The Subtle Symptoms We Ignore: A Reminder to Listen to Your Body | Ep. 157

Fiona Kane shares eye-opening personal experiences that reveal how our bodies often send quiet warnings we miss. From a kidney infection without the usual pain to precancerous skin spots she almost overlooked, Fiona shows how subtle symptoms can escalate if ignored.

In this episode, she explains how back pain, abdominal discomfort, fatigue, and everyday changes can signal serious health issues. Fiona also shares practical tips for noticing these signs, carving out moments of awareness, and taking action before minor issues become major problems.

Topics Covered in This Episode:

 - Unusual symptoms of urinary tract and kidney infections
 - How back pain and abdominal discomfort can indicate underlying issues
 - The importance of quiet moments to notice changes in your body
 - Recognizing precancerous skin lesions and scheduling regular skin checks
 - Avoiding “normalising” persistent symptoms
 - Practical tips to stay aware of your health

Fiona encourages viewers to take a moment for themselves, notice any subtle changes in their body, and seek professional advice when needed. 

Like, subscribe, share, and leave a review if this episode helps you or someone you care about stay healthier.

Learn more about Fiona's speaking and media services: https://fionakane.com.au/

Credit for the music used in this podcast:

• Intro Music by  Musinova from Pixabay
• Outro Music from Pixabay

Transcript

Welcome And Core Reminder

Fiona Kane 0:14

Hello and welcome to the Wellness Connection. I'm your host, Fiona Kane. Today is just a little reminder to listen to your body or and pay attention. And I've had a reminder of this recently myself because I've had a couple of little bits and pieces in with my health of things that I sort of half paid attention to, or I didn't take the time like I would think, oh, what's that? And then I get busy and wouldn't go back to it again. Nothing major, I'll explain it to you, but just just um what I would like to, you know, what I like to do sometimes is just share some experiences that I've had, which can remind you of maybe some things that you should pay attention to yourself. So that's the whole point of this. So it's not um a major drama. But what I a couple of things I I noticed lately. So um at the moment I have a bit of a urine tract/slash kidney infection. And I've had a kidney

UTI Signs Beyond Burning Pain

Fiona Kane 1:12

infection before about five or six years ago, and it was really nasty. And uh I told myself that wouldn't happen again because I would notice. It's so busy in life that I didn't notice, or I kind of noticed and didn't, and I'll I'll explain to you what I mean. Uh just you know, because it's just useful information. So a lot of people, if you've suffered from urinary tract infections, they're usually very painful, and it's very painful essentially when you wee. Okay, it feels almost like razor blades when you wee. And so I associated urine tract infections with that symptom, but that's not always the symptom you get, so which is why I didn't pick up on it as quickly as I might have. Uh so uh the symptoms that I had, uh I had a sore back, and I and I do, you know, I'm beating myself up because it's like I know this stuff, right? But the thing is that we might know stuff, but sometimes we know it for other people, but we don't notice it for ourselves. So just pointing this out just as a as a thing to remember. So, first of all, urinary tract infection might not, you might not be having that symptom of the burning pain sort of thing, but you might have other symptoms, and one of those is back pain. And I kind of know like the kidney pain that like flanks like behind um your back there, but I was kind of having it lower back as well. Um, and I was having abdominal pain. Uh, I was also having like lots of wind, just feeling very windy and very uncomfortable. And so I was kind of like, what's going on? What have I been eating? And you know, and because I have, you know, the thing about a lot of these health issues and a lot of these conditions is that it can be lots of things, right? So I have a lot of pain and and um muscle issues, so I'm not it's not unusual for me necessarily to have a sore back or a sore neck or whatever it might be. So I'm sort of thinking, oh okay, I've got a sore back, uh, I need to get to the chiropractor. And while I did need to do that, that it wasn't this wasn't that was not what this was about. So a sore back can be a sign of kidney infection um and and um and urinary tract infection. And also it's you know, and I had to be honest, a couple of times I've thought, oh, that looks a bit weird. Uh, is my urine a funny colour? And then I kind of it's one of those things that you can, there's like an autopilot thing. It's a weird thing that part of you is kind of noticing and the other part of you is not. Uh, and I sort of didn't put aside time for me to kind of go, okay, I'm really busy right now, but at the end of today or in my lunch break or whatever, I'm gonna come back to that, circle back and look at that. So I kind of had a couple of times where I a couple of times where I got little intuition and or little reminders and then kind of got busy and just life, right? So anyway, I did pick it up before it got really nasty. So I did sort of finally get there and got on antibiotics and um and on my way to getting better now. But uh just pointing out that even if you know these things, it's quite it's amazing how you might know something, but knowing it for yourself is different. Or you might know something, but when you're busy, you kind of like you see things, you kind of see things but don't really see things because there's seeing something and then there's doing something about it, or kind of, and and I think that's a very human thing that we whether it be about emotional things, about life things, or about health things, that sometimes we see stuff, so we're kind of aware, or there's a periphery sort of awareness about it, but we don't bring it, we don't bring it in front and bring it up front and center and pay attention to it. And uh so just a reminder that we all we're all guilty of that in different things in life, and one of those things can be in health. So um just a reminder to uh to pay attention to symptoms like that because uh so essentially with the symptoms I had, I had back pain, uh, I had uh I felt just generally unwell, like I said, lots of abdominal pain, all sorts of different pain around my tummy and back. Uh that would that was my major symptoms, and just generally felt unwell and tired, like lethargic sort of thing. But again, you know, I've got a thyroid disease, I feel you know, there's a whole bunch of in menopause, there's a whole bunch of reasons why we can have those symptoms so often we write them off as something else. But it is important to get onto infections like that as early as you can. Uh so uh anyway, that is something that I think it's worth sharing because uh it's just not everything has the symptoms that you think it will. The same as when I was talking about heart disease in an episode recently, and I was sort of saying, like with women, uh it's not necessarily like a chest pain, but they what they might have is they might have discomfort around their neck and they're finding that shirts that are done up too tight or high or whatever, things are like around their neck are bothering them. So there can just be different sort of symptoms that we have that um that you don't pick up on and don't realize, you know, what it is, and then suddenly like, oh my gosh, goodness, I realize what it is now. So just back pain can relate absolutely it can relate to kidneys. So if you're having unexplained back pain or back pain that doesn't go away, or or or you know, or new symptoms, or or maybe even just not new symptoms, but it's just like what I would say is I felt like I had a whole bunch of non-specific symptoms that didn't seem to relate to each other, and um, that's kind of how it felt to me. My brain, that's how it felt, and I was muddling about, and I think it wasn't until uh one night I was laying in bed, and then suddenly I thought, my bladder hurts. Uh, and because I've had brain injury and and had bladder issues, because of that, I I very much know what my bladder feels like and know what it hurting feels like. Uh, but that's probably also why I miss the symptoms because you know, urgent urination, things like that are also symptoms, but because of my brain injury and and um bladder issue, pre pre-existing bladder issue that I've had for 30 odd years, uh I didn't notice that as much because that's an ongoing issue for me. So, anyway, just pointing out that um urinary tract infections, we've got to pay attention to these things, uh, and we've got to listen to our body, we've got to, you know, and sometimes where a boss a body does whisper to us, or we kind of, like I said, we have that peripheral thing where we're aware of something on the periphery, but we don't uh we don't pay as good attention to it as we could, and and maybe sometimes miss something. So just like you know, have a moment, and and also like I do podcasts all the time, I'm listening to this, listen to that, and we all need a bit of a moment of silence. So what I would encourage you to do is make sure you have a moment of silence,

Quiet Time Without Obsessing

Fiona Kane 7:49

once at least a couple of times a week, where you kind of just pay attention because sometimes we miss things, and it's always that balance because you know I've done a whole I've done a whole bunch of episodes on listen to your body, pay attention, but then I've also done episodes where I said don't perseverate on it because it's one of those things, right? We need to pay attention, we need to listen because if we don't understand things like what I when I've talked about uh eating and satiety, and when you've if you've eaten enough and and not overeating and and um and or paying attention to you know when we have digestive issues, being present and paying attention is really important because that's where we get the data from, that's where we get the information from, and that's where we can make the changes. So listening to your body is really important and can be really, really useful. On the other hand, you know, if we're kind of all we do, if if you if you sort of sat up every morning and kind of were laid in bed every morning, how do I feel? Do I feel like I can deal with it today? Uh, and you went through all of your issues, you probably wouldn't deal with you know you just hide in bed most of the time. So there's that balance, it's not sort of spending every single moment perseverating about every ache and pain and everything that's going on, because if we did that, we wouldn't function and we wouldn't do life. But on the other hand, there has to be some quiet time and space here or there where you bring in things. Uh and like I said before, it might be health things or it might be unrelated things. I know I've certainly done it in my life before where there's been situations in my life that I'm not dealing with, and you know, they're in the periphery, I'm aware of it, but not aware. It's like aware of it, but not aware of it at the same time because something's in your periphery, but you haven't brought it, you know, front and center. So uh we do need to have uh quiet moments where we do that, where we allow ourselves to sort of bring the periphery things, allow them to float to front and centre and pay attention to them. So um, you know, my message is pay attention. The other thing, uh, other issue that I've that's come up for me is uh some um like precancerous things uh that I've got on my face, on my forehead. And look, this is really, really common, uh,

Skin Checks And Hidden Sun Damage

Fiona Kane 9:55

however, it needs to be needs to be addressed. And so many people don't get their skin checked, and um, and you know, it's interesting to me too on my forehead because I most of the time, well, well, especially if I go for walks and things, I always wear a hat and my forehead is always covered up. There's a part that's always covered up. Uh, but you know, we all age and it happens, and uh, and I was a child of the 80s where we used to sunbake a lot and we didn't wear hats all the time and all that sort of stuff. So maybe it's just aging, maybe it's uh my dark past of sunbaking in the 80s or a combination, I don't know. But um, but yeah, anyway, I just I I thought it was interesting to mention this as well because I suffer from sort of psoriasis eczema type skin conditions. So I kind of thought, oh yeah, I've just got some psoriasis on my forehead because it's kind of just like raised. I'll have to do an episode where I don't have any makeup over it because I've got makeup over it now, but it's kind of just um like raised, sort of scaly, like dry skin bits on my forehead. So it's almost just like little dry skin bits across my forehead. Um it's just essentially when you feel across your skin, there's the smooth bits, and then also there's just this like scaly kind of bits, right? And so I'm kind of thinking, oh well, it's just some sort of psoriasis, uh, that's all right, and just using my usual, you know, skin routine and thinking about my diet, that sort of thing. But um, but it turns out that that's not all psoriasis, some of them are these precancerous lesions uh that need to be treated. And you know, I didn't know that. Uh I always think of like, you know, when you think of uh cancer, skin cancer, you think of those kind of things that look really, really bad or things that a mole that's gone really dark or some patch or something that looks really unusual or looks really nasty. But this kind of just look like kind of it looks like flaky skin on the forehead, it just looks like a bit of a bit of eczema or a bit of psoriasis. And um it's not though. And uh so just have an awareness about things like that if you don't regularly get your skin checked. My encouragement is get your skin checked, and um and I usually do it annually, but I had uh lost track of time and it had been over a year, uh over two, just over two years. So lucky I kind of picked it up and went in when I did. And uh, you know, we need to get our skin checked more often, especially those of us who live in places like Australia, where just day to day, getting in and out of your car, walk into the mailbox, hanging out the washing, walking to the train station, whatever you do, we have a fair bit of exposure on very hot sun here, uh, and um and lots of lots of UV and all that sort of stuff. So uh like another example of sometimes what we do is we write things off and um it's worth getting things checked. So get your skin checked on a regular basis. And my encouragement is also you know, wear your hat. Uh, I'm not a big fan of sunscreen. I think sunscreen can be quite toxic, but depends on the sunscreen. I don't know. I'm not gonna do a whole episode on that. I'm not an expert enough in it. I certainly use it when I feel like I need to, but what I probably use more is barrier stuff, where I'll actually uh I've recently like my husband and I have got these shirts, they're called Nashis. They are uh I I don't and I don't get any money for that. But a shout out to Nashi. Nashi makes some really, really good so there's 50 plus uh UV kind of uh shirts, and um and I've got a couple of long sleeve ones. My husband's got a short sleeve and a long sleeve one, essentially it's like a rashi, uh, but they're nice shirts, um, so you can wear them in the water, but you can also wear them out and about, and um, they look really nice. And you know, so I've got those and I I wear hats and I tend to or it's not unusual to see me in somewhere if I don't have anything else. I might have a scarf on in it's what the hell is she wearing a scarf for? But I'm trying to cover up the bits that are uncovered because I don't want to burn. So um I use barrier stuff like that more than I use sunscreen, but I certainly use sunscreen when I need to as well. But uh yeah, just be aware of um, like I I think that uh this isn't wasn't meant to be a whole episode on skin, and I'm not a like I've said before, I'm not an absolute expert on skin by any means, and I do think we need some sun exposure, so I'm not saying wear sunscreen and never ever get any sun because it's important, and we need it for our vitamin D, and and uh and I think there's a lot of benefits from the sun. But don't sunbake, and certainly be aware of you know, I went for my walk early this morning, and if I go out in the middle of the day, even early in the morning, I'll have my hat on, but if I go out in the middle of the day, I'm I'll be covered up more. So anyway, just be aware that uh some sometimes signs and symptoms and things, it's worth getting them checked out. And if you tend to forget because life is so busy, maybe just even open up a note on your phone and just like things to things to ask the doctor about next time I'm there, and then next time you go to your GP, you open up your notes and you kind of go, Oh, okay, yeah, I was gonna ask them about this pain that I have, or I was gonna ask them about this, you know, skin, is this eczema, or what's going on here, or whatever it is. But uh, but sometimes we do forget. We forget that two things happen. One is we forget, but the other is we develop new normals and we get just get used to living a certain way. So we have a new normal where uh we always feel

New Normals And Asking What’s Normal

Fiona Kane 15:30

pain in that area, isn't that normal? Or we always feel always have a skin issue, or we always have a digestive issue, whatever it is. It's amazing how humans uh can adapt. It's actually a good example of what I'm saying is you know, when you get your eyes checked, get your eyes checked as well, because your optometrist will check to see if you've got glaucoma. Uh it's worth doing. I'm getting my eyes checked in a couple of weeks. I usually go every year or every couple of years, whatever they recommend. Um, but what what you notice is if you ever get ever find that you find out that you need glasses and you finally get glasses and you use your put your glasses on, you you realize how much you couldn't see. I don't think you always realize how much you can't see until you can see it. And that's because you gradually lost that vision. So bit by bit by bit you found it harder and uh you didn't notice it. Well, this the same happens with other health issues, is what will happen will happen is bit by bit by bit we'll sort of start having more pain, or we sort of you know started to get constipated and it goes from being a bit unusual in the beginning to being really normal for you to only go twice a week or whatever. And and that is the other thing as well, actually. One of the things that is worth remembering as well is that it's always always worth asking what is normal because if you have a normal, you might have only ever gone twice a week to the bathroom for number twos, and that's not normal, but maybe it's normal to you because it's all you've ever done, but it's still not normal, right? So it is worth asking, and if you're not sure, ask ask your doctor. Uh it's uh it's worth asking questions that might be embarrassing, or you might feel like you're an idiot, and uh and but there's no stupid question. It's best to ask than not to ask, right? It's better to ask the question when you're in the doctor's office and say, Well, I have this. I wasn't sure if that was normal or not. And you know, and I've had this conversation uh before in other things where I talk about women's health. Uh, you know, women have, I think it's like five different kinds of mucus that we have, and our self-cleaning thing in which is called a vagina. And uh women don't realize that people don't realize that because we think anything that comes out of there must be icky or bad or or you know wrong. Uh but of course it's not, but we don't know what's normal because we don't have those conversations because ooh, who wants to have those conversations, right? So we do need to talk about these things, whether it be with your doctor or whoever it is, just be aware of Dr. Google's useful to a point, but you know, if you're looking up things on Dr. Google and it takes you to a medical journal, that's one thing. But if you're looking up things on Dr. Google and it takes you to like a Reddit site or something, it's not always going to be accurate. At the end of the day, ask your doctor to be sure, right? It's it's important to uh make sure that the person who gives you advice knows what they're talking about. But um, but yeah, just my little funny little reminder of uh pay attention to your body and pay attention to. I think if we have these different thoughts coming in uh about our health or it could be other matters in life, we do sometimes they do come in and and they they they just flash there for a moment and then you go on to the next thing and you forget to pay attention to it. You start using your phone notes, start paying attention, and uh, you know, every so often just allow yourself that quiet time where you pretty much do a bit of an anal analysis. So you kind of go, okay, what's going on right now? Okay,

Practical Body Scan And Phone Notes

Fiona Kane 19:11

right. Okay, I'm not breathing uh very well. I need to slow down, need to remember to breathe. Okay, haven't been drinking enough water. Okay, I'm really, really thirsty. Um, I've got a bit of a headache. It's probably because I haven't been drinking enough water. When was the last time I moved my belly? I know it might sound silly, but honestly, we're just life is so busy and crazy and so much going on in the world and so much that's stressing people out that I think that sometimes we forget to do just a bit of a scan, a bit of a scan where we scan things and going, okay, how am I feeling? And how you know, is that normal? Is that normal for me? Is that sort of new? I think it might be newish because honestly, it doesn't take long before the newish thing just becomes how it is. And before you know it, you've got 20 different symptoms and you've just been living with them for a long time and you think that they're normal, and you don't even it doesn't even occur to you to ask the doctor about it because haven't I always felt like this? So uh yeah, it's just worth um pointing that out. So I was just using my recent experiences as just a little bit of a reminder to you pay attention to things. What are you not paying attention to? Have you got some similar symptoms to some of the things I have talked about and need to get that looked at? Uh just uh yeah, little friendly reminder that uh yeah, hopefully hopefully me being a bit candid and sharing some of the things that uh that I am experiencing, you might experience similar things or different things, but it's just a reminder to pay attention, bring forward that thing that might be on the periphery that you kind of know that you kind of noticed, but you haven't had a moment to bring it to front and center. Bring it front and center, pay attention and uh and get the right advice to uh make sure that you stay well. So, anyway, I like to have real conversations about things that matter, and sometimes it's me sharing my health issues, sometimes it's me talking about all different things in society and and culture and politics or whatever it is. But uh, I thought that this one was a useful one. Just a little reminder pay attention, what's going on, what do you need to pay attention to, and is there something that you need to get seen to to um make sure that you're okay? So, anyway, or someone around you that you care for, that you're caring for. I hope you uh please like, subscribe, share all of those things, rate and review. And it's really important this podcast is growing, it's it's been slow and steady, but it is finally growing. But uh it's you uh doing

Subscribe Share And Closing

Fiona Kane 21:40

those things that really helps that happen because uh the more people like, subscribe, share all those things, then the uh essentially the more the podcast apps will show this podcast to uh potential listeners or YouTube or wherever it is that you're listening or watching. Okay, hope you have a wonderful week, and I'll talk to you all again next time. Thank you. Bye bye.