Get the facts you need to know to avoid illness, recognize symptoms, and treat common conditions with our medical mythbusters.
Myth: If you’re not having chest pain, it’s not a heart attack
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Although chest pain and pressure like there’s an elephant sitting on your chest is a common sign of a heart attack, it’s not the only one—especially for women. “Women are more likely to experience some atypical symptoms, such as shortness of breath, heartburn, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, and neck, back, or arm pain,” says Laxmi Mehta, MD, a cardiologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “These subtle symptoms can sometimes make it difficult for women to recognize that something may be wrong with their heart.” According to the American Heart Association, symptoms can even seem like the flu, and may lead women to delay getting treatment. One study showed that most of the women who’d had a heart attack didn’t recognize their symptoms, and noted that younger women with heart disease are more likely to die in the hospital as similarly-aged men. Watch out for these strange symptoms that can signal a serious disease.
Myth: Men are more likely to get heart attacks than women
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We tend to think of heart disease as a male problem—but it’s are the number one killer of both men and women. An American Heart Association survey found that most women don’t feel they have a personal risk for heart disease, which isn’t true. “Many women worry about ‘bikini medicine’—breast and reproductive health—as being their largest risk,” Dr. Mehta says. “Almost 400,000 deaths were attributed to cardiovascular disease and 41,000 to breast cancer in women in a recent publication from the American Heart Association using data from the CDC.” Myths about women and heart disease don’t just exist for patients—In the American Heart Association survey, providers focused more on women’s weight rather than other factors like high blood pressure or high cholesterol, which could cause some at-risk women to be overlooked.
Myth: You “know” when you have high blood pressure
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When we think of high blood pressure, we picture someone sweating and nervous with a flushed face. However, on its webpage of Blood Pressure Symptoms, The American Heart Association cheekily says: “If you are looking for a list of symptoms and signs of high blood pressure, you won’t find them here. This is because most of the time, there are none.” According to Dr. Ragvendra Baliga, a cardiologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, high blood pressure (hypertension) is called the “silent killer” because it usually doesn’t cause symptoms until there’s major damage to vital organs. “Uncontrolled hypertension can ultimately lead to serious damage such as stroke, heart failure, and kidney failure, so it is important to detect high blood pressure before it causes damage,” he says. Even if you feel fine, it’s important to see your doctor regularly to get your blood pressure checked.
Myth: You should tilt your head back when you get a nosebleed
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It’s almost a reflex to tilt your head back or recline to prevent blood from pouring out when you get a nosebleed—but doing so could actually be dangerous. “Do not lie down or tilt the head back, as this will increase risk of choking and swallowing blood,” says Erin Farrell, Nurse Manager, Emergency Services at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Swallowing blood during a nosebleed can also irritate the stomach and cause nausea, according to research. Instead, Farrell advices to blow your nose when bleeding starts, which may increase the flow initially but will clear the nasal passage. Then, “stand or sit while bending forward at the waist, and pinch the soft part of the nose, below the bony portion, on both sides for 10 minutes while leaning forward,” she says. Although most nosebleeds don’t require medical attention, seek care if you have other symptoms like dizziness or headache, or if you can’t breathe, it won’t stop gushing, or you’re on blood thinners.
Myth: You don’t need to take the full course of antibiotics if you’re feeling better
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It’s not always pleasant or convenient to take medicine, so once you start feeling better it’s tempting not to finish the full course of treatment. But not doing so could actually lead to you getting sick all over again. “Oftentimes we will begin to feel better before we have completely cleared a bacterial infection,” says James Dewar, MD, vice chairman of family medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Stopping the antibiotics too soon can allow the infection to rebound, as well as encourage the growth of bacteria that can better resist the antibiotic that was used.” The World Health Organization says research has been done on how long each antibiotic course should be to determine the shortest length possible, so you should follow your doctor’s prescription. You should ask your doctor these questions before taking antibiotics.
Myth: You should take antibiotics if you have a cold
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Our first instinct when we get sick is to want medicine to feel better, so it’s natural to head to the doctor for a prescription for antibiotics. But for the common cold, antibiotics will not actually work. “The vast majority of these infections are caused by viruses, and most are gone or almost gone in about two weeks,” Dr. Dewar says. “Common antibiotics like amoxicillin and azithromycin don’t inhibit viruses, so they don’t make colds go away any faster.” Research has shown that doctors continue to prescribe antibiotics for infections we know won’t respond, possibly because patients request them. But having lots of antibiotics breeds stronger, more deadly bacteria, so to avoid creating “superbugs” you should only take antibiotics for infections they’ll actually cure. “This leads to the old medical advice, ‘We can leave your cold alone and you’ll get better in 14 days, or you can take an antibiotic and feel better in two weeks,’” Dr. Dewar says.
Myth: Feed a cold; starve a fever
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The old adage that says you shouldn’t eat if you have a temperature could deprive you of essential nutrients and delay your recovery. Your body needs fuel to fight the infection, which is why your body’s temperature has gone up in the first place as it raises your metabolism to ward off the invaders. But, recent Yale research did find that not eating some foods in the case of a fever from a bacterial infection (but not viral) might actually be a good idea—mice who were fed protein and fats recovered, but feeding them glucose (i.e., sugar) hastened their death. Bottom line? Although you might feel a loss of appetite, eat healthy foods you can tolerate and stay hydrated.
Myth: You lose most body heat through your head
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This myth is likely based on misinterpreted info from 1950s science experiments, but it’s still good if it reminds you to wear a hat. However, that shouldn’t lead you to neglect wearing a jacket or long pants when it’s cold out either (as in the recent trend of young men wearing shorts in the winter!), especially since recent research has shown the myth to be untrue. “It appears that we lose heat fairly proportionately across our skin surface, so how much we lose from our heads depends on that,” Dr. Dewar says. “Children’s heads are in general much larger in proportion to the total body surface area, so children lose the most heat from their heads—probably about 30 percent, and adults a smaller percentage.”
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