Few people like hospitals or going to the doctor. Yet, if we want to live a long and happy life, it’s the best thing we can do for ourselves. Unfortunately, researchers have found that many Americans avoid seeking help because of the fear of incurring high medical bills. In fact, in 2023, 38% didn’t get medical treatment because of the cost they would have had to pay.
Recently, one Redditor highlighted the importance of annual check-ups when they asked, “What’s a medical problem people constantly ignore until it’s too late?” People shared all kinds of stories in the comments: from commonly overlooked conditions in women’s health to less conspicuous things like a lack of sleep and, of course, early signs of cancer.
#1
I had very irregular periods for years, I’m talking 3 months without one followed by going for a month and a half straight. I went to one gyno and they did a vaginal ultrasound but didn’t see anything. The lady who performed it literally shrugged it off. I just thought maybe it was a byproduct of getting my period at 8-9 years old.
Earlier this year I went to a different gyno to get a bilateral salpingectomy. He noticed my hemoglobin was at about 7.4 and I told him about my irregular, increasingly heavy periods. He, too, found nothing during the vaginal ultrasound but elected to do a D and C during my bisalp. Come to find out I had stage 1 uterine cancer which, luckily, was resolved with a total hysterectomy.
Image source: soyrandom, svitlanah / Envato
#2
Sleep deprivation, people treat it like a badge of honor until their body just quits.
Image source: -It_is_what_it_is–, seventyfourimages / Envato
#3
Endometriosis, usually not ignored by patients but by doctors. This goes for many uturus-related issues.
Image source: Necessary-Donut-6724, wichayada69 / Envato
#4
Given I have lost three female friends this year to heart attacks, this. One even sought care at an urgent facility and was told she had the flu. She died two days later. The symptoms present differently than they do in men and are as such, often overlooked or downplayed. Very sad.
Image source: Bennington_Booyah, thichas / Envato
#5
Diabetes. If you can control it you can live a long time with it . However if you dont you can get congested heart failure, dialysis , heart attacks, etc.
Image source: willow_wayy96, rekaolya / Envato
#6
If you suddenly see an increase in flashes or floaters in your vision, get your a*s to an ophthalmologist right away. It could be a retina detachment, and although technology is great, we don’t have artificial retinas that work as well as human eyes just yet. The sooner you get it checked, the sooner your vision could be saved.
Image source: loves_spain, Portoprens / Envato
#7
Women’s abdominal pain. If it’s not worse than a period we just kinda… brush it off. It can’t be that bad, right? Apparently it can be cancer.
Image source: Either_Cow_4727, s_kawee / Envato
#8
Ok listen. We need to have a discussion about normal and not normal poops. Hard poop, bleeding, cramping other uncomfortable bowel movements need to be addressed. Colon cancer is a thing. I have a family member whose only 30 and ignored symptoms until the last minute. He’s stage four.
Image source: fatcatwantsfood, Image-Source / Envato
#9
Hypochondriacs may want to skip this thread.
To answer:
– Anything related to blood pressure.
– Dental issues.
– Slowly declining vision.
To add a few important habits:
– Get your annual blood work done.
– Men over 42: get your prostate exam. I cannot stress that one enough.
– If you notice any new lumps, sores that won’t heal, or any sudden weight loss: talk to your doctor. Immediately.
Image source: ValiumBlues, itchaznong / Envato
#10
Changing moles/growths/marks on the skin.
Image source: Vegetable_Horse4718, uriArcursPeopleimages / Envato
#11
As a an overweight woman, I feel stupid taking anything wrong to a doctor because they will say it’s because of my weight, or it’s all in my head. Even when I explain how it’s interfering with my life, they shrug and tell me to eat better.
Image source: steffie-flies, LightFieldStudios / Envato
#12
Almost every problem listed here people generally dont ignore its just the doctors that ignore it and tell their patients its probably just anxiety.
Image source: FernandoMM1220
#13
Appreciate the health care professionals taking the time to comment here. So much misinformation gets spread online.
Image source: Choice_Caramel_9604, Ahmed / Unsplash
#14
I’m an ER doctor so there’s a lot I could probably add here, but there are three that come to mind:
– abrupt changes in exercise tolerance. Especially in young healthy people. If you run 10km every day and you’re suddenly winded after 5km, or you’re getting terrible leg cramps in one leg every time you work out, you should be assessed. Just because you *can* still run doesn’t mean you don’t have something going on, it means you’re healthy enough that your body is capable of compensating really well. The last two cases like this I saw were a pulmonary embolism and a postviral cardiomyopathy from a mild COVID infection. Both in young, healthy runners. Have also seen cancers present this way.
– Unexplained weight loss. Especially in larger people, they’re pleased they are losing weight so they don’t get it assessed. I wouldn’t run to the doctor for a few pounds weight change, but if we’re passing 5%ish body weight loss without a clear behavioural or medication related cause, this should be looked into.
– blood in stool. Even if you have haemorrhoids, even if you’re young, DO NOT IGNORE BLOOD IN YOUR STOOL. We are actually seeing an increased diagnosis of GI cancers in people under 40. Any blood in stool without an obvious bleeding fissure that I can see gets sent for a colonoscopy.
Image source: DrBCrusher, Prostock-studio / Envato
#15
When I worked in the ER I had a ridiculous amount of people come in complaining about headaches that had been going strong for weeks.
Image source: Pristine_Ad5229, YuriArcursPeopleimages / Envato
#16
Snoring + tiredness (potential sleep apnea).
Image source: iamthe0ther0ne, LightFieldStudios / Envato
#17
Acid reflux.
Watch your diet early. Avoid overdrinking and overeating. Eat spicy foods once in a while, not as the defining characteristic of your personality.
Image source: BrooklynDoug, Prostock-studio
#18
Sleep apnea. “It’s just snoring” until you have a heart attack in your sleep in your 40s.
Image source: CanadianLadyMoose, Andrej Lišakov / Unsplash
#19
That one persistent, low-grade pain you treat like your car’s check engine light. you just put a piece of tape over it and hope for the best. then one day you reach for a dorito off the floor and your soul leaves your body.
Image source: SunTraditional6031, Getty Images / Unsplash
#20
Mental health
A lot of people either refuse to or dont understand that mental health can physically effect a person’s body. It quite literally wreaks havoc not just on your nervous system but other vital systems like immune. It quite literally is a slow and agonizing death. Everything is connected but its still one of the most under estimated aspects of holistic health.
A good (but heavy) book to read (or listen to on audible) is “The Body Keeps The Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk. Hes a Dutch psychiatrist. Its a great book.
Image source: auntjomomma, Anthony Tran / Unsplash
#21
Not a doctor, but if one of your pupils is dilated and the other isn’t, get it seen to asap. Happened to a pal of mine who showed a doctor friend more as a ‘isn’t this weird?’ thing as he felt totally fine and the doctor sent him straight to the ER. Turns out he had some sort of arterial issue that needed immediate attention.
Image source: twolephants, reddit
#22
Hitting your head and losing consciousness. Brain bleeds often don’t show any symptoms until you go down, dead.
I’m only alive because my coworker insisted I get in the ambulance. He was right. I checked out , but the crew got me rebooted. (Defib, breathing , etc).
Image source: cbelt3
#23
Signs of insulin resistance, the big one being waist circumference beyond the recommended measurements 35”.
I was marching myself towards type 2 diabetes and thought I was doing fine with exercise until I started have atrial fibrillation several times per week. Then I had to really get on track with my dietary choices.
If I hadn’t developed afib, I probably would have just kept going, thinking I’ll just always be a little overweight, and it’s no big deal, and then ended up with diabetes and probably a stroke or a heart attack.
I’m actually glad my heart gave me this warning that I couldn’t ignore.
Image source: yumandyummer
#24
Random chest pains
Frequent headaches and migraines
Jaw/tooth pain.
Image source: PaleozoicQueen
#25
Weight loss.
Had a few friends who were considered overweight, went onto better diets, exercise etc and the weight just falls off them, great eh?
Except when they hit their target weight and it keeps on dropping off despite going back to a normal diet.
Both were checked out and both had terminal cancer, one lasted two weeks, the other a month.
Image source: Common-Ad6470
#26
Had to visit physical therapy several times across one year. One thing I notice is the magnitude of back pain problems triggered by bad daily routine and posture. These get ignored and gradually affect your quality of life. Some are reversable with phsyical therapy but others are too late to address to a full reverse point. Exercise and priortizing ones health is key here!
Image source: Wrong_Cod_2747
#27
One thing people ignore until it’s too late is chronic stress.
It sneaks up slowly. At first it just feels like normal life. You have work pressure, bills, family responsibilities, and you keep telling yourself everyone feels this way. You push through it because that’s what you’re supposed to do. You think you’ll rest once things settle down, but they never really do.
Meanwhile your body is under constant strain. Your sleep gets worse, your appetite changes, you feel tense all the time, and you stop enjoying the things that used to help you relax. Over time your blood pressure rises, your immune system weakens, and your mood starts to fall apart. Then one day it catches up to you and your body forces you to stop.
The hardest part is that you usually can’t see the damage happening. There is no obvious warning sign. But the toll adds up quietly. Taking care of yourself early, even in small ways, isn’t a luxury. It is maintenance. You only get one body, and it needs rest just as much as it needs effort.
Image source: Infamous_Variety5156
#28
Hypertension. I’ve known/heard about people ignoring their symptoms for years until they’re being rushed to ER with a heart attack or stroke. I passed off the symptoms for years as anxiety since the symptoms are very similar and I have PTSD/anxiety. I’m now on medication. Still have anxiety, but nothing compared to the hypertension levels I was feeling pre-meds.
Image source: Commercial_Board6680
#29
Eating a food that you’re mildly allergic to.
There will be one day when it isn’t mild.
Image source: MrPigeon70
#30
Not necessarily ignored, but not taken seriously in my mom’s case: chronic pain and swelling.
For about 6 months, my mom had chronic and worsening stomach/abdominal pain. She initially wrote it off as diverticulitis, which she had dealt with before. Doctors waved her off as it just being because she was severely overweight. Then came the abdominal swelling. It started small at first, but the doctors didn’t think too much about it thinking she had just gained more weight.
Turned out to be ascites causing both the pain and swelling. They culminated into causing a full bowel obstruction that landed her in the ER. Underlying cause of the ascites turned out to be stage 4 gynecological cancer. She managed to walk again after being bedbound for 2 months, but lost the fight after about 9 months of treatment.
Please, if you are having any symptoms like hers and the doctors are not taking you seriously…
*Push back!* Advocate for yourself!
I sometimes wonder if things would have been different if I had pushed her to go to a different doctor and not accept the old, ‘it’s because you’re fat’ answer.
Image source: Sizara42
#31
As a general practitioner and former ER doc: Anything related to metabolic health, like hypertension and diabetes. Usually people only grow to care for it (if ever) when they already have chronic kidney disease, heart failure, vision loss, diabetic ulcers… only then it’s too late. And so they come to the ER with an emergency related to those…
Image source: Double_Gazelle2803
#32
Massive bruising after an injury to a leg.
When I was in my mid twenties I popped my right knee out of joint while at work, ( have since been diagnosed with joint hypermobility) this was around 1983 or so, back then no work, no pay, and I had a wife and family so I just wrapped it and went back to work the next day
The leg was one big bruise from mid thigh to mid calf, and when I told my family doc about it he said don’t ever do that, with that kind of bruise in a leg you could have developed a blood clot.
At that age you’re indestructible though, or you think you are, lol.
Image source: big_d_usernametaken
#33
My primary doctor gaslighted me when I started losing my hair, feeling cold, feeling crazy fatigued shaky and matted hair and oversleeping. My doctor told me that I was just having anxiety and tried to put me on Xanax and I was having other symptoms like irregular periods and I asked if I can see a endocrinologist because 2 months prior I went to the hospital and they found that I had a thyroid number over five which means I wasn’t making enough hormones. He dismissed that and told me that I was just having anxiety and that anxiety can cause all of those and that I didn’t need an endocrinologist because he was all that I need and a gastroenterologist because I have a family history of gastro problems. My plan did not require his approval and I went to an endocrinologist I told her my symptoms and she even saw that I had some chin hairs and she said based on the symptoms that I told her she thinks that I had hypothyroidism PCOS and Hashimoto’s and then she did a blood test within 3 months and it confirmed that I had all three. I am now on thyroid medications and Metformin. I fired my primary doctor and went somewhere else! So no it wasn’t all in my head if you’re not making enough thyroid levels you’re going to have the symptoms that I just described and along with PCOS it is a double whammy! I’ve been doing better since then but it’s sad that that doctor failed me and to top it all off I found out that Xanax would have interacted with one of my medications that I was taking. He even failed a cancer patient and started celebrating when a cancer patient was losing 60 lb in one month and he later found out somewhere else that he had cancer and he died months after that!
Image source: Golden-lillies21
#34
Most of them.
I used to work in a cardiovascular ICU and there were way too many patients who would have a decrease in exercise tolerance, function, energy levels overall, and not doing anything about it for weeks. And I’m talking about like, sleeping downstairs on the couch because they can’t make it up the stairs to the bedroom without getting winded.
Rapid weight gain, rapid weight loss, abnormal swelling, dramatic changes to your bathroom habits, all need to be checked out.
Image source: gajensen
#35
Not something people constantly ignore, but I just want to post a reminder: women’s signs and symptoms of a heart attack differ than men’s. I’m a cardiology technologist, so I’m the person who is performing ECGs in the ER and the first to see if someone is having a STEMI (heart attack). I have seen female patients come in with severe abdominal pain, jaw pain, shoulder pain, or back pain, and not expect to find out they are having a heart attack. Please get yourself checked out even if you aren’t having crushing chest pain or shortness of breath. .
Image source: OkPickle6123
#36
I’m gonna go ahead and say sleep apnea. I’m of the opinion most adults should have a sleep study done. My quality of life has vastly improved since I got my bi-pap.
Image source: Klesea
#37
Obesity. It really sneaks up on you. If you are a 5’9″ adult you are considered to be obese if you are over 203lbs. People don’t realize how bad it impacts their life. Joint damage, heart disease, cholesterol, Blood Pressure… and damage to small blood vessels so impotence. Not to mention being overweight makes you less likely to exercise which makes you even more overweight. Before you know it you are looking at a heart attack or stroke.
Image source: LankyGuitar6528
#38
I had a friend that ignored his abdominal pain for a long time. He kept on taking Tylenol to push through it.
Turns out it was stomach cancer. Bill left behind a wife and two young daughters when he passed.
Please, if you’re experiencing ANY abdominal pain which lasts for more than 24 hours get seen by a physician.
Image source: 1hero_no_cape
#39
Gum disease. Even dentists can overlook this as normal aging.
Image source: Excellent-Baker1463
#40
In america with the cost of health care. Any medical problem, unless you’re rich or are fortunate enough to have a job with really good health insurance.
Image source: Prior-Candidate3443
#41
Blood pressure.
Image source: Madeupaccountcuzshy
#42
Skin cancer. Often once diagnosed, it could be too late.
Image source: AHCC-IG
#43
Persistent sinus infections. I used to get them all the time as a young teen between allergies and nasal polyps. I had one that would not go away. Went to the doctor’s office twice and was sent away with the reason being “it’s just a bug that’s been going around.” WrongO! I ended up in the ER. Turns out it may have started as a sinus infection, but it turned into a brain infection. The same thing happen to a family member 15 years prior. A kid at the high school I attended died from the very same thing a few years after I had mine.
Image source: HamSauce69
#44
Infections that are persistent can turn septic and deadly. A former colleague had wrist surgery and was dealing with an infection off and on for weeks. Kept putting off going back to the doctor – it was “busy season” for tax filings. April 12th she was rushed to the ER and never came back.
Image source: jaydubbs9095
#45
Sleep deprivation — everyone thinks they’re fine until it hits like a freight train 😴💀.
Image source: BeautifulArugula998
#46
Colorectal cancers. If there is blood coming out of… _that_ hole, there shouldn’t be, go see your doctor. Now. Better to feel a bit embarrassed and be alive.
Image source: demonfoo
#47
Not weight specifically, but the blend of factors and indicators that point toward diabetes. I’m saying this personally as I’ve become too aware of the pending risks and realizing I need to do something now before it IS too late.
Image source: KTKannibal
#48
Chronic stomach pain.
Image source: Famous_Clock8755
#49
Hypertension; ignore it at your kidneys peril.
Image source: MikaAdhonorem
#50
In my country, it’s heart problems, especially in men. It’s considered a sign of weakness for a man to think about his health, and that can sometimes lead to disaster. If a man takes his blood pressure or takes medication, he might be ridiculed. So they take their medications secretly. Similarly, if a man gets sick and misses work, he’s labeled a weakling. This applies to men over forty; the current generation has moved on from these delusional prejudices. In my country, men over 40 often die from heart attacks or strokes, and this might not have happened if they had regular cardiological examinations, a simple electrocardiogram.
Image source: GillKayera
#51
Moles and dark spots on the skin. Skin cancer is a serious issue and people often ignore the early signs.
Image source: madcats323
#52
Weight. A lot easier to lose a little than a lot.
Image source: Acerola_
#53
Sudden headache. Mine was an AVM rupture (sort of like a brain aneurysm). I easily could have died.
Image source: butiamsotired
#54
If you taste blood in your burps like you bit your cheek but you didnt, n you have had appetite issues, you may have a bleeding ulcer and h pylori. Ignored it for months till I straight up puked blood.
Image source: some_alt_person
#55
Insuline resistance begins ten years before the severe signs begin to appear.
You tend to ignore the little signs.
And then you are diagnosed with diabetis.
Image source: SeaLunch2912
#56
Glaucoma. No you’re not going crazy, your vision is having a curtain closed on it. And no, it doesn’t just “come back,” it’s gone. So don’t let the rest of it close.
Image source: junkminer
#57
High blood pressure.
My sister kept putting off seeing a doctor and getting on blood pressure medicine. She just died this summer at age 42 of aortic dissection. The blood pressure on her aorta for so long cause it to eventually tear and she died instantly.
Image source: ashleebryn
#58
Back pain always.
Image source: jessicalacy10
#59
Carpel tunnel .
Image source: VengefulWidower
#60
Men with prostate problems….
Image source: RelationKindly
Follow Us
