If you are hearing from friends, coworkers, neighbors or family about unexpected deaths or surprising health crises, you are not alone. The key lesson is to pay attention to unusual symptoms and seek emergent/urgent care promptly, as it may save a life.
POST-COVID ERA
In the post-COVID era, factors like environmental toxin exposure, stress, immune system infections, and changes in cellular physiology can reactivate latent viruses beyond chickenpox, which can result in shingles. There has also been an increase in chronic autoimmune conditions, cancers, POTS, Epstein-Barr, and other microbial infections.
WHAT WE ARE NOTICING IN CLIENTS
An increasing number of clients report such conditions, among others. For example, one client experienced an ocular headache, which was unusual for her. She sought medical attention, and while a CT scan with contrast revealed nothing in her head, a mammary artery aneurysm was detected in her chest. She didn’t discount or simply medicate the symptom. She sought prompt medical attention, which may have saved her life.
DON’T MISTAKE UNUSUAL SYMPTOMS
Don’t mistake unusual symptoms. Case in point: I mistook a ruptured appendix for a growing hernia in 2004 and waited a month before going to urgent care, which led to appendectomy surgery and the removal of 9.5” of poisoned colon. If I had sought medical attention a month earlier, after feeling a “twinge,” could my colon have been spared?
DON’T WAIT ON UNUSUAL SYMPTOMS
Don’t wait on unusual symptoms. Case in point: on a recent Friday, I called to make an appointment for a semi-circular floater blocking a small portion of my right eye vision. But by Sunday, I had lost 5/6 of the eye’s vision. First thing Monday morning, I was in their office. They diagnosed retinal detachment and expediently sent me to the eye center at the hospital.
The surgeon repaired three tears in my left eye, though near vision is now impaired. It was too late for my right eye as the retina had already detached more than half-way. Post-surgery, with no current vision in the right eye, it will take months to learn how much vision will return. Could an earlier visit to emergent/urgent care have improved my prognosis and vision?
EMERGENT CARE IN THE U.S.
The U.S. offers some of the best emergent/urgent care in the world. It is crucial to never disregard or discount unusual symptoms. Seek medical attention with qualified professionals to avoid medical mistakes and misdiagnoses. This approach can save vision, bodily functioning, and lives.