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Begging for help, I can feel death around the corner Neuros, toxicologists, respirologists. 37M Smoker.
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Since February 16th I have suffered a severe, and rapid decline in cognitive and neurological function. I am unable to retain new information, I can't remember major life events(wedding, first car, pets names, friends names, important political and social figures) I have a masters of engineering from UofT and am unable to remember my education or how to even do my job. My tongue,eyes, legs,arms and face are always on fire, and I have constant diplopia with flashes of white and black in my peripheral. I can no longer spell without autocorrect and reading is exceptionally difficult as I can't process what im trying to read. The only thing I can attribute this to is starting to smoke again. I went from 0 a day to almost 50. I'm concerned about chronic CO and Cyanide. This may seem unlikely, but two weeks ago after months of respiratory issues for everyone in the house we discovered the cats have been crawling into the crawlspace where the air return is and urinating. So in theory is it possible that the chronic exposure to ammonia has somehow caused minor fibrosis and made my body less able to eliminate the CO and Cyanide found in cigarettes? I have MRIs I can share. My MPV has tanked and I bleed very easily. Constant petechial hemorrhaging on face and legs. Thank you
| 760 |
Hey everyone, I'm at a hospital just outside Toronto, they have me on oxygen. I'll keep you informed. Much Love.
| 949 |
AskDocs
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[23F] I am on my honeymoon and have not pooped in 9 days. Worst pain of my life. Please help
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I am 23F, no other health issues or medications.
I was married on Sept 10th, and I have pooped exactly 1 time since then (9 days ago). The pain is so bad I have been crying off and on and can't stand to walk around for long. I went to urgent care 5 days ago and was given a prescription for a bottle of GoLytely, which gave me paradoxical diarhhea and did not help with the constipation whatsoever. I went to the ER 2 days ago and was given a prescription for Bentyl and recommended to take probiotics. I can only pass a very small amount of stool and am obviously backed up. I've tried literally everything OTC, no results. Doc says nothing is in my rectum and it must be a colon issue. A CAT scan says there is no blockage, according to the ER doc.
Please help, nothing has been working and I am feeling miserable on what was supposed to be a happy newlywed vacation :( I appreciate any ideas!
Edit: Thank you all for the help! I tried mineral oil enemas every 2 hours and Miralax. Nothing is working and I feel worse than ever. I will be going to the ER tomorrow morning, I'll let you guys know how it goes.
| 672 |
I presume that the ED has done some sort of imaging such as abdominal X-ray or CT scan and confirmed you have a large amount of stool in the colon? Because if nothing has been imaged, then it needs to.
If constipation has been confirmed, I would agree with the other doc in trying frequent enemas for the next day. With a mineral oil enema, you’d expect to have a large bowel movement in the next few hours (especially if doing it at 2 hour intervals).
If you don’t have luck with that, then I’d probably go to the ED tomorrow since you may need manual disimpaction. It could unfortunately be the case that there could just be a large rock hard piece of stool in the distal rectum and no amount of enemas will take care of it and it will need to be manually removed (which will cause everything to flow out afterwards).
Obviously this isn’t the ideal, but somethings it’s the only treatment. Additionally, after you get cleared out, you should follow-up with your doctor to explore why you became so constipated. Unless you were taking a lot of opiods, it’s kind of odd for an adult to suddenly become constipated and need to disimpaction. If unsure of the cause, a colonoscopy should definitely be considered.
| 441 |
AskDocs
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Fingers are permanently pruned for weeks
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I (37F, 5'9, 170lbs, Nonsmoker/Nondrinker/No drugs) have tried just about everything. The skin on my hands started feeling weird a month ago. One week ago, my fingertips were pruned up without having any contact with water. I thought it was strange and it went away for a little bit but came back. It gradually got worse, and it would be pruned all day every day. Some days, in the early mornings when I first wake up, there is no/minimal pruning. But then, as the morning goes on, it goes right back to how it always is. 95% of every day of my life right now is spent with pruned fingertips. Sometimes it feels like the padding in my fingertips is loose, like not firm. If I had lost a ton of collagen in my fingertips, how does it reappear sometimes? The fact that sometimes, after sleeping, it reappears means there should be a way to keep it like that. I should note I don't eat in the mornings, so it isn't correlated to food.
It is beyond uncomfortable. Imagine you have been soaking in the tub for hours and then you have to touch papers, walls, dishes, computers, with pruned up rubbery fingers. It feels gross and disgusting. Like nails on a chalk board. The tips of my fingers feel slightly "numb but not actually numb", just like if there was dead skin on part. I can feel things but it is exactly like feeling things through pruned skin. The "pain and discomfort" is psychological only, for now.
I am concerned about this worsening.
For this whole time, I have been drinking a ton of water, Gatorade and Liquid IV, trying to "rehydrate". It did not help.
I tested my blood sugar and I was 115. I do not have diabetes that I am aware of.
I discontinued using all my usual skin care products trying to see if one could be eliminated as the cause.
I tried compression gloves.
I tried taking Iron and B12.
I tried Cerave, Eucerin, Avino, Shea Butter, and Monistat (someone suggested use a fungal cream and thats all I had).
The skin care, kind of just sits on the skin and doesn't absorb. Like greasing leather. It doesn't feel the way it usually does when I put moisturizer on. It feels how it does if I put it on pruned up skin that was not going to unprune.
I went to the doctor. The doctor did not know, did not seem to have any ideas and wrote it down as "finger numbness" even though they aren't numb and drew labs which I will get the results of next week. I also consulted with a dermatologist who did not have any ideas at all.
I am desperate to find the cause of this terrible issue. For anyone who can lead me to the correct cause, solution, or even something that helps, I will make a donation to a charity of their choice. I would be happy to do it. I really just want to be able to comfortable use my hands again.
https://imgur.com/a/8KytvX9
Update: Thank you to everybody who offered insight and support. I will make a list of everything suggested and try everything. When I have tried everything, I will come back here and find the commenters who contributed the most to what will hopefully be my recovery or even mild improvement and get the names of the charities to donate to as a thank you. My labs come in on Wednesday so I am hoping that they are normal or show something simple and solvable.
Update 2: Nurse practitioner called me to go over the labs. Liver, kidney, thyroid all fine. She yelled at me for having the labs drawn. I’m not kidding. She said she never saw so many labs drawn for such a small problem and she didn’t know how I got the doctor to do it because they usually don’t. I verified “so my liver is fine?” And she said “YES!” And my thyroid, “YES!!!!!!”. So now I’m being treated like a hypochondriac. I have a follow up with them on Wednesday and then I am going to find a new doctor.
| 499 |
Has anyone checked your thyroid function? The diabetes is a good check. Any history of Raynaud’s disease or uneven discoloration of the fingers? Any family history of autoimmune disease?
As a woman in her 30s I would be principally concerned about thyroid/endocrine disorders vs autoimmune. It may be worth seeing a rheumatologist for an evaluation if your thyroid is normal.
| 319 |
AskDocs
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Creatine apparently eliminates alleged MS symptoms.
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STATS:
Male, age 64, caucasian. Don't smoke or drink. No serious drugs, minor casual cannibis in 30s. BMI is 25. Modest regular exercise.
​
BACKGROUND:
Around early 2000s - my early to mid 40s - I had minor diarrhea and constipation.
I saw gastroenterologist around 2001 or 2002. He said "...nothing serious...eating too much junk food...eat more fiber"
I took his advice. Digestive symptoms decreased for a while, then increased during 2009, 2010.
​
CRISIS:
Suddenly, in Nov 2011 - at age 53 - I started experiencing
\* Headches, centered around right eye
\* Extreme fatigue
\* Vision loss - scotomas in right eye
\* Sensitivity to heat and light.
\* Parasthesia of hands and feet.
​
ATTEMPTS AT DIAGNOSIS:
It took many months to get things sorted out
One doc assumed heart attack. I had electrocardiogram, it showed that my heart was okay. Was tested for diabetes. That was negative. Saw eye doc at Koch Eye Center. Extensive tests showed that right eyeball was okay.
No progress was being made.
​
I was living in Northeastern LA county at the time, so I transferred to UCLA. ( I figured that I would get the best rated medical care on this side of the Mississippi, even if it meant two hours of LA traffic each way. Sometimes my wife would drive me. )
​
UCLA docs decided that it was a neurological problem.
Had VEP ( visual evoked potental ) test, showed substantial damage to right optic nerves. Based upon VEP results, was given diagnosis of MS by UCLA neurologist.
But two MRIs showed no lesions in brain or spinal cord.
Neurologist still maintained that I had MS, but that the lesions hadn't shown up yet. Second neurologist - also UCLA - agreed. Apparently my VEP results and parasthesia were a textbook presentation of MS.
​
( At this point - about mid 2013, almost two years after onset of neuro symptoms - the scotomas had subsided, but I was still experiencing headaches, fatigue, parasthesia, and sensitivity to heat and light; plus continuing gastointestinal problems. )
​
But, given the negative MRIs, the docs were amenable to listening to alternatives.
I suggested gastro problems as the cause. Was checked for diverticulitis, tested negative. Was tested for celiac, tested negative. Had camera endoscopy, showed lymphangiectasia.
But they could make no connection between the lymphangiectasia and the neurological symptoms.
​
One of the nurses in UCLA gastro office quietly suggested checking for food allergies. The docs would not approve a skin prick test.
I started a FODMAP diet, and gastroinestinal symptoms decreased greatly. I finally realized that I was reacting to gluten, despite what celiac test said. I started testing myself for food allergies by trial and error. This showed a handful of foods to which I had allergies or intolerances.
​
TENTATIVE DIAGNOSIS:
At this point, food allergies led me to think that there might be an inherited genetic component to it.
In her 40s and onward, my mother had parasthesias, heat and light intolerance, and food allergies. She had eventually died at age 73 from myleodisplasia.
I realized - with the discovery of food allergies - that my medical profile was beginning to look like my mother's. I didn't like the trend, since the last thing on her chart was fatal.
​
So I looked up differential diagnosis of myleodisplasia. The primary DD is copper deficiency. I looked through my mother's records, found that nobody had ever checked her copper levels. ( Yes, my mother may have died in a modern hosital from an easily treatable digestive deficiency. But that is water under the bridge. Can't bring her back. )
Armed with this, I went to my doc, asked for a copper test. She told me that it was not necessary, that nobody has copper deficiencies.
I insisted. So I got the test. It was positive. I was copper deficient. Doc then said take 2.5 mg copper supplements, for thirty days, then we will test again. I took them as advised, went back for the second test. It was still low. So she doubled it to 5mg every day. Another thirty days later, a third test showed copper levels just barely inside the low end of normal.
Copper deficiency, as some here may know, causes nerve damage similar to MS. So we had a tentative diagnosis. ( The neurologist at UCLA had no comment )
​
STASIS:
Thus, around 2014, we had reached a stable situation:
I was taking copper supplements, eating carefully to avoid allergies/intolerances. Digestive symptoms were slowly getting better over the years. Neuro symptoms were not.
My vision was mostly healed ( except for reds - all shades of red looked the same )
I was stuck with a permanent set of symptoms of nerve damage: heat intolerance ( anything above 75F left me fatigued and stumbling like a drunk ), light intolerance, parasthesia, daily headaches.
Docs had told me that nerve damage was irrepairable and permanent.
They gave me Modfinil and Armodafinil to maintain alertness, and a disabled parking permit so that I could avoid heat in parking lots.
I had the air conditioning on almost all the time, both house and car. I kept the windows closed and the shades down all the time. If I went out, it was usually at night, or at least near dusk.
I lived like a vampire.
Cold, cloudy days were a temporary reprieve. I seriously considered moving to Seattle just for the weather.
That was my life for years.
​
THE TWIST:
In addition to the medical problems above, in 2022 I had begun to observe that I was losing muscle mass as I aged. So I looked at various supplements. Steroids all appeared dangerous. But creatine looked safe, and cheap.
I ordered a bag of it online, and began taking it, starting with 3.75 mg ( one teaspoon ) mid-morning on August 10th. I continued with another teaspoon in the morning on the 11th.
On the evening of the 11th, I was playing my usual near-dusk game of volleyball. ( I would usually play the last game or two before dark, and thereby get some exercise. I would get fatigued and mentally fuzzy, but I could recover by sitting in the car with the AC on full blast as the sky turned dark. )
But this time I wasn't getting fuzzy. Despite being warm from exercise, and being in sunlight, I was feeling okay. I called it a fluke, and cooled off for a bit, then drove home.
Driving home, the brake lights of the car in front of me looked different. I was seeing shades of red that I had not seen in a decade. Most of the symptoms of nerve damage had just disappeared. For that evening and part of the next day I was wondering if I had been hallucinating.
​
It is now six weeks later. I have continued with 1 teaspon of creatine daily. I have no sensitivity to light any more. I have tried being in bright light, even with bulbs that emit lots of blue light. It poses no problems. Recent heat waves have given me the opportunity to be in 100F heat. It is not a problem either, whereas 77F used to be disabling. The daily headaches are gone, as are any parasthesias.
​
THE QUESTION:
**What is going on here?**
**I have had symptoms of nerve damage to the point of being disabled. The damage has been verified with a VEP test. And docs at a top notch medical establishment have diagnosed me with MS.**
**Yet within 30 hours of taking modest doses of creatine, much of it disappeared. Within two weeks, virtually all symptoms have disappeared.**
**Why is this happening? And is it permanent?**
​
EPILOG:
I suppose a logical scientist would discontinue the creatine, and see if the neuro symptoms would return. But I'm still taking a teaspoon of creatine every day. I'm scared to quit. It is just too good to be normal again.
| 399 |
Fascinating. You have me googling down a rabbit hole and my brain is just too exhausted after my work week to handle it!
My best guess is you have a genetic component that is inhibiting your amino acids from functioning as they should to be producing enough creatine?
Honestly there is so many small pathways in the human body that are so complex, medicine does not have all the answers. I'm so glad you're feeling better. I really admire your determination to find answers. I truly hope you continue to feel better.
Edit: sorry for not contributing anything helpful. I just felt like I had to acknowledge your well-written post and commend you on all your efforts :) I hope you can find peace in now having your symptoms resolved and go out and enjoy your life!
| 236 |
AskDocs
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I’m positive for two drugs I’ve never heard of
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27F 5’3 196lbs Meds: Abilify, Truvada, Valtrex, Seasonique, Metformin, Trazadone, Vitamin D3, Vitamin D, melotonin, hydroxyzine
I took a 14-panel drug test last night because I have a job offer and I tested positive for buprenorphine and propoxyphene. I’ve never heard of either of these before. What could have caused this?
I’m so worried I’m going to lose the job offer because I googled my meds and none seem to result in false positives for these drugs
| 435 |
had a cold or insomnia lately? false positives for benadryl or doxylamine for propoxyphene.. cough suppressants or muscle relxants?
anyone doing this test should know it requires GC to confirm you cant just use this screening test on its own.
| 487 |
AskDocs
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Had a strange test as a kid, and mom won’t tell me what it was or for what reason.
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In the 90’s I was better 6 and 10 years of age and one day my mom told me I had a doctor appointment. The test was weird, I had to wear some strange cap, and some gel or glue was put to wires/sensors to my scalp. Then I had to sit in front of a bright blinking lamp, and was instructed to keep my eyes closed during the whole thing. Can anyone tell me what this test was for or what the test is?
| 473 |
Sounds like an EEG.
Probably testing to see if you had a seizure disorder.
| 978 |
AskDocs
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Anatomy question
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I (22F) have been doing vaginal self-exams as I get a lot of infections down there. I try to be familiar with my anatomy, but I always wondered why I could never find my urethra. I figured it was just buried underneath the discharge from my yeast infection and that's why I couldn't see it. But even after it cleared up, I still couldn't find it in the "normal" location outside the vagina.
A few days ago, I realized my urethra is directly above my cervix. As in, the two of them are touching. I am absolutely, 100% sure of this. Is this normal or not? I thought the urethra and the vagina were 2 totally separate holes?
Edit: I'm sure the mods will remove this soon, but I have to say this from the bottom of my heart. Fuck each and every one of you that downvoted me for asking genuine questions and giving genuine answers in the comments. People like you are the reason everyone else is afraid to learn. Maybe I am clueless, or just plain wrong. That doesn't give you license to treat me like shit.
Edit 2: Thank y'all for your support. I am not normally a negative person; I just get sick of some people's behavior. I appreciate those of you who have offered various insights and suggestions.
| 556 |
I think the only possible way for your questions to be answered is with an in-person physical examination.
| 504 |
AskDocs
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Survived the "unsurvivable" heart attack and now I have questions. 100% occlusion to the left main coronary artery.
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47F, 5'4", current weight 155 pounds. Caucasian, smoked cigarettes 25 years (one pack or less per day) except during pregnancy, no prior health issues or history besides 2 c-section births. No major surgeries or hospitalizations besides tonsillectomy at 12 years old, and 2 c-section births (at 29yo and 36yo). No history of high blood pressure, even during pregnancies. Medications prior to HA: Cosentyx for 1 year 3 months (6 months prior to HA), Tremfya (current at time of HA, for 6 months). No other medications. Blood tested regularly due to the use of both biologic medications, all blood tests normal. Full panel work up at time of hospitalization showed cholesterol numbers to be within normal range. No personal history of heart issues, but family history of heart issues (maternal side).
Photo is the report from the transporting FD/EMS with heart image. [https://imgur.com/lnHfrnP](https://imgur.com/lnHfrnP) please let me know if there are issues accessing it, I've never used Imgur before.
Stumped and stymied. I suffered (died from) a massive heart attack six months ago. I'd like information from cardiologists or doctors on the specific type of heart attack I had and their experience or knowledge of it. The cardiologist who saved my life told me he'd never (20 plus year career/over 4000 surgeries) seen anyone survive the type of HA that I did. Part of working through some new mental health issues I'm dealing with since my HA, is getting as much (realistic) information as I can about the type of HA I suffered, and real-time survival rates, talking to other doctors, etc. A friend suggested I bring my question here. Do any other doctors have insight on patients that have survived a 100% occlusion to the left **main** coronary artery of their heart (not the LAD)? Was not in-hospital when it happened, was home alone without a way to call emergency services for an unspecified period of time (could have been over an hour, I'm not really sure).
I was in ICU for 6 days, immobilized, with a device called an Impella pumping my heart for me. I was catheterized through my left groin for Impella and stent placement. I was awake for all surgeries - too weak for anesthesia. My doctor said I had no pulse in my wrist when I arrived at the ER, BP was 50/23, but I was awake, lucid and talking. I had another bout of torsades less than 10 hours after first catheterization, and then another secondary stent placed within 24 hours of first HA. I was then in ICSU for 4 days after Impella was removed, but made a full recovery without any kind of rehabilitation. I had to wear a ZOLL lifevest defibrillator for 3 months after I left the hospital. Current heart ejection fraction at 3 month visit is at 45%, no issues detected with Lifevest during the three month period.
*If any of my doctors or nurses are here reading this, I love you all so very much. You're my heroes and you're welcome to comment here.*
| 489 |
It's a pretty scary lesion - but looking at the report, seems like your care team kicked absolute ass. 51 minutes first contact to balloon time is very good. That's what let your heart muscle survive and regain function over the ICU stay.
| 519 |
AskDocs
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what’s going on with my partner is NOT normal
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my (22F) partner (20F) bleeds excessively. and by excessively, i mean EXCESSIVELY. firstly, she has reoccurring random nosebleeds that take forever to stop bleeding and it gushes out so fast.
recently we were on a cruise and she cut her toe on something metal on the pool deck, and was bleeding more blood than i’ve ever seen in my entire life. it took forever for the cruise staff to get medical professionals to assist because we hadn’t even set sail yet, but other passengers were doing everything they could to help her. it genuinely looked like a murder scene. the blood wouldn’t stop pouring out of her toe. even when a passenger put a handmade tourniquet around her leg/foot area, it wouldn’t stop the bleeding. she was barely conscious. finally when they got her down to the infirmary and saw the cut, it was a bit deep but the amount of blood that came out of her was not at all expected for a cut that deep. looking at the blood on the pool deck, you would’ve though she had been stabbed. she got 3 stitches.
i was so scared that she was going to bleed to death and so was everyone else who was watching. this can’t be normal. she always says “i’m just a heavy bleeder.” does anyone know what this could possibly be?
her known medical conditions: epstein-barr
she’s 6’0 , BMI 29
| 299 |
She should be evaluated for a bleeding disorder. A primary care doctor can start that work-up.
| 637 |
AskDocs
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NICU patient paralyzed after epidural
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I work as an RN in the NICU and have been considering how best to follow up on a tragic patient outcome that happened earlier this year.
Term infant was taken to surgery to remove a congenital kidney tumor. During surgery, infant lost most of their blood supply. The surgery notes indicate "estimated blood loss 50cc" but the actual blood transfusion orders indicate the infant was given >300cc of PRBC and FFP.....so that doesn't add up. The tumor was near the IVC so it was expected that infant would have substantial blood loss.
Infant was given epidural for post-op pain control, as they removed a kidney and were worried about pain med clearance.
Unfortunately, bedside nursing NOR the anesthesia residents who assessed the patient in the 2 days after surgery noticed that infant was not moving lower limbs. Bedside nursing asked anesthesia about this on day 3, anesthesia resident indicated it was "to be expected". This is not true, as L&D patients with epidurals are able to move but not feel legs/feet.
On day 4, true concern arose. Epidural was removed, infant still didn't regain mvmt in legs. Arms also developed contractures and had limited ROM.
The paralysis seemed to me, and the fellow, to correlate with the location of the epidural. When reviewing the op notes, I see that a resident attempted the epidural - so this could have been misplaced or just inexpertly placed.
Care team pursued a diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome.....despite the incredibly rare incidence rate in neonates, coupled with his rare congenital nephroma. It isn't iMPOSSIBLE, and it can be precipitated by abdominal surgery. To me, it seemed liek a "convenient" diagnosis that gained momentum while we promptly ignored the possibility of medical error with the epidural.
This infant was discharged from the hospital essentially as a paraplegic. Infant's family is not medical, did not seem to connect the dots between epidural and paralysis, and overall isn't likely to stand up for their child legally.
Please someone talk me through a) what they think happened medically b) how to report this event (paralysis can be considered a sentinel event)
I have lost so much sleep over this case. Something was done wrong and this person will likely never walk, run, or climb a mountain and will likely need care for their whole life. It makes me feel abject despair and disgust that our hospital and providers didn't address it more seriously.
| 487 |
First, the orders of blood do not necessarily mean that all the blood was given. They typically order that much blood for a vascular surgery like that, just in case.
Second, when I had an epidural as a L&D patient, I could not move my feet/legs. I had zero feeling.
While I am not an expert on epidural placement, it would be remarkably difficult to paralyze someone with an epidural, from my understanding. That doesn't mean it's impossible, but it is difficult, and likely the attending would have seen something that would have led to that. Additionally, there would likely be imaging that showed some sort of injury to the spine if that was the case. An injury that causes permanent paralysis would leave signs I would think.
The fact the arms also have contractures and limited ROM makes me think this is something else as well. That doesn't track with the epidural theory, IMO.
I presume the infant was moving completely normally prior to surgery?
Is it possible the tumor extended into the spine?
I also honestly have a hard time thinking that anesthesia would allow for additional workup if they knew they were the cause. Even if they didn't admit it to the family, it is usually talked about between the providers, in the M&M if nothing else.
I'm sure the outcome was reported, no matter what, if you are in the US, because it is a sentinel event and the infant had surgery in proximity to it happening.
Obviously, I do not have the chart, can't examine the baby, haven't talked to the other providers involved, but I'd lean away from the epidural causing the issue. Neurology would have brought it up as a potential cause, if they thought that was what it was. There's just too many specialists involved, and most of them would have no investment in protecting the resident from other medical professionals to think that everyone knew it was the epidural and was just pretending otherwise and doing a fake workup in order to hide the truth. I don't think that's incredibly likely, as the vast majority of providers are ethical and honest.
| 284 |
AskDocs
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Do you believe patients when they say something is wrong even when tests point to nothing being wrong?
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19F chronic migraines, chronic chest pain, low/ high blood pressure, anxiety, thrombocytosis.
I have been tested over and over due to symptoms that I have been presenting for years. Spikes of high and low blood pressure, daily migraines, high platelet count, episodes of severe chest pain, dizziness/fainting, hot flashes, etc. There have even been times I’ve gone to the hospital during a chest pain episode and the ER doctors always diagnosed me with something different colitis, gall stones, and there’s more i just can’t think of them off the top of my head. Doctors in the ER tell me that they can tell I’m in severe pain because I can’t keep still I’m constantly moving around and groaning, I sweat buckets, and my parlor goes completely gray. Every time I go into the ER with a chest pain episode I also have a high platelet count, high inflammation markers, high white blood cell count, and other high levels that indicated something was going on.
Only after er trips when I would get retested ( it could be only 2 days later ) everything would be returned to normal. My doctor said that there’s obviously something going on, but diagnosed it as anxiety, stating it was the only explanation, even though it didn’t make sense with all of my symptoms and wonky test results.
Honestly, I am just curious to hear doctors opinions on this. Do you believe when patients come to you saying that they know something is wrong with their body even though none of their symptoms makes sense or point to something specific actually being wrong?
Here is a link to a repost of this post due to this one being locked: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/xs36nw/do_you_believe_patients_when_they_say_something/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
| 306 |
I mostly believe them but people have a skewed vision of what the ER is for. Most people come with a problem and they want an answer now. A full diagnosis, treatment plan, everything, like ordering fast food. But the ER is there is find life threatening or acutely treatable things. So sure, I believe that something is causing pain, but there is nothing specific threatening your life or that I can treat now, so I can’t help you. Follow up with your primary and necessary specialists.
| 478 |
AskDocs
|
My 7 week old baby has never pooped. Help!
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Male 49 days old (born at 24+4 gestation, now 31+4) and in the NICU.
Weight: 1lb 10oz at birth, now 3lbs
Meds: Fentanyl & Lasix
He has yet to properly poop. He had a few MLs of breastmilk in his first few days of life but stopped when the first bowel movement never came. He's been on TPN only ever since.
He had necrotizing entercolitis by 2 weeks old that caused a perforation in his large intestine. They surgically repaired it and created stomas for an ostomy. He's never had more than a few poop smears and tiny "seeds" come out. A week ago he passed a meconium plug out of his bum.
Now for the past few days his belly has become distended. They did a contrast&xray study that didn't show any blockages so they don't think an exploratory surgery would help. They are putting a medicine (I'm not sure the name at the moment) into his stoma to try to break up whatever might be in there and get things moving. That was started almost 24 hours ago and hasn't worked yet. They were previously just trying saline. They've also started an antibiotic in case the belly distention is another infection. So far the 24 hour culture result looks good, waiting on 48 hour.
He's been on a ventilator since birth and we can't feed him or start a course of steroids for his lungs until he poops. We really have to just keep waiting? This isn't normal even for a micropreemie, right?
What questions should I be asking his care team? Is there something we are missing you can think of? Thanks so much. I'm extremely worried.
| 528 |
I'm going to ask a lot of questions :) and thank you u/I_Upvote_Goldens for tagging me, I appreciate it :)
* You say "yet to properly poop" Can you be more specific? Is there *any* stoma output?
* Do you mind if I ask where you are region wise? You may PM me with this info, if you are not comfortable with saying out here.
* How much bowel did he lose?
* Specifically how old was he when he first was diagnosed with NEC?
* Does he have "bowel sweat", meaning liquid that seeps out of the stoma but is not stool?
* When was his last surgery?
* Why did they tell you they could not give him steroids?
* What kind of ventilator settings is he on, if you know?
* Did he have an infection at birth?
* How many doses of surfactant did he receive?
* To confirm, he's never been extubated, correct?
* Does he have a PDA/how large? Have they tried closing it, and with what? Why did he deliver early (maternal vs baby reason?)
No, this is not normal, by a long shot, for a micropreemie. I am also extremely concerned about a lot of different factors, but his lungs and gut are pretty darn high on that list.
I am guessing that they are putting mucomyst in the stoma to try and break up anything in there, but I'm concerned for why he needs that.
Sorry for the barrage of questions, but the more information I have, the better information I can give you :)
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my (14f) daughter has been complaining of severe stomach pain, vomiting off and on, and not eating since the end of July.
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My daughter (14f) 5ft. 120lbs, no alcohol, taking Prevacid.
I believe she vapes and possibly Vapes Marijuana as well.
The end of July she stopped eating as much food. I wondered if she was wanting to lose weight but she denied it, saying food disgusted her all of the sudden.
She developed stomach pains and began vomiting so I took her to urgent care.
They found she had some gut bacteria and mentioned ecoli and put her on an antibiotic.
While taking the antibiotic I had put her on the brat diet and reintroduced foods.
She seemed to improve but soon after, off and on she would feel miserable. And still wouldn't eat a whole bunch.
I questioned her if this was to lose weight and she denied it. I asked her if she was still vaping and told her that could be causing it, she denied it.
(As far as the vaping goes, I've taken her money away from her, but the stupid gas station right down the street sells vapes to kids and the cops even know about it but have done nothing.)
She seems to do best when she doesn't have a bowel movement. Then when she finally has one, she has extreme pain and typically vomits.
I took her to her pediatrician who tested her urine and ran blood work. I didn't see the results, however, the Dr said they came back fine.
She thinks our next step would be to see a GI. There is only 1 GI for kids/teens near me and they aren't taking new patients. So the closest would be 2 hours away. And she suggests getting scoped.
On a side note, I have IBS and was born with a diaphragmatic hernia and have had stomach issues my whole life. My sister, father, and mother seems to have been plagued with stomach issues as well.
I can't seem to get her to eat. It's always "I'm not hungry" and when she does eat its junk.
I feel it's her diet, or lack there of. I also have found vaping can have this effect although she swears she's quit. I don't buy that though.
Any help on what this could be or what I can do would be awesome and appreciated. I've found a psychiatrist and am going to make her an apt as soon as possible because I'm wondering if it's an eating disorder.
(Along with the fact she just revealed she doesn't see a point in living and doesn't see why she should eat.)
Aside from going full mama bird on her I don't know how to make her eat.
Please give any advice you have! TIA
Edit to update:
So I said I would update, but I'm not sure if this is how to update?
Here goes,
I got my daughter into the GI. Blood work has been run, she has been evaluated. The Dr is thinking it's either gluten allergies, dairy allergies, or possibly IBS (which I myself have)
Since beginning her medication for IBS and acid reducer, her stomach aches have lessened, but I'm not sure if that's the meds or gluten free.
As for the therapy, it is road block after road block. No one is taking new patients. They take days to even speak with anyone, one place only communicates thru text. She wants in person only and there don't seem to be any available. I've called the insurance company but they even had trouble. All the places they had that we've called say they aren't taking new teens.
We're doing our best and she seems to be eating more and hurting less. So here's hoping we can only go up from here.
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There is a lot to tease apart here. But it does feel like first steps should be for a GI and psychiatrist to be involved. I highly recommend getting her a therapist as well. Your daughter needs a safe space to talk that is judgment free. The therapist can properly evaluate her for an eating disorder (to rule out or in) but more importantly continue to monitor and assess her suicidality. If anything she’s definitely very stressed and overwhelmed and could use a therapist for support and learn coping skills (other than marijuana/vape). You’re doing all the right steps, hopefully her doctors can find the cause and properly treat her.
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GF 19F has fever of 40.3
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She’s 115lbs, 5”4 and Caucasian.
Got into a severe car crash two years ago where she suffered a pneumothorax (I think that’s what it’s called?- 2 broken ribs punctured her lung) and a spinal chord injury (was wheelchair bound for 3 months) but she is almost completely recovered. Occasionally takes dilaudid when needed.
Tested negative for covid and her only symptoms other than high fever are severe vomiting and a headache. Thought this was just a stomach flu as her immune system is notoriously bad but she’s never had a fever above 39.5 before, and she seems really out of it.
Update: she does have meningitis, things got a bit scary there for a minute but docs are pretty hopeful. They say it’s lucky I didn’t wait longer to call, especially as she began to struggle to breathe in the ambulance. She’s pretty wiped out but has (very briefly) woken up. Thanks to everyone who commented.
| 575 |
What do you mean by out of it? If you feel like she might be confused, drowsy, difficult to arouse, go STRAIGHT to the emergency department.
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Cocaine addiction : 39 days without using but really struggling
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28F
I have a cocaine addiction, I was using cocaine for the last 4 years, in the last year I was using it 4 times/week.
39 days ago I stopped using it, but now I’m finding it really hard. I think there’s no real medical way to help with staying off cocaine but I thought I’d see if anyone has any advice on how to handle the cravings? Besides therapy?
I’m in a bad relationship and this helped. My partner is an EM attending so I know the dangers of doing cocaine. Things seem to be getting better and I really do want to stop.
| 563 |
There are no medications that have consistently shown any benefit for cocaine cravings or stopping. Various non medication interventions—individual therapy, groups, Narcotics Anonymous or SMART Recovery all work.
You could ask a doctor, and there are some medications that have been studied, but nothing really works the way medications do for alcohol and opioid use.
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Is it likely that my mum will die from multiple organ failure?
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My mum(50F) has a history of abusing her prescription meds and alcohol. She had cancer in the past but fully recovered and also has MS.
The drinking got worse this year and she was admitted to the hospital as she was jaundiced in august. She has been there since. She was diagnosed with liver failure and then on Sunday, she was put into an induced coma because it progressed into multiple organ failure. She has a breathing machine, medications to maintain blood pressure and dialysis for her kidneys.
So that i can mentally prepare, is there strong chance that she will not make it? What are the survival rates for multiple organ failure?
| 358 |
First of all, I'm sorry this is happening
It's very challenging for anyone to give you any sort of statistics without knowing all the details. What's for sure is that this sounds like a complex case and she sounds very sick. Liver failure patients who end up on a ventilator have a high mortality rate.
I would invite you to set up a meeting with her care team to ask these questions to them, they will be able to answer more accurately than anyone on the internet.
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34m. Penis stuck in zipper and transferred from one hospital to a trauma center.
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So to summarize, I was peeing at a restaurant and zipped myself up quite literally. I then went to a fire station and asked for pliers to try and free the zipper from my skin. I was in a part of KY I didn’t know and somewhat rural for work. So after that failed I just went to a random ER. (I was formally a Paramedic, including on flight status, in South and North Carolina for 14 years. So this is what sorta prompts my question as a preface as well. ) I had never seen this so bad. But, the hospital tried a lot of different remedies all the way up to ring saws. They then informed me they would be transferring me to University of Kentucky because it was a Level I and they could better assist me. I immediately found this strange as I had never done an interfacility for a zipped up skin(am circumcised) or heard of it. I was then greeted by urology on arrival and had a less painful experience than first hospital plus they freed my precious. I was taken to the OR due to concerns of necrotic flesh due to length of time and condition. But, why couldn’t the first hospital do it? Does this really require a Level I? PS if your wondering if carhartt pants have a reliable zipper the answer is yes.
Edit: Just to clarify, I was not dissatisfied with first hospital. They were super friendly, caring and overall wonderful. Just was stunned by situation.
| 800 |
You answered your own question.
> I was taken to the OR due to concerns of necrotic flesh due to length of time and condition.
That’s why you were transferred. The community ER did their best but were unsuccessful, and didn’t feel comfortable doing more without a specialist (urology) present to assist, especially if they had concerns for skin necrosis or causing further damage. What if they went too far and damaged the urethra? Not only do they not have the expertise on hand to help, but they’re opening themselves up to a lawsuit. Transferring out for a higher level of care is pretty common, and sounds like your situation warranted it.
I’m glad everything turned out okay with you and your penis.
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Appreciation post
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I hope this is allowed. I really, really want to express my gratitude to all the doctors and nurses and psychiatrists. I’m a 29 year old female with treatment resistant depression that left me catatonic earlier this year. A month ago I started doing ECT treatments. For the first time in literally my entire life I am happy and grateful to be alive. I’m doing weekly treatments now, and will begin a scheduled taper over six months after two more weeks. I’ve been on SSI since I was 19 because my depression was so severe, and had multiple SI attempts (technically stopped breathing and died during one, had a hypoxic brain injury for a while), struggled with self harm and eating disorders, and only stayed alive for my loved ones.
Now, I’m going to start community college next year and I’m going to get a degree in human services then a certification program in drug and alcohol counseling. I struggled deeply with opioid addiction after getting addicted during the epidemic, I had kidney stones and a stent for them and I guess the urologist didn’t now OxyContin was addicting as he had me stop suddenly. I had no idea what was happening to me when I went into withdrawal. I had friends with opioid addiction, and continued to use until my SI attempt that landed me in residential treatment.
I’m also going to be starting cardiac rehab for my dysautonomia, my cardiologist referred me early this year but up until now I was too catatonic. Thank you so so so much to the nurses, anesthesiologists, and psychiatrists who administer ECT. You guys are truly my heroes and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving people like me a chance to feel joy and gratitude for the first time in my life… it’s a feeling of vitality. ❤️
| 1,161 |
Glad to hear you are doing well. ECT can be a miracle for properly selected patients.
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After i got covid, my period symptoms became the same as my covid symptoms. What happened?
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I'm a white 16F, 178cm (5'10.5 feet), 60kg. I've never smoked or used drugs before, and i live in Brazil. Alright, now onto my problem.
I got covid twice, once in 2020 and once in 2021, about 1 year apart from each other. First time was pretty rough, it would come and go for 6 weeks, and the symptoms were headache, body aches, sore throat, and I'm not sure what to call it exactly, but my vagina swelled and it hurt massively, i ended up also getting a urinary infection.
Second time i got covid, same symptoms, except this time it only lasted a week. I don't remember if the second time i got the vagina symptom specifically, but when i got my first 2 vaccination shots the same thing happened.
After I got covid for the second time, i noticed that whenever my time of month would come, i would get the same covid symptoms (not the vagina inflation, but sore throat, body pains and head ache). at first i thought that maybe i was just getting the flue, or even covid again, but when i'd do the covid tests they all came out negative.
Essentially, ever since October 2021, whenever my time of month comes, or whenever i get any sort of bug, or even when my cycle is just kinda wacky, i get the same symptoms. every. single. time. before i got covid, my menstrual symptoms were just cramps and diarrhea. after covid, i get sore throat, body pain and head aches. before covid, i almost never got sick, now i get sick at LEAST once a month, but more often twice or even more times, all with the same symptoms.
I've gone to doctors before and explained, but they really only gave temporary fixes, like pain killers, but i was wondering if anyone had heard of a case like this before? or a theory on what covid might have done to my body? i dt know much about biology, so to me it doesn't make sense why i'd have a sore throat when i'm on my time of month. any ideas?
| 275 |
https://www.webmd.com/women/pms/period-flu
You may be suffering from what is commonly known as period flu. It isn't normally a COVID related condition and as such a manifestation of PMS. But since COVID dies affect menstrual cycle and there are numerous studies being conducted on this topic , it's possible that COVID triggered this condition.
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I 19M think my partner 23M might be lying about his HIV status and I need help!
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My partner and I have been dating for almost 2 years and yesterday he decided to tell me he was abused 4 years ago and became infected with HIV. We still hadn't met each other at the time.
He said he sought out help immediately after regaining consciousness and that since we started going out he already had an undetectable viral load, so I had nothing to worry about.
I have to admit that I was very upset he hadn't told me earlier, given the fact that we openly talked about this matter before and he knew I wouldn't be the type of person who thinks someone isn't worthy of love because of their status. We have a few friends who are open about being HIV-positive and I'm aware it's not a big deal and they live their lives normally.
However, today when he left me alone in his room I couldn't resist the urge to look up the medications he was taking and after a quick Google search I found out he is on PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis), and according to the CDC, PEP should only be taken for 28 days.
He told me he became HIV-positive 4 years ago, shouldn't he be on different medications already?
This doesn't make any sense to me and I'm extremely afraid to ask him anything about it because I might just be misunderstanding something if that's the case I'm worried he'll be very offended by my ignorance
I'm desperate and I can't talk to anyone about this because he made me swear not to tell anyone
I know the right thing to do is to ask a doctor but I won't be able to do that until Monday and the anxiety is killing me
Please I need your help
| 251 |
This isn’t necessarily medical advice, but I’ll just say that if he waited 2 years to tell you that he was HIV positive, that is *extremely* abusive behavior. Even if he was undetectable and couldn’t transmit. He did not give you the chance to consent to sex with him. He did not care for your health enough so that you could take PreP and potentially protect yourself from infection. Additionally, he thought it was appropriate to hide this major part of his life even when developing a relationship with you. And considering how young you are OP, I’m going to wager that he likely took advantage of your youth and inexperience at the outset of the relationship. There’s often a huge difference in experience between a 21 year old and a 17 year old.
Just because he was abused—if that’s actually the truth—that doesn’t give him the right to abuse you as well. I don’t know how you could trust him again either way. You deserve a better partner and boyfriend.
I hope that come Monday, you find out you’re negative. I would probably get retested at 3 months, 6 months, and one year. Just to confirm. After that point, it’s unlikely you could have contracted HIV.
I also hope come Monday, you make a difficult choice to cut someone toxic out of your life.
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Are my guts pushing out of my belly button?
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35M, 5'10", 270, Caucasian, former heavy drinker, only Omeprazole for meds.
So just last week I noticed my normally innie belly button is looking closer to an outie. It looks like intestines covered in a pink skin. No pain.
Pictures: https://imgur.com/a/dmU2xEg
| 270 |
It looks like an umbilical hernia... This can be tricky to repair- if they're too bad they can be permanent. Go see your PCM asap
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How likely is it a surgical instrument left inside me wouldn't show up in an x-ray?
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30F. Living in Canada. I had a c-section two months ago and they told me the instrument count was off when they closed me up. They did an x-ray right after and nothing came up so that was that. I didn't think about it at the time, but it's really starting to worry me now. I've been reading cases where surgical instruments are left behind during c-sections and how surgical sponges are often missed during x-rays apparently. Is there any way to make absolute certain there's nothing left inside of me? Should I request another x-ray? Or is there another more accurate kind of scan they can do?
| 274 |
Even surgical sponges have radiopaque markers on them now for exactly this purpose - if a count is off they will show up on xray.
If it’s something more serious (as in a vascular device not holding where it should have deployed), I have seen advanced imaging used to locate these items (both CT and MRI in a very rare situation)
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I'm (18M) clueless, surrounded by anti-vaxxers and I need help and information about vaccines
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Hello. This has nothing to do with politics. I'm worried about my health and need help.
I am not vaccinated against Covid-19, and I do not remember ever getting any vaccine as a child.
My mother told me she had me get all the mandatory vaccines as a baby/young child.
My whole family is strongly against vaccines, and not a single one of them is vaccinated against Covid. Since 2020 I've been bombarded with conflicting information and my brain is basically mush on the topic. I'm absolutely clueless.
I've gotten sick a couple times over the past 2 years, and I've done many covid tests, but they were always negative. I've never caught the virus, nor has my mother.
A few members of my family have gotten it, and my grandpa died from it; he was already in very bad health conditions due to old age, but everyone else is fine and have always been healthy.
Every person I know who has gotten it was fine after a few days, and the symptoms were mild.
Every time I hear my family talk, I hear conspiracy theorists spitting fluff, but at the same time every personal experience I've had tells me that it's not that bad.
I know that the data is out there. I know science is right, I'm not against masks, and I'm not against the vaccine. I've been raised in a sub-optimal environment and it's hard to detach from it.
Before, during and after the lockdowns I was (and still somewhat am) severely depressed and non caring about my health. This has and is affecting my ability to think rationally.
I've been over 18 for a few months now, but I haven't yet decided to get the shot. It seems like a hassle that isn't worth it, especially considering that I have no clue where to get the vaccine, if I should get all of the other ones that my mother hasn't given me and a bunch of other stuff.
My depression prevents me for doing anything that takes a bit of effort so I'm asking you to please convince me that I need to get the vaccine.
I'm in Italy, and I haven't heard about covid cases and vaccines in many months now. Just writing this post put a weight on my heart. I ask you to please not judge me as you would a typical politics-based antivaxxer. I'm just confused
| 263 |
I’m in the U.S. so I don’t know how easily accessible COVID vaccines are in Italy. The best thing to do is to go see your primary doctor. They can answer any questions you have about the COVID vaccine including where to get it (they may even be able to just give you one right then before you leave), discuss a plan for getting you caught up on all your missed children vaccines if you want, and work on getting your depression under control. That’s their job.
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Can a doctor please help me find the right words to string together to encourage my provider to insert my IUD using some form of analgesia?
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Edit: to reiterate, I have directly asked for some kind of analgesic (stronger than Tylenol).
Edit 2: food for thought - after my first IUD, I ALSO said to the doctor that it wasn’t that bad, because she had spent so much time telling me I’d just feel “a little pinch” or “a little pressure,” and that “most patients report the subsequent mild cramping to be the worst part.” You know why I said it wasn’t that bad? Because she made me feel like an absolute wimp for being in so much pain, and I WAS EMBARRASSED. How many other patients do we think did the exact same thing??
Edit 3: I was going to delete this after getting an answer, but I think it’s important that the dismissive attitudes of the physicians and the innumerable anecdotes from patients should stay up pretty much forever. This situation is incredibly shitty and SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. It’s downright bad medicine to put patients through something they KNOW will be excruciatingly painful when there are so many options for pain control - we just choose not to use them in the US.
Age 38
Sex f
Height 5’7
Weight 140 lb
Race caucasian
Duration of complaint intermittent
Location cervix
Any existing relevant medical issues n/a
Current medications levothyroxine, rizatriptan
I have had two IUDs inserted, one before having a baby and one afterwards, and they were both exceptionally painful experiences.
Debate about pain management for women aside - what words and sentences should I string together to encourage my provider to use pain prevention of some sort (gas? Local?) for the next IUD I get after having the baby I’m pregnant with now?
Any time I have mentioned the pain, I’m told I can take Xanax and Tylenol which is obviously not sufficient. They also have told me that “a lot of patients say it’s just a little uncomfortable.” Well, I’ve personally had it done twice and I have experienced excruciating pain and am trying not to go through that again, so….
They just don’t seem willing to budge. Please help?
| 389 |
” I would very much like to get some analgesia when the IUD is put in/inserted, because I’ve had horrible pain and discomfort the last times and don’t want to go through that again.” Be straightforward, ask for options, insist kindly but firmly. You can even argue that you are aware that pain is subjective, and then many patients push through a brief discomfort or didn’t have a bad experience, but you subjectively had excruciating pain and would rather not repeat that experience. It shouldn’t be necessary for you to justify yourself that much though.
In the end you have to find a provider who respects your wishes, takes a concern seriously and is on the same page as you.
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Penis size and urination issues
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31M, 5’10”, 330lbs, white
I am obese and am concerned I have a micropenis, so this means my penis is buried in my pubic fat. I am also unsure of the size range of micropenis (versus just small).
My doctor is requiring a urine sample soon, but I know I will be unable to pee into the cup because my penis doesn’t emerge from the fat down there and I regularly make a mess when urinating. I don’t know how to broach the topic of penis size either.
Has anyone ever experienced buried penis, micropenis (not sure if self-reported measurement is allowed just to help determine) and urination issues or talked about it with their doctor?
Edit: Thank you for all of the nice and helpful comments. I think I am feeling less nervous about talking to medical professionals.
And in order to get the most detail regarding the penis size issue, even though it’s awkward to admit, my measurement is about 2”.
| 254 |
Hello. I am not a urologist and cannot help you much with your issue medically speaking. I can say however that the best approach is to be frank and open about it. Tell your doctor what your issue is, be straight to the point, try not to flinch. There is nothing to be ashamed of, your doctor is a physician and should not judge you. They should give you good valid advice, and I hope they will.
| 468 |
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Need urgent help. Parent dying alone with no help.
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80F, 160lbs, 5'8'', white
Need urgent help. Parent dying alone with no help.
My parent is in Ukraine and I can't legally or physically reach her as I'm russian. She is 80 and has always had chronic pain due to salt deposits and hernias in her spine. It has got too bad for her to cope recently. The pain is terrible. She is in warzone and has no access to doctors or meds. She is immobile and refusing to spend even 2,5 hours in a car/bus to make it to the nearest city since the pain is that severe. Unable to sleep for more than 2 hours. I have 3 questions: 1)she asked me is it possible to painlessly go away since she has 6 ampules of morphine since her recent husband's passing. What it will be like? There is nobody in this world that I love more than her, I am terribly scared, sorry. 2)If I manage to find a steady supply of drugs more potent than she has always taken, like morphine – is it a 1 way ticket? The tolerance goes up and she will need more and more every month? How long can she last on such meds? 3) If by some miracle I manage to get her in some hospital, is there anything that could be done to support her life for some years more?
I will be very greatful for help and willing to send money for advice or counceling.
| 603 |
1. Rather than use the morphine to die, why doesn't she take a small amount to control the pain long enough to go to the nearest city?
2. Not every month, but opioids do need to be adjusted periodically. She would need access to a regular doctor then though.
3. Depends entirely on her health conditions. This pain is terrible but if it's arthritis and herniated disks, it won't kill her. The goal is to just control the pain so her quality of life improves.
Have you looked into TeleHelp Ukraine? They should have some options for free video visits and medical recommendations, although they can really only consult.
| 548 |
AskDocs
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Can someone who knows cardiology explain to me why my dad died
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My father was in his late 40s and went on a walk. He was 160 lbs and 5’4” and vegetarian, didn’t drink or smoke, and exercised pretty regularly. He called my mom and told her he couldn’t breathe. She drove to him and got there within two minutes (he wasn’t too far from our house). When she got there he was unresponsive and another passerby had started cpr and called 911. He revived before the paramedics got there and was able to talk to my mom. He even called her on the way to the hospital in the ambulance and told her he got there. As soon as he got there he lost his pulse. They did cpr on him and tried to revive him for an hour before they called his death. I’m very lost. How could he have been revived on the sidewalk but not in the hospital. I thought cardiac events were treatable if they were caught within the first few minutes. He had calcium deposits on his heart and had tested positive for covid two weeks prior. Any insight would be greatly appreciated as I’m looking for some understanding and closure.
Edit: thank you all for your comments. I’ve read all of them and really appreciate the insights you all have given into what could have happened. I’m talking to a doctor about getting a cardiology consult for my siblings and I to make sure there aren’t genetic/other issues. I’m also making sure my family will get the updated covid booster shots. My dad was pretty religious and we therefore cremated him as soon as possible, because that’s what he would have wanted, and tbh I value fulfilling his last wishes more than an autopsy at this time. I’ve also gotten my mom and siblings into grief counseling and am looking into options myself. Thank you again for all your kind words.
| 383 |
Hi. I am very sorry for your loss.
Some cardiac arrest cases do happen in healthier individuals and can be fatal. Not all cardiac arrest cases are treatable even in an emergency.
It's normal to feel lost right now, but you will get through this. Grief counseling may be helpful in your situation for closure.
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AskDocs
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Tongue is full of Worms (F 26)
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What it says on the cover. Tongue is full of small semi transparent/white worms. Underneath, poking out of the middle, under the tongue flesh on the end…
I went to the ER two weeks ago when I first spotted them. I inspected my tongue after feeling a sharp pain consistent with what you’d feel from a bad burn on hot coffee and saw 3 just under the surface of my tongue towards the tip. Saw one poking its head and wiggling out of the split down the middle of my tongue and screamed a bit about it.
Was put on a 4 day treatment of abendazole and told to take two pills at dinner and follow up with my primary a week later.
Followed up with my primary a week later, worms still there. Was given a 7 day prescription of abendazole and told to take 2 pills twice a day.
Finished the second course and they’re still there. I was told it’d take time for the pills to work but I’m just really not seeing change… I just really need some more opinions on how to take care of them. My mouth, roof of mouth, and back of throat are raw and sore. My mouth is full of worms. The center of infectious diseases has me on some sort of waiting list to even see if they want to take my case which could take weeks. I’m having trouble living like this. Absolutely no one knows what to really do with this and online stuff is all geared towards how to deal with this in pets. Also abendazole isn’t covered by my insurance and the price tag alone is murderous, even with good rx I went into the negative last pay period…
Is there stuff I should be rinsing my mouth with? Where do I even find people that specialize in parasites who would be willing to see me?? I had my doctor personally call in the referral and they still don’t know if they’ll see my case after review. I want them gone!! Can’t even look in my mouth while I brush my teeth I’m so grossed out
| 457 |
When you go to the doctor, what have they actually said? Have they acknowledged visually seeing “worms”? Have they taken any samples to send to lab?
While it’s possible you really have worms in your tongue, if the doctors have not been able to visually identify them at all, that is not likely
I’m honestly surprised no one else has mentioned the possibility of delusional parasitosis (assuming these have not been confirmed by doctors either visually or with lab samples)
| 231 |
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I (F32) am starting to look into options on how to fix the ugly butt I was born with (long post)
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[Jabba the Butt](https://ibb.co/XVy1nwm)
I looked through multiple Reddit and RealSelf posts and photos and never seen anything like it, so I’m trying to gather more insight before addressing it with doctors irl. Someone on plastic surgery subreddit suggested I ask here, as it’s probably more than just cosmetic/reconstructive surgery and there might be an underlying issue. My main goal here was to have a normal (or as close to it as possible) looking butt, but also fix the health issues it might be causing.
Version I’ve heard most open so far is: underdeveloped (or absent) gluteal muscles.
What is the best doctor to talk to about this? Orthopedist? My primary doctor is very dismissive, I don’t think she would be very helpful.
Also, if it’s really a missing muscle, what is the solution? It’s not something surgeons can just insert in me, I’m guessing.
Other than this obviously being a cosmetic issue, I’m also starting to question whether it’s something that contributes to the back pain I’ve had for years. I have other back issues as well (sciatica, herniated disc), but as I started looking into this, I also tried to focus on where the pain comes from and now I feel that some of it also comes from buttocks (left especially) and radiates further. Also, I have very weak core and can’t sit keeping my thighs together for longer than few minutes. Of course, me having rather sedentary lifestyle with little to no exercise doesn’t help much. That is something I’m slowly working on.
Quite a few doctors saw my butt over the years lol, but no one ever suggested to look into it, and I was too shy to suggest as I always thought of it as purely cosmetic issue and never linked it in my head to back pain.
To answer some of the questions that might pop up:
I was born in ussr which didn’t have great healthcare system, and I was born a premie weighing ~3 lbs. My parents were too busy just trying to keep me alive and healthy for the first few years of my life, as doctors said I might not even live long enough, then the ussr fell apart and people lost all their savings, so they were too busy working two jobs to make ends meet, so me having an ugly butt wasn’t a top priority.
I have a very small amount of childhood memories, but as far as I can remember, this never bothered me growing up, other than being a body image issue and making me very self-conscious in my teenage and adult years.
TLDR: I have a weird butt, why is it like that and what should I do?
| 1,025 |
I would start with a plastic surgeon consultation; not sure why it's like that but the plastic surgeon will know what's wrong and what your options are. They'll also know what other specialties they could rope in if there are any other issues (e.g. ortho) because if you're going under the knife, sometimes they'll both operate that day.
If it is an underlying issue, then it's likely the surgeon will have heard of it/seen it before and knows what other medical management you may need.
| 608 |
AskDocs
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Do I have a coffee bean in my brain? (MRI) [36F]
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The title is a bit of a joke, but what isn't is that after countless phone calls the soonest neurology appointment I can schedule is 4 months out.I had an MRI done, ordered by my PCP, to check for MS which is in my family history.My PCP doesn't read MRI's and we are left with imagery that we don't know how to read. But we did notice this funny spot that didn't follow the rest of the brain symmetry. Any thoughts?
[https://imgur.com/a/VrbrHZq](https://imgur.com/a/VrbrHZq)
| 259 |
Enlarged perivascular space. Normal.
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AskDocs
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I can't stop farting and it's ruining my life
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**SOLVED! UPDATE**: I feel so stupid. Decided to carefully check all the ingredients of what I was eating... The instant oatmeal I usually get CHANGED their recipe and now contains milk as of 2 weeks ago... didn't eat it today and problem solved! Will still see a doctor to check if this intolerance is an allergy and other GI issues because this is not a normal reaction, but thank you all for the help lolol
**UPDATE 2** University put out a statement that foods that were supposed to be dairy free were contaminated with a dairy allergen (the grilled chicken I was eating). Its like the universe has something against me at this point
Mandatory Info: 20F. 5'8, 145lbs, Duration: 2 weeks, no medication other than dietary supplements. No drinking or drugs. I am lactose intolerant but I don't eat dairy (mostly vegan diet and I workout regularly).
This is a serious post I'm not joking. I can't stop farting; it has caused people to leave my life because of the horrendous smell. Just imagine a gas leak in a sewage plant but 10 times worse. I fart every 5 minutes. I kid you not my roommate threw up the other day from the stench and I feel god awful. I brought fresheners, air deodorizers, fabric scents, etc. Nothing can cover it up.
I cut out dairy, I cut out meat, I reduce my fiber intake, and I take probiotics and fenugreek. I drink lots of water. Nothing works. It's very painful too, I used to be very toned with a slightly defined stomach. Now I look like a pregnant woman 24/7.
I don't know what to do. If you have any advice please help me because I think I might actually get kicked from my dorm.
Update: dietary supplements I take -
Fenurgreek
Probiotics
Children's multivitamin
Cranberry pills
Vitamin D
Fish oil
Used to take protein powder, stopped
| 540 |
Fenugreek causes a lot of gas. Fish oil supplements cause stinky farts. Why do you take fenugreek?
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AskDocs
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Husband’s eyes turn red when im on my period
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Hello, Ive noticed for about a year or two that whenever I start my period, my husbands eyes turn bloodshot red. We always call it his eye period since it has always coincided with my period. It always starts exactly around when my period starts and ends accordingly. Is there some sort of hormonal correlation going on?
He is…
Height 6’3”
Age 23
Weight 215lbs
Caucasian
No existing medical conditions
Non smoker
Drinks on occasion
Not taking medications
| 341 |
Lol what if your period stresses him out so that's when he smokes a J?
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Step son ate entire bag of Juice + gummies. Do we need to bring him to the doctor
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My stepson is 10 years old. Nonverbal autistic. His mother has been giving him juice + gummies
[here’s the package](https://imgur.com/a/5AVy4vq)
He snuck a bag into his room while we weren’t looking and consumed around 100 gummies.
I’m not sure if the vitamins are added to it or not, but is there a risk of some sort of vitamin overdose? What course of action should we take
| 278 |
Poison control is your friend.
After that, be REALLY cautious about bringing actual gummy vitamins (especially with added iron) into the house. Iron overload is what initially worried me about your thread title. From what I can see it's not a risk this time, but please don't make that mistake.
Best of luck in sorting it out.
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Pancreatitis: Temporarily labeled a drug seeker. How to avoid?
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Backstory: For the last 9 years, I've dealt with ideopathic recurring acute pancreatitis. For anyone reading this who doesn't know, the pain of a pancreatitis flair up is indescribable. The first time I was treated, I was administered fentanyl, which caused an adverse reaction that made the pain 10 times worse. I was then given Dilaudid, which treated the pain while the doctors starved me back to health. The first bout, I was in the ICU for 4 nights and the hospital for 13. One doctor told me that if somebody had that same bout of pancreatitis 10 or 15 years earlier, they almost certainly would have died.
Since then, I've dealt with a flair up roughly every two years. Alcohol has been cut out of my life, and my gallbladder has been cut out of me. But the pancreatitis continues to flair up. I've had every test available done, and the doctors have basically said "sometimes we just don't know what causes it."
I've accepted this and had a routine down for when the pain starts - go NPO immidiately other than the label recommended dose of some oxycodone that I keep around for just this occasion (leftover form the previous bout). If the pain gets worse, or if this isn't enough, I'll go to the hospital. I go to the same hospital each time so they have my medical history. I always explain my medical history, that I know what's happening, and that I've had an adverse reaction to fentanyl. This has gone smoothly until my most recent visit.
This last time, I called my wife at her work and explained that the meds weren't cutting it and that I think I needed to go to the ER. She was going to meet me there. I drove myself to the hospital because I felt like I couldn't wait 45 minutes for her to get home. I went in and explained everything (I also mentioned that I had taken 2 ocxycodones that day).
Eventually I was given an ER room and blood draws taken. I was offered fentanyl and explained I had an adverse reaction. After some conversation, I was given a small dose of dilaudid and they admitted me.
Once I was in my room, everything went to hell. I didn't see the doctor for hours. By the time the hospitalist came in, my pain medicine had worn off and he told me all he could offer was ibuprofin. I immediately started sobbing because the pain was unbearable. I asked why, and he told me that he doesn't let patients come in and order a specific pain medicine, and that in my case, he thought Ibuprofin was the appropriate treatment.
I immediately understood what he was saying. I had been through this enough times, that I knew the measurable signs of pancreatitis, and asked him what my lipase levels were. He said that that had no bearing on this conversation. I eventually found out my lipase levels were over 12,000. Yet he still didn't seem to believe I had pancreatitis. Or he thought I was so desperate for pain medicine that I intentionally caused my own pancreatitis.
I am extremely fortunate to have family members in medical field. My sister told me to request a patient advocate, and called my Uncle - a respected GI doc who advocated for me and eventually got me transferred to another doctor who treated me.
In all, it was about 16 hours of hell before I was given any medicine. I worry that there may still be a flag on me for the next time I have a flair up.
Looking for some advice from doctors: if/when my pancreatitis flairs up, how do I present to the (different) ER in a way that avoids this scenario.
| 451 |
Honestly you weren't treated appropriately. Even drug seekers deserve appropriate pain control and a lipase that high doesn't lie.
I would avoid asking for a specific opiate, especially dilaudid. This is a major red flag. Even more so when the patient starts reporting allergies to all of the other opiates.
Consider filing a complaint about your experience. That way they are more mindful next time. Nsaids are completely inappropriate for pancreatitis pain.
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AskDocs
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Bad burn wound- no health insurance. Please help!
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Hello and thanks for taking the time to help me out. (28F 5’0 125lb.)
On Saturday night the stovetop was accidentally turned on and I seared the crap out of my forearm. Unfortunately I can’t go to the doctor. I have been putting Bacitracin and non stick pads to cover but it seems to be getting redder. Hoping someone could help me make sure I take correct care of it? [burn pictures](https://imgur.com/a/vHye4Ee)
Info: no PMHx. I only drink occasionally but I do vape nicotine and marijuana. Not on any medications.
https://imgur.com/a/DYlLeah
| 377 |
This appears to be second degree bc of the blistering. Burns always tend to get worse the first day or two bc it takes time to see the full initial extent of the burn. Keeping aquaphor on it or an antibiotic ointment is actually great and keeping it covered. It doesn't look infected but you will have to keep an eye on it and was it daily with soap and water only.
Ideally this is something you could follow up with your GP about and local wound/burn clinic to ensure there are no complications but obviously that is up to you. I suspect it will heal without complication since you are otherwise young and healthy but it will take several weeks and you will have some scarring.
| 684 |
AskDocs
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I'm scared my boyfriend is dying and doctors aren't doing much
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Hi (there's edits at the bottom of the text),
I am scared that my boyfriend is dying. I am a deeply anxious and paranoid person so this is killing me. He is male, aged 21, about 5'9, 60kg, white. He drinks, smokes socially and uses drugs recreationally. We are in the UK.
3 weeks ago he start finding bright red blood in his stool (but didn't say anything). About 2 weekends ago, he went to the toilet and was just pouring/spraying blood, he thinks about a mug's worth. He came back and started sweating, his heart was racing, it hurt to breathe and he was shaking so much I'd have thought it was a seizure if he hadn't remained conscious. I called for an ambulance but there was a 14hr wait for one and my boyfriend said he'd only sit in A&E/ER for hours if it got worse (it didn't).
Since then he sometimes gets those shakes, has had pain in his side ever since and still has bloody stools. A few days after that night he became dizzy, nauseous and kept nodding in and out of consciousness, to the point I had to help him to the toilet. On a different day he was delirious for hours. His heart randomly races and thumps so intensely I can feel it against me when I spoon him from behind, meaning I can feel it through his back.
For about 2 months he has been absolutely boiling while he sleeps. His body will be slick with sweat, the bedding will be damp and I can feel the heat radiating off of his body. This week we got a body thermometer and his temperature during these flushes is only 35 degrees Celsius every time.
2 weeks ago he called the GP/doctor about all of this who booked him in for urgent blood tests, but we don't know what type. She was alarmed by how much she struggled to get blood out as if he was very dehydrated, but he'd been weirdly thirsty for the few days before. Getting the blood taken was also excruciating.
The blood tests came back clear. He also had a chest Xray which came back fine. He got a finger up the rear with no news. However, he had an ECG which read like he was having a heart attack. He had been found to have an irregular heartbeat after multiple suicide attempts via drug overdoses a few months ago, but it had never been followed up. He had more blood tests but when the results came back he was told he didn't need to go to the hospital for more urgent testing. He hasn't been told about any further tests or X-rays or appointments.
I'm worried he could be dying from something or will have a heart attack in his sleep. We have no idea what could be going on but the doctors are being so vague and I am worried his case will get lost in the system. Help??
Edit because someone's reply isn't showing up: I would assume that the blood test done after the ECG was to determine if he was having an actual heart attack, as after they got the results they told him he didn't have to go to the hospital.
Edit 2: I forgot that he also had to give a stool sample. I presume that came back clear as it was about 2 weeks ago.
Edit 3: Just thought I should say that we know that there is a connection between drugs and his heart. What we're confused about is the cluster of symptoms he's suddenly developed. His heart hasn't changed behaviour but everything else (shakes, delirium, nausea, blood in stool etc) are new this month. So we're wondering where they've come from!
| 282 |
It sounds like he could have an underlying inflammatory bowel disease and should get a colonoscopy for his blood in the stool. Stop doing drugs and drinking etc. also the lab tests they got would be good to know and a copy of the EKG.
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AskDocs
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My OBGYN said they have never seen anything like it
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Almost 25F, not a smoker, not sexually active and never have been.
I couldn’t tell you how long I’ve had this or when it’s started, it might have always been there and just grown as I’ve grown, I genuinely cannot remember. It’s been there since at least 2019. This was also my first time at an OBGYN, though I had my Pap smear done earlier this year and my primary doctor didn’t say anything about it.
It’s a growth (?) or a skin tag (?) or something, I never know what to call it, but I decided to go get it checked out. The lower right side can be a bit tender if you squeeze or touch it. I thought it was normal but after this visit I suppose it isn’t. During the exam there were a few deep sighs and the gynecologist asked “how long have you been here?” to me twice and I was very confused by the question because it seemed like she was talking to me. The first time she asked I said what because I didn’t understand, and when she asked a second time I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know how to answer. I had previously told her it’s been there for as long as I can remember I THINK.
After the exam she told me she would’ve taken both off that day but was worried about the left side (right side in the pics I believe) being close to a vein and there would be lots of bleeding so she was going to send me to a physician/surgeon to take it off and try to get me in within 2-3 weeks. She asked if I’d be okay until then and I said I would be anxious and worried so she told me she’d tell them as soon as possible. I then asked if she thought it was a skin tag and that is when she said, “To be honest, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. The stalk is attached to what feels like maybe cysts.” Something along the lines of that. After it’s removed they will send it for testing.
Needless to say, I’m kind of freaking out. So my question is what does it look like to you, have any gynecologists ever seen anything like it? I’m feeling kinda like a monster at the moment.
Edit: This is getting lots more attention than I initially thought and so I want to say thank you to everyone who took time out of their days to comment, especially the doctors out there. I am getting a second opinion tomorrow and will update here when I do. Until then, I am going to take down the photos for right now because like over 5,000 people have seen them at this point and that’s wild to think about. I also think they’ve served their initial purpose. If needed, I will add them again. Thanks again to everyone!!
Edit edit: Currently sitting in the waiting room for my second opinion visit. I will update here afterwards!
Edit edit edit: Okay I just got out of the appointment and loved the new place I went to. They were all very kind and I felt they really cared. The doctor and her student took a look and at first were confused as to what my previous obgyn had seen that was so concerning. They said nothing looked exciting, everything looked pretty normal to them, and that everyone just looks a little different. They also did another internal exam, this time with a speculum and lube, and the doctor said I had a, “perfect little cervix,” which made me feel good to hear not going to lie lol and was relieving. I told them the previous concerns of the obgyn from yesterday and again she seemed confused and said, “I mean, it just looks a little different but seems normal to me. We can do a tiny biopsy to make sure we’re all sure.” And so they numbed me, took I believe 2mm of tissue from the right to send off, and reiterated there was nothing exciting and that everyone just looks different. She was very kind and seemed super knowledgeable. So in a week I will know for sure for sure. And I will not be going back to the first obgyn. I don’t know if this is something I should report or even how to do that but any advice I will gladly take.
Finally, I just want to say that yesterday I was crying in the car while writing my initial post, worried I was going to die/have to have an invasive removal/was some weird being, and today I am in my car crying in relief and feeling a lot more comforted and seen. The doctors and physicians who commented and even those who commented just to say they had a similar labia/vagina, you all really made me feel better yesterday and cemented me going to another OBGYN for a second opinion. I wouldn’t have done that today if you hadn’t told me to do so, so thank you so much. Of course, anything could come up on the biopsy and I won’t be 100% at peace with the situation until I get the results next week, but she seemed very confident that things looked normal and it was just fatty tissue/my normal labia minora.
Thanks again everyone!!
| 400 |
Hey OP, I HIGHLY recommend you see an older and more experienced ob/gyn for a second opinion before getting them removed. They look like labia minora with an uncommon shape to me, and I would hate for you to have them removed without good reason.
Maybe someone else here can speak with more authority, but this doesn’t look abnormal to me.
Edit: Jesus Christ. Did a midlevel really just refer this woman to get her labia removed because she doesn’t know what they are? Hot damn. OP I am so sorry.
| 594 |
AskDocs
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My wife has extremely swollen labia/vulva 6 days postpartum that hasn't decreased in swelling.
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My wife (22 F), 5' 4'', 135 lb (110 lb pre-pregnancy), gave birth at 2:40 pm on Friday. She pushed really hard for about 3 hours and after an hour of no progress (the baby was stuck on pubic bone) forceps were used to successfully deliver a healthy baby. While she was pushing, the doc and nurse both mentioned how swollen she was and the nurse postpartum also mentioned how swollen she was. On Saturday she took a shower and I saw the swelling it seemed pretty bad but it was only 1 day after delivery so we thought it would just heal. Now we are almost 6 days postpartum and the swelling has arguably gotten worse and is very painful to touch. So painful that with 10 mg of Vicodin it is still really hard to ice let alone pee and move around. The OBs are stumped and called for a pelvic CT scan but the comments said nothing about her vulva/labia (even though it was directly asked for that). Most people that we show say it was way worse than they thought compared to the description. Does anyone have any ideas? My wife is in a lot of pain and we haven't seen any progress so we are desperate. Currently takes 10 mg of Vicodin and 800 mg Ibuprofen with Colace for constipation.
Pictures are in the link.
[https://imgur.com/a/DpT6EXp](https://imgur.com/a/DpT6EXp)
First - Saturday Shower (1 day after delivery)
Second - Monday Sitz bath (3 days after delivery)
Third - Tuesday (4 days after delivery)
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit: 12:21 pm - 10/27/2022
We have an OB appointment for 1:00 pm MT and we are planning on bringing up multiple things. We would like her to take some precautionary antibiotics in case it is an infection (there is no oozing, liquid, or off smell so that is good). We also want to ask the doctor to talk to the radiologist specifically about the vulva/labia since it was not included in the report. I went to the radiologist's office today and I will be receiving an image of the scan soon. I am skeptical of the scan and it was not a CT angio. Hematoma was ruled out due to good color and such so that is good. The OB said he is not well versed in radiology so he cannot read the scan himself. We were curious about allergic reactions as well so we stopped using witch hazel and other foams since they were not helping anyway. We had to do some elevation where her pelvis was higher than her heart and use frozen paper towels to cool it down (anything else was too painful).
As of today, this is the first time that some swelling has gone down and I will share that picture below as well as include the report. Unfortunately, she is still in a lot of pain though
We would probably admit her for this but we are breastfeeding our little Benjamin and he is doing great with it so we don't want to complicate that. I will add a picture of him too (he is all worth it she says)
Fourth - Thursday (6 days postpartum)
[https://imgur.com/a/q1RUXnv](https://imgur.com/a/q1RUXnv)
Thank you for all your help and concern, it helps my wife to know that is not normal and that she needs some help! :)
| 364 |
I would recommend seeing your OB gyne... the progression looks like a sort of infection based on the picture.
| 266 |
AskDocs
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My fiancee (29F) has been admitted under a psychiatric hold is there anything I can do??
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My fiancee suffers from Crohn's disease & Endometriosis all while working a very stressful job. Yesterday morning she got overwhelmed by the working and the constant pain and the lack of help she was getting from her doctors and took about a handful of Benadryl.
After observing her in the ER for a while and having the psych team evaluate her(and interview me) they moved her to the Psychiatric Emergency Room and are now saying that she can't leave.
My fiancee is suffering in pain, in a ball, being ignored by the nurses while the doctors say they won't give her anything to help said pain. If she's home at least there are things to distract her and she can continue to try and communicate with her doctors who treat her conditions. She also has a very low immune system and is a person who should remain out of hospitals as much as possible.
The pills were about just not being in pain and wanting the pain to stop. I don't worry about her doing this on a daily thing. I've known her for 10 years. We've lived together for 8. I know that this was from a combination of Endo + Period + new job + boss not understanding her needs + her doctors not being responsive. Just an absolute cocktail of mental anguish.
Is there anyone I can reach out to in order to expedite this? We can communicate when she calls me and the last thing she said was that they brought her breakfast she couldn't eat because of her dietary needs. So is she just stuck suffering in pain for who knows how many days while also starving? I need to be able to help her. I know she's not a danger to herself or myself. But this extended stay is going to add extreme mental damage to a person who already distrusts the medical system and make her feel more isolated.
PS this is is NYC
| 413 |
I would see if she will give consent for you to speak to the doctors taking care of her. It might be helpful as it sounds like you're only hearing 1 side of the story here and the psychiatric team will want your input. I don't see why they wouldn't give her something for pain or proper food in this situation if she is medically cleared. Kitchens are prepared to handle dietary restrictions for patients. As for expediting a meantal health hold, no she will need to be seen by the psychiatric team. I'm sorry you both are both going through this.
| 486 |
AskDocs
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I (23F) keep sleeping through my doctors appointments due to a sleep disorder.
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Caucasian, 95lbs, 5’4”.
Diagnosed PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, Essential Tremor, Hypoglycemia.
Taking 150mg Oxcarbazepine 2x/Day, .5mg Clonazepam 1x/Day.
Vape nicotine and cannabis.
I’m currently dealing with several medical issues but am unable to get them treated/diagnosed because I sleep all *day*, every day. The sleep issues have been ongoing and worsening over the past decade.
I sleep 16+ hours every day, cannot sleep at night, nothing and no one has been able to wake me up (incl. medical professionals in a hospital setting, my partner, assorted alarms, “resetting” my sleep schedule, etc)
I had an appointment with my PCP on the 26th at 8 AM that I had to pull an “all nighter” for to be able to go to. I got an abnormal EKG reading and needed labs. They proceeded to try to draw blood..but my veins are tiny (they used pediatric needles) and kept collapsing, so they requested I come back today (the 28th) at 10 AM, extra hydrated and rested (they said my not sleeping could’ve been partially to blame for labs difficulty).
Well, that’s about 2 hours past my body’s chosen “bedtime”, so I accidentally fell asleep (and woke up at 8 PM today).
Everyone’s getting frustrated with how many appointments I’ve missed (myself included). If I continue to miss appointments (especially therapy) I could be labeled as non-compliant, which could royally fuck everything up.
How can I make my appointments? How can I “treat” my condition myself enough so that I’m able to get professional care (for this and other issues)? At the very least, how can I show/prove that I’m invested in my care despite my repeated missed appointments?
| 264 |
Taking a sedative (clonazepam) whilst also smoking a sedative (cannabis) certainly won’t help you to not fall asleep.
| 629 |
AskDocs
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Doctors please help my little sister, she can't walk, I'm afraid she's going to die
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8F, 78lbs, no medication. She was in the hospital for a long time but they discharged her. She is still in pain, please help. I attached the notes of her discharge.
The patient is an 8-year-old white female with five weeks of fever, rash, arthralgias. Last month, the patient noted foot pain involving both left and right feet, as well as a blotchy pink rash on the leg that proceeded to spread to the trunk and then arms and then face during that week. The patient had low-grade fevers with temps to a max of 101. This has progressed to the week prior to admission higher fevers with T-max of 103.5. The patient has endorsed muscle pain, particularly in the right leg and arm, and PMD had seen the patient this week noted right knee and right index finger swelling. There is no noted weight change over this time period. No noted diarrhea or swollen nodes. The rash the patient described the week prior had an acute abrupt onset and 5-10 minutes later would dissipate.
Rheumatology was consulted on the patient from admission. Lab studies were sent to rule-out an infectious etiology for rash. Strep culture was negative. EKG was also performed to rule-out a prolonged PR interval. EKG was within normal limits. A DNase B antibody was 547 and an ASO titer was 300. While results were elevated, the patient did no meet clinical criteria for rheumatic fever and diagnosis that was most likely entertained was systemic JIA. Further lab work included an ANA which was negative, rheumatoid factor which was negative, a CRP on admission was 8.6 mg/dL with an ESR about 80. CK and aldolase were within normal limits. Ferritin was elevated at 663. LDH was within normal limits. CBC was reassuring with normal white counts, hemoglobin and platelets; findings nonsuggestive of leukemia. Hepatic panel within normal limits. A chest x-ray was done to rule-out mediastinal mass, and that was negative. From an infectious standpoint, Parvo, CMV, EBV were all negative. Clinically the patient was noted to have a salmon-colored transient rash that would come and go throughout the hospitalization lasting a matter of minutes. No definite arthritis on examination. Oncology was consulted given the history of arthritis and fevers. It was felt in the setting of normal cell lines in evaluating a smear, which revealed no blasts, no indication of hepatomegaly or splenomegaly and uric acid and LDH within normal limits and x-ray that was normal, they felt that further oncologic evaluation was not indicated and a bone marrow was not indicated at that time. Cardiology was also officially consulted because the patient had a 2/6 ejection murmur on the exam. Cardiology felt the murmur was a flow murmur and evaluated the EKG, which they read as
within normal limits, and decided an echo was not indicated to rule-out valvular disease in the setting of the rash and arthritis in an attempt to workup acute rheumatic fever.
| 337 |
Internal medicine doc here but in my differential is Adult Onset Stills Disease which can still present in children and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. The salmon colored rash lasting a few minutes is textbook for Adult Onset Stills Disease.
I'm assuming she had blood cultures done at one or multiple points during her admission. Did she have a procalcitonin tested? Did she receive any antibiotics? Any steroids like solumedrol, prednisone etc? Does she still have joint pain? Does this rash show up only during febrile episodes? Any auto immune conditions in the family like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, hashimotos?
| 173 |
AskDocs
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swallowed toothpick
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19M
UPDATE: had endoscopy early this morning. everything is ok. hoping to go home later tonight. thank you all for the support!
i accidentally swallowed a toothpick a few hours ago, i felt it go down my throat. i looked it up and found out if can be quite dangerous. a few hours later and i’m feeling some cramps/pain in my abdomen but i’m not sure if it’s just my mind playing tricks on me or not.
should i go to the ER? i don’t want to waste the ERs time but i heard that 10% of people who swallow a toothpick die. it’s late at night so no urgent care is open.
| 287 |
Agreed 100% you should go to ER. Big risk is it can perforate your intestines and make you septic. This is a medical emergency.
| 293 |
AskDocs
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9 hours vomiting, abdominal pain, pain into hips, feel AWFUL
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UPDATE:
I couldn’t find child care so I was stuck until a couple of hours ago. I passed out from the pain and am in the hospital brought in by paramedics everything is going very fast.
35 Female Canada
Partial hysterectomy 2020
Ovarian cysts on going
Endometriosis
Psoriasis
Psoriatic arthritis
Stomach ulcer
Migraines
Okay so I felt a bit run down but like that’s life.
At midnight my 3 year old woke up so I went to put her back in bed we were snuggling and out of no where my stomach turned and projectile vomited 3 times. Since 12am I have vomited about 10 times and that’s with taking gravol
My whole right lower abdomen is hurting pretty fierce
No diarrhea intact almost feels like I might be constipated
No one else is sick
I thought stomach flu but everyone’s except me is fine
I’m exhausted I’m going on 9 hours of hell, throw in the pain and there you go
| 264 |
Pretty concerning for appendicitis. Head to the ER.
| 425 |
AskDocs
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I think I mightve had a stroke
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Last week I hit my head getting into my car. A few days later I felt a extremely painful throbbing pain on the right side of my head near my right eyebrow. Pain was so bad i dropped to my bed. I didn't go to the Er because I dont have health insurance and have been experiencing painful headaches for the last few days. I feel like i can feel liquid moving inside my head.
My plan is to wait till this friday when I get paid So i can sign up for health insurance and go get seen. Any advice on what i can do at home till then I would really appreciate
25 year old m
175 pounds
5ft 8 inches
Used to smoke weed daily but quit 3 weeks ago
Update: I had vidchat with a doctor using sesame care
I got prescriptions for Zanaflex and ketorolac
Still planning on signing up for insurance on friday but at least I have something to help out until then
Update: 10/30 5pm
After much hesitation I decided to come to the ER, currently waiting to get seen
Update: 6:54 pm Just got back home from the Er they said I had a concussion. The doctor wants me to go to this free clinic for constant checkups these next few months. Also don't know how she did it but one of the workers there helped me qualify for medi-cal for 30 days so I won't be paying anything for this er visit.
Id like to thank all of you for convincing me to go to the ER! Lol
| 258 |
This sounds like a concussion.
| 148 |
AskDocs
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35 and 6 positive tests w infertile partner.
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Demos
35, female, white. 5’5’ 130lbs. I have some health issues including an autoimmune disease.
So here is my life right now. I’m with someone that has been told he is infertile for years. Discovered via doctor in the early 2000s He has been in committed relationships with women that were fertile and no pregnancies ever happened.
Now here I am. 3 days late on my period and 6 home pregnancy tests. I had blood done, no results yet. He doesn’t see how it’s possible, I’m confused because I know I haven’t been with anyone else and also a big WTF shock. He is not being mean to me or accusing me of cheating just it’s not possible and something else has to be wrong.
My health anxiety is through the roof because as Google says maybes it’s cancer.
Any thoughts would be great.
| 264 |
You’re probably pregnant. Most of the time when this happens someone was told they might have trouble getting pregnant or have low chances of fertility, but they are not truly unable to impregnate someone. Has your partner undergone a vasectomy? Unless they do not produce sperm at all, a vasectomy is the only expected way to cause infertility for men.
| 518 |
AskDocs
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doctor needing help on impossible case
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Hey everyone
I am an oncologist with a case that no one has been able to figure out.
41 year old woman with metastatic her 2 breast cancer.
-Recieved paclitaxelx 6 cycles and trastuzumab/pertuzumab with complete response on pet scan
-developed bilateral severe edema in legs with full body pain syndrome.
-pain worsened with trastuzumab pertuzumab so these have been paused for 3 months
-edema continues to worsen. No culprit medications can explain edema. Normal liver, normal heart, normal albumin. No nephrotic syndrome.
Does anyone have any ideas for what could very causing such an odd presentation with such severe edema bilaterally?
| 440 |
Is it lipedema? That usually has a significant pain component and normal physiology otherwise.
| 132 |
AskDocs
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husband doesn't brush teeth
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My husband, 36m 5'11 and roughly 150lbs, smoker, taking Wellbutrin but no other known health conditions, refuses to brush his teeth and when I have brought it up has outright lied and says he does. Aside from the obvious bad breath and tooth decay plus the gross factor I worry what type of issues this can cause him in the future. I know the mouth is full of bacteria and also wonder if his lack of dental hygiene can affect my health due to transfer from kissing or more adult activities. I have tried to stress the importance of brushing his teeth especially since he is a smoker but at this point he has obvious decay starting and I worry it will only get worse.
EDIT***I want to clarify this is really the only negative thing I can say about him. He is an incredible person, partner, and father. While this is gross to me I still love him. I'm trying to find gentle ways to approach this without embarrassing him and just want to get an idea of what ramifications this could have had up to this point for both of us.
UPDATE: He got home and we talked about things and he agreed he knew it was an issue. He is willing to try to improve and visit the dentist. I asked if he was interested in getting assessed for ADHD as many suggested that could be a contributing factor and he said if he has it then he has been fine so far so didn't see a need in any assessments.
| 360 |
There is without a doubt some underlying psychiatric disease at play here and you need to bring it up in a firm way to him.
Not trying to tell you how to live your life but this would be a deal breaker for me IMO. Smoker and not brushing their teeth?
They’re at risk for heart disease and oral disease
| 510 |
AskDocs
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Why are psychiatrists reluctant to give out benzos if they really help?
|
32F 150lbs 11mo pp with ppd/ppa and OCD. My doctor gave me Prozac to help with my symptoms but they have gotten so bad that I can barely get into a car (my main fear is driving and I have pretty bad health anxiety) I also have extreme fear of leaving my kids. She also prescribed clonazepam as needed. I have been on the Prozac for about 6 months and am taking 40mgs. It definitely helps some but it doesn’t really do much for my anxiety. However the clonazepam does and I find myself taking a half of a 0.5 tablet every day now because I get such relief and it makes my mood so much better. I know benzos are addictive but they really do help. Why can’t I be on a therapy of clonazepam rather than prn?
| 254 |
Psychiatry here. Benzos are great medicines and are very useful for anxiety in certain limited situations. With chronic use, aside from the medical risks, dependency, etc that I'm sure your doctor has told you about, benzos tend to reinforce chronic anxiety and make it harder to treat.
Anxiety at its core tends to lead to avoidance. For example, if someone is anxious in a crowd or around people, they may take steps to avoid going out. Benzos provide an escape and therefore another way to avoid uncomfortable feelings or symptoms so that instead of treating the core issue of what's making someone anxious, you treat the downstream symptoms.
We know from decades of research that the best treatment for anxiety (along with serotonergic medications) is leaning INTO and experiencing the anxiety and retraining (through therapy) your body and mind that the anxiety is not appropriate to the situation.
| 1,212 |
AskDocs
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Sunflower seeds brick in my butt.
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Male 25
5'11"
185lbs
English is not my first language
Ok so since I stopped smoking I eat a lot of sunflower seeds. The lazy dumbass that I am, I mostly ate them whole. Now, since yesterday I can't poop anything than liquid ( sometime a little but of blood ). After some internet search and cavity search I think theres a "brick" of whole sunflower seeds stuck there. Like, I feel it wanting to come out but it won't pass the door. What can I do? I tried with a glove and some lub to get it but I can take almost nothing and it doesnt change anything.
I normally dont have any problem and go poop at least 3 times a day and its always healthy.
Update : So this morning nothing changed. I tried enema, suppositories, laxative, fingers, poopie bench and nothing worked. I'm just more in pain and I know its right at the rims and ready to but it dont move. It just hurt like hell. I have an appointment this morning at 10h40.
| 349 |
Thank you for your submission. **Please note that a response does not constitute a doctor-patient relationship.** This subreddit is for informal second opinions and casual information. The mod team does their best to remove bad information, but we do not catch all of it. Always visit a doctor in real life if you have any concerns about your health. Never use this subreddit as your first and final source of information regarding your question. By posting, you are agreeing to our [Terms of Use](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/wiki/terms_of_use) and understand that all information is taken at your own risk.
**Reply here if you are an unverified user wishing to give advice. Top level comments by laypeople are automatically removed.**
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| 1 |
AskDocs
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want to stop drinking, don't know where to start
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31F, don't non smoker, currently drinking a bottle of wine every night. Sydney, Australia
I want to stop, I want to have a healthy relationship with alcohol but I don't know where to start. I've been drinking to sleep for about 2 years now. I'm worried about the effect on my body, but I also need to address why I'm here in the first place.
Where do I start? Should I just go to a GP and talk to them? I don't want to go into a facility but I don't know what my other options are
| 265 |
Hello! Yes, your best first step is r/stopdrinking followed by calling your GP. There are usually outpatient addiction medicine specialists that can help you if you can detox outpatient, but it is possible that the safest method would involve going to a facility for a short time. (This is especially true if you have ever had a seizure when you stopped drinking.) There are a bunch of medication and therapy options to help you quit, and the beginning is going to require starting some of those and slowly tapering off the alcohol. Unfortunately alcohol cannot be quit cold turkey because your body has adjusted to the toxins and is now overly reliant on the receptors it hits being constantly stimulated. Medications will be able to help your body adjust to that transition safely without risking severe withdrawal including seizures. You have a journey ahead of you, but this is a great first step.
| 189 |
AskDocs
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[NSFW] 24M I have worms. What in the world do I do.
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There are small worms infesting me. Warning this is obviously a bit gross. I am a pretty healthy guy, I am active, I have a decent diet. I haven’t eaten anything odd or done anything odd recently.
In the last week or so I have noticed at night that when I scratch my anus (no judgement I bare my selves before you as I am) I feel some small squishy things on it. It concerned me a bit but I honestly thought it was dead skin formed from chafing. It kept happening and in the back of my mind I thought they looked kind of funky but I sort of didn’t think this sort of thing would happen to me. I kept scratching, finding them, and going about my business.
Today kind of on a whim after finding quite a lot while using the bathroom I kind of caught a small piece of poo with toilet paper as it came out of me. I’m positively disgusted to say that when I examined the poo after there were tonnes of worms moving in it. I have a video I could show, although I don’t know how to post it here. Be aware it is very gross.
The weirdest thing is I have no other symptoms I feel perfectly fine.
What the hell do I do? This is causing me serious distress.
Warning this photo is not pretty. The video is worse as you can see them moving.
https://i.imgur.com/UBtjiBv.jpg
| 296 |
Schedule an appointment with a primary care doctor. They will be able to help with the appropriate testing to diagnose and treat your issues.
| 720 |
AskDocs
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Unethical behaviour? I’m not sure if this is appropriate to ask here or not
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28F
I was inpatient in hospital for a few weeks, during this time I was on narcotics for pain and generally pretty out of it but I think of sound mind and able to make my own decisions.
A physician on my medical team and I had a good rapport and became very friendly ; he would visit a lot and see how I was doing and we ended up just sitting and chatting about non-medical things most of the time.
This pretty quickly turned into flirting and he asked for my number. We started texting and he’d come see me before he’d finish for the day and pop in throughout the day.
Nothing overly physical ever happened while in hospital, apart from some leg touches and things but I didn’t feel uncomfortable.
The texting escalated to more than chatting but again while I knew it was wrong I still chose to continue.
The day I was discharged, I got a phone call from his boss asking if anything inappropriate had happened saying that a nurse had reported him for coming by and closing the curtains a lot etc. I said no and that he just had a good doctor/patient rapport.
He was brought to HR about it and given a warning but nothing happened.
We continued a sexual relationship after this and out of nowhere he ended the relationship. He has photos/videos of me aswell.
Anyways that’s fine but today I got another phone call from his boss but I didn’t answer, this is 2 months later and she just left a voicemail to call her back.
Now I’m worried. Is this like highly unethical and could it be that he’s done this with other patients and I should tell the truth or would that put someone’s career at risk?
I would never ever want to end someone’s career, let alone someone I cared about. I would be inclined not to say anything but would it be normal to be contacted again about this situation so far down the line?
| 540 |
100% unethical.
| 889 |
AskDocs
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I’m too scared to actually ask a doctor in person, for fear of having my kids taken away or being committed to a psychiatric ward
|
Is it normal for me, 37 year old female to feel suicidal and depressed every month while on my period? Like maybe 2-3 days before, I get an overwhelming feeling of doom, I’m emotional and I feel extremely paranoid. I think everyone hates me and that I can’t do anything right, I cry about everything. Then the thoughts of “everyone would be better off without me”. Just to clarify, I would NEVER at all even attempt. I love my kids and my life, and the rest of the month my mental health is good, but for a few days every month this totally messes my life up.
| 414 |
You won't get your kids taken away for this, and there's help available for it. It's likely PMDD
| 662 |
AskDocs
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I’m certain I have bowel cancer but can’t get a colonoscopy for at least 2 months. What can I do in the meantime?
|
Hi there. 26F with major worsening alarm symptoms. I’ve had consistent, constant abdominal pain localized to an area about the size of a fist on my left side midline for about two months with absolutely no sign of getting better. It doesn’t go away no matter what I eat, bowel movements, etc. This is a new pain and I’ve never experienced this issue before. I’ve also started seeing blood in my stool in increasingly larger amounts, often streaked inside mucus. I’m in Canada (Vancouver coastal health) and our clinics are in major trouble. To put it into perspective, I had to wait 8 months for an upper endoscopy that was marked as urgent and my GP tells me that no matter what my symptoms, I most likely will have to wait a minimum of 2 months for a colonoscopy. He’s confident I have bowel cancer but tells me there’s absolutely nothing he can do for me until I’m able to get a scope. Does anyone have any advice?
| 362 |
Just wait. Good news is, 2 more months of waiting really won't change the trajectory of your disease, even if this was cancer.
| 900 |
AskDocs
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Holes under my breasts and in between them that won’t heal
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18F idk what’s wrong with my skin. I would get pimples in between and under my breasts because I would sweat a lot. I have kinda bigger breasts. I had a light yellow/grey bruise in between my breasts (where the heart is) last year that was there for months on end. Never thought anything of it. Then last year on July 4 weekend it burst open. Blood everywhere with a visible hole. I covered it with bandaids and it would heal then break open again. Blood and puss. Over and over and over again. Now more have happened in other places, like under my breasts. Puss will come out and a hole will stay and won’t heal over. It’ll try, but the skin is all slimy. It hurts so bad too. If I move in certain directions it can tear the holes more. I’m getting sick and tired of being in pain every single day I just want this to be over. Should I see a doctor about it since it’s not healing? I should note, my biological father had cystic acne and I have bad acne sometimes too but this is just weird.
Edit: thank you so much for y’all’s help! Ima get it checked out by a derm and hopefully start treatment. Thanks again! 💕
| 325 |
suspicious for hidradenitis suppurativa. See a derm for treatment. And yes, this can be treated!
| 692 |
AskDocs
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Update on post nearly a year ago.
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I'm a 33 male. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/rn4yf3/my\_right\_testicle\_grew\_to\_5x\_its\_regular\_size/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/rn4yf3/my_right_testicle_grew_to_5x_its_regular_size/)
So the testicle died. The radiologist couldn't find an active blood flow going to the testicle, and this was weeks after the first time i saw the doctor. Urologist i saw after said it probably was testicle torsion, but there was no way he could tell now. Sad thing is the first time i went to see help was the only time my testicle could have been saved. I trusted whoever helped me. My regular doctor says there's a 1 in 1000 chance that the infection i had could be so severe that the blood flow would be cut off and cause my testicle to die. I didn't post an update for so long because i was so pissed off i just didn't want to think about this whole thing at all.
| 286 |
Sorry man that’s horrific. Not sure if it helps at all but presenting 4 days after the onset means you’d have been well outside the window for successful surgical correction of a torsion. I’m told you have a 6-8hr window to restore bloodflow after onset, and I’m amazed that anyone can make this.
| 200 |
AskDocs
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Will going to the doctor help if my eyes are turning into one eye? Can they do anything to help?
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21F 5’2 100-110lbs white. Medications: vyvanse 50mg and seroquel 300mg but I don’t need them anymore.
The other day my eyes started to merge into one eye and I’m not sure if it can be helped. I tried searching for any information but I couldn’t find anything about it. Has this ever happened before? I’m worried about how far it will go.
| 669 |
I think you should seek medical attention in person.
| 1,187 |
AskDocs
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Was I wrong for filing a complaint against my doctor?
|
I 19F recently tested positive for covid. After two weeks I noticed myself getting sick again. For some this wouldn’t be too concerning however I have a blood clotting factor (factor five) that covid can affect.
I decided to go into the local urgent care as all primary doctors were booked solid through that week. Upon showing up I was told it would be an hour wait. The hour turned into three just for the waiting room.
Finally I got taken back into a room and spoke to the doctor on call. I asked for standard tests that are given for people diagnosed with covid. One of these was a D-Dimer. He refused all tests but claimed he would do the D-Dimer. He had spoken to me in a very condescending tone and overall was rude the whole interaction.
After all the tests were taken I waited in that room for another two hours where I ended up falling asleep for the majority. Once the doctor finally came back he said I was fine and didn’t bother to go through my tests results and sent me on my way.
Before I left the attending nurse spoke to me and told me how he thought all my test requests were more than reasonable especially considering my condition.
At this point I was still super sick and so tired so I hadn’t looked at my charts until I got home. After looking all tests were negative. I had high white blood cell which is easily accounted for due to still fighting Covid. But I noticed there was no D-Dimer test ran.
On top of that he changed my status from urgent care to emergency visit. Which obviously when the bill comes around is a huge difference.
I filed a formal complaint with the hospital in great detail and made it clear if I were charged for an emergency room visit instead of urgent care we would have more problems.
Some family think I was too harsh and said they obviously were busy. My neighbor who works in that hospitals hr department saw the complaint and agreed I was too harsh. I may be young but I’m not dumb. It was by far the worst experience I’ve had in a hospital. So was I wrong for filing a complaint against this doctor?
| 473 |
There seems to be an issue with communication here, and if that’s due to your doctors poor communication skills that would be a reasonable thing to be upset about.
However I certainly wouldn’t call a D-dimer a “Standard tests that are given to people with covid”. It’s a very sensitive test (ie it’s very likely to be positive if you do have a blood clot) but it has poor specificity (meaning that a raised d-dimer can actually have a whole host of different causes, including infection/inflammation). So I wouldn’t order a d-dimer unless you had some signs or symptoms of a blood clot.
Doing a D-dimer without good cause can lead to harm, as it may lead the patient to get an unnecessary CT-PA and all the associated radiation and contrast risks that go along with it.
| 496 |
AskDocs
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Sudden Neck Pain after Chiropractic Adjustment
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19F, white, 5’4”, 125 lbs, sharp neck pain and stiffness for the last three days. I don’t drink or smoke, and take Zoloft 50mg daily. History of anxiety and hypermobile joints.
I know there’s contest in the medical community regarding the benefits of chiropractic care, but I’ve been going for a while and found that gentle adjustments and movements (not the popping) can greatly help alleviate pain for me. However, I went to see a new chiropractor due to a recent move, and he did the popping to my neck without warning.
I felt fine initially and about a day later woke up and noticed a sharp pain at the base of my neck, to the point where I was unable to move my head at all. I’m able to move it mostly now, but I can’t look down past a certain point due to both how badly it hurts and because my neck physically won’t move. Perhaps unrelated, but I’ve also noticed a sudden decrease in grip strength in both hands and periodic numbness around the shoulders.
Just trying to gauge what to do here. TIA.
EDIT ONE: Just got out of the local 24 hour urgent care. Got some short term painkillers and told to go to the ED tomorrow if the pain continues at the same rate or gets worse. Will update in the am, thank you for everyone for getting through my stubbornness and fear.
EDIT TWO: Headed to the ED now. A long drive and they’re very understaffed so expect radio silence for a bit. Will update when I know stuff!
EDIT THREE: My phone died 🤧 gave me toradol and extra strength muscle relaxer, waiting on MRI and X-ray results!
FINAL UPDATE: Okay y’all, it’s something called cervical radiopathy. Basically a nerve got pinched, they gave me muscle relaxers, naproxen and some sort of arthritis gel. My CT and MRI were normal, so was X-Ray. I really appreciate everyone’s assistance.
| 359 |
You need to go straight to the ER.
| 539 |
AskDocs
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my gf goes weeks without pooping. How is this possible?
|
She is 20yo, 45kg, 1.5m tall, female, take no meds, she don't smoke.
Longest she's gone is about 1.5 months. Where does all that food go? That's her record, however. She says typically she goes every 2-3 weeks.
Per day she must eat around 500g of food, so around the course of a month, wouldn't that be like 15kg? She weighs about 45kg, how does she get rid of all that waste otherwise?
Someone please explain how this is possible?
p.s.: she's not lying, I'm tired of answering that, she has no reason for doing that and I've seen for myself
| 511 |
_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._
Normally, somewhere around 4-8 ounces of feces are excreted daily. If someone was to go 3 weeks without defecating, then we would expect them to have 80-160 ounces of feces, or 5-10 pounds.
Doesn't sound particularly pleasant to me, but not impossible.
| 737 |
AskDocs
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Son diagnosed with rare brain cancer (ETMR)
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At the start of October my son (3M) was taken to peadeatric A&E due to severe lethargy. A CT scan showed a large mass in his brain and he was blue lighted to Great Ormond Street Hospital (UK).
An MRI scan confirmes there was a tumor 8cm x 7cm x 6cm (it was huge) at the rear, right-hand side. He was scheduled for surgery 2 days later, however the pressure in his skull continued to build and they had to operate 12 hours early.
They managed a total resection of the tumor and he bounced back very quickly. He was walking in 2 days and discharged after 3 days.
A week later we got a call from the surgeon confirming the biopsy results showed it was cancerous. The type being ETMR - Embryonal Tumor with Multi layered rosettes. He explained it was a very rare type of cancer which out oncologist confirmed in our initial meeting a week later.
The prognosis for this type of cancer is not good and there is no standard treatment protocol. I've read all of the journal papers and spoken with another oncologist that has experience with this type of tumor.
A lumbar puncture shows no signs of spread to his CSF.
This week he commenced focal radiotherapy - which he is having daily for 6 weeks. Following which , he is due to commence chemotherapy 4 weeks after the end of radiotherapy (so end of Jan).
From what I've read (from recognised journals) about ETMR, the survival rate is about 25%. Several studies support that a total resection and non metastised disease are both strongly correlated with better survival outcomes. However there is no consensus on treatment.
Part of the challenge I have is I'm not sure if I even know the right questions to ask his care team. Are there any must ask questions I could have missed?
- he is not due to have another MRI scan until 4 weeks after his radiotherapy - that will be more than 3 months since the opp. Should I be asking for one before then? Is there any benefit? I can get one privately easy enough if needed.
- is there anything that should be done during focal radiotherapy to help prevent metastasis?
- the treatment he is currently having is very similar to standard treatment for other brain cancers - any advise on how to best make this a positive experience for him?
Would love to hear if anyone has experience with ETMR or other aggressive brain cancers in children.
- I did inquire about proton v photon radiotherapy but the dr's were adamant about proceeding with Photon. I read this could have more severe long term effects - should he beat this cancer. Does anyone have experience with this?
| 478 |
It's been a few years since I treated pediatric patients, but I just read up on ETMR, so I'll try to answer you.
There is no standard treatment and no targeted therapy (medication that targets certain important mutated or overactive cancer cell pathways) for ETMR yet, mostly because it's so rare. It's way too rare (less than 300 cases reported so far) to conduct randomized controlled trials, so recommendations are based on analogues, common sense and retrospective papers.
[This 2020 article](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.584681/full) is a good summary and I'm citing from there.
> he is not due to have another MRI scan until 4 weeks after his radiotherapy - that will be more than 3 months since the opp. Should I be asking for one before then? Is there any benefit? I can get one privately easy enough if needed.
No, getting another MRI during radiotherapy is not helpful, as /u/babblingdairy already wrote. Even 4 weeks after radiotherapy is very close, we usually schedule follow-up MRI 6-12 weeks post-RT. Even then, scares due to inflammation with edema and possibly contrast enhancement due to postradiotherapeutic changes are very common. I've had lots of patients where I was sure on first follow-up MRI that I'm looking at early recurrence only for the changes to turn out to be treatment related ("pseudo progression") on later follow up or FET-PET/MRI.
> is there anything that should be done during focal radiotherapy to help prevent metastasis?
We don't know. It's possible that commencing chemotherapy concomitant to radiotherapy is better - almost no way to find out with these low case numbers. It would be far more toxic though. Several chemotherapy protocols are being used: "Intensive chemotherapy followed various brain tumor protocols (HIT SKK, MUV ATRT, and the Polish infant protocol IP-CZD consisting of VCR 1.5 mg/m2, etoposide 300 mg/m2, cisplatin 100 mg/m2 alternating with cyclophosphamide 1.5 g/m2 per course) and included cisplatin or carboplatin and etoposide." It is possible to combine cisplatin, carboplatin, etoposide and vincristine with radiotherapy and is done in a lot of other protocols, e.g. medulloblastoma or small cell neuroendocrine tumors, but the dosage would probably need to be lowered during radiotherapy.
> the treatment he is currently having is very similar to standard treatment for other brain cancers - any advise on how to best make this a positive experience for him?
Partial brain radiotherapy (5x 1.8 Gy per week to 54 Gy total dose here probably) isn't too bad - your son will probably be more tired than usual and notice partial hair loss after three weeks, otherwise you can do all the fun activities that you or he want to do except swimming pools and too much sun. There is a very low risk of nausea or dizziness and if it occurs, it can usually be treated easily.
> I did inquire about proton v photon radiotherapy but the dr's were adamant about proceeding with Photon. I read this could have more severe long term effects - should he beat this cancer. Does anyone have experience with this?
Proton radiotherapy is physically better than photon radiotherapy if you know exactly what's in the way of your beam every day / fraction. Proton radiotherapy can be problematic when administered on moving targets and targets that are behind moving or variably filled organs (e.g. bowel) due to different depths of the Bragg peak, but when treating brain tumors in children, proton radiotherapy is unequivocally superior, and most of the cases where proton radiotherapy is paid for by social health insurance here in Germany are pediatric brain tumors.
The dose to the target volume will be the same, the dose in the part of the body that is in front of this target volume from a beam's eye view will be almost the same, but the dose *behind* the target volume will be much lower. Thus, you can plan to irradiate the tumor bed from posterior and achieve a much lower dose in the organs at risk anteriorly to the tumor bed, in this case a large part of your son's brain, possibly his inner ears, eyes, lacrimal glands, parotid glands, possibly his throat etc.
The problems with proton radiotherapy in general are as follows: Extremely expensive. Very limited availability. Very limited evidence as concerning specific tumors (reported in above paper: one case of proton radiotherapy).
The problem with proton radiotherapy in your son's case: The timing of radiotherapy seems to be extremely important, with a much higher chance of long progression free survival (maybe cure) in cases where radiotherapy began within 6 weeks after gross tumor resection. If insisting on proton radiotherapy, even if possible at all in your situation (don't know the NHS standards regarding this), delays treatment start by a few weeks, this could still end up being worse than photon radiotherapy beginning promptly.
Please don't hesitate to ask if I can clarify or help with anything else.
| 902 |
AskDocs
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Something TERRIBLE is happening
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I'm 28(M) 179 lbs, 5'9 tall with a history of alcoholism (past) and meth addiction (past). Been clean since January 2022.
I smoke 2 cigarettes a day, and I don't take any medication, although I used to take prozac 80mg(depression) daily, Wellbutrin XL(300mg for depression,) Ziprasidone (Bipolar 1 w/psychotic features), Gabapentin and hydroxyzine (anxiety) I have been off of my meds for at least 3 months if not longer.
OK everyone I just wanted to try and find some concrete answers or any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated!
Hair:
My hair has begun to fall out at a rather rapid and scary pace. This was the first thing I noticed.
Heart:
Sometimes I feel weak and out of breath for no reason and when I rest during these periods I can feel my heart bearing erratically.
Sleep:
I cannot Sleep for the life of me. I even caved into my old ways 1 night to try to get to sleep with the help of some spirits, but not even a fifth of liquor could ease my mind enough to sleep.
Mouth:
My mouth is always dry despite the amount
of water I drink. And there is painful cuts and lesions all over my mouth and tongue. My tonsils and lymph nodes in my neck are VERY swollen and painful to the touch, swallowing is a nightmarish amount of pain.
Feet and Ankles:
swell up often even when I'm in a sitting position and my left knee locks up with considerable pain.
Shoulder (right) :
it has grown weak, there is atrophy of the muscle tissue and my shoulder hurts really bad when I do menial tasks with it. It sounds and feels like the joint is rubbing against the bone and not the synovial membrane
Skin:
My skin is more pale than normal and I am extremely sensitive to changes in cold or heat
Brain Fog, bleeding gums, weakness, malaise , depression , anxiety. All of these things happening at once makes me worried that I might have some sort of heart failure from my poor lifestyle choices in the past and another part of me is mortified that I have some sort of cancer in it's later stages.
I have a doctor's appointment coming up in 2 weeks but I honestly don't believe I can ignore this any longer. And certainly not 2 weeks.
EDIT #1 : WENT to PCP and she ran a shitload of tests. Interestingly, my thyroid levels were normal. Also have an addition CMP coming to double check that result.
Edit #2 : Just visited PCP again, throat symptoms have subsided (strep infection) pain in shoulder has jmproved. Weight is now 164 lbs. I have not started taking my medication again. All other symptoms are still occurring and.. My hair is almost gone on my head, probably will shave it off.
| 292 |
It sounds like it would be worth testing thyroid levels, one idea is to ask the doctor to order the test now so you have the results when you go to your appointment. Also, if the results come back critically out of range, they can address it before the appointment.
| 463 |
AskDocs
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Anti-vaxx pediatrician?
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Hi, first time mom here. Yesterday my partner & I took our baby to their pediatrician for their two month checkup. This pediatric office is highly sought after in our city & very difficult to become a patient. We figured we really lucked out getting in with the practice.
We fully expected this appointment to begin our child’s vaccination rounds. Instead, quite shockingly to us, our pediatrician began explaining each vaccine (not upset about that, love being informed) & listing reasons why she thinks we should either wait to 4 or even 6 months or consider not getting all of them AT ALL. Citing her own unvaccinated children & hinting at the political environment in the U.S.
Is this a new trend in the pediatrician/doctor community? My partner & I were planning a natural birth but aren’t ‘granola’ or ‘crunchy’ (google it, lol) we trust science & want our baby to be safe! Especially since they ended up being born in the hospital right at 37 weeks & just barely out of preemie weight.
She urged us to do our own research & said that this was all just her personal advice. We are free to do as we please with our baby, obviously. But I am not a doctor, I didn’t go to medical school.. I expect my provider to have the wherewithal & education to give their patients well-informed professional advice. Not to mention the gross mass of misinformation in the world & online today. How could I possibly feel confident making this choice or even in researching something so important on my own?
Thoughts? Do y’all agree? Should we wait 4-6 months before any vaccinations? Should we consider some of them unsafe & disregard them entirely? Am I blowing this out of proportion in my outrage? Is the political climate really pervading & splitting the medical community?
I’m reluctant to think any of this was medically sound advice. The holidays are here now & everyone wants to meet the new baby.
Sorry if this violates any rules, I can take it down if so. Thank you all!
UPDATE 11/18 12:15pm :: I just called the facility that recommended this practice to me. They told me that these women are nurse practitioners who practiced “slow vaccinations” under their now deceased doctor. They did say that I should be able to tell them I don’t want a slow vax schedule & they would provide for me still but I’m not interested in what feels like politicized medical advice so I’m currently looking for another pediatrician.
UPDATE 11/18 2:52pm :: I have to ask that no one act on their assumptions about who these practitioners are. I will certainly take appropriate action but as it stands today, this is still my child’s pediatrician. No one else thus far today will accept my Medicaid plan. I’ve also been told that the practice will vaccinate my child on my request & right now this is my only option. I am equally as justifiably outraged at all of this & I plan on taking action so that others are aware. I’d also like to add that we DO want our child fully vaccinated. We’re confident in our education on the matter. I only initially questioned it because I would have never thought a medical professional would promote otherwise & truly trusted these people until now. Thanks.
UPDATE 11/23 :: Baby was vaccinated with all 2 month shots at the Health Dept. today & has yet to have any adverse reactions. So relieved to have this taken care of. Will continue looking for new pediatrician after the holidays. I appreciate everyone’s concerns & input. I’m not interested in anymore DM opinions, thanks!
| 365 |
_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._
>Is this a new trend in the pediatrician/doctor community?
Sort of. There are some physicians who, for reasons of their own, have decided to cater to specific political or social movements. Certainly, this goes against medical science and the recommendations of governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and widely respected pediatric speciality organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Childhood vaccinations are generally accepted as the most important public health measure of all time. There is no controversy in the medical community about this. Vaccines have saved untold lives and reduced suffering at a scale far beyond any other medical intervention. A doctor who says otherwise is a doctor to be avoided.
Run away.
| 441 |
AskDocs
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My ER doctor thinks I (17 fm) and being over dramatic, I think something scary is wrong with me.
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I (17 fm) went to the ER yesterday because I woke up with extreme pain and a distended abdomen. The pain was *only* on the right side and just the right of my belly button was painful to the touch. I've had ongoing pain in my right side that has been getting worse for the last 2ish months and had an ultrasound for it, but yesterday was extremely bad my mom took me to the ER after calling my doc. The main worry was appendicitis. I waited 8 hours in the wait room for a doctor to come in and tell me that "there is a greater chance I get hit by lightning right now than die at 17" but he did order a CT with contrast scan for me.
For context, I have a relatively high pain tolerance and this side pain will literally knock the wind out of me. Sometimes at work I have to sit on the floor and breathe through intense flashes of pain. It's always there but sometimes when I move wrong or breathe wrong I get these intense waves of pain. it's been happening more and hurting worse when it happens.
11 hours in we hear that the CT was fine, showed a little liquid in my bowls but nothing extreme, so he said I was probably just having digestive issues and sent me home. I saw him for a total of maybe 5 minutes. I tried to tell him that I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (Classical type) but he shook his head and told me that everyone thinks they have that right now (I got diagnosed with a blood test about 3-4 years ago + Have family with the same diagnosis)
I've also had an ultrasound of my reproductive track to check for cysts or endo cells (I have endo as well) and everything was pretty clear. So at this point, I have a list of things I don't have and nowhere to go from here. The pain is getting worse since I left and I am worried that they may have missed something. I know that EDS can make my body do not-totally-normal things and I wonder if there is something related to that that could be going on? I'm not sure, but I'm in a lot of pain and very frustrated. I would also like to know if anyone here would conciter this "emergent" or not. The ER doc didn't seem to, but my PCP was very concerned even after I was sent home. Do I need to go back to the ER?
Stats:
Age: 17, Gender/sex: Female, Weight: 155, race: white, complaint: worsening right side pain, duration: 2-3 months (significantly worsening), current meds: birth control, Substances: No.
Edit: as interesting as discussions on semantics are, I am still getting worse and really need to know how worried I should be. I threw up from the pain a little while ago and it's only gotten worse. I'm going to try to sleep now, but any helpful information is so highly appropriated right now. Thank you to everyone who is commenting.
| 440 |
A few thoughts..
In the ED we really focus on identifying life threatening conditions and treating these. We are generally pretty good (not perfect) at this. As soon as I hear thay something has been going on for months it generally puts it pretty far down the risk scale for something that is imminently dangerous.
The big idea is that if it isn't going to kill you in the very near future then it needs to be worked up outpatient with your PCP.
You at least had the ED doc concerned enough to do a CT scan. This will identify most life threatening causes of abdominal pain. If he thought you were not concerning at all then no scan would be ordered.
I'm sorry you are still having pain but reaching back out to your PCP for further workup is probably the best bet.
Also, please stop saying you have a high pain tolerance. This had absolutly no diagnostic value in the minds of docs and generally makes them take you less seriously not more.
| 659 |
AskDocs
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Urgent Care insisting on hospital transfer for 6 year old. I have no insurance and unsure if transfer is necessary.
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My daughter has had flu symptoms for 3 days. She developed a terrible cough accompanied by rapid and rattled breathing. I brought her to urgent care and they’ve done oxygen treatment (her oxygen level was 82 and now at 100 but with the mask in place), an X-ray (showed pneumonia of lower left lung), a blood panel, covid test, and IV fluids. The doctor is saying she needs to be transferred to the children’s hospital for observation and I must opt for the ambulance given her oxygen level upon arrival at urgent care. They do not want her transported without the oxygen mask. Her health is my primary concern and I will do whatever needs to be done for her to be healthy again. My secondary concern is the costs that are stacking up. I’m already at $3k with the urgent care visit, treatments, and impending ambulance ride. I’m sure a whole other set of bills will be applied at the hospital. It’s unfathomable to me that I have to go into debt over flu/pneumonia. Their main concern is dehydration and oxygen levels. In the past I have not questioned medical advice when I should have and ended up over paying, which left me in a financially tight spot for a long time. I want to avoid that especially because I do not have any medical insurance. Do I have any options, or should I just do everything the urgent care doctor is telling me to do? I want my daughter to be healthy and comfortable, but I can’t help but wonder if they are insisting on medical intervention that’s not completely necessary. Any advice is helpful.
Texas
UPDATE
I hope it’s okay to post an update. I really appreciate all of the informative responses to my post. You all reassured me that I made all the right decisions and that this situation is as serious as the Urgent Care doctor was stating. We took the ambulance to the children’s hospital where they immediately decided to keep my daughter overnight. It would have been a terrible outcome had we not come when we did. She was in so much distress and I honestly could not tell how bad it was. She is still working hard to breathe but it’s gotten much better. I will remember a lot of your key points for the future so I can act swiftly if we ever find ourselves in a similar situation. As far as the medical bills, I appreciate the advice and will explore every option available to me. I have been unemployed for a month but will be starting a new job in 2 weeks. I hope I am able to qualify her for Chip or Medicaid, but there seems to be additional assistance either way.
Thank you all again, from the bottom of my heart. My baby is strong and brave, and she is pulling through like a champ!
ETA: Doctors confirmed she has pneumonia, Flu, RSV, and HMPV.
| 843 |
If you’re poor enough to not be insured your daughter will almost certainly qualify for emergency Medicaid which will cover the entire visit including urgent care and hospitalization.
I would like to clarify as well that an O2 sat of 82% and Lower Lobe pneumonia is not a garden variety flu, it’s a respiratory infection that, without treatment, has a very real possibility of killing your child in the next day or two. Whatever the cost, you’ve gotta pay - she can not be without oxygen and monitoring for any length of time right now, at any time she could tire out, have a respiratory arrest, and die.
I can’t overstate this enough, she needs treatment.
| 717 |
AskDocs
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Did I cause my miscarriage
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30F - miscarried at 15 weeks. At about 9 or 10 weeks pregnant I had two glasses of wine. Could this have been the cause of my miscarriage?
| 279 |
No.
The evidence regarding alcohol use in early pregnancy is conflicting. There is weak evidence for increased risk, but two glasses isn't enough to trigger miscarriage.
A bit of anecdotal story time for you: my wife had several miscarriages over the years - all around the 10th week - we have three healthy children today. We never found any reason. Genetically, all was always well with each unborn child. In the end, there are a lot of cases where you will never know.
| 760 |
AskDocs
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My husbands diagnosis. Please help. I posted a few months ago about this and you were all so helpful.
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Pt: 41 y/o male, former marine, non smoker, very occasional drinker, 170 lbs 6’0.
My husbands official diagnosis is Metastatic renal cell carcinoma, which spread to his lungs. They went in and took the tumor off the kidney (he has horseshoe kidney so he only technically has one) and he was very optimistic about getting it all from that area. Said his body encapsulated the tumor and they didn’t see anything else on his kidney. They said there were “nodes” in his lungs, but that they weren’t treating and just want to keep an eye on until mid December, then talk about what to do if they grow. The problem is, he is weak and is having trouble breathing.
No chemo, no radiation, no immunotherapy yet or maybe at all. Is this normal?
His lymph nodes have been so swollen I can see them under his collar bone, and in his neck. I’m worried. Is metastatic a automatic stage 4 diagnosis?
Is his prognosis good? His oncologist and doctor seem to think so, but they won’t really speak on anything early on. They said we would meet in December and talk more then. What do I do now?
My husband isn’t able to work, and is taking time off from getting his degree. He can barely walk around without being winded. I have picked up extra shifts at work, so I don’t get to see him and how he’s doing. I just want to know if I should trust what they are telling us, or ask for them to check him again since he’s so weak. Help? I’m losing my mind.
Thank you. I appreciate you all so very much.
| 462 |
Don’t wait, call the oncology office now and let them know these concerns, they may need to start other treatments sooner.
| 719 |
AskDocs
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Barley 5 year old niece is going through puberty.
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My niece just turned 5. She was born between 4 and 5 years old. But you would never guess.
She is 5 ft tall, has a large adult size head, and most worrisome, she has started developing (breast, arm Pitt hair, and public hair.
She just turned 5 last month.
I know about Precocious puberty, and that it can be okay. However, I could also not be that.
]she is a very defensive young mom, so no one has told her yet that she should get her girl in for a check-up
She is on my deceased Husbands side, so I feel like it should not come from me.
Am I overreacting? Or should I be worried?.
| 356 |
There is nothing normal about this. Precocious puberty alone would not cause a 5 year old to be 5 feet tall. This is highly concerning for a hormonal overgrowth syndrome, and could even represent a brain tumor causing overproduction of growth hormone.
She needs to see her pediatrician and likely be referred to a pediatric endocrinologist about these growth concerns. She will need imaging and testing to find out the cause of this drastically abnormal growth pattern. The precocious puberty can also cause other problems if left untreated. Please encourage her mom to make an appointment and not ignore this any longer.
| 1,309 |
AskDocs
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If I was attacked last night is it too late to get a medical exam
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29F
Something happened to me last night (nearly 24 hours ago now).
I’m wondering what exactly goes into assault exams and is there a time frame they have to be done in?
I already showered and I’m bleeding down there now.
Edit :
Thank you everyone for the kind and encouraging comments, advice and messages. Sorry I haven’t replied to them all.
I went to the hospital and am in touch with the appropriate people.
I just want to give a special shoutout to all nurses and doctors. You guys are genuinely incredible. Your patience and kindness even when I know you have a million things to do and 100’s of other people to deal with is appreciated more than you know. Spending those extra few minutes chatting and explaining everything really makes a scared 29 year olds life a little easier. Thanking you all for your work.
| 420 |
Generally speaking, the time frame is about 72 hours. So yeah you should go. They might not be able to collect DNA due to the showering, but they can still examine and treat you.
| 601 |
AskDocs
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Could rectal problems be related to a rape 7 and 1/2 years prior?
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Hello I am a 38 year old woman of 78kg from an Asian country. I do not have significant health conditions and I do not take medications. I am very worried. I can not easily visit a doctor without a male relative to provide consent and I have a terrible problem about that aspect.
I was raped in 2014 after my husband died. I have no protection. I have not had another sexual partner for last 7 and 1/2 years. However for last 5 months I have ocassional bright red blood in small amounts when I wipe, sore rectum, and low back pain when standing or walking. The pain is getting worse I am afraid I have a community infection in my rectum if it is this I will be under immense consequences despite fact it is not my fault. If it is cancer or another natural disease such as hemorrhoid I will have sympathy but it is still taboo. But if I do not know before time of requesting a doctor visit could harm me as the doctor may tell my grandfather or brother what has happened if it turns out to be a community disease I will be in danger. Rape is thought of to be the woman's fault. Yes I know the attitude is wrong. But that is what I must consider.
I am wondering if 7 and 1/2 years later it could be rectal herpes, genital warts, or another such disease that proves what happened? There was no symptom in the intervening years, no blood, no pain. The man who raped me was young, he said I was his first so I believed I got lucky to avoid community infection. My symptoms are all moore recent but I am worried it is connected to rape in 2014.
Also in the past February I had intermittent trouble with breath as well as fatigue and small pain in my wrists and finger joints, I have gone to the regular doctor before and they did blood testing to rule blood chemistry panel, metabolism panel, inflammation panel, lipid, ferritin, thyroid. All were normal except erythrosedi (unsure of translation) which was double in value. They provided prednisolone and amoxicillin for 10 days and the breathing problem and fatigue went away but the pain in my finger joints is still present. I sew daily and think it is probably arthritis related which my relatives have.
Before I request another appointment regarding the blood in my rectum and expose myself I want to know what are the chances that this could be related to what happen to me. I am very worried I have search for days and I understand that many people can talk openly about these things but I do not have the same possibility so I asked for you to respect the limitations I am under. My sister briefly lived in Canada so I know that attitude are different elsewhere but that does not help me in the current situation. I do not have the same rights. I am nervous to ask this question as well. Thank you very much.
| 254 |
The likelihood is a fissure or haemorrhoid. Given your recent basically normal blood tests and young age,cancer is less likely and your antibiotic course may have cleared many of the infections you’d be worried about (which again would have raised more than just your ESR).
I would say you should feel safe visiting the community doctor and not disclosing your previous rape, given the above. High fibre is a sensible start but you can also buy laxatives in most pharmacies, or topical creams which can have lidocaine and zinc oxide in them to stop the pain on wiping and shrink possible haemorrhoids and fissures.
| 164 |
AskDocs
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Dad's prostate cancer mestastisized to his (one) lung. Can I donate one of mine?
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73yo, 5'8, male, unsure of weight but "healthy"? smoker
*Updates will be posted to my profile every day. Just posted the first one. Thank you so much for the love and support, everyone.
He's in the hospital with pneumonia from untreated RSV. He has one lung, his right one lost due to cancer in '99.
He hid the fact that his prostate cancer had spread to try and not hurt me. He told me it was only stage 2, had a great prognosis, until he collapsed earlier and had to be admitted for a pulse ox of 80. He has COPD as well. I know he hid it because I learned that he had a CT scan a couple months ago, and he told everyone it was fine. His updated CT scan from today was not fine. :/ It didn't randomly appear.
I want to donate one of my lungs. I'm healthy, a non-smoker, and we have the same blood type.
I know there's additional tests that need to be run - but do you think they would even consider it in this situation? Especially since he's a smoker? He's going to have around the clock care if he's ever able to come home, so no access to cigarettes, no risk of him smoking again.
I'm meeting with the oncologist either today or tomorrow to discuss.
I'm willing to take the chance of "wasting" a lung if it means he has a slightly higher chance of survival. Maybe it's silly to even ask about it, but this man has literally saved my life and I want to try and save his this time.
Thank you.
| 323 |
Hi, there are probably other ways to treat this. Lung transplant, however, is not a possibility if you have active cancer. The immunosuppression would significantly accelerate his death as the cancer can grow without being limited by a weakened immune system.
| 730 |
AskDocs
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Never had a period - I'm in my 20's
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Hi everyone!
I (25f) have been doing tests recently to figure out some health issues. A little backstory, I'm in my 20's and have never had a period, I developed "normally" through puberty except for the lack of a period.
Yesterday I did blood tests to check hormone levels, insulin, amenorrhea and much more. In less than 24 hours I received a text to come in to talk about the results (so they must have found something)
Today I went in for a pelvic ultrasound and when I was getting the ultrasound there were technicians getting trained and the lady doing the ultrasound (whilst talking to them) said my ovaries look "young and healthy" and the same with my uterus. How can this be if I'm not menstruating at all and never have?
I can't get an appointment to go over the results for 3 weeks which sucks. I am obviously not looking for a serious diagnosis here but I'm curious if this sounds familiar to anyone or like something they've ever heard of?
Thanks so much!!
| 347 |
It would be hard for any of us to comment here without the test results. And I’m sorry, waiting is for sure difficult. I suspect the results will have more to do with the hormone test results and not the pelvic ultrasound if everything looked “healthy”
| 418 |
AskDocs
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Both My Boys (2M & 3M) intubated in ICU with TBD diagnosis
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Edit: very hopeful to be getting some leads to follow up on. Working on editing the title but my boys are 2 and 3 years old.
On Thanksgiving my son (2yr old M) 15.3kg had been fighting a virus for a couple days. He was lethargic but Motrin/Tylenol had been helping to keep the fever down. We were concerned about his difficulty in clearing his throat (gurgling). Steam showers and proper sleep position had been keeping that in check.
We took him to the pediatrician and they recommended upping the dose on Motrin to 8ml and that generally viruses were hitting hard this time of year.
The next day while he fell asleep on my wife while she was doing a steam shower with him, she turned to see him turning blue and unresponsive. We called 911, did cpr and got an ambulance to the ER. He never lost heart beat and received care quickly enough that the doctors ruled out neurological damage.
He was intubated and transferred to Riley’s Children hospital in Indianapolis.
4 days later. My older son (3 yr old M) 14.5kg started getting a bit of a gurgle, and as concerned as I was based on his brother, he seemed much healthier than his brother had. I stayed awake all night checking his temp and his breathing after a steam shower and he slept soundly for a full night. Around 5am he threw up when I gave him Motrin and he had extreme trouble clearing his throat and he was very weak. Nightmare. Luckily, we helped him breathing clearly enough that we drove him to the ER. They took it seriously and started some tests and we watched as it seemed he had a seizure on the table (although some of the residents debate this was a seizure). He was intubated and transferred to Riley’s to a room down the hall from our other son.
Since then, there have been many questions and tests, and our poor kids have been through more than we can handle. The most confusing thing to the doctors is that the kids had clear lungs, but a huge inability to clear their throat of the junk.
Some medical history
My 3 year old:
Full term, failed his newborn hearing test and got hearing aids early. Moderate loss in both ears.
Got a bad case of Roseola at 8 months that made him very lethargic and took weeks to fully recover. Since then he does get weak during fevers, but never has trouble swallowing/clearing throat.
On 4-5 instances he had his neck get floppy during play (when he wasn’t sick), 5-10 minutes of laying down he would regain full control. We took a video and saw a neurologist for this and he had an EEG. Neurologist said nothing conclusive but this may be how he manifests migraines. This hasn’t happened in over a year.
Aside from speech delay and hearing loss, he’s hit every other major developmental marker. He’s very energetic, happy and playful.
During this hospital stay he’s:
Had an MRI that took 3 painful hours thanks to a sedation nightmare. We were away from him and results came back with “nothing remarkable”, which is good.
Had an EEG that shows signals of seizure possibilities, but no definitive answer whether his episode at the ER was a seizure.
Was cleared for extubation within a few hours of intubation but then held off for 24 hours to wait for that MRI. This hurt.
Then, when they tried to extubate, he had the same sort of episode (still debated as a seizure) and needed to be reintubated. Although the staff has mostly attributed this failure to throat swelling, and are going to follow through with a full regime of steroids to combat this.
Has had increased fentanyl (now at 4.5) with tons of bolis administrations in between. It breaks our heart how much he wakes up. He comes around so suddenly and he’s relatively lucid. They are currently transitioning him to morphine to see how that goes. They need so much drugs, he’s now swapping from good breath initiation, and beating the SIMV, he’s well on track to re-entering extubatable range on the ventilator IF we can stick the landing on the extubation.
Tons of blood tests. We are still waiting on genetics (full genome sequencing and mitochondrial panel) for several days. no deficiencies on the other metabolic panel. Tested positive for rhino-entero and adno viruses. They believe he has pneumonia and are treating with antibiotics. I’m asking them to get the full 24 hour EEG reviewed alongside an EEG he had performed for the neck episodes 18 months ago. If we can get a bit more confidence in the seizures, we can start that medication prior to the next extubation attempt
My 2 year old:
Jaundiced at shortly after birth and spent a couple days in the NICU after coming home. Full term.
Hit early development milestones (saying “mama”, waving, etc) but had a regression and stopped those things around a year old. His gross and fine motor skills are all on track. He’s nonverbal and was screened for autism but didn’t get that diagnosis. We started him on OT recently and have been seeing continued improvement with eye contact, attention, etc.
He has rarely gotten sick and is very “solid”. He’s a big, plump healthy boy and he gets over his illnesses quickly (although he has been weak during those couple fevers, he could still eat a cheeseburger with a big side of chicken nuggets)
During this hospital stay he’s:
Tested positive for rhino-entero and adno viruses. At first diagnosed and treated for pneumonia, but they backpedaled on that a couple days in, and ceased antibiotics and steroids. Been extubated after about three days, and taken off all oxygen support about two days ago. He’s acting himself but is struggling with keeping food down despite eating via feeding tube. Still struggling to clear his secretions and swallow, which makes vomiting a scary ordeal. His heart rate has been riding higher the past couple days since being off all oxygen. Was 85-110 and is now 130-165 (with short-term spikes as high as 200)
I’m a bit suspicious the Carnatine is making him nauseous (and possibly contributing to the higher heart rate?)
Both boys were put on Carnatine by the neurologist, and although the effects of Carnatine defects seem to strongly resonate with my boys, after the metabolic panel, I’m not sure of the likelihood this is involved.
We are so desperate to see our wonderful boys healthy, and we hope to find some avenues to explore here.
Long term goal is to uncover what happened to our boys and how to prevent. Short term is to safely get our 3 year old off the ventilator and get our 2 year old coughing more strongly and swallowing.
| 494 |
To ease your mind a little. Riley Hospital is an excellent Pediatric Hospital and you are in very very good hands there.
| 454 |
AskDocs
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[US] Wife's OBGYN told her no woman should receive a COVID mRNA vaccine, despite our daughter's pediatrician recommending getting our daughter her COVID booster. Is the COVID mRNA vaccine detrimental to women's health?
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Wife is 37F, 65 kg. My wife went to her OBGYN for a reproductive issue. Her OBGYN asked about her COVID vaccine status, my wife said that she hadn't yet received the second booster. The OBGYN said not to get the second booster, and that the mRNA vaccines aren't safe for women, that they aren't studied enough, and are having too much affect on the menstrual cycle. She says the vaccine is safe for men, though.
I've been trying to get my wife to get the updated booster and our kids their first booster. Because both kids are girls, my wife doesn't want them getting any more vaccines. The kids' pediatrician says that we should get the kids the updated booster. We had to go meet with the pediatrician before my wife would agree to get the kids vaccinated.
Is there any basis to this belief? This OBGYN has been my wife's for over a decade, delivered both of my kids in high-risk c-sections, helped my wife with infertility, etc. My wife trusts her fully but this is contrary to everything else I hear. And since the pediatrician is a man, my wife is implying that me wanting her and the kids to get the vaccine is men not being sensitive to women's health issues (it has been a pattern in the past of male doctors not taking her seriously).
My wife has been saying "you are not a doctor. My doctor said no women should get the vaccine so myself and the kids won't be." I'm in the medical field, and daily work with getting things approved through the FDA (and other regulatory agencies all over the world), but I'm not a clinician.
**Edit:**
I had a longer discussion with my wife. The OBGYN only received the vaccine because the hospitals where she performs surgeries required it. She does not get any booster she is not required to get. She did state that it is her recommendation for her patients not to receive an mRNA vaccine at this time.
| 267 |
I’d like to play devils advocate a bit here because I have a sneaky suspicion that your wife may not be being completely honest. It could be possible this interaction did not happen and she is simply using her doctor saying this as a convenient way to not get boosters for herself and your children that she was already vocally not wanting to happen. For you it’s easy to argue against your wife’s stance, it is a lot harder to argue against her doctors advice and her accusation of misogyny.
Edit: I just want to clarify that I did not mean to belittle others very real experiences of encountering antivax attitudes, misinformation and even sexism by their doctors. I agree and fully acknowledge this does happen. I simply wanted to offer another possibility to this specific circumstance.
| 346 |
AskDocs
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My rib got pushed accidentally inwards by my bf
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20F 5’7 130lbs
My boyfriend and I (20m) were doing the deed when he accidentally held onto my core for support and it felt kind of like a popping sensation and I got immense pain in my lower left rib area, and he got off right when I saw ow and it’s hurt ever since.
I’m just worried because I do have a pacemaker and it’s underneath said rib that feels “pushed in”. I have a third degree heart block and have had the pacemaker my entire life. It is not up high near the collarbone as most people’s, it’s underneath a muscle pocket underneath my left rib.
I’m hoping it’s just a bruise but if you have any suggestions please feel free! Thank you!
| 263 |
If your pacemaker was to fail, it would probably give you symptoms from having a low pulse. So if you feel any symptoms at all regarding pulse like, shortness of breath, tiredness or slow pulse that doesn't respond to activity. Contact a doctor asap.
Your rib or rib cartillage might have been broken or bruised. This is benign, and the worst pain should be over within a couple of weeks. It will be completly healed in 6 weeks
| 298 |
AskDocs
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My fully vaccinated son (white, 7 years old, 4ft, 55 lbs) has no underlying health issues and is currently being treated for a sinus infection and Influenza A. A little girl in his class has cancer and we want to be as careful as possible. How long should we keep him home?
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He is fully vaccinated (including flu and COVID vaccines). He is currently taking a 5 day course of azithromycin (250 MG tablet) for the sinus infection and started the tamiflu today. How long should we keep him home to prevent him from spreading it to others? I have a benign brain tumor and am home anyway still recovering from post-radiation fatigue so he can stay home all week if need be. Our concern is his classmate with neuroblastoma and anyone he may come into contact with who is immunocompromised.
Thank you to anyone who reads this post
| 1,539 |
This is so incredibly thoughtful of you!
I would recommend keeping him home for 4-5 days, or until he is fever free for at least 24 hours without medication, whichever is longer. Typically flu is most contagious in the first three days of illness.
| 1,414 |
AskDocs
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Should I wait at the ER or go home and try to care for my baby
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I am at the ER with my child in a rural community.
The wait time is approximately 8 hours.
Issue: My infant has been unable to keep
food and most liquids down since Thursday. She has not had a fever but has had consistent diarrhea and vomiting after every formula or BART diet feeding. She had periods of wakefulness but is overall lethargic. All vitals are fine. Temp is 98.2
Age 14 months, she is underweight and in the 3rd percentile.
For hydration treatment I have been syringe feeding her Pedialyte in small consistent amounts. She has kept down 4 ounces and two rice crackers since 9:30 am today (which is an improvement) I am in an area where RSV and Covid are on the rampage.
My question is: does the risk outweigh the benefits of being here? Should I go home and continue trying to hydrate her on my own?
I am afraid for my daughter here.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I apologize for the fractured sentences. I have had little sleep.
| 338 |
i would stay
| 654 |
AskDocs
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My sister who had meningitis- please delete if not allowed
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Moderators please feel free to remove this post if this is not allowed, I didn’t realise I wasn’t allowed to update her last post.
A lot of you have messaged me and I can’t reply.
My sister passed away at 4am this morning. From what we understand her heart stopped. I’m not sure how common this is with pneumococcal meningitis or if it was because of the intubation. Things happened very fast.
We want to thank you for all your kind messages,advice and thoughts and prayers.
She was an incredible girl and will be dearly missed.
Im sorry I won’t be answering private messages 🤍
28F
❤️
| 1,082 |
I am so sorry for your loss. I know that there is nothing I can say that will ease your pain, all I can do is send you virtual internet hugs. I responded to your sister's initial question and I am very sad to read your update.
Sending condolences to you and your family from a stranger in Australia.
| 477 |
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My brother has necrotizing fasciitis and is declining care, how long will he live?
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My brother (a relatively young man in his early forties) sustained severe third degree burns to his leg about two weeks ago. He didn’t get any treatment initially, and it quickly got infected. He has had several doctors tell him that he is going to lose his leg without surgery, and now they’re saying he will die without it and that he has a necrotizing soft tissue infection… His leg is so swollen, and it smells so bad and is leaking pus through his pants. He uses heroin and crystal meth heavily so he can still walk on it but I know he’s sick. He’s adamantly denying any medical care and has been deemed sane to make that decision by a psychiatrist- he’s signed all the forms for liability. In his sober and lucid moments he says he understands but does not wish to take any help.
How long will this take to kill him? He didn’t seem septic this evening but I know it’ll happen fast…. Just trying to prepare myself.
| 707 |
I'm so sorry you are going through this with your family member. If he truly has nec fasc then he will die in hours to a couple days. That infection works fast and immediate surgery is of the utmost importance. He will become septic, and his blood pressure will eventually drop so low that he becomes unconscious, and that will cause him to die. You may not be able to change his mind (or if he does change his mind it might be too late) but maybe you can spend your likely last few hours or days together
| 734 |
AskDocs
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Alien hands? - these aren't mine
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Confused.
My (35f) hands don't feel like my own.
Woke up one night and my left arm/hand just wouldn't listen to me. Was creepy. Thought stroke for a moment but didn't happen again.
Since then both are...numb? But only sometimes. And not numb - that's not quite right. I can feel pain if I try to pinch or scratch them but if I go to rub my eye for example it feels like someone else's hand is touching my face.
Sometimes it feels like they aren't there at all.
They also feel a bit weak, or slow even. As though I really have to focus on what my brain is asking them to do.
Very healthy, active, non smoker, no drugs. I do not have a desk job or issues with repetitive wrist movement etc.
They just don't feel quite like my hands anymore and it's creeping me out.
| 401 |
I think that this is something that should be evaluated by a doctor in person. I would want to perform a physical with a complete neurological exam.
| 736 |
AskDocs
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Doctor lied on notes- what action to take
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Age 32
Sex f
Height 5'2
Weight 140
Race asian
Duration of complaint 6 months
Location (Geographic and on body) uterus
Any existing relevant medical issues (if any) none
Current medications (if any) none
I'll try and be brief:
Wife is pregnant with our first child. We're told the baby is on the small size but healthy, and everything is fine.
The doctors have been pushing for early induction, as early as 35 weeks, but they haven't had a good reason why: they say everything is healthy and ok. Our stance is that as long as mom is healthy and baby is healthy, we'd like to do it naturally, which seems to make everyone at this practice very angry for some reason.
The office stopped sharing their notes with us 2 months ago, and we finally got them to share them. They're all over the place. Claiming my wife is on meds she's not on, that the baby is small, and then a week later he's SUPER small, then a week later he's just very small, etc. It has numbers and information we'd never heard before. Everytime we see the doctor they're vague and brief. That's worrying enough, but what I think is a major problem is that the last doctor we saw wrote "patient and husband want to have baby naturally NO MATTER THE COST.
What's my best course of action here? I'm furious. We never said no matter the cost, we always said as long as mom and baby are healthy. It makes us seem reckless and it's a lie and it slanders us
edit: Sorry if I wasn't clear. The issue I'm looking for advice for is with the note that the doctor claims that we said "patient and husband want to have baby naturally NO MATTER THE COST." Its not something we've ever said, in fact quite the opposite, and it makes us sound like we're bad parents or reckless.
Final edit: I'd like to thank everyone for their input. Some people had some really great advice, and some had some really great words of encouragement. Thank you all! Our baby was born very healthy, no problems, he's proportional, and came in at 7lbs 17 ounces. We're so glad we DIDN'T listen to the doctors otherwise he would have been born tiny and likely sick, possibly for his whole life.
| 458 |
Medical notes can be difficult to read and often times list things things that are misleading, partially true, or false in some cases. Since I cannot see the notes, it's hard for me to comment on this.
However, there seems to be a lack of communication with you, your wife, and the doctor. This would be your doctor's fault since they should be able to answer why they'd like to induce at 35 weeks if asked. Some doctors get annoyed when patients ask questions, but I think it's *certainly* reasonable for you two to ask why they would like to induce at 35 weeks vs wait full term. If your doctor cannot give you an answer, that's suspicious. "Because I said so" is also not an acceptable answer. I'm sure that if the doctor gave you a valid reason, you and your wife would agree to it.
It's a little late to find another OBGYN, but you can certainly try and get a second opinion from another provider if you can get an appointment on time. You can also try booking another appointment with your wife's provider and say that you read the notes, but never said "no matter the cost." Rather than being confrontational, just explain to the doctor that you and your wife have no problem inducing at 35 weeks if there is plausible reason to do so (assuming the two of you feel this way).
| 465 |
AskDocs
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37F I am 5’8” and 147lbs diagnosed with Stage 4 cervical cancer. I take one 15mg morphine BID for pain. I’m currently in the hospital on all toupee of medications. I need help figuring out what the likely hood of me surviving what I’m going through.
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Is it worth trying chemotherapy again? What is exactly happening to me. I just want someone to give it to me straight. I will post MRI results/CT Scans/BW. I have tons of more test and scans if anyone wants to see anymore information.
Right now I am needing to decide to do chemotherapy or to sign up for “Death with Dignity”
[Here is one of the first scans.](https://imgur.com/a/NOWznqc)
[A more recent scan that shows the treatment worked amazingly on the cervical cancer but now they’re seeing nodules in my intestines.](https://imgur.com/a/7DuKE84)
[Here’s just a bunch of BW and other test that have been run along the way.](https://imgur.com/a/uOIBCTL)
[This](https://imgur.com/a/uOIBCTL)
[And More…..](https://imgur.com/a/QS4SZFP)
[Yes, it’s a lot](https://imgur.com/a/9oWSPcZ)
[To be fair, I’m tired of this shit too](https://imgur.com/a/uoWKN47)
[ACTH STEM](https://imgur.com/a/2ckTHFP)
[And a video of me begging for your help](https://imgur.com/a/ycmSGOp)
| 621 |
Hey, I'd like to help, I've treated lots of cervical cancer patients. Unfortunately the stuff you uploaded is all out of order and very incomplete.
Trying to organize the stuff you posted (I'm typing out long date formats because the American specialty of MM/DD/YYYY is very confusing to me):
* [The first link](https://imgur.com/a/NOWznqc) loads results from an FDG-PET/CT without showing any date, that refers to an older CT made 13th of August 2022 for comparison. The report describes bulky cervical cancer local recurrence plus some small lymph node metastases in the pelvis and paraaortic. This must be a fairly recent scan.
* [The second link](https://imgur.com/a/7DuKE84) loads CT results dated 30th of November 2022 that's compared to an older CT from 30th of October 2022. Very good primary tumor remission is described, but also stable suspect lymph nodes and new peritoneal thickening and nodes that could be peritoneal carcinomatosis.
* [The third link](https://imgur.com/a/uOIBCTL) loads CT results dated 10th of September 2022 that's compared to an older CT from 4th of September 2022. The radiologist describes new bilateral uretral stent insertion and no change in small lymph node metastases and 7.6 x 6.0 cm cervical carcinoma.
* The fourth link is the same as the third.
* [The fifth link](https://imgur.com/a/QS4SZFP) loads the newest CT results dated 4th of December 2022 that's compared to an older CT from 3rd of November 2022. There's new fluid in the pelvis, DD abscess DD ascites. Circumferential wall thickening of the rectosigmoid "likely on the basis of radiation colitis" is described. CT morphology remains concerning for peritoneal carcinosis (which is hard to see and easy to miss on CT).
* [The sixth link](https://imgur.com/a/9oWSPcZ) describes attempted pelvic / ascites fluid drainage on 5th of December 2022. Unfortunately it didn't succeed, the fluid shifted too much while you moved and before they met it with the needle the procedure had to be stopped because you couldn't tolerate the pain. The goal was to find out what the cause is: Abscess or sterile inflammation or peritoneal carcinomatosis. They recommended another procedure to find out, by trying to get a biopsy of an omental nodule.
* [The seventh link](https://imgur.com/a/uoWKN47) loads some labs that are not very interesting here and again the CT results dated 4th of December 2022 that's compared to an older CT from 3rd of November 2022 (same as fifth link).
* [The eighth link](https://imgur.com/a/2ckTHFP) loads some labs that are not very interesting here.
* [The ninth link](https://imgur.com/a/ycmSGOp) is your video.
I'll gladly explain all of the stuff in plain terms once I know what's going on.
What I still need to know what's going on (at the minimum):
* What kind of treatment did you get and when?
* When was the cervical cancer first diagnosed?
| 927 |
AskDocs
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UPDATE: Both Sons Intubated (2M & 3M). Unknown DESATs
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I posted about a week ago regarding both of my sons being intubated. [Original Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/z9prgd/both_my_boys_2m_3m_intubated_in_icu_with_tbd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Our youngest (2M) has been discharged and is home with grandparents.
Ours older son (3M) has unfortunately taken another backslide today after being on the ventilator about 2 weeks. He was SATing well at 95% for hours, passed multiple spontaneous CPAP tests where he had no problem initiating breaths, even while sleeping. Reaching an FIO2 of 30% at 5.0 PEEP with 95% blood oxygen levels.
The RTs are happy with his volumes, RR, etc. But can’t pinpoint why he started sliding on his blood oxygen levels a few hours ago, they even got a new blood ox monitor to make sure it wasn’t glitching. He’s now been raised to a FIO2 of 55% at 8.0 PEEP and is riding 90% blood ox.
They theorize secretions are causing this, which have been noted as thick and hard to reach from the start. They can’t use all the interventions they would like, due to a Neumo-Media-Steinum that may have been caused by a Medical-Neb (although they’ve already noted that this seems to be resolving based on the most recent X-rays). Can secretions affect blood ox even if volumes and RR seem to have been holding steady from the start?
They tried the Vest and plan on proning him with continued Pulmazine to work on these secretions. Any advice or questions I should be asking? All his markers look so much better except that blood ox!
| 279 |
Secretions absolutely affect oxygenation. They sit on the lungs and block gas exchange (less oxygen from into the lungs gets into the body). He could have developed a heart condition which is affecting his blood oxygen or pulmonary hypertension. If he has a current infection or just lots of secretions or fluid in his lungs, treatments and time will be needed to fix the issue.
| 163 |
AskDocs
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GP wants me to be retracting male baby's foreskin, otherwise I need to circumcise him.
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I'm absolutely desperate for medical advice for my 5month old baby ( 0M ). I'm so torn on whats best for him.
TLDR
GP has said if babys foreskin isn't retracting after a course of steroid cream then he needs circumcision.
When my son was maybe 6weeks, my GP attempted to retract his foreskin. He was unsuccessful and prescribed a steroid cream to apply for 3 weeks. If the steroid cream didn't work I was told I would need to circumcise him.
I did as I was told and his foreskin "loosened".
Since then I've read on NHS and other reputable medical websites that I shouldn't be doing this. A baby's foreskin doesn't need to be interfered with unless it is causing pain, discomfort, UTIs etc, because this can do more harm then good.
My son is now 5 months old and is not showing any signs of discomfort. But today my mum attempted to retract him and said there was no movement what so ever and it's extremely tight. She knows where I stand with this and my reasoning but still believes that he should be retracting if the GP says so.
Long story short, should I be retracting him? What good comes from this? What bad comes from this? When should I consider a circumcision for medical purposes?
Edit
Thank you to everyone for responding, I really do appreciate it. Majority of people have confirmed what I believed to be true.
For those who have commented in a way to encourage circumcision, I'm personally against it. I believe it is my son's choice to make permanent changes to his body, not my own. So I won't be taking this route unless absolutely necessary.
I emailed a urologist today and he also agreed I should be leaving my son's foreskin alone.
I will also be having a talk to my mum about touching his foreskin when the time is right. She's having an extremely major spinal surgery on Friday which is already causing her extreme amounts of stress and anxiety so I'll wait until she's in a better place to have the conversation.
She has been amazing help and support to me and my son and only wants what's best for us.
| 358 |
This is a big ol red flag that your doctor doesn’t know what he/she is doing. Nobody should be forcibly retracting a 6 week old’s foreskin. Almost all are not retractable at this age and almost all will end up retracting with time. If you come from a place that practices routine infant circumcision your doctor may not be familiar with foreskin care- steroid creams are for pathological phimosis in older children.
[here is a good resource in clear language](https://www.rch.org.au/clinicalguide/guideline_index/The_penis_and_foreskin/)
| 1,065 |
AskDocs
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Left tampon in for 48 hours!??
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24F 50kg.
There is a really bad smell which is what made me panic and find the tampon but no other symptoms. Is this an emergency? Will I get toxic shock syndrome?
I live in Botswana, I am currently not near a doctor or hospital (but I will be this weekend). Advice please I’m panicking!!
| 261 |
If you’ve taken out the tampon and you’re not having any other symptoms, you really don’t have anything to worry about.
Tampons left in for several days *can* cause TSS. Which is why we recommend more frequent removal. However, not all tampons left in for several days *do* cause TSS.
If you start develop TSS in the next few days, you’ll get *really, really sick*. With fevers, chills, likely nausea, vomiting, etc. If you don’t get very sick in the next few days, then you have nothing to worry about. I would just monitor your symptoms. If you’re feeling mostly well, then no need to rush to the hospital.
| 631 |
AskDocs
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Is my teenagers new diet dangerous?
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My son(16m) has been on a health and fitness journey for several years, and we try to be as supportive as possible. He was a pescetarien for a while, then changed to a keto based diet. This was all reasonable and we accommodated, or he'd make his own dinner. I had no complaints, he was seemingly eating healthy and being responsible/learning to cook.
But now he has taken things to an extreme, where all he eats is red meat, eggs, and cheese, and drinks raw milk.
He's been watching alot of fitness influencers, and every week he seems to have more extreme ideas and a more restrictive diet.
He has stopped eating all vegetables. He says they coat themselves in defensive chemicals to prevent being eaten, and that's not safe for human consumption. Same with seeds and nuts. All naturally coated in defensive chemicals that are harmful to humans.
He will also argue about pesticides on everything. Which I know there's a lot of truth to that. But we have always been conscious about ethically sourcing our food. We get meat from a local butcher who supports local, humane farms, get our milk from a local dairy, try to get produce from the farmers market as often as possible. Despite where we get the food from, he won't eat any veggies, fruit or any type of grain at all anymore.
Im worried that if he continues on this path he's going to have nutrient deficiencies, and it will lead to high cholesterol, heart problems, and in general poor health as he ages.
Is this as dangerous as I fear?
EDIT: Thanks so much to everyone who offered their input and experience. Especially the doctors!
I've gotten a lot of PM's, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to them all.
It seems a lot of you have had a positive outcome with this diet, and that is definitely reassuring. But the fact he's still growing/going through puberty/developing... etc, I think it's important to get him to a doctor and dietician to get a professional opinion based on his exam/workup.
One thing I've learned from this post is there is no one size fits all diet. Most who have shared with me their positive experiences seem to of been trying to loose weight, take a natural approach to a medical problem, and have been a fully grown adult when incorporating the diet.
Obviously he doesn't fall into any of those categories, so it may not be the right choice for him at this stage in life.
There's so much I still don't understand about it all. I think sitting down with a professional will benefit the entire family...
Again thanks to all who have posted. Everyone has been very kind and helpful.
| 543 |
How receptive is he to talking with a medical professional like a dietician? I think that could be very helpful for him.
As everyone here said - this is not a sustainable or healthy diet. This is why I hate misinformation through social medial influencers.
edit: to everyone saying "bUt ThIs DiEt WoRkS fOr MEEEEEE." A diet of only "red meat, eggs, and cheese, and drinks raw milk" is not a balanced diet. I'm not arguing with yall. I never said anything about a [ketogenic diet](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499830/). I am saying the current diet that this child is on is not sustainable or healthy.
| 947 |
AskDocs
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Family doctor doesn't want me to do a gynaecology exam due to me being virgin
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[25F] [4,11]
Obs: I'm from Portugal
I had a doctor appointment yesterday and we talked about various stuff but more focused about my period. Since I had my first period was always painful and I had a big flow but at 14 I started taking birth control pills to control the flow, for my pain being less and because I had anemia. However even taking birth control until today I still have very painful cramps, to the point that sometimes I can't walk, looks like I'm having birth contractions, sometimes I start to faint and vomit, always goes to my anus too and is painful to urine too because I feel pain on my bladder when I do.
I did an exam but it was an eco in the belly, it did show nothing abnormal but my doctor found strange because he is convinced I have endometriosis. However he doesn't want to do other exams that are invasive (vaginal), because I never had sexual relantionships...I never did any gyno exam (even the pap smear, I think that's the name of it) because I'm a virgin, but I'm assexual so I really won't be having.
My question is: if there's a guess that I might have endometriosis, shouldn't I do an exam even if I'm a virgin? Of course that scares me, but I found strange not doing an important exam to determ if I really have that condition.
I'm going to start other birth pills nonstop I think to prevent to not have a period.
Is it ok not the check this out? I'm going to be ok?
| 284 |
You do not need a gynecological examination, but if you did, it would be safe and fine to get one.
A pelvic exam usually consists of a view of the cervix with a speculum and a bimanual exam where the doctor palpates the area around the organs with one hand in the vagina and one on the outside of your abdomen. As a doctor, I’ve done them and even inserted IUDs in patients who’ve never had sex, which can be fine if the patient is ready for it.
That being said, there is no necessity to do a pelvic exam to screen for endometriosis. The only way to definitively rule it out is with a surgery (laparoscopy). That’s why for most women it makes sense to use medicines that treat endometriosis in case they have it, rather than doing a surgery on everyone who may have it.
Starting nonstop birth control pills is actually a great way to go about treating endometriosis, in case you have it. If this treatment doesn’t work well for you, consider seeing a gynecologist who specializes in endometriosis rather than your family doctor, if you have access to one and get a referral.
| 326 |
AskDocs
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My father died after heart surgery because he was allergic to Heparin
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TLDR: my father was allergic to Heparin and I believe he died because of it? Should I attribute this to negligence? Could it have been prevented?
Hello, I don't know how to go about this but my father died this last Sunday, December 11th. He had open heart surgery on Friday, December 2nd. He went into the emergency room after figuring out his VA benefits. He only had "mild" symptoms of swelling and water retention in his legs and difficulty breathing.
He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure after they found out he had a bi-cuspid aortic valve. They advised him to opt for a mechanical valve since he was only 58 and he would likely outlive the lifespan of the bio one (~16 years) They also located an aneurysm in his heart that had grown to 4.6 cm. For people diagnosed with congestive heart failure, if the aneurysm had grown to 4.8 cm it would be particularly concerning. For people without congestive heart failure, an aneurysm growing to 5 cm would be a problem.
They decided on Wednesday, November 30th that they wanted to preform the operation on Friday the 2nd. My father was okay with it, and we both had a lot of trust for the process. We knew it had to be done. The surgery went smoothly and there were no complications. He was in Heparin the entire time during the surgery when he was placed on the heart/lung bypass machine. He was also on Heparin all weekend. He was intubated all weekend as well
On Monday they sent out some labs and noticed his platelet count was abnormally low. Apparently, the lab for HIT (heparin induced thrombocytopenia) would take 3-4 days to get back. They we're able to extubate him on Monday and he was able to drink, eat, sit in a chair and talk throughout the day. I thought he was a little loopy. At one point he didn't realize he had already had the surgery.
On Tuesday he was able to walk and do the things he had previous done yesterday. Between being awoken on Monday and un-sedated until Wednesday, he hadn't slept at all. I was worried but thought it was just some small post-surgery issues and something I shouldn't worry about.
On Wednesday, he was having trouble breathing in the morning and so they put a breathing mask on him. At some point, around the afternoon they decided it would be best to re-intubate him. I just thought he was struggling a bit and didn't know the full extent of it. They had me step out for it. They decided to preform a bronchoscopy to see if he had any infection in his lungs. That's when his heart stopped and they had to begin resuscitating him. It was horrible. It happened 6 times with the last time lasting over 30 minutes.
They made the call to put my father on VA ECMO, as a last resort to keep him stable and alive. He was then transported to a different hospital as the one we had previously been in did not have the proper staff or support measures needed.
There's not much to say after this, he was on life support from Wednesday night to Sunday. He was able to visibly nod to me that night. Thats the last time I was really able to communicate with him.
His entire body took a hit. His liver was failing and he got jaundice. His kidneys we're having trouble and they put him on Dialysis. He was not able to have an MRI as he could not be taken off the ECMO machine.
On Saturday and Sunday, they preformed multiple CAT scans, an EEG and a neurologist also accessed him. He had suffered multiple strokes in multiple areas of his brain. He had a small brain bleed, and his brain began to swell. After 30+ hours off fentanyl and Propofol he showed no signs of waking up. He didnt react to pain. The only reactions he did show could be attributed to brain stem functions. He was Brain dead. We took him off the ECMO on Sunday.
The Surgeon from our old hospital called me last night and informed me that he was allergic to Heparin and had Heparin induced thrombocytopenia. It caused all sorts of complications, which I had originally only assumed was because he had arrested multiple times.
I'm trying to find more answers but it's hard. From my understanding his bi-cuspid aortic valve is the most common heart defect but Heparin induced thrombocytopenia is relatively rare.
I want to know why they wouldn't have checked to see if he was allergic to heparin? Why it took so long to test for that? We're there other alternative blood thinners that they could of used during the procedure and post-op? Argatroban? My dad had no history of allergies, he had never had a surgery, and lacked a lot of medical history because he was a self employed contractor.
I'm scared and sad and angry. I don't think I can fully understand the reasoning behind the decisions made and why everything went wrong so quickly. I guess I'm just trying to see if anyone has any opinions or advice about my dad's story. If this could have been prevented, I would hope that I could help others somehow.
I'm sorry this is so long, I'm not sure if everything is correct or in depth enough. correct me if I have made any mistakes.
| 341 |
Unfortunately, HIT isn’t something that can be predicted or pre-emptively tested for. The antibodies don’t develop until you are exposed to heparin and it usually takes multiple exposures to heparin before they develop.
That said, once HIT was suspected from the drop in platelets, he should not have received any more heparin. Did he continue getting it after that?
| 355 |
AskDocs
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My boyfriend says he cant be with me if I sleep 10 hours per night?
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He says based on studies I shouldnt need that much sleep? I’m 29 female and always done this, its not consistent. Some nights I work its between 6-8 but if I can I’ll sleep 9-10. Are there any studies to prove its okay to sleep 9-10 hours for a woman? He says more than 8 is excessive and he cant deal with it.
| 509 |
I am curious why “he can’t deal with it.” I have never looked but I have never seen a study or heard someone talk about 10 hours being bad. Can’t he play video games or something?
| 1,074 |
AskDocs
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Weird question: if my doctor is sending me for an ultrasound for one issue, can I ask them to look at something else as well?
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Edit: I'm confused by the downvotes. Why does this sub exist if I'm already supposed to know everything? I'm asking questions to learn and understand what I'm supposed to do. I'm autistic and get confused about general life things.
I appreciate everyone who explained it to me. :)
~~My doctor is having me book an ultrasound for a lump under my left arm that I think is probably nothing because I've had it for around 15 years. However, I just realized that at my annual I forgot to mention I experience what feels like occasional heart soreness. It happens at random times including when I'm at rest.~~
~~When I go for the ultrasound, can I tell them this and have them look at my heart as well since it's right next to the lump? Or do I have to tell my primary doctor about this and go for another one?~~
~~My first attempt to ask this was deleted due to no demographic info, so:~~
~~Female, 28 years, 5'7," 122lbs~~
| 504 |
I'm glad you got explanations, but definitely don't think that it was a stupid question. There are a lot of ultrasound exams that could easily be combined with another (and if not formally, the technologist wouldn't mind taking a look and letting the radiologist know that in addition to X there was also targeted/limited evaluation of Y). There are also studies that could never, ever (unless you're donating a wing to the hospital or something) be coordinated to happen at the same time. There's just really no way to know which is which unless you already know the answer, in which case you wouldn't be asking the question on reddit.
I remember back in early medical school at various times hearing about EUS (endoscopic ultrasound) and TEE (transesophageal echocardiography) and didn't understand the distinction. Aren't those both just a name for an ultrasound that goes down the throat and then works from the inside? To be strictly correct, yes, that's a function of both, but I was informed with eyerolls that those are DIFFERENT devices with different capabilities wielded by different professionals assessing different organs for different pathologies (and they didn't even bore us with anything about billing back then).
| 332 |
AskDocs
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f27 I just hit my head and clear fluid started pouring from my left nostril. it stopped after a few seconds. Am I okay?
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I was playing with my dog and our skulls collided. I was already on the floor and I laid my head down. When I sat up, this snot or something poured like water out of my left nostril. I haven't been stuffy and my eyes were not watering. What's going on?
| 639 |
Neurosurgeon here.
Sounds like CSF rhinorrhea, can happen when the skull is fractured AND the dura is torn causing CSF to leak out the nose or ears. We need a CT scan to confirm the fracture and there are methods (not 100% accurate though) to check if the fluid is actually CSF. What we do in these cases are admission and bed rest, administer 3rd gen cepha antibiotics (usually ceftriaxone) for a few days to prevent CNS infection (and by that time it usually heals itself). Considering that CNS infections are potentially quite dangerous I would advise you to visit an ER and get checked, make sure to describe as you mentioned here (clear water pouring out of nostril).
Edit: DId not expect this many replies, so just some additional tidbits as the original reply was done on mobile and I left out some details.
First, I wouldn't worry too much about not being able to get a CT scan of your skull, as a) the r/o CSF rhinorrhea did not persist or repeat which means if there even was a dural tear, it was so small that after the initial leak happened and the pressure decreased, it stopped and could heal itself. I would be worried if the symptom repeated though. When there is a serious leak, the CSF rhinorrhea or otorrhea happens almost every time the patient moves his/her head and we have to tell them to not move their head at all until it stops, it's miserable. If the leak is procedure-related (like after a TSA) a revision may be necessary. b) CNS infections via something like a temporal bone fracture where the fracture is subtle (may not even be visible on CT, but sometimes can be deducted by other signs like hemotympanium) is actually quite rare, but we still give preventative antibiotics anyway because we want to be safe. Still, the human immune system is pretty reliable.
The headaches OP has may be a result of lowered intracranial pressure due to losing some CSF (hence worsening on head elevation) but it shouldn't last too long. Max 1-2 days (kinda depends on the amount of CSF loss though) and OP should feel better, but symptoms of concussion can last quite a while and sometimes it's tricky to differentiate between them.
I also want to mention that where I live (South Korea), the medical system is vastly different to where I assume OP lives (the US). Here, it's relatively easy to get something like a brain CT scan done via visiting a random ER and should cost about $100~200. And usually ER docs just let the patient get the exam they want unless maybe when the patient is a foreigner because just the idea that relatively minor medical bills like this can have a significant financial impact on the patient simply doesn't exist. Hence I also tend to not think too much about whether the test I ordered would actually give me useful positive results and instead lean towards being as safe as possible. Especially when the ordered exam is something simple like a non-contrast CT scan.
I hope OP is feeling better now and really hope the rhinorrhea did not happen again. You should be OK.
| 1,075 |
AskDocs
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I (16M) have an intersex condition causing extreme pain
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I (16 M), have an intersex condition causing me to have a set of ovaries. Ever since I started going through puberty (I originally started developing female characteristics, but have since been put on hormones) I have had extreme pain in my right ovary (same location as a typical female).
I’ve been in and out of the hospital for the past few years and have had all sorts of tests done. CT, MRI, Ultrasound, Exploratory surgery, removal of appendix (just to see if that would help). Nothing has come back abnormal, and the doctors have reason to believe it’s the ovary due to the fluctuations in the pain during the hormonal cycle + location
However, I am in America, and with the recent Roe vs Wade abolition (I’m in a red state) every doctor I’ve met with has refused to run further testing, remove the ovary, or consider pain meds due to the potential that the ovary might be viable. I’m also a minor so my reproductive rights are even worse.
The pain has impacted every part of my life. I’ve had to take money out of my college funds to go to a good private school that can support my needs. I’m rapidly losing weight because the pain is so bad that I can’t keep food or drink down. I don’t have any friends, and can’t socialize with my peers. And I’m just downright miserable.
I’m on track to graduate next year and I want to peruse a career in avian veterinary medicine, and I’m honestly very worried that I won’t be able get my degree or live an independent life because of the pain.
I’m just looking for advice on what my next steps could be.
| 334 |
What intersex condition do you have? Are you seeing a DSD clinic? What general area are you in, in the US?
| 165 |
AskDocs
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Please do not judge: Would my parents being first cousins affect my future children's health or well-being? (M30)
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M30, no health issues, 205, 6 feet tall, no meds other than a multivitamin.
Exactly what it says. Due to a confluence of events, I recently found out that my parents are first cousins. It's embarassing enough, please do not judge. I have two siblings and we are all healthy, educated, and relatively successful. My wife and I are expecting and I'm now having severe anxiety that something could be wrong with my baby because of my parents' situation. Is this rational? Should I get additional testing done? What should I do.
| 483 |
Not an issue, unless you're also closely related to your wife. We see issues after multiple generations of this in small communities, not in people like you.
| 933 |
AskDocs
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update: they found a 15mm "pre-cancerous" polyp during my colonoscopy (30m)
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Hi, I [posted here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/zgz4fs/doctor_is_scaring_me_with_talk_of_cancer_and/) the other day seeking some advice about a situation involving blood in my stool, abdominal pain, and a new iron deficiency. The gist of it (sorry I deleted the post) was that my doctor was pressing for me to have a colonoscopy ASAP and kept bringing up colon cancer. This sent me into a tailspin: I had made up my mind that I had colon cancer, I was imagining what it would be like to say bye to my friends and family. I already struggle with depression and anxiety and this amplified things x100.
Anyway, I was originally scheduled to go in for a colonoscopy in October 2023. Some folks here urged me to work with my doctor to try to get a sooner time slot so that's what I did -- they were able to work me in today, December 19. The prep was not nearly as bad as I was expecting especially because I was able to use MiraLAX which tastes like nothing. The worst part was staying up all night on the toilet.
I went in early this AM, everyone was very nice and patient, I of course remember nothing about the procedure itself. Afterwards the doctor came round to tell me they had removed a large, 15mm pedunculated polyp in my sigmoid colon that was most likely "pre-cancerous." She told me she wasn't worried at all but that it would be a "much different story" if I'd waited 2-3 more years. She also recommended getting a screening every 3 years from here on out.
I'm still not out of the woods yet as I won't know the full pathology results until after the holidays. I'm hoping the polyp truly was benign or pre-cancerous. but in the meantime I wanted to thank the community here for hearing out my concerns; and I also want to urge anyone out there reading this to PLEASE listen to your body and don't put off seeing the doctor because of shame, wishful thinking, anxiety, etc. I was so upset with my doctor at first but now I realize that he could well have saved my life by pressing me to get a colonoscopy.
| 371 |
Interesting that there was a thread on here yesterday about blood in the stool and how the patient thought the doctor was being overly cautious in recommending a colonoscopy.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/zp92ar/serious_bowel_concern_or_is_my_doctor_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
As a physician who sees many, many patients with GI bleeding, I can’t really give an assessment online about rectal bleeding beyond “you should see a doctor.”
| 126 |
AskDocs
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How do you all deal with seeing real trauma?
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So I (F19) was coming back home from the city with my boyfriend (M23) when we came across a two vehicle MVA. There were two others at the scene before us so we were some of the first responders.
Upon arrival i first noticed one car completely torn in pieces and scattered all over the road, and another car with the entire front end smashed in.
Next thing I noticed was an elderly lady on the ground and the two blokes there before us coming to her aid. Then I heard my boyfriend - "Is that a dead body".
I immediately called 000 and was put threw to the ambulance, explained the situation, any chemicals, how many people etc and was asked to describe the body of the deceased (obviously to make sure I wasn't freaking out and they had actually passed) which was an extremely horrific to look at. I couldn't tell which part of the body was what or if parts were missing until i was forced to keep looking and discribe it. We remained there until the police arrived and cleared an alternate root. The elderly lady was careflighted to the hospital (I have since messaged her family and she is recovering well)
By the time we got home, we were both still in shock, we went to see my mum who told us to go to the clinic and speak to a nurse. The nurse was disgusting about the whole situation and was asking us questions about the crash like it was gossip, offered us no support other than diazepam for 1 night and advised us to call the suicide prevention line to speak to someone.
I took that week off work and today was my first day back. I'm not entirely sure why but seeing one of the doctors at work triggered a flashback to seeing the body and its all fresh in my mind again.
I havent stopped thinking about the crash. I've been having nightmares in which the boy was not dead but was paralysed and we all just left him there, stuck, thinking he was dead. Sometimes in my nightmares he had a younger sibling also in they car and their body is still out there somewhere. Other times its just flashbacks. I cant go outside at night without everything looking like bodies. Not to mention the spiritual crisis im currently in.
He was only 19. I don't even know his name.
I am going to speak to a counsellor next week so hopefully that helps, but how else do I cope with this? Is it normal after over a week to still be this messed up? It has changed my entire view on life.
TLDR: Among first responders to a 2 vehicle MVA in which a 19 yr old boy was killed.
| 296 |
Counsellor is a good call. Sorry you went through this. Make sure the person you’re seeing is a trained psychologist / psychiatrist and not just some guy.
We get through by compartmentalising hard and occupying ourselves with the job in front of us - a luxury which you don’t have as a bystander without much of an active role.
Nevertheless in certain fields PTSD goes hard and it fucks up doctors too.
| 233 |
AskDocs
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My mother is dying on the couch and we have no idea what to do
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My dad and I are stuck.
For the past 3 months, my mother has been living on our living room couch deteriorating. For context:
About a year and a half ago, after her inability to eat or use the bathroom and finally losing her ability to control her motor functions, we took her to the hospital. She is incredibly stubborn and would not see a doctor otherwise until it became apparent that it was either the hospital or she presumably died. It turned out that after being kept on numerous sedatives and IV fluids she had to have surgery to clear an intestinal blockage that was the root cause of all her issues. She was also a heavy drinker (whiskey, wine) and according to the doctor her liver was on the edge of cirrhosis, and fortunately, the time spent in the hospital allowed her liver to recover. Mind you, she still continued to drink wine against our wishes. Not as much as before though.
She spent a combined total of 3 or 4 months in the hospital and in a rehab facility to relearn how to walk. Contrary to what she thinks, we did not stick her in a home; she was only there until she relearned how to complete everyday tasks and showed the ability to be able to get around on her own. As soon as she could do that, she was out of there and we told her that numerous times alongside the rehab staff. She got much better, regained some strength, and showed a real desire to complete her PT exercises even at home. She was given a walker to assist her mobility, but after a while, she didn't need it anymore. Things were looking up.
All of a sudden, she relegated herself to the couch and very soon needed the walker again. Lately, she can't even use the walker for more than a few seconds without having to take an extended break on her way to, say, the bathroom or something. And you can forget about her walking on her own at all; she has lost that ability.
She hasn't consumed anything solid save for nibbles of sweets for months. We would buy her food that she said she wanted but would either quit on it after a single bite or not attempt to eat it.
She consumes probably 16oz of watered-down Gatorade or Liquid IV every day, but that's it. At least she drinks these, though.
She probably weighs less than 100 lbs, her skin is a yellowish-translucent color. The skin on her cheeks has sunken in and she resembles a skeleton. Her legs are about as big as a fit person's arm, and her arms are about as thin as the circumference of a skinny person's wrist.
She either has not been able to control her bowel movements or just can't make it to the bathroom in time and chooses not to ask for help (though she has been better about it lately, that has not shaken the weirdness from why she would choose to go on herself rather than ask for help prior).
She is losing her hair and has not brushed her teeth in months. Her lips are caked with blood and are cracked and chapped raw for some odd reason, completely negating her compulsive use of chapstick to remedy the issue. She has pockets of dried blood throughout her body where she has accidentally bumped into things and caused bruising; those typically do not go away.
She goes to the bathroom about once a day and from what my dad told me her urine is pretty dark and she is still able to poop, however little the amount.
She appeared to have some memory issues the past few days, stating that she thought I was elsewhere (like the gym) when I was actually in the house and greeted her once I arrived. Then forgetting she mentioned it later on. She thought she wrote down and gave my dad her Christmas list so we could go shop for her (we are late Christmas shoppers) but she couldn't remember either the supposed list or the singular item she apparently thought of, and there was no evidence of her attempting to write anything anywhere near her.
I'm sorry for the length of the post, but my dad and I have no idea what to do. We have tried being kind and patient, and we have tried being stern and forceful to try to get her to understand the reality of the situation. She claims she does see a problem with how she is living (she is only in her 50s) but continues to not try anything to change her situation. We have asked her if there is anything medically preventing her from making changes and she said no. She also claims she is not doing it on purpose and it's not some form of attempted suicide.
If anyone has any insight on what we can do, please comment or message me directly. She is still too lucid for us to take her to the hospital against her wishes, even if it's better for her health, but we're also stuck because my dad lost his job and we no longer have medical insurance, so everything we do would be out of pocket and a major blow financially.
At this point, that doesn't matter and we just want her healthy. She is not the person I grew up with anymore and I'd do anything to get her back. Any advice is welcome.
UPDATE: Well, Merry Christmas everyone. First I want to thank each and every one of you for your support and advice. Without it, I think my mother wouldn't have made it another day.
Things are a bit better than the last time I posted on here. Long story short, we managed to get my mom to a PCP and then transported via EMS to our local hospital. She's been in the ICU in critical condition for about 3 or 4 days. I haven't had time to update you all because my dad and I have been going non-stop since the 22nd.
Now, for the details:
After I posted on here and on the various other subs, I was finally able to sit my mom down and convince her to visit our PCP. Initially, she had not changed her position and was still adamantly refusing any form of medical care. On the night of the 21st of December, my father mentioned taking her to the PCP the next morning and she did not deny going; however, she wanted to be the only one in the room with the attending nurse and doctor. This sucked due to some concerns we had about the medical professionals getting the truth, but you all assured us either publicly via comments or via direct message that we could still speak with the staff privately and let them know how things have been.
The morning of the 22nd, she was once again refusing treatment. My dad and I sat with her and tried our hardest to convince her to go, but it once again yielded nothing. My dad got fed up and via your suggestion, decided to reach out to our state's Adult Protective Services. In the midst of this, I continued to sit with my mom in an attempt to convince her. Following this conversation, a social worker was able to come out to the house on the same day and basically give us the blessing to seek help for her and as well look into getting us approved for Medicaid.
I told her how much I loved her. I told her how I wanted her in my life for the next 20 or 30 years at least. I asked her what she would do if it were me in this situation. She very quickly said she would've taken me to the doctor a long time ago. Case en pointe. She agreed to go.
At first, she wanted another day, but in hindsight, I'm glad I swayed her on the day of.
We call our PCP, get an appointment, and head in as soon as we can.
Upon arrival, we had to help her stand up to get her weight on the scale. She was 93 lbs. 93.
The staff had to take her BP and other measurements manually because she was too small, weak, and cold to provide any integer. Her BP though?
66/44.
The nurse practitioner on staff came in and scared her enough to where she consented to be transported via ambulance, and long story short, she went from the ER to the ICU.
In terms of her condition, a vast majority of you were right. She has cirrhosis of the liver, but we won't know the severity of the damage until about 2 months down the line once she has recovered a bit.
She has a bit of pancreatitis which will be easily corrected with meds.
She has a large amount of hepatic encephalopathy due to ammonia accumulation due to her inability to produce bowel movements. They gave her an enema yesterday of lactulose and as we were leaving, she returned to lucidity long enough to say she loved us (we visit her twice a day).
She has been on oxygen and at first, she was on norepinephrine as a life-support drug for her BP. Take her off the medicine and she would've exited this world within a couple of hours. Which is why I am glad we didn't let her wait another day. She might've (probably would've) died on our couch.
Within 5 seconds of being in the ICU, the doc on staff on day 1 came in and basically gave us a death sentence. But we were told to take those words with a grain of salt. Multiple doctors have come by and given us different opinions and varying levels of positivity and negativity.
Bottom line is that after she has recovered, been moved to a regular floor, and is healthy enough to be discharged, as long as she does everything the doctors say, takes all the meds, and STAYS OFF ALCOHOL, she has a really good chance of quality life post hospital.
The only issue now becomes whether or not she needs a liver transplant, which we were told that she can't even get on the list until she's been alcohol-free for 6 months to a year. Let's just cross that bridge when we get to it, I guess.
As long as we get her stable and lucid, then we can move forward with the next steps. But I also don't think she has any idea of her situation. It'll break my heart to tell her, but, she needs to know.
The last thing is that we are going to get her is a psychiatric evaluation. She's been to the hospital twice in the last 2 years and up to a point has refused medical care and made zero attempt to get herself better. Gotta tackle this problem at its root. There's obviously something going on in her head and she needs anti-depressants.
But first, let's just get her physically healthy.
Once again, thank you. You are all wonderful. Without all of you, we may never have been able to get her to a doctor. And although circumstances are full of grief this Christmas, the best present we can get is for her to be better. Merry Christmas, Reddit. I'll update here and on my other posts in the other subs once we have more info. Thank you for your patience. Much love.
| 448 |
Emergency physician. Sounds like she needs a trip to the ER. Could be an acute renal failure, a cute liver failure, certainly dehydrated, and who knows what else.
| 851 |
AskDocs
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Daughter had gotten 105 fever now going cross eyed.
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I have a 2 year old daughter. Over the weekend she had a fever peak at 105 and one reading close to 106. Got the fever down but the next day my wife and I noticed she started going cross eyed on and off. We called our pediatrician and set up an appointment in 2 weeks. She has never gone cross eyed before in her life for any sort of extended amount of time. Now it’s happening frequently. The nurse on the phone said those 2 things (fever and crossed eyes) doing coincide at all, and somewhat insinuated that maybe we just didn’t notice it before. I am without a doubt 100% sure we would have noticed how cross eyed she is going over the course of the past two years. I understand these may not be totally related, but could the fever have brought to light some sort of other issue? Or any information on what could potentially be going on would be appreciated.
Edit:
To those saying I’m a bad parent, we took the advice of our pediatricians office which we had no reason to doubt.
We did take her to the ER. Since she no longer has the fever, and the eyes crossing is intermittent (daughter didn’t have the crossed eyes while in the ER) they are saying it’s most likely unrelated and gave us a referral to the children’s eye doctor. They are saying it’s most likely strabismus
| 273 |
Take her to the ER. 105 is an incredibly high temperature. She could have a serious infection. You don’t know what’s wrong with her and you won’t know until you get her seen. It’s not worth waiting two weeks.
| 921 |
AskDocs
|
Dad likely died from a pulmonary embolism - Wondering what he experienced
|
This is probably an unusual post for this sub. Please delete if not appropriate.
My dad died suddenly at age 65 on 9/24 and the ER doc that pronounced him speculated that the cause was a pulmonary embolism. He said that when they put a tube down his throat to open an airway there was blood present which is a sign of a PE. I guess part of my coming to terms with his death involves understanding his last seconds/minutes and what it was like from his perspective. I'm hoping a doctor can offer some insight into what it is like to die from a pulmonary embolism.
We were texting back and forth at 7:21 am and he was totally fine; he left the house to go on his morning walk, and my mom found him dead in the middle of the road about an hour later. Looking through his Apple Watch data, his exercise app showed 106 bpm and then suddenly went flat at 7:35 am. He was found face down with his arms by his side and a large contusion on his forehead. There was no evidence he even tried to break his fall, so clearly it happened quickly. Things I'm curious about:
Does the clot travel to the lungs and then cause suffocation? Would he have been experiencing lack of air in the moments leading up to his collapse and then just drop from that? What is it that actually happens physiologically from a PE to make someone go from walking to just face planting dead? Is it likely he felt "off" or had some sort of warning or does it come out of nowhere?
Any insight is very much appreciated.
| 338 |
It's not suffocating, your dad didn't suffer like that. He likely passed out quickly and died while unconscious. He likely didn't feel pain for long, if at all.
Physiologically, the clot gets stuck in the lung, the right side of your heart (which pushes blood through the lungs) can't keep up with the increased strain and pressure because of the clot. Imagine the extra force it takes to push something through a really small hole vs a big hole. If the right heart can't push blood, it doesn't make it to the left side of your heart which pumps blood to the rest of your body. No blood going to your brain causes you first to pass out and then your organs fail quickly.
I'm sorry for your loss. If I were you, I would stick to the idea that he passed out right away and died within minutes, painlessly.
| 599 |
AskDocs
|
someone (maybe?) tried to break my neck - should I go to the er
|
22F
I'm not dying, it's not THAT bad, this was a few hours ago. But my my neck is really sore, I'm nauseous, and dizzy. The event was a bit of a blur. But nothing is numb and I can walk fine.
He was drunk and it wasn't full force, not really sure what he was trying to do. A man grabbed my hair with one hand and under/beside my chin with the other, then twisted really fast. I'm in shock so idk what to do or if I'm bring dramatic.
I'm still in a bit of shock, sorry if this is inappropriate or poorly written. Maybe it's a bit of whiplash? Or just a headache? Any advice is appreciated, I can't think straight
Update: thank you for your responses. Unfortunately I wasn't able to view them until after I went to the hospital, but I'm thankful for the reassurance that I did the right thing. Nothing is broken, but im supposed to go back in a couple days for a CT scan if I'm still in pain. Thank you again 💗
| 267 |
You need to be seen to rule out injuries and to document injury in case you want to file for assault, which I would recommend.
| 331 |
AskDocs
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I 16F have scarlet fever and I just wanted to know does having a sudden overwhelming sense of impending doom come with it?
|
I’ve been sick for a while and I got diagnosed with scarlet fever yesterday, I was perfectly fine and sitting with my parents then suddenly I got this overwhelming sense of dread and impending doom, It was so bad I was full on sobbing, It still hasn’t fully gone away and it’s been hours
| 315 |
Thank you so much everyone for you’re answerings and taking the time out of you’re day to help me
| 23 |
AskDocs
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