Your Body's Red Light Warning Signals

Book by Shulman Neil

Introduction: Medical Tips That Can Save Your Life

Most people do not know when to see a doctor. Aches and pains, lumps and bumps--when are these potentially life-threatening? When is it crucial that you get to a doctor within the next few days, hours, or even minutes? Whether you are healthy or ill, there are important medical facts you need to know that can save your life.

Doctors are saddend and frustrated when a patient dies because he or she did not seek medical attention in time. This book has been written as a quick reference guide to use when you or your loved ones have a new pain, a new diagnosis, or a visible bodily change. The goal of this book is to save lives by getting you to a doctor before it is too late.

Whether it is blood in your urine, a stiff neck with a headache and fever, unequal pupils, or red specks in your fingernails, you need to know certain facts about these conditions immediately. The book is designed to highlight urgent warning signs and provide crucial medical tips. It is concise and easy to read, with a few paragraphs about each point.

Routine reference to this book may save your life. Keep it in an easily accessible spot in your home, and get in the habit of checking its pages whenever something unfamiliar happens with your body. Also, refer to it when a friend or relative complains of an ailment. This book is designed to give you a clear, concise statement about potentially life-threatening signs or symptoms. Whenever possible these are listed in order in the Table of Red Light Warning Signals, from head to toe, so you can find them easily.

Owning this book is almost like having an emergency room doctor on your shelf.
Tip 1:

A sudden, agonizing headache, more severe than any you have felt before, could mean you are bleeding in the brain. This event is an emergency.

Most headaches are caused by tension, stress, sinus infection, allergy, and/or fatigue. They tend to worsen as the day goes on and will go away with an over-the-counter medication or rest. But if you should ever get a sudden, severe headache that you might consider the worst headache of your life, keep in mind that this is the common initial symptom of a potential hemorrhage. The headache often comes on during physical exertion. Again, this event is a medical emergency.

In addition, if a friend or family member complains of a new severe headache and then becomes sleepy or difficult to awaken, it may also be a hemorrhage in the brain and a medical emergency.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage is a medical term for bleeding around the brain into a compartment known as the subarachnoid space. Your skull, which acts like a tight-fitting helmet that protects your brain, does not allow room for the blood that accumulates during a hemorrhage. This results in increased pressure on your brain.

If the subarachnoid hemorrhage is significant, the blood continues to accumulate in the skull, pushing the soft brain tissue aside. Because the brain has the consistency of a ripe strawberry, this action can result in serious damage.

A subarachnoid hemorrhage usually results from an aneurysm in the brain. Aneurysms (weakened areas on the walls of arteries) may be congenital (that is, you are born with the artery defect) or they may be acquired, such as after a serious injury to the head. They may also be the result of cocaine or amphetamine abuse. The symptoms of hemorrhage in the brain include a severe headache, vomiting, dizziness, seizures, blackouts, sleepiness, slurred speech, double vision, unequal pupil size, and/or mental confusion. Often only the severe headache is present, which sometimes may improve briefly, only to be followed by coma. If you experience "the worst headache of your life," it is advisable to at least contact a doctor immediately.

Early diagnosis is important because one in five people dies from this condition without medication and/or surgery (which includes preventing the bleeding, stopping the bleeding, or removing the blood clot). If a coma follows the headache, the chance of recovery is poor. Fortunately, subarachnoid and other brain hemorrhages are not common.
Tip 68:

If you think you are having a heart attack with symptoms such as chest pain, chew one regular, full-strength aspirin immediately unless you are allergic to aspirin. It could save your life. Also, get to an emergency room immediately.

It may seem ridiculous to take something as simple as an aspirin for something as serious as a heart attack, but it does help prevent damage to the heart muscle during a heart attack.

Your heart has three small but vital blood vessels on its surface. These arteries provide blood to nourish the heart muscle itself. As fatty substances such as cholesterol clog up the vessels, eventually only a small amount of blood can pass through. It is like a small pea stuck in a straw, with only a little opening around the pea.

This is a perfect setting for a blood clot to form, which can completely block the artery. It ultimately causes the heart attack, because no blood can pass through to provide oxygen and nourishment to the heart muscle. Part of your heart muscle is damaged, and you develop chest pain. Depending on the location and size of the damage to the heart, different things can happen: The heart may beat irregularly, the heart may become weak and lose its pumping strength, or the heart may even stop pumping altogether.

Aspirin (not Tylenol or other pain medications) actually "unsticks" the components of the blood known as platelets, which help form the clot. If you chew an aspirin when you initially feel chest pain, the blood clot may partially dissolve or at least may stop forming. Some blood will then be able to pass around the fatty blockage and therefore continue to deliver oxygen to the heart muscle, preventing a more serious heart attack.
Tip 141:

A darkening and thickening of the skin around the back of the neck, armpits, and groin of an adult (usually over 40) can be a sign of cancer or diabetes.

If you notice that your skin is darker than your normal skin color in places such as the back of the neck, the armpits, or the groin area, you may have a condition known as acanthosis nigricans. The skin condition itself is harmless, and it may not be associated with any disease. But it can also be a sign of a disease such as cancer of the stomach or colon. It is also found in obese people with high levels of the hormone insulin who are at risk of developing diabetes. Weight reduction may improve this condition. It is more common in dark-skinned individuals.

If you have this condition, you should see your physician for an evaluation to determine if you have any of the serious associated diseases.