Many people think that being able to eat, drink, run and dance is a sign of good health.
It is true that some illnesses have obvious symptoms, such as sneezing and a runny nose when you have a cold, or nausea and vomiting and diarrhoea when you have gastroenteritis.
But there are also some diseases that invade the body silently, with symptoms that are not so obvious, and can have unforeseen consequences whenever they break out.
What are the common silent diseases?
1. Adaptive hypertension
Adaptive hypertension is, as the name implies, a condition in which the patient easily adapts to chronically elevated blood pressure without any physical discomfort. However, this is an untimely bomb hidden in the body. Persistent hypertension can endanger cardiovascular health and even induce heart attacks, brain attacks, kidney failure or sudden death.
2. Hyperlipidaemia
When blood lipids such as triglycerides and cholesterol are elevated, over time, lipids are deposited on the walls of the blood vessels, making the otherwise smooth lumen of the blood vessels narrow and fragile, losing their elasticity, and thus triggering atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis predisposes to a variety of vascular diseases such as hypertension, acute heart or brain infarction and brain haemorrhage, as well as coronary heart disease and ischaemic bowel disease. Patients with hyperlipidaemia have almost no symptoms, but silently damage their health.
3. Fatty liver
More than half of the patients with fatty liver have no conscious symptoms and because they do not care, the disease develops further, even into cirrhosis. Fatty liver is related to obesity and alcohol abuse. Only by actively controlling weight and stopping drinking can liver function be restored.
4. Adenomatous polyps
Common polyps include gastric polyps, uterine polyps and colon polyps, as well as gallbladder polyps and bladder polyps. There are no symptoms in the early stages, but adenomatous polyps are precancerous and can develop into cancer if left unattended.
5. Cerebral haemangioma
Cerebral haemangioma is a congenital malformation of the blood vessels in the brain. The main symptom is an abnormal increase in blood vessels in a certain area of the skull. The first symptoms occur in people between the ages of 10 and 30 and are not felt until the symptoms appear. However, once the acute blood vessel ruptures, it can cause brain haemorrhage and then sudden death.
6. Early stage of breast and cervical cancer
Breast cancer is also the No. 1 killer among female tumours, and cervical cancer is second only to breast cancer in terms of incidence. Breast cancer and cervical cancer have almost no symptoms in the early stages. When nipple discharge or irregular vaginal bleeding occurs, the cancer is already in the middle to late stages and the best time for treatment is missed. Women need to have an annual mammogram to screen for breast cancer; try to get vaccinated against HPV and have an annual HPV and TCT screening.
7. Digestive diverticulum
Diverticula are congenital malformations, commonly found in the stomach and oesophagus, duodenal diverticula and colonic diverticula. There are no obvious symptoms at all in the early stages, but only when they are complicated by diverticulitis, tumour nodules or ulcers will there be pain in the lower abdomen.
8. Asymptomatic ulcer disease
In gastroduodenal ulcers, there is no nausea or vomiting, heartburn or abdominal pain, or discomfort in the upper abdomen. As the disease progresses, it can cause bleeding or perforation of the gastrointestinal tract, which can lead to an acute abdomen. If the ulcer persists for more than three months without being cured, it may turn into stomach cancer.
Warm Tips
Being asymptomatic does not mean that you are free of disease, but you should not be in a constant state of worry either. The average person can go to the hospital once a year for a comprehensive medical check-up to detect any hidden diseases in their body. It is also important to look out for unusual symptoms and not to delay or take any chances.
