Careful! Scary health news can be harmful to your health

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A powerful story is hard to ignore. In fact, we’re biologically wired to respond to storytelling. But it’s important not to let a good story get in the way of good health decisions.

Consider three recent news stories about people with common symptoms, each of whom turned out to have a serious condition.

A young mother has tried to ignore her headaches for months. She mentions them to a friend — a nurse — who convinces her to see her doctor. Soon, she has a CT scan and is discovered to have a brain tumor.

A man who works long days at the airport as a baggage handler notices increasingly severe low back pain. He figures his pain is due to his work and treats it with a heating pad and ibuprofen. When the pain becomes so bad he begins to miss work, he sees his doctor, who orders an MRI. It shows a fracture in his spine.

A woman has been taking care of her two young grandchildren while their parents are on vacation. She experiences episodes of palpitations, as if her heart were racing. She assumes it’s because she’s been running around with the toddlers all day. When she nearly faints, she sees her doctor. It turns out she has atrial fibrillation and a blood clot on her heart valve that could cause a stroke at any moment.

The core of each story is instantly relatable: a previously healthy person develops symptoms so common that most readers will have had them. Each downplays the problem at first, attributing symptoms to other, quite plausible, causes. They finally seek care after reaching a tipping point. In the end, a serious condition is found.

Coronavirus COVID-19 Resource Center

While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage in parts of the world, it is slowly retreating in the U.S. There are now three FDA-authorized vaccines, including one for children as young as 12. The vaccines are proving to be nearly as effective in the real world as they were in clinical trials. The CDC has relaxed some prevention measures, particularly for people who are fully vaccinated, and especially outdoors. Meanwhile, scientists continue to explore treatments and to keep an eye on viral variants.