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We
are pleased to present the following
excerpt from the book
Body Signs: From
Warning Signs to False Alarms...How to Be
Your Own Diagnostic
Detective
by Joan Liebmann-Smith and
Jacqueline Egan
Bantam - December
2007
Making
Sense of Your Body's
Signs
Have you ever noticed things about your
body that are annoying, weird, smelly, or
downright embarrassing? If so, you're not
alone. We all experience the often
unsightly and sometimes unseemly signs and
signals our bodies send us about our state
of health. Ugly growths may pop up on our
eyelids, or skin tags under our breasts.
Our nails may be yellow or our partners
may complain that we smell like
ammonia.
Fortunately, many of these "body signs"
are harmless and can be ignored or treated
cosmetically. But sometimes what may seem
like a cosmetic concern is more than meets
the eye. The ugly growths on your eyelids
may be xantelasmas, tiny deposits of
cholesterol forewarning you that you may
have high cholesterol and be at risk for
heart disease. Unsightly skin tags -- a
common sign of aging -- may signal
diabetes. Yellowed nails may be nicotine
stains, but they can also be warning signs
of a lung or liver disorder. And while the
ammonia-like odor you give off may mean
you should hire a cleaning service, it can
also mean that you're eating too much
protein, or you have Helicobacter pyelori
bacteria, the bug that causes stomach
ulcers.
Body signs can be seen, heard, tasted,
felt, or smelled by you or others. Before
modern diagnostic techniques, doctors had
to rely on what their own and their
patient's five senses revealed to them.
They listened to patients' hearts, felt
their pulses, looked at their tongues,
eye-balled their eyes, inspected their
hair, skin, and nails, smelled their
smells, studied their stools, and sniffed
or sometimes even tasted their urine.
Doctors today, even though they may use
sophisticated diagnostic equipment at
their disposal, still apply these sensible
techniques - with the possible exception
of tasting urine.
You, too, can learn to use your senses
to detect warning signs of serious
conditions and get medical help before
they become full-blown diseases. You
can:
- Look at your hair, eyes, tongue,
skin and nails.
- Listen to your voice and stomach
sounds
- Smell your body wastes
- Taste your mouth and saliva
- Touch your hair, skin, nails
Going from head to toe, here are some
warning signs you may detect using your
five senses. And keep in mind that any
change in any of your senses can itself be
a warning sign that something is out of
kilter.
YOUR HAIR
- When your hair feels more dry and
brittle than usual, you may be
over-processing it. Or, dry hair may
signal an under-active thyroid or
nutritional deficiency.
- If your hair looks like it's
thinning, and you're a woman, you may
have female-pattern baldness, which
often runs in families. But it can also
be a sign of an over-active thyroid or
an early warning sign of diabetes.
YOUR EARS
- Hearing the sound of your heart
beating inside your ears is actually
normal, especially when lying down. But
if you hear your heart beat or a
throbbing sound in only one ear, it may
be a warning sign of a heart murmur,
high blood pressure, or other vascular
disorders.
- When normal noises sound louder
than usual, it may be a drug side
effect or a sign that you've been
drinking too many diet sodas that
contain aspartame. Super sensitivity to
sound may also be telling you that you
have a magnesium deficiency, or an
autoimmune or other serious
disease.
YOUR EYES
- Seeing floaters, those spots or
flecks that appear floating across your
field of vision, is pretty common. But
if you notice a sudden increase of
floaters, you may have a retinal tear
or even detachment (especially if you
see flashing lights with the floaters),
which requires immediate medical
attention.
- Eyes that feel dry all the time,
may be caused by low humidity, or be a
drug side effect. Chronic dry eyes can
also be a warning sign of some
autoimmune diseases including
rheumatoid arthritis, hyperthyroidism,
and lupus.
YOUR NOSE
- While a nose that frequently looks
red can be a tell-tale sign of
excessive drinking, it can also be a
red flag for the skin condition,
rosacea. Interestingly, alcohol can
trigger or worsen this condition.
- If your sense of smell is not as
keen as it used to be, it may be due to
an injury to your nose, a normal sign
of aging, or a sign of any number of
disorders including zinc deficiency,
nasal polyps, diabetes, hypothyroidism,
and multiple sclerosis. It can also be
very early warning sign of Parkinson's
or Alzheimer's disease.
YOUR MOUTH
- A terrible taste in your mouth that
won't wash away with mouthwash can be a
side effect of such medications as
antibiotics, antidepressants,
antihypertensives, as well as some
vitamins supplements. It can also be a
sign of gum disease, a viral infection,
gastrointestinal disorder, Bell's
palsy, or burning mouth syndrome, a
rare condition that primarily affects
menopausal women.
- A healthy tongue is covered with
tiny bumps called papillae. If you
tongue looks or feels very smooth and
glassy, it may be telling you that
you're deficient in certain nutrients
such as folic acid, vitamin B12, or
iron. A smooth, red tongue may signal
pernicious anemia or malabsorption
syndrome, a condition in which the body
cannot adequately absorb
nutrients.
YOUR TORSO
- Hearing your stomach rumbling a lot
may merely be the result of excess gas
from a high-fiber diet or a diet
containing too many carbohydrates,
carbonated drinks, or artificial
sweeteners. But excess gas may also
signal lactose intolerance, food or
drug allergies, or any number of
gastrointestinal disorders.
- If your arms or legs frequently
feel numb and tingly, it may be the
result of a pinched nerve, or an
important warning sign of several
serious conditions such as adrenal
disorder, a circulatory problem
(peripheral arterial disease), or a
nerve disorder (peripheral
neuropathy).
YOUR BODY WASTES
- Whatever you eat can affect the
odor (and color) of your urine. But
urine that often smells sweet can be an
important warning sign of undiagnosed
or uncontrolled diabetes.
- What you eat can also affect the
color (and sometimes the odor) of your
stools. If your stools look very pale,
it may be from eating a lot of rice,
potatoes, and other white-colored
foods. Medicine containing calcium can
also cause pale stools. But
persistently pale stools can signal a
blockage of the bile ducts, which can
be caused by tumors or liver diseases
including hepatitis, cirrhosis, or
liver cancer.
YOUR SKIN & NAILS
- If you feel a single, rough, or
scaly patch of skin somewhere on your
body -- especially on your arm, leg,
chest or other sun-exposed area -- it
may just be a scar. But you may have a
pre-cancerous condition called solar
(or actinic) keratosis.
- If you see dark horizontal streaks
that look like (but aren't) splinters
under your finger or toenails, they may
be splinter hemorrhages, a sign of
trichinosis, a parasitic disease caused
by eating undercooked pork or wild
game. They can also be warning signs of
psoriasis, peptic ulcers, kidney
disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis,
blood-clotting diseases, and
endocarditis, an infection of the
heart.
You can see that checking your body
periodically from head to toe can
sometimes uncover important and
often-missed warning signs of serious
diseases. Keeping track of your body signs
can be an important preventive health
measure. It will also help you to actively
participate in your health care and the
diagnostic process as a partner with your
doctor. And don't forget to check out
those near and dear to you; you may be
able to pick up things that they
themselves are unaware of.
If you do notice a disturbing body sign
on either you or your loved ones -- no
matter how trivial or embarrassing --
mention it to a doctor. Discussing
annoying, bizarre, or embarrassing signs
with a doctor will make it much easier to
get a quick, accurate diagnosis when
something is wrong, enabling you to get
prompt treatment. It can also help you
rule out serious conditions when all is
well. Indeed, many of the body signs that
may concern you will turn out to be
perfectly normal and benign, or of no
particular consequences, thus saving you
further medical expense, time, and
anxiety.
About
the Authors
Joan
Liebmann-Smith, Ph.D., is a medical
sociologist and award-winning medical
writer. Her articles have appeared in
American Health, Ms., Newsweek,
Redbook, Self, and Vogue, and
she has appeared on numerous television
talk shows, including The Oprah Winfrey
Show and The Today Show. She has a
daughter, Rebecca, a cat, Fazelnut, and
lives with her husband, Richard -- also a
writer -- in New York City.
Jacqueline
Nardi Egan is a medical journalist who
specializes in developing and writing
educational programs with and for
physicians, allied health professionals,
patients, and consumers. She is also a
former medical editor of Family
Health magazine. She has a daughter,
Elizabeth, two dogs, Coco and Abby, and
divides her time between Darien,
Connecticut, and Sag Harbor, New
York.
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