"Don't Ignore These": 45 Symptoms People Swear Are More Serious Than They Seem

My stomach was bloated for five days. I saw my general practitioner. He did an ultrasound right then and saw fluid in my stomach, which usually indicates cirrhosis of the liver or advanced stage cancer. He told me to go to the ER, where I was diagnosed that night with advanced stage ovarian cancer.

I had an infection in my toe(ingrown nail) when I was 16 or so and they gave me antibiotics. The next day in school I developed a fever of 104F, my leg went numb, and the skin on my leg was discolored and hot.

The antibiotics they gave me weren't working for some reason, the infection went up my leg, and I developed cellulitis. They gave me different antibiotics and those worked. But at the urgent care they told me if we had waited any longer to go in I could have needed IV antibiotics.

If you have an infection and start developing new or worsening symptoms, despite being on antibiotics, talk to your doctor or go to urgent care asap.

911 dispatcher here- 2 things immediately came to mind. 1: UTIs in older women. They can cause a change in mental status that often gets looked over as dementia. 2: Strong urge to poop(mostly men). It's pretty common that people are found dead on the toilet because they were having abdominal pain and thought they had to poop but were having a heart attack instead.

We were on vacation. My youngest was 3. I started to notice he wasn't turning his head normally, like his neck was stiff. No other symptoms, no fever. Might not have thought much of it except for the fact our local news had just done a story on meningitis so I immediately called the pediatrician for advice and they said take him to ER now. ER didn't have a peds unit and couldn't rule out or confirm meningitis so they rushed us to a children's hospital in the nearby city where they discovered he had a retropharyngeal abscess (abscess in the back of his neck). If left untreated it would've grown and suffocated him. Needed immediate surgery and was back to being his sweet little self after a couple days in the hospital.

Superficial burns to the face typically from bbq or stove lighting accidents. It may seem like just some singed eyebrows, but if you were inhaling at all when the accident happened you could have burned the inside of your throat. Most people present with normal breathing, but as the injured tissues swell, it can close the airway. Most of these people feel fine directly following the accident and end up intubated if they make it to the hospital.

If you have sciatica the pain is down one leg. If the pain switches to the other side or goes down both sides you need to get to ER. It's a sign of cauda equina and signals irreversible spinal cord damage. Can cause paralysis.

This might not be “immediate trip to the ER,” but it certainly is “immediately make a doctor’s appointment ASAP.”

If you notice a red spot on one breast that isn’t going away, if you have new orange-peel-like dimpling on one breast, or one breast appears swollen, any of those can be a sign of inflammatory breast cancer. That’s a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer that’s usually only found in more advanced stages. You usually don’t have a lump.

If you’ve recently taken an impact to the abdomen, pain in the left shoulder can signify a ruptured spleen (though you’ll most likely experience other symptoms). .

Funny you should ask as I'm in the ER right now. Bruises. I have several bruises that I tried hard to explain away. My wife is a PA and also noticed red dots in some areas of my skin. She said either alone is nothing but both. Turns out my platelets are critically low. 8k. I'm 54 and live a normal healthy life. The reason is unknown but basically my blood will not coagulate if there is a wound and this low can spontaneously bleed.

Sudden hearing loss in one ear. If it doesn't recover within a few hours, get yourself to ER immediately. You have about 24-26 hours during which treatment can bring your hearing back. After that its permanent.

Irregular heartbeat.

Not to be ignored.

I had an irregular heartbeat for a day or two. Went to the doc. She immediately called an ambulance. I was in the hospital in the heart ward for 3 days with atrial fibulation. Had to knock me out and zap me twice to get my heart back into a proper rhythm.

A constant "runny nose". Especially if its clear, watery, and coming from only one nostril. Especially Especially if it gets worse when you strain or stand, improves when you lie down, is kinda salty/metalic tasting, or is accompanied by new headaches, neck pain, or light sensitivity. 




Thats your cerebral spinal fluid. That shouldn't be on the outside of your body. 




Edit: Before you go to the ER for a runny nose like the comment below suggests you will, wipe your nose with a tissue. If the tissue stiffens when it dries? Thats snot. You're fine. .

Low grade but persistent fever while in chemo. Chemo induced sepsis is the #1 k**ler of chemo patients. You already feel like dogs**t because _chemo_ so a 99.9 fever doesn’t change the way you feel usually. But it’s the alarm bell that sepsis has started brewing. I luckily listened to my doctor and went to the ER, ended up with 48 hours of ICU care to turn it around. Throughout it all I never felt _sicker_ than the usual chemo sick but I was in fact probably 24-48 hours from being to sick to save. I’m 8 years cancer free now. .

A friend had a cut on her finger and did some gardening. It got a little infected so she used tubbing alcohol and Neosporin.

It stayed infected for weeks

When she finally went to the doctor, they discovered she had a rare bacterial infection from something in the soil.

After 6 surgeries, they amputated that finger and the one next to it.

She almost lost her whole hand.

Not sure it meets your criteria but my Uncle had heartburn, he went to nap. He did not wake up. It was a heart attack. Apparently it can feel this way. That is scary.

More serious, less ordinary, if you’ve had a significant compression causing prolonged low blood flow to a limb for example, the release of compression after a certain point is very very dangerous.

I developed a mild cold when I was pregnant, took the meds my doctor said would be safe, and went to take a nap. Woke up short of breath. Honestly, I just thought it was because I'd finally started showing and was having trouble getting around. I was alone way out in the country, so I called the ambulance just to be safe, and they said that all of my vitals were great, same with baby, but they could take me in to be absolutely sure everything was OK. Intake labwork showed I was in acute kidney failure due to metabolic acidosis and without dialysis baby and I would be gone within a few hours. I don't remember any of this because by that point, I was in and out from lack of oxygen to the brain. My now husband arrived at the hospital right as the doctor began placing a port to do dialysis, which I was on for nearly 6 hours.

Still have no clue what caused the metabolic acidosis, 12 days and 50+ tests later we were discharged with no answers.

GI upset with a pain in the abdomen. Silly me thought I had food poisoning but after it lasted for more than 4 days, I decided to go to urgent care. An ambulance ride to the ED from there and one emergency surgery later and I'm currently sitting at home recovering minus one ovary because I had a large mass on it that caused it to twist on itself.

I almost didn't go because the pain stopped. The pain stopped because I lost blood supply to the ovary and it died. If I hadn't gone, I could have too.

I had pain in my lower left abdomen near my time of the month. I started walking funny due to the pain. My husband got worried and made me go to the ER. I thought I was just getting cramps that happened to be a little s**ttier than usual.

Turns out I had an ectopic pregnancy on the brink of rupture, in which case I would’ve died within 10 minutes I’m told.

Sudden neck pain.

Mine turned out to be a carotid artery dissection but even thought I got to the hospital fast, they failed to diagnose me and it caused a stroke, which they also failed to diagnose and said I just had anxiety.

If you have sudden neck pain go to the ER and complain loudly about it. Demand imaging.