5 Health Warnings You Should Never Ignore: Pay Attention to a Few Early Symptoms Before It’s Too Late

Here are five health warnings you should never ignore — because there's a chance they could point to more serious health concerns.

“[If] you're feeling like the room is spinning or you are going to pass out,” said the experts at NYU Langone Health, “this can be due to a slow or fast heart rhythm and can indicate that your heart's electrical system is not firing properly.” Dizziness is also related to several other health issues, including diabetes and thyroid disease.

The Mayo Clinic notes: “Strenuous exercise, extreme temperatures, obesity and high altitude can all cause shortness of breath. [But it] also could be a sign of another health problem, [including] chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia or a blood clot."

“An unexplained drop in weight could indicate overactive thyroid, diabetes, depression or liver disease, among other things,” said doctors at Houston Methodist Hospital. “As a general rule of thumb, if you've lost more than 10% of your body weight in the past six months (and you're not obese), make it an appointment with your doctor.”

“All too often, people don't take chest pain seriously and talk it up to indigestion,” explained the folks with San Diego's Scripps Health. “But don't ignore our chest pain if it persists for more than a few minutes, is recurring or is accompanied by sweating or nausea. This constellation of symptoms could indicate an issue with your heart.”

Per Johns Hopkins Medicine: “This isn't fatigue similar to how you feel after a long day of work or play. Extreme fatigue that doesn't get better with rest can be an early sign of cancer. Cancer uses your body's nutrients to grow and advance, so those nutrients are no longer replenishing your body. This ‘nutrient theft’ can make you feel extremely tired.”