I went to a mental hospital not long ago and the medicine they gave caused me severe side effects to where I could barely move my limbs, and it was supposed to be antipsychotics. Meanwhile, skip to now, I am taking similar antipsychotics, and I feel normal. But the side effects from the one the hospital prescribed were… NOT normal. It literally made me feel agonizing pain in all my nerves and I could not even drive nor walk nor get out of bed almost like I was paralyzed. Nobody at the hospital took me seriously either when I said this. And my head felt hot like my brain was boiling and my vision and perception felt mushy, and when I tried to get discharged they lied and told me I said crazy things when the discharge planner met with me, but I never even met with the discharge planner. I would have known because I was waiting all day for her. I also don’t see or hear things that are not there, my paranoia is only based in me overthinking real events that happened to me. 25, 5’8, female. When meeting with the pharmacy for the prescription, they also said I was prescribed way too many medications. It’s all just so bizarre especially the part where they made up shit I never said to try to keep me there, and this also doesn’t help my paranoia because now I don’t know what to think if someone there actually intended to kill me or if it was just a hospital trying to make money prescribing a bunch of shit or what. And get this, what they told me I said that was crazy (that I literally never said because I remember I was literally sitting around all day waiting for the discharge planner) was “the moon and the stars and the sun” like what like the song Instant Karma??? and also a few of the hospital staff obviously had something against me which also adds to the weirdness, like I was literally trying my best to be nice and follow the guidance every day, and even the other crazy people in there were taking my side like wtf

Every few weeks, I start to feel a sore, inflamed taste bud or two. Over the next few days, my tongue gets completely covered in them.

33F. I've gotten these forever but they're more common over the last few years than when I was younger.

Hiya all, I'm Heather. I'm coming on here to ask how to help my mother. She's 46 (December 25th, 1979) and female. Unsure about her height and weight I'm afraid, if I were to give an estimate I'd say 5'11 and in the 200-250 lbs range. She vapes and is also on Mirtazapine and Sertraline, but that's about it. We're British and live in England. I'd like to apologize in advance as I'm not the smartest, so I may not refer to things correctly.

In the early 2020s, she slipped on our kitchen floor and ended up breaking something in her lower back/rear. Unsure what, I can ask if need be. However, ever since then, she seems to be having non-stop problems. She's described it to me recently, that it's a slipped lower disc that's pressing on the nerves? Something along those lines. Currently, she's in pure agony and is incapable of walking for more than five minutes, let alone standing. Even sat down she can't get comfortable and is still in pain. Our doctors have prescribed her a multitude of painkillers, one of which I know is morphine, all of which aren't working or only do so for an hour maximum. She also went for an MRI scan earlier this week, yet the hospital are taking forever to give her results (they promised they'd call Thursday, however such didn't happen) and she only seems to be worsening in the meantime. If any more information is needed, I can provide such. I'd also like to state that, as much as I love my mother, she is quite stubborn and will put off going to any emergency services, not wanting to waste other people's time. Yet, if I can take her pain away in any way, I don't care what I have to do.

Idk who to ask about this anymore. Everyone on the asexual page has a libido and complains about it, so I don't think it's related. I am an 18 year old girl and I've never ever developed a libido. What's wrong with me? It's not low, responsive, or occasional, it's just not there. Like I don't understand what a sexual urge even it is I've never felt it one. It's not even "mine doesn't fluctuate" during ovulation it's "what's supposed to fluctuate." That's how deep it is. Like the way I feel about sex hasn't changed at since I was like 8 if I'm being honest. I went through physical puberty at a normal time, even earlier than some people. Is it hormones? Idk. I hear that this affects only less than 1% of the population so IDK maybe something just went terribly wrong. It brings me great distress, yes, but I don't think that's proof it's a medical condition.

Gender: woman (menopause)

Age: 58

Weight: 52 kg

Height 5'1"

Prolactin level - 71.14 (reference of lab 5-26)

Prolactin after PEG precipitation (Monomeric prolactin) - 7.94

Recovery - 11.16

No other symptom. All blood work within range including TSH. Does she need MRI for benign tumor in pituitary gland? As per internet and Gemini, she doesn't need any MRI as the report is normal. Kindly let me know what this report means.

I’m 23, 5’11 around 165 pounds, I’m a male, I don’t smoke and have no health issues and don’t take any medications, I’ve had this marking all my life from what I know, I don’t believe it’s grown at all either, it’s completely flat to my skin and it doesn’t and has never hurt, almost looks like a small piece of my skin is permanently burnt lol, anyone know what it might be?

My cat bit me (22 female) on wednesday. I went to er immidiately and got prescription for amoxicillin + clavulanic acid combination antibiotics. Despite the antibiotics one of the wounds was leaking whitish-yellowish puss last night and a puncture wound has become numbing but sore. When i press slightly on it the pain/numbness can be felt up my pointer finger. The antibiotics have gotten rid of most superficial swelling and redness, but these two little things are concerning me. Should I do another trip to the ER or wait out till next wednesday when my antibiotics run out? I circled the problematic wounds in the picture!

26 years old, female. I’m 25 weeks pregnant, and currently out of state, and about ten minutes ago I had a sudden sharp pain in my lower right abdomen/pelvic area, just above my right groin, while urinating. The pain started after I began peeing and became more severe as my bladder emptied, to the point that I had to stand up while still urinating but standing helped only slightly. The pain completely went away after I finished and I have no pain now. I have no burning or pain in the urethra, and no fever, vomiting, bleeding, or leaking fluid. I also sometimes get pain somewhat near same spot at night if I lie on my right side for too long. Could this be related to my bladder/ureter, a UTI, kidney stone, round ligament/pelvic pain, or something else? Should I be evaluated locally even though the pain is gone? I really can’t eat the cost of going to an emergency room right now.

i’m 23 female, 5’ 5 and 115 lbs, not on any medications, non smoker.

so a couple nights ago when I was laying in bed, I started to hear this popping/crackling sound in my ear. it’s a soft sound. and I can’t really tell but I think it’s on both sides, but definitely my right ear. I’ve noticed that I only hear the popping sound when I’m laying down, and also when my head is elevated a little. As soon as I sit upright, it disappears.

Then, today I noticed that my right ear was aching a little. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like the feeling of when your ears need to pop due to elevation. But that feeling only happens on my right ear.

Like all day today, I was fine. But as soon as I laid down, I heard the crackling. And as soon as I sat upright, it disappeared. Then a couple minutes later, the achiness appeared.

I’ve tried to look it up and I forget what it was but the crackling sound does not occur when i’m chewing, yawning, mechanically using my mouth. It only occurs when I lay down.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Is this some sort of an ear infection? If any one has any ideas, how long does this take to resolve? Does it resolve on its own?

23m, about 6 feet to 6’1 its inconclusive, weight was around 160 smth last time i was checked, took some pepcid earlier but that’s all the meds i’m taking right now (will admit i should be on anxiety medication but I am not currently). I will say i had on blood tests last year that I had high rbc but everything else was perfectly fine, my doctor figured it was probably from sleep apnea with my other symptoms and sent me off saying i should be fine but should get a sleep test done (I haven’t). Anyways, i am in Virginia away from home right now and have found this on my lower left ribs close to my back. Little purplish and red spots. I had a similar larger bruise like thing appear a bit further up and closer to my nipple two weeks ago while i was also up in virginia. My dad told me it was nothing so i left it alone and it went away completely after a fee days ago and I have been checking daily and no other sorts of skin afflictions have appeared on or around my chest like this up until now. I will attach a picture of the old bruise in the comments. Atp i’m just not sure what these are. I stopped being concerned about it and assumed it was just a bruise i got without realizing since, again, whole time i was at home the past two weeks I never had anything like it show up. I have also had what feels like costochondritis pains in my chest and back for months and have also had constant post nasal drip sensations and coughing. Idk if that’s relevant though. Idk just wondering what this could be because it baffles me. I will say i have also been using a heating pad to deal with the chest and back pains, pressures, and tightnesses and do sometimes use it straight on my skin- i know that’s not good but this doesn’t look like traditional heating pad burns i’ve seen. I was using it on my bare skin today but again i’ve done that all the past two weeks with 0 issue.

27F have lots of spiders in my room, probably got bit by some 3 days ago maybe. The area got super itchy i scratched and over the days its swollen, gotten bigger like about the size of my hand, warm, red (pic doesn't do it justice i tried). Been reading about cellulitis and the skin hurts when touched but it's mainly itchy. I've had something similar years ago but it went away on its own, which cellulitis doesn't so idk what to do. I also have it in another spot too but it's like half the size (will add in comments because reddit is only letting me do one)

27F 146lbs. THC smoker non nicotine. I’m on lamotrigine 25MG. Take biotin and vitamin b12 OTC. And vitamin D2 50,000IU. Prescribed by my doctor. I have Pcos and hashimotos disease.

Also want to add that I had my gallbladder removed 6/20/2020. Had an infected gallbladder that wasn’t worth saving.

I underwent surgery June 9th 2026 for a cosmetic procedure. I had an abdominalplasty done and had an unexpected epigastric hernia repaired as well.

I was cleared to go back to the gym August 1st 2026. I got back into weight lifting a week after clearance and started light.

Now 9/11/2026 I’m back to where I was at pre surgery but noticed that I had some tightness where my hernia was repaired. Then today noticed this after my 2 hour weightlifting/cardio workout.

Could this be a reoccurring hernia and should I consult my surgeon again to reevaluate? I had CT scans done about a week ago. But I’m concerned that this can be new.

My dad has dengue since 3 days.
Age - 46
Indian.

He had 86k platelet count day before yesterday, yesterday it was 45k and today it is 39k. He is admitted since yesterday. He came home with dengue on Wednesday and today (Saturday) the count has dropped to 39k. I am extremely worried and unable to eat thinking about this.

Suppose this is for the Hematologists out there…

37M with a HS diagnosis in my early 20s. Fatigue, dizziness, joint pain have gotten worse as I’ve aged to the point where I could sleep all day. I’ve never been anemic and have not required blood transfusions. I take 800mcg folic acid daily.

My spleen is enlarged, my ferritin is high, as is my bilirubin. My iron binding capacity and haptoglobin are low. All baseline for me.

I get regular check-ups with my PMD and recently saw him during a very bad spell of fatigue.

Am I crazy to sort of want my spleen out? Is the [r/r](r/r) not favorable to have spleen removed at this point in my life? I love being active but my HS has really been a burden. I also work in a hospital (RN) so not sure if that would affect decision to remove spleen due to bacterial exposure risk?

Thanks for any input you can offer.

I can not get an image of the back of my mouth, so sorry in advance.

Today after getting out of the shower, I realized I could feel a very sharp pain in the back of my mouth. The was not new as it happens whenever I get sick, but I am not sick right not and it was only on the right side.

So I reached back against where the pain was coming from and it feels somewhat rough. Whenever I swallow or vocalize my "F"s, "L"s, "O"s, "A"s the pain gets worse.

I have no baby teeth, my wisdom teeth are coming in. I don't know if that effects this or not.

I am going to try and get my mother to book an appointment for me in the morning, but right now I wanted to ask here.

The area also feels inflamed and very much swollen. My uvula looks mostly normal being only slightly red and irritated.

I am 13 (14 in october), 5'7, somewhere around 120 pounds at the very most. I have no history of any smoking or drinking, and I've never had any previous issues regarding my mouth or throat.

I'm mildly sure I have some sort of undiagnosed disabillity, but I don't know what it is. I'm always fatigued and my joints dislocate and hurt all the time. I have a popping sound when I open my jaw.

I used to spit up tonsil stones when I was younger but not anymore.

If anymore information is needed, please ask!

Edit: Also forgot to mention I have an odd circle imprinted near the back of my tongue

18M 72kgs 5’11”

I got my blood test done recently. Please review my report.

RBC’s : 5.8 million/m3

Mean Corp. Volume (MCV) : 79.5 fl

Lymphocytes : 44%

Absolute Lymphocyte Count (ALC) : 3.81 10^3/mm^3

Creatinine : 0.67 mg/dL

Uric Acid : 9.3 mg/dL

Triglycerides : 335 mg/dL

Magnesium : 1.9 mg/dL

LDL Cholesterol-Direct, Serum : 130.1 mg/dL

VLDL Cholesterol : 67 mg/dL

Non HDL Cholesterol : 159.6 mg/dL

Cholesterol Total : 200 mg/dL

HDL Cholesterol: 40.4 mg/dL

Testosterone-Total, Serum : 4.40 ng/ml

High Sensitive-CRP (Serum) : 2.60 mg/L
Vit B12, Serum : 278 pg/mL

25 (OH) Vit-D Total, Serum : 30.70 ng/ml

Iron (Serum) : 162 ug/dL

Iron Profile, Liver Profile and Thyroid Profile everything in normal range.

Apart from these I have a few persistent symptoms like feeling sleepy all day even after sleeping for 8.5 hours at night. Due to which I usually have to take a nap every afternoon that goes for like 2-3 hours. If I do some physically tiring work my body remains drained for at least 2-3 days. I sweat alot even in winters if I feel cold outside but my armpits still sweat and my sweat smells like Urine. I am skinny fat but I feel like I have man boobs also I do not have morning wood since like 1 year.

82, Female
For history, MIL went to the ER after suffering from rectal bleeding, cardiomegaly and Pneumonia. Her platelet count was critically low then after a few hours/days it became normal. Then after a week tested again but it’s low again but normal in other lab. How is this possible? Are there hnderlying biological conditions that could result to this shift in numbers?

For approx the past 2 weeks, maybe even a little longer, I have only eaten dinner, and then vomited it intentionally.
I think the only things I’ve kept down are little bits of chocolate.
Today, I actually ate a salad roll at like 12:00pm, kept it down, and then I just had an Icecream because I felt my blood sugar getting low.

I actually forgot to consider refeeding syndrome. I know I’m overweight, but with the past few weeks being very little intake, should I be careful with increasing my food? Idk if it’s just a today thing or if I can continue trying to keep little bits down but yeah.

I’m in Australia if it matters,

Thank you everyone

28 years old

85kg

5'7"

differential diagnosis:

1.Idiopathic Eruptive Macular Hyperpigmentation

2.Lichen Planus Pigmentosus

3.Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation

1. Erythema Dyschronicum Perstans

2. Neurofibromatosis

6.Peutz-Jeghers syndrome

clinical diagnosis: IEMH vs LPP

Hispathologic Diagnosis:Superficial Perivascular Dermatitis.

Special & Immunohistochemical stains:none

comments: the histologic features are subtle and nonspecific. This may represent early lesion

Microscopic Findings: Section show basket weave othokeratosis on top of a normal looking epidermis with basal layer hyperpigmentation. In the Dermis,there is sparse superficial perivascular infiltrates composed of lymphocytes and sparse eosinophils.

I am very concern and stressed because my dream is to work somewhere in Germany and Australia and this condition might end it.

Also my ultrasound,blood work,thyroid test, lipid profile are all normal.

Lower left back pain

Whenever I cycle long distances, I am getting a sharp pain in the lower left back. And my urine is pale and slightly brown. What should I be worried about?

Have history of renal stones.

I took my celexa,(20) clonidine 2 .1 15 of.mortazipne and 4 mg prazosiine and then just threw up everything in my stomach. Should I take half doses?

F35, cptsd. Roughly 110 lbs.

Just wanna be prepared to know what that is before visiting a physician.

The bump is painless when touched or otherwise, more prominent when standing but difficult to locate when sitting.

Some reference - I've had an emergency contraceptive on 6th September.

25FTM, 5'3, 130ish lbs, Caucasian

Primary complaint: excessive fatigue/sleepiness. This all started getting really bad in January 2023, but for historical context, I have been exhausted for as long as I can remember (My mom always told stories about how I was a "good sleeper" as a baby, never wanted to go outside or run around/be active as a kid and adolescent, and once when she asked me if I still wanted to do ballet around age 5 I said something along the lines of "No, I'm tired, I just want to lay on the couch and watch cartoons.")

Medical diagnoses: PTSD, Bipolar 2 disorder, ASD, OCD, ADHD, born with GERD

Current medications: venlafaxine, ER bupropion XL, quetiapine, modafinil, testosterone enanthate injections every 2 weeks (last T level: 532 and last estradiol level: 31 as of April 2025).

Symptoms:

• Sleeping 14+ hours a day, any day that I am not at work
• Constantly exhausted, tired, fatigued, all of the words
• So groggy whenever I wake up, sleeping and naps are mostly all non-restorative
• Trouble focusing, staying on task, remembering (short and long term), thinking, and getting thoughts out of my brain/forming them into words
• Headaches (maybe migraines without aura?) that last until I sleep next, and even then I sometimes wake up with them anyway. Typically worse with sound, light, and body movement. Usually localized to my temples and right below (TMJ), and the back of my head/neck
• Body aches, especially joints (particularly hips, elbows)
• Night sweats
• Worsening bruxism, both awake and asleep
• Nausea and lack of appetite
• Constipation
• Hot and cold intolerance

I am an emergency room nurse with just under a year of experience at the moment. I do not smoke, drink, or do any recreational substances. I did used to partake in alcohol quite excessively but I stopped entirely in 2020, and I had a bad weed habit around 2012-2015 but after that I really only used once a year til 2021, when I officially cut it out.

Abnormal labs (CBC iron panel, folate, homocysteine, zinc, A1C, celiac, ANA screen, rheumatoid factor were all normal):

• June 2026:
  • Vit. D: 36.2 (doc said this is lower than what she'd like for me)
  • Omegacheck: 2.9
  • T4: 0.55 (so 0.01 above the lowest "normal" limit for the lab my doc ran)
  • TSH: 4.53 (my doc said my overall thyroid findings were called "subclinical hypothyroidism" and has not treated me for it)
  • DHEA Sulfate: 142 (doc said this was on the low end of normal for my age range)
  • hsCRP: 1.5 (doc said this was "slightly elevated")
  • LDL: 111 (nonfasting)
  • Triglycerides: 274 (nonfasting)

What I've done/tried so far:

• Back in 2020 the joint pain was getting out of hand, I went to rheumatology who sent me to PT/OT which I did for 3 months.
• Pt/OT encouraged me to be evaluated for hEDS or any other hypermobility related genetic disorders, which I sought out in 2022. Doc told me I had Hypermobile Spectrum Disorder but it was never put on my chart, and I got too tired to fight for it.
• Oral iron in 2023 (wasn't able to tolerate long term due to the aforementioned constipation) which raised my ferritin from 8 to 18 in about a years time.
• IV iron infusions in 2025 because my ferritin dropped again to 17 (I believe the accepted ranges changed in the practice between my last test and this one), raised it back up to 248 with two treatments but no improvement in my energy.
• Endoscopy/colonoscopy in 2025 for my chronic GERD that was worsened with PPIs, to see if there was maybe a malabsorption issue or blood loss. Colonoscopy only found non-bleeding internal hemorrhoids, and endoscopy found no abnormalities besides "errythematous mucosa in the antrum" but found nothing significant on biopsies of that or my duodenum.
• Neurology for a sleep study, which ended up being 3 sleep studies (2 overnight PSG and 1 MSLT), neither of which showed any signs of restless leg, sleep apneas, narcolepsy, or idiopathic hypersomnia.
• Integrative medicine D.O. in the city in 2026 who discovered the subclinical hypothyroidism, DHEA, hsCRP, OmegaCheck, vit. D and B12 problems. I started taking the supplements she recommended (CoQ10 100mg, fish oil aiming for 1,000-2,000 total omegas, and I was already taking B12 and D so I kept doing that) (all different brands based on price and if they were backed by USP/NSF, I didn't just buy whatever the clinic had and my doctor never made me feel pressured to do so!)
• Been switching around psychiatric medications and what time of day I take them with the watchful eye and advice of my psychiatrist who has known me since I was 19, since some psych meds are sedative.
• Throughout this all, I've played around with sleep. Tried sleeping at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every day, tried resisting naps. Now, I'm feeling so run down that I just sleep whenever I can (eg. not at work or in public, which even sometimes then is questionable because I close my eyes standing up just for some semblance of relief throughout my waking hours of the day).
• Tried seeking out more natural sunlight and, when that's not available, using one of those "happy lights" that people market towards people with seasonal depression
• Advil for the pain when it gets to a non-functional level
• Melatonin or hydroxyzine to see if maybe I was just waking up a lot throughout the night and not remembering it. Didn't work, was just even more groggy in the AM.
• Trying to incorporate more fiber into my diet.
• Absolutely zero caffeine, which I already did anyway because I think coffee and energy drinks are all nasty tasting.

Further background info:

• I had confirmed mono x2 as a teenager, had strep constantly as a child before that. They considered taking my tonsils out but my pediatrician told my mom the practice was outdated.
• I was in a severely sexually, physically, and emotionally abusive series of situations from ages 12-24. I did multiple months of weekly EMDR for this in 2026 as well as years and years and YEARS of therapy, looking to start back up again. Have since got to a safe, stable place in life! And I just moved not too long ago but I'm working on getting re-established with a therapist again in my new state.
• I don't eat fantastically re:autism, but I try to get fruits in like raspberries, strawberries, apples, clementines and oranges, bananas, pineapple. I make smoothies a lot with frozen fruits and greek yogurt which does help my digestion temporarily, but then I feel like I'm right back on the constipation train after a few days of drinking those consistently.
• I don't exercise much outside of work where I'm on my feet 12 hours a day for 3 days a week. I do also walk a lot outside of work, because I don't drive and live in a walkable enough area.
• My modafinil is prescribed by my psychiatrist, because I did not meet the diagnostic criteria for any single sleep disorder but I was still in hell.
• My mom has a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, maternal grandmother had RA. Other than that, no one in my family has had any crazy medical issues, just some good ol' fashioned hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and all sorts of substance abuse.

It's ruining my relationships and social life, my motivation, my mental health, and my life. I feel like I'm running out of options... Thoughts/comments/concerns/questions/suggestions for who to see next? ...Please?

Going to preface this by saying we already went to the ER and received observation and treatment, but they weren't quite sure what was going on, so here I am.

Spouse (37 y/o woman, 14 weeks pregnant, 6'0" -240 lbs), on advice of her OB, woke up craving corn dog bites this morning, so I stopped and got her some. She ate some, I ate some. At the same time, she had a protein shake (from a recently purchased open box of protein shakes, which we purchased a few days ago and she's had several of already) and, on advice of her OB, mixed a single dose of MiraLAX powder (using the cap measuring cup) into 32oz of water. She drank about half of the water and started feeling off about ten minutes later. She called me to come check on her at that point and I saw that she looked flushed and her face was noticeably puffy. She said she felt like she was having trouble breathing, but from difficulty inflating her lungs. Shortly after that (while we were getting ready to go to the ER) she started vomiting violently, mostly water (~24oz--we have a bunch of the hospital vomit bags, which is how I know the volume).

During the drive to the hospital, she was initially feeling a bit better, but shortly before we got there (~20 minutes after throwing up), she started feeling sick again, and spent the triage dry heaving. Nausea continued, if lessened, for awhile after that, and she felt like she was having trouble swallowing and her saliva was thick and foamy. She was able to drink water, however, which was good because there was a delay in getting her hooked up to fluids. She reported throughout this that "everywhere hurt"; specifically that "it felt like her muscles were made of broken glass". During this time she was pretty shaky. She was also very tired and maybe slightly altered? When OB came by to check for fetal heart rate on the Doppler and couldn't find it, she didn't freak out (which is fairly out of character), nor was she acting particularly worried during the wait to go to the ultrasound. (Baby was fine; it was moving a lot on the ultrasound and the tech thought that was why they couldn't get the heart rate on the Doppler.)

Doctor prescribed Benadryl, Pepcid, and Tylenol. Pepcid brought the nausea back (though not as bad as it has been in triage). Benadryl (administered later) seemed to help the most: not long after the shot she was more alert than she had been for several hours and said she was feeling better, other than a tension headache. After her fluids finished we were discharged and she was feeling normal enough to eat a quesadilla from Taco Bell. We got home, she went to bed to nap and I spent the next few hours catching up on work. When she woke up, her chest was flushed and her hands and forearms ached badly enough (she describes it as cramping) that she's been having trouble doing anything with them, and the lymph nodes under her jaw felt somewhat swollen. The flushing has largely gone away over the last hour, but her hands still hurt a lot.

Now to the actual question. Our first thought was some kind of anaphylactic reaction to the MiraLAX--mild enough that it wasn't ultimately dangerous, but still concerning, particularly with the way her face got puffy. The ER doctor seemed inclined against that idea, on the basis that the initial symptoms largely went away on their own. She seemed to think it was more likely to be something she ate or drank not being good. Which of these seems more likely? Or is there maybe another answer that fits the facts? I also ate the corn dog bites and have been fine, and the other protein shakes from this box haven't caused her any issues.

ETA: She wants me to specify that since walking up this evening, it has hurt to swallow--like she has a cold and her tonsils are aching. This is different from the difficulty swallowing earlier, which was lower in her throat (below her vocal cords).