People Share Health Signs They Wished They Hadn’t Ignored

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By Joe Burgett - August 7, 2021

You’ve probably heard stories from your parents or grandparents about how they went through a ton of horrible things. It usually comes in the form of a story that turns out to be a situation no one ever should have had to deal with. Yet they tell it like it was a normal thing, and still could be. Like going to school barefoot in the snow and walking home in 100-degree weather on hot sand. They also discuss random health scares and the health signs they ignore because “that’s what you do.”

Yet many of those health signs were things they should not have ignored. For example, if you randomly pass out walking home or walking to work…this is not something you just ignore. There is no reason to “man-up” or “woman-up” after this. Today, we know far better than we used to. However, people are STILL ignoring several health signs that could save their life. Your body is giving you a warning, use it, people! As an example of humanity still ignoring their health, we gathered a list of stories where people ignored health signs and now wish they had not.

People Share Health Signs They Wished They Hadn’t Ignored — *Gynecologist working on patient’s vaginal smear. Photo Credit: Iryna Inshyna/Shutterstock*

Just Avoid Cancer, It’ll Go Away On Its Own Apparently

From Redditor: SummerWwW

Reddit user SummerWwW went to the doctor about 5 years ago where she did a Pap Smear. This is an important test for women, as it allows doctors to hopefully catch any potential cancer a woman might have…if she has any at all. In SummerWwW’s case, she had precancerous cells show up on her test and did not go back for a follow-up. We assume she just avoided one of the most important health signs ever just because.

She then began to get abnormal bleeding and cramping but was too scared to go back to the doctor. Roughly 3 years ago, she set up an appointment to finally go back. She claimed that she did not follow up with her doctor because she was not having any problems, but now that she is, she’s going back. Here’s the rub…the reason doctors have women do these tests is to catch things early BEFORE problems begin. If you’re told you have precancerous cells, follow up with your doctor immediately!

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Barber Saves Man’s Life

From Redditor: AngryCotton

One man decided that he needed a haircut at the age of 17 and went to his normal barber. While cutting the kid’s hair, the barber noticed a mole on the top of his head. He claimed that the young man should get it looked at, just as a precaution. Of course, taking the barber up on this, the guy went to his doctor. It turns out, this mole was cancerous but thankfully in the very early stages.

He was able to just get it cut out. While they did need to do a little more cutting later, it was apparently not that much to do. In fact, this man is now around 20 years cancer-free! What an amazing story, where someone just went on a whim to see their doctor on the advice of their barber. This barber should be hailed a hero for catching something. It is possible that he could have ignored health signs like this that popped up in a customer, but he didn’t. That’s tremendous.

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Heartburn Was Secretly A Sign of a Horrific Infection

From Redditor: Whereswalda

This person began having persistent and absolutely horrible heartburn. However, they ignored the problem due to being both uninsured at the time and the fact that they claimed they were just young and dumb. After putting off going to the doctor for three months, they were surviving on just plain yogurt and lentils, still dealing with bad heartburn and even vomiting at this point. Due to this, they lost a lot of weight. Not only that, but the pain had continued to worsen.

Plus, the lack of food as well as problems upchucking led to a lack of nutrients remaining. This would cause exhaustion and tiredness. Finally, enough was enough and they went to the doctor to find out that they had helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori). This is an infection that affects the stomach and often caused peptic ulcers. Due to waiting, they had done a lot of damage to their stomach and digestive system. Within a year, the infection came back and this person now deals with a terrible and chronic disease due to ignoring their earlier health signs.

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Menstrual Periods Stop At 18, Nothing To Worry About, Right?

From Redditor: AwkwardPea

If you ask any woman, they’ll likely tell you that they might love being a woman but hate the fact that they have to deal with a period every single month. Who could blame them? It causes bleeding, cramping, and hormonal issues. Thus, when one Redditor began no longer getting their period as an otherwise healthy 18-year-old woman, they did not think too much about it. No periods? This seemed like a good thing in theory for this young woman.

However, roughly one year later, they were diagnosed with stage 4b cancer. Yet if you thought no periods were all she dealt with before seeing a doctor, oh boy. This was just the very first symptom. Things began getting much worse where something was obviously wrong. If she did not ignore her earlier health signs, this cancer would have been detected much faster for her and she likely may have been fine. Thankfully, her cancer went away nearly 15 years ago as of April 10th.

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Less Than Obvious Issue Of Constipation

From Redditor: Voltusfive2

This particular issue was referenced by Voltusfive2, but it’s about her daughter and not her. She mentioned how her daughter would lie on the floor on her left side randomly during a given day when she was around two years old. The little girl even walked with a wide step. If this was not enough, she also had to deal with multiple bouts of constipation. It seemed nothing could be done. eventually, this little girl is taken to a doctor who decided to run a few more tests.

It turns out, she has been dealing with Abdominal Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma. This is a form of cancer that can often occur in children. The term “rhabdomyosarcoma” usually means one is dealing with a form of cancer that affects soft muscle tissue. In this case, the girl was dealing with an abdominal version of things, where cells had remained from when she was in her mother’s womb. That fetal tissue grew in the abdomen. It took 54 weeks of chemo, but she’s now in remission!

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Is Being Tall A Bad Thing

From Redditor: CrustyHamSandwich

One man had many family members at roughly 5’5 in height, but he was able to reach 6’5 by the time he made it to high school, How did this occur with so many short family members? His family thought he hit some genetic lottery, as he managed to get the growth spurt others in his family never saw. It turns out, this was no growth spurt. He began noticing that his hands were swelling, so he decided to see his family doctor. Upon doing so, his doctor ran some tests…specifically, blood tests.

To his shock, his growth hormone levels were roughly three times the normal amount they should be. This led to the man being diagnosed with acromegaly, which is basically what he dealt with. Except over a period of time, both the hands and feet swell and you have issues with your organs. On top of this, the man did an MRI that found there was a tumor on his pituitary gland, likely the reason for his growth hormone trouble. It was removed and he’s been good ever since.

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Symptoms Of Potential Seizing Before It Happened

From Redditor: SeaBeeDecodesLife

This person tells a tale about their childhood best friend. The friend had many worrying health signs, but you cannot blame kids for not thinking much about things. The girl would spasm, which could be seen as a tick. In some cases, you’d consider her issue to be Tourette’s Syndrome. When she asked her friend about these issues, she said that it all felt like pins and needles. This is often a sign of a nerve-related problem. Although there were no other symptoms, she was relatively fine but one day, she suddenly declined.

It took just 24 hours to see a massive drop. In class, she began seizing but just as fast as she went down she was up. This led her teacher to take her to the nurse and the nurse called her parents. Only for the parents to take her home and not to the ER! She complained of a headache and they gave her ibuprofen, then put her to bed. She died that night of an undiagnosed brain tumor. This happens more than you’d think, as tumors can come off as a person having a mental disorder When in reality, the tumor is causing most of the issues. It’s important that when health signs like this pop-up, one should be seen by a specialist.

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The Lettuce Cravings Are Strong In This One

From Redditor: lovetheblazer

One woman seemed to begin craving lettuce as if she’d never had it and found it to be the holy grail of foods! She’d wake up in the middle of the night to get some, claiming to “eat it like it was popcorn at the movie theater.” She felt something was off, because obviously. Therefore, she finally went to the doctor where the doc did a series of blood tests. Of course, she assumed she was just dehydrated or had some vitamin deficiency. However, she’d quickly find out it was much, much worse.

Her test results showed her hemoglobin was at a 5 level when it’s normally supposed to be between 13-16. Then, her iron levels showed a 1, which is as low as you can go before 0…which is usually reserved for dead people. Her doctor sent her to the hospital and she was admitted that day. To fix the issue, two blood transfusions had to be done and an IV iron infusion along with them. She later recalled that the hospital staff had no idea how she was even walking around. Thankfully, 24 hours later, her levels went to normal and her lettuce craving was completely gone.

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The Migraines That Never Truly Let Up

From Redditor: Buttershovel

This Redditor recalled a story about their sister. The sister began having frequent migraines that seemed to never end right after she turned 22 years old. Obviously, health signs like this are clearly a sign of something, right? Of course, she did look into it. Her doctor waved it off initially, claiming it was only being caused by stress. Her husband did just get deployed to Afghanistan, and stress can certainly be the cause of many issues. That even includes migraines.

Their mother pushed to get a CT Scan but the doc claimed it was not needed. This led to the sister being sent home without a true answer, prescription, or anything. Just a few weeks later, she had a massive seizure. Upon being taken to the ER, they ended up doing a scan that found a huge tumor in her brain. This was actually a rare version of brain cancer and there was not much they could do. Tragically, she died within a year. While migraines do not always mean cancer, it’s okay to make sure.

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Ear Wax From Hell

From Redditor: Werekitty93

Redditor Werekitty93 brought up something quite important. She used a personal story to tell the world how ear wax isn’t something you should ignore. She always cleaned her ears, but they still kept hurting and she even had a hard time hearing for a few years. Both are health signs one should never ignore. By the time she made it to high school, she finally went to see a doctor about this. Rather than brush it off, the doc did a total flush of the ear,

It took nearly 3 hours but both ears were cleaned out from a large build-up of wax. It turns out, she also had an ear infection that was potentially a year old by that point! She now cannot hear well in both ears, but the one infected, in particular, has a lot of hearing loss. The ear wax build-up was due to hyperhidrosis, or an overreactive sweat gland issue. Her doc told her to never use a Q-Tip again as it just packs the wax back in. Now she goes once a month for both ears to be flushed out.

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Knee Pain Was Truly Something Far Far Worse

From Redditor: I_Hunt_N00bs

When your knee begins to bother you, the last thing you’ll be assuming is something crazy, right? One person began to have knee issues after taking a bad tackle in a soccer match-up. They thought the issue was just funky, as they noticed something clicking past their tendons and soft tissues. After a while, the swelling began to become a problem for them. Going to the doctor was now a must, as health signs like this can indicate something far more serious. Their doctor was in full disbelief. He was sent off to confirm something the doc saw after taking x-rays.

He ordered an ultrasound and that was when the doc found something jarring, an osteochondroma. This is an abnormal bone spur, and it was on the inside of this person’s knee! Tendons were slipping from one side to the other as their knee bent back and forth. But they delayed checking into things and that created a problem. If they looked into it before, they could have removed the spur without an issue. But now, the spur had punctured something in their knee. While it would still be removed, doing this earlier would have prevented further problems.

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Started With Tiredness and Quickly Got Worse

From Redditor: Prima13

This Redditor recalled a story involving her then-9-year-old son. He was complaining one summer about leg tiredness and had to sleep a lot. Their doc could not find anything wrong but by January 2017, he began to have major constipation and his bladder retained lots of urine for some reason. Going to Children’s Hospital this time, they felt his constipation kept the bladder from emptying right. Due to being around the hospital for a week, the mother went off on the hospital staff.

She wanted them to “think outside the box.” Therefore, the neurology department looked into his case and did an MRI. They ended up finding a fatty filum at the base of his spine and presented like a tethered cord. Of course, they decided to operate immediately, but the damage had already been done. Now the son no longer has bowel or. bladder function due to nerve damage. The parents feel that if his health signs had been properly assessed before by doctors, this wouldn’t have happened.

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The Splinter That Became Horrific

From Redditor: Sponger67

This Redditor recalled a story involving their friend. The friend is a carpenter who was working on hand-sanding a deep shelf area. Sadly, he ended up getting a splinter in the cuticle of his pinky. It was pretty big but it is likely this man has had splinters before. He claimed it “would work out on its own.” He left it alone, but just a little while after this, he began getting a red line from his pinky all the way up into his armpit!

He was now convinced he might need to see a doctor. It turns out, this red line developed due to an infection that had actually traveled along his vein. If the man had waited longer, the infection would have ended up reaching his heart. Of course, this would have been very life-threatening too. Thankfully, he was able to see the doctor before such an issue happened and they took care of the splinter and infection. Clearly, health signs like this should never be ignored!

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When You Go Septic And Do Not Realize It

From Redditor: Swissbogan

This person tells a story of a time when they began just having symptoms of a cold one evening. It began with a slight temperature, slight cough, and they felt lethargic. Accompanying this was low back pain, bloating, and abdominal pain. Of course, this is a lot of health signs one should not ignore. However, they have endometriosis and they assumed it could just be another flare-up. Yet things progressively got worse from here.

Severe nausea, migraine, and loss of most strength began to come progressively. Now, they began to collapse and realized things could be terrible, as all the health signs coming so quickly became obvious. They headed to the hospital and were admitted immediately. Their blood pressure was 187/135 with a resting heart rate between 190 to 200. It turned out that they were septic and there had been an abscess in their fallopian tube.

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Itchiness Leading To Liver Issue

From Redditor: CountShaftula

This Redditor referenced an issue that their wife went through. Her initial health signs were not prominent and could have easily been looked over. They had extreme itchiness, but that was about it. She assumed it might just be dry skin, which is an understandable conclusion. But then jaundice began. This presents as a yellowing of the eyes and is the first sign of a liver issue, such as liver disease or liver failure.

She eventually found out that she had a rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis or PSC. Of course, the only way to become free of this is via a liver transplant. Due to the major amount of people on the transplant list, this is not always easy to get. Thankfully, she was able to get one and is around five years post-transplant and doing well. Sometimes, even the weirdest things can be health signs we should not ignore.

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The Back Pain That No One Believed

From Redditor: Velcosby

One Redditor recalled a time when they were nine years old. They would come home in tears after softball practice, crying about the severe back pain they had. Their parents forced them to take part in softball and never believed their child had true back pain, as they thought it was just a way to get out of things. Finally, they broke down and took their child to the doctor to check on things.

If nothing else, they could prove that the child was lying, right? It turns out, this person had scoliosis. But it was too late to use a back brace by this point. Had their parents not ignored or avoided the health signs that their child presented, they could have gotten help earlier. They just had their fourth back surgery a few years back and had an entire disc replaced. They are in their early 20’s as of this writing too.

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Ignoring Breathing Problems For An Understandable Reason

From Redditor: Nuclear_blob

This Redditor recalled an issue that happened to their grandfather. He actually had trouble breathing for quite a long time, but it was never anything horrible. He then began having shortness of breath and eventually heavy breathing problems. While these would normally be health signs one would look into promptly, he was having to take care of his wife. This would be the Redditor’s grandmother, naturally.

Nothing ever prevented him from taking care of her, but one day the coughing was just miserable. It was a dry cough as well, and he was unable to make it stop. Finally, this led him to go to the doctor where he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer. The Redditor’s grandfather died within just three weeks. The doctor claimed that had he come in sooner, he might have been able to save him. But by this point, there was nothing they could do.

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Eye Problem No One Expected

From Redditor: PSyRo11

This Redditor recalled a story from the time they were in the 8th Grade. They remember the day that they first noticed they could not properly see within their right eye, even with their glasses on. Thinking their eyes worsened, they felt they just needed to get their eyes checked. They had exams coming up though, so it was ignored but after 4 months of this problem, they went to the optometrist. The eye doctor felt something was not normal and wanted to get them into a hospital.

They ended up going to an eye specialist hospital where this Redditor found out that they had glaucoma, and had lost 90% of the vision in their right eye. The intraocular pressure or IOP in the eye should normally be below 21, but their eye had it at 70! It was now starting to affect their left eye. This led to having surgery immediately for the right eye because no medication could help by then. They’d have surgery a few years later for the left eye. Today, they regret ignoring their earlier health signs.

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Alcohol-Induced Cancer?

From Redditor: Vaguerant64

Now, this is an incredible story. This Redditor began having pain in their left shoulder, right around where the trapezius muscle meets. Yet it only ever happened when they drank alcohol, which was not often. It was only an occasional beer every so often truthfully. Since they did not drink very often, it did not concern them that this occurred. After all, many people react to alcoholic drinks differently compared to others.

However, this ordeal was partially concerning so they went to the doctor. This was when they were told that they have cancer, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to be exact. It was the pain in lymph nodes they had been experiencing when drinking. Yet this is not exactly commonplace with Hodgkin’s. It only occurs in less than five percent of cases. All of this does add up though, as Hodgkin’s might affect your lymphatic system but it also affects the liver, spleen, thymus, and bone marrow too.

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The Knee Issue That Nearly Led To Amputation

From Redditor: Auntie_Ahem

Roughy one week before this Redditor’s fourth Halloween, they were playing on their “Cat in the Hat” scooter. Sadly, they fell on the pavement and took a good scratch on their knee. A day later, it began to itch pretty bad, causing issues sleeping. Of course, being little, their mother just thought they were being dramatic. One day after this, aches began to come and they could not even walk at this point. Redness and itching issues became worsened.

Now, their mother knew something was up as all these health signs were tough to ignore. This person was put into the hospital for a week, diagnosed with cellulitis. It was so bad, in fact, they nearly came close to having to amputate! There were even assumptions it could kill her, with the doctor telling their mom to call in relatives soon. If they had come in the first or second day of this, just one strong penicillin shot and a week of antibiotics would have been all they needed.

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Face Pain That Was Truly A Rare Form Of Cancer

From Redditor: Alittleblueboy

This Redditor recalls a story from when their father went through something horrific, while they had to watch along as an 8-year-old kid. Their father began having bad face pain, around his nose. Not choosing to ignore this, the father went to his doctor and this doc insisted it was a sinus infection only. A couple of months go by, and pain has only been increasing, but the Redditor’s parents cannot think of what it could be. They just knew it was not some sinus infection.

The father goes back to the doctor, but this time another doc that decided to order a CT Scan. This scan revealed he had a rare form of cancer called “nasopharyngeal carcinoma“. This is basically a cancer of the nasopharynx, which is in the upper part of the throat, right behind the nose. It’s where your nasal passages rest. He had to go through 9 months of chemotherapy and radiation. The Redditor’s father is now in remission today.

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The Unknown Short Leg Issue

From Redditor: Awesomeaviator

This Redditor referenced a problem that first presented itself when they were only a child. They began having issues with their gait, like a big roll. Your gait is basically the way you walk. They knew they had problems walking as a child, but both their parents and doctor assumed it was a foot problem. This person just went to the podiatrist and was given orthotics, which honestly did help some, they claimed. Yet this did not fix things.

The doctor then assumed they had growing pains, causing the Redditor’s parents to ignore their child’s obvious pain troubles for a while. This made sense though, as they did not seem to have trouble playing soccer or cricket. They now assume they were just able to put up with the pain. After 18 years of pain in their legs and feet, now their hips just did not line up. They’d later find out it was likely all caused by a hip dysplasia issue during birth that was never corrected. Their right knee and foot had to take tons of punishment because their right leg is shorter than their left.

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The Often Overlooked Health Signs Of ALS

From Redditors: Bz3rk & Mynamemyredditname

This next issue is a two-parter from two different Redditors who had family members suffer through similar issues. The first, Bz3rk, had a father who would just trip and fall working around the house or at his job. But these issues were random and happened off and on…not constantly. The father ended up diagnosed with ALS and died just over three years later, with these being their initial symptoms. The next ALS-related story comes from Redditor Mynamemyredditname.

Their father began having a sore throat and kept losing their voice but docs had no idea why. The random tripping or falling did not come until later for them, but the lost voice was their father’s original issue. Their father also died from ALS. For those unaware, ALS affects the nervous system, and people eventually become paralyzed from it. Since our voice is controlled by muscles, and ALS weakens those, people with ALS might lose their voice. Stephen Hawking, who had ALS, had to use a voice box where he’d slowly type up what he needed to say, for instance.

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Adult Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis

From Redditor: Trogoms

One compelling story comes from Redditor Trogoms, who brought up a personal story about something that is rare but can happen. When one has diabetes, they are given the Type 1 or Type 2 diagnosis. Usually, Type 1 is something you’re born with and you’ll have problems with it beginning at a younger age. But Type 2 happens later on, such as when one becomes overweight. But for this Redditor, things went differently. Originally, they began feeling they had to pee…a lot. Like all the time.

They kept getting thirsty a lot too. Assuming it was just stress from college, they ignored it for a few months. It can be easy to ignore health signs like this for many. Eventually, it became an issue so they went to the doctor. They found out, then, that they had Type 1 Diabetes, at age 24! Their first blood sugar rating was at 583, which normally puts one into diabetic acidosis. It normally causes people to upchuck and/or pass out, but their only symptom was peeing a lot. While odd, Type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed later in life as an adult

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The Gallbladder Strikes Again

From Redditor: Realinterrobang

This Redditor recalled a story that occurred at age 22. They began getting pain in the left side of their chest, roughly the left-center of the rib cage to be precise. It only seemed to happen when they drank alcohol (sound familiar) or when they ate something greasy. This was not that crazy, as they have had gastric reflux since they were a child. Therefore, it was nothing to look over this. One day, they are out with a friend and split a pitcher of Sangria.

By the end of their meal, they were in severe pain that caused them to curl up, moaning. This caused them to go to the doctor where an ultrasound found they had gallstones. Interestingly, they also had back pain from it. For those unaware, there is a nerve that flows from the top of the back of your shoulder to the gallbladder. People with gallbladder pain might complain of pain there. Usually, anyone who has their gallbladder removed will feel this back pain for days after.

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