Getting seriously hurt is not only a painful and humbling experience, it can also turn into a serious liability if you don’t take care of the issue soon enough. Some injuries might seem fairly benign at first – for example, you may fall and hit your head, but soon get up thinking you’re fine, only to realize that you may have a concussion. This and similar injuries cannot be taken lightly, and if anything, they are life-threatening if you do not seek immediate care. Or, at the very least, may affect your quality of life considerably moving forward. The following are a few of the injuries you should be on the lookout for, and remain on guard if it happens to you.
1. Terrible Headache
A painful headache that seems to appear out of the blue, without the attendant sinus infection or cold, may be quite serious. If your usual dosage of aspirin or any other painkiller does not work, then you should go to a doctor immediately. You may be suffering from an undiagnosed brain tumor, or you may be having a brain hemorrhage. A headache is a classic sign of someone suffering from a brain aneurysm, so it makes sense to go to the emergency room straight away, and not to wait.
2. Lower Back Pain or Shoulder Pain
If you recently got injured on the job, or perhaps got into a car accident, but felt fine afterwards, be on guard if you start experiencing back pain, or pain between your shoulder blades. These are some of the things that you may experience a few days after an accident, and they can point to serious injury. Go to your doctor, and ask for them to take a look and see if anything happened that could lead to the problem. Also, make sure to hold onto any bills or documentation that you received from the medical professional and hand them over to your car insurance company and lawyer to ensure that they take into account any prospective bills.
While you wait for lawyers to make an accurate assessment, you should know that the attendant medical bills will add up – you can go to their site for more information, but this is definitely an incident you do not want to let slide. It could mean that you may have torn a muscle, gotten a slipped disc or two, or incurred some other form of damage that would leave you incapacitated for some time.
3. Severe Abdominal Pain
This could mean that you may need to take your appendix if you haven’t done so already. Or, perhaps you are experiencing pain associated with the gallbladder, or pancreas. All of which are things you do not want to ignore, so be sure to see your doctor right away – delaying may mean risking a rupture of some sort.
4. Burning Sensations in Your Feet or Legs
This is another big one, which people tend to ignore for a bit too long. A burning sensation in your feet or legs could lead to undiagnosed diabetes, or some other kind of peripheral neuropathy that can point to another serious condition. It can indicate some kind of nerve damage, which will become exceedingly painful the longer you let it slide. Nerves are such a vital part of most of the body’s functions, and you ignore any pain associated with it at your own peril.
5. Chest or Arm Pain
If you often feel as though something heavy is sitting upon your chest, and that you’re in tremendous pain, that could often be an indication of a heart condition. The onset of heart disease can be felt in your chest, jaw, arm, or even your throat, accompanied by an overwhelming nausea. Also, pain in your left arm is a classic sign that you may be having a heart attack. So, definitely don’t wait, and call your medical professional right away.
6. Pain in the Calves
Pain in any one of your calves can mean that you may have a blood clot. Left for too long and this can be incredibly dangerous. The clot will not only impede your ability to walk, but it can create other problems leading to brain damage, or death. Given the clear danger inherent to this, it makes sense to see the doctor as soon as possible to help advise.
It’s all too easy to ignore some pain, or what feels to you as only the mildest of discomforts, in the hopes that everything is fine. However, ducking in a corner and pretending that the sky isn’t falling isn’t a helpful tactic. If you experience any of these issues, then be sure to go to the ER, or schedule an appointment with your doctor immediately.
