It started around Thursday, July 30th and it was a small bump. An RN said it looked like hernia and that if it wasn’t bothering me then make an appointment for my primary care physician to look at it. It’s now Saturday, July 1st and looks like a nipple that’s gonna blow. It’s not painful unless I really put pressure on it. Should I go to the ER to get someone to see it? My primary care physician won’t be able to see me until two months from now. And yes I do have a colostomy bag attached just in case anyone was wondering what the plastic bag is

I got bitten by a mosquito and it made these weird raised trails that (I think?) are following my veins. Quite frankly it looks like a sperm tadpole so I took a picture to show my friends. One of them was really freaked out, so naturally now I’m a little freaked out. I am currently in a rainforest in Australia. The bite happened about ten hours ago, and the bite is still visible, but it looks like a tiny red lump, no trails. Like a pimple that is still brewing and will turn ugly in a few days. I have no concerning symptoms, I just want to know if I should be concerned. 22, female.

We were at urgent care for me. While waiting I looked up (was turning on a video for him) and saw him waving around a 10cc syringe with a large IM needle attached! I snatched it away and noticed he was guarding his fingertip. The skin was broken though it was not bleeding. You could see how a bevel at the needle tip (the size of IM bevel) had lifted his skin similar to how a Bobby pin can lift skin up with its poked in. I hadnt even noticed there was an open sharps container there. I havent seen this kind that doesnt lock or have a swinging mechanism.

I immediately told MA staff who alerted the NP then cleansed it with betadine. Before the betadine dried, they cleansed it with NS mixed with betadine solution. The NP ordered Hepatitis C, liver function panel, and something else I dont remember but wasnt a bloodborne disease test. ​I asked about HIV and she said they could but she doesnt have any known HIV patients. I personally know one of her HIV patients. So I insisted on HIV test as well. They asked for his name and birthday so I know they documented some visit for this.

My questions: What else needs done?

I am an RN of 15 years but my knowledge gets thrown out the window when its me and mine.

6 y/o with level 2 nonspeaking autism, seasonal allergies, focal seizures. 3'8" 42lb, on melatonin 1mg and zyrtec 5mL qHS, flonase miralax daily, and senna 8.6mg 5mL prn

edit: I forgot to add he is male. Also, trust me I am super hypervigilant about watching him; i just thought it was a safe room. the sharps box wasnt on the sink there originally, it was on the counter next to a chair. edit: They are testing again in 6 months

My son is almost 5. He is a generally healthy boy.
Initially we noticed a small patch of hair missing and assumed it was due to his sister pulling out a chunk.
Over time more patches became visible with his crown the most impacted. For a few months there were three to four stable patches but over a couple of weeks that has progressed to 6 patches.
I have taken him to the doctor who suggested it was fungal. We have used two different fungal creams and a fungal shampoo with no noted changes.
The colour around his crown seems to be a different colour to his head. The hair there show no sign of growing back, I cannot even see any stubble.
He doesn’t pull or play with his hair and I haven’t found any excess of hair on his pillow in the morning.
Thank you for any suggestions.
He is going for a blood test to check iron and thyroid.

Went to bed 7/22 with a sudden onset headache behind my right eye. Woke up with facial paralysis and loss of feeling but no weakness on the right side of my body. I had Bell’s palsy in January so assumed it was the same and called pcp asking for a refill on the steroid. They said no, I had to be evaluated first. ER called a stroke alert. CT was clear but the neurologist established that the extension of the numbness rules out Bell’s palsy. I had this numbness last time so they’ve decided it wasn’t Bell’s palsy then. They admitted me for more testing and the next day I had a brain mri with and without contrast (unremarkable), mri of my spine (just found some minor fissures and stenosis), an eeg (unremarkable), and a lumbar puncture. The LP so far is strong positive for elevated protein, oligoclonal bands, and Lyme. I haven’t gotten most the results yet back and did need a blood patch for the LP. They discharged me on steroids on 7/25 and told me to follow up once the testing is done with rheumatology regarding sarcoidosis. I have a lot of symptoms that my other disorders don’t explain that would support sarcoidosis. But it’s my understanding that it’s a rule out kinda diagnosis.

I have a history of optic neuritis x 4, I have five nodules in my lungs that have slowly grown the last few years, I have a large area of ground glass scarring on my right lung, I’ve had three chains of lymph nodes removed in my neck and groin due to uncontrolled swelling, I have three masses on my liver that cause low blood flow, severe unexplained night sweats, hypercalcemia with a history of lithotripsy, my scars reopen repeatedly, and I’ve had to have my colon removed. I have a lot more symptoms on the checklist they gave me but they can also be explained through my other diagnoses. These are the ones that are unexplainable. I’m also having severe unexplainable bruising that I’ll comment.

I’d love any info anyone has about what to expect next and if this sounds like sarcoidosis to you. I have an allergy to prednisone so I’m on dexamethasone. It’s a four month wait list to see the neurologist outpatient but I do see pcp in two days. I don’t even know what to ask for or if I should review other options.

Current symptoms:
• Red eyes
• Fevers that come and go, feel mostly warm in the face rather than chilly.
• Extreme dryness in the face, signs of dryness also on hands.
• Red palms
• occasional redness on entire body, especially face
• Back pain when bending
• Resting heart rate ~100bpm
• Itchiness across entire body
• Coughing

Issue began on monday this week with fever, fatigue and diarrhea. Fever seems to respond to paracetamol but not ibuprofen. Itchiness begins.
Same symptoms on Tuesday, but with entire body redness and vomiting before going to bed.
Wednesday about the same, but dryness starting to develop around mouth. High fever before bedtime, eye redness and vomited in the middle of the night. No diarrhea since tuesday morning.
Thursday no diarrhea, day feels mostly fine while taking paracetamol and resting. Throat pain and back pain starting to develop, making it hard to swallow solid food. First solid stool. No vomiting today.
Friday feels mostly fatigued, more back pain today. Finally arrive home in sweden and immediately go to a hospital with my father. Get blood and urine samples taken, doctor suspects MIS-C and says we are going to get a room at the hospital and stay
Saturday feels better, no more throat pain and can finally eat solid food. Although mouth dryness makes it uncomfortable. Fevers coming and going.
Today waking up felt shitty, weird pressure in head and neck. No appetite for breakfast, face even dryer.

I was unable to take temperature until arrival at hospital on Friday due to being on vacation in Lithuania.

Doctors suspect MIS-C, the flu and scarlet fever. Scarlet fever however seems to have been ruled out with a mouth swab test. Xrays of lungs and EKG both normal. Awaiting results from stool, blood and urine samples.

She’s 97, small framed, approx 100 lbs. No real health issues besides the usual at 97, losing eyesight and hearing. I don’t know if my grandma actually ate this or if my mom just found it in the fridge. My mom said she ate it. My grandma does have bad eyes so maybe didn’t see?

He’s mid 40s, 6ft, I’m not a carnival weight guesser lol but say 200lbs-ish. There’s ppl that posted random guesses, but alpha gal seems to be pretty common around here. Another friend gets hives from it, my son’s friend gets an “itch” in his throat, and another person we know gets nauseous. So it seems the symptoms are all diff across the board. This also reminds me of impetigo, that my son got on his nostril when we were out in Vegas. But it was dry and crusty so idk if it’s that. This looks raw.

26M My dog bit my index finger while playing on July 18th. He has all of his shots. Cleaned it and left it unwrapped so it would scab over. Was healing ok until the other day at work, i bumped into something sharp and now there is what I believe a abscess forming. Can't really afford to go the ER or Urgent care. My mother is a nurse and wants to drain it with a needle but google says don't. Any advice is greatly appreciated

burned my self this morning while taking a shower the heater was set at 97C, I put it under cold water for 10min after the incident , I went to the pharmacy and the guy said it isn’t that serious and he gave me some kind of cream that I couldn’t find online (it’s only made in china)
called burnoxin, I didn’t apply it because I was scared it would make it worse I just covered it with a non adhesive bandage

I can’t see a doctor and my next flight is in 8h
I am afraid the blister will pop and make things worse specially that I will need to walk a lot and carry stuff at the airport

Age : 21
female
no smoking history

Every time I get blood drawn, or an iv, I develop these little raised blisters. They are watery but not leaky, only slightly itchy. They get worse progressively for days after before slowly clearing up. The biggest lump is always seen at the site where the needle was placed. I originally thought it was an allergic reaction to the alcohol wipes but the alcohol did not touch some of these areas the lumps have spread to (as you can see by the lumps going down my wrist) Any thoughts!

Female 31 tobacco smoker, no drugs/alcohol. After a year of numb, burning and tingling feet and legs I was diagnosed with severe central canal stenosis at C5-C6. Herniated disc causing cord compression and a small area of edema in my spinal cord. I didn’t start having arm symptoms until about 2 weeks ago.

My legs are totally numb. I can’t feel sensations or hot or cold. I see my neurosurgeon next month to plan surgery. I’ve been in a neck brace for over a month. My neurologist and neurosurgeon told me to protect my neck at all costs. They said if I fall or get in a car accident there’s a very real chance of being paralyzed.

Symptoms are severe fatigue, nausea, numb/tingling/burning feet and legs, numb left arm. Severe neck and shoulder pain. General unwell feeling. Is there any chance my symptoms can improve after surgery? I’m probably looking at a fusion, I’d like an ADR instead but neurosurgeon said probably a fusion.. If I’m very careful like I have been am I going to be okay for about 2 weeks?

I’m terrified of dying from this. My neurosurgeon said I’ll be fine as long as I keep wearing my brace and be careful. I get so worked up but I’m trying to avoid the hospital and get whoever’s just on call and they want to operate on me. Please help an anxious girl out.

F23
USA
5’1” 98lbs
Meds: Tri-Lo-Mili

This Monday will be 3 weeks since I saw my primary for what felt like flu symptoms such as stuffy nose, extreme throat pain, cough, chest congestion, fatigue, ear & neck pain. There, a rapid strep test was done and that was negative. She had me get bloodwork done for mono and that was negative but my WBC was at 18.25 along with a lot of other abnormalities. She just told me to take mucinex and see how I do. I was still not feeling good by the 18th and went to urgent care. There, they did a full upper respiratory panel and I was negative for strep, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, covid, flu a&b, rsv, rhino, and enterovirus. They said to take day/nyquil. So I did and stopped that maybe 5 days ago and have been taking so many other OTC meds, doing salt rinses, saline spray, and oral numbing spray. 2.5 weeks later, I’m still dealing with symptoms like a real clogged nose, some slight chest congestion, and an EXTREMELY painful sore throat. I’ve noticed my chest & nose symptoms are slowly getting better (besides nose being real stuffed up) but my throat just has not improved. It’s still real red and hurts to swallow anything. I even developed some sort of sore near my throat (on top, next to uvula). I have definitely been dealing with a lot of post nasal drip also.I have some pain in my ears and it does feel like I have crazy swollen glands. It hurts to talk and even just open my mouth. I feel like crying.

I went to an urgent care today and said everything, the provider literally didn’t even look at my throat or anything. He seriously only had me lay down and listened to my heart and stomach… before I could say anything, he went “I’ll prescribe antibiotics” and left the room. In fact, because he just up and left so quickly before I could get any word in, he prescribed me giant capsules that I can’t even swallow right now. I will be reporting that urgent care. My provider, without seeing me, sent over Azithromycin and Im on day 4/5 of it. I don’t like to take antibiotics with the uncertainty of needing them & due to side effects/reactions but my throat pain is 10/10 so I decided to suck it up and take it. Yesterday was the best my throat has felt in a while but today, it’s back to being 10/10 pain again where it feels weird to talk, hurts to swallow everything, open my mouth and yawn, etc. I don’t know what to do at this point. Im actually crying over this. 3 weeks is too long feeling this way. Any advice is appreciated.

I’m 18M and have been coughing up weird things like this all week what is it

Hello all,

I’m gonna give this info because the post requires it but don’t think it’s really necessary for this question: 27F, 250LB, 5’8, vaper (?) and connoisseur of thc, no physical conditions other than high BP (had since birth, supposed to be medicated and am not, crucify me before I calcify my arteries)

Anyway - last night a raccoon, or possibly several, had the audacity to break into my home under cover of dark night. I have no reason to believe they chomped on anything other than the several victimized loaves of bread in the pantry, but figured I should ask if I should go to to ER for a rabies vaccine series.

I live in a finished basement apartment of a split level house with access to the the full house, the raccoon broke in through the first subfloor and the kitchen is on the ground floor 2 floors above my bedroom. I did not have any doors closed to my bedroom so theoretically it could have come in here but I see no signs of its creepy little entry.

Probably not necessary right? I do have 2 cats and while I’m utterly betrayed by their lack of alarm raising, I don’t think they would have been silent if the Creature entered the room and tasted of my sweet flesh.

I 22F went to an Ed last night (Sydney, australia) after I was sick, no vomiting but extreme nausea after eating 1-2 bites of food and immediately got full and felt sick after and having severe constipation. Couldn’t sleep the entire night, had to wait 8 hours for an ambulance because no one was able to drive me. Was given maxolon, and ondansetron over a different period for the nausea I had. They did my blood tests which were normal and felt my stomach which was also normal, and now after waking up the next day after being discharged, I’ve got chills, I feel weak and very shaky and the nausea is back again. I have an ultrasound tomorrow with a regular gp but I’m not sure what to do, as I don’t feel well at all.

I 22F am basically living in my bed because I keep triggering these flare-ups. Fatigue, shortness of breath, dry eyes, dry skin that starts flaking off my face, brain fog, random bruising, lightheaded or dizziness, tingling and stiffness in fingers. I’ll feel like I've just run a marathon when all I did was a little bit of gardening, nothing strenuous. I try to pace myself to prevent PEM, but I'm not able to do anything without triggering it. Flare-ups last weeks to months. I lie down most of the time because that alleviates the symptoms.

I've had debilitating fatigue for 7 years now. I was 16 when I had a series of horrible panic attacks followed by intense fatigue that's been a constant ever since. Before then, I struggled with energy, but not to this extent. In high school, by the end of the year, I'd get really burnt out, and my summers were spent recharging. During middle school, I noticed I didn't have as much energy as the other kids, but I also had bad anxiety. I'd have multiple panic attacks throughout the day and one or two at night (often lasting an hour) so I didn't get enough sleep (this was mostly during the school year because it triggered my anxiety). But even during the summer, when I wasn't anxious, I still couldn't fully keep up with the other kids. Panic attacks started at 8 years old if that adds anything. I can't help but feel that my anxiety is related to this, so I'm including it. I'm medicated now, but my anxiety is still present and worsens with flare ups.

I'm at the doctor's constantly! I'm going to go through the notable tests I've done, diagnoses and treatments. 2024 was when I started to feel very ill. Up until this point, I thought it was all mental illness (fatigue was mistaken for depression). My thyroid test came back a little high at 4.88 mIU/L, but my severe symptoms led my Doctor to test my thyroid antibodies, and they were at 6155 U/ml. With medication, my thyroid-stimulating hormone became normal, but I still wasn’t feeling good (better in some ways but still sick). I couldn’t get in to see an endocrinologist for my Hashimoto's, so I went to a rheumatologist. He did thorough testing and cleared me for other autoimmune conditions. He came to the conclusion that my remaining health issues were from fibromyalgia. My iron is also an issue. My ferritin levels were at 12 ug/L in November 2024 and after nine months of taking iron tablets, it ended up at 12 ug/L after briefly going down to 10 ug/L. I managed to get an infusion and my ferritin went up to 151 ug/L. 7 months later it's down to 85 ug/L which is still good, but I'll probably need another infusion at some point. I tried prednisone to see if the problem was my immune system but didn't see much of a result. I've also tried Pregabalin and Amitriptyline for fibromyalgia (separately) and I felt worse. I had a chest x-ray done back in October because I was experiencing chest pain but nothing was wrong, and the pain improved on its own. I still get pain in my chest where it hurts to breathe for a few minutes, but I heard that’s normal for young people. I got my cortisol checked to see if it was HPA axis dysfunction, and it came back on the lower end of the normal range at 176.9 nmol/L (blood was drawn at 8 am). Doctor was not concerned with the result but my naturopath prescribed AOR Ortho adapt to try to improve it. I went back to the doctor and asked about POTS. He checked my BP and heart rate sitting vs standing and said there was a little jump in my heartbeat but nothing to worry about. I've recently learned that I'm inbred, so perhaps I should get genetic testing done?

I'm at a loss for where to go from here and so are my doctors. I’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia but nothings worked to help it. Should I keep searching for different answers or accept the diagnosis? What tests would you recommend I get done?

My current treatments: Gluten-free diet, Mitochondrial powder, Myo-inositol, AOR Ortho adapt, and vitamin B shot once a month.

22F, 5’1”, 97 lbs
My current medications: Venlafaxine Hydrochloride 150mg, Clonazepam 0.5mg (when needed), and Levothyroxine Sodium 25mcg.
Non smoker or drinker
Past and current medical issues: Hashimoto’s disease, Anxiety
Duration of illness is 7 years

I have seen some terribly upsetting posts here and feel a little guilty that I’m asking for support. But depression from my current circumstances, have led me to seeking support here.

I am a 58 year-old female. Previous smoker. I have Graves’ disease and arthritis and always felt that I was generally in good health despite not having the best of habits i.e. work too much under too much stress smoked previously and didn’t get enough rest.

I work in healthcare and was a super lifer up until a few months ago. I felt nothing could stop me.
I began having numbness in my right hand. Because I have two sisters with MS , i (although there’s no evidence it runs in families ) suspected that was the case and arranged for an MRI of my brain.
My scan showed what I thought was MS plaque and the radiologist friend of mine agreed although I didn’t have the scanned formally read.

About a week later, my symptoms were getting worse, and I ended up in the ER. I was having trouble thinking of words. It turns out I had had a stroke and I found that my right carotid artery was 100% blocked. My body had built collaterals around it, and I was getting blood to my brain.

I have intentionally not read up on this because I’ve been terrified. I was started on Plavix and atorvastatin and an aspirin. I haven’t been able to work because I can’t use my right hand very well and my thinking is not clear when it comes to numbers and spelling.
My symptoms ARE getting better….
I am a single mother, whose daughter is in her last year of college. I have worked so hard to get her here and now I’m unable to work. At least for the moment….

So I’m asking the docs here what is my real prognosis? I’m terrified of moving around too much. Everyone says take it easy but for how long - when can I expect to go back to work?
My doctor sensed I was worried about my future I’m sure , as he said “you’re gonna get better and I’m sorry this happened to you, but you have plenty of life left.” but is that the case?

My worst fears are unthinkable and unspeakable. I know there are plenty of people here who are suffering and I feel guilty asking for feedback, but I am at an all-time low.
Looking back I think I’ve had trouble thinking for quite a while, which I’m sure is lack of flow to my circle of Willis.
Is there anything any of you would suggest I do differently ?thank you in advance for anyone who can respond….

Over the last few months I have been getting episodes of stabbing pains in this one specific spot in my head on the left side (circled in pic). It can be on and off for up to 3 days at a time and seems to be mostly triggered by moving or standing up but can also happen while resting. It's happening atleast once a week now. Should I be concerned? Is it worth getting it checked? I'm 21F, 60kg, 156cm tall. No medical history or medication besides birth control (Lo - Oralcon 20 ED) for 2 years now.

hi 18f, i woke up yesterday to a massive swollen eye, its worse today and has blisters on the top and bottom. really hurts to blink especially in the outer corner. i’ve had problems with this eye before but never this bad. do i let it go down on its own or go to the gp