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Two endoscopies in four days. Twelve pounds down. No relief. Can't cope. 32F breastfeeding
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Final Update: My biopsy results came back (they took a biopsy during the endoscopy). I have eosinophilic esophagitis. I guess I'm just having a flare-up that's compounded by the hernia? But this is great news. I can manage this through the PPI I started and steroids as well as by addressing my allergies. Thank you to everyone who helped. I feel so relieved. Liquids for a few more days, then soft foods, and finally real food (without risk) again. I can't wait.
Update: Thank you everyone for your thoughts and comments. I woke up at \~1 shaking and extremely nauseous. I hadn't eaten anything solid since the bagel and even then I'm averaging \~500 calories a day. I drank about 4 ounces of Ensure and half an hour later I had my head in the toilet while it came back up. I'm trying it again today. I'll be talking to my PCP about another IV if I can't get anything else down.
A few weeks ago I found a bump under my ribcage. While still not understood, I've had MRI's, XRays, and CT scans to not only rule it out as something bad but to show that no other incidentals existed (referring to this to rule out cancer, tumors, etc for below story).
While this was going on, my heartburn got worse. It got to the point where it felt like there was a furnace blowing hot air up to my throat. It felt like vomit or food was sitting at the base of my throat. For the next couple of weeks, I limited what I ate and started losing weight. It continued to get worse and I lost twelve pounds on an already small frame.
I went to the GI on Friday and he performed an endoscopy. He discovered a Hiatal hernia (which had sent me to the ER the previous Tuesday because I thought I was having a heart attack) and a Schatzki ring. He said the hernia was small and left it alone but he did dilate the stricture. He said I could eat that night and everything would be resolved. I ate a lettuce wrap and snow cone that night, the following day I had soft foods (banana at breakfast and soup for lunch) all day trying to nourish myself. That night, however, I had two tacos. The following morning I had a bagel and coffee and that's when everything went to sh\*t. The bagel got stuck in my chest and liquids weren't going down. I tried some coke per the internet, but that didn't work. Given the chest pain and inability to swallow, the GI suggested ER. We went, and other than being low on potassium, there were no emergency issues (eg perforation).
I went back to GI today and he performed a second endoscopy. This time, he used a larger balloon on the ring and also said he found esophageal webs and used a balloon on those. I tried clear liquids. The liquids are getting caught in my chest and I'm still having trouble swallowing. Nothing I've read said that this is normal or typical.
I am not sleeping. I am not eating. I am malnourished and in pain. I am breastfeeding and my supply is dropping off significantly, and I'm afraid I won't be able to feed my daughter. I am so weak. Healthcare in Florida is a joke so I'm hoping someone on here can tell me I'm going to be OK or that this is sometimes a normal outcome for a while. Or. Tell me what I need to do. I am desperate.
| 348 |
You might have EoE. He seems to be fixated on your esophageal web and/or Schatzki's ring but maybe that's not the cause of your dysphagia. EoE on the other hand can give you a food impaction like that.
Alternatively, you might have a esophageal motility issue (which I think is favored as the cause).. The liquid getting stuck doesn't really happen with EoE or Schatzki's rings or esophageal webs or any mechanical obstruction except for achalasia (which you don't have and is kind of but not really a mechanical obstruction). The fact that liquid is getting stuck in the absence of solids makes me think your esophagus is just not moving properly.
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AskDocs
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Seriously do I have to go to the ER for this? Urgent Care says so, I say pblbttt.
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EDIT: I was grumpy and stubborn and stayed home last night. I am sitting in the ER waiting room now and will update. Thank you to ALL of you who responded to me.
​
Female, 64, BMI 29, Georgia USA. Nonsmoker, occasional alcohol use, bipolar II.
​
June 1 I was diagnosed with a sinus infection by my PCP and put on a 10 day course of augmentin. I had to travel on June 9, and on June 12 ended up in an urgent care in Minnesota where I was told I had fluid in both ears and still had a sinus infection, and was put on a 10 day course of levofloxacin. I had to travel again on June 17 and on June 19th started feeling worse, with continuing sinus issues and a headache. I was flying home on June 21 so just sucked it up. Now on day 9 of the levofloxacin.
​
The headache hasn’t gone away since the 19th and is actually worse, my chest on my lower right side hurts if I take a deep breath,I ache all over, my blood ox is pingponging from 95 to 88 during the day, and I now have a low grade fever (99.5) with chills and sweats. I had COVID in November and have had both doses of the Moderna vaccine if that matters. I called the nearest urgent care to make an appointment because I am just feeling worse by the day, and they declined to see me because “I might have a life-threatening situation” (???) and told me to call 911 or go to the ER, which, seriously, come on guys. If I’m dying it’s news to me, I’m just miserable and grumpy as all hell. and other nearby urgent cares are already closed. My PCP doesn’t do walk ins and is terrible at returning phone calls … you’ll get a call at the end of the day if you’re lucky, or next day if you’re not.
​
Oh yeah Right now I’m just taking my regular meds — levothyrocin, pantoprazole, a cocktail of lamotrigine, trintellix, gabapentin and ambien plus lorazepam prn for brain cooties, the levofloxacin, Zyrtec, Flonase, some otc mucinex sinus, and lastly ibuprofen in a so-far futile hope it will ease the headache. I guess that’s not really a “just” but yeah that’s what I’m taking.
​
Should I just walk my sick grumpy ass into the urgent care when they open tomorrow morning and give them the stink-eye? Do you medically knowledgeable people see anything here that says “Go to the ER“ sticking out at you and waving red flags?
Thanks, seriously, for reading my very grumpy novella here.
| 338 |
Worsening on antibiotics with a pulse-ox down to 88 while awake is enough for me to recommend sending to the ED. I would encourage you to go to the ED, the urgent care is likely to send you again there anyways in the morning. At this point, may require admission with IV antibiotics depending on what they find.
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My 12 year old son son walks with his right foot inward and it’s getting worse as he ages.
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I live in a remote area so my resources are limited with professional advice. My son starts junior high this September and his right foot turns inward and the toe turned inward is getting noticeably worse as he ages. He can walk with it straight if he focuses on it but he said his leg will bother him after trying for a day. It appears to be just his foot turned in but there could be more below the surface to helping him. I’ve asked a chiropractor about orthotics etc. but I didn’t receive any sort of assistance and the office wasn’t interested in helping me further. Junior high is tough enough so I was wondering if there is any possible way of helping him walk straight so that the name calling does impact him negatively about it. Any advice or experience with this type of problem would be kindly appreciated.
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You’re going to need to see an orthopedist and I highly recommend that you do so. This can cause knee, hip, and back problems up the line.
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Should I go to the ER? I'm crying on the toilet.
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32 FtM 158lb. Taking emtricitabine, levocetirizine, norlyda, vagifem, testosterone, amitriptyline, cbd oil and hydroxyzine.
My urethra is on fire. It feels like a hot poker is searing my flesh and hot coals are in my bladder. I peed blood earlier today. I went to my pcp office and they took a urine sample. My pcp and my urologist think I have interstitial cystitis because I'm negative for uti/std/ureaplasma urealytichum/mycoplasma hominis. But I'm going insane with pain. I can't take it. If it gets any worse I will pass the fuck out. I'm in hell. I'm just crying my eyes out wishing I'd die.
Edit: at the Er now
Edit 2: I'm in a room now. I gave them a urine sample but I keep running to the toilet. That's the only place I feel okay. I took 2 hydromorphones that I have leftover from a surgery and I'm still in excruciating pain. I'm peeing blood and chunks that look like blood clots or something? They haven't given me anything for the pain. It hurts so bad. I told the doctor to take the pain or kill me I don't care at this point.
Edit 3: they put the iv in and I asked to go to the bathroom and fell because I almost fainted.
then they put an iv in and gave me dilaudid. And they gave me pyridium. They're going to give me a suppository. The dilaudid I think is starting to work.
Final Edit:
I got discharged around 4am and went home to sleep. Right now I'm very groggy but not in pain anymore.
I was in the worst pain of my life yesterday. In the waiting room the two 2mg hydromorphone pills didn't even take the edge off.
Later I asked a cna why they believed my pain and they said my vitals were going crazy, my heart was racing and my blood pressure was elevated. I was also very pale and had fallen.
The urinalysis came back with high white blood cell count and high red blood cell count. The doctor said he thinks I have an infection that was made worse by my already inflamed bladder. But the culture hasn't come back yet for the urine to know what infection I have.
They gave me a belladonna alkaloids opium suppository, which I insisted on doing myself, much to their skepticism. They put an IV line in and put me on a machine to monitor my vitals. They gave me ceftriaxone rocephin, antibiotics though the iv. Oral Pyridium and Dilaudid through the iv which brought the pain from a 10 to a 5 or 6.
Then they gave me morphine and zofran through the IV because I was really nauseous and still in pain, and that finally brought my pain down to a 2 and immediately I fell asleep, and then they woke me up and discharged me and told me to follow up with my doctor and the doctor will be able to see the results of the urine culture to find out what the infection is. They gave me a prescription for pyridium and keflex.
If anyone knows what kind of gift baskets ER nurses like the most, feel free to tell me because they deserve a huge one.
| 427 |
Go to the ER. Do not wait. Interstitial cystitis does not explain this.
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Senseless gun violence survivor. Need help dealing with pain/recover advice
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I am 22 year old Male, down to 156 lbs after the hospital. 6’2”
I was shot in my backyard at 7:10am Wednesday June 15th. 2 rounds of the .22 caliber went into my side and I managed to run away from the rest. The suspect is still at large.
Im finally out of the hospital, after a return ER visit where my spleen began internally bleeding.
Ribs 8 & 10 are broken. Left lung partially collapsed, had laparoscopic diaphragm repair and my chest tube taken out almost a week ago. My spleen is 70%+ embolized now too.
Does anyone have any advice to cope with pain or assist with healing process? I know time is most important. I try to move around a fair amount. But I haven’t slept soundly one night since due to pain. Im bloated from surgery. My stomach can’t handle much food because how little I was eating in the hospital on top of putting pressure on my insides that causes some pain. I tried to explain concisely and logically but let me know if I can give anymore details.
I take methocarbomal, stool softeners, oxy, and ibuprofen.
| 419 |
Please talk to your doctor's from the hospital or you can also follow up with your primary care provider. If you arent sleeping well they might at least be able to give you a sleep aide but if your pain isn't under control that needs to be addressed too. Also, just have to check, but make sure you're taking your medication as prescribed. Even the ibuprofen. And make sure you're having bowel movements at maximum every third day. If you go more than three days without a bowel movement let your doc know. The oxy can back you up so it's crucial to take your stool softener as prescribed and to monitor. If you're having abdominal pain and haven't had a BM then please contact someone right away. Even if you aren't eating much. With eating, if they've released you to a "regular" diet but food isn't going down try starting with liquids and working to a "BRAT" diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast).
Best of luck and I'm sorry this happened to you.
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AskDocs
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My 2 year old daughter is still not well. Going on a month now of scary symptoms and no answers.
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Original post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/nzhix0/2f_spacing_out_severe_dizziness_head_pain_and/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
2F White
34.5" height
25 lb 6 oz
No existing medical issues, no medication, no recreational drugs.
Duration since 6/8 and ongoing. If this was a gradual onset, I did not notice since the symptoms wouldn't have been severe enough to cause a red flag. I do know she was squinting at the TV at times prior to this.
Now that some time has passed, I have a bit more information. My daughter is still not well. Her symptoms seem to come and go, where some days she's almost normal and others she has no sense of balance and her behavior is abnormal. This is eating me up inside not knowing what's wrong with her.
She has had a Brain MRI without contrast, an EEG, a CT of her brain, hearing test, EKG, chest X-ray, urinalysis and extensive blood work. None of these tests were remarkable.
We went to our ENT appointment for the dizziness and balance issues. She told us if she has inflammation in her ear it will go away with time, but there is no test she can perform to prove that's what's wrong and she also didn't seem convinced that was the cause. She ordered an MRI of the spine. I also have an eye doctor appointment scheduled for next month. I couldn't get in sooner.
Symptoms:
-Loses balance easily some days, some days she's fine
-Some days she's completely loopy where it's like she's delirious. She moves very slow and spaces out a lot. Almost like she's intoxicated. She acted this way last time she had a high fever, but she doesn't have a fever.
-Very tired. She sleeps a lot and never seems well rested when she wakes up. She'll wake up in the morning, go to turn her light on and then stand there, then turn her light back off and go back to bed. Her naps have been much longer than usual.
-She has issues swinging. She starts to look unwell, sometimes holds her head and asks to get out. I'm assuming she's getting dizziness but I am not certain.
-She's squinting and sometimes she runs into walls like she can't balance or her depth perception is off. This doesn't happen all the time. Some days she's better.
-I may have seen involuntary movement with her tongue and sometimes I think she has issues swallowing water. She'll swallow a lot of air which seems weird.
-She seems to be worse after waking up. Especially the loopiness.
What on earth could be going on with my baby? I am so afraid for her and I'm not sure what to do next. This is such a nightmare. Thank you for reading.
Edit:
I forgot to mention that when she walks fast or runs, she falls over a lot more than what used to be typical for her. She was an early walker.
Edit 2:
She was admitted to the hospital when all of these tests were performed and she did see a neurologist. The neurologist is who ordered the EEG and when we went back, the MRI.
Edit 3:
Here are her test results: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=16BOnyy4AsGoCamnq6fOAnpNXZW93cBmx
Edit 4:
My daughter and I can't thank you enough for taking the time to respond to this post. I wrote this expecting nothing and I am so overwhelmed with appreciation for all of you. If I receive any new information on her condition I will post an update.
| 285 |
Well what i can tell you it seems like you got the 100,000$ work up so a lot of the big scary stuff stuff is likely ruled out. What it sounds like and again there is no way i can know for certain with out seeing her work up, is vertigo. Most of the causes are benign the ones that aren’t have likely been ruled out with the multiple tests. There are many causes of of vertigo and most will resolve on there own but takes a while. Honesty i dont think anyone can really give you much info over the web continue to follow up with your pediatrician, neurologist and ent they are running the right tests and looking for the right things google will only scare you.
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AskDocs
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Plz help me I’m at my wits end. My mom keeps saying I smell like vomit and bile and I don’t know what to do .
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For history I’m a 24 year old female with a history of eating disorders. When I turned 18 I realize there was a sudden gut issue because my face had a red mark and Sergio reaction and then soon after I had digestive issues I was trying to resolve and then I developed orthorexia and anorexia again. Then I ended up with binge eating disorder . This past year due to COVID it was terrible but a few months ago my mother says how I smell like bile and vomit and have sudden bad breath. My stool has been pale clay color and very smelly. I’ve had zinc deficiency and vitamin d deficiency and my liver enzymes have been messed up. I’ve been to gastric docs and they haven’t helped one iota. When I was anorexic I avoided fat completely .
| 400 |
Forgive me for the extra questions, I always ask a few.
Have you seen a doctor since your stool has become a pale clay colour?
Have you been food restricting, binging, or purging in the last 1-2 months? Do you feel your eating disorder is well controlled right now?
| 245 |
AskDocs
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Boyfriend’s semen is a light cloudy brown color. Should we be worried?
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He is 34M and we have only started sleeping together recently. Yesterday I noticed his semen came out white at first, but towards the end it was a very light brownish color. I vaguely remember noticing it wasn’t white the time before (last weekend), but I hadn’t paid too much attention and can’t say for sure what color it actually was.
I don’t want to say anything to worry him if it’s nothing. But is this something to be concerned about?
| 341 |
Not a doctor but I have a penis and have had issues with ejaculate and brushes with STIs.
Brownish semen is NOT normal and deserves attention. I had brownish semen when I had a prostate infection. I also had blood on occasion.
Prostatitis can be caused by bacterial infections that are often highly infectious.
My issues were caused by a cascade of events that resulted in a UTI and coincided with kidney stones.
HE needs and deserves to know what is going on.
YOU deserve to know what is going on with him.
| 650 |
AskDocs
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Delayed puberty/growth of 13 year old boy
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My son is 13 years 1 month old, 54" tall, 83lbs. Today we had a doctor's appointment where he broke down crying when talking about puberty and his growth. He's going into 8th grade and most of his friends are almost a foot taller, 40 lbs heavier and are obviously going through puberty. His delayed puberty and growth is causing him to lose friends and have self esteem issues. He was born at 31 weeks and spent 2 months in the NICU due to birth complications. Since then he's been completely healthy without any complications. He's a good student and participates in all sports and physical activities.
We asked his pediatrician what could be done and he took an x-ray of his hand. After looking at the x-ray, all he said is that he still has a lot of growing to do and not to worry about it. Unfortunately, it seemed dismissive and my son left the office even more depressed that when he walked in.
Reading online, it seems there's a way to actually calculate the bone age using this x-ray. His pediatrician didn't mention to us what his bone age is based on the x-ray, but I'm hoping maybe someone here can tell us with more detail what his bone age is so i can at least give him some type of prediction as to when puberty will begin and how much he should expect to grow.
http://imgur.com/a/GnOzSaF this is a photograph i took off the x-ray before leaving. Thanks for any help, information, or advice you can provide!
| 271 |
If the hand radiograph was specifically done to evaluate bone age and was read by a radiologist, the report should mention the closest bone age. We use a book with standards for males and females at various ages. It'll be a few days until I have access to the book but if there is no official report for the xray and if no one else interprets it before me, I can give an unofficial opinion at that time.
| 283 |
AskDocs
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Fever of 109 after Pfizer vaccine
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This morning my 23 year old niece had her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. She contracted Covid a few months back so we expected harsher side effects.
10 minutes in to her observation she blacked out and vomited, then recovered. Temperate started rising shortly and reached 103 by which point she called the hospital. They decided to send an ambulance.
When the paramedics got to her, her fever was 109. They checked it three times to make sure. They admitted her to hospital and put her on IV paracetamol. Her pulse & oxygen were both lower than normal (don’t have exact details of this)
They performed and ECG, blood work and a covid test and all came back normal. Her temp came down to 100 and they discharged her.
My question is - what likely happened!? She hasn’t been given an answer. Any ideas?
Edited to say thanks to everyone for the responses! It makes much more sense that the thermometer was giving inaccurate reads. She is out of hospital and doing better today at home.
EDIT - She and her partner have just tested positive for Covid. The test yesterday was negative. Presumably this is why she had the reaction she did? I am still unsure of the fever could have been accurate but seems more plausible now it’s established she had covid at time of vaccination. She is doing fine either way, just feeling run down and has lost her taste and smell.
| 467 |
109 F is not just a fever, it is a catastrophic temperature. It’s also probably not achievable by internal heating outside of an extreme environment. That’s a heat stroke temperature, not a febrile temperature. The mortality rate at that temperature is very high. The chance of going home just fine the same day is minuscule.
The simpler explanation is that there was probably a faulty thermometer and she never had a temperature of 109. She had a high fever, which isn’t so rare after vaccination, and she felt terrible, but it was in the normal immune response range, she got better, and everything was fine. That’s my guess.
| 1,104 |
AskDocs
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(82F) Massive Tooth Abscess & Nobody can help. Basically left for dead. What do we do?
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Hello,
82F. 92lbs. 4'11. No health conditions. Medicines for stomach (Idk what they are) but it's for indigestion and constipation.
My Grandma 2 days ago woke up with pain in her mouth. Within hours, it looks like she had some chew tobacco in her lower lip. It was painful so she went to the dentist. Dentist said she had a bad tooth and it needs to be pulled. Gave her antibiotics and said "I can't do the surgery. You need to find someone else. Take the medicine and you should be fine."
Today her mouth looks like she has a god damn golf ball in her cheek.
The soonest tooth extraction we can get her is September 2nd (Which I know you can't wait that long for tooth extractions).
She's starting to feel cold and then hot, off and on. (which I know is a sign of sepsis)
What do we do? Take her to the hospital?
| 397 |
I think she needs to be taken to the emergency department and be seen by a maxillofacial surgeon. Today rather than tomorrow.
| 666 |
AskDocs
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55F Doctor left me a voicemail on her day off (never a good sign) that the radiologist at my recent thyroid ultrasound noticed a growth from last time and wanted me to get a biopsy. The appointment they gave is 5 months away. Should I go to a private clinic if I can afford it?
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Age: 55 Sex: Female Height: 5'5 Location: Canada Weight: 140 lbs
*Note: I'm from Canada where wait times for any referral is long, especially after covid.*
I have hypothyroidism and take Synthroid. I went into for an ultrasound (previous ultrasound was 2 years ago) and got a call the very next day from my doctor (I was unable to attend the phone call) and she left me a message to call the office. I called back and they said that the radiologist recommended that I get a fine needle biopsy. I live in a small town. The appointment they gave is 5 months away! Should I try to go to a private clinic or something if possible? The reason being that I think the 5 months is because of delays and backlog from Covid. I would rather not play with time like this.
My jaw and neck has been hurting for the past two weeks.
What do you think? If this was you, what would you do? Should I wait it out? Or try to go to another private hospital? (I'll have to do some research, I don't know if there's any in Canada)
| 432 |
I agree with the other poster, I’d also ask for a copy of the report so you can see the recommendations from the radiologist; they’re often quite specific. You could post that report here as well, as it may help to clarify
| 287 |
AskDocs
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I’m losing my mind and I know my doctor will write it off as “mom stress”
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24f, 200lb, 7 weeks postpartum.
Medications are 200mg Zoloft and 25mg synthroid. Two lovenox injections daily. I’m also on an iron supplement. I don’t drink nor do drugs and have been on all of these medications for years with no issues.
I’ve been progressively becoming more forgetful and my partner is concerned. We have three children ages 4, 2, and 7 weeks. Thankfully he’s been off work for paternity leave but will go back this month on the 30th and I’m worried that I won’t be able to take care of myself when he’s gone. For example he found my Zoloft in the fridge ? and i space out while driving. I forget if I ate or not and sometimes will accidentally eat two meals, things like that. Nothing dangerous, but no matter how hard I try these things keep happening and are becoming more frequent.
I know my doctor will blame it on stress & tiredness from our new life change but honestly I’m doing better emotionally than I’ve been since I was a child. My partner is the most supportive helpful father, my baby has slept through the night since birth, and my other children are becoming more independent. I’m happy and this is a cake walk compared to my previous postpartum experiences with my ex husband.
I know my pcp write off my concerns and I’m not sure who to speak to about all this. Any advice would be helpful.
| 370 |
Postpartum depression manifests in a lot of ways, and it’s possible that forgetfulness can be a symptom of postpartum depression. Most people don’t recognize it in themselves - I’m a doctor and I didn’t even notice postpartum depression after the birth of my daughter! It happens and it’s very common, so don’t write off the idea completely.
It could also be thyroid related, so if that hasn’t been looked at, it’s worth asking your doctor about it. I think everywhere may be different as the guidelines vary, but it’s common practice to check it again 6 weeks postpartum.
| 278 |
AskDocs
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[UPDATE] [37F] My GP thinks this is migraine but it's very different from my usual migraine experience
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This is an update to [my post from from late March](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/mbgkjv/gp_says_this_is_migraine_but_its_very_different/). I got a few messages and thought I would stop by in case anyone ever finds themselves dealing with the same thing.
All of my personal and health information has remained the same apart from a couple of medication changes.
**TL;DR:** My GP was right.
**More detailed version:**
My blood tests came back normal aside from a slightly elevated ESR. My GP said that could be down to any number of things and wasn't a cause for concern, so good news there.
She referred me for a head MRI, and I saw a neurologist for the results. They were fine. Good! The neurologist discussed my symptoms and said it sounded like migraine and tension headaches, and that the medication I'd been taking was no longer preventing onset or dealing with them when they did happen. So we talked about options and I have been following his advice, which is:
- Coming off topiramate
- Starting pizotifen as a preventer
- Switching from sumatriptan to naratriptan for attacks
- Doing a series of neck and shoulder stretches every day
This has surprised me by working not only on what was going on with my head and eyes, but also the other stuff I was complaining about in my previous post.
So that's pretty much it. My GP, unsurprisingly, knew better than I did but still checked everything out. I'm feeling a lot better!
| 286 |
Sounda more like cervical headache than migraine to me
| 37 |
AskDocs
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Please help me. Embarrassing issue involving male ejaculation.
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Long story short I can't masturbate due to crippling pain when I ejaculate. I first ejaculated when I was 12 and I spent 30 minutes laying on the bathroom floor crying. It was a sharp and burning pain that lingered a few minutes after the release. My stomach then hurt and I felt like throwing up.
I'm 23 now and I have never purposely ejaculated since. Every time I have a wet dream or whatever it's called I'm woken up from the pain. I've been to the urologist 2 times but only recently becuase it's an embarrassing issue. They couldn't tell me what was wrong expect for inflammation in my pancreas which is supposedly temporary. I don't see that lasting all these years.
The problem now is a little more complicated. This is the embarrassing part: So for the past year I have been "edging". I bring myself close to ejaculation and I stop immediately. I do this becuase of small amount of pleasure I get from doing it. There have been times where I've accidentally gone too far and I've actually ejaculated. It hurt. Bad. Lately I have been doing it a lot less close to release so I don't have to worry about it. 4 nights ago for whatever reason I was a lot more sensitive than usual so I accidentally went to the point where I felt it was about to release. I stopped myself but this feeling that it is about to come out lasted an hour. I was in hell and crying because I was so scared. It went away and I was relieved. It came back but it came in waves. I eventually fell asleep on my back too afraid to move.
I woke up and it was gone but that night it came back. It's been coming in waves ever since and tonight is the worst yet. I've urinated many times since then and I looked up blue balls and people say it goes away and "resets" after a few hours. This isn't blue balls obviously. I don't know what the hell it is. It gets more intense when I move my legs a certain way while sitting down. I know this is a problem for a urologist but can anyone tell me what this might be? I'm in agonizing mental pain right now because I've spent the past 4 days knowing that at any second the worst pain I've ever felt can come out of nowhere.
| 470 |
You need to go to a doctor in person, my friend. This is not one that’s gonna be fixable over Reddit
| 519 |
AskDocs
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[31M] I had a seizure and I can’t go see a doctor because I don’t have medicalAid. Help please
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3 days ago I had a seizure in my room, I fell and hit my head and somehow survived. Since then I’ve been tasting metal in my mouth, my tummy and chest feel hot, I completely lost interest in everything, no appetite, everything seems so surreal and eerie I feel like I died I don’t know. It’s been 3 days and also have this tingling feeling from my feet to my waist. Has anyone gone through this? Can you die from seizures? Is it Covid19?
Male:31, weight:102kgs, Medication:MethCathinone and Alprazolam.
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How do you how you had a seizure? What happened? Did someone see you go down? Did you bite your tongue or wet your pants? Could maybe just have fainted?
If you hit your head hard, you could have gotten a concussion or worse, a traumatic bleed. These can be slow and slowly get worse. I'm no neurologist though. If you develop bad headaches, start vomiting, are confused or lose strength in your limbs: go to the ER as it can be life threatening
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AskDocs
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For 10+ years my condition has stumped doctors. I just want to live a normal life. [27M]
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Hello. Please excuse the length of the post. This has been a very long journey for me, I will try to keep it as short as possible. I will be dividing this in 3 parts, since I am having 3 issues that may be connected, but could possibly not be. I am a 27 year old, 145-ish pound, 5'9-ish male from the US.
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In 2008, while in school I started feeling awful after lunchtime. I would have body pain, stomach discomfort, brain fog and be extremely fatigued. The pain would be muscle pain and joint pain that caused loudly popping and snapping joints. The problem got so bad that daily life was incredibly difficult, I was almost bed-ridden. I had no idea what caused it, but eventually figured out that it was caused after I would eat certain things mainly foods with wheat or sugar. The pain and fatigue would subside after avoiding eating those foods for a few days, but this was really hard cause it was hard to pinpoint what was causing it. Over time certain foods would begin causing problems that didn't previously. I developed problems with tomatoes, bananas, eggs, peanuts and more. Now my normal my diet consists of mainly meat, fruit, vegetables and rice, so it is odd that I began having symptoms from those foods. I visited dozens of doctors, got every test you can think of, several endoscopies and colonoscopies, biopsies, allergy tests, gallbladder tests, an unthinkable number of blood tests, MRIs, etc. I even had months of physical therapy. I was just in a chain of getting referred from doctor to doctor with no diagnoses or help. As the years went on I visited less doctors and had to learn how to manage. I noticed that the foods seem to cause inflammation in my joints, even when I avoid eating them I still have slight joint discomfort and popping. I take joint support supplement, collagen, fish oil and vitamin C. I'm not sure if these help at all, but they seem to at least have some benefit. I also take magnesium and drink lots of water, cause I have also been chronically constipated since this began. I used to have to take laxatives a few times a week. I also do not have the best sleep quality now, I'm not sure if it's related, though. I have been in this condition also half my life now, I am hoping it can be resolved before then. I don't care about ever eat those foods again, I just want to have a normal body condition.
In February 2013, I started having jaw pain, especially on the left side, I thought this was just another related joint pain that would fluctuate and improve with the rest of my condition. Shortly after that I started getting sharp pains in my ears from sound, especially music. I love music and would alway have headphones with me, but it got so bad that just 1 minute of using headphones would cause 3 days to a week of several jaw pain. The pain would eventually radiate to my tongue, neck, and the pieces of hard flesh behind my back teeth and stay there for days. This pain would be excruciating. Even outside music would cause pain, alongside sounds like being on a subway/airplane and outside general noise, doesn't have to be that loud. I went to my favorite musician's concert and just had to wait outside the auditorium until my favorite song was playing went in and then had to go home from pain after the song was over. Now I listen to music through my phone speakers, but lowly and for short periods of time, even that causes discomfort. My jaw always feels like there is space on the left side and my teeth don't touch properly. Having my teeth try to touch causes pain, so I have to at most time keep my tongue slightly between my front teeth to prevent that. My jaw always pops and grinds when I open and close it. The little soft area behind my earlobes is always extremely tender, a slight touch is very painful. The lymph nodes under my jaw/ear area also can become tender when the jaw pain radiates further. They may also be slightly swollen, but doctors have said they don't see a problem there. I have had many xrays, CT scans, blood tests and more. I had a small procedure to clean the left joint or something. A needle or something was used, no incisions were made. This did not help. I also was scheduled for a styloidectomy, but while I was under aesethesia, the doctor did a more thorough examination and decided that surgery wouldn't solve my problem. I have had many doctors examine me, but none of them have found the cause. If I could resolve any of my problems, this would be the main one. Things like ice, heat, muscle relaxers and NSAIDs don't have any affect on the pains
A bit over a year ago, I started having sexual problems. I noticed that sex would cause my joint to inflame further similar to food. Not from the movement but from the arousal, I believe. After ejeculating, my condition would deteriorate. Over the next few hours after ejaculation, I would start getting extreme muscle pain, loud painful joints, pain in my lower back muscles (never had this before thought it was my kidneys), stomach bloating, gas, brain fog, extreme fatigue, trouble emptying bladder, loss of appetite and trouble sleeping. These will fully subside after 2 or 3 days. These symptoms are quite bad, very similar to what would happen when I would eat foods that my body has a problem with. Not sure if they are exactly the same, I don't wanna test it. I tried having sex without ejaculating and still get slight inflammatory symptoms and tiredness. In the last 6 months, I noticed that now slight arousal with cause me to get join pain and popping. I've visted some doctor and got STD tests, blood tests, urine tests, scans, kidney tests and more and everything has come back normal.
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I considered posting this online for years, but had no idea where to. I am glad I found this subreddit. Please provide any advice or assistance you can, I would be eternally grateful.
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Thank you.
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I don’t know if this will help but I’m also in my 20s and have had a lot of similar issues. My gut basically shut down last year, I was too dizzy and weak to even shower on my own, and I couldn’t eat anything but sweet potatoes and eggs without having extreme gastritis. Finally they found out I had a combo of Sjogrens, Mast Cell Activation syndrome, Celiac, and possibly RA. But the mast cell thing was the main issue. My allergist started me on a trial of oral Cromolyn. The ampules you take before meals. And it was a night and day difference for me. (After I cut out the gluten of course.) I could suddenly eat normally again when before I was reacting to more and more foods by the day. A lot of the neurological symptoms went away when my nutrition improved too.
But to be honest with you I don’t have any advice on the source of your body pains. I agree with the other posters that a rheumatologist would be a good next step. And what I had to do was write a concise little essay of my medical history and hand it to the nurse when I met new specialists. Because they only talk to you for about 15 minutes and can’t absorb ALL of your symptoms. But if you give them a synopsis like this they might go back and read it. That’s how my doctors were able to piece things together after 4 years of living like that.
I seriously wish you the best of luck.
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How many of you have had actual COVID-19 Breakthrough (COVID post-vaccine) patients? How did their symptoms and recovery times compare to non-vaccinated patients?
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37F, 5'2, 134lbs, recreational alcohol, hx scoliosis and chari malformation w/syringomyelia (2 years post-op laminectomy, craniotomy, duraplasty), vaccinated with Moderna January 2021
So last week, my family spent a week in Las Vegas. We visited family and also spent time on the Strip. No kids present (except for the ones running around the strip) and we were all vaccinated with Moderna in January and February.
I came back on July 2 and developed a stuffy nose on July 3rd. Got tested on July 4th and it came back positive on July 5th. My husband is getting tested today and my parents tomorrow. My parents and extended family are current asymptomatic while my husband has the sniffles.
My PCP called me this morning in a state of genuine shock that I tested positive for COVID post-vaccination. She stated that I was her first COVID patient (I live in the Bay Area) and would have to email me later with the protocol. I'm currently sitting at home eating honey out of a jar (which I can taste). So far, my symptoms have basically been that of a cold. Temp 98.8, O2 sat 99%.
Given my doctor's reaction to me getting COVID post-vaccine, I wanted to know how doctors out there have had breakthrough COVID patients, and how their symptoms/recovery time compare to those unvaccinated. Apparently, breakthrough cases are rare, and given my tendency to win the lottery with rare diagnoses (severe scoliosis, chiari malformation, and now breakthrough COVID), I can't help but wonder if I should have played more slots in Vegas.
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In my jurisdiction we currently have about 150 active covid cases and about 15% have been immunized (some with only 1 dose, some with 2). While the efficacy of the mRNA vaccines are reported as 90% plus, that still means a small percentage of people will get covid if exposed. The 'real world' efficacy of vaccines is also typically lower than the trial efficacy as well (ie typically immune compromised, older people etc aren't included in the vaccine studies).
All this to say, that yes, it is very possible to still get the virus, however your chances of a severe infection/hospitalization/death are vastly lower if you've been fully immunized - as well as the likelihood of you spreading it. The majority of cases reported here that are imm'd are mild/asymptomatic.
I am very surprised that your doctor is surprised- I am certain fully vaxx'd people are getting it more than she is aware of.
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AskDocs
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My lips are making me not want to live anymore
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20M For the last 5 years of my life, my lips have been in an endless cycle of peeling. The skin cycle is so accelerated that it takes 2 days for skin to build up to then start peeling again. This build up of skin ends up looking like yellow cornflakes all over the lip. It’s called Exfoliative Cheilitis. Search it on google, look on images and find the worst picture you can find, I guarantee mine are just as bad, if not worse. It’s ruined my most important development years, I’ve never had a girlfriend, lost all my mates and I’ve tried everything.
The worst thing I find about this condition is there is no break. Once the skin has painfully peeled off, it’s raw, hurts and within 12 hours I can feel the buildup coming. It’s constant and it’s right slap on the centre of my face, the worst place it could be. I’m really exhausted and have tried so so so many things, it’s my life’s focus, there hasn’t been a day in the last 5 years where I haven’t researched what I can do.
As well as the peeling, my lips get inflamed and have a sort of red border around them after eating most foods, laughing and also after climaxing. It makes my look like a literal clown. I don’t eat out any more. This made me think it was histamine in the food I was eating but I’ve kinda ruled that out now. My theories are: leaky gut… mast cell activation syndrome….or some sort of hormone issue. I’ve been send all round the country to different doctors, with no success. I don’t think it’s possible for me to live the rest of my life like this sadly. Any ideas are appreciated, I doubt there is anything anyone can say but I’m just trying everything I can
(Edit)
Just wanted to add what I’ve already tried over the 5 years.
Here are my treatments that I can remember
• Fusidic acid
• Changed toothpaste (even used water for months)
• Oral and topical fluconazole
• 1% hydrocortisone
• Elocon
• Doxycycline 100mg
• Metronidazole 400mg
• Mupirocin 2%
• Topical tacrolimus
• Biopsy of the lip showed one granuloma and eczematous changes
• thought it could possibly be Orofacial granulomatosis, however concluded that the single granuloma found was a red herring
• cinnamon and benzoate free diet
• biotene gel
• patch testing. Saw a contact response to benzoic acid and propionic acid. Did the diet again, no changes
• tacrolimus again
• Setraline for 1 year no help
• been to immunology and basically was told there was nothing they could find
• lotradine
• general topical creams like calendula, lanolin, aquaphor, manuka honey
• supplements vitamin C, quercetin, L Glutamine, DAO supplements, probiotics
• many different diets, low histamine diet being the latest one. Water fasting for 3 days.
• haven’t tried many vitamin supplements as I was told I’m normal levels for everything
• uvb light
I’m sure there’s more than that, but those are the general ones I could remember. (Sorry for the horrific layout of that list above, hope you can understand it still)
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Exfoliative cheilitis is very often reactive. It can be caused by lip licking, sucking, picking, an infection of sorts, an allergic reaction or, in some cases, localised psoriasis.
To rule out infection (bacterial or fungal), swabs can be taken and sent for culture. If you find yourself licking/sucking/picking at your lips a lot, try to be aware if and when you're doing it, and stop yourself from continuing. I know from experience it's very annoying to have loose skin on your lips, and it can be very hard to resist the urge to pick at those scabs, but to have any chance of getting better you'll need to stop yourself from doing it.
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AskDocs
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Was my pregnancy high-risk?
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My husband who is an EM physician doesn’t seem to think it was. Let me tell you why I think it was. 34y.o./first pregnancy/ normal weight/ normal height/ No prior health conditions. At our 20 week ultrasound they determined I had placenta previa. They also found that our daughter had potential hydro nephrosis in one kidney which required 2 additional in-depth ultrasounds. And an ultrasound once she was born to be sure her kidneys were fine. My placenta previa required ultrasounds every 6 weeks and though it moved, it didn’t move enough, which resulted in a planned c-section at 39 weeks. Once diagnosed with PP, I was put on modified “couch rest” for the duration of my pregnancy and couldn’t exercise, have sex, etc. The day before my c-section, I tested postive for covid, so covid precautions were taken during surgery/recovery and the duration of our hospital stay. Baby roomed in with us. Baby’s kidneys were fine and she tested negative for covid at 24 and 48 hours, Thank God. I don’t tell people I had a high risk pregnancy but it came up in conversation with my husband and I told him I was definitely high risk. He disagreed. Help me settle this disagreement. TIA
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Yes, definitely high risk. Placenta previa and low lying placentas have a significant risk of hemorrhage if a patient labors.
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AskDocs
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I believe that I’m dying but my parents don’t believe me and don’t want to bring me back to the doctors. How can I make them bring to the hospital ASAP?
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14M About 3 months ago I began to feel disconnected from my body. I became sluggish and fatigued all the time, when I’m out in public I feel like I’m going to faint and have vertigo. I’ve been having blotchy vision and I’m seeing spots, my memory has been complete crap and I’m having cognitive problems. I’ve had several moments where I came crying, asking them please to bring me to the hospital but they don’t listen. They think I have anxiety or I’m just not eating right or excising enough and just think I have health anxiety. I’ve gone to a cardiologist and my GP and they’ve noticed nothing wrong. I’ve had blood tests that came back fine in everything they measured. I’m not convinced and I think I’m going to die if I don’t go to the hospital in the next week or two, they don’t care and won’t bring me. What can I do at this point, will it take me collapsing on the floor for them to take me to the hospital?
EDIT: Thanks all you really helped me out! It’a both reassuring and validating the ways that most of you described it. I’m going to an eye doctor but other than that I think i may see a therapist. Thanks
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The hospital is a great place if you are actively dying within the next few minutes, hours, or day or two. Usually at that point we are pretty good at catching the thing that is killing you. If you are convinced you are going to die in the matter of weeks or months, schedule a few regular appointments with your PCP. The scary stuff can be ruled out with a workup pretty reliably.
If they can't find anything scary/deadly, feel reassured that what you are feeling may be uncomfortable, but won't kill you. And at that point, we just fix what is bothering you.
Now, if the work remains negative but you are still anxious, I would pursue treatment for anxiety. That isn't to say what you are feeling isn't real. Your brain is how you interact with the world, and just like any organ in your body, sometimes it doesn't work as intended.
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AskDocs
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My doctor told me to not get vaccinated
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I'm a 21 year old male in college. I asked my doctor a week ago about the vaccine while I was there for a different reason and they gave me a 10 minute speech on why I shouldn't get it. They were saying they have been treating more people for vaccine side effects/complications than actual covid cases. There was a guy my age who came in and went bald on half his head and got double pneumonia from the first dose. They were telling me the heart inflammation in guys my age is concerning and that typically the FDA would pull medications that have side effects this frequently. They also brought up Bell's palsy.
I was already hesitant to get it because it seemed questionable to me beforehand, but since I'm moving to Austin for college here soon I thought maybe I should get it. I think I'll definitely get covid in Austin otherwise.
Now I'm spooked about being one of the few people to get terrible side effects from the vaccine, or getting shingles or something ten years from now because of it. I'm also spooked about going to school and getting covid while living alone and failing all my classes. I also don't want permanent lung damage or months/years of no taste/smell or parosmia.
Is there a way to tell if you're prone to side effects? Should I go ahead and get it?
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Go get your shot(s)
Report your doctor to state board of medicine
Warrants formal investigation
This sounds like unethical or at least profoundly pseudoscientific practicing and has gotten doctors (rightfully) sanctioned
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AskDocs
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Someone please help me figure out what's going on with my 4yo
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\*\*Edit 2 (August 8) --
On July 26th I drove her to Austin to see a pedi cardiologist associated with Dell Children's Hospital. For starters, their nurse got the same measurement for height that I did at home, which is 39 inches, which is SMALLER than what her pedis nurse got, meaning she measured her incorrectly and her growth chart is skewed. The cardio gave her a good exam and did an EKG, said he doesn't believe it's a cardio related issue but that he does think it's vascular. I believe the term he used was vascular congestion. He said he's never seen it before, but that he's also never seen an older child with this issue so he believes she will grow out of it. At first he tried to tell me she was probably dehydrated to which my response was "She drinks almost exclusively water, and here's a blood test showing she's not dehydrated". Overall, since the episodes aren't causing pain/tissue damage right now, he doesn't want to medicate her but if it does start to cause more issues we will get into it then. He also mentioned that if it gets worse or if I just believe it's time we can see a vascular surgeon to look further into it. He said he did hear a very tiny murmur but that he 100% did not believe it was causing a single issue and that it was ok.
Semi-related - I spoke with her pedi the week before and asked for a referral to a pedi cardio...and she refused to give me one because she didn't believe we needed it. I got very frustrated at that because 1) what is she losing by giving me a referral when she clearly doesn't know what to do about the issue at hand? 2) Why are you stopping someone from advocating for their child? We've been dealing with the issue for over 3 years at this point, she's been treating it for a little over 2 years, and it's still happening.
So, I said fuck it, called damn near every pedi cardiologist in Tx and found someone that would take us without a referral since our insurance doesn't require one. I'm pretty sure I sounded like a crazy mom but, I'm not going to stop advocating for my child. The cardiologist we did see agreed that she DID need to be seen again and it was good I brought her in.
So, still no for sure answers but I'm happy with what we got and I feel like it's a start in the right direction.
\*\*Edit 1 --
I got my daughter in with her doc today and really went for it. Came out of it with mostly good news and no bad news.
In my OP I posted that this week I took my measurements of her and she was only 40 inches, their measurements today varied --
Weight - 38 lb 3.2oz (42nd percentile)
Height - Her nurse measured her at 3' 4.75" (21st percentile, up from 10th percentile she was at in September of last year). However, myself and the cardiologist we would visit after this appointment found this measurement to be incorrect and found her to still be at 39inches.
Doc said she is happy with that, I can be happy with that too.
We talked about labs and I asked for a TON that were suggested here and we talked about each one. We compromised with CBC/Differential, Celiac (which will take a few more days to come back), ferritin, Iron/TIBC, Sedementation Rate (ESR), and a urinalysis because over the last 2 weeks she's had 2 accidents where she didn't make it to the toilet in time but was right in front of it. Urinalysis allowed us to test for a UTI and for glucose/other in the urine.
Labs show she is no longer iron deficient which is GREAT, however, we still don't know why she turns blue. She's going to look into how to test for Raynauds and see if it's something she can do. She didn't want to do an ANA just yet because I guess Rheumatologists in the area are real persnickety about them doing it so we compromised and did the ESR to see if there was any inflammation.
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This is really long, and really in depth, but someone PLEASE take the time to read it and tell me why mt 4f daughter isn't growing like she should, has extremeties that turn blue, and why NO ONE can tell me what is wrong with her aside from "well that's odd". Seriously, my mom gut on this one, I KNOW it's something and I don't know what else to fight for. I won't let my kid fall between the cracks.
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Born August 2, 2016.
Healthy pregnancy, had extra fluid for a few weeks but it resolved on its own.
Vaginal delivery, cord was wrapped around her legs but caused no problems, 7lb 2oz, apgar 8 & 9. Right ear failed newborn hearing test, passed at audiologist a week or so later. Bilirubin was a little high “5.5 transcutaneously”, sent home with vitamin D drops.
She always LOVED to be warm. Like fleece footie jammies and a blanket while cuddling with someone. I'm always cold so I didn't think much of it.
When she was a little over 1 I started noticing odd stuff. May 2 2018 she was sitting in her high chair, shirt and shorts, A/C was on around 74 and she's holding a cup of milk in her hands and her fingers, hands, feet, lips turn BLUE. Not choking/coughing/etc, just sitting there watching tv and drinking her milk. It goes away a few minutes later.
I took her to our base ER where they did a chest xray - normal, vitals, normal.
They transferred us to a children's ER across town that did blood work and referred us to a cardiologist. ER discharge papers show diagnosis as “acrocyanosis. Children often will grow out of it. There are other causes of acrocyanosis that would require further tests if the bluish color continues. These can be connective tissues disorders or autoimmune disorders.”
Blood work - her results, then lab ranges
Chloride - 108 high (no lab range)
Creatinine - 0.26 low (no lab range)
PLT count - 472K/mm3 (150-450)
Baso - 0.1 K/mm3 (0.01-0.6)
Cardiologist does an echo, totally normal, great!! She was mildly cyanotic early that morning.
June 8th - Mild cyanosis in late morning, her cap refill was 10seconds. SP02 - 80, BPM 87
June 14th - Mild cyanosis late afternoon, hands and toes. 8 sec cap refill, house 74 degrees, fully dressed, running/playing/drinking
Base referred us to a pediatric rheumatologist in the city, "she'll grow out of it, her metabolism needs to mature".
Ok, I've had a number of docs and specialists tell me she's fine, we'll let it go for a while.
It keeps happening, though eventually it does lessen in frequency, I stop thinking about it for a while (for the sake of my sanity). We move to Texas in 2019, start seeing regular, non-military physicians.
Over time I notice her finger and toenails stop growing. No, not slow, STOP. I did not clip her nails for over a year. They are brittle, ribbed, etc, her doc runs a blood test, low iron, start her on flintsone vitamins with extra iron, it helps, cool. ((LAB WORK AT BOTTOM))
In the car one morning outside a friends apartment drinking coffee, kiddo has a boxed juice, it’s cold outside but she’s been in the car, heater on for 30+ minutes by now, wearing a jacket, shirt, leggings, socks, and boots. Her fingers turn blue.
Go out to dinner with a friend who happens to be going to school to be an NP in April 2021, we’re sitting at the table in Chilis, it’s cool but not cold by any means and she looks at my daughters hands and goes “Oh honey your fingers really do turn blue!” (She’d seen pics but never in person).
Plus several other instances from 2019-present of her turning blue in her hands/toes.
Over time we notice her height has started to massively fall off of the growth charts.
Feb 12 2019 (Age 2.5)
Weight 31 lbs, 74th percentile
Height 2’ 11.25 in, 43rd percentile
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August 12, 2019
33lb, 73rd percentile
3’ 0.75 in, 42nd percentile
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September 3 2020
34lb 4oz, 42nd percentile
3’ 1.75in, 10th percentile
Today - at home measurements
38.1 lbs
40 inches
She turns 5 in 3 weeks.
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LABS
August 12, 2019
Lead blood 2.0 (0.0-4.9)
Hemoglobin 11.8 (11-14)
Hematocrit 35.8 (32-42)
September 4, 2020
Manual differential
Neutrophils 33 (27-57)
Lymphocytes 53 (40-60)
Monocytes 10 (0-10)
Eosinophils 3 (0-6)
Bands 1 (0-6)
Comprehensive metabolic panel
Sodium 139 (135-142)
Potassium 3.8 (3.4-4.7)
Chloride 105 (98-107)
Anion Gap 7 (3-16)
Co2 27 (20-28)
BUN 9 (7-18)
Glucose 63 (60-100)
Creatinine 0.30 (0.30-0.70)
AST 32 (0-35)
Alkaline phosphatase 202 (80-391)
Total bilirubin 1.20 (0.10-1)
Total protein 7.4 (6.4-8.2)
Albumin 4 (3.3-4.3)
Calcium 9.5 (8.4-9.6)
ALT 18 (6-57)
CBC with Auto Differential
WBC 5.1 (5-14)
RBC 4.12 (3.90-5.30)
Hemoglobin 11.7 (11-14.7)
Hematocrit 35.5 (33-44)
MCV 86.2 (74-89)
MCH 28.4 (25-33)
MCHC 33 (33-36)
RDW 12 (11.3-15.7)
MPV 9.6 (6.9-11.3)
Platelets 362 (150-400)
Vitamin 25 hydroxy 48.6 (30-100)
Ferritin 14 (8-252)
Iron+TIBC
Iron 39 (50-170) -- this is when the vitamins with iron started
TIBC 371 (244-437)
Iron Saturation 11 (20-39)
T4 Free 0.99 (0.89-1.76)
TSH 2.35 (0.55-4.78)
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I agree that something is definitely going on. I’m really concerned about the drop in her growth (both weight and height), and that plus the nail changes makes me concerned for something that’s interfering with her absorption of nutrients.
I would really push the growth failure with her doctors - the fingers turning blue is strange but someone might write it off as “weird but not imminently threatening”, as has sort of happened to date, while crossing tons of percentiles on the growth chart should raise big red flags for something that needs to be addressed now.
If you’re getting brushed off seek a second opinion, ideally at a big children’s hospital. I would probably want to do a workup to investigate/exclude things like CF, autoimmune conditions affecting absorption (like celiac), a congenital heart defect that was somehow missed (due to the cyanosis), rheumatological conditions (because the fingers turning blue could be raynauds), etc.
Edit: okay some of this is probably ruled out by the previous workup (I missed that there was an echo the first time), but I still think pushing the growth issues is the best way forward rn.
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AskDocs
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Desperate for armpit rash answers, PLEASE HELP!
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My boyfriend woke up this morning with a seriously terrible rash under both armpits. It is very painful, to the point where he can not put his arms down, he is holding them above his head. We do not have insurance or the money for a doctor right now, so I was hoping you beautiful people could possibly help!
Age: 33
Sex: Male
Weight: 327 lbs
Height: 5'7
No drugs, drinking or smoking
No health problems (aside from being overweight)
He says it burns, and stings pretty bad. We did go to the pharmacy and talked to a pharmacist and she recommended no deodorant for today and to buy "intensive healing, anti itch cream". We bought it, put it on a few hours ago and the burning and has just increased. He has a really high pain tolerance so the fact he's almost in tears is very concerning to me.
Left and right armpits... https://imgur.com/a/EDpMiIT
I hope I linked the pics right, Thank you so much for your time!
Edit: I just wanted to thank every one of you, you all are amazing! We did put antifungal lotion on incase (after washing of course), and the Old Spice is gone, for both my boyfriend and my son, the body wash and deodorant... You all are the best for taking time to respond to my post! I appreciate every comment! You guys are rock stars! Sending love to you all!
Edit #2: you guys don't need to award my post, my first two awards ever and it definitely made my day lol, BUT i was just looking for answers and you all pulled thru... So again, thank you all SOO much!!! You guys are the s$!t in my book...
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Has he tried any new deodorants recently? Try some over the counter hydrocortisone for possible contact dermatitis.
To be safe, draw a line with a sharpie at the border of the rash and monitor it to see if it extends past the border. If those is the case, go to an urgent care or free clinic to get evaluated for possible cellulitis/erysipelas.
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AskDocs
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A cry for help from a patient with chronic pain
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27F, 5'8, 157lbs. taking 1500mg gabapentin, 120mg duloxetine, 150mg bupropion,125mg lamotrigine, 50mg quetiapine daily. No substance use.
Medical issues: chronic pain (4+years), treatment-resistant depression(15+years), panic attacks(6+years), ibs-c(whole life), asthma(whole life), fibromyalgia (2+years), anemia(keeps repeatedly showing up in bloodwork 5+years).
Currently struggling with severe skin pain, especially my scalp and face but my entire skin hurts even against clothing. Any food hurts the stomach, even water, and my only remedy for chronic constipation, magnesium citrate, unfortunately reacts with gabapentin. Allodynia occurs almost daily, strange to say but even sounds and rapidly moving images can cause pain.
Since I have to take a handful of pills every morning and evening I try to soothe my stomach by taking them together with a 12-strain probiotic and digestive enzyme capsules. Any other supplements I've tried for my joint pain, sleep or calming the nervous system have backfired. Exercise aggravates my joint pain severely, especially my right hip.
My GP, psychiatrist, neurologist, and anesthesiologist have done everything they can for my situation and consider my symptoms mostly psychological in nature which gives me little hope for any pain-free future. I am at my wit's end trying to find a way to make life with my symptoms even a little bit more tolerable and have something to stay alive for.
| 298 |
What’s the suspected cause of your chronic pain?
Was there an initial trauma?
Have you had any surgeries? What about accidents? Any drug / toxin use in the past?
What body part was affected first, what was next?
What’s the pain quality, ie how would you described it?
How painful is it on the meds you are on? “One” being entirely tolerable, while noticeable, “ten” being the worst pain you could ever imagine.
You mention skin pain, where exactly? Since when? What’s the sensation? You mention fibromyalgia since you were 25. That is quite early and uncommon, but it is often associated with other diseases or a group of disorders. Have you had any rheumatologic testing done? What about autoimmune disorders? Have you ever been tested for Lupus? You mention joint ache as well.
Chronic pain is a real thing, and I am so sorry that you are suffering from this. It is always worth checking for as much as you can, because sometimes there can be an organic explanation, that’s really tricky to figure out.
| 128 |
AskDocs
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Will I say inappropriate things/reveal my secrets because of sedation for colonoscopy/gastroscopy?
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I am scheduled for a colonoscopy and gastroscopy soon. My dad has had a gastroscopy before, and he describes not knowing what he did or said, and saying funny things to my mom on the drive home. Nothing bad, just strange, because he didn’t know what was going on.
I’m not scared of the procedure itself, I’m scared of what I might say while I’m sedated. I’m tempted to ask them not to even give me any sedatives if there’s a risk I could say something bad. I keep secrets from my parents like most people do, but I happen to be hiding some pretty hefty things that could, at worst, lead to them kicking me out. At best, I know they’d treat me very poorly because of things they’ve done for similar reasons in the past.
Do people really lose control of what they say like that? Is there a chance that I say something to my mom on the drive home that I might regret?
If it matters, I’ve been told they use Versed and fentanyl at the hospital I’m having it done at.
for context: I’m 18F, caucasian, 4’11, 99 lbs, maybe 1 drink per month and the very rare consumption of cannabis. Am on amitriptyline 10mg per day as of today. Getting the colonoscopy/gastroscopy this summer because of persistent abdominal pain (and urgent, loose stool, weight loss, fatigue) that interferes with my life, since December 2020.
edit: thank you for all the responses!!! I do feel quite a bit better, but I think I’ll ask beforehand for extra time to “come to” once it’s over before seeing my parents.
| 457 |
I’ve recovered tons of patients out of sedation. We don’t pay any particular attention to what people say, and I’ve never had a patient confess their darkest secrets before. People sometimes say silly things, but it’s usually right when they wake up. You will be alone with medical staff when you first wake up, so you don’t need to worry about saying anything in front of your parents. Really no need to worry about it.
| 449 |
AskDocs
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Seeking medical advice on the abortion process of a friend of mine
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In our country, abortion is strictly illegal and is punishable by up to 6 years of imprisonment, which makes it very hard to seek medical advice regarding the subject. My friend is very much certain that she wants an abortion, and I hope that people here respect that.
My friend currently is 18 years old, and she has iron deficiency anemia, type 1 diabetes, and high blood pressure. She had sex with her boyfriend on June 22, and had just recently found out that she is pregnant after a delay in her period (which she should have had on July 12). She plans on taking Cytotec, Mifepristone, and Methergine, which she have bought from a trusted underground seller here.
That being said, given her underlying health conditions, is it safe for her to undergo with the medical abortion using the said drugs, and what are the possible risks? If yes, can you give us some advices on how to safely do the procedure? And if no, can you give us some alternative drugs or procedures?
Also, please do take note that the procedure would take place without the assistance of any health professional. Only her boyfriend and I will help her throughout the process, so if possible, please be in-depth with the explanations.
Thank you very much in advance.
| 559 |
First, I am sorry that you do not have a medical professional locally that can help you with this. It is difficult to give advice on these things without a relationship with the patient. Especially because you have minimal support from medical professionals if the advice leads to complications.
That being said, I will write out my general counseling when I have helped a woman with a medication abortion in the past.
In the US, we only use mifepristone and misoprostol for medication abortion. Methergine is a medicine used to make the uterus contract and decrease bleeding. It is contraindicated in hypertension. Without going into details with a physician and monitoring, I would not use methergine.
How I counsel patients:
1. Medication administration: take the mifepristone, and 24-48 hours later take the misoprostol (800mcg). You should start to have cramping and bleeding within 12 hours of taking this.
2. What to expect: Nausea and cramping (usually more than period cramps) and bleeding like a heavy period. You may or may not pass clots and tissue. By the end of 24 hours from the start of bleeding, it should be tapering off to a lighter flow similar to a period.
I usually send medication for nausea to help.
For the cramping: Ibuprofen 800mg every 8 hours, staggered with Acetaminophen 1000mg every 6 hours. Some providers will give even stronger medication such as narcotics.
Please note, ibuprofen should be avoided in patients with kidney disease.
Please don’t use anything in the vagina for bleeding.
3. When to go to the emergency room: Fever, feeling very unwell/severe dizziness. Especially with a history of anemia, she is at risk of heavy bleeding that could cause problems. Severe pain could be a sign of a complication as well. Lastly, heavy bleeding where you fill a pad an hour for more than two hours in a row should prompt going to the ED immediately.
4. Risks of the procedure: Heavy bleeding or life-threatening bleeding, failure of the medication (about 5-10% if less than 8 weeks along) and infection. These risks are substantially higher at more than 10 weeks gestation.
One last thought, in the unlikely event that she needs to go to the emergency room it is very difficult to tell the difference of a complicated medication abortion and natural miscarriage. A physician cannot tell the difference unless you disclose that information. I never recommend hiding information from your doctor, but I would also not want you to be discouraged from going to the emergency room in the interest of secrecy.
Hopefully, this if helpful to you!
EDIT:
5. Follow up: please follow up with a medical professional to ensure everything has passed safely and get effective contraception.
If the medication is unsuccessful you can have infections and other complications. Prevention of unintended pregnancy is the most important aspect of abortion care.
She should also know her blood type, because some guidelines recommend receiving a medication called Rhogam at the time of bleeding. This is to prevent antibodies from the embryo if you are Rh negative. Antibodies in your blood make future pregnancies and blood transfusions complicated and riskier.
| 825 |
AskDocs
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I have a chapstick stuck in my butt
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Ok so I'm 17M and I was home alone and I was really horny so I laid on my bed and started masturbating but I felt like I wanted to try something new so I looked around the room for something to use to make it more exciting.
I saw my chapstick sitting on a drawer and I got this brilliant idea to use it as a dildo. So I stuck it in my butt a few times thinking that I'll just push it out every time but the last time I shoved it up there it went really deep and I couldn't push it back out so I thought I could just take it out using my fingers but it only went deeper. I was trying to grasp it a couple of minutes but it went so deep I can't even feel it anymore. The chapstick was almost empty. I really don't want to go to the hospital to get it removed so is there anything I can do?
PS: the chapstick is about 2,5 inches long and about 0,7 inches in diameter.
Edit: I read on Google that if the object stuck inside is really small then I can just wait for the next time I need to poo and it will come out. But I wanted to hear everyone's opinion before I do anything.
Edit: I managed to squeeze it out. Thank you everyone for your helpful advice. I'm glad I didn't have to go to the hospital to get it removed.
| 569 |
You’ll poop it out
| 884 |
AskDocs
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My father in law has had a 2nd stroke in two weeks. We cannot get him to a medical professional this time. Lots of questions.
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Age: 59
Weight: 145lbs
Complaint: Stroke followed by approximately 30 hours without medical care. He had a previous stroke 2 weeks ago and was transported by ambulance to a hospital. Hospital care is no longer possible. For most of the last 24 hours, he has been unable to move most of his body or open his eyes. His lost his ability to speak. Anything he tries to say comes out as just noise, though we know he can still hear and clearly understand.
Edit: Forgot to include that this morning his BP was 140/110. Apparently someone was able to come by the house in the morning (Philippines time) and take that.
Duration: 30ish hours
Geographic Location: Surigao del Sur, Philippines.
Existing relevant medical issues: High blood pressure. A few months back he had to be seen for a heart condition that caused dizziness and a fall. I will try to dig up a picture of some related paperwork.
---
Medications: I have pictures of the following 7 medications. When he lost the ability to swallow, we were about to administer half a baby aspirin rectally. They have been trying to keep him hydrated with water in an eye dropper, but it runs down the side of his mouth. Recently he regained the ability to lift one of his hands and when they sat him up, he was able to swallow the 40mg of aspirin.
Citicoline
Strocit 500
500mg Film-Coated Tablet
CNS Stimulant / Neuroprotective agent
Potassium Chloride
K-Lyte
600mg tablet
Electrolyte
Avator
40mg Film-coated tablet
Antilipemic Agent / HMG-CoA
Reductase Inhibitor
ATORVASTATIN Calcium
Atenolol
Velodin
50mg Film-Coated Tablet
Beta Adrenoceptor Blocker
Telmisartan
Micardis
40mg tablet
DRP-7825
Allopurinol
Xanpurin
300mg Tablet
Anti-gout
Losartan Potassium
Zarnat
100mg Film-coated tablet
angiotensin II antagonist
Images:
https://imgur.com/WXhQUO3
https://imgur.com/73XhuCK
https://imgur.com/Mq2YXNY
https://imgur.com/jp5WFQ9
https://imgur.com/CGTYBy7
https://imgur.com/IaufLu8
https://imgur.com/zNlSUL5
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Not medically relevant, but if you want to read and understand why the medical care is no longer possible:
Please understand that he is in a province of a third world country that works differently than the USA and due to some really asinine covid related policies, him going back to the hospital is no longer possible or for other reasons, practical. He is refusing to go back to the hospital as they require a negative covid result upon entrance. Even patients currently suffering an active heart attack are being required to covid test and have a negative result before being admitted. If they can't or, for whatever reason, are unwilling to get to him, they will lie and say he had a positive covid result regardless of what the test showed. Also, for some reason that I'm not clear on, the wife was also going to be made to bring him to whatever area in the hospital he was required to be in and she is unable to do that. If he dies and they say he had covid, the hospital keeps the body, puts it in the coffin, and has it transported to the burial site. Family is not part of that process and this is a huge, huge, huge issue for all involved. He is very afraid to die alone and says if he is going to die, he wants to die in his own house surrounded by family. The family wants to honor that last wish, though we still wish to do everything we can to save him. After he lost his speech, one of his daughters was saying they really needed to get him back to the hospital anyway. He made a rather angry noise and threw her purse. They understood he was refusin that option. He is convinced that he will ultimately die alone if admitted and that they will use covid to move the body alone.
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What I am looking for:
Without being able to consult a medical professional in a proper environment, I am looking for any and all advice from any medical professional here that we can do to try and save him. I'm told that after 48 hours without treatment, there's nothing left that can be done to save him. We received the suggestion to administer aspirin rectally when he could not swallow, but I am worried about mixing that with blood thinners and existing medication. Unfortunately, I do not have the times that he last took each of these. I am doing everything I can to find and provide more information.
Edit: she's on the phone with family in tears right now. He is struggling to breathe. This is heart breaking.
Edit2: his fever is very high. Is there anything we can do?
Edit: he passed away on video chat in front of her :(
| 341 |
Without a formal physical exam, it would be difficult to rule in or out a stroke. It’s a little unclear from your description of the timeline of his symptoms how much motor function he has at this time. At one point, you say he can barely swallow, but then you also said he recovered function of one hand then said he threw a purse.
In any case, a stroke cannot be medically reversed with medications given at home. In the United States, an emergent head CT is first done to ensure it is not a hemorrhagic stroke. If they are still within the “window” for thrombolytics, which is 3 to 4.5 hours of last known well time depending on the hospital, then they receive an injection of a medication that breaks up clots but can also cause severe bleeding. If there is a large clot seen on the imaging, patient can be a candidate for surgical procedure within a longer window beyond 4.5 hours of last known well time.
Even in the United States, if the patient is not a candidate for thrombolytics or surgery, then their best chance is speech, physical, and occupational therapy rehabilitation and minimize medical comorbidities such as atrial fibrillation, carotid artery stenosis, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol.
Given the circumstances you have described, your best hope for your father-in-law is to give him the medications he has and hope he recovers. If his end-of-life wishes are to die at home with his family, I would respect those wishes. Taking him to the hospital may not change his management very much at this point. Granted, I don’t know how stroke and neurology is handled in the Philippines, so it may still be worth consulting at least a local nurse by phone if not a general practitioner or neurologist on what you should do.
| 153 |
AskDocs
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Is it normal that a Doctor told me to remove my fecalith myself?
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Female, 24. Height: 171cm Weight: 68kg
Swiss, I take 60mg of duloxetin.
I was born with chronic constipation and have been taking laxatives for all my life. Recently I have been taking a new antidepressant which makes my constipation worse but I didn‘t realise until it was too late. Three weeks ago I noticed I haven‘t had a bowel movement in 7 days, so I gave myself one of these little enemas called clyster. This didn‘t help at all so 24 hours later I wen‘t to the ER. They gave three more enemas but still nothing. Then the nurse told me the doctor would have to remove the feces with his hands.
The doctor came in and just gave me some gloves and vaseline and the discharged me! Told me I shoud do it myself!
I went home, tried it but it didn‘t work, so I went to a bigger ER an hour away, crying and in pain. The doctors there then removed it and kept me overnight for observation. I have since upped my laxative dose and hade a colonscopy to make sure its not a physical problem.
Was this doctor in the right to just send me home like that?
| 459 |
It’s odd, but some people do find it more comfortable to disimpact themselves than have another person do it. To avoid it in the future, you’ll have to increase your PEG (miralax, restoralax, laxaday, etc) and water intake daily. Nobody is really born with constipation, it’s just a lazy bowel that needs to be retrained - see [the poo in you](https://youtu.be/SgBj7Mc_4sc). It’s targeted for kids/parents, but honestly it’s a video anyone with constipation should watch to understand the mechanism behind it and how to fix it.
| 238 |
AskDocs
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19M Losing hope, dont know what to do anymore
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EDIT: Thank you so much to everyone who replied to this post I really appreciate all the inputs, you guys are seriously more helpful then some doctors I have seen. I've got a lot more to think about in terms of what my issues could be caused by including POTS which I think is a real possibility, ADHD, mast cell activation syndrome, low test, thyroid issues, depression and anxiety issues which I will definitely be seeing a psychologist for as I think some of these problems are psychological. It could be a combination of these or one or the other. Again I can not thank you enough for all the help I'm glad to see people actually cared enough to respond this made my week.
Hello to anyone that cares enough to read this post. I am a 19 year old male who since about 15-16 has been getting progressively worse symptoms of tiredness, anxiety, concentration, memory and general trouble doing daily activities. First few times going to the docs had blood tests taken with nothing out of ordinary being discovered, I seemed to be healthy. Over the years since then the symptoms got worse and was first dismissed as having depression and anxiety which now seems likely although I feel as if my symptoms have caused this overtime. I have tried numerous antidepressants including fluoxetine, sertraline, desvenlafaxine, moclobemide, mirtazapine, fluvoxamine, duloxetine with absolutely no improvement in any of my symptoms.
Fast forward to a few months ago was told I may have ADHD by my psychiatrist and was prescribed ritalin. After trying dosages as high as 40mg and no improvement in my symptoms he back peddled and said he no longer thinks its ADD and doesn't know what to do anymore. I saw a rheumatologist recently and she believes it could be chronic fatigue alongside adhd and prescribed me milnacipran and although it's too early to tell if it'll work I don't have much faith as it is just another snri.
My main and problematic symptoms includes troubles with memory and concentration, brain fog which is really bad in the morning, general tiredness and weakness, anxiety particularly social anxiety, trouble understanding people even when they are speaking clearly to me. Other minor problems include allergy issues, eczema, nasal problems, urinary retention, muscle twitching as well as a few other issues. I've had every medical test in the book including blood tests for everything as well as 2 sleep studies and an MRI. I had an episode of hair loss around 6 months ago but has now seemed to resolved over a few months or so.
These problems have slowly made uni basically impossible, working is very difficult and I barely survived and passed year 12 despite having good grades years ago, and being seen as a very smart person for most of my life.
I am in good shape and have been hitting the gym almost everyday for over half a year, however physical exercise has not improved my symptoms one bit.
I would really appreciate if someone had some kind of idea as to what this could be and what to do next as I am losing hope and don't know how much longer I can live like this.
| 293 |
So if I understand correctly (bare with me, just thinking out loud here), your main issues surround progressively worsening tiredness, anxiety (particularly social anxiety), concentration problems, and brain fog (which seems to be the worst in the morning). These symptoms severely impact your daily life, and it sounds like you feel these symptoms could be preventing you from reaching your full potential. You’re hoping there is a unifying diagnosis to explain these symptoms, and a treatment plan that can improve your quality of life. So far am I on track?
From what you describe, we know it’s not a physiologic/blood abnormality as you’ve been tested for just about every metabolic/endocrine/infectious disturbance imaginable. We know it’s not sleep related because you had 2 sleep studies. **It’s not an obvious thing, or else it would have been found by now.**
Unfortunately, these symptoms can arise for a LOT of different reasons and it can be really really hard to pinpoint exactly what thing tipped the scales for you. Your symptoms could be one unifying diagnosis, but also might be a combination of more than one diagnosis, potentially anxiety, depression, ADHD, or chronic fatigue related.
You’re getting a lot of suggestions from commenters here already, but I’m not sure we have enough information to really make relevant suggestions for you just yet. The commenters on this board are awesome because they’re really caring and want to help, but sometimes generic well-intended advice leaves people chasing down more “what ifs” and delays appropriate care.
I hope it’s okay if I ask some questions - you don’t have to answer, or answer only in the limits you’re comfortable with answering.
Was there any inciting trigger for these symptoms - like any major life change or stressor at the time your symptoms started?
Have you ever had any head trauma or head injuries? Any car accidents? Any concussions?
Do you live near a farm, around any sources of chemical exposure, or near major industry? Is the water generally safe to drink?
Does anyone else in your household have similar symptoms? Any illnesses or health conditions run in your family?
Do you use any cannabis or other substances? (Whether as self medication or for fun, no judgement, I’m in Canada and everybody does it for a variety of reasons, it’s just the norm here!)
And lastly, have you had any major physical or emotional trauma in your life? Do you have any concerns you could have PTSD? (Sometimes when people have a mixture of symptoms like yours, meds don’t work as well because a primary depression, anxiety disorder, or ADHD aren’t the issue - rather those symptoms are a manifestation of PTSD, and they don’t get better until the underlying cause is addressed)
I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with questions there, but the extra info here may help guide both of us towards the next steps!
Edited to add: sorry, one more. Are you safe at home? Is it a safe environment? Are your relationships with people in your household generally positive, supportive relationships or is there tension, conflict or other stressors impacting home life?
| 116 |
AskDocs
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[UPDATE] to: why am i so f'ing cold all the time
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23F, 5’8”, 145 lbs
Original Post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/kycrpl/why\_am\_i\_so\_fing\_cold\_all\_the\_time/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/kycrpl/why_am_i_so_fing_cold_all_the_time/)
(also I managed to forget how to log in to that account which is why this one is slightly different)
This wasn't the most popular post of all time but I did get a good number of responses so I thought I'd provide an update.
A few months after I made that post I started rapidly losing hair which led to me getting some bloodwork done and...drumroll please...I have hypothyroidism! Turns out it matters what time of day you get this test done which I did not know before. I've been on levothyroxine for a few months now and have noticed a lot of positive changes including to my temperature control issues. I'm glad and also really annoyed that I suffered from such bad fatigue, brain fog, and low mood (as well as being cold, constipated, dull dry skin, etc.) for years and nobody recognized it.
In conclusion here is a shitty meme that represents how I feel: [https://i.imgur.com/0ZyBLOy.png](https://i.imgur.com/0ZyBLOy.png)
| 443 |
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| 6 |
AskDocs
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Father (70) exhibiting extremely inappropriate sexual behaviour - recently
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My sister came over to my house yesterday and dropped some pretty devastating news on me. She had ordered my dad a coffee via his phone and a dick pic flashed across the screen.
Okay, weird. He's married. Has been for almost 50 years and he's certainly not sending mom dick pics. Well, she needed to find out what the fuck was going on. Got into his phone later that night and find out he's talking to some 18 year old girl in Chicago (who is clearly another old man larping) but in these convos there are hundreds and hundreds of dick picks. History goes back a few weeks and he's whipped his dick out everywhere. At Costco. Pumping Gas. At my sisters house while she's in the room. And then he linked to a fucking Chaturbate account that he apparently has been running for 1 year. Turns out he fucking masturbates on it for hours daily and lies to my mom about what he's doing (he's retired, she isn't).
He's crossed a ton of lines, masturbating in my sisters house while she's not home, on some of her furniture. Stripping in public and other high risk behaviours.
What I basically want to know is, what is the likelihood that this is the side effect of some fucking stroke or tumor or something? Or is my dad just a piece of fucking shit with some sort of weird fucking degenerate addiction?
| 967 |
Frontotemporal dementia should always be considered when it comes to new disinhibition in the eldery.
But I don't think this is the case here.
With social and sexual disinhibition due to frontotemporal dementia, the patient lacks insight into just how inappropriate their behaviour is. They simply do not feel it is wrong to, for example, expose themselves, masturbate in public, or make unwanted sexual advances towards strangers.
Your father seems to know what he's doing is wrong. I think this because he's hiding these conversations and photos. He seems to be getting a thrill out of doing what he knows is inappropriate and wrong whilst keeping it hidden from your family members.
By all means, encourage him to see a doctor to investigate his cognitive function. But, sorry, I think there's a chance this is just who he is. I sincerely hope I'm mistaken.
| 958 |
AskDocs
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When I was a kid (~18yrs ago) I inserted an object into my nose. I couldn't get it back. I never went to get it out too. What happened to it?
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First I just want to say that I don't really know if this fits the sub's submission guidelines, this question just popped up now and I guess medical professionals are the best one to answer this...
When I was a kid (4-5 yrs old) and was at school playground, I stuffed *something* into my nose. That something ought to be somekind of tree nut, like a small acorn, or maybe a some type of seed? I really can't remember what it was exactly, but the playground terrain was covered in synthetic/artificial blocks, and the only thing that they allowed to grow was some trees that grew in holes, so I vaguely remember the object to be related to those trees.
Stupid kid-me thought it was a smart idea to test my capacity to probe my nose with said object. I remember to insert it very carefully in my nostril (dunno which) and push it back. I guess I felt confident and safe because doing it because I thought if it was as far that I couldn't pick it out of my nose, I could instead push it from outside the nose. Kid-me was wrong. Eventually it went so far that I stopped feeling it in my nose canal... The object just went up... And never ever returned...
I remember being scared, thinking I was gonna die. I could feel it *somewhere* inside me, I just can't pint point where... I guess I didn't warn our educators because I was scared and/or embarrassed? I remember I could feel it still in the classroom, and I did have difficulty breathing at the time, but that could be because kid-me might had been forcing continued inhales/exhales to try to find/probe/somehow remove the seed.
I remember I should feel happy that afternoon because it was my mom that would get to pick me that day (it usually was dad, because his job was closer), but all I felt was terrorized and scared. I honest to god thought I was gonna die that day, I can't remember if I said something to my parents, but I swore I could still feel the object somewhere inside me throughout the day. Can't exactly remember when the sensation vanished. To this day, I never mentioned this to any doctors/medical personnel ever.
I am in my early 20s, so I obviously did not die from inhaling that object that day when I was 4-5 yrs old. However, it got me thinking lately what the hell happened to that seed/acorn/nut...
Could it still be there? Accumulating dust/boogers/other horrors in my body? Is it in my sinus/my airways/my lungs? If yes, should I have it removed?
Or has it disappeared by now? If so, how? Did it went down the shaft? Like I know of people sneezing rice and peas, so the canals should be connected somehow, could that be it? Or did it slowly dissolved somewhere inside me?
I know this might sound stupid, and I apologise if I'm breaking any post guideline rules, I don't think this is a medical urgency, I just remembered this story and became curious on the unknown outcome ...
Thank you for your attention!
TL,DR: Inserted an object (a seed/an acorn or other tree nut) up my nose when I was a kid, lost it somewhere inside it, never came out, never mentioned this to anyone too, I'm curious to know what happened to it inside me...
EDIT: So what I understand its the odds are that it came out somehow but I don't remember when/how. Ok, I'll bite that. Though I do underline that I never said this to anyone able to remove it, nor I think I told my parents about it... I know answers focused on the "it got out" scenario because its the most probable outcome, but can I get some answers on the "Could it still be there" scenario too? I'm just curious about it
| 305 |
Your nose is connected to your mouth, it is possible you pushed the object back far enough for it to got into the back of your mouth and then you probably swallowed it. You definitely would have known if you inhaled it while breathing lol.
| 305 |
AskDocs
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My Boyfriend has a permanent erection. What does this mean and can it be cured?
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First of all I understand the "funny" nature of this post, but I encourage commenters to please be adults about this. This isn't a simple case of him just having erections a lot. His penis is genuinely incapable of becoming flaccid.
My boyfriend is far too embarrassed to go to a doctor about this and has had a permanently erect penis since his early teens. He still has a sex life, but even after ejaculating his penis will stay swollen. He's worried if he was to go to a doctor they would get the wrong idea and think the worst of him.
He's told me he isn't in any discomfort, but it's quite embarrassing for him. He avoids doctors due to his condition and worries that people always notice he's erect under his clothes. He has literally come home in tears in the past over comments people have made after noticing his erection. To try and hide his erection he has to wear super long shirts that trail down over his crotch area.
Does anyone here know what could be the problem? He's 36 and has been this way since at least 14 years old. He doesn't experience any discomfort or pain. He just wants to live a normal life and walking around with an erection all the time is interfering with that and makes him very self conscious.
| 537 |
You know the answer here. If he wants help, he has to suck it up and see a doctor. We literally see thousands of patients a year with all kinds of embarrassing problems. His is not special and won’t get any sort of ridicule from a urologist. If he really wants help, he will find it in a doctors office, not here.
| 1,199 |
AskDocs
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I just accidentally scratched my eye with some wire - there is a visible tear in my cornea with a portion of it going over my iris. Is this an ER trip or can it wait for prompt care in the morning?
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I currently have it taped shut. I’m 28, male, no major health conditions.
The eye it happened to has crap vision and an astigmatism already but my close up vision is about as clear as it normally is.
Pain is about a 2/10.
What’s disconcerting is the visible tear in the outer layer of my eye. Probably about 5mm at its widest point.
I definitely need to get it looked at- the question is if I go to the ER and likely wait all night or wait all night at home and go to prompt care in the morning.
| 253 |
this is a "NOW" kind of ER trip. Go now, before you lose your eye.
| 586 |
AskDocs
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My forgetfulness is increasing
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27F, only diagnosed with anxiety/depression and taking venlafaxine, bupropion, and buspirone- I don’t know the doses off the top of my head but I’ve been on the first two for years and the 3rd for at least 6 months. No smoking, no drinking, no recent health problems.
Recently I’ve noticed that my forgetfulness is increasing. I will be doing something, a task usually, and end up leaving it by getting distracted by something else. Some examples:
I got the milk out to pour a glass, poured the glass, for some reason I can’t remember decided the dog should get a treat, so without putting the milk away I find myself giving the dog a treat, completely forgetting the milk.
I put groceries away. we have 2 fridges one in the kitchen and one in the pantry. I take frozen stuff to the pantry fridge to put away. 5 minutes later I walk in and the freezer door is wide open- I never closed it. I turn around to realize that I’ve done the exact same thing with the trash cabinet- left it wide open.
Another common example is I will just leave things around constantly. If I cut a tag off a shirt it’ll stay on the table where I cut it off at, because I don’t remember to throw it away. Or I’ll commit to doing a task and completely forget to do it later that day.
It’s like I get distracted and my brain totally disregards any task it’s working on so it goes unfinished. Granted, it’s not happening 24/7 but it’s happening significantly more than it ever has in my life and it’s worrying me a bit. Could it be that I’ve developed ADD or ADHD or something along those lines? There was never any concern about that when I was a kid.
Any advice or information would be appreciated- I do have the ability to go to the doctor but I feel like what will they even be able to do?
| 250 |
This is something I see commonly in my patients with higher levels of anxiety or simply a lot on their mind. The mind gets overloaded in a way so it's hard to even complete basic takes or to stay on task.
In our ever more complex society this has gotten worse and more obvious in the young.
| 242 |
AskDocs
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Covid Vaccine Fears
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I am 30, 6"2, 215, white male, I have a hiatal hernia, barrett's esophagus, a PFO, and had high cholesterol but it was treated with diet.
So I am not anti-vaccine, and I know how damaging Covid can be, I am interested in getting the vaccine as is my mom, but I am naturally shy to take taking medications for fears of side effects, and in this case it doesnt help that 75% of my family has bought fully into every Covid vaccine conspiracy there is. I don't believe in a vast amount of garbage that is brought out by conspiracies but I do have some concerns. I do know have people I have associated with who claim to know people that have had either strokes or died after getting the vaccine, though while it would be odd I dont know if any of that could be confirmed to be from the vaccine.
One thing I am curious about, is, do we have any idea what the odds actually are long term that something could go wrong from the vaccine, im talking 1-5-10-15 years down the line is there any real possibility that something could go wrong and cause health issues that long from now or would it almost always be something in the first 2 weeks.
Another thing that I assume is just fully incorrect, but would like to know for sure. My dad keeps saying that the vaccine to rapidly reproduce spike protein, which then sticks to your blood vessels and causes clots, strokes and other issues. He also claims theres many people getting nerve damage from it, though im sure I've seen that around online and seen it debunked.
I do know a lot of people of all age ranges that have gotten it, and I dont personally know anyone with a major reaction to the vaccine, so it does puzzle how some people I see online say they can know 2 to 3 people who died from the vaccine, I've never been able to explain it, and I cant really refute their stories because I dont know them personally, but thats stuck out to me too.
| 251 |
>I see online say they can know 2 to 3 people who died from the vaccine
They're simply lying. The tragic truth is that what should be a purely medical decision has been coopted by politicians, who have fanned the flames of conspiracy theories for political expedience.
As far as the vaccine goes, mRNA vaccines are just instructions to build a small amount of COVID protein so your body can build immunity to it. The side-effects you feel are your body's reaction to that protein (which can be potent but is essentially always a short duration). It is false that many people are getting nerve damage from this shot, and I have yet to see a study that demonstrates any significant risk of stroke from the vaccine.
If you're worried about the side effects of the vaccine, the analogy is that "real" COVID hits far worse. It's not just a short dose of the spike protein, it's tons of viruses constantly shedding the protein into your blood for weeks.
In my mind, your dad has it exactly backwards-- the potency of the covid spike protein is precisely the reason to get immunized against that protein in particular, rather than to roll the dice when you inevitably get exposed to covid. In other words, if you get covid without being vaccinated, your body doesn't necessarily build antibodies against the spike protein (it's essentially random chance) and might not clear it quickly, thus leading to worse illness. Which is why very few people who have been vaccinated die of covid, whereas some 93% deaths are among the unvaccinated.
Tldr: ignore the misinformation. Get the shot.
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AskDocs
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My new doctor thinks I'm hallucinating
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I'm 31f and I've been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, ADHD, and fibromyalgia
I needed to get a new psychiatrist to help me manage my medications and hopefully get me put on something for my ADHD. (I tested as being on the autism spectrum, but they said they didnt want to diagnose me as autistic because I'm incredibly aware of my thoughts and feelings?)
I met with him for the first time today for about 2 hours. For the first time ever, he said that the manner in which I think is hallucinating.
For example, I tend to picture different versions of myself in my head (picture Alanis Morissetes video for Ironic). So sometimes when my depressive thoughts start getting bad I like to picture it and calm it down. I am fully aware that these are only thoughts in my head and are not separate entities inside myself.
He got very stuck on the fact that I also "see" things in my head. Like if someone says "picture this" I will picture whatever it is in my head. I thought everyone thinks this way! He said that they're hallucinations and I think he's wrong.
I'm already taking Venlafaxine (which he said he hates)
And then prescribed me with Trileptal and Seroquel
I'm going to speak with my therapist before I take them because I'm unsure if I trust his findings
I honestly thought that most people have a running inner monologue and are able to picture things vividly
| 288 |
To me this sounds like a normal human experience of the minds eye/imagination. You are picturing these images in your own head and are quite aware they aren’t real; this seems like the opposite to hallucinating to me! Perhaps find a different way to describe this sensation to your psychiatrist without using the word “seeing”, eg you pictured/imagined this object in your minds eye/imagination. Maybe they have misinterpreted something you have said.
It also sounds like this as a way to help yourself calm down, almost like a visualisation exercise, which would imply you are the one controlling this.
If these issues continue I’d strongly recommend a 2nd opinion.
| 327 |
AskDocs
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Indescribable smell when I stretch my neck in the morning?
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28, Black female- I wake up with neck pain every morning, so I stretch and it inevitably pops when I do. Every time there's a rush of pain relief and I smell something in the back of my nose (best I can describe it, sorry) for about 3 seconds before the smell disappears. I can't really describe what it smells like, because it's almost like the absence of smell. What the heck is going on?
| 413 |
Zenker’s diverticulum?
| 158 |
AskDocs
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I’m in extreme pain and the E.R. “doesn’t know what’s wrong with me.”
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FINAL EDIT: 6 days later, I’m honestly so burnt out about this situation. To make a long story short, after seeing three people absolutely *nobody* knows what happened to me. My “case” is officially undiagnosed. Despite all the confusion, I know my body best of all and am *certain* it had something to do with my nerves or at least SOMETHING coming from the *inside* of my hand. I felt it and I saw it clear as day, unmistakable. All medical professional told me as long as it isn’t hurting anymore they can’t do anything for me. (Was never offered/recommended at CAT or MRI scan once, said it was “unnecessary” after asking.) I guess I completely understand, as I have no idea either— it’s just scary for something that traumatic to happen to me and not knowing what it is or whether or not it may return. My pain will not go invalidated to me personally (or my mother, who is incredibly distraught about this all and was there when it happened). I think I was just born with things not “wired” correctly in my hands/arms and I will just have to learn to live with it. That’s all I can say; I’m just as lost and the next guy. Story of my life!
20M - 5’1 - 138lbs - white/hispanic mixed race - EXTREME burning in swollen hand after “unknown” incident happened - 16 hours - medical issues I’ve had in hand/arms: subluxation of ulna and radial bone in both hands and mass of tangled veins removed in left wrist. - I do not drink, smoke, nor partake in drugs.
Hello all. I apologize for the grammatical errors, as I am typing this through one hand and cannot use my left.
Yesterday evening around 2:30, I was minding my own business walking to an area of my kitchen. I suddenly feel an *strong* stinging pain like I’ve never felt before. I instantly look down at my hands and notice absolutely 0 bite marks or signs of any insect. The pain was so intense I proceeded to drop to the floor not knowing what was happening while screaming bloody murder. My mom asked no questions and instantly took me to the emergency room. On the way there, I could even speak nor move, only scream like a knife was being shoved and twisted through my veins— this remains the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my entire life, even worse than when I rolled my ankle and spun my foot 360 degrees. A true and unmistakable 10/10.
It was turning red in the thenar eminence portion of my hand and started to swell. The pain started and was consistent from there. I for sure believed that something *must* have snapped or become out of place, as it felt like it came from the inside out so suddenly and out of nowhere. I couldn’t move any of my fingers either and my mouth/lips eventually went numb. (I drank a little coffee after my hospital visit and it felt like how it does when you drink something too hot and your tongue begins to tingle, except the coffee didn’t feel that hot at all.)
Much panic, screaming, crying, and chaos later, I finally get to see someone after an unnaturally long amount of time in the waiting room.
I didn’t see one doctor a single time there.
After popping an x-ray for an injury unrelated to the bone and giving me toradol and hydrocodone, the nurse proceeded to tell me she has no idea what’s wrong and that it’s “probably and insect bite” and to take “Benadryl for the inflammation”….. I almost felt invalidated as if they didn’t take my immense amount of pain seriously just because my limb wasn’t hanging on by a thread.
I left with no answers or proper treatment and the last 16 hours of my life have been a living hell. My hand pain has significantly gone down from a 10, but has been riding at a steady 5-6. It has been BURNING hot and only ice provides relief, even though the ice sometimes feels as if it’s burning? The tingling through my lips and fingers are gone. There are no signs of a bite mark; only a red area in the thenar eminence portion. I was woken up 6AM by my mom to change my ice pack, and my hand was quite obviously swollen all the way around and burned *everywhere* but I cannot tell if the ice pack started to make it burn again or if I just noticed when I woke up as sleep was bliss and I felt nothing. Currently at almost 8AM, the swelling appears to have gone down, and my hand is a normal color (other than the very slight redness in the thenar), but I feel like I want to cut my it off. My mother took my ice pack away for not even one second and I was *begging* for her to give it back immediately. I haven’t slept and everything is annoying me right now, (even having to type this) but I am so desperate for any relief or any answers. I actually feel a little sick at my stomach but I probably need to rest. If something DID bite me, I cannot find any images online that looks like my hand or fits this specific description. I wouldn’t want to know what was put into me to make my hand feel the way it does/did.
I will answer any and all questions, I just need to find sleep first. I will see a doctor soon but do not know if I can trust anyone in this tiny Texas town, as misdiagnosis is common here.
Edit- I am 20, not 18. I was so delirious I just copied the example format this sub gives you haha
Edit edit— Went to urgent care and just got back from seeing an actual doctor, MUCH more efficient and knowledgeable than the last. (He actually laughed when I told him they said it was an “insect bite”). He says my case is a “puzzle”, but is certain it could be a neurovascular issue and possible nerve damage. Recommended me to an ortho. The burning pain in my full hand has subdued, as I realized ice or cold air was making it worse. Now I have constant mild burning in only my pointer and thumb; It is only a little hard to bend my fingers into a full fist. I will see the specialist on Monday.
Edit x3– I can see my comments are growing (currently 30) but I can only see two threads (the only two I responded to; you may have to reply to those for me to see them) — Reddit is screwing my post over, sorry y’all!
| 352 |
A painful mononeuropathy as you described in the hand you had a venous anomaly removed is probably a nerve infarct. If the blood supply of the nerve is disrupted, in your case maybe from a blood flow problem, it can feel like you were shot. It's horribly painful and there can be no visible signs. It will fade with time. Sometimes this is due to an autoimmune condition but I bet it's due to the vein issue you had in that arm.
Your lips were tingling because you were freaking out (understandably) and hyperventilated.
| 374 |
AskDocs
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Getting j&j shot tomorrow 8am.
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I just want some reassurance I'm making the right choice on the vaccine ( which vaccine 2 take) . I'm 37, male. I am unaware of any major health issues but I work outside in the heat daily. I have headaches/ migraines once or twice a month. I had asthma as a child and stupidly smoked for many years so my lungs are not top notch, although I have put that behind me. I only list these conditions because of the side effects listed as a concern for blood clots and I don't know if I will know to seek emergency help on the off chance there was trouble. Any advice is welcome other than being told SHOT BAD. Thanks.
| 285 |
_Usual disclaimer: no one can provide specific medical advice for a person or condition without an in-person interview and physical examination, and a review of the available medical records and recent and past testing. This comment is for general information purposes only, and not intended to provide medical advice. No physician-patient relationship is implied or established._
Shot ___GOOD___.
Get whatever shot is available. There is no solid evidence to prefer one shot over another, either from an efficacy perspective, or from a risk perspective. The risks involved with any of the shots are minimal, and __dwarfed__ by the benefits.
| 311 |
AskDocs
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[16M] My boyfriend says his head hurts really badly and he can't remember many major previous events that have happened. When I show him evidence of our conversations he can't remember, his head flares up worse. He doesn't remember how or why his head hurts either. Is there any explanation for this?
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Recently, we had some rough times, and he had even gotten suicidal at one point. Although we fixed everything between us and he has been doing better, he suddenly doesn't remember any of it. As far as he can recall, nothing at all happened besides us chatting as normal. Even some events that had happened prior to our fight, he has no memory of. I'm very concerned about his health, especially since he has a history of mental disorders, and I'm worried he may have either gotten a concussion somehow or his memory is failing due to an overload of stress. Please help.
| 281 |
How long has the pain been going on?
He needs medical attention, and specifically I'd say a neurologist to assess. Amnesia and intense pain combined worry me quite a bit
| 274 |
AskDocs
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Medical mystery solved? Update on wife [34F] getting repeated 1-day fevers after visiting brother's house. One remaining question about infections...
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Six months ago, I asked you guys about my wife getting mysterious repeated 1-day fevers after visiting her brother's house. It seemed like no one was 100% sure of the cause. (I don’t blame you guys, this was very unusual): [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/kzrnny/wife\_34f\_gets\_a\_1day\_fever\_after\_visiting/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/kzrnny/wife_34f_gets_a_1day_fever_after_visiting/)
One new thing that happened: A couple months later, *I* started getting fevers after visiting brother's house too. Sometimes I would get it but not her. Our symptoms were consistent with some kind of bacterial/viral infection. But we ruled out food and water - we still got fevers despite not drinking any of their water, and despite ordering take-out from reputable restaurants that we've had many times in the past with no problem.
Where else could there be bacteria growing in their house? We live in a non-humid dry area, it's a relatively new house, no leaking pipes or anything... then that's when it hit me: **There's a small humidifier in my niece's room!** (what’s funny is that [I mentioned the humidifier in a comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/kzrnny/wife_34f_gets_a_1day_fever_after_visiting/gjt59hl/) in my original post, but my brain failed to make the connection... *sigh*)
So I did some reading on humidifiers... like [this](https://www.sylvane.com/blog/maintain-your-humidifier-and-health/), and [this](https://www.medicinenet.com/humidifier_fever/definition.htm), and [even another redditor](https://www.reddit.com/r/SkincareAddiction/comments/kd08cv/product_question_help_finding_a_humidifier_that/). These articles are probably not the best scientific sources, so I found this too: [**https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nioshtic-2/00213601.html**](https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nioshtic-2/00213601.html) It's a 1993 study published in the *American Journal of Industrial Medicine*. A summary:
1. One day, 16 out of 31 employees at a store suddenly all developed fevers and chills.
2. "The onset of symptoms ranged from 5 to 13 hours after entering the workplace, with a median onset being 7 hours. The illness lasted 2 to 24 hours." This matches our fever symptoms exactly.
3. "A humidifier had been operating for the first time in many months on the day of the outbreak. An examination of the humidifier revealed that the baffles were covered with brownish grey sludge as it had not been cleaned since it had been purchased 19 months earlier." Also, there was poor ventilation that day.
4. "Organisms isolated from the humidifier sludge included three species of the fungus Fusarium, ameba of the genus Acanthamoeba, and Gram negative bacteria."
Also, I started thinking about the full timeline of events, and the facts matched up:
1. **Why did my wife get fevers first, but not me?** Because for the first few months, my wife would babysit and go inside niece's room (where the humidifier was located) to put her down for a nap, and/or put her down to bed at night. I did not babysit, and when I was at their house I would stay in the living room and wait for her.
2. **Why did I start getting fevers later?** Because after a few months, my wife convinced me to help with our niece, which required going inside niece's room. So then I started spending \~30-45 minutes inside niece's room each time.
3. **Why did we sometimes** ***not*** **get any fever after going to brother’s house?** Because we didn’t always go inside niece's room. On some visits, we just ate a meal together and/or stayed in the living room. Note - We didn't *always* get fevers when going inside niece's room. I think on those occasions, we didn't stay in the room long enough (e.g., just popped in to say goodbye), and/or they may have turned on the AC recently when the house felt stuffy, which would have pumped fresh air into the room.
Armed with this knowledge, we shared it with brother and his wife. He shared some more info: He was inexperienced with humidifiers, and did not know anything about humidifier maintenance. He confirmed that 1) he had never cleaned the humidifier since buying it late last year, 2) turned it on every night, 3) used unfiltered tap water for the humidifier’s water source, and 4) during the winter months he never uses the house heater (we have mild winters) so there was zero ventilation in niece's room. The humidifier is made of black plastic, so it’s difficult to see dirty water, but when I examined the humidifier in person, I pointed out a couple 1mm moldy green dots at the mouth of the humidifier. He immediately removed the humidifier and cleaned it upon seeing it. We have not had any fevers since then.
So then this leads to my final question for you guys: **Why did we get fevers after inhaling dirty humidifier air for under an hour, but brother, niece, and his wife seemed to have zero symptoms?** They never reported having any fevers/chills like we did. Can people develop immunity/antibodies for some bacteria/fungus? Or are some people/families just naturally immune to some bacteria?
Patient info: Wife is 34 Female, height 5'8", weight 127lb, race asian. My info is similar, within 5% of my wife.
| 878 |
Thanks for the update! Glad you solved the mystery.
| 149 |
AskDocs
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Why did I collapse at work, and what the heck is an "immature granulocyte"?
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27 year old Caucasian female, 5 foot 5, US, weight unknown.
On Friday July 16th, I laid down for a nap. I woke up with my airways burning terribly. I had something that felt like a flu maybe. Fever, bad aches, weakness, severe congestion, sneezing, a painful but infrequent cough, and difficulty sleeping due to discomfort. I went to the urgent care on the 19th the and was recommended some over the counter medicine for my symptoms, as well as given a covid test (negative.) The doctor noted that one of my ears was getting infected and wrote a prescription for an antibiotic, but told me only to fill it if my ears worsened or didn't improve. I did not end up filling it.
My vitals at the urgent care were normal other than my respiration rate, which was 40.
After a few days I started to feel better, so on the 22nd (Thursday) I went back to work. I found that I was fatigued very easily and was very short of breath, but assumed it was just because I was still recovering strength after illness. I was worried by the fact that my ears were still ringing (they had started ringing when congested and just never stopped after) and that my vision was at times getting dim while trying to work, but I pushed through it.
On the 26th (Monday) I walked a mile to work, as I do every single weekday. But that day, I found myself very short of breath after. I thought I was just still recovering, so I went to do some light easy work. Just walking around the warehouse moving extremely light objects. However, I found myself desperate to sit down, so I sat to catch my breath. When I went to try to get back up, I couldn't. My legs immediately gave out when I tried. I realized I needed to go home, and managed to stay on my feet (leaning on nearby objects/walls for support) long enough to tell the manager I was leaving. I went outside and sat by the door for quite a while.
When I tried to get up, I could only walk a few steps before falling again. Even supported by leaning on nearby things, I just couldn't make it more than a few steps before collapsing. A manager came to help. They had to get a rolling chair for me to sit in while they pushed it just to get me to a car so someone could drive me to the urgent care.
Back at the urgent care, my vitals were normal again other than the fact that I was panting. The doctor said my ears looked good, and that the ringing would go away on its own (though it still hasn't.) He did a blood test (metabolic panel, or something like that?) He said he'd contact me if anything was out of the ordinary, but I've received no further word from him. I can view the test results online though.
Mostly came back normal. Iron levels, white an red blood cells, sugar, everything normal. I can go over the full list of things that were normal if anyone wants, but there was one thing that was abnormal- "Absolute immature granulocytes" was measured high at " .06 10 ^ 9/L". I have no idea what this means.
As of writing, I'm still feeling very easily fatigued. I fell again at work multiple times today, my knees just wouldn't hold me. This time I was able to get back up. I kept falling periodically, but I had to keep going so I just kept getting back up. The last part of my day lets me sit, and it took a good hour and a half of mostly sitting/some standing in place before I could walk without falling. Still felt very shaky and weak though, even once I could walk without my legs giving out.
Any idea what the heck might be wrong with me?
| 261 |
Hello
To answer your first question you collapsed at work because it sounds like you are quite sick. If you have a fever and a cough you should not be going to work full stop.
Re: the cause of your illness, without examining you or seeing your blood test results I can’t really say. I don’t think the ear infection is going to be the culprit here. Likely a respiratory infection based on your symptoms, someone should probably have done a chest X-ray and a blood gas on you.
Re: your question about the immature granulocytes- they are one of the lineages of white blood cells that make up your immune system. Normally they’re chilling in the bone marrow but when your body is fighting an infection it “mobilises the troops” so to speak and you get immature white cells on a peripheral blood film. This is also called a “left shift”.
Since you have acute infective symptoms that’s the most likely cause although some blood cancers can also produce a left shift.
Overall your treatment should be mostly symptomatic- rest, fluids, paracetamol for aches/fevers if you’re uncomfortable. Expect to feel shitty for a week or so, stay away from people cause you can likely spread this, go to emergency if you can’t breathe, are having chest pains or lose consciousness don’t fuck around with urgent care centres.
| 310 |
AskDocs
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Son hits himself when he is angry or upset
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My son male , 17 months old with no medical conditions or other problems hits himself when he is angry or upset.
He has been a relaxed boy and is generally a well behaved and happy toddler. He went through a phase of slapping me in the face. He has stopped as I learned to ignore as he does it for reaction. But now he hits/punches himself when he has a tantrum, gets frustrated by a toy or if I say no.
I have never hit him nor has anyone else. He’s never seen this either.
It’s upsetting but is it a concern? Why does he do this?
| 336 |
Probably the same reason he hit you before - to get a reaction. Ignore it completaly, and I believe he will stop on his own (as it is hurting him too - and if the reward is gone (your reaction), he has no reason to do it)
| 190 |
AskDocs
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My vagina is making men sick
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Hi everyone,
I need help. 21F. So, here’s what’s happening.
Every single guy who eats me out gets sick. Every single one. Since December, I had about 6 partners. All healthy. I did not have sex with all of them but they ate me out. A couple days after oral sex, they ALL (ALL) got sick with a BAD throat infection. Swollen tonsils, severe pain ans white spots in throat.
Ar first I thought it was just a coincidence but now theres no denying it. Here’s a couple more information:
• I personally never got sick
• I got recently tested for std’s, all negative
• Doctors diagnosed some of my partners with tonsillitis (don’t know if they tested for strep, probably not)
• I got severally sick last summer. It was at the high of covid so I didn’t see a doctor for what I think was strep. I have had guttate psoriasis since then. My ex boyfriend got me sick and he ate me out while having strep (I know, stupid). Some time later, I had the worse yeast infection of my life!
• since then, my vagina and I have been seemingly perfectly healthy.
After a lot of googling and worrying, I think one possibility is that I have strep in my vagina and I’m giving it to men every time I receive oral. Sounds weird, but I never took antibiotics for my illness last summer and I am 9999% sure it was strep. This would also explain my untreatable guttate psoriasis that I had for a year.
What else could it be? What should I do?
Thanks everyone, I am extremely worried.🖤
| 766 |
Yeah in this situation not only would I do a full sti panel (could still be negative) I’d also do a genital culture.
I don’t like to guess but I’m betting a you got some strep hanging out down there if it’s not an sti.
| 830 |
AskDocs
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My father (58M) smoked meth for the past month and is now coming off the drug and I really need advice on handling this
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**EDIT: I am in NYC if that matters**
About two months ago, my 58-year-old father discovered that my mom had been cheating on him with multiple men over the course of the past two years. He has been disabled since he turned 40 due to back problems (he had Spinal Fusion).
A couple of days ago I family friend sent me a text (I live 500 miles away from my parents) to tell me that he had been smoking meth for the past several weeks. I had a suspicion because he was going off the rails about someone hacking his iPhone, spying on him via the hack, and messaging people.
I've been through this before. This isn't the first time he has smoked meth and I know how he has reacted to it in my previous experience over the years. I immediately called him out and told him that he would be flying to my city on Sunday (yesterday).
So, I flew him up. Saturday was the last day he smoked and he said he smoked about $300 over the course of three weeks. Now, I don't buy meth so I have no idea how much that is.
Anyway, I know WHY he started smoking. He was under tremendous stress and traumatized from my mother's actions (she's a borderline pathological liar and very manipulative and always has been).
**Here's where we are now:**
I brought him to NYC where I can monitor him for at least the next week. His posture is really messed up - he's leaning hard to his right side (like hunched over but laterally if that makes sense).
**His current medications:**
* Venlafaxine HCL ER (75 mg x 3) = 225 mg
* Crestor 40 mg (Dispensed as Rosuvastatin Calcium)
* Zestoretic 20/12.5 (lisinopril-hctz)
**My Problem:**
He still thinks someone has hacked his phone. He still think there's a grand conspiracy and supernatural things controlling his phone. From what I have read, the proper term for this would be meth-induced psychosis. I know that it takes at least a week for it to resolve itself in most cases, but I'm going out of my mind dealing with this.
**What I have scheduled so far:**
* Eye doctor appointment (he lost his glasses)
* Family physician appointment
Please, any help you could provide would be most greatly appreciated. He has no interest in smoking again and I'm not overly concerned about that. But I am seriously concerned with getting him back to his normal "politically passionate" self as opposed to the "there are people in my phone" person who stands before me.
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I am sorry to hear what you and your family are going through, and I admire your compassion for your father and the love you show him by flying him up and taking good care of him.
You already got really great advice on how to handle his acute mental status (I agree with what other people said about drug-induced psychosis, urgent assessment and potential follow-up).
Unrelated, but nonetheless important, once your father has been assessed and is under follow-up psychiatric treatment, it seems worth checking out his spine. Being hunched over, laterally, is not normal, even after fusion surgery. This may be a sign of prolapsed disc, which could have severe implications for his motor function and sensation (overall quality of life), if it goes unnoticed.
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is 27 too young to have dementia?
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I am male. I have Ehlers Danlos and a CSF leak which has lasted for ten years (I'm awaiting a blood patch right now) and I'm having the most embarrassing problems in recent years. It's taking 100% of my brain power to make a cup of tea, sometimes I forget how to make a cup of tea. I often forget simple words and often forget what day it is or what someone just told me even when I'm concentrating so hard to listen to them. I'm getting confused very easily and my family have said it looks similar to a relative who had Alzheimer's when she was 80. Is 27 too young to have dementia? I'm reading up on the symptoms and looking up videos of people with mild to moderate dementia and I'm seeing some uncomfortable similarities in how they talk and behave, and the weird cognitive errors they make are exactly the same as the types of weird ''errors'' (for lack of a better word I can't think of right now) I'm experiencing.
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I would see your neurologist. Csf hypotension can make you feel pretty rough. It's very unlikely you have dementia at this age.
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Toddler severely underweight
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Our son was born 3.5 years ago and he was around the 75th percentile for weight. Every subsequent doctor's appointment he would drop down - 50th, 30th, 20th, 10th etc. Until they we got to 'less than the 1st percentile.' in the last 3 years we have done at least half a dozen blood tests checking growth hormones, vitamin levels etc, seen specialty doctors, nutritionists etc. Everything has come back normal other than most recently his iron and vitamin D levels were low so we are currently supplementing. He seems totally happy and healthy but he just doesn't eat very much of anything. We put whipping cream in his oatmeal, he only drinks 3.5% milk, have tried caloric shakes - anything for an extra few calories. I have tried going to war with him to get him to eat, tried playing games, tried being super nice, tried rewards. Nothing works. We have another appointment with a pediatrician in a month but just weighed him today and he is even lighter then his weight from a month ago - 23.6 lbs (down from 24 lbs). He is the 15th percentile for height so he's not a big kid but mostly worried if he gets sick he literally can't afford not to eat for a day while he fights a cold. Anyone have any other ideas that the doctors might be missing? My wife is fairly petite so he could just be taking after her but he seems unnaturally skinny. Desperately open to ideas.
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Probably worthwhile to keep a dairy of his meals to know exactly how many calories he is eating. Has the testinf he’s had include thyroid, celiac and CF testing?
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My brother's entire case history of 16 years. We've tried every possible treatment on Earth. No specific diagnosis received.
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His entire body has been itching severely for last few weeks because of liver and kidney disease. NO SPECIFIC DIAGNOSIS from last 16 years. Now treating as autoimmune disease. Age 43, Male Location: India Weight: Currently 60 kg (but has kept fluctuating +- 10-20 kg over the last 10 years) Height: 6 Feet
If anybody can please spare some time and advice us, we'd be forever indebted. My brother's been through it all (+100 surgeries throughout the body) and it's only a miracle that he's alive. Link to view full case history. Link to view full case history[Link to view full case history. Link to view full case history](https://pdfhost.io/v/kibW4aFiW_RT_Case_History_26211.pdf).
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That PDF is an absolute cornucopia of information, and every medical student's dream to have so many detailed records about a patient going back 20 years - thank you for providing this for us to look at. The full document is 41 pages, and many clinicians likely won't be able to read over the full thing, so I've done my best to summarize the important stuff here so more people might be able to weigh in on this interesting case. I'll comment my own questions and thoughts about the case in reply to this summary, just to keep the post from getting too long.
**HPI:**
43 yo male s/p treatment for hepatitis in 2001, course of chronic illness began with diarrheal episodes in 2004, multiple colonoscopies concerning for UC treated with balsalazide and probiotics with multiple relapses in the setting of recurrent aphthous ulcers, 20 kg weight loss, ‘ocular inflammation,’ and seronegative spondylarthritis. Frequent hospital admissions over the proceeding years for FUO with significant leukocytosis and elevated inflammatory markers.
Extensive evaluation for autoimmune and infectious etiologies after imaging findings of diffuse LAD and hepatosplenomegaly were noted, followed by numerous empiric trials of antibiotic and immunosuppressive therapies along with homeopathic/alternative medicines and numerous supplements. All specific disease testing found to be either negative or equivocal, however anemia of chronic disease, hypoalbuminemia, elevated inflammatory markers and WBC, high ALP, and hyperuricemia have been consistent throughout his disease course.
Insidious onset of chronic liver disease noted with progressive rise in bilirubin, PT, aPTT, liver enzymes, and continued decline in serum albumin. Approximately 10 years after initial symptom onset, he began to develop HFrEF and progressive renal disease. He also developed severe osteoporosis leading to vertebral collapse and hardware placement as a result of prolonged corticosteroid use.
His most recent clinical course has been characterized by recurrent infections, including sepsis and PNA. A CT performed last year found a nodule in the RLL for which core biopsy was attempted. This was complicated by pneumothorax and subsequent pleural effusion. The biopsy itself showed only nonspecific inflammatory findings with sclerosis. He has since required multiple drain placements for recurrent right sided pleural effusions with hydropneumothorax. Has contracted COVID-19 twice. It seems he is s/p ICD placement around December of last year. Recent MRI of the brain has noted right frontal granuloma, possible neurocysticercosis v. tuberculoma.
**Autoimmune, Infectious, and Genetic Workup:**
\- ANA, dsDNA, IgA, IgG, IgM, C3, C4, anti-LKM, direct and indirect Coombs, ACE, and RF testing pan-negative
\- ANCA panel largely unremarkable, c-ANCA borderline but without anti-PR3 specified
\- SPEP with low albumin and elevated globulin fraction, evidence of polyclonal gammopathy
\- Leukocyte function testing remarkable only for elevated CD4 count and CD4/CD8 ratio, possibility of IL-10/IL10R or NOD2 mutation; nitroblue tetrazolium test negative
\- Negative HBsAg, HCV antibody, and HIV 1/2 antibody testing
\- BAL fluid PCR for MTB negative; MTB rRNA PCR testing negative; hepatic lesion biopsy stain positive for MTB; paraaortic lymph node biopsy stain negative for MTB
\- Duodenal, jejunal, and gastric biopsies negative for Whipple’s disease
\- Plasmodium vivax and falciparum antigen testing negative (x3)
\- Brucella IgG negative; IgM equivocal
\- Weil-Felix testing (Rickettsia spp.): OX-K negative, OX-19 and OX-2 titers 1:160
\- Widal test negative x2; most recent testing – TO antigen 1:320, TH antigen 1:160
\- Dengue serologies negative
**Treatments:**
\- Unspecified treatment for unspecified type of hepatitis in 2001
\- Unspecified treatment for amebiasis at onset of diarrheal symptoms (unsuccessful)
\- Balsalazide and probiotic for suspected ulcerative colitis
\- Antituberculous therapy with RIPE therapy for 6 months
\- Subsequent antituberculous therapy with streptomycin, levofloxacin, and ethambutol for 6 months after MTB stain positive in liver biopsy
\- Methylprednisolone, alendronate, sulfasalazine, and mebeverine for suspected complicated UC; would later start azathioprine and ubiquinone, though azathioprine was stopped due to azoospermia
\- Doxycycline, faropenem, calcium/vitamin D3, iron/B12/folate, and calcitriol for empiric treatment of brucellosis vs boutonneuse fever vs other infection
\- Doxycycline with hydroxychloroquine for empiric treatment of Whipple’s disease
\- Linezolid and olopatadine for chronic throat infection
\- Deflazacort, hydroxychloroquine, doxycycline, vitamin B complex, calcium/vitamin D, and NSAIDs/APAP for seronegative spondylarthritis
\- Ezycoxib for worsening arthralgias, but stopped after increase in BP and dyspnea requiring subsequent course of torsemide
\- Calcium/vitamin D, vitamin B complex, ubiquinone, trimetazidine, probiotic, and prednisolone for HFrEF
\- Levetiracetam, mesalamine, calcium/vitamin D, deflaxacort, torsemide, and multivitamin for HFrEF with pleural effusion
\- Theophylline, furosemide, and hydrocortisone IV for hydropneumothorax
\- Frequent use of unspecified homeopathic and Ayurvedic remedies
\- Frequent use of supplements including various multivitamins, antioxidant syrups, zinc-containing preparations, and others
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How can I get "history of suicide attempt" to stop printing on my after visit summaries? It is listed under health conditions.
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Age 28
Sex Female
Height
Weight
Race
Duration of complaint
Location - Michigan
Any existing relevant medical issues
Current medications
About 10 years ago now I was experiencing some extreme depression. I have since recovered and am doing so much better. That said I don't like being reminded of that time in my life every time I visit my doctors. I am currently pregnant and have been getting these after visit summaries printed out more frequently because they also have a list of upcoming appointments on them.
So how can I get "history of suicide attempt" to stop printing on my after visit summaries? It is listed under health conditions along with a few other chronic problems but I am less bothered seeing those.
Not sure how to go about asking or if its even possible.
| 339 |
Talk with your provider and they can sometimes remove it from problem list or hide it as resolved. Also possibly talk with medical records and state your concerns about it showing on your paperwork especially given mental health history has additional layers of protection/privacy in place.
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AskDocs
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boyfriend has severe stomach issues and his negligent mother wont take him to a doctor
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i am a minor, and so is my boyfriend. he’s been having stomach issues for almost two years now, and i need to get him help. i live with both my biological parents, he lives with his biological mother and her boyfriend. for almost two years he has been having stomach issues including extreme stomach aches, throwing up almost every time he eats, becoming very nauseous after he eats (even if he doesn’t throw up) and diarrhea almost every time he goes to the bathroom (at least twice a day). he is severely underweight (about 5'9" and 100 lbs) and it sometimes gets so bad that he cannot hold down any food and will basically not eat anything in a day because he has to throw it all up. he said that he has had “ultrasounds and everything” done in the past and they were not able to find anything, although this was over a year ago. it has gotten much worse over the almost 11 months we’ve been together, and his mother is negligent and will not take him to the doctor, just telling him to "eat more" or force him to drink protein shakes because she thinks it will help. i know that she will never take him in and every time he brings it up to her they get in an argument. my family is very concerned about him and i was wondering if my family was to take him in to the er or to a walk-in, would we be able to get him seen by a doctor without her knowing until after?
we would probably be able to get his moms insurance info from his sister, so that would most likely not be an issue. if it varies state by state, please please please tell me how i could find out what the laws on it are in my state. we are in wisconsin
​
thank you so much to any help
| 250 |
Take a picture of the insurance card front and back. Go to an urgent care facility in a hospital network that he hasn't been to before. Ask about price with and without insurance. When address I asked give them your address instead of his. Make sure it isn't an emergency.
Also look up free clinics run by your local university hospital network. It usually has the same residents and doctors you would see if you went to them directly.
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Can a doctor please shut down the theories of the Covid vaccine. I’m about to scream into a field
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My boyfriend and me are in a heated discussion at the moment regarding the vaccine. 34f vaccinated Pfizer him 31M not vaccinated.
I keep telling him the scientific reasoning and how far science has come- my grandfather was a doctor, my dad is a chemist, my aunts are nurses or PA’s. But he still doesn’t believe it and I just want to scream into a field.
Questions:
1. Why are we using the MRNA version
2. Why hasn’t this been approved by the FDA and was only approved to be dispersed on an emergency.
3. Why do you still get Covid after the vaccine
4. Why are we getting boosters.
5. What is the actual breakdown of this vaccine and why
Antivaxxers or Internet researchers, please limit your opinions. I want an actual licensed-doctor, nurse, microbiologist, immunologist , epidemiologist or Ugur Sahin himself to respond.
***EDIT
@hazelnut_mylk- it won’t let me reply to the comment you made “the field trip I’m going to have when I have kids and decide whether they’re going to get it or not.”
I gave birth about 11 years ago, so that pretty much says I have a child. When he’s 12 (in sixth months) why yes.. he will be getting the vaccine
Thanks and god bless
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1.) Because scientists had to find a way to make a vaccine without using live virus. This is one reason.
2.) FDA regulations! The FDA does not rush approving any or drug or vaccine. Due to the deadly consequences of the pandemic, the FDA has approved it for EUA.
3.) It reduces the chance of transmitting Covid-19, but you can still get the virus just like you can get the flu even if you've had your flu shot. It greatly reduces the chance of being hospitalized or dying from Covid related complications.
4.) Antibodies produced using the mRNA technology do not last forever; therefore, we need boosters.
5.) "lipids ((4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis(2-hexyldecanoate), 2 \[(polyethylene glycol)-2000\]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, and cholesterol), potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate, and sucrose" ([Pfizer](https://www.pfizer.com/news/hot-topics/the_facts_about_pfizer_and_biontech_s_covid_19_vaccine)). These ingredients both active and inactive make the mRNA technology work. I don't fully know why; I am not an immunologist.
Human beings have the choice to reject or accept treatment. Although people who elect not to receive the vaccine are doing so due to the terrible amount of misinformation out there, they still have the ***right*** not to receive the vaccine.
However, there is no logical reason why anyone who is eligible and has not had a severe reaction to a previous vaccine to avoid it. People with misguided opinions still have the right to reject the vaccine. I have never pushed it on a patient. My job is to recommend, not force.
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(43M, USA) Since I got the virus back in January I have had a bizarre, and perpetual, symptom.
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I know this is gonna sound a little strange, and trust me I agree, but ever since I got the Rona back in January I have experienced a truly mind boggling symptom and it is really cramping my style.
First, some background.
43 years old. Male. Fully vaccinated (I know!) at the time of infection.
I experienced all the usual symptoms, including feeling like death, fever, and utter, complete, loss of sense of taste and smell.
Fortunately I have fully recovered and can taste and smell food again, but it isn't perfect. For instance, I used to drink espresso like a mad man. I could wear out an espresso machine in a year from use. After Covid, however, it just tastes nasty ... And this is a well documented symptom. It is called parosmia.
Great. Fine. I have a bad sense of smell/taste for a while ...
What I was ***not*** prepared for, however, and what I can find ***zero*** mention of in the news is that I, as in me *personally*, now smell bad ... ***but only after eating potatoes.***
What?
Yes. You read that correctly. Ever since I got COVID if I eat mashed potatoes, or french fries, or potato chips ... or even a McDonalds potato cake, within about 30 minutes to an hour I start to exude a disgusting, pungent smell about ten times worse than if someone were to eat an entire jar of minced garlic.
My housemates have taken to hiding the potato chips in the house because eating just a few is enough for my body to start smelling just aggressively awful.
And showering doesn't help, either. I just have to wait it out.
Somebody out there has got to know what the hell is going on.
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Interesting....I would hypothesize that your gut microbiome (the billions of bacteria that live in your intestines) are making more butyric acid by fermentation of starch, which you absorb and exhale in your breath (that's why showering does not help- since it's in your breath. See: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27188907/). That's their normal function of making short-chain fatty acids that is usually good for you in small amounts. However, your microbiome may be making excessive amounts. Generally, low carb foods lower butyrate (which is converted to butyric acid) while higher carb foods and prebiotics increase it. It's possible that potatoes are loved by your microbiome and that you have a gut dysbiosis (an alteration in the microbiome) induced by antibiotics - did you happen to have any courses of antibiotics? I would suggest sticking to a diet that reduces such issues, and perhaps trying probiotics.
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AskDocs
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Tic went inside ballsack (22 male)
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So i was showering this morning and noticed something black on my ballsack, i thought it was a scab at first, but after i was done i noticed it had legs. I tried everything from pinching in random directions, applying an icecube on it to freeze it and dragging it out with tweezers, and managed to more or less pull apart all of its legs, but getting it out was impossible with what i had.
My question is: what happens now? Does it die inside of there and eventually decay or can it manage to survive?
I am not even sure if it was a tic either, but it was extremly small and had legs. I tried holding a flashlight up to my ballsack to try and see it, but i couldn't find anything.
_------------------------------------------------------------------_
UPDATE: I went to the hospital, i pulled a waiting ticket and after 15 minuttes i got to explain what happened, after 2 hours (which felt like an eternity in the waiting room) i was finally brought into an operational room, the doctor touched my ballsack only slightly, but because it wasn't red and i felt no pain he meant that there was no need to worry. I should maybe keep an eye on it, but i'm most likely fine. And according to the doctor a tick can't burrow into a ballsack like that, and even if it did it should die eventually.
I don't feel satisfied though because i don't really feel like anything was solved, but thankfully there was no need to pay because medication wasn't used.
| 337 |
Yo I would get that checked out if it were me. I would not want a bug living or dying while burrowing into my scrotum.
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AskDocs
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[25M, 6’2, 195 pounds] I have been sick for nearly a month after giving oral sex to a women who tested positive for bacterial vaginosis
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Its been nearly 4 hellish weeks which started 36 hours after intercourse. It started with body aches and feverish feelings. Then a stuffy runny nose and congestion with a slight sore throat. Cognitive issues like brain fog and extreme fatigue. And on the 9th it started getting worse so I saw a doctor and she ran a few blood tests that showed a low White blood cell count and said I most likely had a sinus infection and put me on amoxicillin
Im at the end of my course of amoxicillin and still feel awful and yesterday started getting feverish symptoms, body aches, dizziness, weakness fatigue, congestion, and the brain fog like Ive never felt. It feels like its getting worse
I just found out this person who I had oral intercourse with has/had bacterial vaginosis she’s negative for any other STD’s and my blood tests rules out things like Hep or HIV . Seeing as how I got sick right after seeing her, and she’s the only person Ive been in contact with since COVID began What does this mean? Am I in danger? And what are my next steps?
Update: Both Covid and Mono antibody tests came back Negative. Now Im even more confused
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I have never seen anyone get that sick from Coming into contact with BV. It’s most likely something else.
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AskDocs
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What are these holes on my arm?(Don’t look if you don’t like holes)
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https://i.imgur.com/V2XcT5c.jpg
Again don’t look if you don’t like holes.
I have had them since memory and I don’t know how I got them. My mom has I was born with them she referred to it as a birthmark. I understand to go to the doctor and get it checked out I will but it has never been a problem and doctors have seen it but never worried about it which is why I wanna know. In some of the holes dirt does come out if I squeeze but most don’t. I enjoy them and I think they make me special but sometimes people ask what it is and I can only come up with birth marks.
Age 18, Male, middle eastern but have lived in the U.S. my whole life. No medical issues, no medication taken for it or anything else.
More photos https://imgur.com/a/XSvdbod
| 455 |
Nevus comedonicus, benign
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AskDocs
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UPDATE and an additional question: I lost an eye.
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Male non-smoker no meds 220 pounds.
I do have a question to ask at the bottom.
To give full details of what happened seeing as how I wrote that last post in a major rush and had my head not on right from hiking out with that kinda pain.
A buddies dog scratched across my guitar strings while I was tuning it and the low E popped loose. Punctured my eye and my reflex to pull it out caused some kinda goo or liquid run down my face. Honestly didn't feel it from the shock for a while.
Anywho, I got what I asked for from the surgeon and I'm happy with my decision.
My question now is, am I gonna have to deal with phantom pain in my socket or something? I'm on the good drugs atm and everytime I mention that question to a nurse or the doc keeping an eye on me (hehehe) they just clam up like I'm talking about something I shouldn't know about.
Oh and one more thing. To the moderator who locked my last post, I wasn't asking for emergency advice on how to save my eye or anything. I was asking what my surgical options are seeing as how there wasn't much i coulda done 10 miles out from a main highway anyway to save it even if I could. Thanks to the locking of that post I went into the situation blind. Pun intended.
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Pain in an anophthalmic socket (an eye socket without an eyeball) is relatively rare and usually not phantom. In other words if you have pain it's probably due to some problem (e.g. poor fitting prosthesis, implant erosion, etc) that can or needs to be fixed.
A common reason to remove an eyeball is if it's painful (and blind). It wouldn't make much sense to do it if the socket was going to continue hurting afterwards.
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AskDocs
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33M swallowed a peach stone
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Let’s just get this out of the way up front, I’m an idiot.
My 6 year old handed me what I thought was the remaining portion of a juicy peach this afternoon (9 hours ago as of this writing) in our garden. I thought the stone had been removed and simply tossed it in my mouth and swallowed it whole. To my surprise, as it cleared my throat, I felt the hard edges of the peach stone still hidden inside.
I searched the internet for answers but didn’t find anything and went about my way since we were trying to accomplish a few time-sensitive tasks.
Well, fast forward to now. Just woke up in the middle of the night with the sweats and some mild pain in what I would describe as my upper stomach/ lower throat region. Feels like my body may be trying to induce vomiting.
Just wondering if I should go grab some ipecac and lean in to the vomiting, go to the ER, or pursue some other alternative.
Thanks in advance for your help
Edit 1 : an hour later - Just got off the phone with telehealth doc who said it should pass. He suggested Mylanta/Maalax to calm my stomach. Stopped by my local pharmacy and have now taken 20 mL Mylanta. No immediate relief but will see how this plays out.
Edit 2: 32 hours after ingestion. Had a few times during the first few hours when I felt like I was going to vomit. Attempted “lean in” to that with no avail. Did produce a small amount of emesis but not anything to get excited over. Thankfully was able to call in sick to work. I attempted to sleep for a bit but that was pretty restless so I took it easy most of the day hanging with family etc.
I called my brother-in-law who is a radiologist and he said that this should pass so I was really hoping to just push through this experience without an ER visit.
Throughout the day I experienced a steady pain right underneath my sternum. I’d say the pain was around a 4 on a scale from 1-10. Whenever I tried to do much I would have a spike in pain up to around a 6-7. Occasionally the pain would start for no reason. It felt at times like muscles were contracting below my sternum. Also, I did not eat breakfast and only had a banana around midday. I was not experiencing hunger which is not normal for me given such a small amount of food consumed at that point in the day.
Well the pain really ramped up around 2:30 to the point where I was experiencing this odd muscle contraction pain in my sternum every 1-2 minutes. I decided to bite the bullet and head to the ER. They were very kind, listened to my whole story, took x-rays which revealed that everything looked normal. So I got that going for me.
On the way home I decided to try and bring in the heavy hitters and push this thing through so I stopped by McDonald’s and grabbed a Big Mac and a large fry. I was still feeling some pain but I pounded the food (making sure I chewed everything well since apparently I have a problem with that). I then drank a cup of prune juice, did some jumping jacks and crashed for an hour or so at around 6. I woke up from my map and felt slightly better. I think I might have dislodged it from whatever point in the process it was stuck at in the afternoon.
As I write this lying in bed I’m still feeling a little discomfort, probably around a 2-3 on the pain scale. My stomach is feeling soft which the doctor recommended I evaluate as this thing progresses. If at any point my stomach gets bloated or tight or I experiment very sharp pain I am to report back to the ER.
I’ll continue to post updates. At this point I’m just hoping it passes without issue. Hoping that sucker doesn’t come out breached 😬. Also hopefully this serves someone I the future. I realize everyone’s experience is different but I was pretty stressed out when I was experiencing this pain at 5 AM and I couldn’t find any information online about swallowing a peach pit or stone.
Thanks again for your help. I will try and go through and reply to comments in the morning.
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We see these from time to time. They usually pass. The place that might give you the most trouble is pretty far along: the ileocecal valve. That’s why separates the small bowel from the large bowel (aka colon).
If in the next day or so you feel your abdomen get progressively bloated and you can’t eat comfortably, go to an emergency room. You might have a small bowel obstruction at the IC valve. A CT scan will be used to determine if the pit is stuck there and if a surgeon needs to be consulted.
But they usually just pass as a hard stool in my experience seeing this a few times at my hospital.
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AskDocs
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[37M] Why does smearing Lime Juice on my forehead cure my headaches?
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Found it as one of those home remedy/folktale suggestion buried in a forum about video games almost a decade ago, and I assumed it was utter crap until one day when I had a headache that just wouldn't quit - I'd had to leave work early, I'd been laying in bed in the dark for a couple hours, I'd tried the strongest headache medicine I had, I was on the verge of vomiting from the pain, when I remembered it and thought "fuck it."
I swear by my dead grandmother's soul, may she rest in peace, it was like having a magic swab that just wiped my headache away everywhere I touched it. I could barely stand up and almost couldn't see straight before I used it, and my pain diminished by 95% in less than 30 seconds after I did. I felt almost completely normal almost immediately. I assumed it must have been the world's strongest Placebo effect, so over the last decade I've very carefully tried it with other people when I've been around at opportune times to help, and gotten similar results about 80%-90% of the time.
It only seems to work with actual fresh limes, not pre-processed bottled lime juice - you simply cut a wedge off and smear it liberally across your forehead and temples, and the pain usually recedes significantly within a minute. It also works just as well with frozen and re-thawed lime wedges, although the effect seems somewhat lessened if you heat them beyond room temperature when defrosting them.
Why would this be? What is it about lime juice that would just cure most headaches like magic within seconds?
| 417 |
I have never heard f this and have no idea. Just be careful if you go in the sun afterwards, you want to make sure you don't expose your lime-covered skin to sunlight or you might end up with some nasty sunburn.
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AskDocs
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[36m] I've never been able to get or maintain an erection and it's seriously killing me.
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I'm 36. Relatively healthy, but a smoker at 10 a day.
I'm 205cm tall and weigh 100kg. Heart pumps blood normally and have average BP etc and resting HR of 76.
All recent blood work has come back normal, after a full screen, the only concern was cholesterol at 0.1 over upper threshold.
Testosterone etc within levels.
I have never been able to get an erection. Not for as long as I can remember, not even as a teen.
My urologist told me to get circumcised in case it helped. It didn't, and now I hate myself even more, my penis feels mutilated.
Once a month, or less frequently, I wake up with an erection, but it subsides almost immediately.
I've previously been prescribed Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and every common ED pill there is. None of them work, all of them give me tremendously horrible headaches.
I've also tried some anti anxiety pills from a psychiatrist in case that had an impact. They didn't.
Please, what can I do. Any help appreciated.
Please. Thank you.
| 261 |
You need an evaluation by a urologist who specializes in male fertility. This will probably involve a Doppler ultrasound of the penis. It may involve cavernosography and -ometry.
The idea that a circumcision would help this problem is insanity. I sincerely hope there was some other issue, such as a phimosis, that was the reason behind that recommendation.
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AskDocs
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Boyfriend has a severe condition and no one can diagnose him, please help, I’m afraid I might lose him.
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*edited again 9/24/2021*
He was diagnosed with a rare disease called MALS syndrome (compression of the celiac artery). Thank you for everyone’s input. Funny enough he’s been told to smoke pot again to gain weight because part of the reason his attacks are so bad at the moment is because he’s too skinny, compressing his celiac artery more than usual. Thought I’d share as this might help someone else. For years he had GI doctors tell him it’s not GI. It’s hard to diagnose as it’s extremely rare and you have to under go severa tests. They’re going to use a celiac pain blocker first before they try surgery.
*edited to add more descriptions of symptoms*
I’ve known the man for 12 years and we recently started dating less than a year ago. I heard about his “attacks” as his family has dubbed them, even when we were friends. One incident in particular left him in a hospital for two weeks, many years ago.
He has severe left side pain, that makes him feel nauseas and he will continue to throw up for hours. He takes hot showers to soothe him and he hops in and out of the shower for several hours, the whole time he’s throwing up. I’ve seen him do it for up to 14 hrs before he resigned and asked me to call the paramedics.
Now before I get the crazy stares why don’t I take him to ER right away. I’ve gone to many hospitals with him. He’s had attacks while in the hospital and the nurses, drs at certain hospitals just don’t give a fuck. It’s the most disheartening thing to watch. You go to the hospital to feel better, safe. No, not in his case. Some drs are great others are dicks.
He did have state health insurance until just this past month. Since we’ve changed the level of care has gotten better at certain places, it’s been hard to get him to see specialists such as gi, oncologist, vascular, neurologist the list goes on. Some of these drs take months to get into. For the past three weeks I’ve been taking him to the hospital every 48-72 hrs as another attack comes on. Making it impossible to keep some of these appointments. (He has been able to see a GI who is going to scope him next week.)
The only way to stop the pain and attacks are IV medication, we’ve tried other things before; he throws it up. They usually give him narcotics, zofran, and an IV bag. His veins are all bruised as it’s been harder and harder to find good veins.
Before you ask no he’s not a drug addict. He doesn’t even drink, 7 years ago they thought it was his gallbladder and removed it. He has also done a nuclear study that showed how his digestive system moves food. I don’t know what this means but they said 1,2 where great and functioned normally but 3,4 and 5 were abnormal. He takes reglan 1-3 times a day, protonix and bentle? (Sp). He also takes Xanax at night and occasionally smokes medical marijuana to help with sleep and hunger. As you can imagine eating is scary for him. These attacks usually come after eating. And just about eating anything, even from drinking water. Also having a bowel movement can bring on an attack.
I’m watching my boy friend die in front of my eyes.
After lots of conversations he even remembers having similar episodes when he was younger and would hide it from his parents.
He has had mri’s, mra’s, cat scans, blood work, endoscopy, colonoscopy. Everything comes back clean.And yes he is still getting another colostomy and endoscopy on Wednesday because his Gi doesn’t think the hospital he was at were competent( apparently they have a bad reputation) only weird thing that has shown up is that his blood is inflamed. Hopefully fingers crossed he can make that appt tomorrow. He is currently fighting an attack off. He doesn’t want to go to the hospital bc my daughters birthday is Saturday.
We are willing to try anything at this point. Any suggestions I’m all ears. Please let me know if you need more info. It’s hard to fit it all in and remember every detail that I feel can possibly make a difference.
Thank you in advanced
****thank you for all the responses I have not been able to read through all the comments but I would like to add a few things.
- how extreme the left pain is not normal. It’s constant pain that he deals with daily, at about a level 7. Once it reaches a ten this is what brings on the nausea. When he goes to drs it is so tender it cant even be touched, (same area as your liver). He has had this pain since he was a child, he says it was always his soft spot, if someone ever fight him that would be where to attack (you can visually see a difference from his right and left side when he’s naked, the skin even feels different where it hurts him). He used to play football in high school and once got tackled straight on in that area with a helmet, they had to take him off the field on a stretcher.
- he’s more than willing to stop smoking if it’s going to make him better. He’s stopped before for 1.5 years and still had these attacks. Usually when he goes through a fit like this he will quit for a couple weeks.
- he has been diagnosed with gastroparis and that’s why he takes the reglan although not all of the gi’s agree and think this is a more extreme case
- he is 44
- his attacks were similar when he was younger with how he feels the acid reflux coming on. He wouldn’t vomit. His stomach would get hard, usually brought on by drinking drinks from the fountain. He has always had this pain on his left side just not as severe it’s gotten worse with the years
- he is afraid to eat because these attacks usually happen after a bowel movement.
- also during these attacks his arms go numb, usually the left one
-his heart rate goes insanely up while in pain
- he becomes almost incoherent he can’t speak properly, slurs, I always know when he knocks out of it because we can hold a conversation again.
-he sometimes shakes in bed and sweats under the blankets, runs high fevers and sweats them out
-he has had many gi’s from different hospitals he gets admitted to tell him this is not a gi issue. They believe it’s something else. We’ve been told neurological, nerves from his spine.
| 355 |
Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome until proven otherwise (already had a million dollar work-up anyway). Too many classic symptoms. Need to completely stop marijuana.
It's crazy that nobody has caught onto this given how classic his symptoms are.
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AskDocs
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I (24F) just tested positive for COVID, I am fully vaccinated, I have bad symptoms and I am scared I am going to die since I have risks. Treatment they prescribed me cough medicine and steroids, but I can't get it until tommorrow. What if I die in my sleep.
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Female
24F
Height 5'6, 250 pounds BMI 39
Health- I have overactive thyroid but it has been stable for a year now, I take medicine to keep it stable.
Medicine- methimazole, 40mg nexium, sertraline duloxitine, and clonzapam as needed.
I got the Pfizer vaccine in January and February.
He prescribed me cough syrup and steroids to take, but my Walgreen was closed due to the holiday so I won't be able to pick it up tommorrow :(
Symptons:
Congestion,
bad cough,
body aches to where it hurts to move my body at all,
chest pain that constantly aches.
My back and chest hurt even more when I take a deep breath in.
Shortness of breath.
Symtpoms started yesterday, but I went to the doctor this morning. When he examined me he said I may have a sinus infection and he heard bronchitis in my lungs. They tested me for covid and I am positive . I do have risk factors such as being overweight and having thyroid issues. This chest pain and aching and shortness of breath is freaking me out. You see on the news how some young adults/teens are dying of COVID and they are overweight.
I also seen COVID can cause heart issues too. I am just petrified. What if I die in my sleep? What if I develop heart issues and have a heart attack? I can't start the medicine until tommorrow and I am so scared. What should I do? When should I go back to the doctor? Should they have did a chest xray? How do I know the damage covid has caused to my body?
| 376 |
you won't die in your sleep. usually people who get really sick from covid worsen slowly over time.
if your oxygen level was normal, not sure the steroids will help, but would see if your primary care doc can get you some monoclonal antibodies
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AskDocs
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Brother(35) is in a coma, all decisions are to be made by my schizophrenic mother(55). Need advice on how to get her to understand the situation.
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Age:35
Sex: male
Height: 6'3
Weight: 220
Race: Caucasian
Duration of complaint: 1 week
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Any existing relevant medical issues: comatose, little to no brain activity.
Current medications: unknown
Above info is my brothers.
Posting from my wife's account.
My brother was hit by a car while riding a bike about a week ago, the accident has left him in a comatose state with close to no brain activity. His heart is also being pumped by machines. The doctors have expressed to my mom and the family that he would more than likely be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. Along with "pulling the plug", they have also asked my mom to make a decision on weather or not they should resuscitate him if his heart begins to fail or just let him go. According to the doctor's, if they attempted to give him chest compressions, it would break his ribs and most likey kill him. My mother has not been well since we were kids, she also is not on any type of medication. She is not in any state of mind to make this decision or even grasp the situation. She believes that since his heart has a beat his brain will somehow get better. She is also adamant about prayer and a miracle happening. My siblings and I, along with doctors have expressed all of this to her many times, and are all very frustrated because she says she needs time to think about everything. No one has the means to put him in a permanent facility nor hire a nurse for around the clock home care. We've all explained that he will be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life and she has repeated it back to us, but she still fails to make any decisions. We have told the doctors that she is not capable of making the decision but the only way we would be able to put someone else in charge is if we hire a lawyer and go the legal route. My siblings feel defeated so I am going to attempt to talk to her in the morning. I need advice on what I can say to make her understand that he is not coming back, and it's selfish to keep him in this state. I understand if this is way out of reddits league but I would appreciate any and all advice.
| 262 |
Thank you for posting. I'm sorry this happened to your brother and your family. I'm an ICU doctor in the US so have been involved in many similar conversations. Unfortunately, your situation is not uncommon. The next 3 paragraphs are just about my experience with these types of situations to give you some perspective, but if you'd just like my advice instead of a rant you can skip ahead.
In the ICU we take care of many patients following serious injuries (car accidents, major strokes, cardiac arrest) that leave them neurologically devastated with little hope for recovery. In all states in the US, the decision on how to care for the patient moving forward lies almost entirely with the patient's next of kin, unless the patient has a very clear advance directive. As doctors, we try to lay out the medical facts as clearly as possible to family, but ultimately, it is the families decision and we will do whatever they decide (there are exceptions to this, but I don't believe they would apply in your brother's case).
Even in the absence of mental illness, many family members react to this terrible news the same way your mother has, by ignoring the grime prognostications of the doctors and instead putting faith in miracles or pseudoscience. In doing so, they are often willing to commit their loved one to a number of invasive procedures, like a tracheostomy and a feeding tube, to prepare them to go live at a nursing facility for permanent care, all just for the slim chance that they might make some small neurologic recovery with time. What happens more often is that these patients begin to accrue the complications of being chronically ill and bed bound, including bedsores and repeated pneumonias, and will go back and forth from the hospital until one of these infections eventually takes their life.
All this sounds terrible and its hard for health care professionals sometimes to imagine how people can put their loved ones through what we feel is essentially torture. However, we often forget how little medical experience the general public has, and forget how traumatizing the sudden loss of a loved one can be, and these things together cause people to make emotional decisions instead of cognitive ones. While I respect a families right to have a say in their loved ones medical care and I'm glad this is the system we use in the US, this is actually the situation where it backfires. Putting the entire weight of this decision on one person with no medical background is incredibly hard and sometimes I think unfair to them. But that's the way it is here.
So, advice. First a question, you mentioned your brother is on a machine to pump his heart, could you provide a little more detail please? Generally we don't use machines to pump the heart in this situation, unless they put your brother on ECMO after his accident, which would change things. I suspect he is at least on a ventilator as most people with serious brain injury require this.
Second, I'm fairly certain that nothing you or the doctors say will be able to change your mother's mind. For that reason, I would try the following: organize another sit down with the doctors, your mother, and your siblings. You can try asking the doctors very specific questions like "What would you do if this was your son?" or "What do you recommend we do in this situation?" This can be helpful because it moves the doctors out of a more passive role of just providing facts to a more active place of suggesting courses of action, which I find some families like because it takes some of the weight of the decision off them. Additionally, I would talk to your siblings beforehand and see if they would be willing to all endorse telling the physicians to move ahead with comfort care for your brother. If so, as a group say something in the meeting like "we understand that he's not going to get better and we just want our brother to be comfortable and go home to God", and then ask your mother if she's okay with this. If you say the words instead of making her do it, this will make this decision much easier for her if she just has to nod yes, and it still functions as her making the decision to shift to comfort care (i.e. withdrawal of care). I realize this doesn't sound great and may feel a little like steamrolling your mother, but I think the more you can shift the burden of this decision off her and onto yourself, the more likely she is to agree to the right decision for your brother. I'm sorry again for your loss and hope this helps.
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AskDocs
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(m20) attacked 3 doctors while under anesthesia! Is this common??
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I’ve been having some stomach/ digestive problems for a few months now, plenty of doctor visits blah blah blah, they decided I need a colonoscopy, gross but okay, (I’m writing this day of colonoscopy) I get all the bowel prep done ( really gross) and get into the OR and they start with the this clear white liquid into my Iv , that burned going in and the a white colored thing next with in moments I was asleep, but I woke up in another room and I was told I attacked the 3 doctors and bruised someone’s neck around me I don’t remember any of this
I really need to know if any doctors/patients have had something like this happen and how they handled it
| 312 |
Agreed. Doesn’t happen all the time, but does happen from time to time.
The white stuff was almost certainly propofol, it can be quite painful as it travels up the arm, causing a stinging, cold, or needle like sensation. Some people feel it, some people don’t. I will usually give patients a bit of fentanyl first to get them relaxed as as an anaesthetic.
Also agree that you should warn your anaesthetist in he future that you have had a reaction like this, if nothing else so that they can remember to duck.
| 504 |
AskDocs
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[UPDATE] Brother(35) is in coma, all decisions are to be made by my schizophrenic mother(55). Need advice on how to get her to understand the situation.
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Link to original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/pom5gb/brother35_is_in_a_coma_all_decisions_are_to_be/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Thanks to the comment made by Physician u/benmrcsmith, my siblings and I were able to get a response from the doctors that we all agree on. As for my mother, she didn't bother to show up to the meeting(my wife and I even offered to pick her up). She also apparently lost her cell phone. The medical team is starting to see she is unfit to make the decision my family desperately needs to make, and are willing to move forward without her. There is a phone meeting scheduled today as a third attempt to get through to her. If not, the decision will be left up to my siblings and I and we will begin comfort care as well as the necessary steps we need to make during this difficult time. Thank you to everyone who responded.
[SECOND UPDATE]
Today the phone meeting was changed to in person, my mother was notified and failed to show up. After this final attempt doctors have now placed the decision in our hands. We are starting comfort care and will be donating his organs with hopes it helps/saves families in need. Again thank you to everyone who commented.
| 325 |
Thank you for the update.
As with all updates, as there is no question, this post will be locked. No GoFundMe links, please; this isn't a fundraising subreddit even for good causes.
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AskDocs
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my 20yo non-verbal autistic brother is in extreme pain.
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Hello,
My brother is autistic and can't talk, but he tries to communicate by pointing to things or through a program on his ipad.
About 6 days ago, we noticed that he was lethargic and not eating much, which is abnormal for him because he loves food. He weighs about 210 pounds at 5'9, has a little bit of a fat belly and mild non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. He also has GERD and needs to be put under anesthesia to do an endoscopy because he won't stay for it.
Now, the last 3 days he's been expressing signs of being in extreme pain. He has these fits where he screams, unlike anything we've seen before, and he becomes aggressive from the pain and hits his head (he has had these moments of auto-aggression before but i think it's from the pain these times). He's even crying, which is not something he ever does. When we ask him where the pain is, he points to the bottom of his sternum.
We've gone to the ER twice, yesterday and the day before. They did a scan on him and found that he was constipated and dismissed us, saying that it's most likely constipation cramps. I don't believe it because he's pooped twice since and is still having these pain fits. Also, he's not pointing to his abdomen, he's pointing to his chest.
What can this be?
| 280 |
Not an internal physician, but a psychiatrist with some limited experience in learning disability, so I'd be more than happy to be corrected on the following.
You and your family know your brother's behaviour best, and from what you have described, I would be exceptionally keen on a very thorough physical health work up.
You mentioned a scan at the emergency department. What type of scan, and on what part of his body? I recall in my earlier years of training when I worked in the emergency department, I saw a patient with a similar presentation and because it was impossible to localise where the problem was, we only knew that there was a problem somewhere, we sent him for a CT of his chest-abdo-pelvis which allowed us to pick up a serious pathology. Also, you didn't mention it but I trust he has had a full set of routine bloods performed.
If despite thorough investigation no physical cause is found, we will need to consider other factors such as a recent change in his environment or routine, which people with ASD very much struggle with. Another possibility I often keep at the back of my mind is recent abuse; those with ASD present very differently when they develop PTSD or undergo new trauma of some kind. His mental health team (I trust he is under long term follow up from a learning disability team given the severity of his condition) should be informed and they can advise further.
Hope it all gets better soon for your brother and your family.
| 55 |
AskDocs
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At what point does a dental problem not covered by insurance become a health problem that is covered by health insurance?
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Alright guys, here goes.
I (34M) have an extremely severe case of periodontal disease. I am on the verge of losing all my teeth. Bad genes, no dental checks since 7th grade due to extreme fear of dentists from a bad experience as a child, was a pack a day smoker from age 22-30, crushing bouts of depression(compounded by this situation), and I'm paying for all of it now. Have had Bruxism/TMD since I was a child, never knew how to treat it. Also have an issue with dry mouth and it wasn't until the visit to the dentist last year that I learned that it's terrible for your teeth and gum health.
My last visit was last May when the dental office told me what was happening with my teeth. I went in bc one of my canines fell out. That's when I rushed into a dental office and they broke the bad news to me. Told me I was going to lose teeth and basically told me I was going to have to get dentures while doing bone graft and then do implants down the road. Or partial dentures attached to whatever teeth I might have left. Grim. Debilitating. I haven't had any other teeth fall out, but they are mostly loose. I'm terrified and in a constant state of panic. My mental health was taking a dive even prior to Covid, and since Covid started it's just been a downward spiral for me.
It's so frustrating. I can't afford any of the treatment bc I don't make that much, and I'm also paying off debt. Due to debt, my credit is bad. Since my credit is bad, I'm only eligible for $2K from CareCredit.
Dental insurance is useless in my case. I know one of the major risks of periodontal disease is bacteria getting into the blood stream, which is quite a serious issue. My question is since dental insurance doesn't help in my case, will my medical insurance be able to help me when that happens? WHat would you do in my situation? Thanks in advance.
| 336 |
So sad we are reduced to have to think this way.
| 317 |
AskDocs
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[34M] If I wanted to be fit enough physically and mentally to be a cat burglar in my 70’s, what should I start/continue/stop doing now in my 30’s?
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Hypothetically speaking.
Edit: Wow I didn’t expect this. Not sure what silver is but THANK YOU!
| 354 |
_Usual disclaimer: no one can provide specific medical advice for a person or condition without an in-person interview and physical examination, and a review of the available medical records and recent and past testing. This comment is for general information purposes only, and not intended to provide medical advice. No physician-patient relationship is implied or established._
Well, if you are not physically enough to be a cat burglar right now, there is very little chance you will be in 40 years.
So start training now. Get to where you need to be. Then go farther: you will lose strength and flexibility, regardless of training, so you have to be MORE than fit enough right now to maintain this in your 70s.
Mentally is another story. There are some immutable factors such as genetics, illnesses that might develop.
The main avoidable risk factor for loss of brain function is tobacco. If you smoke, you're basically fucked. No smoking.
Studies suggest that "use it or lose it" is a good principle for maintaining cognitive function as well as physical function. Stay sharp: take classes and learn new things all the time. Read. Do crossword and logic puzzles. Meet new people.
Honestly, though, cat burglary is a young person's game. The physical changes are difficult to overcome. You should consider being a cat burglar now, and, as you age, switch into con artistry. Remember: age and guile beat youth and beauty.
| 337 |
AskDocs
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Is this behavior in the office normal?
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Hey y’all I was seen today and Dr. S who saw me saw me for an IUD insertion. I said I didn’t want my period anymore and she was like ok an IUD isn’t the best solution which is fine but then she went on to say you won’t be a virgin anymore if we do this procedure and it gets worse. Then she’s like your hymen will be gone and then she was like what if a man wants to see you untouched when you’re older? I don’t want to do a Pap smear because your hymen will break and it’ll take your virginity. Bitch what? And I am 21 so I was like I don’t think my generation cares as much as yours and she was like well women change their mind like the wind or something and then she was like I just worry about our decision making.
| 292 |
No, that is not acceptable at *all*, neither is it true. I would be reporting that interaction with supervisors or your insurance company.
That is not appropriate physician behavior.
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AskDocs
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My mother had a seizure after a change in personality. And now she isn't making sense.
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I(16M) noticed a change in my mother (45F) behaviour 12 days before the seizure, it gradually got worse. She had 3 modes zoned out, laughing, and angry. She had been stressed but she usually doesn't react this badly to it. She also had done some sudden and extreme exercise a couple weeks ago, part of it was in long grass. She says that she thinks it was an attribution to the seizures.
5 days ago she had 3 grand mal seizure, they kept her in hospital for 2 days. They did a CT, MRI, LP and all were clear, so they discharged her.
After coming back I realised that the more tired she was the less sense she made. Over the last 3 days her mental ability when tired has gotten worse. She is rambling on, overthinking, forgetful and not making sense. Last night she got quite bad, she keeps overthinking her thought process. Talking about intuition and light bulb ideas, and we decided to take her to ED. After waiting there for 8 hours and being checked by ED doctors, as well as having blood taken they discharged her. Without much explanation. They gave us a mental health line to ring, but I suspect it's something medical and not mental, this came on very suddenly. She came back home and struggled to sleep all while getting mentally worse. She told me she is sleeping off and on repeatedly and struggling to get good rest.
She almost seemed like a child again.
I rung healthline and they said bring her in when you feel up to it. We're intending to go tomorrow morning when we've all had a good rest.
Any ideas, this is very complex and I'm wearing very thin?
#edit
-She woke up and was very confused, she could barely answer questions so I called an ambulance and we are currently at ED.
-She is complaining of a severe headache, the nurse gave her paracetamol. Still haven't seen the doctor.
-Still haven't seen the Doc. Seems more with it now, she also has a high BP.
-She has complained of a star in her vision, she hasn't elaborated anymore than that.
-Have talked to Doc and she didn't know what could be causing this definitely. We are now waiting on the medical team to do an assessment and start a plan.
My mother also said that she was paranoid to the Doc and so they have her an anti anxiety med and now she seems a lot more talkative and is making more sense than before.
-spoken to snr Doc, he suspects either psychiatric disorder or extremely long post-ictal phase is causing the current stuff. I've been awake for 30 hours so I'm going to bed now.
-Spoken to Neurologist. He suspects encephalitis even though everything has come back negative. The antibodies test is still processing and will take weeks. But he isn't going to start her on steroids until it comes back positive or there is a rapid deterioration. He also suspects that she may have had a migraine over the last few days and that contributed to the memory loss, confusion etc.
The psychiatric team will also see her and if the antibody test for encephalitis is negative this is the route we'll probably go down.
Also said they may do more EEG tests, potential with sleep deprivation as this is when she is worse.
| 278 |
Where do you live? This sounds very concerning for some type of brain inflammation, but it’s odd given the lack of any findings on the labs or imaging. When you bring her in tomorrow, ask about all causes of encephalitis- including autoimmune. it’s rare and they may have already ruled it out, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Without the results it is very hard to say what they may have already done. Definitely take her back tomorrow. If she truly never had a history of psychiatric illness it’s very concerning to develop these symptoms with seizures at age 45. You are right to still be worried and ask about medical causes.
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AskDocs
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[24M] I have started donating Plasma, but my parents and friends do not approve as they think it is detrimental to my health. Please advise.
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I am currently living in lockdown in Sydney. The Delta variant has wreaked havoc on the healthcare system and I have seen us going from 0-20 cases for almost the whole of 2020 and a good part of 2021, to 100+ cases a day in June, and 1000+ cases per day in mid-August. Seeing these numbers and hearing the stories of doctors and nurses made me feel bad and I wanted to help out in some way.
So, from mid-August, I started to donate Plasma. I have B+ blood, so the nurses told me that my plasma is lot more helpful in treating patients. Plus, they said that about 60% of patients who need plasma use B+ donated Plasma to recover from diseases like cancer, burns, and whatnot. Donating whenever the nurses advise me has improved my mental health and I feel good that I am able to help someone in need. It's just in my nature to try and help out if I can.
But, my parents (especially my Mum) and friends don't approve as they think it would be harmful to my health, or there might be a risk of contamination during th procedure. How do I explain to them that I'm trying to do good and help people?
| 309 |
Hey, thanks for taking such an awesome initiative and doing your part. There are some common concerns and misconceptions about donating blood products. I will say first off– there is virtually no risk of contamination. The equipment used is all sterile. There is a tiny risk that you could contaminate the person RECEIVING your blood product (like if you have hepatitis that made it past the testing), but none to the person donating. Risks of the procedure are virtually always temporary – things like bruising, pain at the site, feeling like you're going to faint, not hydrating well afterwards, and the likes. If you have a condition that makes you bleed (hemophilia), you should not get your blood drawn. There are small risks of the needle being placed incorrectly, but all of these happen exceedingly rarely.
​
On the flip side, you literally save someone's life. A person gets to see their family again, a person gets to have the life-saving surgery they need, a person gets to come out of the hospital.
| 299 |
AskDocs
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My GF (16F) has sudden episodes where she forgets who people she should know are.
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When I (17M) was getting to know my girlfriend in the first few months of dating she told me about how she used to have episodes where she would forget about people around her that she should know.
She told me it happened when she was younger once with her dad and her sister, she was terrified because she didn’t have a clue on who they were, but she kept telling herself she knew them, eventually, she remembered who they were and she felt much better.
However, just around an hour ago she had another episode. We were in the shower together and I got out to wipe myself down and brush my teeth in the sink. Meanwhile, she brushed her teeth in the shower. We were making silly faces at each other and goofing around and we eventually just got onto doing our own thing. Then I went to look at her and get back to being my usual moronic self, and she just looked down, I eventually just stopped assuming she had enough of me being silly.
Then she stepped out and I dried her off and she looked unusually upset, I asked her “what’s up?” repeatedly until she told me she had an episode. She told me how she was scared and was looking down cause she didn’t know who I was and was scared, she just kept telling herself in her head that she knew who I was. I asked if I could help her somehow if she told me she was having an episode and I would console her, but she told me she was so overwhelmed she couldn’t even speak.
She’s completely fine now and she’s back to her usual self, with complete awareness of everything around her, but still, I’m really worried about her, I’ve searched on google everywhere but I couldn’t find anything that matched exactly what she experienced, so I would really appreciate it if anyone could help. This is my first real post on Reddit so I apologise if it sounds silly, I just need to know what’s going on with my girlfriend. Thanks so much.
| 365 |
How long do these episodes last?
If they are a matter of seconds to minutes, I think it may possibly be neurological. Seizure activity can alter mood and perception -- it's not always the dramatic convulsions you see on TV.
| 431 |
AskDocs
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Pregnant Wife - Complete Body Hair Loss
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Hello,
I am putting this together on behalf of my wife. Her situation is strange and the medical system here (Nova Scotia Canada) is epic-ly failing her.
So, here it is:
Normal pregnancy, until about 27 weeks, our dog then dies unexpectedly (which was extremely devastating for her) and then she experiences a full body rash for about 2-3 weeks. The death may not be related, but it may be (Telogen based hair loss). Only place the rash wasn't present was on her face. Kinda like this one [https://images.app.goo.gl/SNx4e33MAtzi6xUC8](https://images.app.goo.gl/SNx4e33MAtzi6xUC8).
After the rash her hair started falling out in handfuls. Over the course of the next 9 weeks her hair completely fell out, maybe a few hundred hairs left.
At this point her eyebrow and eyelash hair is also falling out, and her leg hair hasn't grown for a month.
She saw a derm who quickly said it was autoimmune without actually testing the hair / skin.
She is now at 36 weeks and completely lost as to what is happening. Anyone have any ideas? Anyone know someone in Nova Scotia Canada who could actually look at the hair / skin, this should at least tell us if it's Telogen or Anagen based hair loss. Has anyone heard of this, especially during pregnancy? This seems like a rarity.
She is: female, age 28, pregnant 36 weeks.
| 253 |
This can be caused by shifts in hormone levels, causing a lot of hair to enter the telogen phase prematurely. This is called telogen effluvium and can also be triggered by stress.
I think the reason why the derm thinks it's auto-immune is because of the rash that happened before her hair started falling out. A rash is an inflammatory response and can be caused by an auto-immune response. I would still choose to get this confirmed through blood testing, and maybe a skin biopsy sent in to the pathology lab. Blood tests most commonly ordered for autoimmune issues are ANA and CRP.
Along with these blood tests it would be wise to get iron levels checked, a CBC, and to cover all possibilities, a hormone panel for prolactin, DHEA, FSH, LH, and a thyroid panel.
| 253 |
AskDocs
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Doctors in hospital are asking us to make an impossible decision for older COVID patient.
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93F Tested positive for COVID about two weeks ago. After a brief few days in the hospital she was sent home. She was home for 3 days and her O2 saturation fell into the 70's. She was sent back to the hospital where she has now been for about a week.
They treated her with monoclonal antibodies, remdedivir, steroids, antibiotics and ivermectin. She is on a bipap currently. The bipap was originally set at 100% and has since been gradually lowered to 60%. We were told that chest xrays were also showing slight improvement.
Saturday night we FaceTimed with her and she was reacting and trying to talk back, but was having trouble talking back through the bipap mask. She was moving her head in response. Then again tonight we FaceTimed and again she was responding and we could make out some words, but it is very difficult to hear her through FaceTime with the bipap on.
Earlier today we received a call from a palliative care doctor who said "she is going to die." He was extremely blunt and told us that there is nothing else that can be done. He wants us to take her off the bipap, put her on a rebreather mask, give her morphine and just wait for her to go. We even asked him if that is right since she is actively responding and would be able to talk if it weren't for the mask. His response was, "it is being prolonged."
How can it be prolonged when chest x-rays have shown improvement and the bipap has been turned down 40 points? We can't help but feel like the doctors at this hospital have just given up. She is actively communicating with us and they basically want us to euthanize her. Are we crazy in thinking this is wrong? Are we missing something? Is there something else we should be asking the hospital?
Thank you in advance for any help anyone can give. This has been an insanely difficult rollercoaster for two weeks.
| 260 |
When I was in her doctors’ shoes, I frequently had to call family and discuss these options. It is very likely that she is communicating but not well enough to make complex decisions like these for her health. If she IS able to make these decisions, you can call and talk to her about them and communicate to the doctor. Ask her to blink or shrug or give hand signals for answers if she can.
At this point, I recommend against intubation for anyone her age with covid. At the VERY least, you should talk to her about it and then ask her doctors to ensure that she is DNR (do not rescussitate) meaning that if she passes away she will not have her ribs broken or a tube put down her throat to oxygenate her. The reason why I recommend against such treatment is that it is painful, traumatic, and has about a 0% survivability in covid in her age group. Similarly, someone her age has almost a 0% chance of ever getting a tube out if she is intubated in a non-emergency situation.
If someone is approaching intubation, I always discussed whether that was right for them with the patient or family if necessary (sometimes the patient was too weak or confused and couldn’t talk and the discussion was had with the family where the patient could hear and nod or shake their head as we went). I don’t think it is right for a 93year old with severe covid.
Why might they think she is heading down that road? I was concerned about a future need for intubation or approaching death if any of the following criteria was met:
- their oxygen saturation was persistently below 90% on BIPAP
- their PaO2 was low on BiPap
- they are able to keep their oxygen above 90 but they are tiring out, breathing shallowing and too frequently (~20x a minute+) or too infrequently (<8x a minute)
- they are confused on bipap (this is a very bad sign)
- they are too weak to adjust their position in bed
- they cannot take the bipap off to eat (while switching to high flow nasal cannula) without their oxygen falling to <85
- they cannot eat or drink at all safely
- they tell me they don’t want to do this anymore
For a 93year old on bipap for a long time, eventually she will tire out if she doesn’t get better enough to take the mask off. Her settings are a bit more complicated than just 60 and 100%, but I’m guessing that her oxygen is set to 60% on the bipap. That’s good because it means she is able to get oxygen into her blood. However, she may be requiring high pressures to do it.
If you don’t think she is in a situation where she may pass away very soon and you want to make her comfortable for the passing, you can talk to her doctors about not escalating care but not switching to comfort care yet.
I helped hundreds of people go through this situation last winter and it never got easier. I am so sorry you are going through this. Hang in there. I hope this helps.
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AskDocs
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Scared
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Gender: non-binary (assigned female at birth) Age: 23. Height 5’7 Weight: 142 Medications: birth control. No health issues
I was sexually assaulted almost two weeks ago. It was rough. Anal and vaginal. No condom. I bled heavily almost two days. There’s still blood when I wipe after pooping. But it’s not bleeding otherwise. It hurts to poop.
I scared and humiliated. I live in a somewhat small town. People know me. i grew up Mormon. One of the ER docs is in the bishopric in my ward and knows my father. Sex sins are serious. I really don’t want anyone finding out. People talk.
I don’t have a doctor.
I’m scared this is something serious. But I’m scared to be seen anywhere.
I don’t know what I want by posting- maybe just someone to tell me I’m ok. Or something.
| 434 |
Star_Haunting, what that person did to you is not a sex sin that you did nor is it in anyway your fault. That is a violent crime committed by the rapist against you. I am so sorry that you met a rapist that day. It is *not* your fault. It is entirely all on the rapist who hurt you. You were sinned against.
I hope you will get medical attention. I am not an expert in trauma or treating people who've been assaulted, but emergency physicians are. It would be best for you to seek treatment at an emergency department. They have studied and trained specifically in order to help you. They want to help you. Unfortunately, most ER docs have seen many patients with stories like yours because rapists are bad people who commit crimes against innocent people.
Please let the emergency physician somewhere help you. If you aren't comfortable seeking care near home, go to another town or city. It is a HIPAA violation, and therefore a punishable act, for any of your health care team to talk about your private information. This includes telling anyone that you went to the ED or to a particular doctor. Yes, just gossiping that they saw you in the ED is a violation of the law if they work there. Anyone not directly in your care who looks at your health information violates the law.
[Random people who aren't working in health care might gossip that they saw you, but they won't know anything. They'll probably assume you're being tested for covid or a UTI or a sprain. Health care people at every job including the janitors are subject to losing jobs, losing licenses, or huge fines if they violate HIPAA. They can't gossip about you without serious consequences.]
Even though it's two weeks after you were hurt, they should still evaluate you properly as a person who was raped, using the protocols for sexual assault. They will check you for STIs and give you medication if indicated. You didn't consent to having sex. The violence involved sexual acts, but it was violence, not sex. You were injured. You are still in pain and still bleeding. It might be infected. It's even possible that you might need a minor surgery to fix that painful bleeding spot. Anal trauma that is still bleeding two weeks later should be checked out. That's for your physical health.
The protocols for treating assault in the ED also include providing you with counseling and mental health services so that you can be mentally helped. Trauma isn't just a physical thing. The rapist wanted to hurt you psychologically more than he wanted to hurt you physically. It's important for that to be addressed at some point so that your mind can heal.
Please look up the rape crisis hotlines for your area. They can tell you about your best options where you live. If the local ED is staffed with people who shame&blame the victims (they should lose their licenses if they do!), the rape crisis center near you can tell you where you can safely be treated.
🙏
Edit: 1-800-656-4673 is the number for RAINN National Sexual Assault hotline.
"United States: Contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (the Lifeline) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Crisis workers are available 24 hours a day. Calls are free and confidential."
If you Google RAINN, there's a link for their chat, too.
In case you aren't in the USA, there's a link for international hotlines, too.
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AskDocs
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How did my brother die? 25/M
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Hey everyone. TW// death.
Before you comment anything about murder: police officers cleared the scene and the external autopsy showed a clean tox report.
In late August, my “perfectly healthy”, 25 year old brother was found dead at work. He was hunched over his desk unresponsive. When the paramedics came and pumped him full of adrenaline and such, hit the AED many times - they could not get a heartbeat and he was pronounced dead. They claimed it was too late and his heart must have stopped 30-45 minutes before anyone had entered his office.
The toxicology was clean, and his external autopsy (MRI and CT) also showed nothing. No evidence of foul play. He had a gash on his head, they assumed from where he hit his head on the desk.
His next of kin (wife) is “religious”, (I think she was just very traumatized seeing him dead) and didn’t want an internal autopsy. My parents were distraught and followed that lead, deciding against the internal autopsy. His wife is a nurse and described an autopsy to them, and they also were very traumatized and didn’t want it.
I, his blood sister (23/F) who has SVT - wanted very much to know why my brother, who had no previous health conditions suddenly had heart failure. I’m wondering if anyone has any explanations before I take it upon myself to go get genetic testing. He was cremated and I had no say in the autopsy decision and it’s driving me mad.
He felt fine the days leading up. He was a hypochondriac and would always tell his wife whenever he felt sick in the slightest. Over the years his family doctors have never found anything heart related.
He had IBS. He was not overweight or underweight. He worked out/did cardio regularly. He was a social drinker. He just started to smoke hookah (tobacco) about a year ago. He was a stressed out lawyer, but not to the point that he would get sick. He was perfect, and I can’t comprehend how a 25 year old would drop dead. It scares me since I have a heart condition and I’m about 10 pounds overweight.
Please help me understand.
TLDR; how does a perfectly healthy 25 year old man suddenly have heart failure and die.
EDIT: myocarditis doesn’t kill healthy young folk. Antivaxxers have no place on this thread, so see yourselves out. I’ve dealt with a ton of covid conspiracy people try to talk to me about my brother’s death. It’s offensive, wrong and factually incorrect. Take your business elsewhere.
| 520 |
I’m sorry for your loss. There are a number of things that could cause someone to pass away unexpectedly, for example a spontaneous cardiac arrest due to an electrical problem in the heart, or a brain aneurysm. It is difficult to say what caused your brother’s death without an autopsy, and I find it odd that nobody wanted an autopsy on an otherwise 25 year old who passed away unexpectedly.
| 428 |
AskDocs
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Scared: update
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Last week I posted about being sexually assaulted. Long story short, for a variety of reason I was afraid to get medical attention. The assault was both anal and vaginal. I was still bleeding.
(Full text below)
I received a lot of support and advice from folks here on AskDocs. I appreciate everyone who took time to respond. It really helped. u/DWYL_LoveWhatYouDo Thank you. Thanks for the info and support
Update time:
I went to the ER. I had a tear which was why I was bleeding. Everything down below was infected. The tear was repaired and I was put on antibiotics. I also had an STI.
Things could have been so much worse if I hadn’t gone to the ER when I did.
The doctor was the man who is in the bishopric. He didn’t judge at all. He was really supportive actually. He did offer a priesthood blessing- I grew up around him. I didn’t find it weird. It’s part of our faith. Other docs actually did the repairs
I’m healing well. I plan on going on another trail run as soon as I recover.
—————— original post——————
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/pzp3d3/scared/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
| 611 |
I’m so glad you were able to get treatment OP. It sounds like you really needed it. These kinds of physical wounds usually heal very well. Make sure you treat any mental wounds you sustained in the assault as well.
| 306 |
AskDocs
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Med Student. Never got vaccinated. Scared.
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I'm a 20 years old Indian male studying in second year of my med-school. Recently when I got 2nd dose of the COVID-19 vaccine I asked my parents If I missed any vaccines as a child. To my surprise they replied that they never got me vaccinated for they feared I'd get ill. I'm very confused and scared at the moment. What should I do? Can I take all the necessary vaccines now? As I'm in my second year I don't have to go the hospital very often atm but I'll have to work in it for the rest of my life. Please guide.
PS. I'm heterosexual and never had sex
| 388 |
No reason to be scared. Just go to your doctor and request to get vaccinated. They will be able to give you multiple shots in one sitting.
You will have to return for some boosters, then you’ll be all set.
Make sure to keep a record of all your vaccinations if you plan on moving to the US after obtaining your MD.
| 633 |
AskDocs
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Suicide attempt by a teenager
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My little sister's best friend [13F] attempted suicide last night at approximately 7 pm. She overdosed on Benadryl (between 25 and 30 capsules) and Tylenol (over 30 tablets). Her mother found her sluggish and hallucinating and brought her to the ER. As of right now, the doctors are saying that her Tylenol level is 35, and she still isn't forming coherent sentences. She's unable to recognize her parents.
I wanted to ask here what we should be expecting. My sister is distraught, and I want to give her the right information about what's going on, and how to help her friend while she's being treated. I know that there are plans to send her to a psychiatric facility once her Tylenol level goes down, which is the only part I'm really familiar with. I was 5150'd about 6 years ago for self-harm, but I was never hospitalized for any of my actual suicide attempts, so I'm in the dark right now. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.
| 370 |
What to expect is a question for the doctors involved.
Benadryl overdose can cause confusion and hallucinations, but care is mostly supportive until the Benadryl is metabolized away.
Tylenol overdose is extremely dangerous. Depending on the exact dose and how quickly treatment was initiated, she could be fine, but if the total amount was too high and not treated in time a Tylenol overdose can cause acute liver failure, which is very bad. If they're talking about transfer to a psychiatric facility then they're hopeful, at least.
Treatment in the facility you might also know. It's to have time to stabilize, talk with her about why she overdosed and come up with a plan of treatment to hopefully get her feeling a little better and critically to have support and a way to ask for help without putting her life at risk.
| 332 |
AskDocs
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I’m about to give up and just end my life. I’m being honest here but withholding it from my doctors. I can’t live this way.
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Female 40yo, pain in lower left quadrant, family history of cancer on paternal side, as well as maternal side. Family history of PKD, and Ulcerative Colitus. Non smoker, Does drink once a month, no street drugs.
Hi there. Some back story, I am a Student nurse, LVN, CNA for 5 years who has had a chronic pain problem for at least 15 years. I had laparoscopic banding surgery in 2003. I have always had a nervous stomach and severe anxiety as well as depression. I feel this is the reason I haven’t had any success being diagnosed.
I have had severe pain in my lower left quadrant of my abdomen for as long as I can remember. I have swelling to where it looks like there is a golf ball or baseball stuck in my colon that comes and goes. I have had 6 endoscopy and colonoscopies, and one severe ulcer bleed where I flatlined in 2007, but they couldn’t figure out where I was bleeding. I had two blood transfusions in two weeks at the hospital, then just got better. I have had a hysterectomy without losing my ovaries, and my uterus was full of endometriosis. My specialist said she didn’t understand how I was even able to conceive and carry two babies to term considering it was so bad, coupled with the fact that I have huge cysts on my ovaries which were biopsied and removed while she did my hysterectomy. I was told my kidneys were bad as one is scarred and the other is showing signs of PKD.
The problem is I am in constant pain. I have been given no pain relief except to take acetaminophen or ibuprofen as needed. I did that and gave myself another ulcer. As of now I take nothing to manage the pain. I am weak constantly. I have lost 40 lbs in a year not changing anything at all. I take multivitamins and probiotics, as well as a multivitamin that’s chewable which has iron. The list of foods I can eat is becoming smaller and smaller. I can barely make it through work, and have had to take a lower paying job not in the nursing field in order to just make it through the day and get paid something at least. I have two kids who are in elementary and middle school, and I can’t hang. The thing is, I work all week, then sleep on the weekends because I can’t keep my eyes open. I would rate my pain as a constant 6/10 (losing a limb being 10 and labor being a 9.5) sometimes worse. My doctors have ran tests and nothing comes of it. I don’t know what to do. I’d rather be dead then suffer anymore. What magic phrase can I say to my doctor to make her see that I need some relief and for them to really figure out what’s wrong? It’s been 12 years. I don’t see myself making it any further. Help!
Addendum: I’m making an appointment with my doctor and giving her another chance, asking for pain management and bringing up possible issues with endometrial tissue possibly being elsewhere. Thank you all so much. I’m also going to see if I can try gabapentin. Im still here hanging on. Please still comment. I’m still listening.
| 266 |
I’m so sorry you’re going through this OP. I’ll echo what the others have said—we want you to be happy and healthy, and most importantly still alive on this earth. Lots of great mental health resources have already been shared.
Pain control-wise, there are certainly other options other than ibuprofen and Tylenol. Sounds like your providers have been hesitant to give you any other options for pain control. The first two things that pop into my mind would be gabapentin or lidocaine patches, which are different mechanisms of action and worth a shot! Additionally an SNRI like venlafaxine can work really well for pain.
You told us about your severe anxiety and depression but I wonder if you’ve taken medication or been in therapy with a provider you trust. Often mental health problems can make physical pain worse due to inability to cope, or mental health diagnoses can even present as physical symptoms like nausea, sweating, abdominal pain, and more.
I am NOT telling you that your pain is only because of your anxiety/depression. What I am telling you is that our brains are incredible and the relationship between physical and mental is SO deeply intertwined. Treating your pain AND taking care of your mental health are both pieces to this puzzle. Best wishes. *hugs*
| 206 |
AskDocs
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Pinworms (or another parasite) have invaded my sinus cavities
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After a trip to Africa, I picked up a parasitic infection that I have been battling for over a year. It started with anal itching which improved with medication but never resolves completely. I have taken albendazole and pyrantel more times than I can count. Now they have invaded my sinus cavities (I sleep with a CPAP machine that I believe caused me to inhale the eggs up my nose, I was using it in various hotel rooms across rural parts of Africa). For weeks I felt a tickle in my nose at night and thought dust was getting into my machine so I kept cleaning the filters. Until one night I felt the worms wiggling in my nose and it has gotten worse ever since. Now it wakes me out of a deep sleep every night, they wait until I’ve been sleeping for hours before they begin moving. I’ll pinch my nose and feel them scurrying back up and it tickles the bottom of my eyeballs. Occasionally I feel movement in my inner ears. It is absolute HELL.
I have been to 3 doctors here in the US who have no clue what to do, including an Infectious Disease doctor who just keeps prescribing me albendazole. The infestation has gotten so bad my sinuses are throbbing and there's a constant dull pain in my face and head. I've been reading medical journals about parasitic infections reaching the brain and central nervous system and I am scared to death. It is really taking a toll on my mental health. Please, has anyone cured these godforsaken worms? I am at a loss and desperate. I have tried everything, including natural remedies (wormwood, diometacous earth, etc.)
Using a throwaway because this problem is so embarrassing and traumatic. Age: late 30’s, live in USA, currently taking 400 mg albendazole daily.
| 321 |
Have you or a doctor actually seen these worms/their eggs? Or have you been diagnosed solely based on this strange sensation in your sinuses?
Edit- I’m not trying to say it’s psychological, as it could be some other kind of pathology if the diagnosis was made solely based on symptoms plus history of parasites.
| 173 |
AskDocs
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36F, unexpectedly pregnant, extremely heavy drinking and terrible lifestyle during COVID. Found out 2 weeks post conception and considering a termination
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I am a thirty-six year old mixed-race woman (white/Aboriginal) from Australia. 173cm (5'8) and 85kg (187 pounds). I found out last week that I am pregnant. I found out on the day my period was due.
Although the baby would be wanted by my partner of eight years and me, let's just say that since COVID hit my city, Melbourne, I have not been living a healthy lifestyle. I have been eating a lot of Uber Eats and fast food, very little vegetables and fruit and have packed on 10kg. I've also been binge drinking to the point I think it is safe to say I am a serious alcoholic. I don't drink every day but get drunk about 3 times a week (10 cans of beer or cider).
I have stopped drinking since the positive test and have no intention of continuing, but I am considering terminating the pregnancy because I binge drank at least six times in the two weeks post-conception at the levels mentioned above. I've done a lot of reading and don't feel reassured that all will be ok, especially since my drinking is at the extreme end of everything I have read. While some sources say the period in which I have been drinking is an "all or nothing" period where it will end up either a miscarriage or no harm, others say alcohol can cause harm to a baby that is carried to term from conception. My unhealthy lifestyle over the last 18 months also wouldn't have helped.
I have also spoken to a doctor who said there is no way of knowing but historical data suggests the baby may be ok.
I guess my question is, medically, is it best for my future offspring to terminate, quit drinking completely and try again after having dried out and changed my lifestyle completely? Or is it more than likely all will be well with the current embryo?
Many thanks in advance to anyone kind enough to respond.
EDIT: Thank you to the many people who have responded on here and via DM. Be assured I have read everything. I am processing and thinking now, and as such am having a degree of difficulty responding. Both the medical professional knowledge and the anecdotal stories have given me a lot to think about. Again, thank you!
| 461 |
I would not be overly worried at this point and personally would not recommend a termination just due to the alcohol. The other poor diet stuff does not matter either.
“ In the first two weeks following fertilization, excessive alcohol consumption does not generally have a negative effect on the zygote and emerging blastocyst (pre-embryo). Maternal consumption of alcohol during this time can prevent proper implantation of the blastocyst in the uterus, resulting in an increased rate of resorption or early termination of the pregnancy, generally before a woman realizes she is pregnant. The potential for the cells in the blastocyst to become any cell lineage in the body generally confers protection against the negative effects that alcohol has on specific cellular populations.”
https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/developmental-timeline-alcohol-induced-birth-defects
| 1,137 |
AskDocs
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I might have gotten HIV?
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So, I [27F] was in a club in Berlin Germany with my friends last week Saturday when I went to the bathroom. I was pretty high [speed and MDMA] and had also drank a few beers (about three).
I went to the bathroom and the toilets were all disgusting, so I was squatting. I thought I was being careful, but when I reached down to wipe, something in the toilet stabbed me. I couldn’t see what it was because everything was covered in toilet paper at the bottom and it was dark, but I’m really scared that it was a needle. I had a small circle scab on my finger too — so now I’m feeling incredibly terrified I could have gotten HIV.
My lymph nodes on my neck were swollen, and I had a cold from Tuesday until about yesterday. I feel fine now, but I don’t think that cold could be related?
When is the soonest I can get tested? I was too afraid to google anything until now which was pretty dumb because I guess there is a pill I could have taken.
TL;DR: probably got stabbed by a needle in a toilet at a club and worried I could have gotten HIV from it. When can I get tested?
| 322 |
There's a post prophylactic treatment availability if you suspect you might have contacted HIV. You don't need to wait for the results to start prophylaxis. Anyway, the chances are slim to none. You can ask your doctor for the regimen.
| 504 |
AskDocs
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I’ve (27f) had a tiny dark spot on my eyeball for awhile, but quite suddenly (within a couple of days) I’ve now got about 12. My vision seems effected, I think.
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[Images of eyes.](https://imgur.com/gallery/hhrGJ1G)
27f, 68kg, 177cm. Asthma inhaler, 200mg SR tramadol and concerta (methylphenidate) 36-72mg daily. Ex heavy smoker, it’s been at least 6 months smoke free and 4-5 years very minimal use. Chronic pain, which I suspect is neurological, get swelling in my joints and my muscles (I think) regularly. Pain is both constant and spasmodic and accompanied with numbness, movement varies between capable but in pain to nigh on paralysis with either numbness or sharp spastic pain. “Dead” limbs common. Pretty sure it’s from excess drug and alcohol exposure as a teenager. Public system in crisis, can’t get more help or info on exact causes as of yet but am working on it, and I suspect that this might be related but just in case?
Didn’t feel well and light became extremely bright about 24 hours ago. Vision seems a bit glassy and it’s hard to focus, there is a strange sensation in head when I try to look at each individual letter and my eyes seem to be involuntarily moving rapidly and remaining unfocused, no discernible difference between periphery and central vision at all.
Checked mirror and saw lots more dots (one I’ve had for a year or longer).
Am I gonna go blind lol
| 260 |
you need to go to the ED today. 10 minutes ago if possible. if you cant see well enough to drive, then uber
edit: i've gotten some deleted replies about asking me to justify this opinion. here was my response. I know nothing about eyes. I dont know what the spots are, and wont pretend to. However a person that is reporting numbness, involuntary movements, joints swelling, "dead limbs", and this is accompanied by sudden vision change leads me to believe there could be something serious occurring here. Could it all be unrelated or benign? Absolutely, but if asked for medical advice we should always err on the side of caution.
| 255 |
AskDocs
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Help. My wife (30) has struggled with her health her entire life. It’s now worse than it’s ever been and we can’t seem to get answers.
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Age: 30
Sex: F
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 148 lbs
Race: white
Comments:
My wife is one of the healthiest people you will ever meet, in terms of the food she puts in her body. She’s the gal that makes green veggie shakes every day, stays active, and ensures that the entire family eats healthily when she cooks.
Even with the focus on healthy food within our family…she’s struggled with many issues over the years. Fibromyalgia diagnosed as a teenager. Diagnosed with Hypobetalipoproteinemia as a child. Within the last few years we have realized that she’s allergic to dairy (the protein Casein), she’s allergic to eggs (ended up in the ER earlier this year because of them), and has a severe intolerance to gluten.
That brings us to this year…in February of 2021, my wife went to the ER for pancreatitis symptoms. They never officially diagnosed her with pancreatitis because the pancreas looked okay (imaging) and the bilary ducts are okay, but the doctors gave her a few supplements (including digestive enzymes) and the pain subsided…went completely away after three weeks.
Then it started back up a few weeks later. Pain coming on immediately after eating anything…
Doctors continued to tell her that her kidney function, liver function, pancreatic function, etc, are all normal…yet the pain gradually gets worse every day.
Now…the pain is almost unbearable. She doesn’t want to eat because it hurts so bad after eating (regardless of the food). When she does eat, she gets immediately nauseous and then subsequently has pretty loose stool. She can barely sit up because the pain (left upper quadrant) is so bad. It’s a throb that becomes a shooting pain when she moves the wrong way. The throb is centralized near the bottom left rib (her left), around the side, and in her back. She’s extremely fatigued. She lost almost 20 lbs in the last three weeks. Her blood pressure is erratic…yesterday is was 138/75 (she’s normally got a low BP) and today it is 90/80 with a pulse of 119. Her left arm is hurting…she says it feels like a deep pain…like the bone hurts.
Last Friday they did tons of blood tests…everything was within normal ranges. Today they did an ultrasound on the upper abdomen…everything was clear and looked normal.
We’re at our wits end and reaching out to the Cleveland Clinic tomorrow. She is not the dramatic type and she told me that she feels like she’s dying….yet every doctor says they can’t find anything.
Help.
| 283 |
Severe abdominal pain and weight loss is a big red flag. Did they do a simple CRP, lipases and other bloodwork? Anyway, someone needs to own this and track it down. Don’t let them play “hot potato” with her.
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AskDocs
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UPDATE: I posted about a week or two ago about being in pain and not wanting to live. You guys won’t believe what happened yesterday
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So I’m old (40) and I can’t figure out how to link my old post, but here goes. I was having stomach and abdominal pain so bad that I didn’t want to be here anymore. Well I was at a wedding this weekend, and I got out of the limousine and fell on my knees. My legs just gave out. I was tired but nothing out of the ordinary. (This is important later.) I went through the weekend and was at work Monday when I started to feel nauseous. I went another two hours feeling dizzy and nauseous and having severe heart palpitations. I keep going for another 20 mins until I start seeing black and white spots. I know if I stay I’m gonna pass out and they won’t find me, so I run to my bosses office and tell her I need to go to the hospital now. She sits me down and the school nurse comes and takes my pulse (99) and calls my husband.
I go to urgent care, who throws me into a wheel chair and after triage tells me I need to go to the ED right now. I go, they get me in ASAP and hook me up to heart monitors. Nurse comes in and draws blood. They tell me I’m staying for a few hours to get a second blood draw in two hours. Doc comes in abs tells me that I my potassium levels are super low (2.6) and that I have to have an IV with some potassium in it. Cool. I’m okay with that. Apparently low potassium levels can cause your heart to stop, and also cause your stomach to stop working, which causes pain as well as explain why my legs have given out and my weird leg cramping and fire like lava going through my legs, as well as having absolutely ZERO energy. I have been dealing with palpitations for a year, but I also have anxiety so it was impossible to know what was causing it all this time.
I’ll tell you, I felt like super woman after they gave me that IV. I can’t believe I lived this way so long when this was what I needed. My heart stopped fluttering but I do still have a few light palpitations and some dizziness. I can actually have a bowel movement and I don’t stay full on one meal a day. It always felt like food just sat in my stomach forever. I am getting a holter monitor for 5 days, and my potassium levels checked again in two weeks.
I’m hoping this is the answer for me. Either way, I can verify my pain is lots lower, as well as my energy levels higher which improves my quality of life drastically. If all I need addressed is my abdominal pain and I have the energy to do my job and keep food on the table, then I am a happy lady.
I still have an appointment with my GP in less than two weeks to address pain relief. I thought I’d share an update.
PS my old blood work did show I was low, but not this low. It ranged between 2.9-3.0 the last two tests before this one.
Do you think I should request my notes and imaging from my colonoscopies and endoscopies? Maybe have someone else take a look? The last one was last November.
| 1,189 |
Wait. You had potassium levels 2.9-3.0 and no one put that together with your symptoms? Do you know WHY you have low potassium? Nothing in your posts mentions diuretics. You had bariatric surgery, but most people who have lap band or sleeve surgeries don't get hypokalemia. Were you vomiting a lot? Having lots of diarrhea?
It's great that you are better. I sincerely hope that they figure out the reason for your electrolyte imbalance, so that you can avoid this problem in the future.
| 579 |
AskDocs
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I [28][male] was just diagnosed with distant nonpapilliary adenocarcinoma (gallbladder) that has spread to my lymph nodes, liver, stomach, and lungs. My doctor just recommended me to not receive chemotherapy treatment. Can I get a second opinion?
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I (M/28) was just diagnosed with distant nonpapilliary adenocarcinoma ( which started as a gallbladder cancer) that has spread to my lymph nodes, liver, stomach, and lungs. My doctor just recommended me to not receive chemotherapy treatment. Basically she said that my cancer was terminal, and that while chemotherapy might extend my life a little, she would recommend me to forgo it because it will destroy whatever quality of life I have left. Is there any other option? She was also not willing to give me a time period for how long I might have left until I get more tests (besides saying it will probably be less than a year) what should I expect?
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Height: 180 cm
Weight 70kg
Primary complaint: late stage nonpapilliary adenocarcinoma
Duration: Last six months (significantly worsening in the last 6 weeks)
Other Medical Issues: none (lol)
Current Medications: none (refused pain management medication)
Drink: yes
Smoke: no
Drugs: marijuana
| 603 |
It's always advisable to get a second, perhaps a third opinion given the gravity of the diagnosis. What type of doctor did you see? GP? Oncologist? Surgeon? Also, which country are you in, if American then which state? Can you go into more details on the number of lesions in each location and their sizes?
I am not asking this to give you false hope - your physician has her statistics correct. Stage IV cancer of the gallbladder is rarely considered treatable. Like Ovarian cancer, for instance, it can grow silently for many years before symptoms are felt. But, generally speaking, the younger and more robust/healthy that you are, at least in the USA, the more aggressive we are generally willing to be. The 5-Year survival rate is something like 2-4% depending on who you ask, so it's incredibly low but it's not zero. It would take multiple operations and a very aggressive chemotherapy regimen, but life can likely be extended. That being said, it's a horrifically long and painful experience, so that decision would really need to be yours. Not your GP's, not you wife's, but yours.
Regardless of your choice, do seek hospice care because you should be as comfortable as possible, regardless. They are probably the second most underappreciated specialty but they are the one specialty that I have never been disappointed to work with in any hospital in any state.
| 513 |
AskDocs
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My bf (30M) displays neurological symptoms during "panic attacks" lasting hours. Something is very wrong and I'm very scared.
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**2021/11/01:** update post ER visit this weekend (see below)
**Summary/tl;dr - Panic attacks with neurological symptoms:**
Reddit, I'm at the end of my fucking rope. Medical professionals are calling my bf's symptoms panic attacks, but I'm convinced he needs a neurologist. I'm a research scientist in mental health (i.e. not a doctor), and my gut keeps telling me something is very wrong. What do you think?
Bf is currently experiencing “panic attacks” that he barely remembers after they finish. They last 3-6 hours, occur on more than half of the days in a week, and are characterized by extreme anxiety and neurological symptoms such as loss of balance, slurred and slowed speech, mental confusion, memory loss, rapid eye saccades side to side, fainting, and vomiting.
**Background:**
He has a history of childhood abuse and neglect and in general hasn't seen doctors in his lifetime. Before this started, he had no known conditions but did have a history of anxious and depressive symptoms since adolescence. He's of south asian descent, 5'10, aprox 150lbs, is on 100mg of lyrica, smokes nicotine (\~10 cigarettes a day), 4-7 drinks a week, no other drug use.
**Early 2021 - Symptoms begin:**
He started losing his balance and slurring his speech in the last year, usually either after something extremely stressful (covid and unemployment really got to him) combined with having a beer or two. I thought it was his alcohol tolerance changing with age, so I wasn't too worried. He had several bad falls because of this, broke his glasses twice, needed stitches, etc... stressful but not concerning.
**June 2021 - Symptoms worsen:**
He finally got a job in April, he was super happy. It was a bit stressful and outside his field and had a huge learning curve, but he loved it. But he started losing his balance and slurring his speech more often, even when he hadn't had a drop of alcohol. He also started having full blown panic attacks, where he couldn't breathe, would vomit repeatedly, thought he was dying... I used grounding and breathing techniques to help him through
**July 2021 - Psychiatric emergency room:**
In early July, he couldn't keep food down for 6 days straight and alternated crying and panic attacks. The slurred speech and loss of balance continued. I took him to psychiatric emergency in my city where he was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and put on a low dose (25mg) of seroquel/quetiapine. He was put on sick leave from his job. He was matched with a local psychiatrist, so switched him from seroquel to 50 mg lyrica (~~gabapentin~~ pregabalin\~\~)\~\~ that eventually increased to 150mg.
**August 2021 - Regular emergency room:**
Worst night. After feeling suicidal for the first time in years, he suddenly crashed face first into our shoe rack. Busted his nose open, black eye, full shebang. He was on his back and semi conscious, and couldn't speak. No asymmetry in smile etc but 911 operator and ambulance both suspected a stroke. He got carried out on a stretcher, down the stairs, rushed to ER, and kept for 2 days. He doesn't remember any of this except waking up in the hospital (but he was conscious and speaking/attempting to speak).
MRI negative for stroke, EEG negative for seizure, bloodwork normal. Given one dose of ativan, discharged, told it was "bad anxiety", and to keep seeing his psychiatrist.
**Sept 2021-present: medical incompetence??? :**
He saw his psychiatrist 3 days after he was released from the ER. Doc kept him on Lyrica 150 and said ER wasn't concerning since all tests were normal. Asks why bf doesn't want to go back to work yet/is reluctant to extend sick note. Doc refuses to put him on waitlists for therapy, other modalities at the psychiatric hospital, etc... because it's "not that bad".
My bf quit his job last week, since he faints at least weekly, vomits 2-3 times a week, and gets these "panic attacks" every other day at least (we're currently on day 4 of a long storm).
Second appointment was Tuesday. Doc decided to lower lyrica to 100mg (???) and prescribed Silexan, **a lavender oil extract(?!?!?!)** available from natural food stores. Not available to buy in my country. No pharmacist near us has heard of it. Doc still refuses to do anything else and outright refused ativan when my bf asked for it because it's "not serious enough". Next appointment is in over a month. Bf was on the floor half an hour ago and unable to get up.
**Where I'm stuck:**
We're stuck in a loop of "well, he has a doctor, so go see him" whenever we consult a nurse, ER, clinic, etc... and a doctor that isn't taking this seriously. We're in Canada (Quebec) with no family doctor and current doc and er won't refer to a neurologist. We've tried putting in a doctor change request but in a strained system it's not going through. I've reached out to work colleagues within mental health research and they can't help/shuttle him in anywhere. Bf is struggling with feeling suicidal/like a burden and I'm scared all the time.
**What I need from you:**
Docs of reddit, what is this!? What do I do?? I'm fucking terrified and I don't think I'm over reacting. Any insight or suggestions are very welcomed.
\[edited to include more background info\]
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\*\*\*\*\*
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**2021/11/01 Update:**
we spent the night at the hospital. I got video footage at home, wheeled him in a wheelchair into the ER. He couldn't keep his head up, was drooling, etc... ER didn't believe me he didn't take anything. He had dramatic short term memory problems for hours in the ER (didn't know where he was, kept asking for food even though he wasn't allowed, etc...).
They took blood and urine and did an ekg. All came back negative that I know of. I was kicked out of the room twice for privacy (once being after I asked about a neurology referral) and my bf doesn't remember much of what they told him beyond "go to therapy and maintain a good lifestyle". I did ask if they'd considered porphyria (I tried!) but wasn't able to insist they write down the neurology refusal.
Anyway reddit: **thanks for the insights**. You've all been super helpful. The plan now is to request a psych change and try to get a neurology referral from either the new psychiatrist or from a walk in/urgent care clinic. I'll keep fighting for him.
| 535 |
You mention one MRI and one EEG. One MRI is good. An EEG has to capture one of these episodes to have a sense of what is going on. Without video of what happened, either on its own or ideally with simultaneous EEG (vEEG), it's very hard to assess neurologically.
What you're describing isn't panic attacks; those have classic presentations, and this isn't it. The attacks could be "functional neurological symptom disorder" or "conversion disorder" or "\[psychogenic\] non-epileptic seizures" or "nonepileptic paroxysmal events"—there are a lot of words for seizure-like episodes that do not involve abnormal electrical activity in the brain—but that requires simultaneous imaging to determine. They could also could still be epileptic seizures, maybe; it's not exactly clear to me how medical workup went.
Either way, this psychiatrist is practicing in a way that would be highly idiosyncratic in the US. Quetiapine isn't first line for anxiety. Neither is pregabalin, and it isn't first line for most seizures, either. Silexan has only very preliminary evidence for being effective.
What's needed more than anything else is a second opinion, both psychiatric and neurological. It sounds like there are serious practical barriers to getting that, but that's what's needed. At the very least clear indication of why this has all been on psychiatry based on the prior workup.
| 350 |
AskDocs
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18 F, was she roofied?
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Hi there. Posting for my friend who went to a frat tonight and I picked her up because she seemed really drunk. She is: 18, Female, Middle Eastern, likely about 140lbs. We are in college so she drinks a decent amount. Tonight she had 2 shots of vodka and then a few hours later she said she had 2 truly. Typically this wouldn’t do anything to her, but it has done a lot. We think she was roofied because the frats here are really bad about that.
Her symptoms:
She threw up a few times, typically just liquid with nothing in it. She says she feels very drunk, way more than she typically feels. She is dizzy and cannot walk with assistance. She says she can’t feel her extremities and she can’t see my face and the faces of her friends around her. She is very paranoid and she can’t stop crying.
Was she roofied or is she just way drinker than she thinks? What should I do to help her? We won’t be leaving her alone and we are trying to get her to drink water.
| 272 |
Has she been losing consciousness at times to the point where you shake her to wake up? **If both answers is yes, she needs to go to the ER.**
It's impossible to say whether she was roofied or not. A toxicology report would needed. If she has not shown any signs of improvement and continues to vomit, she may need to be treated at a the emergency room. Unless you were with her all night, there's no way to know how much alcohol is in her system.
If not to take her to the ER, be sure to turn her on her side in case she vomits in her sleep. **This is** ***extremely*** **important.** She should not be left alone until she can walk straight and speak coherently.
**If her breathing is impaired, ER now.**
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AskDocs
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I (18M) am incredibly worried about rabies; currently ill
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About one month ago a friend and I went to rescue some stray kittens from a scrapyard cat colony. The scrapyard is surrounded by roads and has a small strip of wooded area, with a very popular walking path, encircling it. There is the small colony of cats and a flock of geese that lives very close to the cats. While holding one of the kittens (we named him Plutonium) he tried to climb and gave me a tiny scratch just below my sternum. Another cat (named this one Oppenheimer) was playing with me and while doing so he stuck my finger in his mouth. Oppenheimer did not bite or break skin, he just kind of nibbled my pinky finger. Later that night Plutonium was adopted.
We called my doctor and were told its unlikely I would need rabies shots and it was up to us. I was given a tetanus shot for the scratch. We decided to wait 10 days, as that is the length of time that the CDC recommends to keep animals under observation for rabies. After 10 days I went back to check on Oppemheimer and he was completely fine, quite happy to see me in fact. I then asked about Plutonium, he too was completely fine. As such, we decided not to get me vaccinated for rabies.
The past five days I have had a minor ache in my throat that has moved from one side if my throat to the other every day. Just yesterday I woke up with an actually sore throat. Today I'm merely tired and my throat feels rather scratchy. I did have a minor headache yesterday, although that may have been from my VR headset, I took some tylenol yesterday and it has not come back since.
So, could I have rabies? Is my sore throat and tiredness a sign of impending doom?
| 290 |
You're fine. Not rabies if the animals were fine after 10 days.
Most excellent names for the cats.
| 700 |
AskDocs
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I was drugged
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I (20f) was drugged this weekend at a country bar with a group of friends.
This place wasn’t big, wasn’t full, and I wasn’t careful. I rode the mechanical bull, had a few drinks, danced to live music, and dressed up for Halloween. My boyfriend (21m) was with me almost the entire night and I never left drinks unattended but also did not cover them or watch them closely.
Around 1 am my boyfriend went outside for a smoke and I didn’t know where my other friends were. Two guys were following me, not closely, not touching me, I wasn’t suspicious just a little uncomfortable. I went to go outside and the bouncer told me I can’t bring my drink. These guys told me to just finish it. (Hindsight major red flag, but didn’t think anything of it at the time and finished it). Went outside (they followed) saw my boyfriend and had a gut feeling we needed to leave. The bouncer told the two guys who were following me to ‘go the fuck home’ and told my boyfriend to take me home. (I was not roudy or overly intoxicated and I think the bouncer must have known that they had slipped me something).
We went back to the hotel and within five minutes of lying down I could not move. Paralyzed from the neck down basically. I was cognitive, could talk, and remember lots. There are large gaps in my memory but I remember how scared I was. I sobbed and my boyfriend calmed me down by reminding me that I was safe and we had to wait it out. About an hour of not being able to move any of my limbs, followed by slowly gaining movement back.
The next day I felt like I had been hit by a truck. My muscles were achey and sore, I had tremors, sweats, etc. It was awful.
I know I wasn’t roofied because I remember too much but wanted to know if any medical professionals might know what I had been given. Stay safe out there, and learn from me. Always cover your drinks no matter how safe it might seem. I was lucky.
EDIT: stop coming after my boyfriend. Neither of us are doctors or have any medical training or were at all prepped for a situation like this. He did what he thought was best which maybe wasn’t and we will know better if there ever is a next time (God forbid). He is the reason I got to a safe location and the reason I didn’t have to experience that hell alone. He kept me calm and fortunately it worked out. We know better now if I or any of my friends get stuck in a similar situation. You live and you learn. (Not toward the doctors who are offering real advice just for the people that commented ‘break up with him he’s an idiot).
| 339 |
Well, it was EXTREMELY irresponsible of your boyfriend to tell you to “wait it out” when you have no idea what they gave you or what was happening, very dangerous, people have died because of this. You should tell him that if something like this happens again, he should take you to the hospital or call 911 asap, you never know what it was or what side effects those unknown substances can cause. Since you never went to the hospital, it’s quite difficult to identify what you were given for sure, these people use several substances and mix them with other things all the time and they can cause different symptoms depending on the person. I’m very glad you’re safe, take care and I hope this never happens again but if does or if someone you know goes through this, seek medical attention.
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AskDocs
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I'm 22 years old and doctors keep REFUSING to give me the HPV vaccine saying that I "probably already have it" since I'm sexually active. Please help!!
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Ive gone to PP twice with two different clinicians and two different PCPs and all of these people said they do not recommend the vaccine. I ask if I can get it anyway and they still said no. But my friend is 24 and she got the vaccine recently and I don't understand why I'm being treated as a lost cause! What do I say??
I know the vaccine is for cancer linked strains and I'm a woman. So it's just "deal with it" if you MAY have anyone of the HPV strains?
| 656 |
The CDC and the ACIP recommend the HPV vaccines for most everyone aged 11-12 through 26 years old (with some consideration for people up to age 45). I'm not sure why they are refusing. Unless you have a clear contraindication you are in the population whom should receive it.
[https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/hpv/hcp/recommendations.html](https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/hpv/hcp/recommendations.html)
| 436 |
AskDocs
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How long does DNA stay in the anus?
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basically the question: how long does someone else’s DNA (from sperm) stay in a person’s anal cavity? would it have been able to last 7–8 days after multiple showers (without douching)?
23F, 163cm, 68kg, no drinking or smoking, by the way.
| 295 |
Probably until you’ve had a few bowel movements…why do you ask?
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AskDocs
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Announcement: Please do NOT give and or donate money or any other monetary amount to anyone giving advice to you on this subreddit.
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Unfortunately, it has been brought to our attention that some users have been requesting money or donations in exchange for offering medical advice.
As described in the guidelines, that while this subreddit is by NO means for medical emergencies or for establishing doctor-patient relationships, it is designed for the hard working medical workers to give their time back to the community by offering FREE advice. But again, please remember this is subreddit is not a substitute for seeking actual in person medical advice.
On that note, NO verified user should be direct messaging you and or requesting for any type of monetary donation. However, if ANY user whether verified or non-verified messages you or requests this, please do NOT respond to them and report them to us via the moderator mail, including the Reddit administrators by reporting their account directly at www.Reddit.com/report , especially as we unfortunately do not have much control of monitoring these requests without your help.
Thank you.
| 841 |
If you are contacted and asked for money in exchange for or in thanks for advice, please report to [www.reddit.com/report](https://www.reddit.com/report). Moderators of a subreddit have no say in DMs.
| 126 |
AskDocs
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22F lump on spine and wetting myself
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Hi! Im 22F, 161cm, 65kg, caucasian, from Canada.
A few days ago I realized my back hurt when I bent it while getting into bed. I felt around and found a lump on my lower back (lumbar, maybe L2, L3) which hurt a lot to touch it. 2 days ago it hurt a lot and I couldn't sit any way without it hurting. Yesterday was better and today is better with barely any pain except when I poke at it. The lump is still there though.
I wasn't too concerned with it because the pain was going away but just now I was walking to the store and I knew I had to pee but I didn't think it was bad at all. Then suddenly I couldn't move and I started peeing and couldn't stop. Very embarrassing and im a 20 minute bus ride from home. I used to wet myself all the time as a kid and young teen, and it was always like this one. But I havent had that in about 7 years.
I am on vyvanse and pristiq, prescribed. I also smoke weed daily (not high right now). I have had a very stressful few months so maybe thats related?
Basically, is this worth talking to my doctor about? The lump pain is going away and honestly im not sure if the lump is normal and I just never realized it before. But the wetting myself is concerning me.
Thanks in Advance!
Update: I thank everyone for their concern! I thought about it more and the likelihood of it being serious is probably pretty low. I made an appointment with my family doctor in a couple weeks and ill talk to her about it. I'm keeping a very close eye on everything, and the pain is almost completely gone so I'm pretty positive about that.
Also, it says there are 20 comments but I only see 5. Does anyone know why?
Update 2: I want to apologize for not taking your advice sooner. I've thought over things and I'm going to the hospital. I'll update everyone when I have more info!
Update 3: doc says back pain thats lasted less than 6 weeks isn't worrisome and they cant explain the incontinence. I now just spent 6 hrs sitting in a waiting room to have a 4 minute talk with the doctor to hear exactly what I thought it was, nothing. Im happy its nothing tho
| 509 |
ER right now. This can be cauda equina. You need a MRI-scan immediately. No joke. Go immediately. Dont want until tomorrow. Go now.
| 832 |
AskDocs
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Is my husband lying about how he got his STI?
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Age
32
Sex
female
Race
Asian
Location
Mongolia
Husband [32, M] tested positive for chlamydia. I have tested negative. I’ll give a little backstory, his theory on how he got infected, and I’ll ask questions with the aim of clarifying if his theory is plausible.
We have been married for 11 years, have 2 kids, youngest one is almost three years old. I have been faithful throughout the marriage.
2,5 months ago husband was caught sexting other women but sweared he didnt physically cheat. We started to work out the problem.
8 days later (roughly over 2 months ago) our family got covid. Everyone recovered well except for me, so I was the only one that took antibiotics.
We continued to have regular unprotected sex.
2 weeks ago, husband had a discharge from his penis. We stopped having sex. He went for a full sti screening, his results came out inconclusive.
A little over a week ago he got the test redone, and he tested positive for chlamydia. At this point he reveals that while i was pregnant (over 3 years ago) he got a massage that ended with a hand job. His theory is that thats where he must have gotten it and that it stayed dormant for 3 years and when he had covid his immune system must have gotten messed up therefore the became symptomatic only now.
Today, we got another round of test results back which confirmed my husbands positive result for chlamydia and showed that currently i am testing negative for it. We are both planning to get treated at the same time. Husband and i think maybe because i had taken antibiotics recently i am testing negative.
Questions:
1. Can you get chlamydia from a handjob at a very sketchy place?
2. Can it have stayed dormant for 3 years?
3. Can something like getting covid “activate” the infection?
4. Is it plausible that he didnt infect me for 3 years because the infection was dormant? (While i believed that i had been routinely tested for STI’s, looking back through my medical records, i only see pap smear results. I really thought STI checkups were a part of my prenatal package. Which they probably should have been but i guess i forgot i live in a third world country. So I am now not so sure if i was infected at some point or not)
While i want to trust my husband, i am finding it to be very difficult to do so given the circumstances. I am looking for reasons to believe him now (even though what he claims to be true is far from innocent as well)
My gut tells me he did physically cheat in the last half a year or so, did infect me too but maybe i am testing negative because i had some antibiotics recently.
Please help me make up my mind with some medical facts.
Thank you.
Forgive me for my english, it is not my native language.
| 810 |
It’s currently unclear how long asymptomatic patients can carry chlamydia, but given the story it seems highly unlikely he carried it for 3 years and much more likely that he contracted it 1-2 weeks prior to him having the discharge. The disease cannot be transmitted by handjob unless he also got a blowjob.
Chlamydia testing is pretty standard testing if you’ve been pregnant in the past 3 years. It’s much more likely that he got it recently and either didn’t transmit it to you or you cleared the infection from the antibiotics (though it depends on the antibiotic. Standard treatment for chlamydia varies by country but usually consists of doxycycline, azithromycin, or levofloxacin all of which conceivably would be given for a pneumonia)
I’m sorry
Edit: It's been pointed out by some astute commenters that amoxicillin indeed can be a treatment for chlamydia, though success rates are usually in the 85-90% range at least in the US and thus other antibiotics are typically first line.
| 1,080 |
AskDocs
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My mum 49F has been told “pain is all in her head” and refused adequate pain management
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To elaborate from the title, my mum was in a car accident two decades ago which resulted in her left foot being severed and re-attached, her left leg is shorter and pelvis tilted resulting in back pain that has increased over the years. On top of that, she’s got fibromyalgia and ME. Her pain is so severe every day that she is bed bound, she will go for days without sleep because it’s so bad. She has been prescribed 20mg oxycodone, which she can take 3x a week for “breakthrough pain” and has over the counter strength codeine that she takes 3x a day every day, she’s also on 75mg amatriptalyne every night for sleep, and she’s on Prozac 60mg daily for mental health. It is only when she takes her oxy that she is pain free for 6 hours and able to do simple things like take the dog for a walk, tidy up around the house, chuck in a load of laundry or get a good night’s sleep.
She used to be on 20mg oxy 3x a day, and was on that dose for 5 years without going up. Back then, she was able to work, and live her life very happily.
She went to the pain clinic to ask for an increase of 3x to 5x a week, and they basically told her that she’s imagining her pain so she needs to change her mindset, and gave her some book to read about it being all in her head. The person said she can’t prescribe more pain medication than that due to guidelines, and even if she could then she wouldn’t because of the effects of opiates on the body. But my mum feels like she would rather be pain free and be able to live her life.
We are at a bit of an impasse now because she doesn’t want to be labled as a drug seeker, but she can’t continue living the way she does. Her mental health is so bad because she is living in constant pain, she is basically being imprisoned and tortured in her own body with no escape. Where do we go from here? We are based in the U.K.
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tl;dr She should read the book they gave her and return to discuss an individual plan for her unique circumstances, one that doesn't include more opioid medication.
Hmm. This is a tough one, because what people are told and what they hear are often very different. Many people hear, "It's all in your head," and think they are being told that their pain is imaginary. This is not usually the case.
Literally, all chronic pain is happening in your head because that's where your brain is and your brain tells you what's going on. What doctors usually mean when they say it's in your head is that the pain is not due to an inflammation or and abnormality of the muscles/joints of the body. That old injury or surgery isn't the reason for your current pain; it's a habit that your nervous system got into complaining about despite the initial problem resolving however it resolved. Habits are really hard to break, especially when the brain does it on its own.
Phantom limb pain is a good example. Someone has a terrible injury or a reason that their leg gets amputated. The foot that isn't there anymore but it hurts all the time or wakes the person with terrible pain. The amputation isn't why the foot hurts. The foot can't hurt because it's no longer there! The reason the foot hurts despite not existing any longer is the brain knows something is wrong and it's complaining. Turning off that habitual signal that the foot is a problem is a tough problem.
This kind of pain is an amplification of sensitization within the brain that results in the normal signals of the body being interpreted as intense and painful when they should not be. I'm simplifying it a lot, but the parts of the brain involved in sleep, pain, integration of sensory input, memory, mood, and cognition aren't operating normally. Something has changed. We can't make it go back, at least not at the current state of understanding. Some changes in the brain can't be reversed (autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc). The problems can only be managed as best as possible. Like many other brain conditions, there is a strong genetic component in the central sensitivitization syndromes, though what those genes are and what to do about it are still areas of research.
For most people with central sensitization, daily/weekly pain level for their chronic pain syndrome is relatively stable. It can vary with stress and changes in activity, but the general range of their pain doesn't change much over years.
Opioid pain medications usually make the *intensity* of the pain experience worse over time. Often, people do feel better for a little while, but in the longer term, the pain levels overall are higher for people taking opioid medications. When I've weaned people down or off, and I have longitudinal information on them about their complaints, I have *always* seen lower overall pain reports on lower opioid doses or no opioid medications as compared to how the patients reported their symptoms while on higher doses. They might say the felt better or functioned better with higher doses, but my charts show that their recollection isn't accurate for what they said at the time.
Opioid medications are addictive and are able to easily cause tolerance that leads to higher doses used. There is higher mortality in people using opioid pain medications without better function, as compared to people with similar chronic pain who don't take opioid medications. In other words, your mum might feel great for a little while because of the dopaminergic reward effects of the opioid and temporary reduction of pain, but the long term management should not include opioid medications for daily use because a) it will actually increase her experience of her pain and b) it's potentially deadly, besides causing lots of side effects.
Many people have relief of their anxiety and depression when they take opioid medications. However, these drugs usually cause anxiety and depression as discontinuation symptoms or there are underlying problems that are revealed and/or persist after stopping the drug. Optimal treatment of mood and anxiety conditions absolutely should *not* include opioid medications. It's trial and error to get people on a regimen that helps them, and I'm sorry that we don't have any fantastically amazing, guaranteed treatment strategies for people like your mum, who have these central sensitization syndromes.
What does work for managing chronic pain? Exercise (it takes a few months but is only guarantee that I give). Get enough sleep. Pace daily activities. Manage stress. Regularity of routine. The hardest stuff is what helps the best. Much easier to take a pain pill, but that isn't what works in the long run. Medications to help the brain get out of the cycle of what drives the symptoms are mostly trial and error. Most of the prescriptions are helpful for sleep, mood, and for some neuropathic pain problems. Sometimes, opioid antagonists actually improve the responses to the person's own endogenous opiate neurotransmitters. OT, PT, hypnosis, ice, and a lot of other treatments can be helpful for many people. Cannabioids might help, but access can get problematic depending on locale and expense.
Your mum should return to her pain doctor to discuss how best to manage her symptoms without more opioid medication, because they've already told her that's not an option under current guidelines. Why isn't it an option when she got those prescriptions in the past? Because too many people died while taking those dosages, without any clear benefits on pain or other measures of objective improvement.
Note: Purdue and the Sackler family paid experts to lie about the lethal and addiction consequences of oxycodone because they knew they'd get millions of people addicted and they didn't care about millions of opioid-related deaths when trillions of dollars were going into their bank accounts. Then they got legal immunity by paying out a lot for legal services. They still have trillions or quadrillions in their accounts, without any consequences to them personally for the deaths and suffering that they deliberately promoted. Your mum is one of the victims of their planned campaign. I'm sorry for that. It's very hard for people who remember how good they felt on the drugs to see how the drugs were not the right choice.
I wish you & your mum well. I hope you can get to a point of understanding why the pain management strategies don't include opioid medications anymore. Reality is that chronic opioid therapy makes people worse.
Edited to fix typos
Edit2: This comment has had a lot of attention. Thank you to everyone for the awards. If anyone who sees this post after the active discussion is in a situation like OP or OP's mum, I hope that you will get help from experts who have experience in managing chronic pain. It is difficult and frustrating, but you can have improvement in your individual, unique situation.
Because someone mentioned suicide in the comments, here's important information: in the USA, 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) is 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Website: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
For other countries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines
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AskDocs
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My family confiscated my medication, should I reach out to my doctor?
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I (F23) moved back home two years ago to help my mother with her cancer treatment. I’ve recently become overwhelmed by how how sad and traumatic my life has always been - and being in the space where I have experienced abuse has caused a lot of suppressed emotions & memories to rise. In addition to therapy (three months in so far), last week my doctor prescribed me .5mg Clonazepam to take 1/2-1 pills, 1-2 times daily as needed. It’s really been helping me deal with what I’m feeling and is allowing me to respond to therapy better.
My mother searched my room while I was at the gym, showed my older sister, and they both made the executive decision to take it away from me. I have no idea what to do. I’m overwhelmed by their toxicity and knowing that my room was being searched is a huge breach of trust. My family is really controlling and anti-medicine, they’ve been undermining my situation entirely and treating me like a child.
I want to continue treatment despite their concerns of addiction, especially since I’ve been using the medication properly and the concern is just a control thing.
Should I tell my doctor what happened? It’s only been a week and a day since I got the prescription. I don’t want her to think I’m doing something shady. I literally just have no idea what to do.
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I would reach out to your doctor but most likely since this is a highly controlled substance you will have to call the police and file a police report
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