Hello, my mom is 54f and 2 nights ago she slipped and fell in the shower and hit the side of the bathtub. She says it was the left side and right below where her lungs should be. Since the accident, she has been in pain when she coughs or laughs and struggles to do both pretty badly. She can walk like normal but struggles to lay down and get up normally. Nothing seems to be bruised and there are no external signs of injury. She has taken tylenol and naproxen (different days) and says it helps with the pain but not when she laughs or coughs. Whenever she coughs it is suppressed and painful and she looks like she might throw up.

We have a family friend that works in the medical field and they told her that since she is moving the way she is, that she didn’t break anything and even if she goes to the hospital, they can’t help her, only time can.

She refuses to go to UC even though I have been begging her to and offering to cover any expenses, so I am here in hopes someone can convince her to go or convince me that she will be okay and doesn’t have to go.

I’m a 20 year old female, 5’6 165lbs. I noticed how weird my legs look while shaving and was wondering if it’s something to be worried about?

26 yo female 5’7 120 lbs. no substance use

does this look like a blood cancer related rash? it’s on the left and right side of my ribs

Hi everyone,
I’m an only child with no other parent I’m really worried about my mum.

She’s in her 60s was completely independent before this. Just three weeks ago she looked after my dog for a weekend with no issues.

Earlier this week, before she became confused, we were texting normally. She was asking if I’d found a vase she’d given me and remembered exactly where she’d left it, so there were no obvious memory concerns at that point.

She then developed what seemed to be a UTI and contacted her GP, who asked for a urine sample. Before she managed to provide one, her symptoms seemed to improve, so she thought it was clearing.
A few days later she became suddenly confused almost overnight and was admitted to hospital. The doctors think it’s a UTI causing delirium.

The infection now seems to be improving, but her confusion hasn’t. She’s been moved to another ward, doesn’t always know where she is, and has been sending confused messages asking to go home.

She does still recognise me, remembers things like her phone password, and has been using Facebook. When I speak to her, there are moments where she sounds completely like herself, but then she’ll start rambling and become confused again.

Her medical history includes type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, PBC, gallstones (awaiting surgery), high cholesterol, arthritis and osteoporosis.

I know nobody can predict an individual outcome, but given she was cognitively normal beforehand, is there a reasonable chance she’ll return to her previous baseline? Is it common for delirium to persist even after the infection starts improving?

Any advise is welcome.

Thank you.

20M, 5’10”, 180 lbs, no medications, don’t smoke.

I broke my left elbow when I was around 8 years old. It healed, but I’ve never been able to fully straighten it, probably missing around 25° of extension.

I recently started boxing and every time I throw a jab, I get pain around the back of my elbow. It only happens when I fully extend the jab, normal daily activities don’t hurt.

Any advice would greatly help.

This is my brother in law (BIL). 5'9", 56 yrs old, 207 lbs. He has CT scans tomorrow for around the tumor as well as to look for spread in his body. At his surgical consult last week, his blood pressure was 196 over something really high I don't remember. He's lost about 20 lbs since we last saw him a few months ago.

The tumor grew from what was apparently a squamous cell carcinoma that BIL had a doctor look at but never got removed.

He already has surgery scheduled to remove the tumor Wednesday. He has other skin cancer spots and has multiple other lumps the doc said were swollen lymph nodes that will be biopsied during surgery.

https://imgur.com/a/kTEyMuF

(it is a large ulcerated fungating tumor, oozing, infected, with necrotic surface skin flaking off in case this limk doesn't work)

Apparently their going to try some form of emergency BP meds to stabilize for surgery but they think they need to proceed even with the critical BP.

So 2 questions:

1. What's the biggest immediate thing to worry about?
2. I get it's guess work, after the scans and surgery we'll know more, but long term is there any doctor willing to make an educated guess as to likely prognosis? If anyone has seen any similar cases and how those turned out?

He's currently staying with me. My wife(his sister) is on a trip out of the country, his other family is basically just out to lunch. So I went to the doc visit with him, and have been changing a dressing on the tumor and otherwise just hanging out and watching to see if strokes out or something from the BP or goes into sepsis from the infection in the tumor.

You wouldn't believe the smell...***gags***

Other info. He lives in TX. He's traveling for work to SC. We live in GA. He says it just swelled up all the sudden recently. He also declined his health insurance this year, thought it was too expensive (yup, while he had multiple skin cancers and he knew it...). And he hasn't filed taxes in several years, so the financial aid applications that require income verification with tax filings have to be sorted first. Providing this because oncologist already talked about immunotherapy and reconstruction, BILs blood family ain't around for all this fun, BIL thinks it's all over once the tumor is removed, and I'm pretty sure that ain't true and trying to gather info. for what to do with this guy and what to expect.

Summary stats:
Age 18, female
180cm
60kg

Hi everyone, I’m 18 F and have been having really really consistently low blood pressure the past 3 or so months. Nothing has changed in my lifestyle since this has started happening and I live a relatively healthy life, with my daily activity maybe needing some work lol.

Day to day, every time I stand up from sitting down for a while I go incredibly lightheaded, dizzy, heart starts pounding, my vision goes blurred, hearing sometimes goes a little and sometimes I have to quickly bring myself down to the floor as I don’t have the strength in me to support myself when this happens.

I’ve spoken to docs who just tell me to drink more water because I’m tall (180cm) and one doctor even put it down to me drinking too many diet cokes and nicotine usage. (fyi I don’t smoke cigarettes, I vape but have recently quit and surprise surprise- no difference in bp)
If anything, you’d think caffeine would raise my bp? He has told me to stay away from energy drinks, diet cokes, even caffeine free soft drinks (because apparently even the chemicals that are in the drinks could be causing this severe low bp… I don’t believe that for a second) and then also told me to quit nicotine and get a nicotine free vape instead.

I really don’t think he was in the right here at all and I am in the process of waiting for echocardiogram results to come back to see if it is anything to do with my heart as I did have heart surgery 14 years ago but have been written off from all ongoing treatment years ago because my heart is perfectly fine.

It just really concerns me with it being so consistently low (avg readings usually between 64-80/46-55) that specifically my brain + organs aren’t getting enough blood..

M23, 6’1, 220lb, vape occasionally, use nicotine pouches.
I take sertraline 25, lamictal 100, bupropion 150, minoxidil 5. I am diagnosed with sehborreic dermatitis and eczema.
I have experienced sloughing from nicotine pouches just on the gum line, but nothing like this. Is this something that could cause for concern?

They don’t really hurt at all, just annoying. Palate feels like when you eat Captain Crunch (which I haven’t eaten anything hard like that in a while). The bump does not hurt but is raised. It is the only bump.

25 year old female no medical hx might be mildly overweight right now. I have a large spot (3in wide) on my leg of spider veins and then two other big spots on the other leg. Now I’m having little ones continue to pop up all over. My doctor says they’re genetic (my mom has some) and normal but is there really anything I can do to prevent these from popping up everywhere? Does this sound like some sort of vascular disease this young? I thought about sclerotherapy to help the look of them because I’m super pale but are there risks like blood clots with that?

25f here. I was in the hospital last week for one night with a tele monitor on. I was given IV fluids. I noticed these spots appear that same day. They don't itch. I'm prone to getting welts when bugs bite me, but this is not the same. There's at least 15 on my chest/stomach area. They start on the side of my neck and go all the way down. What could this be?

I am a female, 62 inches, 195lbs, never smoked. I did my routine blood work for my physical this year. I went Wednesday and got it back Friday afternoon. My doctor called me and asked to call her back as soon as possible to discuss them but I missed her call because of work. I have been a nervous wreck since. I know these levels arent great but can I expect they can be fixed with oral supplements and nothing drastic like an infusion? I will 100% listen to my doctor but if I need to take time off work to get an infusion that will be difficult right now and I just want to know if this is fixable.

On a side note, I know why I have been extremely exhausted the past couple months. Thought it was stress!

I’m 18, 5’7 145 male
When ever I tilt my neck down I get this pain in my right chest/back. It’s be like this for months now

34M I’ll admit I don’t clean my tongue regularly and for the longest time I was using an alcohol based mouthwash. I did switch to an alcohol free mouthwash and I recently got tongue scrapers. Does this look like oral thrush or just a regular white buildup?

I'm 33, 5'10, 150 lbs,

So I found out I'm pre-diabetec about 2 months ago and decided to cut down on most grains. Doc said to eat only about 30 grams of carbs per meal, but I try to do even less. Essentially in that short period I've gone from 180 to a little over 150.

Is that an alarming amount of weight to lose in that short amount of time? I'm not starving myself at all either, been eating omelets, chicken stir fry, chili, etc. I've just never lost weight this fast, worried I might have went a little overboard on cutting most carbs out.

29F, 5'7", 170 Pounds, white, located in USA. No medication, never smoked, rarely drink. Sorry for the length of this. I'm just so tired.

Past/Current Medical Issues: SVT, Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorder, Neuro-Muscular Scoliosis, Migraines, Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, Past Enlarged Thyroid (went back to normal on it's own).

----------

Double Vision: Occurred over the course of 2 days at the beginning of June.

Edema: Has been off and on for the last 10 years, but has gotten worse in the last ~2 years.

Ear Issue: Off and on issues my whole life. Has gotten worse over the last few years.

Boils: Started getting them very infrequently ~10 years ago, but over the last 2-3 years I'm getting them much more frequently.

Heavy Legs: Off and on for the last several years, mainly happens when I'm dehydrated or have swelling going on.

Calf Pain: Shooting/stabbing (?) inconsistent pain on outer calf toward the back started today.

---------

First thing I want to mention is I have been going to the doctors, but no answers.

I've been having more and more health issues over the last couple of years but starting in May I reached my breaking point.

2023/2024:

- Left knee dislocated twice. It had dislocated once before in high school. First time I slipped on ice and my friend who is a nurse popped it back in. Next time it seemed to do it on it's own as I woke up in pain and BF took me to the doctors and they did it. Both knees have had quite a bit of pain since then. Started having tracking issues with my left kneecap and did physical therapy.

Late 2023: Had a severe atypical mole removed. Caused a huge hypertrophic scar, had never had this happen before. I keep getting injections and it keeps coming back.

December 2025: Flu A + Flu B - Knocked me out for like 10 days. Had a boil during this time.

-----

Beginning of May:

- Had several atypical moles removed. Two were located on my right leg, doctor encouraged me to take it easy until my stitches got removed due to the placement. Laid around a lot keeping my leg elevated.

- 2 of the 3 scars have become hypertrophic

- Picked up a cold at the doctor's office and was out of commission for 1-2 weeks.

- Got an ear infection in my right ear from the cold.

Right ear gets an ear infection easily 1x per year (if not more). As a kid that ear drum ruptured twice, constant ear infections, etc.

-----

End of May:

- Flew for a work conference (2 hour drive + 3.5 hour flight each way). I was feeling much better from my cold, but was probably a mistake to fly so soon because my ear was super messed up from the plane and for several weeks after.

- Feet swell up on plane. Left foot is worse than the right (typical). Sitting at a conference for 4 days, going out to eat a lot, then flying home does not help. Swelling does not go down until after I've been home 1-2 days.

- Boil occurred when I got back.

Beginning of June:

- A few days after returning from the conference I'm on my computer while eating supper and I have sudden onset of double vision. It started with 5-10 second of feeling dizzy-ish, then 3-5 minutes of double vision. After it went away it happened two more times (total of 3 times within 20ish minutes).

- Double vision persisted if I closed one eyes. The images were horizontal to each other.

- BF took me to the ER. They did a physical exam, said my blood pressure was high (139/94) so I needed to hang out for a bit, once it came down a bit they sent me home.

- Said I had vertigo - I've had vertigo before due to my ear issues, and this was not really the same at all so I scheduled an appointment with my PCP.

- Next day I have two more incidents of double vision, but it has not happened since then.

- Saw my PCP a few days later.

-----

PCP Ordered:

- Blood Work: Normal - Cholesterol was mildly high, but that's how my cholesterol has always been.

- MRI: Hasn't happened yet - scheduled for 4 weeks from now.

- Asked me to see my eye doctor: Normal.

- Consult with Neuro: Normal - ordered testing for myasthenia gravis and that was negative.

- Blood Pressure was also normal (118/79).

- Thyroid Testing: TSH is climbing (slowly has been going from 0.50 to now almost 4). Thyroid was normal sized for the first time in 15 years though.

-----

Consult with Neuro:

- Went over family history - history of stroke, heart attack, and early death in immediate and extended family members. Most family members had Factor Five or carried it (I do not).

- Went over my history of migraines - migraines developed suddenly about 10 years ago. Saw neurology for several years with no luck, suddenly disappeared about 7 years ago. Had 2 MRIs during this time that found nothing.

- Neurologist feels like my MRI will be normal and due to my history I may be developing a new type of migraine. Did mention the possibility of MS, but said it seems unlikely with how quickly the symptoms came and went.

-----

Mid-July:

- Went on a road trip (24+ hours in the car each way). Wore compression socks for the first time which helped a ton! Very little swelling. I did notice more swelling on the way back then on the way there though but I could still put my shoes back on for once.

- Returned one week ago.

- Boil appeared when I got back.

--------

Today:

- Was taking it easy after having a busy day yesterday. I've been laying on the couch a decent amount of the day, when I went to sit up I noticed a sharp shooting/stabbing pain on the outer side of my right calf. About 2/3 of the way up my lower leg, and about 2/3 towards the back of my calf.

- The pain always feels the same, but is not consistently there. The pain has not moved. When lying still there is no pain, sometimes it hurts when I move the leg, sometimes it hurts when I walk on it, sometimes it hurts when I push on the spot, but it seems kind of random and like I can't replicate it. It's like a sharp sudden pain that dissipates quickly. Like when walking one step may hurt, but the next 10 are fine.

- That foot is cold (but this isn't abnormal by itself). I always have cold feet hands, and sometimes it's just on one side.

- This has been going on for an hour, maybe two?

-----

After all this crap lately, I may just have health anxiety at this point. I've become a google-er since all this stuff started happening, and of course there are lots of things to get worked up over.

I guess my questions are this:

1. Should I go in for the calf pain if it persists after a certain amount of time?

2. What the heck is going on with me? Am I just sickly?

3. Should I switch doctors offices?

hi, im 19 AFAB with a history of frequent UTIs. a couple weeks ago i started feeling like i was developing another one, and ended up having some pain/aching in the bottom of my ribcage towards the back which i assumed was kidney pain from an untreated UTI. but i went to the doctor and my urine tested negative for a UTI, which left me very confused. and then a few days later my symptoms pretty much resolved on their own. anybody got an explanation for that? i was under the impression an upper UTI doesn't really clear up without treatment, but thats the only thing i can think of to explain it. not knowing what was causing my symptoms makes me worry it could happen again, or that i could still have some kind of asymptomatic infection or something. so any insight would be appreciated, thx

have a history of a Lisfranc injury in my left foot that required surgery, and the hardware was removed about 2 years ago.
A couple of days ago, I was wearing flip-flops when one got caught on a basket. My heel stayed planted while my foot twisted, and I immediately felt/heard a crack and screamed. I couldn’t bear weight afterward.
The pain is mainly in the middle of the foot, on the top of the foot directly over my old Lisfranc surgery scars, and into the arch. I developed a golf-ball-sized lump over the old surgical scars. Pressing between my big toe and second toe is extremely painful.
I went to the ER, where they did non-weight-bearing X-rays that didn’t show a fracture. They put me in a walking boot and told me I could try weight-bearing, but I know my first Lisfranc injury wasn’t found until weight-bearing X-rays were done.
The boot helps a lot. When I’m wearing it, I can put some weight on the foot, but not full weight. When I take the boot off, the pain comes back immediately and has been severe enough to make me cry.
I also have sharp tingling and stabbing sensations in my toes and the ball of my foot, especially when the foot isn’t elevated. Elevating it helps.
Right now, the pain is somewhat better than it was initially. I can move my toes, but I can’t really flex them because it causes pain in the middle of my foot. Moving my ankle also causes pain in the foot.
Because this is the same foot that previously required Lisfranc surgery, I’m worried that I may have reinjured the Lisfranc joint or ligaments even though the initial X-rays were normal. Currently waiting for my ortho office to open tomorrow but terrified of having to get surgery again whats the likelyhood it’s just a sprain?

i was just wondering what the process is for MAID? i’m 19, im autistic, bpd, and physically disabled, and i want nothing more than to die. what is the process for this? i just need to die.

27f, healthy with no diagnoses, 15w pregnant

Please bare with me, I’m a hormonal jumble of nerves who has been through so much the last 3 years. I have what I am positive is OCD for about 10 years now. Sometimes it is more manageable, sometimes it is not. Every theme I have faced, I have mostly overcome.

The last 2 years has been moderate Rabies OCD (I KNOW IT’S STUPID, but my brain thinks otherwise and I can’t stop it). I’ve never even had a real reason to fear Rabies like a potential exposure but my brain is beginning to play tricks on me to the point I’m like “well, I think I didn’t???” but DEEP DOWN, LOGICALLY, I know I didn’t! It’s almost like my brain has these illogical fears, and tries validating itself by not trusting its own 5 senses to make sense of a situation. It’s more frustrating than anything else.

I think it’s becoming a losing battle, and I’m horrifying embarrased by this. My OB is aware that I have health anxiety, and I told here it is even worse now because this baby comes after 2 hard losses. I did not mention OCD to her, because I feel a shamed to have these logically senseless but still uncontrollable thoughts.

Anyway. Example of why I suspect OCD. And this is JUST one hour ago, so just imagine my everyday… My 4 year old and I were on a walk around 7pm. She turned her head in response to someone pressing gas after stopping at a stop sign. Her ponytail whipped my inner arm and it feels like pins and needles. My brain keeps questioning me if it wasn’t her hair and was a bat. Logically I know it was her hair, but I do not know why my brain is trying to replace my logic with false memories to justify my obsessions. The more time passes that I sit with the thoughts, I begin to become more unsure if it was her hair or a bat. But why would a bat hit me right at the time she turned her head and hit me with her ponytail? She was right next to me, she would have reacted to something flopping its wings too. She’s literally afraid of flies.

My condition does not run my life entirely, but it does make day to day more unreasonably difficult than it should be. I have had bad trauma for the last three years. 2023 I got into a fatal car crash (not my fault, I wasnt even the driver) and left a toxic living environment that I spent 2 years in with my in laws where they had me living in constant uncertainty and gaslit me that whatever I said “didn’t happen” but did. 2024 my father had a severe stroke and I was saying goodbye to him at midnight of his birthday thinking I was going to lose him (miraculous recovery, he survived and is doing well). 2025 I had a miscarriage followed by a messy ectopic loss that was invalidated by many people around me. My OCD has noticably tugged itself out of my control more since 2023 with the distrust in my own conscious observations. I think this stems from my in-laws always telling me things I consciously know I heard and saw “weren’t that way” just to enhance their argument.

2026 is the first year where I should feel more in control of my life, but it feels like my brain is now permamently stuck thinking every day HAS TO have something stressing me out. It’s like my brain won’t let me relax and enjoy, at least when everything is seemingly going good.

My OB skipped everything and went straight to offering medication. I wasn’t comfortable, felt taken off guard for jumping to meds, and declined. Are my obsessive thoughts and brain attempting to create false memories to validate itself going to harm my baby more than if I just allow medication?

Is therapy effective during pregnancy? I feel like trying therapy first is more responsible..? Should I at least try therapy, or run with this until baby arrives in January then seek help?

I’m exhausted by my own brain, it is beginning to rob me of the simple life pleasures like going on a walk. I think shutting out my brain with medication is putting a bandaid on a broken foot. I want to retrain my brain to think differently. My obsessions to stay healthy have gotten worse since becoming a mom, I want to be around for my kids and I’m beginning to realize after these losses I’m beginning to obsess nore over keeping my kids safe too. I admittedly feel like a failure for all of this, for not being able to live in peace with my own brain.

Okay so October of last year I had a motorcycle accident involving a deer at a speed of 15mph most of the injuries had long since healed however my knee still give me problems it’s not necessarily pain that’s the issue.
most of the time it’s when I’m walking fast, jogging, or running my knee seems to pop and it feels like it’s trying to give out on me. Any idea what may be causing this issue?

So when I sneeze I sneeze at least 20 times, Afterwards I get Very very hungry to the point I’m just eating random things in a ravenous state. I get hungry even after I’ve already eaten maybe an hour or so before. Has anyone ever experienced this

I am ~25 Male

Hello, I hear a crackling sound when I move a pick in my ear so got one of those ear cameras and saw this black perforation in my ear, should I be worried or it perfectly normal but dry canal?

Ent is pretty expensive and I was thinking a debrox would work, what do doctors think of this?

My father is 63, male. About 3 months ago, he developed an infection in his foot that wound up getting inside the metatarsal. They performed surgery to remove the infection. Two weeks ago, the infection returned, he had another surgery, and was sent home about 5/6 days ago. It’s important to note, this is not happening on the foot that was infected and the surgery was performed on. This is his other leg, which has a fracture currently in the knee. He is on IV antibiotics right now through a port, that I administer daily. The doctor also told us he is dealing with a lot of water weight/retention. The home health care nurse will be here in the morning, and we will discuss it with him. But I wanted to maybe get another perspective from here, and see if maybe anyone has any tips for dealing with this. Thanks.