七个症状不可忽视---英文版

七个症状不可忽视---英文版 Passage F Seven Symptoms Not to Ignore Many times, patients call me to say they're not feeling well. When I ask what's wrong, they often can't pinpoint a precise symptom. After we talk for a few minutes, I can usually reassure them that it's nothing to worry about. At other times, patients complain of specific symptoms that have nagged them for weeks or months but which they've ignored. How can you tell the difference between a problem that will go away on its own and one that should be attended to as soon as possible? Here are seven symptoms that you should call your doctor about. 1. Continuing Weight Loss Everyone's weight fluctuates. It can go up or down two or three pounds during the course of a day, depending on how recently you've eaten and whether your bladder is full. These small changes are insignificant. But if your face begins to look gaunt, your clothes fit more loosely, or you lose 10 pounds or more without intending to, you should look into it. 2. Persistent Headaches Everybody gets headaches now and then. But if you have an unfamiliar type of headache that's persisted for three days or longer and is associated with vomiting or visual changes, it could indicate an abnormality in or near the brain, such as a blood clot. If you have an unremitting headache on only one side of your head, near the temple or above the ear, it may be a condition called temporal arteritis. We can cure it with cortisone or steroids, but, left untreated, it can lead to blindness. The most important thing to remember: Any new or extremely painful headache should prompt you to call your doctor. 3. Chest Pain Chest pain can indicate something as simple as a gas bubble in the stomach, or it could be a heart attack. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between the two. When a nerve near the heart (called the vagus nerve) becomes irritated because of a heart attack, it can cause stomach symptoms. If the pain goes away with an antacid, it's less likely to be related to the heart. Most times, it's probably not a heart attack, but if dull, pressure-like chest pain comes on for no reason, call an ambulance and get to an emergency room. 4. Abdominal Pain All of us suffer abdominal pains occasionally, and their causes are many. In fact, there are entire medical textbooks on how to evaluate this particular type of pain. In most cases, it's something that can be easily cured. Abdominal pain that occurs before meals and is relieved by food can indicate an ulcer. Treatment is generally simple, so why suffer? 5. Bruising and Bleeding If you bump into something and get a bruise, it generally turns blue-purple over a day or two and then slowly fades to yellow over the course of another four or five days. That's normal and is nothing to be concerned about. In addition, many of us develop mysterious bruises from time to time and don't remember bumping into anything. But if you develop spontaneous recurrent bruises in places that aren't prone to being bumped, it could signify a disorder of blood clotting. It could also be because you're taking medications that predispose you to bruising, such as warfarin, which is a blood thinner, or aspirin. 6. Breathing Problems If you have a cold, sinus problem, or allergies that cause nasal congestion, you may find it difficult to breathe. A cold will generally clear up on its own in a week, and you'll be back to normal in short order. But if a sinus problem or allergies continue to distress you, call your doctor for an appointment. A simple medication will often do the trick, and you'll be smelling the roses soon. People who are out of shape certainly find strenuous activity more difficult than those who exercise regularly, so difficulty breathing on exertion can be a sign that it's time to start exercising. But it could also raise a red flag that indicates lung problems, heart problems, asthma, or even anemia. Also, if you become short of breath when you're lying down and have to prop yourself up on two or three pillows to sleep comfortably, it might signal heart failure. Call your doctor. 7. Sadness I don't know a single person who hasn't felt blue or sad from time to time. These feelings are a normal component of human emotion and deserve attention and recognition, but not necessarily medical intervention. So if you're blue because a friend moved away or someone close to you is ill, that's unfortunate but it's not a reason to call your doctor. If you feel sad or irritable most of the day for at least two weeks, however, and you take less interest in activities that once gave you pleasure, then it's time to seek help. You could be suffering from depression, which is a painful and disabling problem. Other signs of depression include crying spells for no apparent reason, unexplained aches and pains that won't go away, difficult in making decisions, an inability to concentrate, and a feeling that the future looks grim. Many people believe that persistent feelings of hopelessness are part of aging. That's not true. So by all means talk to your doctor. Fortunately, depression is treatable. Nobody should have to suffer from it, and nobody should have to live with it. The Essential Fluid Water, which has been sloshing around the Earth for billions of years, is suddenly fashionable. No longer content to quench their thirst from the nearest tap, many Americans have taken to toting their water with them, buying a record 3.2 billion gallons of the bottled variety in 1998, about three times as much as a decade ago. While there's no evidence that bottled water is any better for people than the free-from-the-fountain kind, the liquid's newfound popularity represents a healthy trend. Indeed, water is as vital to a good diet as low-fat foods, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Some 55 to 65 percent of a man's body and 50 to 60 percent of a woman's consists of water, which is necessary for the proper functioning of every organ, including the heart and brain. Without it, you can't digest food, regulate body temperature, or build new tissue. How Much You Need Most of us have heard from childhood that we need eight glasses of water each day. But this is an arbitrary figure, an average derived from studies that measure body composition and water loss. You may require somewhat more or less, depending on climate and the activities you pursue. Any liquid that has water in it helps meet your daily goal. In addition to the water, milk, fruit juice, coffee, and tea you drink, your body extracts water from the food you eat. In fact, many fruits and vegetables are more than 90 percent water. Your body also produces water as a byproduct of metabolism. So don't be concerned if you fail to drink eight glasses of water a day. A simple way to see if you're taking in sufficient fluids is to check the color of your urine. If it's pale, you're getting enough fluids; if it's dark yellow, however, you're not. Many people have also been led to believe that drinking coffee or tea will interfere with their ability to get as much water as they need. While it's true that the caffeine in coffee and tea is a diuretic, which tends to increase the output of urine, these beverages do contribute to your personal water supply. If you drink a cup of either one, you'll urinate away half of what you take in within a couple of hours; that may seem like a lot, but if you drink a glass of plain water, you'll urinate away 35 percent. The point is, you lose a significant amount of all the fluid you drink--which is why you have to keep replenishing it daily. Unfortunately, thirst isn't a good indicator of when to drink water, especially when you're exercising. During vigorous physical activity, you may lose a significant amount of your fluid reserves before you're aware that you're thirsty. Only after you have dropped 2 percent of your body weight in fluid is your thirst mechanism triggered. (If you ignore that thirst and drop 4 percent, your muscles can lose their strength and endurance.) "Plan to drink a lot of water before you start to exercise," recommends Dorothy Diehl, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at Plymouth State College, in Plymouth, New Hampshire. "Then take regular water breaks during a workout, whether you're thirsty or not." Bottled Versus Plain Do you need your water shipped in from France, or can you just turn on your kitchen tap and fill a glass? It makes little difference to your body. Bottled waters can come from wells, springs, and even public water supplies. Although the labels sometimes picture cool mountain glens, the water in the bottle may have come from a tap in a neighboring town. "Don't assume that drinking tap water will make you ill or that bottled water will help you remain healthy," says Diehl. Since the Environmental Protection Agency strengthened the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1996, people who use municipal water can drink it with assurance. Water companies adhere to mandatory standards, and the water is tested regularly. If your water is provided by a municipal water company, your supplier must tell you within 24 hours if the water has become contaminated by something that can cause you to become ill and whether it must be boiled. In addition, states compile information from individual water systems so that you can evaluate the overall quality of your local drinking water. Water companies are now required to distribute annual reports with information about where your drinking water comes from, the results of monitoring, and updates on health concerns associated with violations that occurred during the year. So here's to your health: Drink up!