There are a number of serious health conditions that don’t have any symptoms or have symptoms which are too mild and can remain unnoticed.
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Serious Health Conditions
For this reason, you should get preventive screenings on a regular basis because this is the only way in which you can discover that something is wrong with your health.
If you detect a problem on time, you have a greater chance to successfully treat it. Here are 4 health conditions that have little or no symptoms.
Diabetes
According to the American Diabetes Association, about 8 million of 29 million cases of diabetes in America are undiagnosed. You may have abnormal blood sugar levels for a long period of time without experiencing any symptoms.
There might be certain signs, such as dry mouth, excessive thirst, increased urination, or blurred vision. However, these symptoms are commonly ignored since they can easily be mistaken for those which appear from stress or tiredness.
In order to detect diabetes on time, you should get screened for this condition every 3 years, starting at the age of 45.
But, if you suffer from obesity, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure levels, you should get screened more frequently.
Sleep Apnea
A 2012 Swedish study has found out that half of the women between the ages of 20-70 are dealing with obstructive sleep apnea. This condition is characterized by an occurrence of pauses in breathing while you sleep.
Sleep apnea has been connected to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. According to Dr. Richard Rose, CEO of Sommetrics, a manufacturer of sleep apnea treatments, the women are less likely to be diagnosed with this condition because they experience more subtle symptoms.
Instead of snoring and sleepiness during the day, they deal with insomnia, morning headaches, fatigue, and mood disturbances.
However, these signs are too mild and difficult to be noticed. In case you experience any of these symptoms, you should immediately consult your doctor.
Lung Cancer
The American Cancer Society states that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. This disease is extremely difficult to be diagnosed on time since in the early stages is completely symptomless.
According to Dr. Nasser Hanna, a lung cancer specialist at the Indiana University Health, the signs usually appear when the disease reaches a more advanced stage and when the mortality rates are drastically increased.
This is particularly alarming because more than half of the female lung cancer patients have never been smokers and have been unaware that they are exposed to the risk of developing this disease.
High Blood Pressure
According to a 2013 Canadian study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly half of the people with high blood pressure are unaware that they suffer from this condition.
Dr. Mary Bauman, a cardiologist in Oklahoma City, states that you can ignore the high blood pressure for a long time.
However, this will lead to a kidney disease, a stroke, or a heart attack since the condition is silently doing damage to your blood vessels.
In order to protect yourself from this disease, you should check your blood pressure at least once a year.