Diagnosing Your Health Symptoms For Dummies E-Book

Knut Schroeder

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 742

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Written by an experienced family doctor and packed with practical and sound advice, Diagnosing Your Health Symptoms For Dummies is a reference for everyone who wants to find out when they do and don't need to worry about their health. It will cover over 100 common, important, potentially serious and often worrying symptoms and emergencies, such as headaches, chest pain, dizziness, fever, bleeding, tiredness or stress. This reassuring guide will also include guidance on how to perform basic physical assessments, as well as a run through of key first aid techniques.  Perfect for both allaying fears and encouraging those with serious symptoms to seek professional advice, this guide will be an essential family health bible.

Diagnosing Your Health Symptoms FD includes:

Part I: Spotting and Assessing Illness: The Basics

Chapter 1: Thinking about Medicine

Chapter 2: Dealing with Medical Problems

Chapter 3: Conducting a Symptom Check

Chapter 4: Looking for Out For Signs of Illness

Part II: Looking at Emergencies and ‘All-Over' Symptoms

Chapter 5: Coping with Medical Emergencies

Chapter 6: Approaching Non-Specific Symptoms

Chapter 7: Symptoms Affecting the Wider Body

Part III: From top to toe: looking at specific areas of the body

Chapter 8: Look at Me! Sussing Out Skin Problems

Chapter 9: Trouble at the Top: Symptoms Around the Head and Problems with the Senses

Chapter 10: Close to Your Heart: Exploring Chest Problems

Chapter 11: Untangling Tummy and Bowel Problems

Chapter 12: Getting Lower: Urinary and Other Disturbances ‘Down There'

Chapter 13: Bones and Groans

Part IV: Dealing with health problems in people close to you

Chapter 14: Spotting Illness in Your Baby

Chapter 15: Illness in Your Toddler or Pre-School Child

Chapter 16: Problems in Your School-Age Kids

Chapter 17: Dealing with Adolescent Problems

Chapter 18: Understanding Women's Troubles

Chapter 19: Looking at Some Specific Men's Issues

Chapter 20: Dealing with Common Later Life Problems

Part V: Spotting mental health problems

Chapter 21: Tackling Anxiety, Depression and Stress

Chapter 22: Approaching Unusual Thoughts and Behaviour

Chapter 23: Addressing Alcohol and Drug Problems

Part VI: The part of tens  

Chapter 24: Ten First Aid Essentials: Helping Yourself and Others

Chapter 25: Ten Reliable Health Websites

Chapter 26: Ten Medical Tests you May Need

Glossary: 100 Useful Medical Terms

Leseprobe

Diagnosing Your Health Symptoms For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You Won’t Find in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organised

Part I: Spotting and Assessing Illness: The Basics

Part II: Looking at Emergencies and ‘All-Over’ Symptoms

Part III: Going From Top to Toe: Looking at Specific Areas of the Body

Part IV: Dealing With Health Problems in Specific Groups

Part V: Approaching Mental Health Problems and Addictive Behaviour

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Spotting and Assessing Illness: The Basics

Chapter 1: Understanding Your Health Problems

Thinking Like a Medic: You Can Do It!

Reacting to medical problems sensibly

Acquiring basic skills in self-diagnosis

Discovering How Your Body Works

Getting around with cells

Knocking about with the bare bones

Pumping blood around your body

Filling up on oxygen

Travelling down to your intestines

Checking in with your brain and nerves

Accepting that it may be your hormones!

Checking out your plumbing

Chapter 2: Conducting a Symptom Check

Getting the Story Clear

Asking yourself the right questions

Deciding what you think is wrong

Establishing the Timing of Your Health Problem

Mapping Out Your Problem

Identifying and describing your health problem

Locating your symptoms

Conveying the severity of your symptoms

Assessing the impact on your life

Noting things that make a difference

Listing other signs

Looking for Clues in Your Medical Background

Considering past health problems

Listing current health problems

Finding out about medication

Taking a Look at Other Issues

Running in the family: Inheriting illnesses

Sussing out the impact of your symptom on your quality of life

Taking account of alcohol and other drugs

Smoking

Increasing health risks through poor diet and lack of exercise

Chapter 3: Looking Out for Signs of Illness

Spotting Abnormalities: This Doesn’t Look Right

Looking for trouble

Searching for trouble in children

Inspecting yourself

Knowing Your Body Through Touch

Testing for tenderness

Checking your pulse

Assessing lumps

Checking Function: In-out, in-out – Shake It All About!

Using Medical Gadgets and Other Tests

Using a thermometer to check for fever

Home monitoring in chronic disease

Chapter 4: Managing Your Health Problems

Self-Managing Your Health Problem

Making use of time as a healer

Using RICE for an injury

Taking things easy

Employing home remedies

Taking over-the-counter medicines – sensibly

Accessing and Using Health Services Appropriately

Finding and using NHS services

Getting help from your pharmacy

Visiting minor injuries units

Strolling into walk-in centres

Making best use of your GP surgery

Introducing Your Wider Primary Healthcare Team

Getting out and about with the community team

Going to A&E

Calling ‘999’ in an emergency

Part II: Looking at Emergencies and ‘All-Over’ Symptoms

Chapter 5: Coping With Medical Emergencies

Identifying Trouble With Vital Organs

Managing shock

Spotting a stroke

Recognising a heart attack

Attacking asthma and other serious chest problems

Dealing With Accidents

Handling head injuries

Recognising fractures

Experiencing eye injuries

Getting the Low-down on Other Emergencies

Suffering from allergies and anaphylaxis

Soothing stings and bites

Evaluating burns and scalds

Alleviating heat exhaustion

Chapter 6: Approaching Non-Specific Symptoms

Looking at Ill-Defined Symptoms

Experiencing constant tiredness

Feeling faint

Delving into Functional Problems

Having difficulties sleeping

Feeling that everything is ‘spinning around’

Asking: Can This Be Cancer?

Spotting general signs of cancer

Recognising different kinds of cancer

Chapter 7: Covering Symptoms that Affect Your Wider Body

Deciding Whether Size Matters: Weight

Being overweight

Fading away: Weight and appetite loss

Checking Out Pain and ‘Funny’ Sensations

Approaching pain

Pinpointing pins and needles and other ‘odd’ sensations

Getting Hotter: Fever

Developing a fever

Getting a fever from travelling abroad

Covering the Whole: Symptoms that Affect the Whole Body

Spotting problems with your medication

Approaching HIV and AIDS

Part III: Going From Top to Toe: Looking at Specific Areas of the Body

Chapter 8: Sussing Out Skin Problems

Checking Out Rampant Rashes

Rashes that itch

Rashes that sting or burn

Rashes that are simply there

Identifying Skin Changes: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Moles

Lumps and swellings

Skin ulcers

Skin infections and parasites

Chapter 9: Trouble at the Top: Head Symptoms and Problems with the Senses

Starting at the Top

Heading for a headache

Facing up to facial pain

Hearing About Ear Troubles

Tackling ear symptoms

Grappling with sudden hearing loss

Checking Out Nose, Mouth and Throat Concerns

Developing a nose for trouble

Paying lip service to mouth problems

Becoming sore about your throat

Handling a hoarse voice

Having difficulty swallowing

Looking at Acute Eye Problems

Discovering an acute red or painful eye

Experiencing sudden loss of vision

Chapter 10: Exploring Chest Problems

Checking Out Chest Concerns

Heart-rending matters: Chest pain and tightness

Beat it! Palpitations and the racing heart

What goes up must come down: Heartburn and reflux

Taking Your Breath Away: Breathing Problems

Contemplating coughing

Feeling short of breath

Wheezing and noisy breathing: Asthma

Chapter 11: Untangling Tummy and Bowel Problems

Going Out and Staying In: Problems With the Digestive Tract

Taking the lid off nausea and vomiting

Diarrhoea in a nutshell

Pulling the plug on constipation

Getting a Feel for Stomach Ache and Other Problems

Exploring abdominal pain

Attacking abdominal swelling

Battling with the Back Passage

Turning your back on anal problems

Bleeding from the back passage

Chapter 12: Getting Lower: Urinary and Other Disturbances ‘Down There’

Going With the (Urinary) Flow

Experiencing urinary symptoms

Leaking urine

Suffering from frequent urination

Finding blood in your urine

Assessing Groin Problems

Experiencing groin pain

Addressing groin swelling

Chapter 13: Groaning Bones and Moaning Muscles

Having a Word About Bone, Muscle and Joint Problems

Hot tips for checking out a swollen joint

Aching muscles

Problems With Your Spine: Stripped to the Bone

Struggling with back pain

Dealing with a pain in the neck

Checking Out Arms, Shoulders and Hands

Wrestling with shoulder and arm pain

Tackling elbow problems

Wising up to hand and wrist pain

Running Through Lower Limb Problems

Getting hip to hip conditions

Suffering with painful and/or swollen legs

Being brought to your knees?

Getting back on your feet

Part IV: Dealing with Health Problems in Specific Groups

Chapter 14: Spotting Illness in Your Newborn, Infant or Toddler

Dealing with Common Problems in Newborn Babies and Toddlers

Looking at (and after!) your child’s skin

Vomiting and bringing up food

Checking for signs of dehydration

Runny stools in babies

Assessing Your Unhappy or Sick Young Child

Coping with your crying child

Dealing with your feverish child and spotting serious illness

Recognising meningococcal disease

Chapter 15: Assessing Illness in Your Pre-School Child

Assessing General Health Problems

Dealing with faints and fits

Understanding drowsiness and confusion

Spotting the spots

Diagnosing Problems Around Your Child’s Head

Heading off head injuries in children

Eyeing up eye and vision problems

Hearing about ear and hearing problems

Looking at Coughing and Breathing Problems

Delving into Problems ‘Down Below’

Coping with constipation

Tackling genital problems in boys

Dealing with genital problems in girls

Chapter 16: Identifying Health Problems in Your School-Age Children

Moving Up to Common Head and Limb Problems

Heading off headaches

Handling hip problems in children

Addressing knee problems in children

Looking at Tummy and Urinary Troubles

Attacking abdominal pain

Coping with urinary problems and bed-wetting

Looking at Behavioural Problems

Meeting common behavioural problems

Dealing with hyperactivity

Understanding autism

Perusing General Health Issues

Overcoming obesity

Removing the worry about cancer

Chapter 17: Dealing With Teenage Health Troubles

Performing Your Own ‘Teenage Health Check’

Dealing With Acne

Recognising More Serious Mental and Physical Health Problems

Understanding eating disorders and weight problems

Diagnosing depression and self-harm

Chapter 18: Understanding Women’s Troubles

Bleeding Nightmares: Menstrual Problems

Keeping the floods at bay: Heavy periods

Managing painful periods

Discovering more about absent periods

Coping with irregular vaginal bleeding

Talking Sex

Experiencing pain during or after sex

Losing interest in sex

Dealing with vaginal discharge

Looking at Women’s Common Concerns

Preparing for pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)

Keeping abreast of breast problems

Tackling lower abdominal pain

Managing menopausal problems

Checking Out Fertility and Pregnancy Concerns

Finding out about fertility problems

Handling pregnancy problems

Chapter 19: Looking at Men’s Issues

Looking Under the Bonnet: Problems With the Family Jewels

Solving problems with your penis

Coping with scrotal and testicular problems

Checking Out the Engine: Sexual Problems

Tackling problems with erections

Dealing with premature ejaculation

Losing interest in sex

Spotting sexually transmitted infections

Identifying obstacles to having children

Chapter 20: Dealing with Health Problems in Later Life

Considering General Health Concerns in Older Age

Conducting a later-life MOT check

Preventing disease: Spotting early signs

Stumbling over: Falls

Allaying Nerve and Mind Concerns

Remembering memory problems and dementia (including Alzheimer’s)

Clearing the air regarding acute confusion

Tremor and suspected Parkinson’s disease

Watching the Senses

Common eye problems in later life

(Not) hearing trouble

Part V: Approaching Mental Health Problems and Addictive Behaviour

Chapter 21: Tackling Depression, Stress and Anxiety

Spotting Depression

Identifying symptoms of depression

Looking at self-harming behaviour

Feeling on Edge: Stress,Anxiety and Panic

Identifying stress

Understanding anxiety

Grappling with phobias

Handling panic attacks

Chapter 22: Considering Unusual Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviour

Feeling ‘Different’

Dealing with unusual feelings and thoughts

Sussing out schizophrenia

Coping With Boundless Energy and Depression: Mania and Bipolar Disorder

Looking at Unusual Behaviour

Experiencing obsessions and compulsive behaviour

Suspecting autism and Asperger syndrome

Chapter 23: Addressing Addictive Behaviour and Substance Misuse

Spotting Symptoms and Signs of Alcohol Misuse

Hitting the bottle: Alcohol misuse

Understanding alcohol-related illness

Beating the bottle: Tackling your problem

Identifying Drug Problems

Spotting substance misuse

Identifying drug-related problems

Dealing with drug problems

Tackling Other Addictive Behaviours

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 24: Ten (okay, Nine) Things to Know About First Aid

Stocking Up With Essential Equipment

Brushing Up on Your First Aid Skills

Staying Safe

Assessing an Emergency

Giving Life Support to an Unconscious Casualty

Placing Someone in the Recovery Position

Providing Simple First Aid for Bleeding

Knowing What Not to Do When Giving First Aid

Keeping Calm and Providing Comfort

Chapter 25: Ten Reliable Websites and Helplines

NHS Websites and Helplines

NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries – Information for Patients

Patient UK

Healthtalk Online and YouthHealthTalk

The Royal College of General Practitioners

Patients Association

NetDoctor

The Health Protection Agency

Sixpartswater

Cancer Research UK

Chapter 26: Ten Medical Tests You May Need

Testing Your Blood

Getting to the Bare Bones With X-rays

Testing Your Urine With a Sample

Tunnelling With CT and MRI Scans

Peering Inside With Ultrasound

Looking at Bowels With a Barium Enema

Approaching the Heart of the Matter With an Electrocardiogram

Viewing the Engine Room With an Echocardiogram

Delving Deep With Endoscopes

Feeling Itchy With Allergy Testing

Diagnosing Your Health Symptoms For Dummies®

by Dr Knut Schroeder MD MSc PhD MRCP FRCGP CertMedEd

Diagnosing Your Health Symptoms For Dummies®

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, LtdThe AtriumSouthern GateChichesterWest SussexPO19 8SQEngland

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About the Author

Dr Knut Schroeder is a practising General Practitioner in Bristol, Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Bristol, a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a GP trainer. His main interests (as far as work is concerned) include medical education and clinical diagnosis, and to these ends he has co-developed and taught courses on clinical diagnosis and evidence-based medicine to undergraduate students and postgraduate medical doctors.

Knut has written two previous books – Top Tips for GPs - A Beginner’s Guide to General Practice and the best-selling The 10-Minute Clinical Assessment – and is guest author on the third edition of the Oxford Handbook of General Practice. He co-wrote two chapters for the Oxford Textbook of Primary Medical Care and had articles and research papers published in major peer-reviewed international medical journals, including the British Medical Journal, The British Journal of General Practice, Family Practice and Archives of Internal Medicine. Knut’s passion is spending time with his wife and their two young boys and being outdoors running or cycling.

Author's Acknowledgments

I owe much gratitude to a number of people who stimulated and encouraged me to write this book – in particular Mary Banks, Rosie Gilmour and Stewart Redpath, who helped so much with ‘sowing the seeds’. Various people commented on earlier versions of the manuscript, and I’m very grateful to the staff and colleagues at the Stokes Medical Centre in Bristol for their inspiration, advice and constructive criticism, with special thanks to Tracey Frost, Sharlene Hodson, Lou Simeone, Wendie Smith and Mandy Stewart.

A big thank you also to Monisha Choudhury, James Dron, Clive Haddrell (from First Response) and Hauke Jörgensen who commented on parts of the book, came up with some great ideas and made a number of excellent suggestions! I would also like to thank the wonderful editorial and production team at Wiley – in particular Nicole Hermitage and Steve Edwards – along with the copy editor, Andy Finch, the technical reviewer, Dr Rodger Charlton, and the proofreader, Dawn Bates, for all their kind support, gentle advice, patience, inspiration, enthusiasm and hard work throughout.

Finally, I thank my wife Sharmila and my fantastic sons, Kiran and Rohan, for being so supportive and tolerant throughout.

Dedication

Firstly, this book is dedicated to all the patients who trust their GPs with their worries and health concerns, particularly those whom I had the honour to know quite closely over the years and who’ve inspired me to write this book. I also dedicate it to all the caring, hardworking and enthusiastic nurses, doctors and other people working in the NHS – particularly my colleagues and the staff at The Stokes Medical Centre, who work so tirelessly at the ‘frontline’ (and behind the scenes!) towards better patient care.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Commissioning, Editorial, and Media Development

Development Editor: Steve Edwards

Commissioning Editor: Nicole Hermitage

Assistant Editor: Ben Kemble

Copy Editor: Andy Finch

Technical Editor: Dr Rodger Charlton

Proofreader: Dawn Bates

Production Manager: Daniel Mersey

Cover Photos: © Jeffrey Coolidge

Cartoons: Ed McLachlan

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford

Layout and Graphics: Ashley Chamberlain

Proofreader: Melissa Cossell

Indexer: Ty Koontz

Brand Reviewer: Carrie Burchfield

Introduction

Everybody develops new health problems sometimes. Often, these problems are familiar and not especially worrying. When you wake up with a slightly sore throat or get a mild headache after a long, busy day, for example, the chances are that you’ve already had this kind of thing before and you know instinctively what to do about it. You probably wait for a few days to see what happens, and in the meantime you might take some painkillers to help ease your symptoms.

But what if your sore throat doesn’t settle? What if your headache gets worse rather than better? And what if you develop other additional symptoms such as vomiting or a fever? At some stage, you’re likely to start worrying about your symptoms and start thinking what to do next, and whether you should seek medical advice.

Finding answers to these types of questions can be difficult. Your nan may have given you answers and advice on home remedies in the past, and yes, one of your friends might have spoken about a particular ‘catch-all cure’ for headaches. But then you remember that a distant relative of yours became seriously ill once because he ignored his health symptoms for too long, and so you begin to wonder whether it’s safe to ignore your own symptoms. That’s where this book comes in.

About This Book

This book tries to answer these types of questions. Think of it as an experienced friend, whom you can rely on when you’re dealing with a medical symptom and just don’t know what to do about it. This book (like a well-trusted and experienced granny) does the following:

Explains in plain language what your symptom may mean, and what a sensible course of action may be.

Gives you straight-talking information and advice before you call the doctor or go on the Internet to look up health information.

Makes clear to you when you’re safe to wait and see what happens – and when you’re better off seeking professional, medical advice.

Points you in the right direction of where to look or go next, because no book or friend can possibly give you the answers to every question about your health.

As the last point implies, you need to be aware of any book’s limitations as regards dealing with health symptoms, which are often straightforward but can sometimes be difficult to interpret. I do all I can to enable you to ‘read’ your symptoms, but if in doubt, always seek medical help and advice.

I based my decisions on what to include in this book largely on my own experience as a General Practitioner, and so I cover the topics that many patients tell me are important to them. The information and advice I give about symptoms and what to do about them is wherever possible based on good research evidence and current accepted medical guidelines in the UK.

I designed the book to be a health reference that you can dip in and out of as you like without the need to read from cover to cover, but if you want to read it all, to discover more about health symptoms and what they may mean, jump right in here!

Conventions Used in This Book

I use a few conventions in this book to help you navigate the text:

Italics highlight new words – particularly medical terms. Usually I give you lay terms in plain English, but mention and explain medical terms as well, so you can look these words up in medical dictionaries or on the Internet if you want to. This approach may also help you to better understand any medical language that you hear health professionals using.

Boldfaced font highlights the key concepts in a list, or the action part of a numbered list.

Monofont is used for website addresses.

For general examples, I use the male gender in odd-numbered chapters and female in even-numbered chapters.

Scattered throughout the book are shaded areas called sidebars. In these sidebars you can find information that’s interesting but not essential – you can skip them if you want and still understand everything else.

What You Won’t Find in This Book

This book is neither a medical textbook, nor a reference about every health problem that exists. Also, I don’t provide detailed information about medication and other treatments, because they depend in many cases on the final diagnosis – which you always need to leave to a health professional if you’re in any doubt.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, I make the following assumptions about you:

You want to enjoy your life to the full and stay healthy.

You don’t know the meaning of certain health symptoms and medical terms and although you don’t want to become a medical expert, you do want to have the information on hand to help you deal with any health problems that you and your family may encounter.

You don’t want to waste your GP’s or other health professionals’ time unnecessarily, but you want to know under what circumstances you really need to take action about your health.

You haven’t had medical training in managing the types of symptoms that I cover in this book, but you want to be able to tackle minor health problems yourself and feel that you have the confidence to do so.

How This Book Is Organised

I divide this book into six parts to help you find the information and advice you need about your health problems. A photo section in the middle shows you what certain conditions can look like.

Part I: Spotting and Assessing Illness: The Basics

Part I gives an introduction to the best ways to approach health symptoms. It guides you through sensible questions you can ask yourself when faced with a medical problem, ways to check your body for any signs of illness and where to find appropriate medical help.

Part II: Looking at Emergencies and ‘All-Over’ Symptoms

This part provides the essentials about assessing and managing common emergencies and more on general health symptoms.

Part III: Going From Top to Toe: Looking at Specific Areas of the Body

Part III devotes individual chapters to various parts of the human body, looking at health symptoms that affect particular areas.

Part IV: Dealing With Health Problems in Specific Groups

Part IV takes a different approach and looks at common and important health problems in different age groups – babies, children, teenagers and older people – as well as problems specific to women and men, and those more common in later life.

Part V: Approaching Mental Health Problems and Addictive Behaviour

Here you find out how to spot and deal with symptoms surrounding your mental health, such as stress, anxiety or depression. This part also looks at unusual thoughts and behaviour as well as alcohol and drug problems.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

No For Dummies book is complete without a Part of Tens. Here I present some key suggestions – the stuff you most need to know, but perhaps least want to know. You get an introduction to providing first aid and basic life support and find out about some common medical tests in case you ever need them. This part also gives you details of ten reliable websites you can trust, pointing you in the right direction when you want to look up medical information on the Internet.

Icons Used in This Book

Every For Dummies book contains a selection of icons to highlight information that may be of particular interest to you, that make important points you don’t want to miss or even indicate what you can safely miss when you’re short of time.

Here’s an explanation of each icon:

Getting scared or even panicky when you’re faced with certain medical symptoms is all too easy. This icon tells you when a health problem is unlikely to be serious and highlights information that I hope reassures you.

This icon acts as a warning. It draws your attention to issues and symptoms that suggest a health problem may be due to a serious underlying cause. This situation may not always be the case, but if you see this icon you need to be alert and seek medical advice if you’re unsure of what to do.

When you see this icon, you need to act quickly – for example, consult a doctor or even call for an ambulance in the case of a true emergency.

Many health symptoms and illnesses have myths attached to them – through word of mouth or unfortunate reports in the media, or even just common fears about a particular condition. This icon dispels one or more myths around certain health symptoms or their management.

This icon means that the information is essential and worth bearing in mind.

When you see this icon, the text next to it contains advice that may be particularly useful to you, or save you time and effort.

This icon gives you some deeper background that you can skip if you prefer, although the information may increase your knowledge about a particular topic.

Where to Go from Here

I’ve written this book so you can approach each chapter individually without having to read from cover to cover. The Table of Contents can help you to jump straight into any chapter or section that you think may be relevant, and the Index allows you to locate any particular symptoms or illnesses.

But if you want to get a good basic knowledge of how to assess and manage health problems, you may enjoy reading the whole book from start to finish. The choice is yours! Where information is relevant to more than one topic, I provide cross-references to other chapters.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy reading this book and that you gain increased confidence to deal with your health symptoms. I hope that it gives you plenty of reassurance and puts your mind at rest when you’re faced with a minor medical problem. After all, the vast majority of health complaints are minor and nothing to worry about in the long term.

I also hope that this book kick-starts you into action if you ever have a symptom that indicates a potentially serious health problem . . . which does at times happen – though rarely.

Part I

Spotting and Assessing Illness: The Basics

In this part . . .

Dealing with medical problems doesn’t come naturally to many people and can be quite scary if you’re not used to it. The good news is that things can be different, and armed with a bit of basic knowledge you can identify and assess many illnesses yourself.

Part I is all about basic strategies for approaching and managing almost any health problem sensibly. This part gives you an overview and insight into how your body works, and you can find guidance on where to get further help and information when you need it as well as advice on how to access the right health services for you.

Chapter 1

Understanding Your Health Problems

In This Chapter

Recognising and approaching health problems in yourself

Discovering more about your body

Health problems are part of life. The fact is that everyone gets ill sometimes – though hopefully not too often – and when you develop a medical symptom you need to decide what to do about it. For example, you may choose to see your pharmacist, consult your doctor, go to the nearest Accident & Emergency (A&E) department – or, in the worst case, phone for an ambulance. You may even choose to do nothing at all.

So that you stay healthy and get the best available health advice and treatment when you fall ill, you need to be able to make sensible decisions about your health. Doing so can be tricky and occasionally a bit scary. Not surprisingly, you can feel out of your depth all too easily. Most people successfully make decisions about their healthcare just by using common sense, but instances do occur when you’re not quite sure what to do or your health problems develop gradually and you start to think about getting medical help.

These situations are where Diagnosing Your Health Symptoms For Dummies can help. In the same way that you don’t have to be a professional mechanic or engineer to identify and deal with simple problems relating to your car or dishwasher, you don’t have to be a doctor to be able to recognise common or potentially serious health problems or to have the confidence to decide what to do about them. You do have to be a health professional, though, to deal with and treat a great many conditions, and so knowing when you can treat an illness yourself and when to seek medical advice is an essential skill.

In this chapter I introduce you to ways in which you can approach your health symptoms sensibly (I cover some useful tips, tricks, tools and strategies in more detail in Chapters 2 to 4). I provide a brief overview of your body’s anatomy and how certain parts of it work, so you can more easily understand the health problems that I cover elsewhere in this book.

Thinking Like a Medic: You Can Do It!

Medical problems come in all shapes and sizes. Some are easy to recognise, simple or harmless, whereas others may not be so obvious, are complex, or even dangerous. Telling the difference between them can be quite tricky, and making a formal medical diagnosis is best left to the professionals.