Signs and symptoms

A nurse's organized gathering of information about a client's pain: where it is, how bad it is, what it feels like and what changes it.

Skin or mucous membranes that look paler than is normal for that person.

The feeling of your own heartbeat as pounding, racing, fluttering or skipping.

A sudden wave of intense fear that peaks within minutes.

A small, solid, raised bump on the skin, less than 1 cm across, with no fluid inside.

Loss of the ability to move a part of the body, and sometimes loss of feeling in it.

Effects of a cancer far from the tumor itself, caused by hormones or other substances the tumor makes or by antibodies the body makes against it.

Partial paralysis: muscle weakness or an incomplete loss of movement.

An abnormal feeling in the skin, such as tingling, prickling or "pins and needles," with nothing touching it.

Lines of tiny red spots in skin creases, such as the inner elbow and armpit, that do not fade when pressed.

An injury whose shape shows the outline of the object that caused it, such as a hand, a belt or a cord.

Redness of the face and swelling of the neck veins that appear when a person raises both arms above the head for about a minute.

Around the mouth.

Damage to the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, most often in the feet and hands.

Tiny flat red or purple dots on the skin from small amounts of bleeding under the surface.

Discomfort or pain in the eyes caused by light; sensitivity to light.

A rhythmic tremor in which the thumb rubs back and forth against the fingers, as if rolling a small pill.

Swelling in which pressing a finger into the skin leaves a dent that stays for a while after the finger is lifted.

Relating to the pleura, the thin lining around the lungs; most often describes chest pain that worsens with breathing.

Sharp chest pain that gets worse with a deep breath, coughing or sneezing.

The inability to keep a steady temperature, so the body or a body part takes on the temperature around it.

Extreme thirst, with drinking much more fluid than usual.

Passing an abnormally large amount of urine, usually more than about 2.5 to 3 liters a day in an adult.

Postoperative nausea and vomiting: nausea, retching or vomiting after surgery and anesthesia.

Abnormally high blood pressure in the portal vein system that carries blood from the gut and spleen to the liver, most often caused by cirrhosis.

A mental health condition that develops after a person lives through or sees a terrifying event.

Relating to the early stage of a disease, when vague warning symptoms such as tiredness, a mild fever and aches come before the full illness.

A cough that brings up mucus or sputum from the lungs.

More protein in the urine than normal.

Itching of the skin.

A collection of blood outside a hole through the whole artery wall, held in only by the tissue around it.

Lower abdominal pain when the right thigh is stretched backward or lifted against resistance.

A fleshy, triangular growth of conjunctiva that spreads from the inner corner of the eye onto the cornea.

A buildup of fluid in the air sacs and tissues of the lungs.

The difference between the systolic and the diastolic blood pressure.

The absence of a pulse that can be felt.

A fall of more than 10 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure during breathing in.

Purple or red-brown patches on the skin caused by bleeding under the skin, which do not fade when pressed.

Containing or made of pus: thick, cloudy fluid that may be yellow, green, tan or brown.

Thick fluid made of white blood cells, dead tissue and germs that collects at a site of infection.

A small raised bump on the skin filled with pus.