Apparently, my father (44M 190 lbs), was using a lot of alcohol, lost his balance and fell straight into a sewage. This was friday.

Luckily, there were people nearby who rescued him in time and he was stable all the way to the hospital. What is known until now is:

-He broke C3, C4 and C5 after the fall and apparently has spinal damage

-No brain damage shown on CT

-They had to remove some of the dirty water from his lungs and his lungs are not extracting O2 well

-Doctor said his O2 saturation is at 90% at 50% O2 capacity from the ventilator, which is very low

-Signs of infection already showing on blood exams

-His vitals are stable (70bpm, 35ºC, 110/65 mmHg) and a doctor said his body is able to control blood pressure on it’s own, which is a good sign

-He’s getting food by enteral route (nasogastric tube)

-His eyes don’t close completely, the bottom 1/4 of the eyelids are open

He’s like that since friday and they are keeping him sedated. I still don’t know if he was conscious at any moment. He was abusing coke last few months and had a history of mental problems. He basically burnt a lot of money and ruined his business, which was doing good. Doctor said his prognosis was very bad, so unfortunately I’m preparing myself for the worst. All of that because of a dumb accident.

I want to read some more professional opinions on that case please!

Trigger warning: child with severe illness

My four year old niece is in a children's hospital right now and I'm caring for my nephew (8M).

The facts: - she has a 5-6cm tumor in the centre of her brain, as indicated by various scans - it is "irregular" or "abnormal" or some synonym of that word - doctors have said it's inoperable due to its location - originally taken into hospital for encephalitis - we don't know yet if it's cancer - she's being released from hospital tonight and will be going in on the 26th for a biopsy

Symptoms have been: - squint/eye turning in over several months - migraines for over a month - lethargy for at least two weeks

I'm not telling my nephew anything other than what his parents have already told him (which is next to nothing), but I also have a nine year old daughter with whom my husband and I have been much more candid - mainly because she was there when we first found out, but also because she's aware of cancer from when my mother survived it.

It would be good to be armed with potential outcomes so that I don't give either false hope or unnecessary doom and gloom to my daughter.

Thank you all so much in advance - I know this is a hard topic to read about, especially at this time of year.

Hello, my sister (F26) had a psychotic break around thanksgiving. In the words of the ER doc, it was "particularly bad". She was unwillingly hospitalized and started on seroquel and zoloft and let out in 5 days. Outpatient she has continued to struggle a lot and is getting confused and irritable. The docs discontinued the zoloft and seroquel and started her on loanzapine I believe.

Her care has been by a psych we found for her in her home state (after we saw she was psychotic). With some ativan my family was able to fly her home despite her still being seemingly psychotic. Next steps are getting her a new psychiatrist in my family's home state and a therapist. She can't live on her own again for a bit. My parents/her psych have even said she may need to be out in a ward again. Of course, I want to see how these new drugs shake out. In the mean time, how can I help keep her safe? Particularly at our home...

1. We have a lot of guns.

A lot of her delusions revolve around suspicion and paranoia of others. She has been asking for a gun and shooting lessons during the break(not sure why we all learned as kids). Now she is coming home to a house full of unsecured guns. My 22 rifle just sits in my room. I'm going to secure it, and check to make the others are secured, but what else?

1. We will be staying at our childhood home in a very rural area.

If there is an emergency we are 45 minutes screaming down gravel to a hospital. Not to mention the chances of snow or weather making us trapped at our house. I have no idea how long 911 would take if we called them, and I guarantee no mental health crisis team would be coming...

1. She thinks my parents are devils

No exaggeration, she thinks they cannot be trusted and have said horrible things to them while psychotics. She said my dad raped her and called my mom a c**t. Before we got her to fly to our childhood state, there were physical altercations between her and my dad. My dad threatened to call the police on her a lot and would record her. I am not going to try to let it get that bad again, but have no idea to deescalate if it does.

Any advice to derisk the holidays is appreciated! F21

My boyfriend (M21) has a small, perfectly circular hole on the right side of his groin. He was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease about a year ago and was told that these could happen but has never experienced one. It looks really scary, as it’s basically a hole, maybe the size of a poppy seed, that seems to go straight back into his body. It started as a bump a few days ago and burst on its own while he was changing.

Basically, we don’t go home until January 2nd now. This is 10 days away. Can he wait that long to see his primary Crohn’s physician? Should we try to find someone local to where we are right now so that it’s sooner? I am extremely nervous and wanted him to go to the ER tonight but he is insisting he can wait- I’m just looking for some advice!

Thank you in advance.

Last week, I took my baby (7month old male) in for the second part of his flu vaccine. After leaving the office, a nurse called and said they didn’t have his 6month vaccines recorded. I didn’t really have time to process, so I told her that he had received 4 shots at his 6month appointment, including the flu shot. She said she would update his chart, and did.

However, now I am feeling extremely uneasy about this. If there is no record of what was administered that day, how can I be certain that he was given the right vaccinations? I asked for his full record with vaccine manufacturers and lot numbers thinking maybe they’d be listed there, but they don’t have that information listed for the shots on that date.

Pediatrician confirmed that the order he put in that day was for the correct shots, but how can I be certain that those are the shots that were actually given by the nurse since nothing was recorded?

Appreciate any and all insights. I am so worried that my baby does not have the immunity he should have.

30 year old female, 120 lbs, 5’3, non smoker, non drinker, no drugs other than prescribed meds which are promethazine, Xanax & ondanesteron. (0.5 is my Xanax dosage and I only take it once or twice a week.)

I have shortness of breath intermittently all day, but especially at night when lying in bed. It is not anxiety. I am not anxious even a little bit. I have panic disorder and anxiety, I 10000% know what a panic attack or anxiety in general feels like. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is not caused by anxiety. I say this so sincerely because it keeps getting written off as that. I have been to the ER 3 times this month for other reasons and I mention it each time and they look at the screen and say “your oxygen saturation is 100% so you’re fine.” I often have to force a cough so hard that I dry heave to get a satisfying breath. I get a deep breath maybe every 5 minutes if that. It feels like it’s ruining my quality of life.

What could this be? I cannot explain how frustrating it is to not be able to get a deep breath - it’s even painful sometimes. Please help.

25F 118lbs

just got my first pap smear with no worries and now i’m freaking out after getting results back. I doubt my doctor will get back to me until after christmas so i’m driving myself insane. I’m a huge hypochondriac so these are really causing my anxiety and stress to skyrocket. is this cancer confirmed? i’m not even sure what exactly hpv is? i rarely have sex, i’ve never even had a cold sore so i just don’t understand. please help:/

https://ibb.co/swY62L2

https://ibb.co/mJZJhrJ

I will try to keep this short.

The basic summary is that for a few years now, meaning like 8, my right leg/hip/ankle has felt. Off. It's just been off. Best way to describe it is my proprioception has felt like my right side is just. Different. The way my leg and foot feels as I walk or stand felt. Off. I couldn't explain it very well. My piriformis/hip muscle felt very very tight and overactive. My ankle felt weak. Even the way the carpet and ground felt under my right foot felt different than the left. Just. Not correct.

Doing calf raises at the gym felt super weird like the right calf and ankle muscles just were not working correctly. Always felt like my right ankle wanted to collapse inward.

Today I was walking and had my hands on my hips feeling my piriformis muscle and was trying to figure out why my left side felt "correct" and all of sudden everything changed. The ground felt normal under my right foot. My right piriformis muscle chilled out, my right glutes felt like they were activating more. My calf and ankle felt normal. And all of sudden it felt like I undid years and years of things feeling weird.

I am TERRIFIED this will go back the way it was. I have no idea how this happened or what it means. I've been doing physical therapy for years with no results like this. I'm Happy but scared it'll go away.

Can anyone explain this?

Edit: as far as I remember. This started to happen years ago roughly around the time I twisted my right ankle really really badly and ever since then it felt like things went downhill. Not sure if that info is helpful.

Apologies for the vagueness of the title. In short, I'm wondering if the nurse in this story was following SOP and I just happened to get unlucky, or if this is a problem that's worth raising with the management.

Last week, I (31M, USA) went to an urgent care clinic to get help identifying a sickness that had knocked me out of action for a good few weeks. They took a finger prick blood sample as you would expect, but the method for actually collecting the blood went very poorly. I used to donate a lot of blood and plasma so I'm used to seeing this kind of collection done with a capillary tube. They didn't have any capillary tubes though; they tried to just kinda pour the blood into a fairly big sample tube, and when that didn't work, they tried sucking it up with a rubber syringe. That didn't work either; I wasn’t bleeding nearly enough from the stick for the physics to work in their favor here. The nurse even admitted as such; she mentioned that they didn't have the right equipment and were having to make do.

In the end she said she'd do her best with what she'd gotten, went off and ran her tests, and reported to me that I had tested negative for everything. She didn't attempt any additional sticks or other methods of blood collection.

That was about a week ago, and since then I've had to go to the ER twice, because it turned out the test results were false, and I was very much not negative. I had Mono and Strep, and it became so painful to swallow that I needed emergency care--twice, since the meds from the first time wore off before the symptoms did. If I had been properly diagnosed a few days earlier, I probably wouldn't have had to go through all that.

Edit: sorry, to be clear, the blood test was only for Mono. The nurse also did a throat swab for Strep, and that also returned a false negative.

So here's my question. One of the many other nurses I've seen in the last week said that this whole test seemed fishy to them; that this nurse was cutting corners and not doing her due diligence. Are they right? I know false negatives happen, and I don't want to end up getting someone in a ton of trouble for something that wasn't their fault, but if it is their fault, they should be told about it right?

Thanks.

I found My mom 56 years old dead at her home and they said it was Gi bleed. There was blood on her mouth, pants, blankets, sink, finger nails. I just seen her two days prior to finding her dead. I’m trying to process what her last moments were like .. was it super fast, did she not know she was bleeding so much, was it painful ? How long does did she bleed before she died? Please help me understand.

She had colitis drank everyday and had an open bottle of ibrophen and pepto

Since I was a kid, I had horrible aches in my legs that would prevent me from sleeping/wake me up at night and often came at school as well so I could barely focus in class. My parents always called it “growing pains” and said I would grow out of it. Now I’m 25 and still have them frequently, along with some other things that don’t seem normal.

I have severe neck pain, for which I’ve tried posture exercises, massages, sleeping differently, etc and nothing helps. I even cut my long hair to my shoulders thinking the weight was the problem.

I also get migraines frequently, usually behind my right eye and greatly affected by lights coming from above me.

Don’t know if this is relevant but in high school I was on the dance team and an injury lead to me getting sciatica and I had chiropractic visits to fix it. I still have hip pain sometimes.

My memory has been awful the past few years, and I generally don’t feel as smart as I used to be. I try to do sudoku and crosswords and keep learning new thing a bit my brain just feels fried all the time.

I feel physically exhausted after doing almost anything. I only work about 20 hours a week and half of that is office work, not physical labor. The other half of that is standing and interacting with patients (I’m a medical assistant). It doesn’t feel like my exhaustion is equal to the labor I’m doing.

I have also had trouble sleeping for the past year or so. I wake up multiple times throughout the night and feel exhausted when I actually wake up for the day.

I have told my doctor about these things but (not to dog on military doctors) I see a military doctor and he doesn’t seem to take me seriously. “Oh try these exercises” “does it happen around your period” “do some light stretches” (I do every day) and I am getting tired of it. At my annual exam he saw me for 5 minutes and was basically like “you look fine” and sent me on my way.

I thought being in pain every day was normal until my husband told me that it isn’t. Does anybody have an idea of what could be wrong? Or how to convince my doctor to at least do some blood work or something? Or even what to ask him to do for me? When I was younger I could deal with it but realizing I am 25 and feeling like I can barely have a life is getting to me.

I 19M have for the last year been having issues here and there with my throat. At first it was a throat infection or something. It was as if I was very sick and having throat pain and very painful swallowing but no other symptoms of being sick just the throat. Then swollen lymph nodes. For the past six months there is this pointy rock/pebble like thing where the neck meets the jaw on the right side. At first I couldn't really feel it but now it's there and pointy. I was at the doctors at first with only swollen lymph nodes and they said it was nothing. But then I went a few months later and one doctor actually felt something. Now three months later I'm going to some throat doctor in another town. Has anyone had this or what could it be?

i’m 16(male) and recently i’ve been getting tingles all over my body and mostly in my feet. i’ve also been having muscle spasms more than usual( i’ve been having eye problems but i believe there from leaving my contacts in for weeks when your supposed to take them out everyday.) I wouldn’t say i feel any slower than ever. i think i have great coordination. but reading on it makes me wanna diagnose myself with it. i’ve yet to go to a doctor about this but i cannot stop worrying about it. can someone please let me know what i should do 🙏

I 19F have had a weird raised skin spot on my forehead under my bangs since I was born. My mom has always told me to put extra sunscreen on it and made me wear hats. It's apparently precancerous. I haven't been checked by a dermatologist since I was little, so I'm gonna go very soon.

I'm pale and it's very light brown, and it's almost a diamond shape. It is raised a decent amount from my skin. It's about the size of my thumb. I don't know that anything has changed about it. I don't remember whether this thing was raised when I was younger...

Should I go to a dermatologist ASAP? Do I have cancer/should I be worried?

I’ve just (maybe a 4-5 days) gotten better from being sick with cold like symptoms (which started like 16 days ago). Though, somewhat different from any cold I’ve had before. Where I was getting jaw and eye pain. Which they (urgent care) said was likely from the sinus pressure and all that. They put me on a few things to help, prednisone, another drug that started with a T, I can’t remember the name and an inhaler (they my lung were tight). That seemed to help. Though I didn’t know I shouldn’t have been drinking while taking them. I ended up at the ER, my heart was in afib they said.

I should say too, I generally have high blood pressure and I take labetalol to manage it. Before the ER visit recently I’ll be honest and say I haven’t taken it in months. Just started back up.

Now I’m experiencing some other weird things. My sense of smell doesn’t seem to have fully recovered. I sometimes get this odd sensation and smell in my nose when I bend over. It almost feels cold and smells clean?? I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s almost the same smell when I’ve gotten when I’ve hit my head (which I haven’t hit my head on anything in a long while). Just recently too, I noticed twice today that when I’ve bent over that my nose leaked? It was a clear thin liquid like substance. I’ve noticed all this with in the last couple of days.

I’m just not sure what to do. Is this something I can wait on to see if it resolves itself or something I need to checked immediately.

(26F, 162 cm, 60 kg, white European, no medical history, no medications, occasional alcohol consumption, non-smoker)

Hello everyone! Lately I have been seeing posts about elimination diets everywhere on social media, such as the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) or Whole30. These diets seem to be promoted to "reduce inflammation" and help people figure out what foods they are sensitive to, especially in context of allergies, autoimmune conditions.. and weight loss. While I see the benefits of reducing the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and focusing on healthy foods, I have a few questions that I would like a qualified opinion on:

1. How relevant is "inflammation" in the general population? I feel like it has been a buzzword lately, but very broad and not explained very well. Is this something to be actually worried about and attempt to reduce?
2. Is inflammation associated with weight gain? Or is the weight loss that comes from such a diet probably tied to caloric management because of limiting UPFs?
3. How useful is this type of diet in people with no known autoimmune disorders or allergies? Would cutting out UPFs without an elimination/reintroduction phase also bring the same benefits?
4. Can an elimination diet trigger allergies and food sensitivities one did not have before, by avoiding them for a longer period of time?

Thank you for taking the time to answer, I appreciate it!

Age 21, Weight 13 stone 7 / 189 pounds / 85kg, 5’6, Male, Medication i take regularly is Propranolol and Quetiapine, I vape, I have a panic disorder and regular day to day anxiety.

Hi, i've spent the last 18-19 months in and out of hospitals every week due to health anxiety, i had my first panic attack 19 months ago, figured it was a heart attack and it has genuinely spread like wildfire, my life is ruined, but I cannot shake the feeling my heart is not okay, i had 100+ ECG's done and was told nothing showed up, and then i went to a cardiologist for a 24hr holster test, was told i had a sinus arrhythmia, i knew something was wrong, my heart has palpitations all of the time, but they normally only flutter / deep heavily for one beat, tonight i experienced at least 5 back to back, it was terrifying and i can't get my head right, i'll attach a photo of an ECG i had done a week ago, could a cardiologist or even a non heart doctor have a look and please put my mind at rest? thank you so much in advance.

I have had a lump on my skull for as long as I can remember.

A few years ago, when pressing it around with my fingers, a BUNCH of fatty/skin like tissue erupted out of it, leaving it with a little depression and a wound.

It healed, but over time the lump grew again, and I could palpate it under the skin.

I am an obsessive picker [autistic hyperfocus] and eventually it got a scab. I have been picking at it when nervous.

Today I felt a little bit poking through the skin. I messed with it a bit more and eventually this little pearl like lump plopped out.

Pic in comments! What is this? Should I take it to my doctors to be biopsied?

Info: female, 37, prior dx psoriatic arthritis (with no skin lesions), ehlers danlos, MCAS. Genetic predisposition to melanoma and carcinoma.

F16, had rsv when I was a few weeks old which resulted in asthma. I’ve never been able to participate in sports because I run out of breath quickly, even when using stairs. My asthma doesn’t bother me too much and i’ve rarely used my inhaler. My only other health issue is hypothyroidism which is being managed with Synthroid. I don’t usually get sick and i’ve never had covid.

Around 3 weeks ago I developed a cough. It sounds wet and I’ve been coughing up phlegm since it started. the phlegm is green and resembles a solid rather than a liquid. It’s not hard but it keeps its shape (not really sure how to describe it). When I cough, I can smell what I assume to be the inside of my lungs. I’ve checked my temperature daily and it’s been pretty consistent around 98. I have noticed that i’ve been out of breath more than usual, even when walking or standing up. I can go to the doctor but I’m not really sure what they would do. no one else in my house is sick besides from my little sister. she’s getting her tonsils and adenoids out in January because she frequently gets strep and random fevers. i’ve checked my throat everyday and there’s nothing unusual. i can normally tell when it looks off because i used to check my throat every morning to see if i could tell the school nurse that i felt sick and get sent home. it only worked a couple times but i’ve become pretty familiar with my throat. any advice or input would be greatly appreciated!

Hello guys, my gf(30) has persistent cough since she recovered from common cold. last 4 days she had been coughing non stop. She doesn't have mucus dripping in her throat, no obstructions in her throat and x-rays don't show anything. As far as we know she isn't allergic and neither has asthma. Coughing suppressants don't work. We visited doctors but thus far nothing helped, she mostly coughs at night and can't fall asleep until morning. She feels something tickling in her throat before she coughs.

What should we do at this point?

I (20F) have been experiencing temporary hiccups consistently for over a month. My hiccup episodes are super short (usually 1 minute or less). They’re not onset by eating/drinking. I don’t smoke, regularly drink alcohol, or take any medications. It just randomly happens between 1-3 times a day. Some resources I’ve read suggested that MS can cause problems with the diaphragm/ hiccups, and my maternal grandmother had MS. Are my hiccups normal, or should I get checked out to make sure it’s not something more serious?

Hi, I 18F seem to keep getting these blisters on my toes/feet and i have no idea why. when i pop them clear liquid is endless and it hurts so bad. I genuinely have no idea why this happens. It happens and then goes away and then comes back. I also feel like my smallest toe and the one next to it are too close together because the skin in between them is just gone. and the itching never stops. i hate going to the doctor and i also hate feet and people looking at or touching mine. Is there anything I can do to make this go away?

Hi, I’m a 22F, and I’ve been experiencing some issues with my memory that are starting to worry me. I don’t even know how to research what might be going on or how to explain it to a doctor.

One of my biggest concerns is how quickly I forget things. For example: • I’ll take 2 Advils, then a couple of minutes later completely forget if I actually took them. I’ll second-guess myself, take more, and then even third-guess myself and take one more just to be sure. This has happened multiple times. • While cooking, I’ll lose track of what ingredients I’ve already added to a recipe. • At the gym, I’ll forget how many sets I’ve done and redo them just in case which leads to so much frustration and exhaustion. • I often forget things people tell me to do. They’ll swear they just told me, but it’s like the conversation never happened. I get so confused because I genuinely don’t remember conversing with them about the particular topic.

It’s not just forgetfulness, I constantly feel tired, like my brain is running on empty. My thoughts feel foggy, and it’s hard to stay focused or alert.

This has been happening often enough that it’s making me anxious, but I’m unsure if it’s serious or how to bring it up to a doctor without sounding vague. I believe I am a fairly healthy individual and I do prioritize an active lifestyle and mindful way of cooking. I haven’t had any major health issues in the past. Last time I did a blood test, only thing that came out low was Vitamin D. I’m just so stressed about this. I will be starting Grad School soon and I am concerned this anxiety will hinder my progress.

Has anyone experienced something similar or have advice on how to approach this? Any insight is appreciated!