“How To Deal With Silent Health Issues” is a collaborative post and includes affiliate links. Please see the disclosure page for more information. Disclaimer – always verify medical information with your doctor or a professional and follow all laws for your location.
Silent health issues can be a big problem because detecting them is not easy. It’s not as simple as noticing symptoms and heading to the doctor to get it checked out. Instead, these conditions lie in wait, lulling you into a false sense of security because you’re completely unaware that anything is wrong. It is important to know how you can deal with them.
Keep reading to find out more about how to deal with silent health issues.
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Get A Regular Check-Up
The problem with silent health issues is that you don’t know they are there because there are no outward obvious symptoms. It’s important that you are getting regular checkups with your doctor to make sure that everything is okay. I’ve had trouble with iron deficiency off and on throughout my life and the main way this was discovered was from regular checkups. My friend recently discovered he has colon cancer after his routine colonoscopy. Fortunately, it hadn’t spread throughout his body so his survival rate after treatment is extremely good. What if he had skipped this checkup?
Regular checkups usually is the only way that anyone will be able to detect that there is anything not quite right, and then there can be more extensive testing if needed. You should be going for a check-up with your doctor every six months or so unless you need to visit them for any other reason, or they have requested that you get tested more frequently. As long as you are attending these check-up sessions, you hopefully will be able to deal with any silent issues that might crop up. Remember that just because you don’t know it’s there, doesn’t mean that it isn’t causing you any harm. Regular check-ups can help with this.
Know The Risks
It is worth understanding some of the health issues that can be silent. You might want to research how prevalent they are in your family history and the likelihood that you will develop symptoms. According to BreastCancer.org,
“Take family history, for example. The absolute risk of breast cancer is much higher for women who have inherited mutations in the genes known as BRCA1 or BRCA2. For women with a BRCA1 mutation, the risk of developing breast cancer by age 80 is 72%. This means that out of every 100 women who have this mutation, about 72 of them can expect to develop breast cancer should they live to age 80. For women with a BRCA2 mutation, the risk is a bit lower, at 69%.”
Other silent health issues could be undiagnosed fibromyalgia, diabetes, celiac, chlamydia, and more. While not deadly chlamydia is also known as a silent health issue. This is particularly true in women however if untreated, chlamydia can cause infertility. This is why it’s so important to get tested regularly and ensure that you are getting the right treatment from an online source or a pharmacy. Remember, a disease like this is highly treatable if caught early. Speak with you health professional about these silent health issues and create a plan with your doctor about how to try to keep this from affecting your health.
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Don’t Be Afraid To Ask Questions
Never be afraid to ask any kind of question that relates to your health. It is your body, and you have every right to know exactly what is going on with it. Sometimes, you just have a feeling that something isn’t quite right, and you should talk to your doctor about this and get some answers. Before going in for your appointment make sure to write out all the symptoms or unsettling things you have felt lately. And also write out any questions that you have ahead of time. Be sure to leave space for your answers to make sure you didn’t forget to ask any of these questions. If something does come up that you don’t understand it, make sure that you are asking your doctor about it so that they can explain it to you. Do this as many times as it takes until you fully understand because you need to be aware of what is happening with your health as much as possible. Most doctors will want to help inform you the best possible without causing undo stress and may even give you informational printed material to help you better understand what you are facing. If you do have to have surgery at a later date, check out this preoperation surgery question list.
Listen To Your Body
Yep, it’s possible to have a health issue and see no signs. For instance, you might find that you have a brain tumor. A condition like this can go undetected for years if not decades. But, it may still be causing changes such as differences in your mood to alterations to your senses. If you have a tumor, you could struggle to hear effectively and you might develop symptoms similar to that of tinnitus. This is why if you do notice changes to your hearing, you should always get a checkup with an audiologist.
You need to watch out for differences in the way that you are feeling or the way your body is working. While most silent health issues won’t show any signs, sometimes a small change in something that you wouldn’t think is related could be all you need. As such, you should always be listening to your body. Write down anything that is out of the ordinary no matter how small it seems, and talk with a medical professional about it.
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Talk To People You Know
One of the brilliant things about people is that we are very social animals. You can talk to your friends and family members about any concerns or worries that you may have about silent health issues. It’s worth noting that a lot of ‘silent’ issues do have symptoms but they are often masked. If someone has been through it before, they will be able to recognize a symptom that you are experiencing. That’s why it’s a smart choice not to keep things like this to yourself.
Silent health issues can seek up on you. Be sure to keep your regular checkups and diagnostic tests. Also for your medical appointments bring a list of questions and potential symptoms that seem out of the ordinary to talk with your doctor about. And don’t forget if you have questions to ask your medical professional to help you better understand.
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