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Symptoms Beginning With P
19 symptoms in this guide begin with the letter P. Every name links to a plain-language page covering what the symptom can feel like, the conditions it can be associated with, its red flags, and what a clinician may do.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W
| Symptom | Category | What it can feel like |
|---|---|---|
| Pain during sex | Women's Health | Pain during sex (dyspareunia) is pain felt at entry (superficial) or deep inside during intercourse. It is common, under-reported, and almost always has an explanation… |
| Pain or burning when urinating | Urinary | Pain or burning when urinating (dysuria) is a stinging, burning or scalding feeling as urine passes, often with a need to go more often and urgently. In women it most… |
| Pain under the right ribs | Digestive | Pain under the right ribs sits over the liver and gallbladder. It ranges from a dull ache after fatty meals to the intense, wave-like pain of a gallstone attack that can… |
| Pain when breathing in | Lungs & Breathing | Pain when breathing in — pleuritic pain — is a sharp, stabbing pain, usually on one side of the chest, that catches as you take a deep breath, cough or laugh. It comes… |
| Painful periods | Women's Health | Painful periods means cramping pain in the lower abdomen (sometimes spreading to the back and thighs) around the time of bleeding, sometimes with nausea, headache and… |
| Painful red skin | Skin | Painful red skin means an area of skin that is red, warm, swollen and tender, often spreading — the classic picture of cellulitis, a bacterial infection of the skin and… |
| Pale skin (pallor) | Skin | Pale skin (pallor) means the skin, lips, nail beds and inner eyelids look paler than normal. In most cases it reflects a reduced blood count (anaemia); briefly, it also… |
| Palpitations | Chest & Heart | Palpitations are an awareness of your own heartbeat — feeling it pound, race, flutter or miss beats when you would normally not notice it. Most episodes are brief and… |
| Panic attacks | Mind & Sleep | A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear peaking within minutes: racing or pounding heart, breathlessness or choking feelings, chest tightness, trembling… |
| Passing a lot of wind | Digestive | Passing wind (flatulence) is the release of gas from the bowel, and everyone does it many times a day. More wind than usual usually reflects diet, swallowed air and the… |
| Passing very little urine | Urinary | Passing very little urine means producing much less urine than usual over a day — going many hours without needing the toilet, or passing only small dark amounts.… |
| Pelvic pain | Women's Health | Pelvic pain is pain in the lowest part of the abdomen, between the hip bones. Acute pelvic pain is a new, often severe symptom with its own emergencies; chronic pelvic… |
| Persistent cough | Lungs & Breathing | A persistent cough is one that lasts more than eight weeks in an adult (four in a child) or keeps returning. By this stage it is unlikely to be a simple passing… |
| Persistent hiccups | Lungs & Breathing | Hiccups are sudden, involuntary contractions of the diaphragm followed by a snap shut of the vocal cords — the familiar 'hic'. Most attacks pass in minutes. Hiccups… |
| Physical symptoms of stress | Mind & Sleep | Physical symptoms of stress are the body's alarm hardware running too long: headaches, muscle tension (neck, jaw, back), stomach churning and bowel changes… |
| Pins and needles | Brain & Nerves | Pins and needles is the familiar prickling, tingling or fizzing sensation, most often in the hands and feet. Briefly, after pressure on a nerve ('my foot's asleep'), it… |
| Poor concentration | Mind & Sleep | Poor concentration means difficulty sustaining attention on tasks, reading, conversations or work — losing the thread, re-reading lines, making careless errors.… |
| Premenstrual symptoms | Women's Health | Premenstrual symptoms are physical and emotional changes in the days before a period — bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, irritability, low mood, anxiety, food… |
| Problems speaking or finding words | Brain & Nerves | Problems speaking or finding words range from the ordinary tip-of-the-tongue moment to sudden loss of language (aphasia) — being unable to get words out, using the wrong… |
Please note: This page is educational information about a symptom. A symptom alone cannot diagnose any condition, and the causes listed here are possibilities, not a diagnosis. If you are worried about a symptom — especially one that is new, severe, getting worse or not going away — please see your own clinician, who can examine you and arrange tests. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.