Bleeding

Symptoms:

• Vomiting along with blood
• Blood in urine
• Coughing up blood
• Dark black stool
• Bleeding from serious cuts or wounds
• Bleeding from blunt traumatic injuries due to accidents
• Significant vaginal bleeding

Blood carries oxygen and other essential substances to organs and tissues. When heavy bleeding occurs, there is not enough blood in circulation for the heart to be an effective pump. Once the body loses these substances faster than it can replace them, organs in the body begin to shut down and the symptoms of shock occur. Blood pressure begins to fall at high speed, which can be life-threatening. When a person loses more than 20 percent (one-fifth) of his body's blood, due to severe bleeding, a life-threatening condition, known as hypovolemic shock or hemorrhagic shock occurs in the body. This condition requires immediate emergency medical attention.

Constipation

Symptoms:

• Passing fewer than three stools a week
• Having lumpy or hard stools
• Straining to have bowel movements
• Feeling as if there's a blockage in your rectum that prevents bowel movements
• Sensation of incomplete evacuation
• Needing help to empty rectum, such as using your hands to press on your abdomen and using a finger to remove stool from your rectum

Chronic constipation can result in all major colorectal disorders starting with enlarged hemorrhoids and ending up with colorectal cancer. A colon is designed by nature to hold a few pounds of feces in transit. When a person gets constipated, the colon may be holding 10, 20 or more lbs. These large, heavy stools enlarge and stretch out the colon, irritate the colon mucosa, harm the anal canal, and may produce toxins related to fermentation and rotting. Constipation affects genitourinary health, particularly for women, because the large intestine and the female reproductive organs reside in close proximity. Constipation causes undue pressure on the uterus results in rectal prolapsed inside the vagina, which can cause fecal incontinence to miscarriage from straining, and numerous other serious problems. Chronic constipation strips the large intestine from its thinning, mucosal membrane, and causes flat lesions and polyps that eventually transform into colon cancer.

Diarrhoea

Symptoms:

• Having at least three loose or liquid bowel movements in a day
• Abdominal pain/cramps
• Urgency to go to the toilet
• Frequent passing of loose watery stool
• Blood or pus in stool
• Painful passage of stool
• Repeated vomiting
• Inability to increase fluid intake
• Decreased or absent urination
• Fever

Chronic diarrhea can cause effects in the body that can be serious and life-threatening such as dehydration the condition that occurs when the body lacks enough fluid to function properly. If left untreated, dehydration can become serious. Acute dehydration can be life threatening to babies and young children. This is because their smaller bodies are more vulnerable to dehydration, they seek medical attention urgently.

The colon is the part of the large intestine between the cecum and the rectum and absorbs excess fluids from the partially digested food as it passes through the digestive tract. When the intestines fail to absorb fluids, electrolytes, or minerals, remain in the stool they are flushed out in the diarrhea. The body requires the right balance of electrolytes to maintain the normal functioning of the body and support organ functions and help in muscle actions, according to MedLine plus and the National Institutes of Health.

Burns

Burns are a type of painful wound caused by thermal, electrical, chemical, or electromagnetic energy. Smoking and open flame are the leading causes of burn injury for older adults.

Symptoms:

• Redness of the skin
• Dry and painful burns
• Wet and painful burns
• Burns affecting subcutaneous tissue, tendon or bone
• Cellulites
• Clouded cornea

A severe burn can be a seriously devastating injury -- not only physically but emotionally. Persons with severe burns may be left with a loss of certain physical abilities, including loss of limb(s), disfigurement, loss of mobility, scarring, and recurrent infections because the burned skin has decreased ability to fight infection. In addition, severe burns can penetrate deep skin layers, causing muscle or tissue damage that may affect every system of the body.

Burns can also cause emotional problems such as depression, nightmares, or flashbacks from the traumatizing event.

Snake bite

Symptoms:

• Two puncture wounds
• Swelling and redness around the wound
• Pain at the bite site
• Difficulty breathing
• Vomiting and nausea
• Blurred vision
• Sweating and salivating
• Numbness in face and limbs

The most important thing to do in case of a snake bite is to get emergency medical help as soon as possible. Identification of the snake as venomous or non-venomous should not be used as criteria whether to seek medical care. If someone can identify the type of snake, a call to the emergency department will help the staff prepare for quick treatment with antivenin, if needed. If left untreated, the symptoms will get more complex and even death can occur also.

Drowning

Drowning is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid.

Symptoms:

• Physical evidence of submersion or immersion
• Difficulty breathing
• Wheezing
• Cough
• Vomiting
• Abdominal distension
• Bluish coloration of the skin

During drowning the body is deprived of oxygen, which can damages organs, particularly the brain and the lungs. Some people who are revived after prolonged submersion have permanent brain damage because of the lack of oxygen. People who inhale foreign particles may develop secondary drowning, with aspiration pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome, causing prolonged difficulty breathing. Such difficulty breathing may not become severe or even apparent until hours after being removed from the water. People who drown in cold water often have hypothermia.

Electric shock

Electrical injuries may be caused by exposure to natural lightning or electricity in the home or workplace. Electrical injury includes electrocution, electric shock, burns, and secondary injuries.

Symptoms:

• Loss of consciousness
• Rapid heart beat
• Low blood pressure
• Burns
• Physical injuries
• Confusion
• Paralysis

Shocks can give rise to burns. Electric shocks of higher voltage can give rise to internal burns, which can result in organ failure and even death. An electric shock can interfere with the nervous control especially on the heart, lungs. When a small current is passed through the chest, it can result in ventricular fibrillation. If this is not treated immediately by defibrillation, it can be lethal as the heart muscle cells start moving independently.

Convulsion (Fit/Seizures)

A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain. It can cause changes in a person’s behavior, movements or feelings, and in levels of consciousness. If a person have two or more seizures, or a tendency to have recurrent seizures, the person may have epilepsy.

Symptoms:

• Temporary confusion
• A staring spell
• Uncontrollable jerking movements of arms and legs
• Loss of consciousness or awareness
• Cognitive or emotional symptoms, such as fear, anxiety etc.

Having a seizure at certain times, can lead to circumstances that can be dangerous for the patient. He /she might be at risk of:

• Falling
• Drowning
• Car accidents
• Pregnancy complications
• Emotional health issue

High fever

A fever is a temporary increase in body temperature, often due to an infection or any other illness. Having a fever is a sign that something abnormal is going on in body. A fever may be uncomfortable for a person but generally is not a cause of concern unless it reaches 103 F (39.4 C) or higher.

Symptoms:

• Sweating
• Chills and shivering
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Loss of appetite
• Irritability
• Dehydration
• General weakness

Children are much more sensitive to fever. If a child is younger than 3 months, and having even slightly elevated temperature, it should be taken seriously. For older babies and kids, having a temperature higher than 101 F (38.3 C), refuses to have water or food, and becomes more irritable than usual, see the doctor immediately. For adults, if at any point of time, your body temperature is more than 103 F (39.4 C), and lasts longer than 3 days, see the doctor immediately.

Vomiting

Forceful and involuntary ejection of the stomach's content through the mouth or sometimes nose.

Vomiting can associated with:

• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Fever
• Dizziness
• Dry mouth
• Sweating
• Rapid pulse
• Vomiting with blood

Severe vomiting can cause serious and life-threatening effects such as dehydration (the condition that occurs when the body lacks enough fluid to function properly). If left untreated, dehydration can become serious. Acute dehydration can be life threatening to babies and young children. This is because their smaller bodies are more vulnerable to dehydration, they seek medical attention urgently.

Sting

A sting from a bee can be quite painful. In most cases, bee sting can be just annoying, but if the person is allergic to bee sting, or having multiple stings, then the condition may gets serious, and it requires emergency treatment.

Symptoms:

• An instant, sharp, burning pain at the sting site
• Red and swollen area around the sting site
• Breathing problems
• Swollen throat and tongue
• Weak and rapid pulse
• Dizziness

If you have any serious symptom like paleness, nausea and vomiting, breathing trouble, weak and rapid pulse then you should immediately seek medical help.

Foreign body

In medical terms, a foreign body is something that is in the body currently but does not belong there. Either they are inserted in the body or they are swallowed. They can stuck in any part of the body such as ear, eye, nose, throat, airway etc.

Symptoms:

Symptoms of a foreign body depends on the location of the object, such as

• Pain, discomfort
• Nasal drainage : If the object is inserted into the nose, then nasal drainage may occur
• Choking: if the object is stuck in the throat
• Breathing problems: an object in the airway can cause breathing problems

If the object is stuck in the airway, then it can be a potential life threatening condition.

Pain

Pain is an unpleasant sensation that ranges from mild, localized discomfort to severe, sharp, burning pain.

Pain cane be of several types, such as:

• Acute pain: acute pain results from tissue damage such as broken bone or a skin burn. Acute pain can also be associated with headaches or muscle cramps. This type of pain usually goes away as the injury heals, or the cause of the pain is removed
• Chronic pain: chronic pain refers to the pain that persists even after the injury heals, such as cancer pain, pain related to a persistent or degenerative disease, and long term pain from an unidentifiable cause.

Pains such as abdominal pain or chest pain are serious medical conditions that always require emergency medical intervention.

Trauma

Trauma is any physical injury caused by an external source.

Trauma can be of different types, such as:

• Injury to any part of the body
• Burns
• Cuts
• Bruises
• Fall

Trauma can be either blunt force trauma (where object or force strikes the body, often causing unconsciousness, broken bones or deep cuts) or penetrating trauma (when an object pierces skin or body, usually creating an open wound). Both type of trauma causes inflammation of the soft tissue, blood loss and other serious complications, which can further lead to secondary infection, sepsis and other life threatening events. So any type pf trauma need emergency medical treatment.