In 2022, 38% of Americans said they or a family member skipped or delayed medical care because of cost, according to a poll from Gallup.
27% of respondents said the treatments they passed over were for “very” or “somewhat” serious conditions or illnesses, while 11% percent reported neglecting to pursue care for non-serious health issues.
However, as one recent Reddit thread shows, forgoing treatment can result in substantial consequences and can compound costs down the road.
Started by platform user Prudent_Tip4118, it asked people to share the “normal” symptom they had that ended up being an actual medical problem. Here are some of the replies.
#1
Until I was 16 I thought everyone got stomach cramps a few times a day. Turns out I’m lactose intolerant. .
Image credits: go_eat_worms
#2
A random sharp pain above my right ear and my tongue curling slightly. I thought it was just old age. Doc recognized it instantly as something wrong with my tongue. The cancer has been cured for seven years.
Image credits: cwsjr2323
#3
That pulled muscle was actually a collapsed lung. After days of hot baths, massages, trying to relax-nah, nothing helped. No wonder.
Image credits: bmbmwmfm2
#4
Apparently your belly button isn’t supposed to hurt. It was an umbilical hernia. :(.
Image credits: elenaalia75
#5
I thought I had bad period cramps. Then I thought I had acute food poisoning. Turns out I had ovarian torsion and my ovary was slowly dying over the course of a few days.
Image credits: somaticconviction
#6
Not sleeping or eating for days but still feeling great and having more energy than your average athlete. Turns out you’re bipolar!
Image credits: honkifyouresimpy
#7
Depression. Apparently losing all hope and being numb to joy isn’t just a part of growing up.
Image credits: PhreedomPhighter
#8
Massively heavy periods in my 40s. I thought it was just perimenopause. Turns out it was adenomyosis.
Image credits: therealzue
#9
Used to drop my makeup all the time when I was getting ready in the morning. Ugh, so clumsy. Ended up being myoclonic seizures.
Image credits: SnooChocolates4588
#10
Sharp, excruciating pain in my hand. Thought it was arthritis, it runs in the family.
Nope. Bone tumor, thankfully non-malignant, slowly eating its way through my hand.
Two surgeries (one to remove the tumor, one to get bone graft from my femur) done at once, some cadaver bone, lots of excruciating physical therapy and a gnarly scar later—no more pain!
Image credits: dannicalliope
#11
I thought I was constipated for a few days. Hurt like hell. Turned out to be diverticulitis and a perforated colon. My wife called the ER and they brought me in without triage and sent a chaplain. I lost a foot of my large intestines and almost died.
Image credits: VR6SLC
#12
As a kid I had anxiety and my heart would race. Fast. It felt like a hummingbird in my chest and would abruptly pause and resume a normal pace after a few minutes. At age 23 I had a bad reaction to a tricyclic antidepressant called imipramine and was rushed to the hospital. They ran an EKG and that rapid heart rate was a congenital defect known as Wolfe Parkinson White syndrome. Basically I had an accessory or 2nd electrical system in my heart that would cause a “short circuit” occasionally and my heart rate would skyrocket. It was cured via a procedure using radio waves to form scar tissue around the accessory node because the impulse could not conduct through the tissue. No problems since.
Image credits: Ambitious_Doubt_1101
#13
I’d have these really minor facial twitches, like a single small muscle in my upper lip or eyebrow. Nothing even severe enough to be visible by others. However, they’d last for a few weeks straight, even while I was trying to sleep.
I didn’t think twice about it. They always went away on their own, after all!
After I suddenly went blind in my left eye and got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I connected the dots.
Edit: Facial twitches are normal! Just because you have twitches often doesn’t mean you have a problem, especially if you don’t have any other reason to believe you have multiple sclerosis or any other disease. My twitches were CONSTANT for WEEKS. And even then, there are other, less serious (and probably more likely!) things that can cause that. Please don’t let my comment stress you out.
Image credits: hillbilly-man
#14
It took my lungs collapsing at 17 years old before doctors realized I wasn’t breathing in deeply enough to expand the bottom half of my lungs for basically my whole life. They asked why I never complained about shortness of breath. I never knew breathing was supposed to be easier than what I was experiencing.
Image credits: honeybeebzzz
#15
My family told me I would randomly “space out”, although I never remembered, all thought it was normal. Turned out, I was having “absence seizures”. We only found that out at a routine doctor’s appointment, just conversing with the doc, when I guess I just came to and the doctor said she wanted to get a bunch of tests done. Been an epileptic for almost 17 years now. Edit: I was shocked, tbh to see how many of has or had what I have. Unfortunately, my Epilepsy has evolved into tonic-clonic seizures, I rarely have absences anymore, but had one focal back in November. For anyone who has friends and/or family who has seizures and Epilepsy, thank you for being there for them. Just know, that we appreciate you all. For all that HAVE seizures and Epilepsy, UNITE!!!
Image credits: Loves_me_tacos125
#16
You know how you get all congested after excercising, and wheeze for a bit before everything settles down again? No? Yeah, that’s because most people don’t have excercise induced asthma. I was in my 30s before I knew that was a problem and not normal.
Image credits: GreyFoxLemonGrass
#17
Losing weight suddenly got a little easier, and I assumed it was due to my efforts. Happy with my success, I buckled down harder (funny how it’s easy to keep “being good” when you’re actually seeing results). I lost more! It actually got to be almost easy. I thought I was doing such a great job! Turns out it was cancer. I guess I should have known something was up, but I honestly thought I was just doing a really great job with my diet and exercise. Had 4 surgeries and treatment and I’m doing well. Now I’m on meds with all kinds of side effects, including weight gain. Yay. But I’m alive, and so much better off than many others. I’ve only gained a little bit back, despite working really hard not to.
Image credits: Grilled_Cheese10
#18
Bent over to pick something up and felt a twinge in my groin (I’m male). I thought perhaps it may be a hernia. I wasn’t too concerned about it then things started to ache a bit. I went to the doctor only to find out I had testicular cancer. Fortunately after we cut out lefty and got all the results back from pathology it was staged at 1A seminoma. Meaning the surgery alone was all the treatment I needed.
Image credits: disneyDaf
#19
I thought I pulled a muscle playing with my dogs one day. One week later I finally go to the hospital because the pain is getting worse. Turns out I suffer from a genetic blood clotting condition and had a two foot log clot in my leg and multiple pulmonary embolisms on my lungs. Doctor was legit surprised I was alive.
Image credits: EchoRespite
#20
Not me, but one of my brother’s friends in high school.
This friend was a goober; always making silly but friendly jokes that make families laugh as a whole, all and all a genuinely funny person.
One day he took my sister’s glasses and was “acting like her” only to pause for a moment and then say “wait…is this how things are supposed to look?”
My man needed glasses and found out from f****n around. I’m glad the universe leaned towards him in a positive way as far as that went!
Image credits: innerfatboy3
#21
I kept telling my OB I was worried about my legs/ankles swelling in the later part of my pregnancy. They dismissed it—told me all pregnant people experience it.
At 39 weeks I got sent to the hospital for extra monitoring on the baby due to an irregular test . She ended up being fine but my blood pressure was crazy high. I was induced that night and then given an emergency C-section due to severe preeclampsia.
Not a fun start to my baby’s life but she’s here and healthy so I can’t be too upset.
#22
When I was about nineteen, I randomly heard on NPR that it takes the average person around 20 minutes to fall asleep and I went “oh s**t” because apparently my bar for having sleep issues was way, way too high. To me, a good night sleep meant I fell asleep within two hours of going to bed and it wasn’t “trouble” until I hit three hours. And once I communicated this to my doctor and was finally able to treat my crippling insomnia with medication, my depression and anxiety suddenly got way more manageable as well.
#23
Suddenly getting dizzy, heart racing, hearing fading out, eventually throwing up and passing out if I go too long without food.
Didn’t learn till my mid 20’s that not everyone had piles of snacks everywhere they went so they didn’t end up on the floor.
I’ve been tested for diabetes five times and it’s not that so who knows. Just can’t get too hungry or I’m f****d I guess. .
#24
I smell things that don’t exist. I casually mentioned to my doctor and it turns out they’re a type of seizure. He wanted to put me on meds. I said I thought that was a bit much and didn’t want them. But according to him (and later, a neurologist) they can turn into grand mal seizures. So I’ve been on anticonvulsant meds for 20 years.
#25
My mom convinced me as a kid that I was always just being a “big baby” about my period cramps. I’m talking like curled up in the fetal position on the floor crying type pain. Then when I had an ACTUAL baby, and the contractions weren’t as bad as some of my worst cramps, I finally realized she was just a dismissive POS.
#26
That it was completely normal to have about 10 to 20 or so mostly creative hobbies that one purchases a bunch of tools and supplies for and randomly dabbles in on and off for several years if not the rest of one’s life, or completely drops out of sudden disinterest. After all, my great great grandparent potentially did it, my great grandmother did it, my grandpa did it, my parent does it, and I do it.
Turns out the ADHD runs *very strong* in my family.
#27
Mouth would be itchy when I ate most fruits, parents told me to stop being dramatic and making excuses to be picky. I have OAS and have an epipen now.
Also had terrible cramps and would get my period for a whole month then not for three as a teenager. My Dr said that could happen sometimes and put me on bc. Turns out my cramps were chronic cysts from pcos, my body is over producing testosterone and it was affecting a lot of other aspects of my health.
#28
Was declining in strange ways at work. Thought it was my 30s catching up to me…nope heart went to 10% output and had a heart attack at 33.
#29
I always thought everyone’s feet hurt when they walked after a few minutes. Turns out I have completely flat feet. My husband figured this out when I was in my 20s.
#30
I didn’t realize other people didn’t hallucinate. When people would say “did you say something? I thought I heard someone say my name.” I thought it was the same thing as me hearing voices. Apparently when people think they heard a voice that wasn’t there, that was very different than me screaming and crying and praying because I heard a scary voice say awful things and didn’t know where it was coming from.
#31
Had what I thought was a pimple on my armpit that I ignored. Wasn’t overly concerned, thought it was something that would just go away.
A few weeks later, I came down with what I thought was some sort of flu. The flu lasted longer than normal so I decided to go to the emergency room to get checked out.
Turned out that I had a large tumour in my chest caused by lymphoma and the ‘pimple’ on my armpit was actually a swollen lymph node.
#32
After 40+ years it turns out I’m not just weird or liked things most didn’t. Finding out you have Autism that late in life is hard. Knowing that 40+ years of life could of been easier if I only knew is very upsetting.
#33
I almost cried the first time I tried medication for ADHD, my mind was so quiet and peaceful
EDIT: There’s a lot of questions in the replies. I’ll try to answer a few here. I’m also on mobile so sorry lol.
When did I get diagnosed and how?
I think I was like 20?
I was able to strongman my way through an associates degree without knowing I had ADHD. This was during covid. My career started shortly after.
A few months later, I hit the worst period of burnout in my life. I was so forgetful I was terrified I was developing early dementia, I took so many naps I was scared I had narcolepsy. I straight up did not see other cars when I was driving. I lost things frequently and I couldn’t keep up with laundry or dishes for the life of me. I was miserable.
Oh and my great new job? 8 hours a day at the computer, work from home. Trying to make myself get something done was almost physically painful. I just kept wandering away from my desk.
I was so distraught I finally mentioned it to my doctor. I had originally made the appointment for something else, but as our time ran out I decided to throw it out there.
I was worried she’d think I was stupid given how many people try to self diagnose via the internet, but I had really identified with a lot of content I saw online. She gave me a referral to see the psychiatrist.
I had heard a lot of stories about people who had to fight for their diagnosis, but my appointment with the psychiatrist was great. We just kinda talked for a bit about the symptoms I was experiencing and she was like “yup that’s adhd”.
She also said that she sees cases like me all the time, kids who do okay undiagnosed until they reach their tipping point and just completely fizzle out. Especially girls/women.
What medication do I take?
I’m on 30mg of Vyvanse now, while it has been life changing, there’s some side effects I’m going to bring up at my next appointment. I’m not sure if I’m on the right medication or dose.
To my understanding, medication should just make you feel like “you but more productive”, but I’m having problems with irritability and my husband accidentally let it slip that I’m “more fun” when I don’t take it, and he’s not wrong. Sometimes I miss my pre-vyvanse personality. He still supports me 100% though, medicated or unmedicated.
Anyways, if you made it this far thanks for reading. I don’t have access to a therapist so typing my experience here is kinda therapeutic.
#34
Inattentive ADHD. Got diagnosed at 54 and my life all suddenly made sense.
It was like riding a bike with a flat tire and wondering why peddling appeared to be so much easier for everyone else. Being told I’m sometimes too lazy or a dreamer, etc. Then learning at age 54 the existence of tire pumps and being able to keep up. Game changer.
Still annoys me that all along, this medication was available and could’ve helped decades ago.
#35
Sometimes getting tingly feet. I thought I was just worn out from the day or anxious. Nope, Multiple Sclerosis.
If you get numbness, fatigue, headaches that ibuprofen helps but not paracetamol, tingling in your hands or feet, off balance, forgetful, brain fog, please get checked out. Especially if you have ADHD as some of those symptoms can be written off as ADHD.
Edit: How I got diagnosed – all the symptoms I put down as something else; my ADHD, anxiety, having a toddler, getting older. This time last year I started having seizures (the pee your pants, jiggle on the floor type). The neurologist put me on anti-seizure meds thinking it was epilepsy while I waited to get an MRI. The MRI showed I have white matter lesions (basically scar tissue) in my temporal lobe that had become inflammed (temporal lobe is where most seizures come from). Seizures arent very common in MS but still a possibility. Confirmed with a lumbar puncture.
Find an MS checklist from a reputable website, fill it in and take it to your appointment.
#36
Slogging through life. I felt like everyday was like treading water. Turns out my thyroid gland wasn’t working well. I got on levothyroxine and within a day I realized “this is how people do things, holy s**t”. Life changing.
#37
Had a slightly sprained ankle that just blew up in a day and split the skin. Turns out, not a sprain but Pyoderma gangrenosum, a rare skin inflammation condition that acts like gangrene. Nobody could tell me what it was that made my ankle flesh explode.
Within a week they were talking to me about amputation. Then Nurse Molly came back from vacation and identified it as she’d seen it once before. Still have both my feet and nearly full mobility.
Grateful for teaching hospitals that draw professionals from all over like Nurse Molly ❤️.
#38
All of my life, I was the last person running in P.E. I could run, but not at the pace or the consistency of everyone else.
Anyway, every time I told someone that I got a burning can’t breathe feeling, they’d tell me I was “out of shape.” And “needed to train harder.” So I thought everyone gets this feeling, and I’m just being lazy.
Also, it seemed to p**s off middle-aged P.E. teachers, like I personally planned to challenge their authority?
I had coughing attacks at night once and went to the doctor to find out I’ve always had asthma.
#39
Feeling like you’re going to pass out/passing out every time you stand up, and getting a very intense headrush isn’t normal. Apparently I have low blood volume and was anemic. I no longer get the headrush because I got treated for anemia.
Edit: also having your tongue tingle when you’re not allergic to anything/havent even eaten anything apparently isn’t normal, but my doctor cant figure out the cause..
#40
For a couple of years, I sarcastically bragged about my ability to fall asleep anywhere within 5 minutes. Car rides, couches, book on my face, etc
Turned out it was sleep apnea
I felt SO good once I got treated for it, leveled out a lot and am so glad my husband had me get checked out when I was too tired to figure it out myself.
#41
Chest pains while running. I thought I was just out of shape!
Turns out I have an irregular heartbeat.
#42
Constant nausea in the mornings even if I’ve only had water to sip on. Nope, stomach ulcers due to stress and anxiety levels being through the roof for a sustained period of time. I would be at work 4 – 5am start and go and dry wretch over the loo a few times, people asked what’s up and I’d say “eh I’m just having the morning nausea” (I had it for years at this stage, and no, not preggers, no chance of that!). Wasn’t until one coworker was like “that isn’t normal but you seem like it is”, my dumb a*s was like “wait, you/normal people don’t get nausea often in the mornings?”. “Nope, go to your dr”.
One endoscopy later and I’m on medication and an altered diet. Rarely get them pesky ulcers now!
#43
Was always told periods are painful (ex: cramps). So for years I thought my incredibly debilitating period pain was me being a little b***h about it.
Turns out I have both PCOS and endometriosis and, of course, fertility issues. FML.
Edit : word.
#44
General stomach pain that I dismissed as perhaps constipation, but which would – every few years or so – send me to emergency worrying that it was my appendix. I was kicked out of emergency departments at different hospitals multiple times, because it was not.
I moved to a new city and was lucky enough to score a decent family doctor who took it seriously. She told me she was rather impressed with the amount of “referred pain” I was having and that I should go straight to emergency. I replied that there was not a hope in hell I would subject myself to that kind of humiliation again. No way.
She sent me for a CAT scan and lo and behold, it WAS my appendix. She referred me to a surgeon, and on the day of my surgery no one in the hospital seemed particularly interested in my condition, I think most of the medical staff thought I was having unnecessary surgery though, curiously, they were MUCH nicer to me afterward. I recall a lot of people standing over me in the recovery room.
The surgeon called me to come in for a meeting a couple of weeks later, and when I walked into his office he had an odd expression on his face. He told me my appendix was many times the normal size, probably because it had been infected and healed over the years, building up scar tissue. He asked me if I minded if he wrote it up in a medical paper or a textbook (I can’t remember exactly which – he taught at the university). I gather at the time “grumbling appendixes” were a bit of a unicorn and there had been much debate over whether they were real. So I guess my appendix settled that argument in the medical community once and for all.
#45
I’m likely not articulating correctly, but I thought my not going outside and fear of people was me just adjusting to living in a new country. Turns out I have CPTSD from my childhood. I’ve been living in the new country for a decade and if anything, I have gotten worse. A visit to my parents last year after many years away kind of “broke” me, in a sense, and long story short I am seeing a psychiatrist in a few months (he comes very highly recommended so there is a wait) to try and get this fixed.
To anyone reading who has kids and is living in domestic violence: this is one possible outcome. I don’t talk to my parents anymore. I know it’s hard to leave, but please think of your children and their well-being. If you can’t think of your children’s well-being, please consider whether you want a relationship with them when they’re adults.
#46
A painful toe that was a bit “weepy”.
It was aggressively ingrown and I had to have surgery under localized anaesthetic.
#47
Headaches, sinus congestion, brain fog, coughing…
I’m allergic to chemicals and fragrances.
#48
Burn-out.
I remember saying it was too much and just.. continuing. “Guess it was fine”
*he was in fact, not fine*
That moment when your psychosomatic issues get so extreme you can no longer leave the house. And recovery is so slowwwwwwwww…..
Still going through it. Doing much better than before but nowhere near good enough.
-infinite/10 experience, do not recommend. Take care, y’all, too much is too much.
#49
I just found out I had almost no sense of smell for most of my life. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, started taking the necessary medication and suddenly it’s a whole new world of scents across distances that I didn’t know was possible.
#50
My Doctor told me my calcium level was too high. I was like “So?”. Turns out that’s a sign of hyperparathyroidism. Which, oddly enough has nothing to do with the thyroid. Nope, the parathyroid is right behind the thyroid and has four little glands that control your calcium levels. Too high or too low and you’re super f****d up. Primary hyperparathyroidism is usually caused by a benign tumor on one (or more) of your parathyroid glands. The cure is surgery. The good news is after surgery you should have a laundry list of symptoms resolve. Google it, it’s wild. So if your doc says too much calcium, it is a thing. And I’m really not taking this lightly, some people have a really hard time being diagnosed. You need a good endocrinologist and primary care doctor. And then a good surgeon.
#51
Had a girlfriend ask about my “third testicle” which I had convinced myself was just always there. A couple years later I had a physical exam and the nurse casually asked when I was going to take care of that inguinal hernia. Oops.
#52
I was having another stressful argument in 2003 when I heard a ringing, my heart started beating fast, and I couldn’t understand speech nor speak myself. This was for around 30 sec.
I knew something was wrong and called the advice nurse. She laughed at me and told me I had a panic attack. No I didn’t.
Turns out it was a petit mal seizure. I know because I suddenly became epileptic at 27. I was told they didn’t know why, but now I realize it was stress induced.
#53
Coughing up blood. In my defense I was told a lot of blood was something to return to the hospital for, I guess I don’t know what constitutes a lot of blood. Was hemorrhaging into my lungs.
#54
Finally one I can answer!
Was diagnosed with a habit cough, but then I started developing intense pain in my legs when walking even short distances. I had blood work done, and my doctor told me to go to the ER immediately.
I got diagnosed with a blood clot in my heart, and blood clots in my legs, with heart failure and kidney failure. I had fluid around my heart, which explains the cough. I was 21 years old when this happened, and I’m 24 now. I’ll be on medication for the rest of my life that keeps my heart from failing again, and I’ll need a kidney transplant at some point in the future. My medical goal is to keep my kidneys functioning for as long as possible.
Turns out that sometimes a cough isn’t just a harmless tic.
#55
That weird lump on my neck that appeared out of no where was skin cancer. I’m now sitting here with 8 stitches waiting for the all clear from pathology ??.
#56
It was retroactive, but when I wore prescription glasses back when I was 24, the first thing I said was “people are supposed to see this?”
Everything looked like the sharpness meter on my vision was maxed out. I just kinda thought nobody could see details in things past 20 feet lol.
#57
I was on my grad trip and had really intense pain around my neck and shoulders. Over the course of two days my limbs lost sensation and for some reason I thought it was a trapped nerve in my neck ? It wasn’t until my face went into paralysis did I go to an ER and get diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome.