Most of us don’t live our lives in perfect physical health. We might be generally healthy, but we at least occasionally struggle with things like headaches, stomach aches, back pain, fatigue, rashes, and other symptoms. In most cases, these symptoms are perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about. But sometimes, they can be a sign of something much more serious.

This line can be thin and blurry. So how exactly are you supposed to tell whether your health symptoms are worth worrying about?

Why health symptoms are sometimes ambiguous

Let’s start by exploring why health symptoms are sometimes ambiguous.

Certain diseases and conditions develop gradually, often presenting very mild symptoms at first before ramping up to something much more severe. For example, the symptoms of mesothelioma include coughing, fatigue, and lower back pain – which are things all of us have experienced at some point. Mesothelioma, however, is extremely rare – and is almost exclusive to people who have been exposed to a specific hazardous material known as asbestos.

This is a relatively easy case to work out; if you have lower back pain, coughing, and fatigue, but you’ve never been exposed to asbestos and you’re sure of it, you can rule out mesothelioma as a possibility. But in other cases, health afflictions are more likely. For example, can you be confident that your abdominal pain is not a sign of a kidney stone?

Unfortunately, the body is extremely complicated – and the signals we get aren’t always clear. There’s a fine line between discomfort and pain, and it’s not always easy to tell exactly where the sensations in your body are coming from. All we can do is acknowledge this and make the best of the information we have.

How to Tell If Your Health Symptoms Are Worth Worrying About

There are some health symptoms that are almost always a bad sign:

• Significant pain. A bit of mild discomfort or pain in response to identifiable sources is perfectly acceptable, but if you have significant pain that can’t be explained, it should be cause for concern. This is especially true if you aren’t able to manage the pain with over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers.
• Inexplicable weight loss. It’s perfectly normal to lose weight if you’re exercising more or eating less, but if you’re losing weight for no explicable reason, treat it as a red flag.
• Blood in stool. Similarly, if you have blood in your stools, it’s almost never a good sign. It’s something you should investigate as soon as possible.
• Persistent fever. A fever is a common symptom of the cold and the flu, as well as other mild infectious diseases. However, any fever that’s sufficiently high or long-lasting requires immediate medical attention.
• Breathing difficulties. Breathing is one of our body’s most essential functions, so if you have any difficulty with breathing or pain associated with breathing, you should get immediate medical attention.
• Personality changes. Also, any major personality changes are cause for concern. If someone goes from happy-go-lucky to irritated all the time, it might be a sign of a medical issue.

In other situations, you’ll need to make a judgement call based on the following:

• Your “normal”. Much depends on what’s normal for you. For example, some people wake up with headaches in the morning once or twice a week, while others almost never experience headaches. With this context, headaches can trigger very different reactions in different people.
• Your total number of symptoms. If you search for almost any symptom, you’ll probably learn that the symptom in question is sometimes associated with cancer. That’s because there are many types of cancer, and nearly all of them have myriad potential symptoms. But cancer should only become a concern if you’re demonstrating many symptoms, including some that are specific to the type of cancer in question.
• Symptom intensity. Almost any symptom is a cause for concern if it’s sufficiently intense. For example, if your headache is so intense that you can’t think or focus on anything, it warrants medical intervention. Consider tracking the intensity of your symptoms so you can determine whether they’re getting worse or better.
• Symptom duration. Duration also warrants consideration. A symptom that arises for 10 minutes on some random day is probably no cause for concern, especially compared to a symptom that lasts for weeks.

When in doubt, see a doctor

If you’re ever in doubt, don’t hesitate to talk to a doctor. Medical professionals are there to help answer our questions, clarify ambiguities, and provide early treatment for diseases that require it. A simple doctor visit is relatively quick and inexpensive, so it’s often worth making even if the only benefit you get is peace of mind.

Adam Mulligan, a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.