Symptoms You Should Never Ignore – Joints 17-20

17/20 Joint Popping or Clicking

Don’t Worry:

That snap, crackle or pop you hear when you stand up, walk down stairs or stretch is called crepitus, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re decrepit. It’s either caused by gas bubbles forming in the fluid that surrounds and lubricates the joints, or the sound of a tightly strung tendon snapping as it slides over a bony surface. Either way, if the noise is painless, it’s nothing to worry about (and becomes more common as we age, especially in the knees).

Do Worry:

If the cracking hurts or the noise changes to a crunching sound, see your doctor—as arthritis progresses, the breakdown of cartilage can lead to bones grinding against one another. Your doctor will first recommend exercise therapies to support and stabilize the joint, and if necessary prescribe medications for pain and inflammation relief.

I pop my knuckles & thumb all the time.. my knees like to pop on their own and occasionally my should & elbow pop . Those can get painful if it pops while moving in a certain position.. If I’m paying attention I can realize it’s about to go and switch to a more comfortable position for it to pop.

18 / 20 Swollen Knee

Don’t Worry:

Prepatellar bursitis, which most commonly affects gardeners or anyone whose occupation involves a lot of kneeling, is caused by inflammation in the bursa, or fluid pouch, on the front of your kneecap. If you notice one knee is noticeably more swollen than the other, tender to the touch and painful to extend, try treating it with rest, ice and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medication like ibuprofen.

Do Worry:

If the symptom doesn’t abate, if the knee feels warm or if more than one joint is swollen, have your doctor check for arthritis.

I’ve has issues with my knees since I was a child. My issue is from the muscles not being as strong and thus the patella (kneecap) is not positioned properly. Over the years it has been shifted, rotated & tilted. Right now, it’s the tilted that’s causing the problem & am currently seeing a physiotherapist for it Doing exercises to build up muscles & getting treatments for the inflammation. He thinks there might be arthritis in there too.

19 / 20 Enlarged, Sore Big Toe

Don’t Worry:

Your body’s underappreciated workhorse is the last part of your foot to push off the ground with every stride, and bears 40 to 60 per cent of the force load. You may not think about your big toe much, but when something goes wrong with it, you’ll wince with every step. Ingrown toenails are a common cause, accounting for one in five foot complaints to family doctors. A mild case can be treated by soaking the toe and applying antibiotic cream.

Do Worry:

A lesser-known form of osteoarthritis—hallux rigidus—affects 2.5 per cent of people over 50, and causes inflammation, swelling and aching in the joint connecting your big toe to your foot. Over time, the bone overgrowth caused by the condition can make it almost impossible to bend your big toe, and lead to protruding bone spurs.

The resulting joint degeneration can’t be reversed, but symptoms can be managed with NSAID medications, custom-made orthotic insoles, physiotherapy, specialized shoes or even joint replacement surgery.

You should also ask your doctor to check for gout, a rare form of arthritis caused by excess uric acid crystals in the blood.

Last time I had problems with my big toe, I possibly may have broken it. The cause was repeatedly kicking roots on a 3K hike with my Cubs. I had a bruise show up two days later, big and purple. It healed up on its own

20 / 20 Jaw Pain

Don’t Worry:

Aching in your jaw, pain while chewing, and a locking or popping sensation when you open your mouth wide can be signs of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, which can dislocate your jaw joint and inflame the muscles and ligaments that control its movement. Bruxism, or grinding your teeth, is a common cause, and many people aren’t aware that they clench or grind their teeth at night. “Waking up with a headache is a telltale sign of bruxism,” says Frank. “A dentist can prescribe a splint that covers the surface of your teeth, so you’re punishing the plastic instead of wearing down your tooth surface.”

Do Worry:

More rarely, jaw pain on one side can result from a cyst or a tumour, which your dentist can see on an X-ray. If the pain is only on the left side and radiates up your neck to your jaw, go to the ER right away—it could be an uncommon sign of a heart attack.

I have both TMJ & Bruxism, so I have a night guard I wear most nights.

Based on an article in Reader’s Digest by Anna-Kaisa Walker

Symptoms You Should Never Ignore – Digestive Systems 14-16

14/20 Chronic Bloating

Don’t Worry:

If you feel like a hot air balloon float after every meal, you’re in good company—nearly 40 per cent of the population struggles with gas and bloating. A food journal may help pinpoint specific dietary triggers, such as broccoli, beans or fruit. It’s important to note, though, that it’s normal for bellies to change shape over the course of the day, and passing gas (from the northern or southern route) up to 20 times daily is just part of the way your digestive system efficiently turns food into fuel.

Do Worry:

If your bloating never goes away or is accompanied by other symptoms such as severe cramps, changes in bowel habits, blood in your stool, nausea, decreased appetite or unintentional weight loss, see your doctor—diagnosing irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis, colon cancer and other conditions can require a more thorough workup.

15 / 20 Change in Your Stool

Don’t Worry:

When it comes to bowel output, what’s “regular” for each person varies widely—anything from twice a week to three times a day is in the range of normal, as is a range of consistencies. A change in diet, medications such as antibiotics, stress or dehydration can temporarily knock your routine out of whack, but things usually resolve within a few days.

Do Worry:

“Any persistent change in your pattern lasting more than a month is a sign to call to your doctor,” says Tran. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)—characterized by diarrhea, constipation or both, along with cramps that are relieved by pooping—affects up to 18 per cent of Canadian adults, and is thought to be linked to an imbalance in the relationship between the brain and the gut. Antidepressant medications have shown some promise as treatment. But your doctor will also want to rule out thyroid issues, bacterial or parasitic infections, and other more serious gut-related diseases.

16 / 20 Weird Smelling Pee

Don’t Worry:

Certain foods, notoriously asparagus, can give your urine a distinctly funky tang. But stinky pee can have a bouquet of other possible causes, including those new vitamins or medications you’ve been taking. B1 is known for giving urine a distinctly fishy odour, while sulfonamide antibiotics can impart a rotten-egg smell. An ammonia smell in your urine could mean you’re dehydrated and need to drink more water during the day—or, if attended with burning, fever or chills, might be an early sign of a urinary tract infection.

Do Worry:

Poorly controlled diabetes can make urine smell fruity from the ketones. If you’re diabetic and also experiencing nausea, confusion or excessive thirst, get medical attention immediately—you may be suffering from ketone acidosis, a potentially life-threatening condition.

Based on an article in Reader’s Digest byAnna-Kaisa Walker

Symptoms You Should Never Ignore – Misc

11/20 Lump Near Your Neck

Don’t Worry:
Spread out in a network, your lymph nodes are bean-shaped glands that play an important role in your immune system. When bacteria, viruses or other foreign substances invade your body, your lymph nodes can feel swollen and hard with all the white blood cells piling in to fight off the assault. Once you’re done battling whatever it was, they will go back to normal.

Do Worry:
If you feel the lump in the hollow above either collarbone—where your supraclavicular lymph nodes are—these can be important sentinels for disease in your abdomen. If it happens on your left side specifically, it’s called Troisier’s sign, and it’s considered an indication of cancer in the stomach or other organs, even if you have no other symptoms. See your doctor as soon as possible.

12 / 20 Cold Hands

Don’t Worry:
Genetics can be the reason you often have cold hands, even in summer—research shows it runs in families. The elderly, who tend to have slower circulation, as well as very thin people without much insulation, can also feel more sensitive to cold, especially in the extremities. Avoiding nicotine and caffeine, which restrict blood vessels, and dressing in layers to keep your core temperature up can help.

Do Worry:
Raynaud’s phenomenon, which affects 10 per cent of the population, is a vascular abnormality characterized by attacks of cold, pain, tingling or burning, and white or bluish colour in the fingers. It can be managed with medication, but in some cases, Raynaud’s can be a sign of an autoimmune disease called scleroderma.

Anemia, caused by low iron levels, can also make your hands and feet feel cold, and is also linked to fatigue, dizziness and chest pains. Iron supplements can help restore your hemoglobin levels.

13 / 20 White Marks on Your Nails

Don’t Worry:
Nails can reveal some important things about your health. Those mysterious dots or lines on your fingernails—called leukonychia—are usually caused by bumping or pinching the skin under your cuticle where your nails start to grow. They’re usually harmless and take six to nine months to grow out completely. If a spot looks yellowish and you can see thickening of the nail, that could indicate a fungal infection that requires a topical prescription.

Do Worry:
If the bands are vertical and dark-coloured, see your doctor as soon as possible. “In a fair-skinned person, these can indicate subungual melanoma, a rare form of skin cancer under the nail,” says Tran. Darker-skinned people do get bands like this normally as they age, but if you notice new stripes or a change in their thickness, it warrants further investigation for melanoma

Based on an article in Reader’s Digest byAnna-Kaisa Walker

Symptoms You Should Never Ignore – Mouth

8/20: White Stuff on Your Tongue

Don’t Worry:

An icky-looking white coating on your tongue is most likely a sign of poor oral hygiene—it’s actually a mixture of bacteria, food debris and dead skin cells trapped between the little bumps on the tongue. “The simple solution is to brush your tongue daily or use a tongue scraper,” says Dr. Charles Frank, a dentist in Windsor, Ont. Also, an overgrowth of yeast, called candidiasis or thrush, can happen when antibiotics, chemotherapy or diabetes kill off the healthy bacteria in your mouth—and can be treated with antifungal medication.

I get this on & off.. I know it’s not yeast/thrust for me . Just gotta brush off my tongue for a few days.. literally just cleared this up – had been eating a ton of sweets recently.

Do Worry:

Leukoplakia, characterized by thick white patches that can’t be scraped off, might be an early sign of oral cancer. Frank also suggests seeing your dentist if any unusual spot sticks around for more than a couple of weeks.

9/20 Metallic Taste in your Mouth.

Don’t Worry:

That rusty flavour is called dysgeusia, and it could be caused by taking lithium, certain blood pressure medications, cancer drugs or iron supplements. It’s not serious, but it can be unpleasant. If switching medications isn’t an option, over-the-counter mouthwash or gum can mask the taste.

This can happen if you have high iron & bleeding gums (see next point). I also attest to the medication thing. Different medications can result in yuck aftertaste, including metallic. I’ve had it happen with antibiotics and sleep medications – Gross, but harmless.

Do Worry:

According to Dr. Charles Frank, a mild electrical current can occur if you’ve had fillings, crowns or implants done with more than one type of metal. Called oral galvanism, it’s not dangerous—but if it doesn’t go away it could be costly, as you’ll need to have your fillings changed.Find out the signs of disease your teeth can reveal.

10/20: Bleeding Gums

Don’t Worry:

At some point in their lives, seven out of 10 Canadians will have gingivitis, which results from the buildup of plaque and tartar above the gumline. Even in mild cases it can cause occasional bleeding while brushing. Meticulous brushing—for two minutes twice a day—plus daily flossing and regular dental cleaning appointments can keep it at bay. (Make sure you’re avoiding these common flossing mistakes.)

Do Worry:

If you don’t take care of gingivitis, it turns into periodontitis, or gum disease, which can lead to tooth loss.

Based on an article in Reader’s Digest byAnna-Kaisa Walker

Symptoms You Should Never Ignore – Head

5/20: Constant Headaches

Don’t Worry:

A headache is chronic if it occurs more than 15 days a month, for a minimum of three months—but it doesn’t take that long for them to become, well, a headache. Common triggers are dehydration, sleep deprivation, vision problems, sinus congestion, poor posture while working at a desk and hangovers—all of which have straightforward solutions.

Do Worry:

If you’ve ruled out all of the above, it’s worth a call to your doctor for more investigation, especially if you find yourself taking over-the-counter pain relievers more than twice a week. Ultimately, you may not discover the cause—this is true for many people who suffer from headaches—but medication, dietary changes and certain supplements can help.Also, your health care provider should examine you for signs of stroke, cancer or brain injury, such as weakness on one side, unequal pupil sizes, and cognitive changes like confusion or memory loss.

6/30: Ringing in Your Ears

Don’t Worry:

I have this.. it’s called tinnitus and it’s mainly just annoying.

What is it? Is that high-pitched droning, buzzing or whooshing sound coming from inside your own head? Tinnitus is surprisingly common—43 per cent of Canadians have experienced it at some point. It most often lasts a few minutes, hours or days, but sometimes it lasts forever. The most common cause is hearing loss, whether temporary—from a loud noise, for example—or permanent, as with aging (three-quarters of people over 70 have hearing loss to some degree).Although it’s not a medical emergency, tinnitus can affect quality of life in the long term—Ludwig van Beethoven had it so bad in his 30s, he contemplated suicide. “It’s not a very well understood phenomenon,” says Dr. Vance Tran, a family physician in Pickering, Ont., “but we think it has something to do with how we experience transmissions from a damaged auditory nervous system as sound.”Have your primary care provider look inside your ears, as tinnitus can sometimes be caused by an obstruction, like earwax buildup. If the cause is age-related hearing loss, the good news is that it can be treated with a hearing aid.

Do Worry:

If the noise is rhythmic or pulsing, see your doctor right away. That can be a sign of narrowing in the carotid artery near your temple, which puts you at risk for stroke. Surgery may be needed to clear any blockages.

7/20: Ache in Your Ear

Don’t Worry:

As any new parent can tell you, ear infections are the bane of early childhood. But an earache in an adult warrants closer investigation, since run-of-the-mill infections are less common. In fact, the culprit may not even be in your ears at all. Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, which causes inflammation or dislocation in the jaw joint, is often called a “great impostor” for the way it can mimic other health conditions—and more than 70 per cent of people who suffer from it report ear symptoms, according to one 2019 Swedish study. If you have pain in one or both ears but don’t have a fever, discharge or other signs of infection, see a dentist and ask them to check for signs of tooth wear or any popping or clicking in your jaw. A mouth guard, Botox injections to relax the jaw muscles, or physiotherapy may help.

Do Worry:

More rarely, a complication from shingles called Ramsay Hunt syndrome can affect the facial nerve near one ear, causing painful blisters inside the ear canal, hearing loss and even facial paralysis. It’s diagnosed from a characteristic red rash on the affected side of the face, and treated with antiviral medications.

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Based on an article in Reader’s Digest byAnna-Kaisa Walker

Symptoms You Should Never Ignore – Hair

4/20: Hair Falling Out

Don’t Worry:

The average person loses 50 to 100 hairs from their scalp, per day, but with about 100,000 hairs on your head, comparatively speaking, it’s not much. However, when you suddenly notice clumps in the shower drain, it’s considered abnormal hair loss and could have a number of mostly benign causes. This includes illness, surgery, stress, a high fever, a crash diet or hormonal shifts like childbirth and menopause. Unfortunately, time is the only cute & can take 4, up to 7, month to begin to return to normal hair growth & density.

Do Worry:

Hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid gland, can cause hair to become brittle and thin as the disease slows your metabolism, interrupting your hair’s growth cycle. If left untreated, hypothyroidism can cause complications like heart disease, but it can be managed with medication.

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Based on an article in Reader’s Digest byAnna-Kaisa Walker

Symptoms You Should Never Ignore – Eyes

1/20: Twitching Eyelid

Don’t Worry:

When your eyelid starts dancing to its own beat, twitching like there’s no tomorrow, you’re probably good. This is called eyelid myokymia and is normal. It affects almost everyone at some point. The cause is not quite known but it’s believed to be a misfiring of the motor nerves that drive the muscles that open and close your eyes. This should last a few second. Common influences include too much caffeine or alcohol, and ongoing stress. So rest up and take it easy on the coffee and booze.

Do Worry:

If this twitching becomes a regular thing, esp after a week or two Contact your doctor. If other can easily notice these twitches, where they actually close your eyelid, contact your doctor. Occasionally off the cuff one offs are one thing, but a continuum of episodes, this is different This could be a sign of Bell’s palsy, a temporary form of facial paralysis that affects one in 60 people, or an even rarer neurological disorder called benign essential blepharospasm, which can impair your vision and require medication or surgery.

2/20: Red Spot in Your Eye

Don’t Worry:

Spontaneously, there’s a red spot in the white of your eye looking like a a dot of blood, should you be concerned? Fortunately the scary symptom is usually completely harmless. There are several innocuous causes for this. Firstly, a broken blood vessel aka subconjunctival hemorrhage, can happen from coughing, sneezing or pooping. Medications such as blood thinners can predispose you to having blood pool under the clear protective layer sitting over the white of your eye, and even spread all the way around causing this effect. It usually resolves on its own after about two weeks.

Do Worry:

Keep an eye out (pun intended) for other symptoms which could appear in conjunction. If it occurs on a regular basis, or if you’re having spontaneous bruising elsewhere, it could be a sign of something more serious—like a clotting disorder or diabetes. That is concerning you definitely need to address with your doctor

3/20: White Ring Around Your Cornea

Don’t Worry:

It’s freaky – the clear layer of protective tissue that covers your iris and pupil, your cornes, has a ghostly pale ring. Being white, grey or even light blue, this can be completely normal part of the aging process. This is called Corneal Arcus. As we get older, the edge between the cornea and the white of the eye becomes more porous, allowing fatty deposits from the bloodstream to leak in. Fortunately this doesn’t impair vision or require treatment.

Do Worry:

A white ring could be your first sign of high cholesterol. If you are under the age of 40, definitely contact your doctor to have them run a blood lipid profile to measure your levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and other fats.

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Here are 13 eye care tips your optometrist wants you to know.

Based on an article in Reader’s Digest byAnna-Kaisa Walker

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