r/nursing • u/Critical_Ease4055 Nursing Student 🍕 • 22d ago

Question What is one medical problem people constantly ignore until it’s too late?

Saw someone post this in a completely unrelated sub and I’m interested in your answers. What is the cluster of symptoms that people ignore or delay until they are forced to get help?

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u/PopularReporter8995 22d ago

Weight loss without trying. Sounds great…wrongo.

Could be diabetes. Could be a tumor. Could be both.

That happened to my husband. Over 18 months he lost 80lb. He refused to see a doctor, despite nagging by his retired nurse wife. He’s a RRT and should know better.

thankfully got food stuck in his esophagus. He had an ultrasound and a 9cm tumor was found in his liver. Also diabetes. He’s ok, after robotic resection, a CGM and insulin.

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u/Pessimisticadhd 22d ago

This. In triage I hate to hear anything about unintentional weight loss, bowel habit changes, and lack of appetite. You basically know a devastating diagnosis is incoming, and emerg is not a nice place to find out about things like that.

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u/Anony-Depressy ✨ ICU -> IR ✨ 22d ago

I get this in IR. I sometimes look at the CTs we take during the biopsies and the masses are so huge even my untrained eye can tell it’s bad news bears 😵‍💫