Recently, I wrote an article sharing stories from both doctors and patients about the “mild symptoms” that could actually point to something quite serious. While this isn’t medical advice, I definitely think it’s worth it to be aware of any potential mild issues that can morph into something far more dramatic; so, when the article got a good response, I decided it’d be worthwhile to share even more people’s stories. Here are some of the most interesting:
1.“I had a weird ‘double’ heartbeat and was getting ready to go to urgent care, but it went away. Had it again two months later, and it didn’t go away. Turns out I could’ve died from low blood pressure because it was SVT — supraventricular tachycardia. All the doctors and nurses said it’s always a 911 situation. They gave me a shot to stop my heart so my body could reset it.”
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—Anonymous, 41, Wisconsin
2.“Unexplained jaw and ear pain. My best friend had what felt like a dreadful toothache, and nothing seemed to help.”
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“He had two wisdom teeth out (which, admittedly, were growing sideways and could have been the cause), but the pain didn’t improve and got so bad he could barely function, often vomiting and crying because of it.
He kept getting passed between his doctor and dentist, each one insisting it was or wasn’t a dental problem, but what nobody picked up on was that this type of pain can actually be an indicator of heart problems.
He had one heart attack without even knowing it, and the second one landed him in the hospital, where a complex heart issue was finally diagnosed. He was due to have a corrective procedure a month later, but it was delayed for two months due to the NHS being underfunded/understaffed (this is the UK). He died in his sleep of a third heart attack, the day the operation should have originally happened. He was 39.
When I later told my uncle, an orthodontist, what had happened, he said that any doctor OR dentist worth their salt should have immediately seen the jaw and ear pain as a big red flag and advised him to get investigated for heart problems.”
—Anonymous, 42, UK
3.“I was exhausted and achy all the time. Figured it was low vitamin D. Turns out I have an adenoma on my parathyroid gland.”
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—Anonymous, 42, South Carolina
4.“One breast was larger than the other. I went for a mammogram and was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer.”
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—Anonymous, 76, Maryland
5.“I was with my husband and walking our dog when suddenly a ‘floater’ that I had in my eye seemed to burst into micro floaters, and I lost some of my peripheral vision in my left eye. When I turned the lights out to go to sleep that night, I could see a light from my eye that lit up the room.”
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“The next morning, I called my eye doctor, and they saw me as an emergency. I had a detached retina and required eye surgery that day. If I had waited any longer, it could have been permanent and irreversible. If you have any of these symptoms, get immediate help!”
—Anonymous
6.“Joint pain in children. My BFF’s son had terrible pain in one of his legs, and he was diagnosed with leukemia after tests were run.”
7.“If you have severe pain in your gut — not necessarily your stomach, but pain that feels like terrible gas — GO TO THE ER. You could have an intestinal blockage, and those require emergency surgery. My stepbrother recently had to be life-flighted to a hospital from his little fishing cabin. Thank god he had a friend with him.”
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Related: I’m An Introvert Who Spent Years Trying To Make Friends. With 1 Change, I Suddenly Had Dozens.
8.“Pay attention to calf pain. If you haven’t done anything to injure yourself and it doesn’t get better, it could be a blood clot.”
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“It could eventually get swollen, red, and hot to the touch. When I had them in my lungs (because I let the calf pain go too long before getting checked out), I was fine walking and sitting still, but going up a flight of steps left me severely out of breath. Turns out I have Factor V Leiden (a clotting factor) and can’t take any type of hormones. I was on birth control at the time.”
9.“Abdominal pain that lurks and moves. I dismissed it as period pain for a week, which then moved into what I thought was full-on ‘upset stomach’ (loo on standby) pain, but it became so bad I ended up in A&E (accident and emergency department). Apparently, this is how acute appendicitis progresses and won’t actually hurt where the appendix is located…well, that is, until the surgeon presses on it to be sure. Within two hours, I was on morphine and later that day being wheeled into surgery to have it removed.”
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“Thank you, NHS! ❤️”
—Anonymous, 46, Essex, UK
10.“A while ago, my mother was feeling weird jaw aches and stabbing pains in her shoulders. Long story short, it was a heart attack.”
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—Anonymous
11.“My dear friend started to lose vision in one of her eyes. After a long hospital stay, a litany of tests, and no answers, a doctor thought to check her breasts. She had cancer.”
“She fought and went into remission for years. Sadly, it came back and not much later, she passed. Her name was Sonja, and she was a wonderful human being. Much better than most. “
—Anonymous, 39, American South
Related: 6 Gaslighting Phrases People Say To Manipulate You
12.“I’d been told I have arthritis of the spine for years. This past February, the pain got so bad that I couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks. Went to my GP, who sent me for an X-ray. I sit here now, starting my final chemo treatment next week for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. My scans are clear because my doctor took me seriously. He is a good man.”
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—Anonymous, 78, Mississippi
13.“Sudden and increasing clumsiness. See a neurologist.”
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“My doc said to stop wearing heels; a few months later, I was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down with transverse myelitis (cured) and Neuromyelitis Optica (chronic).”
—Anonymous, 39 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
14.“Always get your yearly physical and bloodwork. I had no symptoms, but my bloodwork revealed elevated levels in my liver, which led to finding a massive adenoma in my liver. It wasn’t cancerous, but the size was so big that if it ruptured, I was told I could die from internal bleeding. Literally no symptoms or pains, only found through bloodwork, which is scary.”
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—Anonymous, 34, New York
15.“When I was pregnant with my first child, I was vomiting way more than usual and getting really painful burps that felt like I was being stabbed in the chest. My OB told me, ‘Oh, it’s only heartburn,’ after trying every anti-nausea medicine possible.”
“Flash forward two months later — four weeks after giving birth — it was still happening to the point that I went to the ER at 4 in the morning. They found my gallbladder was full of stones and needed emergency surgery to be removed before it ruptured. Apparently, the surgeon told me post-op, gallstones are common with pregnancy.”
—Anonymous, 40, Florida
16.“Persistent coughing. My aunt was coughing a bunch, and just thought she had a lingering cold and kept taking cold medicine. It turned out to be lung cancer. She was a non-smoker and didn’t consider the possibility. She passed away a couple months ago.”
—Anonymous, 19, Seattle
17.“I noticed a red bump that I thought was a spider bite crust over on my leg. Every time something bumped against it, I felt nauseated with pain. My dog became more protective and anxious at this time and followed me everywhere. He licked the bump until it opened up (gross, I know) and revealed a small hole in my leg.”
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“I went to urgent care and they sent me straight to the ER, where I was diagnosed with MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). I spent a week in the hospital being treated, and was told my hero dog saved my life. I still wonder how he knew to be worried about it.”
—Anonymous, 46, Alexandria, Virginia
18.“If you’re pregnant and you have unexplained headaches or heartburn that don’t go away, go get checked ASAP, even if your last OBGYN appointment was normal.”
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“I had preeclampsia and Stage 2 HELLP syndrome at 26 weeks, and those were my only symptoms. When I went to the ER, my blood pressure was in the 200s/110s. I’m lucky I never had a seizure or a stroke.
Three and a half years later, my son and I are both doing well. I still have high blood pressure despite consistent exercise, though, and I’ve also learned that I have genetically high cholesterol.”
—Anonymous, 35, Kentucky
19.“Having food ‘pause’ as it’s going down. Esophageal cancer is deadly! Don’t ignore the symptoms.”
—Anonymous, 50, Western New York
If you made it to the end of this article, congratulations! I myself am sitting here horrified, but I’m glad I read these — it’s so important to know the red flag symptoms to look out for.
If you have any thoughts, tell me about ’em in the comments — even better if you have a “mild symptom” story of your own to share. Or, if you have a story to share but prefer to remain anonymous, you can check out this anonymous form! Who knows — your story could be included in a future BuzzFeed article.
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