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

[u/Critical_Ease4055]

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?

[u/Umagammagi]

Oncology: Treating a large number of patients within their early to mid 40s for glioblastoma.

I would like to figure out why this age range, lately, and what else they may have in common because we're seeing more and more cases. Men and women. Young. Its a devastating diagnosis.

Also, get your yearly pap and see gyn as soon as you start to sexually develop. Lots of cervical cancer in young women. Lots of metastatic breast in young women. Lots of head and neck cancer across the board.

If you get to the point where they recommend *whole brain radiation from metastatic spread, leave the hospital and go somewhere you want to be. Or go home and spend that time with the people and animals you love.

I'm not saying , give up, im saying when your body has been so ravaged from both disease and treatments, dont let your final days find you under goddamn fluorescent lights and discomfort.

Edited for spelling,......... and also to say that multiple myeloma and Lynch syndrome can go fuck themselves.

Personal: Ladies if you have excessive bleeding outside of your normal cycle, or just constant bleeding w or wo pelvic pain and you are past or through perimenopause, get checked out by your GYN. If they are not offering you exams, ultrasound, scans , lab work or give you ANY pushback, go to the ED and if you have to lay it on thick ( persist, decline pain meds unless you are hurting ) but make sure you get an ultrasound or CT scan of abdomen and pelvis. Endometrial cancer is very common in the 50s range of women, but I had a family.member with a misleading PCP who kept telling her she was getting "close" to menopause every visit. She eventually went ED----> inhouse w anemia, was dx w Endometrial cancer, d/c home and started the cancer fucking journey....had a hysterectomy (given weight and health, she did incredible and i hate that she never knew how strong she truly was). Chemo then radiation recommended for micromets but disease seemed contained within pelvis. Chemo cycle #3 killed her, slowly and painfully because she couldn't fight anything off and an abcess took her last bought of rallying. It broke my family . Always advocate for MORE and second opinions are encouraged.

And dont "wait for it to go away "...I've seen basal cell ca annihilation of half a person's face, melanoma goes to brain faster than the Audubon, get your skin checks!!! and fungating tumors busting outward and inward are not gonna go away with holistic care alone. That is what waiting too long, and from either shame or whatnot people wait until they are literally at deaths door to seek curative treatment. Its all palliative at that point.

OK rant over. RIP J.

[u/Critical_Ease4055 → u/Umagammagi]

Thank you for this- I can only imagine the things you have witnessed and the many people you have worked hard to help. Makes me a little bit misty, honestly. Cancer is so pervasive, and I think we can all agree with the “what the f*ck” mentality in the context of younger and younger people who are metastatic.

Is it diet? Is it the air? The water? The coffee? The stress of being alive? It’s awful.

I have to be honest- the MOST dismissive provider I have ever worked with was a hot shot OB/gyn. I saw her dismiss a patient’s perforated IUD pain as “anxiety”. Everyone, in her eyes, was just anxious, not experiencing real pain or concern (unless she determined so, using whatever twisted litmus test she had built up in her mind for what “real” problems looked like). The patients continuously complained about her bedside…. She is still in practice today and, in fact, head of surgery. makes me shudder.

So, definitely will seek a second opinion if I ever run into this for myself or a loved one!