Four Pains You Should Ignore
"It’s just a headache... it will go away."
Very often you tend to dismiss daily aches and pains. But in case left untreated, it could cause further life-threatening complications.
Here are some characteristic pains that will help you understand if, you need to visit a hospital immediately.
- 1. Pain in the Chest, Shoulder and Hand
You may ignore any pain in the chest, shoulder or hand, as a muscle pull or a catch from sleeping on one side. But, it could be far more serious than it feels. - If you feel a sharp pain in your left shoulder blade and your left arm, it could be a sign of a heart attack.
- Remember, instead of the pain, you could also experience a heaviness or discomfort. Having a heart attack could feel like something extremely heavy has being thrown on your chest.
- If you are having severe pain and discomfort on the left side of your chest, then you could also be suffering from angina. Angina is a partial block of the arteries. This could be because of emotional stress and can be treated.
However, if you ignore this pain, it could lead to a heart attack. - According to Dr. Ramakant Panda of the Asian Heart Institute and Research Centre, women who have crossed menopause, have a greater chance of getting heart attacks.
This is due to the limited hormonal activity after menopause.
2. Pain in the Head Don’t shrug it off as a minor headache or even a migraine. There are far worse repercussions of a headache than you think. - If you experience intense pain in your head, much like a thunder clap, it could be a brain hemorrhage. Remember, the pain might be so sudden and so severe (explosive), that you could fall unconscious. This pain does not linger, it comes and goes.
- In case you experience severe pain in random areas of your head, it could be meningitis. However, this pain is usually accompanied by fever and nausea.
- An increasing pain in a certain part of your head could be a sign of a brain tumour.
3. Pain in the Abdomen
The abdomen is a playground for many infections and diseases. So, don’t dismiss any abdominal pain as just a stomach ache that will go away.According to Dr. Smruti Ranjan Panda of the Assembly of God Church Hospital, Kolkata, "In order to understand what kind of pain you might be having, mentally divide your abdomen into four parts, with your belly button as the centre." - Lower Right Side
A pain in the lower right side could mean appendicitis. It is characterized by a continuous pain that is not perfectly localise. Appendicitis requires immediate surgery, so don’t neglect the pain.
Apart from that, a pain in the lower right side could suggest lymph node enlargement. This could be due to stomach infections like typhoid or a pelvic inflammatory disease.
Don’t dismiss the possibility of a cancerous tumour in the lower right side of your abdomen as well. - Upper Right Side
Any pain in the upper right part of the abdomen could indicate an infection of the gall bladder. Remember, an infection in any area of the lower abdomen, could spread all over the lower abdomen and even the genital area. - Upper Left Side
If you had an accident and hurt your abdomen, make sure your spleen is not ruptured. If your spleen ruptures, it could result in loss of blood and is potentially life-threatening.
An enlargement or rupturing of the spleen is characterized by severe pain in the upper left side of the abdomen and requires immediate surgery. - Lower Left Side
A pain in the lower left side of the abdomen could be due to colitis, which is an infection of the colon. If this infection is not treated, then it could form pus and mucous, which could spread throughout the large intestine, causing wear and tear. - A pain in the lower left side could also be a cancerous tumour.
4. Pain in the Joints
If you walk long distances or just came back from a workout, it is natural to experience pain in your limbs and joints. - However, a continuous piercing pain in your joints that makes it difficult for you to walk down a flight of stairs, could be a sign of early arthritis.
- Another sign of early arthritis is pain in the hands. It could shift between hands or even between fingers in a time span an hour to a few days.
- These are just some of the medical complications that specific aches and pains could signal. However, never neglect any unexplained pain in any part of your body. It could be serious matter that could require immediate medical attention.
