Doctors say that this one sentence from a patient can almost always guarantee a serious ailment

With the changing times, the study and treatment of illnesses have changed. However, there is one trend doctors have noticed that's remained constant. Some doctors believe there is one sentence they hear from patients that hints that something is seriously wrong. They took to both Reddit and Twitter to share that this is one of the major warning signs, often expressed in sentences they hear from patients who are not doing well. u/Majorpain2006 said the sentence is a "clinical pearl" and comes from most male patients with serious ailments.

Surprisingly, the sentence is not related to medicine at all. Instead, it is: "I feel fine, but my wife made me come in." Many took to the Reddit post to talk about how accurate this was. "Every time. MI and cancer being the most common diagnoses, in my experience," wrote u/Aiurar. "I've actually gotten, 'My wife says I have chest pain' before," added u/MoobyTheGoldenSock. "Last week was the last time I questioned a mother's intuition. She said her college-aged child with no preexisting conditions just seemed to be off. The child showed no signs of depression or suicidal ideation and just as we were about to discharge them he stroked," shared a Reddit user. "The 'no past medical history' usually means 'I have not sought advice from any healthcare professional in 25 years,'" pointed out u/ispyapoppet.

Another post by ER doctor Sam Ghali, M.D (@EM_RESUS) on X also solidifies that men should listen to their wives when asked to see a medical professional regularly. He wrote, "Just a reminder that when a patient says, 'I feel like I'm gonna die,' they are about to code until proven otherwise. Trust me on this one." People in the comments shared their experiences. @Belladachs shared, "Can confirm. Been there and croaked it. Came back, thanks to the wonderful medical staff. They also appreciated the heads-up."

@cuervo_133 added, "We see it a lot in prehospital. If the patient says he feels he is going to die, you better get your ALS equipment ready, your pads out and start thinking in your Hs and Ts. Because it's about to get messy." @KentMcCannMD said, "'Uh oh, something just happened' or 'I feel weird' have been pretty strong positive predictors of badness for me as well." @RNGebhardt chimed in, "This is a big sign for nurses when a patient says they're having chest pain. Usually, if it's not followed with impending doom there is time. If not, better grab that crash cart!"

According to a 2022 Cleveland Clinic survey, more than 55% of men don't see their doctors for regular health screenings. Orlando Health reports that a third of men don't go to the doctor at all. "Boys often have their medical appointments scheduled for them by their parents, whereas a lot of females start going to additional appointments [to the gynecologist] in the teenage years or young adult years, so they often grow up interacting with doctors more than males," said Darren D. Moore, PhD, a licensed marriage and family therapist, per Innerbody.