24 phrases for describing your health problems and symptoms in English

Being able to explain how you feel in English is extremely important if you live or travel in an English-speaking country. You need to be able to tell a doctor exactly how you feel. For example, is your pain sharp, dull, excruciating? Is it a burning pain, or do you feel sore? All of these different kinds of pain may be signs of very different health problems.

Below is a list of different symptoms.

Things you have:

• I have an upset stomach.
   
• I have a wheezing cough.
  A "wheezing" cough sounds dry and painful. 
   
• I have a rash on my neck.
  This means that your skin is red and itchy.

Things that you're having:

• I'm having chest pains.
   
• I'm having trouble sleeping.
  This means that you can't go to sleep, or that you wake up a lot at night.
   
• I've been having excruciating sinus headaches for the last few days.

Things that you are:

• I'm short of breath.
  This means that you can't breathe well. 
   
• My muscles are sore.
  This is the feeling that you get the day after doing hard exercise. 

Things that you get:

• I get this sharp pain in my shoulder whenever I raise my arm.
   
• I sometimes get dull, throbbing headaches.
  "Dull" pain happens slowly and constantly. "Throbbing" pain hurts each time blood pumps through your body.

Things that you feel:

Things that are happening to parts of your body:

• My ankle is red and swollen.
  When part of your body gets bigger, it's "swollen". 
   
• It hurts when I apply pressure to it.
  Pushing, squeezing, or leaning on part of your body "applies pressure" to it. 
   
• My stomach hurts.
   
• My nose is stuffy.
  This happens when you have a cold and mucus clogs up your nose. 

Things that you're doing:

• I'm running a fever of 102 degrees.
   
• I've been vomiting for the last 12 hours.
  "Vomiting" is also called "throwing up". It means that your food comes back up out of your stomach. 
   
• I've been waking up in the middle of the night every night. 

Other problems:

• I suffered a neck injury in a motorcycle accident last year.
   
• I never fully recovered from the accident.
   
• My allergies are killing me!
   
• My arthritis is acting up.
  "Arthritis" is pain in the joints which happens to a lot of old people. 

Can you describe a recent health problem you had? Exactly how did it feel, and what symptoms did you have?