More likely cause: Your body is telling you to drink more water. If you exercise frequently, you need extra fluid to make up for what you lose through sweat. Dry, overheated air and some medications, including diuretics, can also make you unusually thirsty.
Reality check: “Unless you're thirsty all the time and you urinate frequently, increased thirst doesn’t necessarily suggest diabetes,” says endocrinologist Larry Deeb, the medical director of the Diabetes Center at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, in Florida. Other symptoms of type 2 diabetes include extreme hunger, unusual weight loss, fatigue, irritability, and blurry vision.
Alarmist scenario: Breast cancer.
More likely cause: Fluctuating levels of hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, which can cause breast cells to expand in the latter part of the menstrual cycle.
Reality check: “Breast pain, in isolation, is almost never cancer,” says oncologist Richard Elledge, an associate professor of medicine at the Breast Center at the Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston. “You don’t need to worry,” he says, “unless you have symptoms, such as new lumps, that don’t come and go with menstruation; changes in the color or some other appearance of the skin over the breasts; or bloody discharge from the nipples.”
Alarmist scenario: Lung cancer or emphysema.
More likely cause: A cold, acute bronchitis, postnasal drip from a cold or allergies, or acid reflux.
Reality check: “Symptoms of lung cancer do not come on suddenly,” says pulmonologist Norman H. Edelman, the chief medical officer for the American Lung Association. “Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancers, so if you don’t smoke, your risk is low.” Smoking is also the leading cause of emphysema.
Chronic Headaches
Alarmist scenario: A brain tumor.
More likely cause: A tension headache or a migraine.
Reality check: “Headaches alone don’t make me look for a brain tumor,” says neurologist MaryAnn Mays, a staff physician at the Headache Center at the Cleveland Clinic. A brain tumor would typically involve symptoms such as sudden muscle weakness, headaches that wake you from sleep, numbness, personality changes, lack of coordination, vomiting, and changes in vision, hearing, and speech.
Alarmist scenario: A heart attack.
More likely cause: Muscle strain following exercise or heavy lifting, gastric reflux, heartburn, soreness that results from a bad cough, or lung irritation from an upper-respiratory infection.
Reality check: Heart attacks are relatively rare in people under the age of 45. The average age among women for a first heart attack is 70.
Alarmist scenario: The beginnings of baldness.
More likely cause: Stress, pregnancy (typically about three months after giving birth), medications (including birth-control pills and antidepressants), or being over 40.
Reality check: “Although hair loss is a common complaint, for women under 50 it’s often likely to be temporary and due to stress or medications,” says endocrinologist Gregory Brent, a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
More likely cause: A harmless mole, a seborrheic keratosis (a wartlike growth common in people over 40), or an age spot.
Reality check: Skin is constantly changing, in part due to sun exposure. Many changes are harmless, but “if you’re over 30, take new moles seriously,” says Deborah Sarnoff, M.D., a professor of dermatology at the New York University School of Medicine.
Alarmist scenario: Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
More likely cause: Fatigue, stress, or depression; certain medications, including antidepressants and sedatives; or chronic multitasking.
Reality check: “Fewer than 5 percent of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease are under 65,” says geriatrician Laurel Coleman, a spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Association. The rare early-onset variation has a strong genetic link. Memory loss that’s a cause for concern affects job performance, makes day-to-day tasks difficult, diminishes language skills, and causes changes in mood or behavior.
Alarmist scenario: An ulcer or stomach cancer.
More likely cause: Gas or acid reflux.
Reality check: “Most occasional abdominal pain doesn’t have an underlying cause,” says gastroenterologist Carol Burke, the director of the Center for Colon Polyp and Cancer Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic. While ulcers are fairly common, affecting one in ten Americans, they involve additional symptoms, including weight loss, burping, nausea, vomiting, and bloating. Stomach cancer is rare (primarily affecting men older than 72) and usually accompanied by nausea, weight loss, gastrointestinal bleeding, and bloating.
Light-Headedness
Alarmist scenario: A stroke.
More likely cause: Low blood sugar, an irregular heartbeat, stress, a cold, or the flu.
Reality check: “In an otherwise healthy person who is not also having heart palpitations, light-headedness is not likely to suggest a stroke,” says Stein. While people of all ages can have strokes, those over the age of 65 suffer two-thirds of them.
Alarmist scenario: Chronic fatigue syndrome.
More likely cause: Anemia, a thyroid disorder, depression, stress, or insomnia.
Reality check: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about 1 million people in the United States have chronic fatigue syndrome, making it fairly uncommon. Signs may include frequent headaches, flu-like symptoms, a sore throat, tender lymph nodes, extreme fatigue following mental or physical exertion, muscle and joint pain, and the inability to concentrate.
Joint Pain
Alarmist scenario: Rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.
More likely cause: Says rheumatologist Patience White, the chief public health officer for the Arthritis Foundation, “There are three main possibilities: osteoarthritis, which is related to age and injuries; an overuse injury, like bursitis, tendinitis, or ligament pain; and referred pain, meaning you have a problem in a place [say, your back] other than the joint that hurts—perhaps your knee.”
Reality check: Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus disproportionately affect women but are still relatively rare.
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