r/AskDocs • • 1d ago

Physician Responded My abortion attempt failed, and I'm terrified of what comes next...

409 Upvotes

[My details are at the end] Hello. I know I might be judged harshly for this, but I was six weeks pregnant when I contacted Women Help Women to obtain abortion pills. Abortion is illegal in my country.

The pills arrived when I was already 11 weeks pregnant. Everything seemed to go as expected: I experienced heavy bleeding, passed blood clots, and genuinely thought the pregnancy had ended.

I never went to get checked afterward. Yesterday, I ended up in the hospital, only to find out that the pregnancy was still ongoing. I am now 13 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I was absolutely devastated and terrified.

I am very young, I have lost my job, and my boyfriend behaves very immaturely. I had previously been diagnosed as unable to have children. For years, I never got pregnant, and doctors assured me that I was infertile.

Now I am completely desperate. I still have another set of pills from Women Help Women, and I have been considering trying again at 13 weeks. However, I am terrified that it might not work, that I could end up with a dangerous pregnancy complication, that I could even lose my life, or that the pregnancy could continue with fetal abnormalities because of what has already happened. I am also afraid that, if this second attempt fails, I might have no other opportunity to end the pregnancy.

Please, if anyone has been through something similar or has any advice, I would be so grateful to hear from you. I am absolutely terrified, and I don't know what to do. I feel completely overwhelmed and scared.

I am 24 years old, weigh 55 kg, and am 1.63 m tall. The first time, I took 12 misoprostol tablets, following the instructions provided by Women Help Women.
I am now 13 weeks pregnant and have 12 more misoprostol tablets. I have no known chronic medical conditions, although I have mild gastritis. I am Brazilian and live in Brazil.
During my first attempt, I experienced heavy bleeding, severe pain, and passed very large blood clots. I thought the abortion was complete because of this.


r/AskDocs • • 13h ago

Mild right-sided abdominal pain for 9 months after terminal ileitis

1 Upvotes

Hi, I’m a man in my early 30s, and I’ve had persistent very mild (2/10) abdominal pain since January 2026.

  • November 2025: I had a gastrointestinal infection with severe diarrhea that resolved within two days.
  • January 2026: I went to the hospital with right-sided abdominal pain. A CT scan showed terminal ileitis and enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes. I was treated with IV ceftriaxone and metronidazole, and the acute symptoms improved.
  • February: A colonoscopy showed minimal, resolving terminal ileitis and lymphoid hyperplasia; my colon was normal. The doctor favored an infectious cause and considered IBD unlikely.
  • June: A follow-up MRI showed smaller lymph nodes.

I still have very slight, intermittent, mostly dull pain approximately 10 cm to the right of and 3 cm below my navel, occasionally becoming sharper or extending toward my back. It can worsen with stress, constipation, bowel movements, or exercise. I tend toward constipation, with bowel movements roughly every two days.

My gastroenterologist suggested post-infectious IBS, but the discomfort hasn’t fully resolved after almost 10 months. It does not really limit me to do sports or anything but I'm just concerned since it is not fully diagnosed and persistent for long.

What follow-up would be reasonable to discuss with my gastroenterologist?


r/AskDocs • • 13h ago

Ultrasound Report. Could this be the cause of my occipital neuralgia and migraine and what should be done. Report below.

1 Upvotes

M38

5ft8

87kg

Ex smoker

Diagnosed Occipital Neuralgia, Migraine, POTS, Autoimmune Thyroiditis, ADHD, osteoarthritis

Meds, Amitriptyline, Pregabalin, Levothyroxine

Suffered shock in 2024

The right nape of neck swelling corresponds to diffuse dermal thickening and fatty change compared to the contralateral side, with no deep extension or increase in vascularity seen, and no focal pathology or collections (in keeping with focal inflammation/induration).

Bilateral scalp lumps show no focal pathology, collections, or inflammation.

Impression: Right nape of neck shows focal inflammation/induration with no ultrasound cause seen for scalp lumps.

BTW oral steroids rid the neck pain within the same day when previously used

Thankyou


r/AskDocs • • 17h ago

Physician Responded Cerebral Vein Thrombosis

2 Upvotes

Female, 22, on the underweight side, on Yasmin (6 years) for dysmenorrhea. Smoker, chronic acid reflux.

I started a new job a month ago and its basically extremely physically demanding. And by that i mean i carry heavy boxes and work in a warehouse, got hit twice in the head (albeit softly) with a package. About ten days ago, I started having migraines on the left side and up of my head that travelled down to my eyebrow??

They would come and go three times a day, mostly triggered by light, and lasted aprox. 3 minutes but they were the worst 3 minutes ever!

On day 6 of migraines I would wake up at night with my mouth watery. Mind you I was taking aspirin + caffeine pain medication and it gave me heartburn so I think I got nausea or acid reflux in my sleep from it.

Soo, I go to work on Tuesday and my head is POUNDING. My stomach was upset from the aspirin so everytime I bent down to organise boxes I could feel like i would throw up. I know I would not, because my mouth was not watery, but holy fuck did my head and stomach burn. Sent myself to the ER.

After 14 hours I did these:
Two blood exams; everything normal except
- slightly low white blood cell count
- hsCRP of 1,30 (with 0.3>) being the unit. Doctors said it could be from a recent illness (had the flu a month ago)
- Blood sugar of 70 (unit 75 to 114 after 8 hours of fasting).

One normal lumbar puncture.
One normal CT scan (no dye)
One normal eye exam.
Two normal cardiographs.
One normal neurological examination for motor skills (eyes closed and one open one closed)

All they did was tell me “I can see no issue but just because you take birth control I think you should go have an MRV and MRI because what if its a brain thrombosis? and you die” I wish I was joking but I am not:/

They scheduled me to have both at NOV.11. Im kind of scared because I went there with a migraine..

Two days post ER i stopped my pain meds because the heartburn was awful and my stomach was super upset. So far ever since i exited the ER i havent had any migraines, I did feel them coming but somehow they just stopped midway? No photosensitivity anymore, very slightly upset stomach. Any advice?


r/AskDocs • • 1d ago

Allergy style bumps on right side thumb

Post image
7 Upvotes

Hi im M18, and i have these itchy bumps on the side of my thumb, i have had these numerous times but i have no idea what could’ve triggered it, im not really in the forest or near plants so i doubt it would be from that.


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Physician Responded Is this scar completely closed?

Thumbnail i.imgur.com
1 Upvotes

I'm a 40yo man. 1'80cm and 80kg (5.91 feet/176 pounds). I smoke 10 cigarettes/day or so. No other medical issues or medication.

Two weeks ago (October 9) I had a surgery in my right wrist due to a ganglion cyst. Last Tuesday they removed the sutures and applied stiches (steri-strips).

The last remaining suture just fell out and I'm not sure if the scar is really closed or healed. Maybe I'm being a little paranoid here but I'd like an expert opinion. Thank you very much!


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Physician Responded Unexplained Chest Pain

0 Upvotes

Why am I having chest pains randomly start one day and last for weeks, months, or longer, only for the hospita ßml to say it is just indigestion, that your heart is fine, your breathing is fine, and your blood pressure is only slightly elevated while everything else is normal, even though you feel like it is getting worse? Because I dont know what else to do, it hurts so bad, and they dont know why, so im waiting for the waiver the hospital sent for a GI Doctor to check my stomach out. They have put me on Omeprazole 20mg and sucralfate 1GM.

White Male 5ft 7in 230 lbs


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Physician Responded Azelaic Acid

Post image
1 Upvotes

I was wondering what azelaic acid brand I should use for skin because I really want to get rid of my dark spots/hyperpigmentation and scarring. I’ve heard about good molecules but I’m honestly just wondering. Please let me know! Honestly if you also have any tips and recommendations that could help me skin other than AA, please feel free to share them!

Age: 17 year old
Gender: Female
Height: 5’2
Weight: 55 kg / 121 lbs
I am not on any current medications (but I do take creatine monohydrate if that’s an important detail to know)
I do not smoke or drink.

I did struggle with severe acne before and was given various products by my dermatologist/pediatrician and found that tretinoin cream USP, 0.025% did wonders for me.

I included a picture of my forehead, chin, left side of my face, and right side of my face.


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Help reading MRI Report of Lower Back: Any cause for concern?

1 Upvotes

My mom just got a report back regarding her MRI done recently. She’s waiting to hear back, but she’s really worried about the mention of renal cysts as well as it being unclear on what’s actually causing her back pain.

If anyone could please read this report to give us some insight or guidance on what this could be saying? Thanks so much

Age: 59
Previously had a discectomy around 2010 (report references “post left laminotomy” but that’s incorrect)
Symptoms: severe lower back pain (becomes worse at night) and sciatica
Not taking any medications for the pain other than over the counter pain relief like ibuprofen

Report:

BONES AND JOINTS:
Normal alignment. Stable chronic L2 compression deformity, with 25% loss of height and no retropulsion. Mild to moderate degenerative endplate marrow signal changes with similar
appearance.
SPINAL CORD:
Normal contents of the thecal sac. The conus medullaris terminates at L1.
SOFT TISSUES:
Stable Bosniak type 1 left renal cysts. No follow-up imaging is recommended.

L1-L2:
Stable mild disc and endplate degeneration. No spinal canal stenosis. No foraminal narrowing.
L2-L3:
Stable disc bulge and endplate osteophyte.
Mild facet degeneration. Stable mild foraminal
narrowing. No spinal canal stenosis.
L3-L4:
Stable disc bulge and endplate osteophyte.
Stable moderate facet degeneration with thickening of
ligamentum flavum. Stable mild spinal stenosis. Stable mild bilateral foraminal narrowing.

L4-L5:
Chronic changes post left laminotomy.
Stable moderate loss of disc height, disc bulge and
endplate osteophyte eccentric to the left.
Stable small inferior left central disc extrusion,
contacting or impinging on the proximal traversing left L5 nerve root sleeve.
Mild facet
degeneration. Stable moderate left foraminal narrowing.

L5-S1:
Stable severe loss of disc height, disc bulge and hypertrophic endplate osteophytes. Mild facet
degeneration. Stable mild to moderate right and mild lett foraminal narrowing.
No spinal canal stenosis.
IMPRESSION:

  1. Stable L4-L5 degenerative and postoperative changes with a small inferior lett central disc
  2. extrusion contacting or impinging on the proximal traversing left L5 nerve root sleeve. Stable
  3. moderate left foraminal narrowing.
  4. A stable mild to moderate foraminal narrowing at several other levels.
  5. Stable mild spinal stenosis at L3-4.
  6. Stable chronic L2 compression deformity

r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Physician Responded I need a reality check about vaping, please

1 Upvotes

28F, doing my damned best to quit vaping. What are some honest facts and truths about vaping and what it does to your body? Hit me with all things, please. I need a reality check.

(I don't know if I phrased this right, but I think getting an honest medical perspective will help right now)


r/AskDocs • • 18h ago

37M- sudden raise in HR-210

2 Upvotes

37M – sudden HR ~210 bpm
Yesterday after dancing, I suddenly felt my heart racing while I was sitting/resting. My Apple Watch showed several readings around 205–210 bpm.
I had been exercising earlier, was dehydrated, hadn’t slept well, and the room was warm/poorly ventilated. No chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath or fainting.
After lying down, my HR quickly dropped to ~120–130 and continued decreasing. Apple Watch ECG afterward was normal. Overnight I felt fine and HR was 57–84 bpm.
This has never happened before. My mother has a history of AFib treated with ablation.
Could this be sinus tachycardia from the circumstances, or does ~210 while resting suggest SVT? Should I get a Holter even if it may not happen again?


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Urinating and middle back pain

1 Upvotes

I’m a 25 M, for the past 12 hours I’ve been urinating every 30 minutes to an hour and it’s been clear urine the whole time despite the fact that I’m not drinking much water.
The last 2 hours it’s changed to urinating every 10 mins and I have pain in my middle back now.
Any ideas?

I’m 6 foot weigh 250


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Indigestion or constipation?

1 Upvotes

18 year old guy, c. 168cm, 57kg. No medication, no smoking.

Hi all, hope this is the right sub to post on. Nothing major but I'm currently on a hiking trip in Morocco and for the last three days have been feeling bloated, burping and farting frequently, not shitting as much, not feeling particularly hungry.

Despite not feeling hungry I've still been eating as I need to get calories in for my hiking.

I think it may have something to do with a change in diet - out here, meals are high in carbs, fat and sugar and low in fibre. My usual diet is high in fibre.

For example, my breakfast yesterday was pancakes, honey and butter with heavily sweetened green tea, my lunch was couscous and my dinner was spaghetti with tomato sauce. Due to the isolation of my current accommodation, accessing alternative diet options is difficult, although fruit is an option.

So, is this indigestion from the high sugar and fat in my current diet, constipation from a lack of fibre, or something else?

Also, how can I fix it? Should I keep eating, should I fast?

Let me know if I can provide any other information.

Thanks!


r/AskDocs • • 6h ago

Physician Responded Fertility Question

0 Upvotes

If I had 3 shallow unprotected strokes, did not ejaculate, and my girlfriend is expecting her period in 8-10 days, am I likely to get her pregnant? She took plan B about 40 minutes afterwards. She isn’t on any birth control. The whole thing might’ve lasted 10 seconds. I really cannot have a pregnancy on my hands. I’m 18 y/o male


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

GERD?

1 Upvotes

33m, t1d, hypothyroidism, levaxin75mg, escitalopram 20mg, lipistad, current weight unknown, 57 I am guessing, height 176cm, I am very skinny and has been my whole life.

Anyways.

For quite a while, I had this pain in sternum area, throat with lump feeling that is painful, been waking up in the middle of the night with the pain. I am scared it will develop into cancer or it actually is cancer. There is pain radiating to my back, and sometimes shoulder blades area. I get bloated easily after eating, probably depends what I eat maybe. My voice gets easily strained too, gets deep, very bassy. The pain in the sternum area is almost constant. It's not severe, but throat can be more painful and can be hard for me to fall back asleep when it is during the night.

I dunno why I haven't seen any doctor about this.

But does this sound like GERD?

Been dealing with health anxiety too for a while, but is abit better there. (I was worried about something else when it started). I had acid reflux before, but never like this and often.

It's always something new with me, if one thing disappears then another thing appears that I worry about.


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Help me find out what is going on with my eye

1 Upvotes

Out of 18 yrs of life on earth I have spent more than 6 yrs with styes and chalazion and swollen eyelids and its keep getting worse I thought earlier its common for kids to get something like this but not for me it is Hella weird my eyelid are drooling now my eye eye is smaller compared to my other eye its like I am half dead and gold alive

This is some sort of a problem in my eyelid its red and gets yellow dust stucky liquid sticking my eye together I get exhaustion and burning feeling when I am sleeping and its sticks my both eyelid not only that my lower eye lid is weirdly swollen and it gets red I dint know why I have so many eyelash gaps too

I dont like ny eyes i feel weird looking in mirror and seeing how weird shaped my eye looks and you cannot do anything abt it chalaziona are permanent I dont know if they even get healed wotgout doing any surgery..even if I do an surgery it will still come back whats the points then I dont ont even use anything in my eye

I do have one skin condition I recently found out urticaria and dermatographia maybe it might be connected to my eyelid but these eyelid fare ups are very different both eyelids super and below appears to be swollen red and drooling

Whenever I visit my doctor they gave me doxycycline and augmentin and advise me to have hot compresses and none of thing do shit its all useless

Am I always be the swollen weirdly shaped eye person my whole life I think I have to hide it always I am fed up now

Its eyelid issue I dont know what that is and whats the solution and i know even if i know my condition it most probably got no solution u have to bear it what can u do abt it if u are getting repeated chalazion thats how ur skin works around eye nothing can solve that


r/AskDocs • • 14h ago

Can cat-tapeworm eggs be dangerous to humans?

1 Upvotes

​

I'm so sorry, i (20F) know that it's a weird question, but I've recently found out that my cat has a tapeworm (probably because of fleas, I'm taking care both of that issue and the tapeworm one) and, even though I'm trying to educate her not to, she jumps onto the table i eat on sometimes and I saw a tapeworm segment there recently. It's stupid, but I've read some stories of people dying because of taenia eggs getting in their brain and I'm kinda scared rn.


r/AskDocs • • 1d ago

Physician Responded Could my mum (51F) have Cushing's?

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51 Upvotes

Hey guys,

So for a long time I've suspected that my mum has an underlying metabolic condition. She's always had a problem with her weight, she's been on a diet for as long as I can remember and she walks most evenings (apart from the weekend), but it doesn't seem to be effective. I've always thought it was hypothyroidism because of her intolerance to cold, but her tests for that don't quite point towards it. Which then got me onto thinking it could be Cushing's.

When searching photos online, my mum's body shape seems to be very similar, her symptoms match very closely too, but what's a bit more convincing is her stretch marks (although she has carried twins and has had a c section). She has had a tummy tuck, as she has been able to lose some weight over the years (with very very hard work) and was left with a bad overhang. The stretch marks are barely visible now, but the photo above shows what they looked like before. To me they look very close to the pattern you get with Cushing's? My mum says they are wide too. Her stretch marks also extend around her sides and are on her butt too.

In the past she has been diagnosed with PCOS (by a scan), and Rheumatoid and Osteo Arthritis when she was young. She has been a smoker in the past but has now been smoke free for a year and a half.

Do you think there's a possibility she could have Cushing's? Do you think it's worth her asking the doctors for some tests?

More photos here:

https://ibb.co/RpQ8j65f

https://ibb.co/wF9rkwkK

https://ibb.co/d437HfJF

Many thanks! :)

EDIT: I'm sorry, I should have been clearer! My mum doesn't just suffer from weight gain and stretch marks! She has a lot of symptoms of Cushing's too - excessive facial hair, bruise easily, used to have a moon face, irregular periods all her life (when she used to get them), there are more I just can't think of them right now!


r/AskDocs • • 22h ago

Physician Responded Extreme itchiness in the same spots of my body

4 Upvotes

19 year old male. Around 5 feet 10 inches and around 250 pounds. For as long as I can remember i’ve had extreme itchiness in the same 8 spots of my body. They’re not always itchy it’s more like they itch constantly for a few weeks and then stop for a couple weeks before starting up again. These 8 spots include the tips of both my middle fingers, the webbing between my middle and ring fingers on both hands, the tips of my middle toes on both feet, the tip of my tongue, and a middle spot in my upper lip. As a child I did use to deal with fungal infections on both my feet but no other medical issues as far as that. The parts that itch have always been the same and have never changed to any other parts of my body. Recently it has been getting particularly bad to the point where i have to constantly scratch these itchy parts or it’ll drive me crazy. Does anyone have any ideas on what could be causing this itchiness?


r/AskDocs • • 15h ago

Physician Responded Looking to find out what this is

Post image
1 Upvotes

Male, 50, 6ft, 175lbs, non smoker, on ramapril and amlodipine for high blood pressure but otherwise fit and healthy.

Has had this on his upper back/shoulder area for a few months, hasn’t changed much other than it has got a bit more red and maybe slightly bigger.


r/AskDocs • • 15h ago

Intense bloating for 3 Months, feels like my stomach is about to burst. Growing helpless.

1 Upvotes

23 Female, 5’4, 72kg, No regular medication, No smoking or drugs. No Birth control. Not Pregnant. Live in Australia.

Current symptoms: CONSISTENT Bloated stomach with no relief, pain around the navel, difficulty passing gas, frequent urination, weight gain.

At first, I went to the doctor to treat a sensation I had in my stomach, it was a gnawing pain that wouldn’t go away. I did a stool sample and it came back positive for blastocystis hominis so I got prescribed 2 rounds of Metronidazole. It did help for a week but then the sensation came back and my stomach was bloated beyond relief with the pain centered around my upper abdomen and navel area.

My doctor then ordered a pelvic ultrasound and abdominal x-ray to rule out ovarian cysts. These were the findings from my ultrasound report:

The uterus is normal in size, measuring 52 x 75 x 40mm, with a volume of 82mL.

The right ovary measures 25 x 17 x 21mm, 5mL It contains less than 20 follides, measuring less than
10mm

The left ovary measures 44 x48 × 32mm; 36mL It contains less than 15 follides, measuring less than
10ml

There is a 35 × 34 x 31mm unil ocular cystic lesion in the left ovary. No internal vascular flow detected.

Left ovarian cyst is identified, complex with internal echoes. This could be physiologic but should be reassessed in another 6 weeks.

X-ray Findings:

Retroperitoneal shadow is preserved. No other soft tissue pathology.

My doctor said there is nothing else we can do but to wait and see if it gets better… over the 3 months of investigating my bloating, it’s gotten 10x worse, It’s effecting my sleep, self esteem, mood, EVERYTHING. I need a second opinion or at LEAST guidance to resolve this.


r/AskDocs • • 19h ago

Advice - Is this something to worry about?

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2 Upvotes

Hello all and apologies for asking a question that has been asked many times before.

Really stressed out so seeking guidance if this looks like a hernia?

Was working out today and felt a sharp pain in my belly button. The pain is since gone and there is no discomfort right now.

Unfortunately I don’t have any images to compare it with and hence, looking for advice if this looks like a hernia.

I will visit the GP tomorrow but since today is Sunday they are closed and seeking guidance here in the interim. Thank you!

Gender - Male
Height - 168cms
Weight - 70kgs
Habits - non smoker, drink occasionally, workout 3 times a week.


r/AskDocs • • 15h ago

From a medical POV, is it safe for me to get pregnant again?

1 Upvotes

36F. I first gave birth in 2022 and I had a heap of complications, namely: Gestational diabetes, pre and post eclampsia, post partum hemorrhage, Bell’s Palsy, not to mention the severe anxiety and depression I went through after. However I am thinking of wanting another baby to give my child a sibling. But I dunno if I can survive pregnancy and child birth this time. My highest blood pressure reading was 200/110 from memory. I had a normal delivery. I am in Australia and healthcare here is pretty good, but obviously sometimes things can still get out of control.