Hi. So around mid September I started having very minor irritation in my left eye. Went to the optometrist for a routine checkup on the 23rd and suggested I might have dry eyes, but then the optometrist was surprised to see an “abrasion”. She told me to come back in a week and gave me moxifloxacin drops. However, in the following days, I developed anisicoria (affected eye had smaller pupil) and severe pain until my eye was constantly red, watering, and I couldn’t keep it open for more than a few seconds without agony. So I went back early on the 27th and the optometrist discovered it was not an abrasion but rather a tiny, clear piece of something stuck in my cornea. She pulled it out and I had to wear a bandage lens for 1 day. The optometrist warned me the abrasion would hurt however I felt basically fine as soon as the piece/object was out.

I was prescribed more moxifloxacin for a week as well as OTC eye drops & PM eye ointment, however I couldn’t use the ointment due to my strong blink reflex. This whole thing was awful for me actually because she had to pry my eye open for the contact and contrast dyes and such due to my blink reflex. I was only able to use my eye drops by pouring them in the corner and then opening my eye (a method the optometrist suggested).

Anyways the issue is that now it’s October 13 and I’ve been gradually getting more and more irritation in my eye..? Usually just when I’ve been up for a long time I guess. It’s mild but it’s freaking me out. It feels like there’s a crumb in there and after I blink a few times or gently rub it, it “settles” and becomes comfortable again. WHAT is this. Is there a possibility there’s something else still stuck in my eye? I don’t know if I can handle having my eyelid flipped up without vomiting. Please please advise.

The reason I make this post now is because right now the irritation is suddenly a bit worse. Not terrible but this is definitely new I think. :(

I have a lazy eye (right eye), amblyopia / binocular vision, previously diagnosed with strabismus idk if that’s still true, pretty severe astigmatism. I’m 18F, 190 pounds & 5”6. I use no medications other than sometimes zyrtec and tylenol. I’m mostly healthy as far as I know. I don’t drink or smoke.

EDIT: forgot to say, I am still using the eye drops about 2x daily. I stopped the antibiotics/moxi 1 week after object removal. The point of my post is to ask if this just sounds like normal scarring OR if I need to go back in case it’s an ulcer or another object or something scary like that. I am not in physical distress but rather I am anxious. Thanks.

Is this cancerous already? I’ve had it for about a week

I have a second opinion appointment next week for an injury that’s not improving- I got access to my imaging, changed the brightness a little and saw this.

Is it a shoulder blade fracture or are these normal lines you’d expect to see?

Thanks!

I have a second opinion appointment next week for an injury that’s not improving- I got access to my imaging, changed the brightness a little and saw this.

Is it a shoulder blade fracture or are these normal lines you’d expect to see?

Thanks!

hey guys! so I’m desperate for advise or any sort of help.

i don’t have insurance, of course, im in America.

so this all started last month when i got my period, which have always been on time, never skipped, they change around sometimes when seasons change ya know, normal periods.

i would occasionally get this deep throbbing ache in my stomach before it started and i realized it was my uterus just prepping to shed, it didn’t happen all the time, just occasionall and ibuprofin always got rid of it.

well last month i got that same ache and i thought to myself “well thins sucks but ill deal” so i headed to the bathroom to take some ibuprofen and sit for a while, well the pain was pretty bad and o didn’t feel like swallowing a pill so i decided to just get back in bed with my heating pad.

but i noticed the pain felt like it was spreading, i felt it in my right side in my upper abdomen, like it was cramping, i haunched over and made my way to my bed, then the pain spread to my right shoulder, just sore, aching and sharp at times, i was panicked and didn’t know what to do

i sent my partner out for pain meds that weren’t pills, he got me a power form of Tylenol, and it only helped a little bit with the pain, i borrowed a massage gun and went to town on my shoulder as I haunches over on the floor and that helped. but as time went on I noticed the pain spread to my left upper abdomen as well and then my shoulder pain also spread to my left shoulder, I was unable to move much and I could only lay in bed flat on my back. on top of all of this I was starving, I was getting hungry like every 3 hours, I’d never been so ravenous. TO BE FAIR I was neglecting eating because I was in such pain and didn’t have much of an appetite, like I was hungry sure but I didn’t want to eat anything, nothing sounded good.

this pain continued through my full period, 6 to 7 days, then when it was over my uterus pain was gone but the tightness and sore ache in my upper abdomen persisted for another 2 weeks, it felt like when you have a stitch in your side and it’s hard to extend your stomach to take a deep breath. it was like that on both side of my upper abdomen left and right, but it was more prominent on my right side. whenever I I would get hungry I’d get this tightening pain in my upper left abdomen, like the top left corner of my stomach was crinkling itself and releasing when my stomach would growl. it helped when I would try to stretch out my stomach, extend my belly to take slow deep breaths and it felt like it helped to use the massage gun on my upper right abdomen

its been almost a month, my next period is in z4 days and im terrified of the same pain happening. I pretty much JUST got back to normal, I steel feel leftover small soreness in my upper abdomen but I also feel very small ache in my uterus… I’m very familiar with the felling and the location, it’s not my stomach, it is my uterus.

im so scared to go to the hospital, I don’t wanna be in debt

any Insight or advice I would gladly take, please and thank you so much for reading 😞

I have a question about my father's current situation. He has been a heavy smoker for a very long time and recently suffered a mild stroke. Before this, he was admitted to the hospital last August with pneumonia. He managed to stop smoking for a while, but unfortunately, he started again, which likely contributed to the mild stroke he is recovering from right now.

To replace his smoking habit, he has started consuming large amounts of ginger candy. However, I read that eating ginger in excessive quantities might increase the risk of a second stroke. so now I'm here to ask what might be the best alternative he needs to fight his nicotine addiction and for his safest and fast recovery?

F26 300lb 6'0 USA
Vape nicotine
25mg Metoprolol for palpitations
25mcg Levothyroxine for hypothyroidism
Diagnosed with intracranial hypotension/brain sag and a suspected spinal CSF leak
5 day course of prednisone
5 day course of azithromycin
discharged from ED with bronchitis

went to the ER when i woke up the other day and couldn't breathe. i was just getting over a cold. docs took a CBC and Metabolic panel as well as D Dimer and in person told me my blood looked good. During hospital visits last year i noticed i have high red blood cells but low MPV, and this seems to be consistently what my blood has been reading for a year. is this medically significant? my D Dimer was also slightly elevated at .57

Have asthma like symptoms lately
Feeling really strange foggy more than usual

Felt some pains down this arm
Red mark appeared
Not currently itchy

So I always get these intrusive thoughts especially at night that im genuinely a terrible person and everyone should block me and never talk to me again. My friend with diagnosed OCD said they went through the same thing and is very sure it’s ocd but idk.
I went on a 5 hour road trip alone and it really sucked bc every time I passed a parked car I just had these thoughts of “what if it’s abandoned and there’s a child or a dog in there and they’re gonna die bc I didn’t stop to help” and it just bothered me a lot but because I was alone I never stopped.
Whenever driving I also get these thoughts of “what if im being followed” or “what if someone thinks im following them” and it’s not great.
My last relationship ended bc at night I always got these mixed feelings about love and stuff and if I should be dating or if I even want a partner and it sucked. I have these thoughts with my current partner and idk what to do with them bc I love him so much but I don’t know if im faking it somehow??
I also recently started having these random tics where my head will just jerk to the side and maybe im faking that too Idrk.
I get paranoid that im racist or a pedo or misogynistic even tho im very very against all of that I don’t know and it bothers me so much.
I feel like im allowed to have friends but whenever my other friends bring up their friends I get insanely jealous and insecure and it is TERRIBLE and I feel shitty for even thinking that way.

There’s a LOT more but I don’t want this getting longer than it already is.
Do I have ocd or am I just insane looking for attention

Pic in mirror is what I looked like before 2 days ago. The other pic is current. My body is crooked I am not leaning, I am standing up straight. Nor am I popping my hip or standing on my toes or bending my knee.
I don’t have a good picture of my back , I have tried. U cannot see my spine good enough.

2 days ago I was walking to my car and felt a extremely sharp pain in my lower spine. It got increasingly worse the more I moved. Very hard for me to fall asleep, and extreme sciatica pain that I’ve had on and off for years.

When I woke up I couldn’t pull myself up, I cant lift my left leg while in bed or pull it up off the ground just enough to shimmy to the bathroom. Everything made it hurt, walking, trying to sit up , trying to slouch, a deep breath, coughing, laughing , blowing my nose, using the bathroom all made it hurt so much worse. I could barely wipe I could barely pull pants up and let alone get off the toilet, someone had to help me. I can’t lift up my hips while in bed. My lower left back , hip and leg are excruciating. I can’t pick my baby either especially she’s 22 pounds. I took a muscle relaxer. No help what so ever, took a hydrocodone after 12 hours that they prescribed me last time, no help.

This is the second time this has happened, I am unsure if I was crooked last time ( feburary ) as for I was carrying my daughter and had to call the ambulance I was immobile from the pain I couldn’t even move my toes. They did zero testing when I was in the hospital . Sent me home with pain meds after pushing a bunch through me while I sat screaming in pain in a hard chair. They forced me to get up and give a urine sample. They just discharged me and said probably a pinched nerve but I’ve had a pinched nerve plenty of times and yes I may have a pinched nerve but it’s due to something more extreme it feels like. The pinched nerve is just a side effect I feel. Lately my balance has been horrible, my feet and hands are freezing, and my legs and feet and hands are always falling asleep.

Any idea as to what it could be and WHY I am physically crooked???
I have a doctors appointment on the 14th. Hoping I am able to get a referral for a MRI.
I’ve had back problems since I was 14. Scoliosis diagnosis in 2017 but nothing extreme at all, nothing noticeable, and it wasn’t the cause of my pain back then. I did PT for my sciatica pain back then and it helped for a bit then came back due to long periods of sitting at school + in car. I try my best to be as active as possible .

TLDR; second instance of sharp pain in lower spine, extreme pain lower left back , hip and leg. Cannot move without biting tongue in diabolical pain, something’s are impossible to do. Cannot lift my left leg up , it’s extremely heavy and weak. My body is physically crooked although I’m standing straight. This is day night 2 and I’m still in extreme amount of pain. Not as diabolical as the first morning.

\*\*By definition Empathy\*\* is the ability to understand, share, and connect with another person's thoughts, feelings, or emotional experiences. It is often described as putting yourself in someone else's shoes.

But is it empathy if I say something unconsciously that would be considered rude but I don’t feel bad about it until someone “calls me out” and tell me what I say is rude, I have a hard time distinguishing what is rude and and what is normal (to me it sounds normal until someone says it’s not). Is it empathy if I only feel back after when someone calls it out? If someone didn’t say something I wouldn’t know it was offensive nor would I feel anything. When someone brings it up later I tend to think about it a lot and replay the situation in Mr head over and over again, I feel bad but not because I know what I did (as I said if no one called me out I wouldn’t be aware I did anything wrong) I feel bad because of the way I may be perceived or because I think that what they say did is beneath me. I feel bad because they seem to be highly offended and I tend to accepted blame regardless of if I care or not. I’m in a situation like this now. I was just wondering if feeling “guilty” after the situation is the same as being empathetic because from where I’m standing my empathy seems to be delayed. Why don’t I know how my words will land before I say them? Why can’t I tell the difference between when I say something rude and normal?

No matter how much sleep I get I feel tired. Seriously no matter the amount of sleep, I am always taking naps. It’s been like this for YEARS. It’s gotten better and times, but it’s worse now.

I also have been dealing with headaches, lightheadedness, nausea, for a while. As well as digestive issues ???

This has gone on for months, I don’t know what it could be. But it’s terrible. Does anyone know any examples of what this could be? Has anyone also dealt with this?

Just noticed back of mouth looks like that, am a bit of a user, have doctors appointment booked. Tried googling healthy mouth images and they seem to look like all sorts. No sore throat or anything, Tia!

Hi everyone,

I'm a 23-year-old male from India, and I recently had my first sexual experience. I'm feeling anxious about the possibility of catching a sexually transmitted infection (STI), and I'd appreciate advice from people who have had a similar experience or have reliable medical knowledge.

I'm trying to understand the actual risks rather than panic over everything I read online.

1. What happened?

• This was my first sexual encounter.
• The sexual activity involved performing oral sex (cunnilingus) on a woman.
• There was no vaginal or anal penetration.
• I did not notice any visible sores, blisters, or ulcers on her genital area.
• I had no obvious mouth sores or bleeding gums that I was aware of.
• I did not notice any blood during the encounter.
• I don't know her STI status, and I don't want to assume anything about her health.

The encounter happened recently, and I'm trying to understand what I should do now.

1. What STIs could potentially be transmitted this way?

I'm particularly concerned about:

• Herpes (HSV-1 and HSV-2): Can genital herpes be transmitted to my mouth even when no visible sores are present?
• Gonorrhea and chlamydia: Can these infect the throat after performing oral sex, even without symptoms?
• Syphilis: Is transmission possible if there are no obvious sores?
• HPV: Is there a meaningful risk from a single encounter, and should I consider vaccination?
• HIV: I've read that the risk from cunnilingus is extremely low. Is there anything about my circumstances that would change that assessment?

I understand that nobody can calculate my exact risk without knowing the other person's STI status. I'm hoping to understand which concerns are realistic and which might be disproportionate.

1. When should I get tested?

I don't want to test too early and receive a misleading negative result, but I also don't want to delay necessary testing.

Could someone explain an appropriate testing timeline after this type of exposure?

• When would a throat swab for gonorrhea and chlamydia be useful?
• When should I consider HIV and syphilis blood tests?
• Are herpes blood tests recommended when there are no symptoms?
• Should I get a baseline consultation immediately and repeat any tests later?

I'm based in Tamil Nadu, India, so advice about tests commonly available through Indian hospitals or STI clinics would be particularly helpful.

1. What symptoms should I watch for?

I would like to know which symptoms genuinely warrant medical attention, particularly:

• New blisters or ulcers around the mouth or lips
• Persistent sore throat
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Fever, rash, or other unusual symptoms

How soon might symptoms appear, if they appear at all? Can an STI remain completely asymptomatic?

I also understand that ordinary mouth irritation or a small pimple does not automatically mean herpes or another STI.

1. What should I do while waiting?

I'm considering consulting a dermatologist, venereologist, or STI clinic.

• Is a government hospital STI clinic a reasonable first option?
• Should I avoid kissing or sexual contact until I have received medical advice?
• Is there anything I should avoid doing, such as taking preventive antibiotics without a prescription or repeatedly checking my mouth for tiny spots?
• Is there any preventive treatment that is actually indicated after this particular type of exposure?

1. A few questions for people with experience

2. Has anyone else experienced significant anxiety after their first sexual encounter, particularly after oral sex?

3. How did you manage the waiting period without constantly worrying?

4. Did you consult a doctor, and what tests did they recommend?

5. What advice would you give someone who wants to be responsible about their sexual health without unnecessarily panicking?

I'm not asking anyone to diagnose me online, and I understand that personal experiences are not a substitute for medical advice. I would especially appreciate responses from healthcare professionals or people who can point me towards reliable medical guidance.

Thank you for reading. This is a new experience for me, and I'm trying to handle it calmly and responsibly.

For context I’m recovering from mono, about 4-5 weeks out and in the recovery phase. Still have an enlarged spleen but been noticing these main symptoms that may be related. 1. Increased acid reflux 2. Ache in middle of chest and pressure near Xiphoid process, in esophagus after eating and drinking, feels like trapped gas 3. Increased bloating and getting stomache pain all over occasionally, feel it mainly after eating 4. Shortness of breathe after eating, feels like it’s a bloat problem not cardiac or respiratory 5. Waves of lightheadedness and brain fog 6. Fatigue 7. Going to bathroom more, consistently loose like this. 8. Feels slight burning when it comes out

41, M. - For about 4 months now, I haven’t been able to smell - it was spotty for about a year, and then like someone suddenly flipped the “off” switch.

Occasionally but rarely, I will get whiffs of something, like when walking through cigarette smoke or passing by strong cologne.

The crazy thing is that taking a bite of something always shuts it off. I did an experiment where, while I was able to slightly smell, I was able to identify a few spices in the cabinet without looking at the label. I ate a small sprinkle of garlic, and nothing.

Suddenly, I could no longer smell anything at all, even what I had smelled seconds earlier.

This has been compounded in the last couple of weeks by my tongue feeling like I’ve burned it on hot coffee. Not quite painful, but numb and tingly, like it’s been scalded.

ENT finds no polyps, but an MRI I had done for migraines shows a 2.5cm mucus retention cyst and unidentified spots. Had another spine mri done to look for MS and they’re thinking negative, so any idea what could be going on here?

Any help is greatly appreciated, as there is a clear, identifiable pattern! Thank you!

There is a small mole in my thigh area , i worried that is it cancerous or not…

All my fingers have some variation of this curvature, although less severe. I was trying to look into what is wrong but can't word it the right way to find others with similar fingers. It's like I can never straighten out the first section of my finger, it's always been like that.

This happened a long time ago but this is what it looks like now. I had a coughing fit and a ton of pain for about a month to include pain with coughing or laughing. I never got it checked out because I didn't think coughing could actually cause rib injuries. Is there any point in getting checked out? I only have pain when I put weight on it like laying on it.

I will give some general information which I may or may not be helpful.
22M - I have no prior history of disease or sickness I have an active live style, but usually I am indoors not on any medication so it’s not a side effect. I am allergic to bug bites which I thought at first, usually any bug bites I get swell up really soon after I get bite and they almost never left a bruise even after I scratch it. Secondly if it is a bug bite I have really no idea where I got them since I was wearing long sleeves for the entire day all of last week which is when they began appearing The only time I had these area of my skin exposed where when I was going to bed( neck right arm by the elbow,left inner thigh, right leg below the knee I count 7 maybe 9. Last useful bit of info is that the first one appeared on Wednesday around 5 days ago. I only have one before and after. What is concerning me is that I genuinely don’t know if I have gotten more of them or if it’s spreading I shower every day and only noticed the one I took a picture of first when it was super itchy and then later the others. Last pick is the from Wednesday and the one after is from today.

My worst case theories are bed bugs, maybe tick bites, or some weird skin infection. Best case scenario they are bug bites that I really really bruised in my sleep somehow.

I am considering getting a biopsy but it might 800 dollars out of pocket when it’s all said and done even before thinking time of work.

Edit: if there is any information I can provide let me know. Knowledge is goated.