When it comes to our health, sometimes seemingly small things can have big consequences. Recently, on Reddit, people shared common medical conditions that can be much more serious than people realize, and it was really eye-opening. Here are some of the top comments:
1.”Sleep apnea.”
“I was diagnosed 12ish years ago, but couldn’t stand the CPAP they gave me, so I pretty much ignored it. About eight months ago, I was diagnosed with seizures. Turns out they’re a secondary condition of untreated sleep apnea. I got an updated CPAP about four months ago, and it works so much better than my first one.”
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2.”High blood pressure. We don’t call it ‘the silent killer’ for nothing.”
“Oof, for real! I left my hypertension undiagnosed and untreated for numerous years. No one thought it was true for me because I was ‘so young to have high blood pressure’ in my early and mid-20s. But heart problems run in my family, and I had all the high-risk behavior. When I got on meds, it was a game changer, and I feel so much better.”
3.”Autoimmune disease. It’s painful, silent, and not easy to diagnose.”
“It takes, ON AVERAGE, years to get diagnosed after the onset of symptoms. In the meantime, doctors are completely dismissive of your symptoms. You are tired because you are ‘depressed.’ Your hair is falling out because of ‘stress.’ Meanwhile, you feel like you’re going crazy.”
“It took 11 years for me to get diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease. I also have vitiligo. I honestly feel like if the vitiligo hadn’t shown up, I would still be fighting for a diagnosis. Once I had an autoimmune disorder that showed on my skin and couldn’t be ignored, doctors started taking me more seriously.”
“I lost six years of my life, was put on every anti-depressant/anti-psychotic medication, was diagnosed as Bipolar, and was eventually locked up in a mental institution.
All because it never occurred to my doctors to check my thyroid.”
4.”Migraines. They can be totally debilitating and increase the likelihood of other serious neurological disorders.”
“I had to take FMLA seven years ago for a migraine that lasted day and night for 2.5 months straight.
MRI showed I had suffered four mini strokes on my left temporal lobe.
That was miserable. Wake up, light and sound hurt, and pass out from pain. I ate once every other day at best.”
“My husband has had chronic, almost daily migraines for almost 20 years. It’s debilitating! His life revolves around how his head feels. It’s the worst during the summer months, he spends days to weeks in our bedroom with blackout curtains drawn and an eye mask on. I feel so horrible that I can’t help him. He’s tried numerous medications, injections, supplements, diet changes, etc, and nothing helps. He’s seen all different types of doctors to try to nail down the cause, but no one can figure it out. I can’t imagine being in the amount of pain he is in most days, but he is still the nicest, most positive person I know.”
5.”Dehydration. It can impair brain function and cause organ failure and death. It’s also easier than you think to become dehydrated.”
“After a bout of gastro managed to get dehydrated. Couldn’t remember certain details, such as where I was and what day and date it was. Couldn’t remember a special holiday and whether it had happened or was about to happen. Scary, and yet nobody thought I should get to the ER. I’ve said to those close to me that if that happens again, get me an ambulance. Really sucks not to have the same concern shown to me that I show to others.”
“Had kidney stones twice and was hospitalized for dehydration twice.
Drink lots of water, my friends.”
6.”Having chronic pain. People just can’t imagine never having a break from being stuck with pain, and how it affects basically anything in daily life. Directly and indirectly. From systemic sleep deprivation to a full-blown depression and all sorts of other health risks.”
“Agreed, never-ending pain, daily… and as you mentioned, all the depression, hopelessness, and more creep in over time. I have had severe Rheumatoid Arthritis since I was 12 years old and have had it for almost 30 years. The older you get, the more difficult it becomes to keep up with life as a whole. Can’t even tie my own shoelaces. Keep strong and all the best.”
“It affects everything: sleep, diet, daily routines, mental health.
Because I am in pain, I don’t want to move.
Because I don’t move, I get more pain. Activity means more pain. Inactivity means more pain. There is no winning.
Chronic pain causes severe fatigue.
Fatigue means less exercise. We don’t get better from fatigue if we don’t exercise. But too much exercise can also give us more fatigue.
Getting food means pain. Eating and digesting mean more fatigue. Food is as important as exercise. So, eating well is a must, if only we had the energy for it.
It is a battle with no end.
Depending on the reason for the pain, we can add some lovely side dishes like migraines, food intolerances, allergies, sensitivities, temperature dysregulation, sleep disorders, emotional dysregulation, social isolation, depression, anxiety, grief, and whatever else.
When we consider the side effects of the medications… well… May the odds be ever in your favor.”
7.”Diabetes.”
“I was diagnosed type 1 when I was 22, I’m coming up on my 10-year diaversary… I can’t tell you how many times I was hospitalized in the beginning. Even now with an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor, I struggle some days. It can be very unpredictable. The worst so far for me has been slow healing and ridiculous wounds. I currently have no skin on my heels, all because I got a blister. It’ll be a year tomorrow since I was first hospitalized for that.”
8.”Heartburn.”
“Yep. My mom had GERD, then Barrett’s Esophagus, then malignant neoplasm of the esophagus. She’s alive still, but I think only because they caught it early and could actually see damage.”
9.”Epilepsy. People think my life isn’t being impacted just because I’m not currently having a seizure. That’s not the only symptom. It’s so common, yet people generally know nothing about it.”
“Not to mention injuries, SUDEP [Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy], and status epilepticus, people can get brain damage, and some can even die from a seizure. I never knew that there were all different types of epilepsy or how dangerous some types can be before my daughter had her first (which was clusters for 30 minutes before paramedics arrived). Also, side effects from medicine affect day-to-day life and require extra caution with activities like swimming.”
10.”Changes in bowel habits — don’t delay investigations.”
“Seriously! And if your doctor doesn’t take you seriously, find someone else. I nearly died from fecal impaction throughout my entire large intestine, and even into my small intestine. My doctor actually had a go at me for ‘complaining about symptoms that were just annoying but not serious’ for YEARS before referring me to a GI specialist. I would have saved myself a lot of pain and malnutrition if I’d just gotten a second opinion earlier.”
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11.”HPV can cause cervical, uterine, ovarian, and esophageal cancer. But it’s commonly looked at as ‘most people get it at some point in their life, it’ll go away on its own in a few years.’ And HSV (herpes/cold sores) can be deadly for babies.”
“Agreed. It’s such a silent thing in your body. I was 33 when the regular smear test turned out to be a CIN III, the stage before it became cervical cancer. I had a review appointment with a hospital, not knowing they would do a treatment to remove a certain amount of my cervix right away. I was shocked how close I was to getting cancer there.”
12.”Pediatric asthma. We’ve been to the PICU twice, and she’s only 3. It’s scary how rhinovirus can trigger respiratory distress. “
“I was one of those kids, way back before the treatments and meds we have now. I was hospitalized 16 times between the ages of 5 and 16 with pneumonia. Had a collapsed lung once. Missing so much school alone had a profound effect on my life. I’m so lucky we have inhaled steroids and rescue inhalers now. I can’t imagine how it was for my parents, watching their child gasp for air like a fish out of water. If I caught a cold, it almost always ended in pneumonia. I feel for you and your child, but know we’re in a much better position to treat this disease now. Hang in there.”
13.”Endometriosis.”
“I battled endometriosis for years; it was debilitating. I felt like I got no freaking break from it, I was hurting before, during, and after period, and it started all over gain next month. I couldn’t do it any longer and finally had a partial hysterectomy at the age of 27.”
14.”Sepsis. Many think it’s just a bad infection, but it’s a life-threatening response to infection that can lead to organ failure and death if not treated quickly. Early signs like confusion, rapid breathing, or extreme chills should never be ignored.”
“My mom nearly died from sepsis. She got a UTI and had zero symptoms until she developed the symptoms you describe. If my dad didn’t notice her confusion, she might not have gone to the hospital in time. She now has to regularly take home UTI tests because she continues to get asymptomatic UTIs.”
“Spent weeks in the hospital this past fall with sepsis. I’m positive that the only reason I survived it is because I wasn’t septic until AFTER I checked in. I arrived with four different severe infections, and they flagged me as a high sepsis risk. Lo and behold, about 12 hours after I got into my room, my skin felt like it was on fire, and I started projectile vomiting every 5 minutes, and I shivered so hard I cracked two ribs.”
15.”Alcoholism. In A LOT of circles, getting completely hammered every single night of the week is seen as commonplace and even amusing. The physical health aspect alone is disastrous, not to mention the mental health piece is completely nightmarish. I got out of it before things got too bad for me, but I was easily heading down a road you don’t want to be on. Quitting drinking 100% saved my life in more ways than one.”
“I’m watching one of my daughter’s friends slowly drink herself to death as we speak. She’s 22.
She’s been in multiple car accidents she doesn’t remember, she’s urinated on herself while sleeping, she’s bloated, and she HAS to drink every day at this point or she starts going through withdrawal.
She realized she needed to change when she was blacking out every time she was drinking- turns out, she’s reasoned that this ‘change’ was that she needed to stop drinking hard liquor.
Her parents are quite literally drinking themselves to death as we speak, so it’s no wonder she’s on the path she is.
I wish I could do something to help.”
16.”Pregnancy.”
“It seems like people forget that women still regularly die while pregnant and during childbirth.”
17.”Anemia. Not only are there very serious types, like sickle cell, that can be extremely painful and life-threatening. But even plain old iron deficiency anemia can be extremely debilitating and difficult to treat.”
“I have regular old iron deficiency anemia. It’s caused by extremely heavy and constant menstruation from a combination of uterine fibroids and bilateral ovarian masses that are quite literally the size of small melons. I am scheduled for surgery in September, but I need to manage as best I can until then.
The fatigue and tiredness I feel are beyond description. Some days, I can barely even make myself get up to go to the bathroom. Most days, I can only muster up enough energy to be functional for a couple of hours. I can’t drive long distances anymore. I’m worried it’s not safe. I’m always cold, my hair is falling out, and my skin is dry and itchy. I also get sores in my mouth and bruises that never heal. I take supplements, eat an iron-rich diet, and have infusions, but it’s slow going to actually see improvement. The anemia and the treatments I’ve undergone to help fix it have caused a cascade of other vitamin and mineral deficiencies that have their own side effects. I can’t be out in the sun, or I break out in hives.
Some of my issues have been caused by the bleeding itself, like dehydration and hypovolemia. People, even some doctors, don’t understand that severe cases of anemia can be debilitating. My whole life is more or less on pause right now because of these issues.”
18.”PCOS. While it’s not disabling, the symptoms have dominated my life since puberty and into my 30s and foreseeable future. It’s not just irregular periods and intense pain when it comes. It’s been nearly two decades of battling with acne that is more than ‘you need to wash your face and use topicals.’ It’s endless frustration being told that to get rid of it, I must lose weight. Not understanding why the same diet and exercise regimens weren’t working for me as for my friends, only to learn at 30 that PCOS gives me insulin resistance and I have to eat less and completely differently.”
“A battle to look normal. And I don’t even have the infertility struggles and hair growth issues that other PCOS sufferers have to endure.”
“Most doctors only give a shit about PCOS in regards to infertility, not any of the debilitating or humiliating symptoms that can wreck one’s life.”
19.”Urinary tract infections. Lots of elderly people end up with broken hips or even blood infections that begin as UTIs.”
“My gramps died earlier this year from a UTI that was symptomless but got into his bloodstream.”
“The symptoms it causes in elderly people are also different from the ones exhibited by younger people.
One of the main symptoms, other than pain, is confusion/dizziness. The symptoms can manifest almost like a stroke or hypoxia.”
20.”ADHD. It’s definitely commonly recognized and treated, but I don’t think most non-ADHD people truly understand how frustrating it is to live with it. Your whole life revolves around it, because unless you’re always keeping it in check, you can’t live in normal society, and it’s fucking exhausting having to always be hyper aware of everything you do. Your productivity, your memory, your sensory perception, all of that, is, by default, hindered permanently compared to a neurotypical person, but unfortunately, most things are built around neurotypical capabilities (working 9-5, etc.), and it’s so mentally draining to force yourself to adapt to that culture.
“Meds and good habits help, but they can only do so much. No matter what you do or take, you will sooner or later fall into a cycle of procrastination, of forgetfulness, of ‘ADHD paralysis,’ of sensory overstimulation, and it fucking sucks because it’s so difficult to explain to people. It’s become so normalized that most people, at least the ones I’ve talked to, think you’re overplaying it or that it’s not that big of a deal.”
21.And finally, “Impacted wisdom teeth. I almost died from mine. One day, I woke up with a toothache and went to the ER. They sent me home, said you have a toothache, go see a dentist. The next day, it was swollen, and the pain was worse, so I went to a different ER. They gave me painkillers and told me to go see a dentist. The next day, I woke up, and my eye was swollen shut.”
“My throat was swollen, and I had trouble breathing. Went to a third ER where they told me I had an abscess from impacted wisdom teeth, and the swelling was very close to my brain. If I had waited another hour, I’d be dead.
So I went from a minor toothache to almost dead in about three days. So any time I hear someone question whether or not to get their wisdom teeth out, I insist they do!”
Is there anything you would add? Tell us about it in the comments or via the anonymous form below:
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