Silent Killers - 10 Diseases that you don’t know you have

1. 10 Diseases that you don’t know you have

2. In recent times, people have started to take health more seriously. We see an increase in spending on health and health related products. Health is globally a more often talked about topic and people are getting more educated and more tuned to which symptoms to watch out for. But, as always, science tends to throw us a curve ball. Here are 10 diseases that you may never know you have. 1.Osteoperosis Osteoporosis is the loss of bone density and bone strength. There is usually some loss of calcium as well. People usually do not realise its symptoms till late in the disease. Usual symptoms are vague body pains which are written off as “growing old”. Usually, taking regular calcium supplements in females and a good intake of calcium rich foods in males will suffice to prevent osteoporosis. If you are getting severe bone pains, you should ask the Doctor for help. Also, consider dropping a note with your medical reports and talk to our Doctor online.

3. 2. SIDS - Sudden Infant Death syndrome SIDS is a disease that occurs in children or more precisely neonates and infants. These are children from the age of 1 month to 1 year. SIDS is scary because of its unpredictable nature and that it does not have a definite cause. It can occur in any child and is thought to be linked to respiratory problems but this link is not proven. 2.Heart disease Most people when talking about heart disease only think about heart attacks. However, heart disease is a big host of diseases from atherosclerosis to conduction defects. Some diseases like

4. atherosclerosis, in which there is fat deposition in the arteries, occur slowly and symptoms are not felt till late in the disease. They do not always occur only in obese people and thin people may also be afflicted. These lifestyle are important to keep in check. One trick is to get a Health Check done every year and ask the Doctor to check the results. You can also avail our Doctor on Demand facility to get your results examined. 4. Mesothelioma A mesothelioma is a tumour of the lung and is usually only detected very late in the disease stage. It will begin to affect the lung function and later develop metastasis and may lead to organ problems. Mesotheliomas can develop over 50 years of time. One of the causative factors is Asbestos. Asbestos was used previously to make buildings and people in these old buildings are likely to suffer from this. Asbestos is now banned, however, if you live in a old house, it would be good to get the house checked for asbestos. Asbestos houses were last built up to 1990. Also, get your lungs checked with an X-ray to check for any tumours if you are in doubt.

5. 5. Silent MI Though we have already covered heart diseases, a MI or a heart disease deserves special mention. It is noteworthy to mention that up to 25% of heart attacks can be silent and with no symptoms or even chest pain. The person would be alright one moment and with no warnings of pain would suddenly become unconscious. The process is one of slow blockage of blood vessels of the heart. If you start getting breathless after minimal activity, you may have some pathology. Consider writing your symptoms to Ask The Doctor for evaluation or Talk to a Doctor Online. 6. Obstructive sleep apnea This is silent killer that would be well known to your partners or friends but not to the person with it. In deep sleep, the muscles in our throat tend to relax and this causes obstruction to the passage

6. of air. This causes breathing problems and rarely can lead to death in sleep. Usually, this affects obese people but trends are changing and thin people are also getting affected. 7. Deep vein thrombosis Deep Vein thrombosis or DVTs are silent killers because of the speed with which they can cause death. A person with no symptoms or some acute illness or infection can suddenly start develop clots in the veins of the legs. These clots if dislodged travel up to the heart and then the lungs. In the lungs, there is a severe reduction in blood supply to the lungs causing sudden death. There are several causes for DVTs and you should talk to our Doctors online if you have a family history of such deaths.

7. 8. Cancers Often, cancers are not easily detected and affect organ systems where they show little symptoms. Some examples of such cancers are lung cancers and breast cancers. In both, depending on the type, symptoms only appear at the last stage after there are metastasis seen. The treatment after metastasis is only of radiation and palliative therapy. The good point about these is they occur mostly after the age of 50 and breast cancer is usually detected with regular breast examinations. Also, Ask The Doctor about healthy eating habits that can reduce your chances of cancer.

8. 9. Aneurysm Aneurysms are dilated arteries that can rupture at any moment. These are very dangerous because noone knows when it will happen. Being diagnosed with a aneurysm does not mean you can always cure it. When diagnosed and based on the severity, surgery or medications may be given to mitigate them. One aneurysm in the brain causes severe headaches and if you develop the worst migraine of your life, you must see a Doctor as soon as possible to get checked up. A MRI is usually elucidating in this. You can also show us your reports and Talk to a Doctor online about them.

9. 10. HIV/AIDS Other than knowing you have had unprotected intercourse, many people take years to develop AIDS. HIV is the virus that causes the disease AIDS. AIDS is a disease in which the body immunity is weakened and the full blown disease can take up to 10 years to manifest. Avoiding HIV is however not too difficult. Use condoms every single time you have intercourse and avoid having multiple sexual partners as much as possible. Do not engage in risky behavior such as needle sharing and the best would be to avoid drug abuse completely.