6 Unexpected Symptoms Women Shouldn't Ignore
Your body can send out all kinds of signals when something's amiss. Here are the ones you probably didn't know you should pay attention to.
By Emma Haak
Your symptom: Changes in vision.
Best-case scenario: If your gadget screens are causing you problems, it's likely just normal age-related vision issues. Most people start to have difficulty seeing at close distances starting in their early to mid-40s, according to the American Optometric Association.
Why it could be more serious: A sudden, painless loss of peripheral vision could be a sign of a stroke, says Emily Graubart, MD, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Emory Eye Center. Women are at greater risk of stroke than men, and strokes are not an old person's problem: Between 1988 and 2004, stroke rates among women 35 to 54 years old tripled. Keep tabs on your floaters too. A small, occasional floater a few times a week is normal, but large, frequent ones, especially if they're associated with flashing lights, can mean you're at risk of a retinal detachment, which can lead to permanent vision loss if you don't treat it fast enough. A study in JAMA found that 14 percent of people who saw an ophthalmologist for floaters or flashing lights were experiencing a retinal detachment.
Published 09/27/2016