Talk:List of medical symptoms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WikiProject Medicine This article is within the scope of WikiProject Medicine. Please visit the project page for details or ask questions at the doctor's mess.
Unassessed This article has been rated as Unassessed-Class on the assessment scale.
??? This article has not yet received an importance rating within Medicine. Please rate the article.


I don't really seen why this page is necessary, especially if ICD-10 codes are listed. Why not just use the List of ICD-10 codes article? I realized that this article might be much shorter and only contain generalized symptoms as opposed to all the diseases in the article I just mentioned, but I feel like this article is the nonetheless gratuitous. All the information is available in an existing, more comprehensive article. Please let me know why this article should NOT BE DELETED! Thanks JeffreyN 05:13, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Because ICD-10 codes are designed for the convenience of billing and not for actual medical practice? Because ICD-10 codes are interpreted only by people specially trained in their use, and even so are frequently in error? Because patients have symptoms, and not ICD-10 codes? Because ICD-10 codes are basically useless to humans? Because ICD-10 codes, unlike English-language symptoms, have no intrinsic meanings? Because sthe meanings of the words for symptoms don't change from year to year, but ICD codes do? Because ICD-10 codes are not unambiguous, and don't map one-to-one with symptoms? etc. - Nunh-huh 05:17, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough. Good points! Thanks for the prompt reply! It seems you feel very strongly about this :) JeffreyN 05:39, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

And that's just off the top of my head<g> - Nunh-huh 05:41, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps we should list common names for each symptom? I find it rather unlikely that the average person would know what epistaxsis is. I've changed a few symptom names to reflect the actual medical terminology (e.g. "pyrexia" instead of "fever") For the time being, I'll just leave it as it is. Also, I've added hypothermia and hyperthermia. I'm unsure whether these are symptoms or conditions, but presumably they could be either, since both can be caused by other disorders/illnesses. Fuzzform 22:22, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Organization

Symptoms should always be put into their correct category. They should also be put in alphabetical order unless there is a logical reason not to (e.g. insomnia and somnolence should be next to one another, as they are opposites).

If you are unsure whether a condition is a disorder or a symptom (i.e. a cause or an effect) please list it here on the talk page so it can be verified.

Fuzzform 18:52, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

The title of this page is somewhat misleading, isn't it? In my opinion it should be "List of medical symptom and signs". --Arildfa 09:19, 16 August 2006 (UTC)