If you run to WebMD every time you break a sweat, it may be time for you to take a step away from the symptom checker. Chances are, you’re not dying.
But if you’re unsure what symptoms are sickness and which ones are just being a person, here’s a list of things that you definitely don’t need to worry about.
- Trembling hands. If your hands shake when you raise your water bottle to your lips or pick something up off your desk, there’s no need to panic. There’s a big difference between hands trembling during activity or heightened emotional states and hands trembling when you’re otherwise relaxed. These activity tremors are called “essential tremors,” and they’re totally normal. If you experience tremors when your hands are resting at your side, or when the tremors are accompanied by other symptoms (like speech changes).
- Floaters. These little dots that appear in your eyes are common to nearsighted people and are generally nothing to worry about. They’re mostly just changes in your vitreous fluid in your eye, and it happens when you get older. See a doctor if you get an onset or large amount of floaters at once, or a shadow sensation in your vision.
- Nosebleeds, especially if it’s winter. Your nose contains very delicate blood vessels, and they’re easily irritated. In winter, when the air is cold and dry, your nose’s blood vessels constrict, and if you move into a warm room, for example, they quickly dilate again. This could cause more frequent nosebleeds than usual. If you often take aspirin or blood thinners, this could make it worse, too. Contact a doctor if the bleeding is excessive or if it persists for over a week.
- Muscles shaking during exercise. If you’re doing a new exercise, or if you’re working a new muscle group, your muscles may shake. You’re not dying, it’s just your muscles trying to synchronize to the task at hand. Once you’ve done the exercise a few times, that will go away. You only need to see a doctor if it’s accompanied with dizziness or excessive pain.
- Twitchy eyelids. If you ever experience that weird twitch in your eyelid that you can’t control, it’s probably not a problem. Just like other muscle twitches, you’re probably just stressed or fatigued. It could also be due to too much substance abuse (including caffeine) or too much time on a computer. If you’re experiencing other facial twitching with it, see a doctor.
- Cracking joints. Popping joints isn’t a sign of arthritis like your mother used to tell you. It’s just gas or fluid between your joints getting dissolved by movement. Tendons shifting with joints can cause this sound, too. It’s all just your body adjusting to movement. Let a doctor know if these pops cause pain or swelling.
