Recently, we asked people in the BuzzFeed Community to share the health issues they ignored that eventually grew into major problems down the line.
I ended up learning about several symptoms I didn’t even realize were worth paying attention to. Since prevention makes all the difference, it felt important to pass them along. Here’s what they shared:
1. “In high school, I kept zoning out in certain classes, where I was usually attentive. This went on for a month or so and was sometimes accompanied by little spastic jerks. At the time, I was into bodybuilding, so I figured it was body fatigue. Wrong. I went to the senior prom, and all was well, but the next morning, while on the phone with my date, I suffered a grand mal epileptic seizure. I suffered through a few more, but have been seizure-free for over 40 years.”
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2. “I started to feel fatigue in my legs and feet, and then my feet went numb after a few weeks. I thought it was just working on my feet and me getting older. I should’ve gone to the doctor sooner. Fast-forward a few months, and I start to go blind in my left eye. I immediately went to the doctor, got an MRI, and was diagnosed with MS. It’s aggressive, and I can tell you it will change your life. Eight months later, I had 10 lesions on my brain. Don’t ignore small things; you think it’s just because you’re getting older, it could be much worse than that.”
3. “Not so much me ignoring it as doctors ignoring it… which in turn led me to pretty much ignore it… BUT I struggled with severe GI problems for five years straight, which led to me almost dying from starvation at one point. Doctors kept saying nothing was wrong, or they knew something was wrong but didn’t know what, so I just started trying to ignore it.”
“Last year, after four years of hell, some new extreme symptoms popped up, like shortness of breath and joint pain. A few exams and lots more bloodwork later — wham, bam, thank you ma’am — it was undiagnosed LUPUS this whole time. I’ve now been on treatment for four months. Always, always, ALWAYS listen to your body above anyone else!”
4. “I came back from a trip and had horrible pain down the back of my leg. I had done a lot of hiking, so I assumed that I had pulled a muscle. The pain was unbearable and constant, but I ignored it because I’m used to muscle pain from chronic conditions. After a couple of weeks, I started getting short of breath. Walking up one flight of stairs made me feel like I had just done a mile run. I thought the breathlessness was from anxiety and stress.”
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“When I couldn’t step out of the shower without completely losing my breath, I finally went to the ER. I was diagnosed with what the docs called the largest deep vein thrombosis (blood clot in my thigh) they had ever seen. A piece of it had migrated to my lung, creating a huge saddle pulmonary embolism.
I spent four days in the ICU and underwent two separate stent procedures to get the clots dissolved. Took about six months to get back to full capacity.
In my defense, I didn’t know leg pain was a symptom of a blood clot, but I shouldn’t have let it go on for so long.”
5. “Fatigue! I was so tired all the time and couldn’t figure out why — multiple scans, blood tests, and specialist appointments later, and I’ve just been diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis in my liver. Had I left it any longer, it could have caused permanent damage to my liver, resulting in a transplant or death. Don’t ignore being chronically tired! Go to the doctor!”
6. “Never ignore persistent severe unexplained itching. It could be a sign of liver issues!”
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“Also can be a sign of kidney disease.”
“Ignored this for over two years and eventually ended up in the hospital with kidney failure.”
7. “A mouth sore that wasn’t healing on my tongue. What started as a minor, fleeting ache quickly became impossible to ignore. In order to rule out cancer, I quickly got assessed and tested by an oral surgeon. Well, what do you know, it was cancer. Had I waited or ignored it, I could have lost my entire tongue, or my life.”
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8. “Had a hernia misdiagnosed as a hydrocele my freshman year of college. Years later, it grew as it turned out, it was my lower intestine slipping into my scrotum. I was embarrassed and didn’t get it operated on until I was well into my 30s. Fourteen years later, keeping an inguinal hernia that long and the massive work they did inside gave me permanent hip pain and lumbar problems, burning sciatica, and a massive scar near the funzone.”
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9. “I kept ignoring a pain in my side that seemed to come and go. It got progressively worse to the point that I’d be holding my side and somewhat bent over. I was pretty stoic back then and just didn’t pay attention to it. This probably went on over the course of the year. It wasn’t until I was feverish and hallucinating somewhat that I drove myself to the hospital. My appendix had burst. It was lucky I got there when I did. I spent days in the ICU.”
10. “Getting winded after a short distance and erectile dysfunction. My husband chalked his getting winded up to being out of shape and wasted money on various supplements for his ED. Turned out one of his arteries was clogged, and others were narrowed. He had to get stents.”
—Anonymous, 57, Female, California
11. “In my freshman year of college, I was exhausted all the time, drinking tons of water, losing weight, and constantly needing to pee. Like, waking up multiple times per night, type of constantly. I thought it was all because I was walking everywhere and had started working out (I had not been active at all before). I had a doctor’s appointment while home for spring break, where they checked my blood sugar, and my fasting glucose was above 200. They did an A1C blood sugar test, and it was over 11. Turns out I was type 1 diabetic with insulin resistance to boot. I’m lucky that they caught it at the checkup, because I was probably one big meal away from diabetic ketoacidosis.”
—Anonymous, 20, Nonbinary, North Carolina
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12. “I had just had a baby and started feeling so exhausted I could barely climb seven steps without having to stop and rest. My legs started aching, and I couldn’t sleep at night because I was coughing. Everyone told me it was all normal and that having a newborn is hard on you mentally and physically. I kept telling myself it was all a part of this new chapter in life, even though I began feeling terrible and my blood pressure spiked.”
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“I went to the emergency room the week before I was supposed to return to work from maternity leave. The ER doctor told me my blood pressure was up, but to just go to my primary and sent me on my way. I made an appointment with my primary, and she told me I went through a lot having a baby, and my body is just adjusting.”
(Cont’d) “Well, two months later, I go back to the ER because I am so nauseous I can barely take a few bites without throwing up, I have started having panic attacks and not sleeping, and I am so tired I can’t think straight. After an hour at the ER, the doctor came in and told me to make whatever calls I needed to, but I would be transferred by ambulance to the main hospital and would be spending a lot of time on the Critical Cardiac Unit (CCU).”
“I spent three days in the hospital being treated as my heart was only at 15% functionality. My poor husband was distraught, he almost lost his partner, and was sad because he couldn’t spend the days with me, instead having to care for my infant. It was scary. Thankfully, I have recovered, but I will spend the rest of my life taking lots of medicine to keep my heart healthy. What I learned is to listen to your body. If something feels wrong, it very well may be, and losing your life isn’t worth being afraid to go to the doctor.”
—Anonymous, 35, Female, USA
13. “Men, I know that you enjoy your manhood, but please, have your prostate checked. I saw symptoms that I didn’t realize were significant until it was too late for my husband. His perspiration changed in its odor. It had a musky smell. His closet was overwhelmed with the odor. It was his increase in testosterone. He also had an increased sex drive. I finally had to limit the days. I felt like a horrible spouse. I adored the man. His doctor was treating him for a prostate infection for two years.”
“By the time he was willing to share this with me, and we went to a doctor who treated his illness, my husband had between 6-18 months left to live. He delayed his treatment because he thought his ‘persona’ would be destroyed. He became more verbal and the loving man I recalled after taking his medication. He was a better man… until he was no longer alive. He died at 67. Men, check your PSA count. Save your lives not only for yourselves, but also for those who love you.”
—Anonymous
14. “I’ve had seasonal allergies with childhood nighttime asthma all my life, and often, I would get bronchitis for months after getting a cold. It became really annoying two years before COVID. I had bronchitis so bad that I would get tired from coughing, be out of breath, and exhausted at work. Every smell would cause my throat to itch. After several nebulizer treatments for coughing due to asthma, my NP did some labs.”
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“Turns out I was so severely anemic, the breathlessness and coughing weren’t from asthma or bronchitis or allergies, but it was from severe anemia for many years, indicating possible heart failure. After an iron supplement and an IUD to slow heavy menstrual bleeding, I haven’t had to use an inhaler or asthma medicine in almost seven years. Get your iron levels checked often if you are a female in your 30s and 40s; it can literally make your heart fail.”
—Anonymous, 47, Female, North Carolina
15. “Embarrassingly and horrifyingly, I ignored blood on the toilet paper and some rectal pain for six months to a year. I ended up in the ER in excruciating pain from being unable to go to the bathroom because it hurt so bad. I was so constipated that I didn’t poop for like a week. It literally felt like my insides were a washing machine of pain and that they were gonna fall out of my butt. Turns out, I had a massive anal fissure that got worse and worse over time, especially with me completely avoiding it.”
“The poor ER doctor lady was so nice, but I was so embarrassed. Like, she literally stuck her hand up my ass. I genuinely felt like I was in John Mulaney’s skit about trying to get Xanax and ending up getting a prostate exam because he said he was lying to get prescribed drugs. Unfortunately, because I waited, it’s mostly pain management now. Pay attention to rectal issues and eat your fiber! I wanna die writing this. I’m so glad it’s anon.”
—Anonymous, 25, Female, Seattle, Washington
16. “I was bitten deeply by our cat on the wrist. I cleaned the wound and thought little of it. No one goes to the ER for a cat bite, right? As the week progressed, the site became more painful and swollen. The following week, it was so bad that I could not use my hand and collapsed in pain in a store. Long story short — they almost had to amputate my arm to save my life. The infection entered my wrist tendons and did not respond to round-the-clock antibiotics.”
“Two surgeries, a long hospital stay, followed by a home nurse aid daily to administer intravenous antibiotics and clean the 3-inch section of flesh removed, which had to remain open for weeks for the tendons to heal. You could see my bone and all the other inside things. I have a wicked scar from it.”
—Anonymous, 63, Female, New Jersey
17. “I avoided getting a physical for many years. One day, my wife told me that my pupils were dilated in very different sizes. So I made an appointment with a GP, who told me to see an eye doctor. They ordered a CT-scan, and after many back and forth and many tests later with various medical professionals, it turned out I had a large aneurysm on my artery near my heart that was pushing on my optic nerve, causing the dilated pupils.”
“I had open heart surgery soon after, and they were able to remove it. I’ll be on medication forever and need to see a specialist twice a year. Had my wife not told me to go to the doctors, I’d be dead by now. This is definitely the short version of my story, but the point is, go to the doctors for a check-up or if something is not right. It might save your life.”
—Anonymous, 42, Male, Atlanta, Georgia
18. “Being bloated all the time, no matter what I ate or if I didn’t eat at all. I thought it was a gluten intolerance or the medication I was on causing constipation. Eventually, I started assuming I was just ‘fat’, especially because I was on the contraceptive pill, which causes water retention and weight gain. I was a nanny, and the three girls I looked after asked me multiple times a day if I was pregnant (I wasn’t). I shouldn’t have ignored it, as it was one of the symptoms of a very serious health issue (other symptoms came along later). Turns out it was inflammation caused by endometriosis.”
—Anonymous
19. And finally, “I’d been complaining about heavy cycles for YEARS. I told my doctor every month that it felt like I was giving birth (for context, I’ve had three, so I know the pain). By the age of 26, I had to start wearing diapers while on my cycle because even with the ultra tampons and overnight pads, I was still messing up my clothes and bed sheets; it was embarrassing to say the least.”
“Right before my 33rd birthday, my father passed, and a month before, I had gotten a divorce. So when my period came on and didn’t stop after 15 days, I figured maybe my hormones were messed up since I was going through a lot emotionally. I didn’t think too much about it — it’ll stop eventually, I told myself. That was June of 2025; by August, I was still bleeding. It never stopped. I finally dragged myself into the doctor’s office. I was in pain, I was anemic, and I showed up with photos where it looked like I was passing pure flesh the size of my hand. Something had to give.”
(Cont’d) “They did ultrasounds and told me everything was normal, yet it took 10 Depo-Provera pills to stop my cycle that had already been going for 59 days straight. Something wasn’t normal. I begged and begged for a second opinion. (I’m a veteran with VA care, so it’s always a waiting game when you need help).”
“I finally got my second opinion four months later. I have endometrial cancer, and I am going to have a total hysterectomy at 33 years old next week. I’m not happy, but it’s easier to process knowing what the problem is. And I can’t help but wonder if someone had listened to me for all the years I was complaining, if maybe there could have been a treatment for my endometriosis before it turned cancerous.
So no, a normal cycle should not be 10-15 days per month. No, you should not feel like you are giving birth every month (cramping is normal, but it should not be so severe that you can’t walk). If you are bleeding so much you have to resort to wearing a diaper — that’s not normal. And if the doctor won’t listen to you, make them. Don’t wait until you are so anemic you need a transfusion (also not normal), and if you have every single symptom and they tell you the imaging is normal — make them get you a second opinion. Being a woman is hard, but it doesn’t mean suffering in silence. Speak up.”
—Anonymous, 33, Female, Alabama
Have you had a health problem that you wish you hadn’t ignored for so long? Let us know what it was in the comments or at this anonymous form.
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