Health Blog
Written by Dr. Heo Ji-young. Each piece takes a single symptom and follows what is actually happening in the body.
The Child Who Will Not Eat, the Child Who Will Not Grow
A child who starts pushing the bowl away once they pass their first birthday — can they really grow well when they are eating like this? The two worries arrive in a single sentence, but they are not the same question. It is not that eating less makes them grow less; rather, growth slows down first, and appetite falls along with it. The answer lies not in a single meal but in the growth curve. If a child struggles to swallow, vomits repeatedly, or is losing weight, that calls for a separate check first.
In Puberty, the New Things Arrive on Their Own Schedules
Acne, a new smell to the laundry, a few days of cramps every month — why do so many new things that were not there a year or two ago all seem to arrive at once? In fact, they do not. The adrenal glands switch on years before the gonads do, and menstrual cramps tend to arrive a year or two after the first period, not with it. Puberty is not a single switch flipped all at once. If a tic begins suddenly together with other neurological symptoms, a pediatric neurologist comes first; if menstrual cramps are severe enough to keep a child home from school every month, a gynecologist comes first.
A Child's Sleep Differs From an Adult's
A baby who sleeps soundly in your arms but wakes the moment you set them down, and a teenager who cannot get up even after ten wake-up calls each morning — why are two such opposite-looking pictures actually the same story? The doorway into sleep, and the rules for when drowsiness arrives, are rebuilt at every age. It is not because you do not know how to lay the baby down, and it is not because the teenager is lazy. If snoring comes with breath-holding, or a child is listless during the day despite getting enough sleep, a sleep study comes first.
The Cycle Is a Wave, Not a Number
Your morning temperature reads 36.4°C one day and 36.7°C a few days later — why is the same number ordinary on one day and telling you something on another? In a woman's body, the question of “where in the cycle was this measured” comes before the question of “is this within the normal range.” A period that has not come for more than three months, a sudden increase in flow, or bleeding unrelated to the cycle should be checked by a gynecologist first.
Period Pain Is Not Just That One Day
Two or three days a month, days you learn to leave open in advance — why do they hurt? What breaks down on that day is not made on that day. It is built up over the preceding twenty days, and however the body has been during that time rests on that day. If the pain grows heavier year after year, if it hurts on days that are not your period, or if painkillers stop working, a gynecological exam should come first.
They Say You Change Before Your Period
For a few days before your period, your sleep grows lighter, sounds feel louder, and your voice rises before you mean it to — is that just your personality? If it were your true nature, it would have no reason to come and go with the calendar. It is a stretch of days when a substance that had been holding signals down in the brain withdraws. If these days continue all month regardless of the cycle, or are hard enough to shake your work and relationships, this is not something to endure alone.
If the Lower Belly Always Feels Pressed
Heavy, pressed, as if something is about to drop — but several exams turned up nothing in particular. Where does this weight come from? Sensation from inside the body naturally arrives spread out and hard to pin down. The key that sorts it out is not how it feels but when — whether it is tied to the day or tied to the month. If the belly visibly swells or urination changes markedly, a gynecological visit should come first.
What Remains After the Bleeding
After childbirth, people count the days — three weeks, a hundred days — so why does the monthly period get no count of days at all? Looked at as what the body is doing, both are the same work: filling back what went out. The bleeding itself is over in a few days, but refilling continues long after — hemoglobin can read normal while stored iron is still down. If a period lasts more than seven days or comes on in a flood, a gynecological check should come first.
Pain Comes From Conditions, Not Just Tissue
Some days you can put your shoes on without a thought; other days you cannot bend at the waist. Did the disc really change in those few days? If the shape looks the same as yesterday but the pain does not, what changed was not the tissue but the conditions the tissue was sitting in. Sleep, hunger, cold, and pressure all shift the threshold for pain. If the pain wakes you at night, or comes with weakness or numbness, get it checked first.
They Said the Joint Has Worn Down
“Your cartilage has worn down a lot” — so why is it that some people whose X-rays look bad feel no pain, while others whose X-rays look fine have been hurting for years? Cartilage has no pain nerves, so the tissue an X-ray measures and the tissue that generates pain are not the same. That sentence only tells you about the cartilage. If a joint swells and grows hot overnight, or chills come with it, see a doctor first.
I Ask When It Hurts
A knee that hurts only going down stairs, and a knee that hurts even lying still — both get called “my knee hurts,” so why do I look at different things next? Whether it is stiff in the morning, comes with meals, appears on touch, or shows up with a particular motion — the “when” is what divides the branches. If the pain grows worse every day and is enough to wake you at night, see a doctor and get it checked first.
Weak Strength Is Also the Body's Doing
“My thigh just melted away, I have no strength in it” — but could that really happen within days of an injury? If the muscle has not had time to shrink and yet the strength is gone, the signal to the muscle may be suppressed by the joint's own irritation (arthrogenic muscle inhibition). Willpower alone will not bring it back. If a joint swells sharply or turns hot and red right after an injury, get the joint checked first.