My dad had a brain tumor size of a grapefruit with no symptoms other than a plugged up nose. So he went in with a cold and came out with cancer.