Nausea dark stool

For a backstory, this is a dream that I had few days ago, during my peak of having an Health Anxiety, despite getting reassurance from others (Doctors, close people who seem knowledgeable) that I am perfectly healthy. What happened was I reported to the doctor that I had abdominal pain, I was extremely stressed about this because I thought I was developing a serious illness, but the doctor said that everything is fine with me and that I am healthy, and he simply gave me medications to treat things like Irritable bowel disease. Before that I had bleeding from my rectal area which started month ago, and the doctor started to immedietaly send me to colonoscopy without first testing anything, since he assumed that I may be developing some illness or desease. This made me both angry and scared too, and eventualy made me hypochodriac, that I had to go to a doctor multiple times to see if there are not any problematic things with me, despite that later on the doctors said that I am perfectly healthy. One time I wen't to doctor, he said I was healthy, and I was literaly in tears crying.
Again, last time I wen't to the doctor, I told him that my stool bowels we're dark brown and I lost some weight, which I started to assume it was a terrible illness, but my doctor reassured me that I am very healthy and I dont need to worry, he said that if I had anything bad he would have spotted it already (like low blood pressure, and fewer, etc) to this day I am still pretty anxious about my health, through to a much lesser degree than before.
This is the dream:
It began with some sort of like a city that looks similar to the city I live in, albeit heavily like looking different, it was very cloudy, the clouds we're heavy and gray. I was in school (Even though I am 25 years old and I finished school), there I meet that teacher assistant that I disliked during elementary school, fairly enough we got along well in the dream.
The school enviroment also was similar to a shop market aswell, so there we're random food and sweets. I picked some random sweets and I started eating them, but not paying money for them. The teacher assistant obviously was dissapointed and somewhat angry for recklessly eating sweets and not paying money for them.
Then something happened, one of the sweets I've eaten was actualy an Eldrich God like of being. It was very lanky but tall that it managed to surprass the earth's atmosphere and reach space.
The Eldritch God, in It's appearance was very. very thin, it resembles like a tree with random branches coming out of It's body, and I was somewhat scared and started to roam around the city to find a house or any roof that would cover me from the Eldritch God's attacks from the sky. Then I realised that I've eaten those sweets (They look like some sort of gummy curry thing), and part of the Eldritch God's is inside of me, since I've eaten the sweets.
I've entered one particlar building and found a roof, however all of the appartments had someone (Random people) live in, so I couldn't find my own roof, a protection from the Eldritch God. Going up the building to find a roof higher the building, I've started encountering Islamic State terrorists that roam the building, I tried to hide from them and from the Eldritch God simulateniously, however the Terrorists found me and started to try to shoot me, which this scenario it somewhat resembled a video game, and I didn't actualy felt that scared of the terrorists as I felt like it was like a video game.
Later on I found myself roaming the city, went away from the Islamic state terrorists, and realised there are multiple Eldritch Gods exist in this world, soon to get to earth. The dream ended here.

Prequel (Chapters 1 to 16)
1. Rise of a Valkyrie
First ¦ Previous ¦ Royal Road ¦ Patreon
Christie emerged from the bathroom once her nerves had calmed and found one of the chateau’s windows that looked out on the western ridgelines. She reached into her handbag and produced a stick of lipstick, sighted on a curve of blackness intersecting a particular constellation rising into the night sky, and pushed a discreet button on the base. The task force now had confirmation that Rayker was inside the chateau and the machine would be set in motion.
As she turned to head back to the party, Christie saw a different range of mountains in the corner of her eye. A fishhook stabbed into the muscle of her heart and tugged, while she was nearly overwhelmed with nausea. For a moment, a dusty valley surrounded her, the rocky ground coursing with streams of blood. The ghostly white face of Rose Djallen was before her, life fading from her eyes. Christie wanted to gasp, but she let the pain wash over her in silence, as they had all done so often. A moment’s concentration brought her back to the present, and the dangerous operation ahead.
Rayker’s expression had been so devoid of warmth—as though she wore her psychotic nature with pride. Christie couldn’t understand how someone could be so inhuman. She wondered what would happen if Rayker sensed the trap that was closing around her. Christie knew that she, and probably some of the guests, would be taken hostage. No doubt the dozens of Rangers stalking through the darkness would break cover, racing through the night to rescue her, with one particularly hard-headed individual out front. The highly skilled operators now preparing their own move on the chateau would fight their way inside, killing anyone who resisted them. The Banshee, their well-armed gunship, would break its cloak, leaving its position behind Ambrosia’s second moon to rain hellfire down on the small army that provided security for the Helvetic League’s pleasure planet. Rayker would probably die in a hail of gunfire—giving Rose her deserved retribution—for the Valkyrie would eagerly sacrifice their own lives before leaving one of their own behind.
Then the news of the incident would spread, and humanity’s thirty-seven worlds would talk of nothing else but the secret army of super soldiers that protected them from the arsenal of the Jotnar—an ancient and extinct civilization, who’s abandoned weapons and warships littered the stars. Nations, corporations and crime syndicates would find ways to track down those weapons, exploiting their incredible destructive power for their own selfish purposes. There would be war, billions would die, and, like those who had preceded them, humanity would probably wipe itself out.
Rose had died protecting Christie from Rayker’s drone army, but she had also died to uphold Valkyrie’s ancient responsibility.
That operation had ultimately saved the planet Caldera, but in the chaos and confusion of the battle Rayker had managed to slip away. The organization had spent nearly two years trying to hunt her down, but she was too skilled, too deeply enmeshed in the Helvetic League’s underworld.
The council of chiefs, Valkyrie’s inscrutable governing body, had agreed to form Task Force Nemesis under the command of General Smyrna. She was assigned the Mountain Ranger’s Bravo company—the Venomous Vipers—a Raider squadron of elite counter terrorists, and a task unit from Orbital Demolition Team Four. Supported by the Banshee and guided by Christie’s intelligence gathering unit, their mission statement was simple—do whatever it took to kill or capture Allana Rayker.
As they made slow, painstaking process, they began to receive indications that their target had rejoined her old corporate paymasters at VennZech, the most powerful weapons manufacturer in the galaxy. Then, the news broke that Joakkim Meissner, one of Rayker’s suspected allies, had been promoted to Chief Executive, arranging his party on Ambrosia to celebrate.
He had also invited one of the League’s rising stars in physics. The brilliant young doctor Ernst Kolar was a specialist in theoretical energy development. He had recently published a paper describing a theoretical anti-matter reactor alarmingly similar to those that powered the warships and killing machines of the Jotnar. Christie’s team leader, Jiao Zhang, had offered the high-confidence assessment that Rayker would refuse to let such an asset out of her sight. And, on the protected world of Ambrosia, what could she have to fear?
But Valkyrie had been breaking through Helvetic security barriers since the creation of the quasi-imperial state, and had become extremely good at it. And so, the operation had been set in motion.
Christie took a deep breath and prepared herself, soothing away any traces of nervousness. She left the outer hall and re-entered the party.
***
“Olympus, Olympus, Olympus,” a voice intoned through Kayla’s headset.
The code word signaled that Christie had identified Rayker in the chateau, and the operation was a go. A double burst of static followed; a squad-level transmission from Kes. It was the order to take out the security guards.
Kayla and Ray had crawled as close as they could to their position, readied their stun rifle and waited patiently. As the signal came in, the men had pushed away from their boulder rest spot and were resuming their patrol through the woods. Kayla waited until their line of sight had passed her, before she stood slowly, weapon aimed. A faint rustle told her that Ray had done the same.
The guard at the back, still slurping from a water bottle, fell a little further behind. The stun rifle’s projectile hit him in the neck, shocking his nervous system into an overload state. He seized and dropped to the ground, unconscious. The men ahead of him span and there was a mechanical thump from Ray’s weapon. Her shot struck center mass, and another figure collapsed, just as Kayla pulled the trigger again. The last guard went down quickly, but, to Kayla’s shock, seemed to remain conscious. He struggled on the ground like a dying fish as he tried to reach for his radio, so she sprinted forward and kicked him in the head.
Kayla wrinkled her nose and cursed quietly. The scientist who had trained her squad on the weapon had explained that a failed shot would result in the victim emptying the contents of their bowels and bladder. Looks like she had been right.
“Three down,” she muttered into her helmet mic. “No other contacts in sight.”
Even so, she continued to scan the distant trees carefully.
Ray secured the guards with serum injections while Tian and Yak, the other two members of the fire team joined them. The projectiles were gathered into Tian’s rucksack, and, when the rest of the squad arrived, they moved off through the trees together, climbing the slope until they reached another crest, and a chain link fence.
Half a mile away from the chateau, the main security compound provided a base for the guard’s rapid reaction force. The compound had a single entrance and out of the blockhouse blue light flickered to the loud chatter of an excited racing commentator.
Kayla stopped in the shadows of the trees and waited patiently. The air above her head snapped and cracked as rounds shot past, impacting security cameras and sensors around the compound. The bullets were a large caliber, but with a thermic charge core. Each strike glowed brilliantly as intense temperatures melted through their targets, leaving no evidence of what had neutralized them.
She grinned. Thandi was going to work, and though her presence and skill made Kayla feel much more confident, she would still tease her about doing the ‘easy part’ later.
In the near distance, there were a pair of flashes and loud zaps as the base’s generator and backup went out to EMP charges. Another squad from their platoon was working their own approach. That made Kayla nervous. The two elements would soon have to meet up, and nothing could be more dangerous to those who owned the night than confusing each other for the enemy.
She took her team around the base to the now dark main gate as the on-duty guards emerged to check on the loss of power. Stun rifle shots knocked them out, and the squad regrouped behind the cover of a vehicle bay, while Kayla identified the largest building in the compound and watched it attentively.
They waited patiently until the silence was broken by a new voice on the radio.
“Eyes on the barracks, north side. No movement.”
“South side clear,” Kayla confirmed.
“Approaching,” the other squad leader said.
Kayla waited until she saw shapes emerging from the shadows and sprinting behind the back of the large structure. Then, one leaned out from the corner, watching. Kayla tapped a control on her helmet, and a perfect white line broke through her grey world, pointing towards the figure. She was answered with a similar flash of infra-red energy, and her anxiety eased.
Kes, who had also been watching, tapped her shoulder, and Kayla led off towards the barracks.
From outside the Rangers could make out the annoyed calls of men and women stumbling around in the darkness. One emerged from a side door and nearly got off a shout before Tian tackled him and knocked him out. The two squads moved quickly, cracking open doorways and rolling gas grenades inside.
Invisible and odorless, the gas contained the signature compound Valkyrie used to erase memories. The Rangers waited a few minutes, safe behind their face masks, then entered and confirmed that all inside were unconscious. Kes and Thandi smashed a few liquor bottles against the walls, while others dragged the bodies into the main room, and distributed more ‘evidence’.
Eventually, Kes called ‘all clear’, and Kayla emerged from the building into the night, lifting her faceplate to breathe in some fresh air. She saw her fire team, Ray, Tian and Yak, heading to the vehicles to place EMP charges, and began to follow them, when a sharp rap on her helmet brought her up short.
She turned to see Thandi, vizor up, and an expectant expression on her face.
“Was that a curse word I heard earlier?” Thandi asked, keeping her voice low.
Kayla shook her head. “Negative. I was providing a biological assessment of the dude.”
“Ick. Two in the barracks were uh… in the middle of something when they passed out. I had to pull them apart.” She pulled a face. “That was gross.”
Kayla winked at her friend, who was spiritual enough for the both of them. “Unmarried, I bet. Your god approves.”
Thandi nodded gratefully, then shot her a look. “He’s not just my—"
Kes marched over, her expression severe. “Do either of you have EMP charges left?” she demanded.
“Yes Corporal,” Kayla nodded, and patted her rucksack.
“There’s a couple of transports left in the north corner. Get on it, then rejoin us on the east fence. Come on, we need to move quickly!”
Kayla scampered away, buzzing with energy. The squad still had to head for the chateau, and take up their position in the perimeter that was slowly drawing tighter around Rayker. She glanced at the dark mountains around her. In a dozen locations, radar arrays, missile defenses and communications stations were being similarly neutralized by small teams of Valkyrie from the various units. Soon they would have their prey, and Kayla privately hoped that she wouldn’t surrender.
***
Christie found Doctor Kolar, alone as usual, in the main hall and painfully out of place at such a large social gathering. He nursed a champagne glass, and smiled at passersby. Christie stared at him until their eyes met, and he quickly looked away, pretending to study one of Meissner’s diamond statues.
She walked in his direction, and as she passed, she flashed him a shy smile. Then, returning to her coterie of admirers, she looked back with another friendly expression.
Kolar cautiously approached the group, obviously unsure of what to do. The men ignored him, but the second he managed to breach the outer mass of bodies, Christie was on him.
“Oh hello! I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure!” she cried, extending her hand and beaming like a searchlight.
The other men frowned as they lost her attention.
“Um… All mine,” stammered Kolar. “Sorry. I’m—”
“Doctor Kolar, isn’t it?” interrupted a renowned and pompous pianist. “You’re working on space batteries for VennZech weapons research, or some such thing?”
“Well…” Kolar gulped. “We’re starting a new project on micro-singularities at the Planck scale, you see the current theory on weak—”
“It’s weak, you say?” The pianist laughed raucously as he slapped the doctor’s back. “Well, I never would have guessed, old boy.”
“Tell me, Zotty,” Christie cut in, addressing one of the other men, “Didn’t you just tell me this was one of Meissner’s inner circle?” she tottered forward slightly as she spoke.
“Correct,” the elder son and heir apparent of the largest media corporation in the League replied with a smile. He lifted his gaze from her bosom. “Doctor Kolar’s work is vital for the Maestro.”
Kolar smiled gratefully. “Indeed. Well, it’s about energy generation.”
“Oh, I hope you aren’t helping him make more of those dreadful bombs,” Christie said, and pouted. “War is very wrong! Really, I don’t know why they haven’t sanctioned the company for some of the absolutely horrid things they produce.”
The surrounding billionaires nodded their approval, while Kolar flushed. “No… well, I mustn’t talk about it, but I shouldn’t be getting involved in that side of VennZech’s business.”
“Quite right.” Christie nodded. “Oh, but you’re dry.” She turned to a waiter, grabbed a pair of glasses from his tray and handed one to Kolar.
First ¦ Previous ¦ Royal Road ¦ Patreon
Prequel (Chapters 1 to 16)
1. Rise of a Valkyrie

Prequel (Parts 1 to 16)
1. Rise of a Valkyrie
First ¦ Previous ¦ Royal Road ¦ Patreon
Christie emerged from the bathroom once her nerves had calmed and found one of the chateau’s windows that looked out on the western ridgelines. She reached into her handbag and produced a stick of lipstick, sighted on a curve of blackness intersecting a particular constellation rising into the night sky, and pushed a discreet button on the base. The task force now had confirmation that Rayker was inside the chateau and the machine would be set in motion.
As she turned to head back to the party, Christie saw a different range of mountains in the corner of her eye. A fishhook stabbed into the muscle of her heart and tugged, while she was nearly overwhelmed with nausea. For a moment, a dusty valley surrounded her, the rocky ground coursing with streams of blood. The ghostly white face of Rose Djallen was before her, life fading from her eyes. Christie wanted to gasp, but she let the pain wash over her in silence, as they had all done so often. A moment’s concentration brought her back to the present, and the dangerous operation ahead.
Rayker’s expression had been so devoid of warmth—as though she wore her psychotic nature with pride. Christie couldn’t understand how someone could be so inhuman. She wondered what would happen if Rayker sensed the trap that was closing around her. Christie knew that she, and probably some of the guests, would be taken hostage. No doubt the dozens of Rangers stalking through the darkness would break cover, racing through the night to rescue her, with one particularly hard-headed individual out front. The highly skilled operators now preparing their own move on the chateau would fight their way inside, killing anyone who resisted them. The Banshee, their well-armed gunship, would break its cloak, leaving its position behind Ambrosia’s second moon to rain hellfire down on the small army that provided security for the Helvetic League’s pleasure planet. Rayker would probably die in a hail of gunfire—giving Rose her deserved retribution—for the Valkyrie would eagerly sacrifice their own lives before leaving one of their own behind.
Then the news of the incident would spread, and humanity’s thirty-seven worlds would talk of nothing else but the secret army of super soldiers that protected them from the arsenal of the Jotnar—an ancient and extinct civilization, who’s abandoned weapons and warships littered the stars. Nations, corporations and crime syndicates would find ways to track down those weapons, exploiting their incredible destructive power for their own selfish purposes. There would be war, billions would die, and, like those who had preceded them, humanity would probably wipe itself out.
Rose had died protecting Christie from Rayker’s drone army, but she had also died to uphold Valkyrie’s ancient responsibility.
That operation had ultimately saved the planet Caldera, but in the chaos and confusion of the battle Rayker had managed to slip away. The organization had spent nearly two years trying to hunt her down, but she was too skilled, too deeply enmeshed in the Helvetic League’s underworld.
The council of chiefs, Valkyrie’s inscrutable governing body, had agreed to form Task Force Nemesis under the command of General Smyrna. She was assigned the Mountain Ranger’s Bravo company—the Venomous Vipers—a Raider squadron of elite counter terrorists, and a task unit from Orbital Demolition Team Four. Supported by the Banshee and guided by Christie’s intelligence gathering unit, their mission statement was simple—do whatever it took to kill or capture Allana Rayker.
As they made slow, painstaking process, they began to receive indications that their target had rejoined her old corporate paymasters at VennZech, the most powerful weapons manufacturer in the galaxy. Then, the news broke that Joakkim Meissner, one of Rayker’s suspected allies, had been promoted to Chief Executive, arranging his party on Ambrosia to celebrate.
He had also invited one of the League’s rising stars in physics. The brilliant young doctor Ernst Kolar was a specialist in theoretical energy development. He had recently published a paper describing a theoretical anti-matter reactor alarmingly similar to those that powered the warships and killing machines of the Jotnar. Christie’s team leader, Jiao Zhang, had offered the high-confidence assessment that Rayker would refuse to let such an asset out of her sight. And, on the protected world of Ambrosia, what could she have to fear?
But Valkyrie had been breaking through Helvetic security barriers since the creation of the quasi-imperial state, and had become extremely good at it. And so, the operation had been set in motion.
Christie took a deep breath and prepared herself, soothing away any traces of nervousness. She left the outer hall and re-entered the party.
***
“Olympus, Olympus, Olympus,” a voice intoned through Kayla’s headset.
The code word signaled that Christie had identified Rayker in the chateau, and the operation was a go. A double burst of static followed; a squad-level transmission from Kes. It was the order to take out the security guards.
Kayla and Ray had crawled as close as they could to their position, readied their stun rifle and waited patiently. As the signal came in, the men had pushed away from their boulder rest spot and were resuming their patrol through the woods. Kayla waited until their line of sight had passed her, before she stood slowly, weapon aimed. A faint rustle told her that Ray had done the same.
The guard at the back, still slurping from a water bottle, fell a little further behind. The stun rifle’s projectile hit him in the neck, shocking his nervous system into an overload state. He seized and dropped to the ground, unconscious. The men ahead of him span and there was a mechanical thump from Ray’s weapon. Her shot struck center mass, and another figure collapsed, just as Kayla pulled the trigger again. The last guard went down quickly, but, to Kayla’s shock, seemed to remain conscious. He struggled on the ground like a dying fish as he tried to reach for his radio, so she sprinted forward and kicked him in the head.
Kayla wrinkled her nose and cursed quietly. The scientist who had trained her squad on the weapon had explained that a failed shot would result in the victim emptying the contents of their bowels and bladder. Looks like she had been right.
“Three down,” she muttered into her helmet mic. “No other contacts in sight.”
Even so, she continued to scan the distant trees carefully.
Ray secured the guards with serum injections while Tian and Yak, the other two members of the fire team joined them. The projectiles were gathered into Tian’s rucksack, and, when the rest of the squad arrived, they moved off through the trees together, climbing the slope until they reached another crest, and a chain link fence.
Half a mile away from the chateau, the main security compound provided a base for the guard’s rapid reaction force. The compound had a single entrance and out of the blockhouse blue light flickered to the loud chatter of an excited racing commentator.
Kayla stopped in the shadows of the trees and waited patiently. The air above her head snapped and cracked as rounds shot past, impacting security cameras and sensors around the compound. The bullets were a large caliber, but with a thermic charge core. Each strike glowed brilliantly as intense temperatures melted through their targets, leaving no evidence of what had neutralized them.
She grinned. Thandi was going to work, and though her presence and skill made Kayla feel much more confident, she would still tease her about doing the ‘easy part’ later.
In the near distance, there were a pair of flashes and loud zaps as the base’s generator and backup went out to EMP charges. Another squad from their platoon was working their own approach. That made Kayla nervous. The two elements would soon have to meet up, and nothing could be more dangerous to those who owned the night than confusing each other for the enemy.
She took her team around the base to the now dark main gate as the on-duty guards emerged to check on the loss of power. Stun rifle shots knocked them out, and the squad regrouped behind the cover of a vehicle bay, while Kayla identified the largest building in the compound and watched it attentively.
They waited patiently until the silence was broken by a new voice on the radio.
“Eyes on the barracks, north side. No movement.”
“South side clear,” Kayla confirmed.
“Approaching,” the other squad leader said.
Kayla waited until she saw shapes emerging from the shadows and sprinting behind the back of the large structure. Then, one leaned out from the corner, watching. Kayla tapped a control on her helmet, and a perfect white line broke through her grey world, pointing towards the figure. She was answered with a similar flash of infra-red energy, and her anxiety eased.
Kes, who had also been watching, tapped her shoulder, and Kayla led off towards the barracks.
From outside the Rangers could make out the annoyed calls of men and women stumbling around in the darkness. One emerged from a side door and nearly got off a shout before Tian tackled him and knocked him out. The two squads moved quickly, cracking open doorways and rolling gas grenades inside.
Invisible and odorless, the gas contained the signature compound Valkyrie used to erase memories. The Rangers waited a few minutes, safe behind their face masks, then entered and confirmed that all inside were unconscious. Kes and Thandi smashed a few liquor bottles against the walls, while others dragged the bodies into the main room, and distributed more ‘evidence’.
Eventually, Kes called ‘all clear’, and Kayla emerged from the building into the night, lifting her faceplate to breathe in some fresh air. She saw her fire team, Ray, Tian and Yak, heading to the vehicles to place EMP charges, and began to follow them, when a sharp rap on her helmet brought her up short.
She turned to see Thandi, vizor up, and an expectant expression on her face.
“Was that a curse word I heard earlier?” Thandi asked, keeping her voice low.
Kayla shook her head. “Negative. I was providing a biological assessment of the dude.”
“Ick. Two in the barracks were uh… in the middle of something when they passed out. I had to pull them apart.” She pulled a face. “That was gross.”
Kayla winked at her friend, who was spiritual enough for the both of them. “Unmarried, I bet. Your god approves.”
Thandi nodded gratefully, then shot her a look. “He’s not just my—"
Kes marched over, her expression severe. “Do either of you have EMP charges left?” she demanded.
“Yes Corporal,” Kayla nodded, and patted her rucksack.
“There’s a couple of transports left in the north corner. Get on it, then rejoin us on the east fence. Come on, we need to move quickly!”
Kayla scampered away, buzzing with energy. The squad still had to head for the chateau, and take up their position in the perimeter that was slowly drawing tighter around Rayker. She glanced at the dark mountains around her. In a dozen locations, radar arrays, missile defenses and communications stations were being similarly neutralized by small teams of Valkyrie from the various units. Soon they would have their prey, and Kayla privately hoped that she wouldn’t surrender.
***
Christie found Doctor Kolar, alone as usual, in the main hall and painfully out of place at such a large social gathering. He nursed a champagne glass, and smiled at passersby. Christie stared at him until their eyes met, and he quickly looked away, pretending to study one of Meissner’s diamond statues.
She walked in his direction, and as she passed, she flashed him a shy smile. Then, returning to her coterie of admirers, she looked back with another friendly expression.
Kolar cautiously approached the group, obviously unsure of what to do. The men ignored him, but the second he managed to breach the outer mass of bodies, Christie was on him.
“Oh hello! I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure!” she cried, extending her hand and beaming like a searchlight.
The other men frowned as they lost her attention.
“Um… All mine,” stammered Kolar. “Sorry. I’m—”
“Doctor Kolar, isn’t it?” interrupted a renowned and pompous pianist. “You’re working on space batteries for VennZech weapons research, or some such thing?”
“Well…” Kolar gulped. “We’re starting a new project on micro-singularities at the Planck scale, you see the current theory on weak—”
“It’s weak, you say?” The pianist laughed raucously as he slapped the doctor’s back. “Well, I never would have guessed, old boy.”
“Tell me, Zotty,” Christie cut in, addressing one of the other men, “Didn’t you just tell me this was one of Meissner’s inner circle?” she tottered forward slightly as she spoke.
“Correct,” the elder son and heir apparent of the largest media corporation in the League replied with a smile. He lifted his gaze from her bosom. “Doctor Kolar’s work is vital for the Maestro.”
Kolar smiled gratefully. “Indeed. Well, it’s about energy generation.”
“Oh, I hope you aren’t helping him make more of those dreadful bombs,” Christie said, and pouted. “War is very wrong! Really, I don’t know why they haven’t sanctioned the company for some of the absolutely horrid things they produce.”
The surrounding billionaires nodded their approval, while Kolar flushed. “No… well, I mustn’t talk about it, but I shouldn’t be getting involved in that side of VennZech’s business.”
“Quite right.” Christie nodded. “Oh, but you’re dry.” She turned to a waiter, grabbed a pair of glasses from his tray and handed one to Kolar.
First ¦ Previous ¦ Royal Road ¦ Patreon
Prequel (Parts 1 to 16)
1. Rise of a Valkyrie

Hi guys,
As this is my very first post here, I will try to put a back story so that it is easier for everyone to understand where I am coming from.
I have been following this sub for quite a few months now, along with ibs, in search of some answers. It has been 2 years since I was infected with the Delta strain of COVID-19 back in April 2021, and the antibiotics I took (FIRST course) during that time were, to my understanding, the root cause behind all my GI issues. Since that point and now, I have had to go through 4 different courses on antibiotics, three of them due to my dental issues, as I had a failed root canal that resulted in a radicular cyst on my lower left mandible.
I have been living in Germany since 2019 to pursue my higher education, and I got COVID back when I was in India, visiting my parents. The second time I had to take AB was in August 2021, and that was the first time my RCT failed. My dentist back in India did the RCT around mid-2014. The cavity in that tooth was so bad that I did not expect it to survive for more than 10 years. I rushed to my dentist in Germany the very next morning, got the abscess drained, and was placed on amoxycillin for a week (SECOND course). Anyway, more on that soon, as it is also related to this story.
I started to have the so-called typical IBS-D poop shortly after this. I didn't give much heed to it at that point and carried on with my studies. Eventually, in 2022, when I was back home again for a short trip, I consulted my family GI, and he did an endoscopy as well as blood and stool tests, found nothing but mild antral gastritis. Yet, he prescribed me a 7-day dose of Rifagut 400 (Rifaximin) along with a low-FODMAP diet for 14 days and a bottle of VSL-3 containing 20 tablets. I did not know anything about ibs and sibo back then, just felt that I was instantly 90% better, and did not have to look back on any GI symptoms until the end of last year, when I had to finally surgically take out my failed RCT along with another tooth that was encompassing the radicular cyst borders in my jaw. I was administered I-V antibiotics and Amoxycillin (respectively, THIRD and FOURTH courses) for a week. It is after that point I felt my usual symptomps, which had completely disappeared for 18 months, came back. Now when I look back and see that I was already prescribed Rifaximin along with a multi strain strong probiotic, it all adds up. I strongly presume I have hydrogen or H2S dominant SIBO, however, I also want to point out that I did not really have any specific symptoms of SIBO like nausea, excess bloating or belching, brain fog, lethargy and tiredness, at least in the last 4 months as I have gone through it. Now, according to Dr. Pimentel, it is indeed possible to have IBS-D without SIBO as well. So this part makes me confused. The only symptom I have is mushy poop, on an irregular interval when I consume a little more leafy greens or vegetable/lentils/nuts (peanut and cashews) in general. That was something which I routinely did, without any major disturbance. However, now, a carnivore diet helps me a lot more and consuming veggies or fruits more always leads to mushy stools 2-3 times a day.
Can it be assumed that the Rifaximin actually worked, along with the probiotic in 2022, and the further doses of AB adminintration has made me relapse? Because I did not have a single issue for even a day for those 18 months in the middle, whatever I ate was well tolerated. Can anyone guide me on this? I have an appointment with a GI in Berlin, Germany who specializes in SIBO and IBS, so I will try to ask for a breath test anyway.
PS: I do not smoke, drink, consume excess sugacoffee so those are out of my equation. I had an issue with lactose since I was like 10, so I limit lactose by default as well.

Hello and TIA for any help!
So my 8 year old daughter started out with these symptoms 4 weeks ago: sinus pressure, nausea, headaches, dizziness. We waited about 4 days then I took her to her PCP who diagnosed a sinus infection and just said to do Flonase, Zyrtec (which we were already doing).
The nausea continued to worsen and she started having abdominal pain as well which caused her to miss a few days of school. I took her back to the doctor 2 weeks after her initial appointment. The doctor diagnosed constipation, treated the sinus infection with amoxicillin and said to give her prunes/prune juice. I suspected she'd need way more than that due to her symptoms so I gave her 5 doses of miralax throughout the morning, and she pooped 15-20x. Three days later we're at urgent care with suspected possible appendicitis. After an adb ultrasound and X-ray we are diagnosed with a belly FULL of stool, and given orders for a 3-day Miralax/senna cleanout with clear liquids.
After 2.5 days of this misery her poop looks like slightly cloudy pee (she was only having water and broth with miralax that day) so I let her eat applesauce and a small amount of gluten free pasta with olive oil. She tolerated dinner well but the next morning (yesterday) she was nauseous again after breakfast so I kept her home again and did liquids/BRAT foods.
Today she told me she had nausea and abd pain all night and couldn't sleep. She feels moderate pain all over her and (lower abd worse, especially LLQ), nausea and she's very dizzy. I'm afraid she's missing too much school but I can't send her like this. I'm starting to be doubtful it even is sinus issues because morning has helped her dizziness and headaches go away.
She's not faking symptoms because she enjoys school and she feels crappy even when doing something enjoyable like watching favorite movie. It's been 4 weeks of these symptoms with nothing helping. What else could it be that I should be watching for (differential diagnosis)?? She's not had a fever. I'm planning to go to urgent care again today probably for more imaging or blood work but any help would be appreciated!!

Unfortunately, shortly after moving here I started experiencing debilitating GI symptoms which make me unable to work and I have to be financially dependent on my partner.
I am seeing my GP about it, who has not been very helpful and dismissed my daily nausea as probably IBS. After around 4 visits she finally did a stool test and sent me to gastroenterologist. The problem is that waiting times are at least 4 months and I am still suffering.
Desperate, I tried elimination diet myself and just recently noticed that one thing that causes me bad issues is bread (gluten). I read that it's important to do celiacs disease test asap or it will be inconclusive on GF diet I have been following for a short while. So I contacted my GP about it as waititng time for my gastro is still over a month. She told me that they can't do it and I have to see a gastro about it. Even though google search (in dutch) is saying the opposite and that you can first see your GP about a blood test. Does anyone have experience with this? Do GPs really not order a simple blood test here? I just have a suspicion my GP is being unreasonable. If I wait for my GI specialist I will probably need to do 6 weeks gluten reintroduction before the test and it will be a suffering.
TLDR: I have bad GI issues and recently noticed I react badly to bread so suspect celiacs. Reached out to GP to get a blood test asap but they said they don't do that and I have to wait months for a gastroeneterologist. If you went through this diagnosis, is it really the case here that GP can't do blood test for celiacs?

tldr: do you ever wake up in the middle of the night confused and scared for seemingly no reason? and then the nausea and stomach pains kick in?
hi i think ive probably posted about this before, but whenever im in a flare i usually cannot sleep. if i try, i often jolt awake and im overcome with confusion and fear for a bit and this repeats until i just give up on sleeping. i think what ties into this a little is when i wake up im usually pretty nauseous and have the urge to go but struggle.
does anyone else get like this? its always so scary and its been a while since ive flared but im going on a trip out of the country and my allergies were so bad thag i thought i was getting sick, so in anticipation i took 2 antibiotic pills (12 hours apart) before realizing it was just allergies. stupid, i know. now im having diaherrea and nausea like a flare bc i fucked up my gut balance. my biggest fear is getting c. diff again, esp being out of the country, but my stool has been alternating between fluffy and solid, so im praying this means i wont get it.
its abt to be 4 am, i cant sleep, i feel like shit, and my family plans to leave the house at 11:30 am for our 2 pm flight to the dr which will be a little over 2 hours. i dont get anxious with planes but im just anxious (as all ibs havers are) that i wont be able to make it to a bathroom whether it be on or off the plane and ill feel like shit the whole time. idk, i always come to this sub to rant when im freaked and it kinda helps. i just wish this happened a week earlier bc i havent been eating, havent been able to properly sleep, i have terrible allergies, and i have POTS, so all of these circumstances together is making my heart rate go in to over drive and im scared ill either throw up everywhere, shit myself, or pass out and then throw up and shit myself 😭😭
theres nothing i can do abt it, ny family has been planning this trip for months and has spent sm money and its for my aunts wedding. plus id rather be miserable in the dr where i know my family is close by if i need them than stay home alone all by myself feeling insanely sick. idk. i just wish it could all go away magically for this week at least. i know i did it to myself w the antibiotics but why do i have to have such an unforgiving illness. idk im just gonna take some zofran and drink some gatorade and hope i start feeling better by the time i have to leave

I am so sorry for the length, thank you so much if you read this.
Last time I gave this info:
I'm female, 21, 5'7" and weight around 255. If you scroll through my post history you'll see last year I was dealing with extreme period irregularity. I was never diagnosed with anything like PCOS but did go on a birth control pill which helped to regulate my cycle. I have been on that since November, I have also been on a Wellbutrin/Sertraline combo since August. That and therapy really has my anxiety and depression at wya more manageable levels. The problems I'm about to talk about started in January.
I have started having more digestive type issues since January. I've had almost constant acid reflux for over a year. I tried one of those two week courses of medicine you can find on the shelf to help but it didn't at all. I turned 21 in June, I've tried maybe 6 drinks in that time frame (it's March now) and I hate the taste and it makes me feel yuck and nauseous even after just 1 so I don't drink.
In the past month I have been having times where I wake up 5-6 hours after eating with intense mid to upper stomach and back pain it was like a band of pain that wrapped around my body. It's like a 8/10 on the pain scale. I thought it was heartburn or indigestion so I would try a Pepto, warm shower, nothing would help. I would be up for hours in tears. Before it somewhat subside and I would feel a little better. The last one happened on 3/12 into 3/13. I thought this could be due to large meals, or timing of dinner. I haven't been able to see a pattern though yet.
I feel nauseous way more than I ever used to, after eating or while in the car. Also in the past couple of weeks my bathroom activities have been a lot more different. It used to be, I would have a regular poop once a day, of the firm but not too firm consistency you would expect and normal color unless I ate like something green or blue. Now, I feel like every time I sit on the toilet now (3-5 times a day at least) I poop. It's not completely runny but it's not firm in the slightest. It's also had the strangest, weirdest odor. I have no idea what to explain it like but it's different and worse than normal. It's also become a lot darker. I don't know if it's really a black, I can't really tell but it's definitely a super dark brown at the least and I don't know if it's tarry, it's definitely kind of shiny, I really don't know how to explain it. I have just felt off lately. I haven't eaten anything super fiber containing, the last time I had Pepto was on the 10th. Those were some things I felt important to include as I know pepto could cause black stool.
Another thing, possibly important to know is just food aversion. Lately, food just doesn't taste the same, things don't sound good, and I'm not getting hunger cues like I used to. I often go most of the day without ever feeling hungry, this usually results in me eating 1 meal for dinner and maybe a snack earlier in the day? And my stomach just randomly mildly aches.
I also realized it's probably important to mention the exhaustion. Since January it has been so bad. I know it's normal to be tired expecially as a busy college student but I've missed multiple classes because I overslept or was too tired. And I've never done that before. I'm usually asleep between 10-11pm on the weekdays and around 12am on the weekends. On weekdays I wake up between 7 and 8am and weekends probably 8 and 9am. It's hard to not use electronics before sleep especially with homework and such. But it's been so bad. I just get so exhausted I don't know how to explain it. But I just feel heavy and I can't get out of bed because I'm so tired.I feel like it all probably relates to my weight. It's something I've struggled with and have tried to work on it. I haven't changed my diet in terms of types of food since I was at 200lbs in high school and I've focused on portions and more activity. I guess it could be stress too? But I don't feel like I've been stressed any differently lately?
Here is where I’m at currently: I went to my pcp who check my blood counts, lipase, and did a CMP. A year ago I had elevated ALT/AST levels (diagnosed with fatty liver) and those were back down to well within normal range. Nothing came out of these tests everything was normal. They also checked for H. Pylori and that was negative. So to rule out gallbladder I had a right upper quadrant ultrasound today. I did the fasting for 8 hours before and everything. The ultrasound results were just fatty liver. There was no evidence of gallstones or gallbladder thickening.
The final thing to add before I explain what was currently going on is I was put on 40 mg of pantoprazole to take once in the morning at least 30-60 minutes before first meal. This was because I tried Prilosec in August and that didn’t help, nothing has helped. I’ve been on it for a week and honestly I thought I noticed a difference, definitely a less constant feeling of acid reflux. Something that has been constant for around a year.
After my ultrasound I came home around 5:30pm and had a small amount of fish and fries. I did not eat to full, took time to eat, etc. went about my day. Around 8:30pm I felt a bit hungry so I had some chips and cheese, it wasn’t much but i felt satisfied and good. Like 20 minutes after my stomach started to hurt like it had been, I was confused because I felt confident the cause was in part behind laying down only a few hours after eating but I hadn’t laid down. It’s almost 3am and I am hurting bad. It definitely feels a bit like heartburn but it’s also just a gripping twisting pain right at my ribs from belly button to breast and around my back. I’m just lost and nervous and not sure what next steps will be.

I’m 1yr3mo post op and I’ve had horrible daily nausea since removal. I didn’t have stones but 10%EF at time of removal. No diarrhea or really any stool issues whatsoever. Had endo done which showed bile pooling in stomach. I already have GERD from years before cholecystectomy so that’s nothing new. My GI prescribed Welchol (Colesevelam) tablet form 1 hr after breakfast and dinner for the bile acid which he thinks is causing the nausea. I am skeptical that this will do more harm than good as it is usually used for those with severe diarrhea. Anyone used Welchol for this? Any other advice for the nausea?

33M, caucasian, non-smoker, social drinker, history of SVT with overall low risk factors. Currently taking Pantapropozole, Carvidolol, Multivitamin, Iron, Miralax. I'll attempt to make this short-winded and hope this counts as appropriate for this subreddit!. Around ~August 2023, I suddenly started having random spikes/drops in my sugar levels, as well as fatigue and notable weight loss (40 pounds over 4 1/2 months). My previous PCP started the workup and over the next ~3 months, I was in and out of hospital admissions/countless doctor visits. Over this time I started to develop more symptoms, most notably night sweats, increasing GI issues, and worsening fatigue/tiredness.
Because the symptoms were mostly non-specific, I had pretty broad, general workups with few things off (my hemoglobin dropped several points in November then slowly recouped back to 15.5. Saw a hematologist and he basically just said "you had a bleed, it clotted off and now you're recovering. If it drops again come back to me"). Full body CT w/contrast, MRI of spine/brain, colonoscopy/endoscopy, spinal tap, echo, CPX, countless blood tests which I would fail to mention all of, but including endocrine/rheumatological and autoimmune markers, as well as viral potential causes.
At some point in December my gp basically threw his hands up and said "we don't have anything to work with, the few abnormal things are recovering". Fast forward to February, I end up in the ER with severe nausea and a dull pain below my lower left rib cage. They do a repeat CT and mention that my spleen is still "minimally enlarged" but there are no noticable masses, and my liver is "no longer slightly enlarged". These are two things I was never told about, I suppose because they felt they weren't significant enough? But made me realize I needed another opinion/better guidance. The radiologist also noted on the report that I had "mild haziness near the mesenteric root of the pancreas level", but "pancreas unremarkable otherwise" as well as normal lymph nodes in the area. He recommended checking for pancreatitis and/or mesenteritis.
I go into a new GP in March. She's fantastic - extremely thorough and importantly doesn't immediately try to blame this all on the easy things. She gets me into GI and hematology (had another GI doctor but she wanted me to get another opinion, as the old one basically said your colonoscopy/egd are normal, come back in 7 years). Hematology came first, and he basically said objectively, you acutely then chronically bled, used up all your iron stores which caused excess fatigue (fatigue/tiredness is still a primary issue for me but is substantially better than a month ago when I started iron supplementation) and now you're recouping. We can do a bone marrow biopsy or a PET scan, but I can tell you what they will show: nothing. I asked about the spleen/livemesentery involvement and he just said "your blood work and scans show no sign of a mass, if malignancy were making you this symptomatic, it would be more obvious and you wouldn't have seen any improvement. In addition your liver has reduced in size and your spleen is still barely enlarged with no signs of mass, malignancy doesn't act this way".
I leave the visit at least more optimistic about the situation, but still feeling awful and like this is some type of GI related malignancy that's killing me, frankly. (As a side note, symptoms became so problematic that I had to stop working full time which has obviously been another stresser during all of this).
Then the GI visit comes (about 2 weeks ago now at this point). We go over everything and he just basically says "let's skip the MRI and go for a pillcam to get a closer look at your small intestines, and an endoscopic ultrasound to take a closer look at your pancreas and this inflamed part of your mesentery". Sounds great to me! I know people go years looking for a diagnosis sometimes, but the last 8 months have been the most exhausting/stressful/longest of my life and he seemed adamant about getting to the bottom of this.
Here's where my concern/question comes in: back in December in my last hospital admission, the hospitalist asked what I thought this may be. I pretty quickly said PC, because of the way things progressed and the initial, non-specific symptoms + sugar issues (which seem to have mostly gotten better? I've also regained 30 pounds since, which is a "good" sign I know). He kind of laughed and just said "your pancreas has been imaged and looked at twice by two separate radiologists and neither saw anything to worry about" (this was before the February scan showing mesentery involvement). I kind of gave up on that idea/worry for a long time because of the assured way he answered my concern over it, but now I've got it in my head that that's what has been the culprit all this time and have been told CT's miss signs of PC pretty frequently, and the mesentery/spleen findings are a result of pancreatic tail or body involvement that's spread, which the GI did mention it was unlikely to be in the head as you'd almost certainly see bile duct involvement/jaundice evidence at this point, or the classic pale/clay stools, which I haven't had.
I know there is pretty strong evidence to this point to suggest it isn't a pancreatic tumor, given 3 contrast CT's now over 9 months with no sign of it, improvement in some symptoms (night sweats are virtually gone, fatigue is significantly better), some of the more obvious/common symptoms not being there, like the stool/jaundice, but instinctively this just feels like the right place to look. I'm not terrified of a diagnosis at this point, but I'm absolutely mortified that this is going to get worse before I have the chance to even figure out what it is because of the things that have continued to worsen (nausea/malaise in the morning especially, tiredness/dyspnea... Well, the dyspnea has improved since the iron supplementation as well, but considering I could get up and run five miles 9 months ago and now a small flight of stairs whip me...). The idea of losing ~6 months of valuable time if I'd pushed this concern harder back in December is also a hard pill to swallow. Speaking of, the pillcam is Thursday, and the EUS is the 28th. I tried to move it up but they are booked out (I feel like I they suspected pancreatic cancer they would have got me in sooner as well) and I don't want to push it anymore in the case that it isn't that, and I potentially take someone's spot that needs it before I do. I guess I'm asking for someone to talk me off this ledge and trust that something obvious wasn't missed, or even recommend I continue to push this as maybe it sounds like a familiar situation someone has witnessed in the past where it ended up being something like PC. I think I've mentally accepted almost every potential outcome of this situation except for that one, which likely has to do with me being intimately familiar with what it looked like in the end for a friend.
That was... Long-winded. Sorry, I tried haha. I wish you all the best of health moving forward!

Hi all, I had my first lap yesterday and they found "lots" of endo. I still don't know more details yet but that will come at my follow-up appointment. I'm wondering about recovery and GI stuff... usually I'm really on the constipated side so I have been drinking prune juice after the surgery to try and make sure things gets moving again.
Well, my first BM after the surgery was surprisingly... loose... not at all like my regular. Also my guts are churning. Is that normal?? I'm on T3 for pain management which I heard can also be constipating so now I'm just confused and scared 🫣 I did have to get a ton of anti-nausea meds before and after the procedure, and one of them was one that stimulates the intestines or something so maybe that's why? I dunno.
I'm probably just freaking out because I've never really had surgery before (apart from a dental surgery when I wad younger) and I don't feel "normal" which is scary. Did anyone have diarrhea or loose stools after surgery tho?

Female 30 years old, recently I posted that I had upset stomach. It started last Wednesday I had little fever and watery diarrhea + bloated and nausea. I went to the gp he didn’t run full check up he gave me some painkillers and told me it’s viral and will get better. I no longer have watery diarrhea but still soft stool and I feel I have cramps and gases.
I have anxiety and I always vomit when am anxious. Before that I always had probiotics dairy drink every morning .. I never have any probiotics in my life it was my fist time. I have probiotic for week or more
Should I worry. I can feel it’s improving but am little worried maybe because of my anxiety
My question is : how many days it lasts ?

Here’s the basic info, with situation explanations below.
Cats name: Jasmine Species: Cat Age: about 11 Sex/Neuter status: Female, spayed Breed: possible Siberian forest cat mix Body weight: 12.1 (last weighed at vet about 1.5 months ago. History: Mild constipation about 1.5 months ago. Didn’t know at first. Was lethargic, hiding, barely eating or drinking. Went to vet after a couple days when I could get appointment. They gave fluids and pain meds. Vet said it didn’t “feel” like she had much of an obstruction. After a few days she was fine.
Now: came home from work yesterday, around 5:30. Noticed she was lethargic, shying away from pets. Not quite sitting, but not standing either. Seemed very uncomfortable. Wouldn’t eat dinner. (She ate breakfast) (wet food morning and night with dry food available, but doesn’t usually eat much dry food.)
I lost a friend recently, so I was maybe a bit paranoid when my cat wasn’t looking well, so I took her to the emergency vet in my area. They manually removed some of the blockage (can’t imagine kitty was too happy about that.) then did an enema, anti-nausea med injection, pain med injection, fluids, and stool softener. Got home and she was not in pain. High as a kite though. She ate some tuna (her favorite, it’s what saved her as a stray kitten.)
This morning I gave the instructed oral dose of the pain med and stool softener. She didn’t eat this morning. Checked on her during lunch. Hadn’t eaten from what I could tell. Came home from work today, and she was drooling. Gave the recommended dose of the anti-nausea pill, still waiting for it to take effect, then maybe do the pain med oral and stool softener once the anti nausea kicks in.
I do have an appointment with our vet in a couple of days, as recommended. I will ask them in person about what digestive enzyme supplements they recommend, but I wanted to also get other recommendations from other vets or anyone who has had personal experience with digestive enzyme supplements for their cats.
NOTE: I will wait to buy anything until after I’ve talked to our vet. I just want to know your experience, and what ones seemed to work for your animals, so I can bring them up.
TIA

Hey everyone, I’m mainly doing this for myself as a journal but whoever wants to join along is more than welcome to me. I’m hoping this becomes a success story and for my quality of life to stop being haunted. YOU DONT HAVE TO READ ALL OF THIS
I’m a 22 year old female in the US. I currently don’t have a job as I have been let go yesterday due to my unsuspecting symptoms and lack of communication. I can’t keep up with the regular 9-5 jobs and it’s turning into a pattern of me burning myself out. I don’t have anybody to rely on other than myself and I can’t get afford health insurance at the moment.
Current Symptoms: - Extreme Fatigue/Exhaustion - SouCurdling/Spicy tummy feeling? - Nausea/Contractions (especially after physical activity and eating or drinking) - Bloating/Gas/Gurgling -Rancid Smelling Poop - Acne - Regurgitating oil/grease - Recurrent yeast - Brain Fog/Confusion - Urinary Incontinence - Body Rashes/Allergic Reactions -Sugar Cravings - Migraines - Cotten Mouth/Dehydration - Malabsorption/Continual Hunger - Thinning Hair - Weight Loss - Weak Pelvic Floor? Tight/Tense Muscles? - Food in Stools (Not often) - Drunkness Feeling After Carbs? - Acid Reflux - Depression/Anxiety - Weak Immune System
Food Sensitivities that have developed: - Dairy -Gluten - Soy - Gastric foods/spices/drinks (including onion and garlic) - Processed Foods - Broths - Sugar (Fruit and All) - Starch - Acid (Fruits/Vinegars) - Medications (NSAIDS/Anti-Acids)
Tried treatments that I can remember: -Xifaxin (2 weeks) - Ortho Molecular Ortho Spore (2-3 months worked wonders but relapsed) -Dietitian: Low Fodmap Diet (3 months didn’t help) - Reuteri - B12, VitD, other vitamin supplements - Physical Therapy - Fluconazole - Boric Acid -Laxatives (basically all) - Collagen Peptides - Plant Based Protein Powder - Yoga
Most of Background: So I have been dealing with different illnesses that is a repeated pattern since I was possibly 12 years old. I would frequently have nasty migraines, stomach bugs, food poisoning, and respiratory infections out of the blue. It gotten to the point of my family always saying “there’s always something wrong with you”, “you’re just exaggerating”.
When it came to 2017, I started gaining rashes as allergic reactions. It couldn’t be classified as hives even though it looked the part because it would sting like a bitch instead of itching. It would run through out my body whenever I ate every so often and that was only on of the reactions as I had a second of my skin swelling as if it was a mosquito bite but worse and when the swelling went down, it would leave scars behind.
I went to an allergist and nothing popped up on the regular tests, but something popped up on the chemical patch test. The name of the chemical was called Balsam of Peru, it’s mainly a preservative that is in your common foods/beverages, cleaning products, and aerosols. I continued to have random allergic reactions here and there as it wasn’t feasible to follow a diet that strict in a household like mine.
Then came the end of 2019, I was having trouble with my stomach and would randomly gag from November til Jan 2020. I would literally start throwing up even if I had nothing in my stomach. I went to doctors but they kept thinking I was pregnant and would say my vitals were fine therefore there’s nothing wrong. One day mid Jan, I had throw up for the last time but there was something different..I couldn’t get up. I lost all strength in my legs and half of my strength in my arms. I went to the hospital and they did X-rays and scans just to say there was nothing wrong and it might be a virus that hit my nervous system. The next day they boot me out with nothing. I had to learn how to walk all over again like a baby until I gained my strength with only the help of my family which took about a month. Throughout that time I was still feeling sick and gagging/throwing up.
This is the point when my mom decides to get a referral to a GI and they look through my records from the hospital to find out I was backed up with waste up to my ribs. They did a horrifying flush on me and prescribed me linzess. It was getting me to poop more frequently but I still was feeling pretty sick often, it was manageable though.
I get to college, it was a shit show, I start to get more symptoms, like brain fog and fatigue. I thought it was all in my head at this point and tried my best in school but had low performance when I was used to easy A’s. I began to have yeast infections every so often. I start getting into vaping, smoking weed, and the occasional drinking. The vaping became chronic and whenever I would drink I would have alcohol poisoning like symptoms that were uncontrollable to the point where a couple of times I ended up in the hospital to get my stomach to stop contracting. I stopped all drinking and started becoming a religious smoker to deal with my symptoms, school, work, and every other stress in my life. All it did was make my health plummet even faster.
I finally got diagnosed with SIBO at the end of 2021 and thought “finally something!”, the GI thought to cure it was to give more laxatives to get my bowels to move more frequently. Instead it would turn me into a balloon that was about to burst but could not push anything out. The GI gave up anf I decided to move on. At this point I had to take a break from school because I was so tired whenever I woke up in the morning that I either slept completely through my alarms or I couldn’t physically get up out of bed. I constantly was having stomach issues. My yeast infections started coming at least 2x a month. I had so bad urinary incontinence that I had to wear diapers. I was dealing with so much stress with family, working, trying to make ends meet, trying different doctors that never helped and telling me different things. I was dealing with a psychologically abusive bf. Nobody believed how bad I felt everyday. How hard it was for me to eat, think, overall function like a human being. My bf seen it everyday but refused to acknowledge that when he says he understood that his actions would always say otherwise. It all mentally broke me and I crashed hard.
This brings me to practically the present. I cut contact with the EX bf and parents. I’m low contact with the rest of my family. I quit vaping for good, but the damage is already done. I am now on Wellbutrin and trying to pick up the pieces that are shattered. It’s been 6 months but my symptoms are worsening instead of getting better. I can’t hold down a 9-5 job, my stomach can’t and won’t tolerate anything. I starve myself most days, drink water and electrolyte drinks whenever my stomach take it.
Everyday I feel weak, exhausted, brain fog so bad that I can’t count to 5, stomach hurt. The last thing that made me question my entire existence, Saturday night I was starving so I made rice thinking it was the safest thing. The next morning I felt so drunk that I couldn’t function, I was so dehydrated and in so much pain I went to urgent care. The doctor looked at me as if I was on drugs, refused iv, and told me my symptoms were caused by trauma, it’s all in my head. She refused a work note as well. I felt a tad bit better after some electrolytes from home and went to sleep for work. I slept through my alarms and woke up 2.5 hrs late (total 14 hrs). I couldn’t move my body, text manager. She called after the shift explaining that she isn’t letting me go because of my illness, bc I failed to tell her about the day prior so she could plan accordingly. She wants me to focus on my health, it would’ve been kind if I wasn’t already drowning in debt and couldn’t even afford rent.
The reason why I wrote everything I could is because 1. I believe a lot of this is relevant to each other regarding SIBO and Candida in some way 2. It will help me for my future
If you made it this far CONGRATS 🎉🎊 🥳 And thank you for the support!

Hey everyone, I’m mainly doing this for myself as a journal but whoever wants to join along is more than welcome to me. I’m hoping this becomes a success story and for my quality of life to stop being haunted. YOU DONT HAVE TO READ ALL OF THIS
I’m a 22 year old female in the US. I currently don’t have a job as I have been let go yesterday due to my unsuspecting symptoms and lack of communication. I can’t keep up with the regular 9-5 jobs and it’s turning into a pattern of me burning myself out. I don’t have anybody to rely on other than myself and I can’t get afford health insurance at the moment.
Current Symptoms: - Extreme Fatigue/Exhaustion - SouCurdling/Spicy tummy feeling? - Nausea/Contractions (especially after physical activity and eating or drinking) - Bloating/Gas/Gurgling -Rancid Smelling Poop - Acne - Regurgitating oil/grease - Recurrent yeast - Brain Fog/Confusion - Urinary Incontinence - Body Rashes/Allergic Reactions -Sugar Cravings - Migraines - Cotten Mouth/Dehydration - Malabsorption/Continual Hunger - Thinning Hair - Weight Loss - Weak Pelvic Floor? Tight/Tense Muscles? - Food in Stools (Not often) - Drunkness Feeling After Carbs? - Acid Reflux - Depression/Anxiety - Weak Immune System
Food Sensitivities that have developed: - Dairy -Gluten - Soy - Gastric foods/spices/drinks (including onion and garlic) - Processed Foods - Broths - Sugar (Fruit and All) - Starch - Acid (Fruits/Vinegars) - Medications (NSAIDS/Anti-Acids)
Tried treatments that I can remember: -Xifaxin (2 weeks) - Ortho Molecular Ortho Spore (2-3 months worked wonders but relapsed) -Dietitian: Low Fodmap Diet (3 months didn’t help) - Reuteri - B12, VitD, other vitamin supplements - Physical Therapy - Fluconazole - Boric Acid -Laxatives (basically all) - Collagen Peptides - Plant Based Protein Powder - Yoga
Most of Background: So I have been dealing with different illnesses that is a repeated pattern since I was possibly 12 years old. I would frequently have nasty migraines, stomach bugs, food poisoning, and respiratory infections out of the blue. It gotten to the point of my family always saying “there’s always something wrong with you”, “you’re just exaggerating”.
When it came to 2017, I started gaining rashes as allergic reactions. It couldn’t be classified as hives even though it looked the part because it would sting like a bitch instead of itching. It would run through out my body whenever I ate every so often and that was only on of the reactions as I had a second of my skin swelling as if it was a mosquito bite but worse and when the swelling went down, it would leave scars behind.
I went to an allergist and nothing popped up on the regular tests, but something popped up on the chemical patch test. The name of the chemical was called Balsam of Peru, it’s mainly a preservative that is in your common foods/beverages, cleaning products, and aerosols. I continued to have random allergic reactions here and there as it wasn’t feasible to follow a diet that strict in a household like mine.
Then came the end of 2019, I was having trouble with my stomach and would randomly gag from November til Jan 2020. I would literally start throwing up even if I had nothing in my stomach. I went to doctors but they kept thinking I was pregnant and would say my vitals were fine therefore there’s nothing wrong. One day mid Jan, I had throw up for the last time but there was something different..I couldn’t get up. I lost all strength in my legs and half of my strength in my arms. I went to the hospital and they did X-rays and scans just to say there was nothing wrong and it might be a virus that hit my nervous system. The next day they boot me out with nothing. I had to learn how to walk all over again like a baby until I gained my strength with only the help of my family which took about a month. Throughout that time I was still feeling sick and gagging/throwing up.
This is the point when my mom decides to get a referral to a GI and they look through my records from the hospital to find out I was backed up with waste up to my ribs. They did a horrifying flush on me and prescribed me linzess. It was getting me to poop more frequently but I still was feeling pretty sick often, it was manageable though.
I get to college, it was a shit show, I start to get more symptoms, like brain fog and fatigue. I thought it was all in my head at this point and tried my best in school but had low performance when I was used to easy A’s. I began to have yeast infections every so often. I start getting into vaping, smoking weed, and the occasional drinking. The vaping became chronic and whenever I would drink I would have alcohol poisoning like symptoms that were uncontrollable to the point where a couple of times I ended up in the hospital to get my stomach to stop contracting. I stopped all drinking and started becoming a religious smoker to deal with my symptoms, school, work, and every other stress in my life. All it did was make my health plummet even faster.
I finally got diagnosed with SIBO at the end of 2021 and thought “finally something!”, the GI thought to cure it was to give more laxatives to get my bowels to move more frequently. Instead it would turn me into a balloon that was about to burst but could not push anything out. The GI gave up anf I decided to move on. At this point I had to take a break from school because I was so tired whenever I woke up in the morning that I either slept completely through my alarms or I couldn’t physically get up out of bed. I constantly was having stomach issues. My yeast infections started coming at least 2x a month. I had so bad urinary incontinence that I had to wear diapers. I was dealing with so much stress with family, working, trying to make ends meet, trying different doctors that never helped and telling me different things. I was dealing with a psychologically abusive bf. Nobody believed how bad I felt everyday. How hard it was for me to eat, think, overall function like a human being. My bf seen it everyday but refused to acknowledge that when he says he understood that his actions would always say otherwise. It all mentally broke me and I crashed hard.
This brings me to practically the present. I cut contact with the EX bf and parents. I’m low contact with the rest of my family. I quit vaping for good, but the damage is already done. I am now on Wellbutrin and trying to pick up the pieces that are shattered. It’s been 6 months but my symptoms are worsening instead of getting better. I can’t hold down a 9-5 job, my stomach can’t and won’t tolerate anything. I starve myself most days, drink water and electrolyte drinks whenever my stomach take it.
Everyday I feel weak, exhausted, brain fog so bad that I can’t count to 5, stomach hurt. The last thing that made me question my entire existence, Saturday night I was starving so I made rice thinking it was the safest thing. The next morning I felt so drunk that I couldn’t function, I was so dehydrated and in so much pain I went to urgent care. The doctor looked at me as if I was on drugs, refused iv, and told me my symptoms were caused by trauma, it’s all in my head. She refused a work note as well. I felt a tad bit better after some electrolytes from home and went to sleep for work. I slept through my alarms and woke up 2.5 hrs late (total 14 hrs). I couldn’t move my body, text manager. She called after the shift explaining that she isn’t letting me go because of my illness, bc I failed to tell her about the day prior so she could plan accordingly. She wants me to focus on my health, it would’ve been kind if I wasn’t already drowning in debt and couldn’t even afford rent.
The reason why I wrote everything I could is because 1. I believe a lot of this is relevant to each other regarding SIBO and Candida in some way 2. It will help me for my future
If you made it this far CONGRATS 🎉🎊 🥳 And thank you for the support!

Also posted on HPylori
Hi! I am looking for advice and if anyone else has experienced this. September 2023 I was having extreme bloating. It felt like my stomach suddenly filled up with gas especially after eating anything. I would wake up with a flat stomach but as the day progressed my bloat got insane. Basically looked 6 months pregnant. Terrible gas that smelt horrible especially at night. I also had really bad constipation, but Metamucil and Smooth Move Tea kind of helped. I went to the doctor that same month did a breath test and came back positive for this DREADED STUPID PARASITE (H,Pylori).
This made a lot of sense to me because my partner was treated for H.pylori earlier in the year, but they had symptoms for years. They were also completely different from mine (nausea, vomiting, stomach burning, weight loss), so I didn't suspect it. Anyhow, I did the triple therapy in October for 2 weeks (it was hell), but after I FELT IMMENSLEY BETTER, just in time for my bday. I basically went back to my normal. Could eat whatever I wanted, no more bloat, no more gas, and no constipation. 6 weeks after completing I tested negative.
This only lasted 4 months. Fast forward to end of FEB 2024, I started to experience chronic constipation, and insane bloating after eating anything. I also started to have some shortness of breath because the bloat was so bad, and heartburn. TMI: I also have had floating yellow mucus in stool and fluffy yellow/brown stool that is rarely formed. The shortness of breath and heartburn went a way as of right now (knock on wood), but the bloat and constipation has seemed to get worse. I did a stool test and it all came back negative for parasites or bacteria. Now I am having gurgling stomach and it feels like it is filling with gas, as well as occasional dull left side abdominal pain. I went to the Gastro, she recommended I do SIBO Breath Test and retest for H.Pylori. I did a lactulose breath test and she said I tested slightly positive for SIBO, my ppm stayed between 1-9 until the last 15 min of breath test it went to 21ppm. I don't know if this is copletely SIBO though. I am doing a H.pylori breath test this Thursday and will update.
If anyone has any idea what this is or has had a similar experience I would greatly appreciate your advice.
Also, if there is anything that can help with the bloat or constipation (I have tried metamucil, miralax, and magnesium citrate) they worked temporary. I am also following a Low-FODMAP Diet my gastro recommended, but it is barley helping symptoms.
TLDR: Treated H.pylori felt normal for 4 months now have symptoms again. PLEASE HELP.

Hi! I am looking for advice and if anyone else has experienced this. September 2023 I was having extreme bloating. It felt like my stomach suddenly filled up with gas especially after eating anything. I would wake up with a flat stomach but as the day progressed my bloat got insane. Basically looked 6 months pregnant. Terrible gas that smelt horrible especially at night. I also had really bad constipation, but Metamucil and Smooth Move Tea kind of helped. I went to the doctor that same month did a breath test and came back positive for this DREADED STUPID PARASITE (H,Pylori).
This made a lot of sense to me because my partner was treated for H.pylori earlier in the year, but they had symptoms for years. They were also completely different from mine (nausea, vomiting, stomach burning, weight loss), so I didn't suspect it. Anyhow, I did the triple therapy in October for 2 weeks (it was hell), but after I FELT IMMENSLEY BETTER, just in time for my bday. I basically went back to my normal. Could eat whatever I wanted, no more bloat, no more gas, and no constipation. 6 weeks after completing I tested negative.
This only lasted 4 months. Fast forward to end of FEB 2024, I started to experience chronic constipation, and insane bloating after eating anything. I also started to have some shortness of breath because the bloat was so bad, and heartburn. TMI: I also have had floating yellow mucus in stool and fluffy yellow/brown stool that is rarely formed. The shortness of breath and heartburn went a way as of right now (knock on wood), but the bloat and constipation has seemed to get worse. I did a stool test and it all came back negative for parasites or bacteria. Now I am having gurgling stomach and it feels like it is filling with gas, as well as occasional dull left side abdominal pain. I went to the Gastro, she recommended I do SIBO Breath Test and retest for H.Pylori. I did a lactulose breath test and she said I tested slightly positive for SIBO, my ppm stayed between 1-9 until the last 15 min of breath test it went to 21ppm. I don't know if this is completely SIBO though. I am doing a H.pylori breath test this Thursday and will update.
If anyone has any idea what this is or has had a similar experience I would greatly appreciate your advice.
Also, if there is anything that can help with the bloat or constipation (I have tried metamucil, miralax, and magnesium citrate) they worked temporary. I am also following a Low-FODMAP Diet my gastro recommended, but it is barley helping symptoms.
TLDR: Treated H.pylori felt normal for 4 months now have symptoms again. PLEASE HELP.

I have a 2.5 year old Maine coon male. Neutered.
He just got done beating FIP! (Cured as of May 1st)
I wanted to preface with that because these symptoms are not FIP related.
Over the last 3 days, he has been vomiting. At first, I woke up to some hair on the floor and thought it was a hairball. No biggie. The vomiting continued, but he was alert, playful, and eating well.
After day 3 of vomiting, (yesterday) I took him to the vet. He was slightly alert but quite lethargic and refusing food. Vet told us he was extremely backed up with fecal matter. X-ray showed that was the case. They gave him an enema to see if it would help him pass stool but after 30 minutes, they put a tube of warm water and pushed out the fecal matter manually. When they finished, they mentioned that he still had two stools left but it was so high up his colon, it was impossible to get. Gave him sub q fluids, 150 ml. Gave him an anti nausea shot. Gave him two medications to help pass stool and to prevent nausea.
Today, he is lethargic, not alert, not eating or drinking. I’ve been giving him fluids with a syringe but he won’t drink on his own. He will walk up to the water bowl and lean down to drink, but refuses to. His stomach is hard and his nose is running with clear fluids. I just got off of work to find him hiding and his head shaking. He is no longer vomiting but he’s just not doing well..
I have a vet appointment scheduled first thing tomorrow. Anything I can do to help him?

I had a GI-map done 18 months ago and I had high levels of Citrobacter freundii, Klebsiella species and Enterohemorrhagic E. coli.
I also had low levels of good bacteria Bifidobacteria, Lactobacillus and Akkermansia.
I also had SIBO which has now been treated but I remained with symptoms after treatment. (I re-tested and was clear)
I went on the mediterranean diet lot’s of fruit and vegetables no processed food and a probiotic which was a multi blend of Lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. I also took PHGG and Butyric acid.
I’ve recently do another GI-Map and it’s exactly the same as the first one no improvement at all and symptoms are exactly the same.
Any ideas of what to try next?
I’m getting constant colon noises like bubbling, nausea and loose stools multiple times a day.

Ive been taking the opill for a little over a month now, and i wanted to share my experience so far so others can maybe know what to expect.
To start things off, im 22, weigh about 118 pounds. ive never been on any form of birth control (strict hispanic parents). Im also not super sexually active, my and my boyfriend are long distance so we dont get to see each other often, but when we do, tmi, we have a lot of sex (condom and/or raw). We use the pullout method a lot, and thankfully no surprises. This is one of the main reasons why i decided to start taking the opill, added protection. I also have really bad cramps while on my period, so i did some research and saw there was a possibility of my cramps not being too bad or just getting rid of my period completely (which i dont prefer).
I bought the 3 month supply, and ive finished 1 pack and im on week 2 of a new pack. The only side effects Ive noticed are: slight increase in appetite (no noticeable weight gain, i actually look a little slimmer), tendesensitive breasts, a little bit more discharge than usual, and increased libido(within 3 weeks of starting). Im aware its different for everyone, and i was nervous for weight gain, and increase in acne, but i just learned to not over eat, and keep up with a daily skincare routine.
I started the pills after my period, and i havent felt any kind of dizziness, nausea, or anything like that. I actually felt pretty good. I was hoping to still get my monthly period, for confirmation that im for sure not pregnant, and i did end up getting it! On my expected day i really only noticed some cramping, and the day after that, the bleeding started 3 days after my expected day, and the cramps were still bad. I was going through it at work, had to sit down most of the time, and my painkillers took a little longer to kick in but they did eventually. TMI WARNING, my blood also was a bit chunkier, nothing too crazy but i did notice it a little bit. My periods are usually like 2-3 days, then the rest is just the bbq stage. I started my period last week on Thursday, and usually by this time, I'd be in the bbq stage but my blood is still a normal bright red, not even dark. This isnt common for MY body, and im hoping the bleeding stops soon. At this time i have no cramps, i did have a little breakout but nothing my routine couldnt fix in like a day.
I havent had any kind of sex since starting the pill, but my bf is coming over in June so I'll keep updating if anyone is interested.
But yea this is my experience so far, overall im happy with it, just hoping my period goes away soon🙏

Living in a small southern town, you get used to the way things are. I grew up as a military brat, so my childhood memories are a blur of packing, unpacking, and getting settled. It had been seven years since we arrived, and nothing but the grace of God would make me move again. A few years ago, my father got orders to station at a base in the middle of the Mohave. I was only seventeen then, but after a few dozen screaming matches, I decided to strike out on my own a little early. I got a part-time job at the cafe, which was enough to rent a little run-down shack a couple of blocks from downtown. As far as I was concerned, I was living the dream—serving coffee a few hours a week and spending the rest of my time hanging out with friends, listening to music, and drinking.
That particular morning started the same as any other. I woke up around noon with a text from Mark to meet me at the cafe. Took me about two hours to get up and head over. The sun had just begun its descent as I pushed the door to the cafe open, the bell above tinkling softly. The sound bothered me a little bit, but I couldn’t tell why. It seemed to ring a little louder than I was expecting, and gave me this strange drilling sensation inside my head.
I ignored the feeling as the smell of slightly stale coffee and pastries washed over me. I saw Mark and Jamie already sat at our usual spot. Mark looked up as I approached, a grin spreading across his face. "Hey, Alex. Sarah should be here soon."
“So what's on the docket today?” I asked as I sat down, stealing a bear claw off Jamie's plate and taking a large bite before he had the chance to protest.
Mark’s excitement was almost palpable. He was always the one with the big ideas and crazy schemes, which I honestly appreciated. They got us into trouble more often than not, but it beat day drinking in the Walmart parking lot like everyone else our age.
"Alright, check this out," Mark said, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "I was talking to my cousin who works for the county. He told me about this old, abandoned food processing factory just outside of town. They used to can peaches there."
I gave him a skeptical look. "That’s your idea? Old, canned peaches?"
"No, idiot," he scoffed. "They left behind a ton of nitrates and phosphates. I’ve been doing some reading, and we can use them to make fireworks. I was up all night figuring it out and putting these together." He subtly opened his backpack to reveal at least a dozen PVC pipes fitted on both ends.
"Now that's what I’m talking about," I said, grinning.
Sarah walked in, catching the tail end of our conversation. "Sorry I’m late, I had a breakout and had to stop by the pharmacy. Upped my allergy meds. I fucking hate pollen," she said as I scooted over to make room for her on the bench.
"Is there anything you aren't allergic to?" I laughed.
She rolled her eyes, ignoring my question. "So, what's the plan for today?"
Mark, Jamie and I exchanged cheeky glances. "Well," I started, "let’s just hope you’re not allergic to peaches."
We finally managed to pry the side door of the factory off, which broke free from the hinges and smashed against the floor. Stepping inside, the air was thick and rancid as we bounced the beams of our flashlights around the packaging floor.
"We should split up," Mark suggested. "Alex, you and Sarah check out the storage rooms for the chemicals. Jamie and I will find the control room and see if we can get the power back on."
All of us nodded as we went our separate ways. Sarah and I wandered down the dark hallways, kicking open doors and looking for anything that looked vaguely like chemicals. The corridors were dark and damp, with black mold snaking along the walls like veins.
The first few rooms we checked were empty, filled only with dust and the remnants of long-abandoned equipment. Each door creaked as we pushed it open, revealing more decay and desolation.
As we moved further down the hallway, the mold seemed to become more aggressive, spreading in thick, dark patches along the walls and floors. The air grew heavier, making it harder to breathe. We kicked open another door, our flashlights revealing more of the same—nothing useful.
"This place is a bust," Sarah muttered,
"Let's keep looking," I replied, though I was starting to feel the same way. "There has to be something."
We continued down the corridor, our footsteps echoing in the silence. As we approached the end of the hall, something caught my eye. One door stood out, covered in black, creeping mold that seemed to pulse and writhe. Tendrils of fungus snaked out from the edges, reaching out into the hallway.
"Sarah, look at this," I said.
She turned to see what I was pointing at and her eyes widened. "That’s... different."
We approached the door cautiously as the tendrils moved and swayed.
With a deep breath, we each grabbed one side of the door and pulled. It resisted for a moment before giving way, the mold snapping and tearing as we forced it open. The smell that hit us was overpowering, a mix of rot and decay that made my eyes water.
Inside, our flashlights revealed a horrifying sight. At the back of the room sat several pallets with dozens of boxes of peaches each. But it was what grew from these boxes that will haunt my nightmares till my dying day.
The entire back wall was consumed by a towering fungal mass. Thick, fleshy stalks jutted out from the base, climbing nearly to the ceiling. The surface of the fungus glistened with a slimy, wet sheen, appearing almost like rotting flesh under our flashlight beams. Each stalk was covered in a mottled, sickly green and yellow hue, with patches of black mold that seemed to pulse in the dim light.
Interwoven within this horrific sight were bulbous growths, each one throbbing rhythmically, as if with a heartbeat of its own. They resembled obscene, overgrown tumors, ready to burst at the slightest touch. Long, sinewy tendrils extended from the main mass, creeping over the boxes and along the floor like the fingers of some malevolent creature, seeking out any life to ensnare.
The tendrils near the door twitched, slowly inching their way toward us as if aware of our presence. The air was thick with spores, glimmering in the light like tiny stars, each one a potential harbinger of decay and death.
"Oh my god," Sarah whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of our own breathing. "What is that thing?"
We stood there, frozen in shock and disgust, before I slammed the door shut.
"Let's get the hell out of here," I said.
We hurried back down the corridor, our footsteps echoing in the oppressive silence. The lights in the facility flickered on, casting a blinding white light. I heard a bubbling, groaning noise emanate from behind the fungal door, sending a wave of nausea through my body.
We met back up with Mark and Jamie in the main area and quickly told them what we saw.
"Yo, that sounds sick," Jamie exclaimed. "We should blow it up. I found the chemicals in the control room and these bad boys are ready to go," he said, holding up a pipe bomb.
"Yeah," Mark agreed, his eyes alight with excitement. "We'd be doing the world a favor, getting rid of that thing."
Sarah shook her head, her face pale. "No way. I'm not doing this. That thing... It's not normal. We need to get out of here and call someone who knows what they're doing."
Jamie frowned. "Come on, Sarah. Don't be a buzzkill. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do something epic."
"Epic?" Sarah snapped. "That thing is dangerous. We don't know what we're dealing with. I'm not risking my life for some stupid joke."
Mark stepped in with a grin. "Alright, let's all calm down. If you’re scared you can just let the men handle it.”
Sarah crossed her arms. "Fine, but I'm staying here."
"Suit yourself," Jamie said, shrugging. "But we're not leaving without taking care of that thing."
"Alright, let's do this," Mark said, looking at Jamie and me. "We'll be quick. Sarah, stay here and keep an eye out.”
The hallway looked completely different in the fluorescent lighting. I could see now that each vein of fungus emanated from that single door, like a spiral portal threatening to suck us in.
"Let's make this quick," I whispered, glancing back at Jamie and Mark. "We light the bomb, throw it in, and get the hell out of here."
Jamie nodded, holding the pipe bomb tightly in his hand. "Ready when you are."
We reached the door, and the tendrils of fungus seemed even more aggressive, writhing and pulsing as if aware of our presence. The air was thick with spores.
"On three," I whispered, gripping the edge of the door. "One... two... three."
We yanked the door open, the mold snapping and tearing as it gave way. The smell of rot and decay hit us again, making my eyes water. The monstrous fungal mass loomed before us, its bulbous growths throbbing rhythmically.
Jamie lit the fuse and threw the bomb as hard as he could inside. It struck one of the orbs, which burst, shooting a fine white mist into the air.
"Run!" I shouted, slamming the door shut. We turned and sprinted down the hallway. The explosion sounded behind us, the shockwave lifting me off my feet and sending me tumbling to the ground.
Living in a small southern town, you get used to the way things are. My parents were in the army, so we moved a lot, but now I'm staying put. I woke up around noon and got a text from Mark to meet at the cafe. The smell of slightly stale coffee and pastries greeted me as I arrived. The bell's ring seemed off, giving me a small headache.
I ignored it and slid into the seat across from Mark and Jamie. “So what's on the docket today?” I asked, stealing a doughnut off Jamie's plate.
“Going to go to an old peach factory and get some chemicals. I need to make some fireworks,” Mark replied, subtly revealing some pipe bombs in his bag.
Sarah walked in towards the tail end of our conversation and silently stood next to our table.
The three of us glanced at each other, unsure of how to proceed. “Sarah,” I finally started. “Are you ok?”
“Y-yeah,” she replied. “Are YOU guys feeling ok?”
We exchanged uneasy glances. “Yeah, we’re fine,” I said. After a moment, she shook her head and sat down as we continued our plans.
That evening, we broke into the peach factory. We found this disgusting, gigantic fungal growth coming out of some boxes of peaches and we blew it up with some pipe bombs.
The next day I woke up around noon and got a text from Mark to meet at the cafe. The smell of slightly stale coffee and pastries greeted me as I arrived. The bell's ring seemed off, giving me a small migraine.
I ignored it and slid into the seat across from Mark and Jamie. “So what's on the docket today?” I asked, stealing a maroon off Jamie's plate.
“Going to go to an old peach factory and get some chemicals. I need to make some fireworks,” Mark replied, subtly revealing some pipe bombs in his bag.
Sarah walked in towards the tail end of our conversation and silently stood next to our table.
The three of us glanced at each other, unsure of how to proceed. “Sarah,” I finally started. “Are you ok?”
“Y-yeah,” she replied. “Not really. Are YOU guys feeling Ok?”
We exchanged uneasy glances. “Yeah, we’re fine,” I said. After a moment, she shook her head and sat down as we continued our plans.
That evening, we broke into the peach factory. We found this disgusting, gigantic fungal growth coming out of some boxes of peaches and we blew it up with some pipe bombs.
The next day I woke up around noon and got a text from Mark to meet at the cafe. The smell of slightly stale coffee and pastries greeted me as I arrived. The bell's ring seemed off, giving me a piercing migraine.
I ignored it and slid into the seat across from Mark and Jamie. “So what's on the docket today?” I asked, stealing a bagel off Jamie's plate.
“Going to go to an old peach factory and get some chemicals. I need to make some fireworks,” Mark replied, subtly revealing some pipe bombs in his bag.
Sarah walked in towards the tail end of our conversation and silently stood next to our table.
The three of us glanced at each other, unsure of how to proceed. “Sarah,” I finally started. “Are you ok?”
“What's going on?” she asked, tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m scared.”
We exchanged uneasy glances. “It’s fine, Sarah. Just take a seat,” I said. After a moment, she shook her head and sat down as we continued our plans.
That evening, we broke into the peach factory. We found this disgusting, gigantic fungal growth coming out of some boxes of peaches and we blew it up with some pipe bombs.
The next day I woke up around noon and got a text from Mark to meet at the cafe. The smell of slightly stale coffee and pastries greeted me as I arrived. The bell's ring seemed off, giving me a splitting migraine.
As I slid into the seat across from Mark and Jamie, I noticed Sarah outside, fixated on a bird suspended in mid-flight. I went out to see her.
"Are you seeing this?" she asked, her voice tinged with astonishment.
"Yeah," I replied nonchalantly. "That happens all the time. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"What the hell do you mean, 'Am I feeling okay?'!" she screamed. "That bird is frozen mid-air, and you don't think anything weird is going on?"
Her yelling took me aback. I didn't understand her alarm, so I shrugged it off and joined Mark inside. As we began planning our nightly excursion to the peach factory, Sarah burst through the door, screaming, then vanished in a puff of smoke.
"That's odd," I mused, my brow furrowed in confusion before we shrugged it off and resumed our scheming.
The day after, I met Mark again at the cafe. This rhythm had become our existence: meetings by day, adventures by night at the old peach plant. That evening followed the familiar pattern; we reveled in the thrill of hurling pipe bombs into that small enclosed room.
This routine had completely engulfed our lives. Day after day at the cafe, night after night at the factory—it seemed as though this cycle was all we had ever known. Reflecting on it, I couldn't remember any other way of life.
However, one thing increasingly disturbed me—the ringing of the doorbell at the cafe's entrance. Each time I entered, the sound seemed sharper, more grating. Focusing on it brought a searing pain to my head, like a needle drilling through my skull. Yet, despite the agony, I found myself obsessing over it, the sound gnawing at the edges of my sanity.
One day, driven to the brink by this incessant ringing, I decided to confront it head-on. I stood by the door, letting the bell chime repeatedly. Each ring sliced through my mind, but I persisted, sweat beading on my forehead, teeth clenched in torment.
As the pain crescendoed, reality shattered. I woke to the blaring of a fire alarm, not the quaint doorbell I had imagined. The cafe was engulfed in chaos. The hallway was consumed by a sprawling fungal mass, its tendrils creeping along the walls.
In the dim, flickering light, I saw Jamie, or what was left of him. Half of his skull was missing, the fungus attached grotesquely to his exposed brain, pulsating with each eerie beat of his fading heart. Mark was there too, seemingly unharmed physically, but trapped in a delusion, his eyes glazed over, a smile playing on his lips as the fungus encased him.
Sarah lay collapsed by the fire alarm, her hand still on the lever. She had managed to pull it before succumbing to the spores that now clung to her body.
The tendrils that had enveloped me snapped violently, each break releasing a sickening crack that echoed through the eerie silence of the hallway. An outline of my body remained imprinted in the fungal mass, a mold from which I had desperately broken free.
Gritting my teeth against the pain and horror, I scrambled to Mark and Sarah. Mark was less entangled, lost in his fungal-induced stupor. I grabbed him under the arms, his body limp but alive, and dragged him across the floor. The fungus resisted, stretching like sinew before tearing away from him with wet, ripping sounds.
Sarah was heavier, her body weakened but still fighting. I clasped her wrists, pulling with all my strength. The fungus clung to her, tendrils winding up her arms like ivy. With a final, determined yank, the last of the tendrils snapped, freeing her. We left behind fragments of the monstrous growth clinging to her clothes.
Together, we staggered out into the night air, away from the suffocating enclosure. The cool air hit our faces, harsh yet cleansing. Behind us, the fire alarm continued to blare into the night. I fumbled with my phone, hands shaking, to dial the emergency number. The call went through, and within minutes, the sound of sirens cut through the stillness of the night, growing louder as help approached.
The next few days were a blur. I remember fading in and out of consciousness as nurses pumped antifungals directly into my IV, their faces blurring into the sterile environment. Once we were somewhat cognizant, the police wanted answers. One by one, we were interviewed, but we gave them nothing. I still don’t know what the exact penalty is for manufacturing explosives and using them to destroy a building, but I’m guessing it’s not community service. Jamie was still missing, and they hadn’t found any sign of him or his body. I tried to hide my tears as I knew he was already long gone.
After a few weeks, I was finally cleared for visitors and got to see Sarah again. She told me that after the explosion, she ran but couldn’t leave us behind. She came back, only to see us being consumed by the fungus. Try as she might, she wasn’t able to free us as she felt the oppressive spores take her under. She fought back and managed to pull the fire alarm before succumbing again. The doctors told her that her allergy medication gave her some resistance to the fungus; otherwise, she might have been a goner.
Mark was never the same. We never talked about what happened, and after trying once and him flipping out, I figured it was best to let sleeping dogs lie. That summer, he moved to upstate New York to work in his dad’s business. I haven’t seen him since. That fall, Sarah started college at Savannah State. I still call her every now and again, but it’s not like it used to be.
Despite all that happened, I’m not moving again. I’m happy here, and if it’s up to me, I’ll die in this little town. I still work at the cafe, as a manager now. On weekends, I come in and just sit at the booth we all used to share.
I still think about Jamie from time to time. I wonder if he's dead or still stuck in his delusion, picturing the four of us sitting at our table, talking, laughing, and passing the time. Sometimes, when the cafe is empty and the light is just right, I can almost see him there, his smile frozen in that moment before everything went wrong.
The cafe grows quieter each day, the hum of life fading into an eerie stillness. My skin feels different, as if the air itself whispers secrets I can't quite grasp. The itching that started as a minor annoyance has intensified, becoming a constant torment. I scratch at lesions that have begun to form on my arms and chest, red and raw, with patches of green spreading beneath the surface. I’ve started to wear long sleeves to cover my arms and a mask to hide my purpling lips.
Some nights, when closing, as I sit alone in the dim light of the cafe, the itching becomes unbearable. I claw at the lesions, feeling a dampness beneath my skin. Sometimes, when I cough, I could swear I see tiny spores hanging in the air, reminiscent of the bursting nodules growing on the stalks of the monster.
Occasionally, I hear the bell ring and the door open, but no one is there. I look outside into the empty night and see nothing. This went on for weeks, becoming more frequent. But one night, the door opened, and I saw Jamie standing there, the picture of health. I went to embrace him and noticed my lesions were gone too. It was almost as if we had never gone to the peach factory. It was suddenly morning, and the light shone through the cafe. For the first time in forever, we were happy. We talked about nothing, passing the time.
After what felt like hours, he told me it was time to go. But his mouth wasn’t moving—I felt like I could read his thoughts, and he could read mine. We stood up as I took one last look at the cafe and headed off with him, back to the peach factory.
As we walked, a strange calmness settled over me. I remember feeling that I wanted to ask if he had talked to Mark or Sarah, and wondered how they were doing. But deep down, somehow, I could feel their presence and I knew they were doing just fine. The sun was bright, the air crisp. The itching had vanished completely, replaced by an inexplicable craving for the sweetness of ripe peaches. Jamie and I shared a silent understanding, a bond deeper than any words could convey.
The factory loomed ahead, its doors wide open as if inviting us in. The familiar scent of peaches and something else—something earthy and ancient—filled the air. We stepped inside, side by side, feeling at home for the first time in ages.
The last thing I remember before the darkness took over was the feeling of the soft, warm peach flesh in my hand, and Jamie’s voice in my head saying, "Welcome home."

Since I caught a stomach bug in December, this is what has been happening to me (already diagnosed with IBS several years ago):
-lost of weight from 130 to 119 lbs -increase in the frequency and urgency of bowel movements, especially in the afternoon after lunch -BMs sometimes solid, sometimes in little chunks, often with mucus, sometimes only mucus, sometimes only expelling transparent liquid. For the first time, I saw a big drop of red blood in the middle of mucus yesterday evening, which absolutely freaked me out -When I have very frequent BMs, sometimes I will get cramps and pain, which give me nausea, cut off my appetite and prevents me from eating. This happened maybe 4 times in the past month. -Increased level of anxiety -Appetite went really down in the past two weeks, especially in the past week -Since I saw that blood yesterday, full on very intense anxiety, whole butterfly in the stomach. I can't eat.
I saw a doctor today. She ordered a stool sample and a colonoscopy in semi-urgent priority, so in the next two months.
The prep terrifies me. My stomach gets upset very easily. And if I don't eat well enough in a day, I get dizzy and full of stomach acid, so I feel very bad, and after, it's very difficult to restart eating.
I told the doctor I was extremely worried and that all that made me anxious. I asked about cancer and IBD. She said it was possibilities and that's why she was ordering the tests. I've asked if it could be only my IBS acting out. She said usually no blood with IBS.
I'm a 40 yo male, weighting now only 119 lbs.
I am absolutely freaking out, completely terrified.