A symptom (from Greek σύμπτωμα) is a manifestation of a disease, indicating the nature of the disease, which is noticed by the patient. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly This may be contrasted to signs which are observed by a medical practitioner. A Sign is an indication of some fact or quality and a medical sign is an objective indication of some medical fact or quality that is detected by a Physician A symptom is subjective,[1] observed by the patient,[2] and not measured. [3]
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Loose definition
A symptom may loosely be said to be a physical condition which indicates a particular illness or disorder. [4]
A given phenomenon, such as a gash, can be both a symptom and a sign-- it is a symptom when observed by the patient, and a sign when observed by the phycisian, as explained in below. A Sign is an indication of some fact or quality and a medical sign is an objective indication of some medical fact or quality that is detected by a Physician
Possible causes of a symptom
Some symptoms, such as nausea, occur in a wide range of disease processes, whereas other symptoms are fairly specific for a narrow range of illnesses. Nausea ( Latin: Nausea, Greek:, " Sea-sickness " also called wamble) is the sensation of unease and discomfort For example, a sudden loss of sight in one eye has a significantly smaller number of possible causes. Eyes are organs that detect Light, and send signals along the Optic nerve to the visual areas of the brain
Misleading symptoms
Some symptoms can be misleading to the patient or the medical practitioner caring for them. For example, inflammation of the gallbladder often gives rise to pain in the right shoulder, which may understandably lead the patient to attribute the pain to a non-abdominal cause such as muscle strain, rather than the real cause. Cholecystitis is Inflammation of the Gall bladder. Causes and pathology Cholecystitis is often caused by Cholelithiasis (the presence of A strain is an Injury to a Muscle in which the Muscle fibers tear as a result of overstretching.
Symptoms and diagnosis
The terms chief complaint, presenting symptom, or presenting complaint is used to describe the initial concern which brings a patient to a doctor. A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health The symptom that leads to a diagnosis is called a cardinal symptom. Diagnosis is the identification by Process of elimination, of the nature of anything
Symptom vs sign
A symptom can more simply be defined as any feature which is noticed by the patient. A sign is noticed by the doctor or others. It is not necessarily the nature of the sign or symptom which defines it, but who observes it.
The same feature may be noticed by both doctor and patient, and so is at once both a sign and a symptom. A sign or a symptom may be one, the other, or both, depending on the observer(s).
Some features, such as pain, can only be symptoms. A doctor cannot feel a patient's pain. Others can only be signs, such as a blood cell count measured by a doctor or a laboratory. A complete blood count ( CBC) also known as full blood count ( FBC) or full blood exam ( FBE) or blood panel, is A laboratory (informally lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific Research, Experiments and
Engineering definition
In engineering, symptom may be used to refer to an undesired effect occurring in a system. Engineering is the Discipline and Profession of applying technical and scientific Knowledge and To eliminate the effect, a root cause analysis is performed which traces the symptom to its cause and again through the cause's cause and so on until the subsystem is identified that can be changed to eliminate the symptom. Root cause analysis ( RCA) is a class of Problem solving methods aimed at identifying the Root causes of problems or events
Course
Symptoms may be constantly present (chronic symptoms), may come and go (relapsing and remitting), progressively become worse or progressively become better (convalescence). A relapse (etymologically "who falls again" occurs when a person is affected again by a condition that affected them in the past Remission is the state of absence of Disease activity in patients with known Chronic illness. Convalescence is the gradual recovery of Health and strength after Illness.
Constitutional Symptoms
Also called general symptoms, constitutional symptoms are those that are related to the systemic effects of a disease (e. g. , fever, malaise, anorexia, weight loss). They affect the entire body rather than a specific organ or location.
See also
- Category:Symptoms
- List of medical symptoms
- Diagnosis
- Disease
- Pathogenesis
- Symptomatic treatment
References
- ^ Pathology - Glossary
- ^ eMedicine/Stedman Medical Dictionary Lookup!
- ^ Devroede G (1992). Medical Symptoms are complaints which indicate disease They are noticed by the patient and cause people to go and see a health practitioner Diagnosis is the identification by Process of elimination, of the nature of anything A disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions and can be deadly Lists of Diseases by name 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K A list of types of Disorders A Adenoid disorders Adrenal disorders Allergic disorders The term pathogenesis means step by step development of a disease due to a series of changes in the structure and /or function of a cell/tissue/organ being caused by a microbial, chemical or physical Symptomatic treatment is any medical therapy of a Disease that only affects its Symptoms not its cause i "Constipation--a sign of a disease to be treated surgically, or a symptom to be deciphered as nonverbal communication?". J. Clin. Gastroenterol. 15 (3): 189–91. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins is an academic and professional medical publisher founded in 1792 and now a part of the Wolters Kluwer group PMID 1479160.
- ^ Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995). Third edition.
Dictionary
symptom
-noun
- Anything that indicates, or is characteristic of, the presence of something else; especially a perceived change
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