Many things can affect how your body responds to a symptom and what kind of care you may need. These include:

• Your age. Babies and older adults tend to get sicker quicker.
• Your overall health. If you have a condition such as diabetes, HIV, cancer, or heart disease, you may need to pay closer attention to certain symptoms and seek care sooner.
• Medicines you take. Certain medicines, herbal remedies, and supplements can cause symptoms or make them worse.
• Recent health events, such as surgery or injury. These kinds of events can cause symptoms afterwards or make them more serious.
• Your health habits and lifestyle, such as eating and exercise habits, smoking, alcohol or drug use, sexual history, and travel.

Pain in adults and older children

• Severe pain (8 to 10): The pain is so bad that you can't stand it for more than a few hours, can't sleep, and can't do anything else except focus on the pain.
• Moderate pain (5 to 7): The pain is bad enough to disrupt your normal activities and your sleep, but you can tolerate it for hours or days. Moderate can also mean pain that comes and goes even if it's severe when it's there.
• Mild pain (1 to 4): You notice the pain, but it is not bad enough to disrupt your sleep or activities.

Symptoms of infection may include:

• Increased pain, swelling, warmth, or redness in or around the area.
• Red streaks leading from the area.
• Pus draining from the area.
• A fever.

Certain health conditions and medicines weaken the immune system's ability to fight off infection and illness. Some examples in adults are:

• Diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS.
• Long-term alcohol and drug problems.
• Steroid medicines, which may be used to treat a variety of conditions.
• Chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer.
• Other medicines used to treat autoimmune disease.
• Medicines taken after organ transplant.
• Not having a spleen.

Hyperthyroidism occurs when your body has too much thyroid hormone.

Symptoms of hyperthyroidism may include:

• Tiredness.
• Muscle weakness.
• Weight loss.
• Sweating and not being able to tolerate hot temperatures.
• Fast heart rate.
• Feeling edgy or anxious.
• Enlarged thyroid gland (your thyroid gland is in your neck).

Hypothyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland does not make enough thyroid hormone.

Symptoms of hypothyroidism may include:

• Tiredness and weakness.
• Weight gain.
• Depression.
• Memory problems.
• Constipation.
• Dry skin, brittle nails, and coarse, thinning hair.
• Not being able to tolerate cold temperatures.

A soft lump in one of these areas (belly button, groin, past surgical site) may be a hernia. A hernia can occur when there is a weakening in the muscle wall and part of an internal organ (often part of the bowel) pushes through.

With a hernia, the lump may go away when you press on it or lie down, and it may get worse when you cough. It may or may not be painful.

Symptoms of difficulty breathing can range from mild to severe. For example:

• You may feel a little out of breath but still be able to talk (mild difficulty breathing), or you may be so out of breath that you cannot talk at all (severe difficulty breathing).
• It may be getting hard to breathe with activity (mild difficulty breathing), or you may have to work very hard to breathe even when you’re at rest (severe difficulty breathing).