What does not have ibuprofen

Hi, I just got diagnosed with IIH last Tuesday at the ER. The people didn’t tell me much, just that I had a lot of pressure that needed to be relieved behind my eyes. They also told me I don’t fit the usual criteria for this phenomenon. I am 5’2 115lbs 23 female. I received the lumbar puncture early Wednesday morning and had quite the regular day afterwards. Slight soreness and pain around the puncture site but nothing out of sorts. Thursday late morning, a really terrible headache started to come on and I had to lay down or the pain was unbearable. Waited a day or two for it to pass and returned to the ER on Saturday morning because my head was pounding so bad that I could barely roll out of bed and dress myself. ER said I needed lots of fluid, put me on an IV drip, some magnesium, ibuprofen, Tylenol, a caffeine pill and a little bit later they gave me one diamox pill. All my head pain went away within 45mins to an hour. The neuro-ophthalmology team came to see me and said my headaches don’t seem to line up with a spinal tap leak but I do need to drink more fluids (which I’m TERRIBLE at) and that they don’t think they need to keep me on a diamox prescription. It’s Monday night now and I’m still having the headaches and pain with sitting upright and moving my eyes around especially to the peripheral up down and side to side. My visual mobility is starting to return quite a bit. BUT when I do move my eyes to the peripherals I get a black and white flashing in my vision. I’m absolutely scared it means something terrible and I’m nervous to call the ER again because I don’t want them to tell me I am fine again and that it’s just another symptom of recovery. Is this normal or can someone explain to me what’s going on? I’m scared :(
On another note, I have kind of recreated the ERs migraine cocktail and nothing is working the same for me as the original hospital cocktail. The only thing I am missing is that diamox pill. Does anyone else experience headaches going away with diamox? I’m starting to think they made a mistake not prescribing and neuro-ophthalmology is super hard to get in contact with at the hospital that has my case :(
Any help, personal experience, recommendations and advice is appreciated. I’m lost, scared and nervous about all of this and it is still a big shock to me.

Hi everyone. I (23f) was told I had fibromyalgia when I was 16. I have been struggling with this and other chronic health issues since. I am at my breaking point and I need to know if anyone else struggles with these things and what I can do to alleviate my pain. I was recently diagnosed with IBS I also have transient tic disorder, Lymes disease, and other food allergies that have come on later in life. (I’m totally not trying to throw myself a pity party this is just my reality and I’m really struggling) Other than the lymes everything has been attributed to PTSD, I just don’t see how that can lead to all of this. My entire left side is stiff and I struggle with movement. Last week I felt a lump on my head and thought it was a swollen lymph node, I went to my doctor today and he thinks my skull is inflamed. I am in so much pain from this lump. It is bone hard and radiates pain all through the left side of my head, face, and jaw. What can I do to alleviate my pain. I’m taking ibuprofen and applying ice but it’s not helping. This just seems to be the straw that broke the camels back and I am so exhausted from feeling so broken. What do others do to motivate themselves through their pain? What do others do to alleviate their pain? Does anyone else have a laundry list of problems that started with fibromyalgia or sound similar to my situation? I feel so alone and no one else understands how much I’m struggling with my pain. Thank you in advance.

So, today I went into urgent care for a sore throat that developed white patches throughout the night. I tested negative for both strep and mono. I was told I have viral pharyngitis, instructed to continue taking ibuprofen and to come back if anything worsens. My only question is, I thought if there was white spots/patches in the throat that could only indicate strep throat or some other bacteria. Is it possible for it to just be a sore throat from the common cold or flu, or does the white patches indicate it’s more than that? Probably sounds stupid, but just wanting to ensure what I have is from a virus and not bacteria. Confused why I have white patches if it’s not bacteria.
I am a white 19 y/o female, I weigh 130 lbs and am 5’7 in height. I have no existing medical issues and only take sertraline for depression. I live in WI.

And if so, have they noticed any interaction?
I received an ADHD diagnosis a little while ago. I was formerly on methylphenidate and while I did see some positive benefits (sleep, reduction of anxiety, etc) the actual ADHD symptoms that I was trying to treat became more pronounced, so I made the decision to stop taking the medication.
Since and separately to this, I've been on Mounjaro for a few months now and it's going great. I have also been advised that the other medication option (disdexamfetamine) is no longer under shortage and that we could have another go at treating my ADHD symptoms - which honestly do need sorting out as it's causing absolute havoc with my studies. I'm currently wondering if it (the Mounjaro) might interfere with the ADHD medication working.
It does say that it might make oral contraceptives less effective, but anything I've seen about either methylphenidate/lisdexamphetamine interactions are basically listed as just "possible", with no indication of whether it would make the medication less effective. I don't really take any oral medications at all at present so I don't have a basis for comparison (e.g. Oh no I took ibuprofen for my headache and it didn't work, must have been the Mounjaro. I'd already stopped taking the methylphenidate by the time I started Mounjaro). The doctor basically said it was unlikely to be able to know one way or the other because the research hasn't been done specifically into these sort of medication interactions.
So while I am in the process of making my decision as to whether to start another ADHD med, or whether to wait until I'm closer to my target weight before I rock the boat*: is anyone else in the position where they've been on ADHD medication AND Mounjaro at the same time? What has your experience been like?
I'm 100% not seeking medical advice from anyone other than my doctor, but since his response was "if you're not sure then just do one at a time, but really there isn't enough research out there one way or another" I thought I'd reach out and see if anyone has any anecdotal experiences they'd be prepared to share? Thanks in advance, and best wishes.

• Literally the only thing that's stopping me from immediately switching is the fact that I'm making decent progress on Mounjaro; for the first time in years I'm at a weight where I can comfortably exercise again, and it's been brilliant for my mental health generally.

I usually get a visual aura at the start of my HM attacks and it will last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and occasionally will come back during the attack right before I throw up. Last year I had an HM attack and the aura ended up lasting a week while all my other symptoms went away. I had called my neurologist after having it for a day and she wanted me to go to the er right away but I live in a small town and all they ever do at the er is give me iv fluids and toradol. The toradol does help the pain but doesn’t ever take away the full attack. Well yesterday at 7pm I started my usual hm attack but the visual aura has gone away and come back almost every hour for almost 12 hours now. I have not had my usual one side numbness and weakness and I have not thrown up once. But the pain is intense and the visual aura is frustrating. Does this happen to anyone else? What do you recommend? What helps when this happens? I have taken nurtec, zavzpret and multiple Tylenol and ibuprofen and nothing has worked.

Hi everyone!
I had top surgery in London with Victoria Rose on 18/03 and I thought I’d breakdown how it went for people considering her!
I first got in touch with Victoria Rose’s office in August 2023 and immediately got a date for a consultation in November. She asked for 2 references for surgery but I got away with just one because I went for a psych referral from Dr. Kirpal Sahota who works with her apparently? I have a friend who got a referral letter from Dr. Lorimer and another one from their GP so I guess that’s an option as well. The wording was “Miss Rose requires a referral letter from a recognised gender clinic, usually with a 2 signature referral, one of which has to be a consultation psychiatrist, although she will accept single signature referrals if she has worked with the referrer before.“
The consultation with Dr. Sahota was £450 - which I had to settle entirely about 2 weeks before my consult with her. I first got in touch with her in August 2023, her office got back to me immediately but didn’t offer a specific date - they got back to me in September with a date for October. The consult itself was a video consult and from what I remember I was asked to explain my whole history with gender, mental health, family, sex, chest-related dysphoria, how long I wanted that surgery, how I was feeling on T… All the questions, some really intrusive ngl. I had read beforehand on Reddit that Dr. Sahota is not particularly understanding with non-binary people (which I am) so I very much toned down the whole genderfuck aspects of me and went for a full hyper masculine narrative which worked wonders… She was very happy to give me the piece of paper I needed. I don’t really want to get into more details on what I said publicly but if anyone wants to get in touch directly about it don’t hesitate!
The consultation with Victoria Rose was £250, which I paid for a couple of weeks before it happened. It took place at the Nuffield Parkside Hospital in Wimbledon (where the actual surgery took place too!). Victoria Rose is a very energetic friendly person, she went over a bunch of the same questions that Dr. Sahota did - gender history mostly, feelings about chest, testosterone - but in a much less invasive way, she made it sound like more of a formality. Then I showed her my chest. She had a look and a squeeze (eh that’s what we were here for you know) and said there was a bit too much overhang for peri (which I was expecting anyways and I had already made my mind up to get DI). I brought up that another surgeon said I had a lot of fat around the top of my chest, she had a look and said we could do a bit of lipo around my armpits to harmonise the results. She then showed me plenty of her results. They all looked really good - she is able to do so many different scar shapes (from almost right angle to rounded scars). She really emphasised that she wanted to fit to the patient’s aesthetic goals as much as possible. Nipples looked all sorts on the weird-to-great scale, as it tends to be the case. For nipples she offers:

• no nips
  
• nipple grafts (from her document: full thickness grafts – these have dressings stitched over them for the first week. They are showerproof so you can shower during this period, but do not soak them in a bath/swimming pool/sea. This dressing is then removed by our specialist nurses at Parkside Hospital and further dressings are normally needed for 1-2 weeks. You will be given these and instructions on how to apply them by our nurses. Nipple grafts can vary in colour, shape, size and position. They are normally insensate and the nipple bud will be flatter. Very rarely they can fail and a residual scar is left that may require further reconstructive surgery or a tattoo.)
  
• nipple pedicle (from her document: in this technique the nipple is left attached on a small amount of breast tissue and button holed through the skin into its new position. This technique sometimes preserves some sensation. Dressings are not stitched on. You will need to come to see the nurses at Parkside at 1 week for a wound check. The nipple tends to be more uniform in colour and shape but the nipple bud size cannot be altered. The nipple can also fail in this technique if it does not receive adequate blood supply. It then heals as a scar which may require further surgery. In this technique the breast tissue the nipple is left attached to may produce a visible bulge in the lower pole of the breast. This may need to “debulked” in a second operation.)
  

I decided for the nipple pedicle because I wanted to get the best chances to get some sensation back and I want a bit of a nipple bud to pierce later! She did assure me that I could change my mind about this, even on the day of the surgery… She also encouraged me to bring pictures of top surgery results that I liked on the day of the operation. And that was it! In an out of the consultation within half and hour, though she did answer all my questions. I would advise arriving with questions ready because she does not linger so it’s useful to have everything at hand!
After that I received documentation from her office reiterating everything, consent forms etc. and maybe a week later her her office sent me a date for the operation - in March 2024! I had to send in a £750 deposit. Between November and March I had a very short zoom call with Miss Rose where we went over the same things we did on the consult - felt like she was double checking that I knew what I was getting in for. I had some questions about recovery which she did not know how to answer and she invited me to ask her specialist nurses). A week later I had another zoom call with nurse Sandie… I was really taken aback because she asked me a bunch of questions about my gender; and dysphoria and everything which I am pretty angry about. I did not expect it so I kind of dissociated for the rest of the consult and got it to finish as fast as possible. But I seem to remember we went over some recovery stuff, she sent me the link to buy the post op binder, etc.
I had one final pre-op assessment in the Parkside clinic in Putney with some of the nurses from her service. They did a blood test, asked me questions about my health and waked me through was was going to happen on the day of the surgery.
Worth mentioning as well that my zoom call with Dr. Rose was rescheduled to a week earlier than previously planned; and that my top surgery date moved from the 12/03 to the 19/03 (with months notice) to the 18/03 (with weeks notice) - just so people are aware that it can happen! Also: her admin staff are super helpful, polite and responsive through email and through phone. Which is good because there was a lot of emails and I got confused a bunch of times.
On the day of the surgery I had to stop eating before 7am and stop drinking before 11am, which was also the time I was asked to arrive at the Parkside Nuffield in Wimbledon. I got shown into my room, and asked to chose my dinner for that night (they actually have a full menu it’s madness). Then I watched TV for hours with the friend who came with me. Got a visit from the nurse and from the anaesthetist, then from the surgeon herself who ironed out the last details with me. Everybody got me signing consent forms left right and centre. Then I waited some more (turns out she did 2 surgeries before me that day). Then at 5pm right when I was starting to turn crazy with anticipation and hunger nurses come in and we walk to a little room downstairs. I got cannulated in my left hand, and next thing I know I wake up boobless (and crying?, apparently that’s really common with anesthesia) around 9:30pm.
I spent the night at the hospital with drains in, a nurse came in to check my blood pressure every couple of hours and help me to the bathroom, I was very numb from the anaesthesia. I only had a paracetamol drip through the night and a couple of ibuprofens. Absolutely no pain! Very confusing night though but the hardest part wait waiting to get food (around midnight - the nurse said I had to wait to avoid nausea, and to be fair I did not feel nauseous at any point so I’m grateful for that!). The next day, Victoria Rose came in to check on me and change my nipple dressings. Then the nurses removed my drains and canulation I felt fine and everything seemed to be going all good so my friend drove me home that day!
Recovery-wise I haven’t been given much tips - I got operated on the Monday eve and I was told to stay without a binder until the Friday to avoid compressing the nipples right away. All my bandages from the surgery stayed on until my 1 week post op appointment (they changed the nipple dressing) and at 3 week post op they removed the surgical tape on the incisions. I feel like I’ve had the easiest recovery tbh, which is probably due to a mix of surgeon skills and my own genetics/health (I’m able bodied, no medical issues whatsoever, and 28 years old). I was able to move my arms loads right away, I had loads of energy, didn’t need any painkillers after the operation. My nipples never looked scary at all and I’ve had a bit of swelling but not even that much.
One spot on my incision bled for like a week but that’s it, and I had some surgical dissolvable staples resurface at week 5 which was a little bit scary. I was meant to wear a binder for 6 weeks but I stopped at week 5 because it was hurting my back too much, and I could tell that I was mostly fine swelling wise.
I'm 7 weeks post op and very happy! I'm really happy with how my results look (I posted pics in another sub if you're interested). Still a tiny bit swollen but not even that much, and I can feel everywhere in my chest apart from my nipples for now!
Cost breakdown:
Consultation with Dr. Sahota £450
Victoria Roses’ consultation £250
Victoria Roses’ fees £5000
Hospital stay fees £4600
Anesthetist £1000
Blood tests from the hospital £182

I’m 37F, not diabetic, no significant injuries, no diagnosis that would suggest allodynia is likely. I highly doubt I’m lacking in B12 because I take it daily sublimgually or vitamin D because I spend so much time in the sun. I guess that fibromyalgia is possible, I have lived with pain for quite some time but always attributed that to just being generally out of shape, I’m not significantly overweight or anything just lacking muscle tone. Generally it’s my entire spine and hips plus my hands get incredibly sore from being used in an amount that would probably be considered normal, and my feet always hurt in the mornings like they’ve been asleep and are waking up but it is goes away after an hour or so.
This last week was exhausting. We traveled for a wedding I was in over the weekend and we had a lot of activities. My 5 year old was sick when we got home Sunday so he was waking up constantly and I have a hard time sleeping anyway so I got even less sleep than he did. I’ve always been able to tell when I’m going to get sick because my skin hurts everywhere, I for some reason thought that was just a normal symptom that everyone got. Apparently not. So around Wednesday when my skin started hurting I just assumed that I caught whatever my son had, no big deal, I’ll get sick and it’ll pass. Oh my word, I was so wrong. By Friday I was so exhausted I could barely stand up for more than 5 minutes and the pain from my skin was so bad that I just wanted to die, movement sucks, being touched by anything sucks, clothes suck, it’s 76 degrees in my house yet I’m still getting random chills when the AC kicks on even though I’m far from cold and holy crap does that suck. It’s like I have a whole body sunburn.
Friday and Saturday nights my husband managed the kids so I could rest. I never did get sick. Now I’m rested and feeling great, that is other than my skin. This morning I woke up and it was really just the back of my arms and my thighs so I figured I could manage a fun Mother’s Day. Again, I was wrong. It all came back over the next couple of hours. The only part of my skin that doesn’t hurt is my stomach and face. It’s Mother’s Day. So many hugs, my kids want to cuddle, my son does this soothing thing where he likes his hand jammed in between the back of my knee or in my arms and it hurts so bad but I can’t just tell my children not to touch me.
I was so miserable today that I finally took some morphine and I hate taking pain medication. It did nothing but make my nose itch & now that I’ve searched allodynia in this sub I see that meds like that aren’t even suggested. Cool. I’ve also tried a bath, ibuprofen, lotion. I need relief, badly. Currently trying some 5% lidocaine ointment but I read some comments saying that actually makes it worse for some people. I need suggestions. I’ll try anything & will go to great lengths to obtain something that might help while I wait and hope and pray that this is going to eventually go away.
Edit to add- I could easily get either gabapentin or lyrica and I will if that’s a quick fix, but from what I’m reading those take weeks to actually do anything? I don’t want to take either of those long term if it’s avoidable.

I don't think anyone reads this but I need to vent, any support would be appreciated as I'm struggling daily, hourly.
In August of 2023 I strained my muscles by swimming in a lake with a small current for 3 hours. I just love being in the water. I had pretty bad left sciatica pain couldn't really bend or move the same I was in pain. Probably around a 3 or 4 on a bad day. Then a few weeks later I was getting better, I was at a swimming pool I slipped and fell pretty bad on left side. It felt fine until the next day I was in the worst pain of my life about a 10 I couldn't stand I was on the floor crying. It got better as the day went by I wasn't at a 10 anymore but perhaps a 5.
As the weeks go by I am still in pain still about a 5. I start researching how to ease sciatic pain, I asked the people around me for advise. Turns put sciatic pain is more common than you think. So I started stretching more, and going to see a chiropractor. It was okay didn't seem like it was doing much so in October I go to urgent care because the pain wasn't going away. They did an xray to make sure nothing was broken, gave me a high does of ibuprofen and some muscle relaxers and told me to keep stretching and seeing the chiropractor.
I comply, still in pain until a coworker advised me about trigger point massages. Let me tell you best advise I was ever given. I found an amazing therapist (I still see him today) and it was working! Stretching, chiropractor, and trigger point massage I was at 90% better. I was walking straighter my pain was around a 2 it was looking up! Until I fell again in December, and yes on my same left side.
I was worried I set myself back but it seemed to be okay. I was in a little more pain but that was expected. Little did I know I had a herniated disc that was slowly coming more and more out as the weeks passed.
One morning in January, I woke up with the worst back pain as of I slept on the ground and it was sore. I attempted to get out of bed and the pain I felt was unbearable, a screaming 10 I couldn't stand up my back hurt. My sciatic pain?? Was a ten the second I put weight on my leg, my entire left leg spasmed. It was like a ripping burning and sharp shooting pain all at once going from my lower back all the way to my toes. I couldn't walk I immediately started crying, and then that was my life for the next 3 months. I went to the ER at the start. I was in pain and wanted help but they only treated me as if I was a pill addict. Advised me I only needed tylenol and physical therapy, and refused to give me an MRI. Mind you i was in I was in so much pain my blood pressure was 191/112. I went to physical therapy and the therapist told me flat out, I can't help you you need an mri and most likely surgery. He gave me exercises to do to keep my back muscles from weakening well I let the medical and insurance system take its course. It would be weeks before I could get seen by my primary. So I tried another er, but this time they gave me steriods and it helped with the spasms. I tried a second physical therapist and at least she saw me. She explained to me what my muscles were doing, and she massaged my back for the appointment she advised by muscles are so tight they are pulling my sacrum out of place. So she focused on that, she felt bad for me and gave me a referral for an MRI. She was only able to due to what type of physical therapist she was. Before my appt for my MRI came up I finally saw my primary.
She actually listened to me, gave me pain pills, fmla and apologized to me about the prior physician before her. She ordered a Stat MRI I had an appointment the next day. I want to stress too getting around in my condition was not easy. I started to use a cane to help me keep balance it was so painful to walk you could physically see it in my face, and my body would uncontrollably tremble. Welp after the MRI it turns out I have a medium/large herniated disc. She then gave me a referral to pain and spine. I thought finally answers and something more. This can't last forever.
I started seeing my pain and spine specialist, the appointments always seem fast. I don't really feel like being heard, but I'll give it a chance. He scheduled an appointment for me to receive a steriod injection. He said it should help with all my pain, after it would be like what it was before I got hurt. They told me the injection is the most effective and less likely to have side effects because how it's done. They go in from the side to get as close as possible and use an xray to ensure no complications. They said it's a minimal procedure I couldn't return to work the next day. Well yhe next week I was so incredibly sick I had to miss that week or work. Thank God my mom is here for me. She literally had to force feed me eggs because I was too weak myself. It felt like the flu my head hurt mu body was so sedative everything hurt. I had a fever the whole week. The doctor office had to call me everyday to check up and determine if I should go to the ER. The cherry on top was the fact that the doctor kept denying it was from the shot. He advised me one of the nurses had the flu I must have caught it... and started showing symptoms the same day, right.
After the first week of being sick I started feeling better and my pain was getting better I was walking right again, I was able to sit and for a few hours it was amazing I thought finally. It was short lived however, about 2 weeks then I started getting worse again. The pain just started coming back, my muscles started spasming. The medicine was just a mask there is still something wrong, I started seeing a different physical therapist but all they do is massage me.
I'm scared because the doctor wants me to get another injection, when the first made me so sick.

My neuro has me on meloxicam for pain since ibuprofen wasn't cutting it and he is pretty much refusing to give anything stronger. It works okay-ish even though I'm on the lower dose, but it's giving me some interesting side effects. I thought my period was occasionally irregular before, it's very irregular now. I downloaded a tracking app the last few months, and you can tell when I started taking it. November to January were regular, then 53 days to my next period, then 28, then 26. If I was someone who could have gotten pregnant at that time, I would have freaked out because what the hell. And just like with every other side effect of the meds I take, my neuro didn't mention it could do that, I had to look it up myself to see if was one of my meds being weird. I mean it does help to a degree, and my neuro is pretty damn resistant to not giving me anything stronger even though the entire time I have seen him since 2015 I have complained about being in pain more pain the longer time goes on, but I hate that unpredictability.

I’m gonna start by saying that Sciatica is 100% curable. No matter what you see in this thread, don’t lose hope.
I (18y M) was dealing with sciatica for 7 months. It started in late august of 2023. it started off very small. I thought it was only some back pain, which i’m familiar with, so i didn’t think much of it. The cause of my sciatica is unknown. It got worse and worse and suddenly i was pretty much bedridden. I couldn’t walk and I physically couldn’t stand up straight. I still had to drive and walk to school though and it was horrible. Limping from class to class was not only really painful, but very embarrassing.
In January of this year, i got a steroid injection. It definitely helped. I was still in a lot of pain, but it did help. I was taking 400-800mg of Ibuprofen a day, which is not good for your stomach. But it was the only thing that took the edge off a little. I was in physical therapy, but it didn’t really help much. It was also very expensive to keep this up. I also took a break from my job so that didn’t help with money. I genuinely thought I had to deal with this for the rest of my life.
Fast forward to March of this year. I was doing my morning stretches as usual. When all of a sudden I pushed a little too far and pulled a muscle. A HUGE wave of pain shot down my back and leg. I was seeing stars and i contemplated calling 911. I eventually got up onto my bed after a lot of struggle. The pain lasted for about 20-30 minutes until it eventually subsided. However it was different. I could move a little more and i could walk a little better.
I had an appointment with my doctor and i explained what happened. He said that after the muscle relaxed, that might’ve caused some space to open up for the disc to move back into place. Till this day i have no idea what happened.
Ever since then, i got better and better. My pain is pretty much gone. Sitting down for too long does aggravate my back a little but that’s pretty much it. I recently got back into my hobbies as i come from an athletic background. I’m able to walk, sit, and stand without much trouble.
One thing i will say is that my back and leg muscles are very weak still. Since i haven’t been using those muscles much, they are more susceptible to muscle strain and soreness. So even if my sciatica pain is gone i still have to strengthen my legs and back. I still stretch and roll my muscles everyday. But overall, im back to my hobbies and im back to work after 7 months of pain.
Again, sciatica is definitely curable. of course it depends on the person, but it’ll get better i promise.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. i’ll try to answer as best as i can. :)

Hello, I would appreciate any input on this from clinicians if you're able to chime in.
I got a mild head cold on March 22nd, and it came with a severe headache. I'm 24F, 125 lbs, 5' 4", no history of migraines. Diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos, GAD, and ADHD, I take 20 mg omeprazole, 25 mg busparione, 150 mg buproprione, and 27 mg methylphenidate daily.
After the head cold itself cleared up, I did a 10 day round of cipro for any remaining infection, which mildly improved symptoms for the duration of the antibiotic but did not resolve it. After that, we tried a 5 day round of steroids, which also mildly improved symptoms but did not solve it. Symptoms returned full force after ending the treatment, so I was scheduled for a routine CT no contrast. There's a 5 week wait for results to come back, and I'm on week 2 now. No OTC I've tried has done anything for it. I've tried ibuprofen, acetaminophen, naproxen, asprin, and whatever is in Aleve. I stopped taking medicine a few weeks ago since it wasn't doing anything, and when I was taking it, it was only every few days as I did not want my pcp to just label it as a medication overuse headache and send me home.
Right now, I'm on topiramate, 25 mg once nightly. So far it's been 5 days. I have the classic pins and needles in my hands and feet, no improvement with the headache, which they said is expected as its too early for that. They said that I can get a referral to a headache specialist once I've been on a preventative for a month. I understand the due process, but I've got such a pit in my stomach that I can't shake. I want an answer. It seems too weird to me.
It does not follow migraine patterns, thunderclap patterns, cluster patterns, or tension patterns. It does all of those things at various times and intensities, and the only triggers I can figure out are light and sound. Some days, it's a tight band. Some days, it's a lot of pressure everywhere and a sore neck. Some days, it's throbbing and one sided (can be either side). Some days, it's behind my eyes and hot, and looking around is painful. Some days, it's like a huge needle has stabbed one specific spot, and the pain will come and go randomly (this one is always the same spot). When the pain gets up to an 8/10, my vision gets blurry and I get some mild confusion (such as forgetting words and trouble responding when talked to).
Today I had a new thing, which I'm still not sure whether to attribute to the topiramate or not. I sat down on the couch after a shower, and got intense vertigo. For about 5(?) minutes it slowly ramped up, then for about 60 seconds my eyes were jerking side to side out of my control, and I was concerned I might pass out, as I had that tingling on the back of the neck and vision tunneling that usually happens when I've fainted in the past. It took another 2 minutes to subside and for me to feel normal again, thankfully no passing out. So that was incredibly strange. Overall the whole episode can't have been longer than 10 minutes.
I've been so so tempted to go to urgent care or the ER so many times the past month, but I don't want to just get the migraine cocktail and a few thousands of dollars in medical debt. Does this sound like a normal sudden onset of migraine in someone who never had them before? Is it something else that just happens sometimes after an illness? Is there anything I can do while waiting for the CT results?
I'm on leave of absence from work right now, because this is so debilitating. But I can't take enough time off to wait for the CT scan, and I genuinely doubt there will be anything useful on that scan. Even if there is, other scans and tests will probably take weeks after that, too. What am I supposed to do?? I have to work, I have to pay rent, but I can't go outside without experiencing severe pain, and I'm so fatigued after doing anything. It's so frustrating. I feel so useless and let down. Do you think I could get anything out of an ER visit, or is it best to let the CT be read and hang tight while they decide what should happen next?

Im 15, i turn 16 next month. My original plan that i made when i was 12 was that if my life didn’t get better by the time i was 18 i would kill myself, but now thats only 2 years away and i don’t know i want to die that soon. I’ve known i want to commit suicide for years, it’s always been the only way i see myself dying and that hasn’t changed, it’s just so… realistic now, that it scares me? The thought that I’m going to have to follow through with it sooner rather than later is terrifying. I just don’t know what else i can do. I have no education, I haven’t been in school for around 4 years and i never did any at home tutoring. GCSEs are soon for everyone else my age, but I can’t even think about school without having a panic attack, so ill have to do them some later date. If i can do even that, that is. I’ve moved schools two times, moved houses too, but nothing works. My mum talks about it a lot, how i need to get good qualifications to get a job and live a normal life as a ‘responsible adult’ but I can barely get out of bed. She said when i turn 18 i need to start paying her rent to stay in her house and im so lost on what to do. How does she expect me to get the money to pay her if i can’t get a job? Does that mean I’ll be homeless after i turn 18 or is she only saying that to push me to try harder? I have basically no friends, all the people i used to call my friends are more just ‘people i know’ rather than people i can actually talk to. though I have one friend, an online friend, who i love more than anyone else. She truly makes my life feel as if its worth holding on a little longer if only to talk to her another day. But I know deep down she won’t be enough to stop me.
I have a good life, i have a caring family and a loving home. I’m adopted but it isn’t something that bothers me nor was it ever hidden from me. My mums a single parent and im an only child, so i get lonely but its nothing i cant work around. Sometimes i wish i had a younger sister but its not exactly a possible dream and it doesn’t bother me too bad that i don’t have siblings.
My headaches are getting worse, this teacher who comes over from my school twice a week thinks i should go to the doctor again and have him prescribe me new meds. I wish they could give me meds to make me feel better emotionally and not just for these fuck ass migraines. I had an autism assessment the other month but I’m pretty sure it turned out im not autistic. I think i might have adhd but I can’t convince my mum to let me get that tested. We only had the autism assessment because an old social worker said i was autistic (Ironic considering she never even met or spoke to me).
Sometimes I consider telling my mum about everything just to get admitted to somewhere. I need a break from my life and i don’t know how to get it. I rarely self harm anymore because i have no money and can’t buy aftercare. That’s not to say i don’t want to, it’s just that dermis cuts never satisfy me anymore and unless i can go deeper it feels pointless to cut at all. So i only cut when its spontaneous. That or when i feel i need more scars. Music used to help, now it doesn’t. It makes things manageable I suppose, but its the baseline that holds me together, it doesn’t make it easier like it used to. A lot has changed though I suppose, not everything is how it was in 2020-2021. I mean I’m not even over my ex girlfriend, how do I expect myself to get over my mental health issues.
So, I’m going to have to kill myself. I don’t know how, or when, but it’s going to be before i turn 18. I might be scared but it’s my only choice. I only really have one option, to slit my wrists. Its fine, i mean that was my go to already when i originally planned at 12. I just also had the intention of being drunk. It will be fine, I might not die but it’s better than hanging or overdosing on a shit medication like paracetamol or ibuprofen. Plus I’ll have cool scars if i do end up surviving. I’ve always liked giving myself scars.

So this is going to be a long post with quite a few different things in it.
31/M 5'8 170lbs
January is when the issues started that I want some feedback on. It's becoming hard for me to know what may genuinely be withdrawal/side effects, and what may be something else.
Starting in January my kids got sick with some type of 24 hour virus, and it went through the whole house including myself. After that i got tinnitus in my left ear and felt AWFUL. Flu-like symptoms, body fatigue, chills, joints popping like crazy. The ear pain felt like my ear was just full of fuild, when I press up below it, my ear would feel like its going to explode. I went to my PCP and he put me on Cipro. I took it for a weekend and couldn't tolerate it. I thought I would be okay after that, then it was just day after day dizziness/extreme fatigue and a new symptom of head pain near the ear with tinnitus. It was so bad I was calling out of work a few days a week, and I haven't missed work in 5 years. The head pain would be right in front of my ear, in the temple area. Went to ENT after another week of this and was told it was an ear infection, was put on cefdinir for 2 weeks. I took it for a week with no changes so i stopped (yes i know this is very bad) I felt even worse the week following. He put me back on cefdinir for 2 more weeks which I took. Still no changes, and now at this point I can barley drive i was so dizzy. Not spinning dizzy, but almost tilting over dizzy. My eyes couldn't focus on anything and almost felt like they were dancing around. I went to the ER it got so bad after another week, had MRI of my brain, CT of my brain, and CT of my sinuses. The doctor said both showed minor sinus thickening with mucus and a little fluid on my left ear (ear with tinnitus). Nothing wrong or crazy with my brain. was told to take Doxycycline, they thought it was just a sinus infection with vertigo. I took it the whole time ( 2 weeks) and felt a little better but not like before all of this. I went back to local ENT soon after to show the results, and they preformed a Myringotomy on my left ear with no tubs to see if it would help. Long story short, it hurt like hell and didn't help the ringing or dizziness. This point the ENT said he thought it was just TMJ. I took all of this to my PCP, he doesn't think its TMJ, but thinks something is definitely up but doesn't know what it would be. Took all the blood tests known to man with all negative results. That list of test follows: WBC. RBC, Lyme, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Alpga-Gal, ESR, CRP, RF Qnt, Thyroid, Vitamin. Only thing I thought was worth noting was my WBC was 9.5, CRP was 2, and ESR was 19. I had to go back to ENT to see another doctor because I wanted a second opinion. This new ENT looked over everything, all the scans, blood work, Myringotomy, and months of antibiotics with nothing getting better. He said he also thought it was a mix of TMJ and Eustachian tube dysfunction, then sent me out the door.
So here i am, better then I was in Jan/Feb with all this, able to go to work now. I'm having to take ibuprofen almost daily, twice a day to get through the day. My head/temple pain has not gotten any better but the extreme fatigue has. Today my ear has been still bothering me with pain, ringing, and left facial pain from my temples to my tops of my cheek. So i went and bought a ear scope to look at it myself. This is what I took. My right ear which hasn't bothered me the entire time looks what I would say is normal. My left ear which has been the problem ear the whole time doesn't look like the right. I can see the scar were the Myringotomy was preformed around the ear drum itself and a small amount of dried blood, but what I'm more concerned with is all the red and blood vessels I see. When i press on it, its EXACTLY were the pain is in my ear. I will attach pictures and just see what you all think yourself.
https://imgur.com/a/eedXjeH
I'm sure I'm missing information and being my first post this is alot for me to just type out to express. Definitely been affecting my mood, mental health, and relationship. If you have questions I will try to answer what I can. I've pretty much been told nothing is wrong with me clinically, so understand I come to reddit not to criticized
Thank you for reading this far if you have.
TDLR: Does the one ear look normal compared to the other ear which is not hurting or ringing everyday.

I met my (now ex) at work. We started about a month apart. We were together for about two years with a few short periods being on and off. It was never me to end things but she would break up with me and block me after an argument but then we’d get back together after a few weeks or a month.
We both actually got a promotion to a new department a little over a month ago for the same position and we now sit right next to each other. However, our last week of the old position she had dumped me and told me never to speak to her again. I hadn’t tried to reach out to her other than messaging “happy last day” and she ignored it. I mean our department literally had a cake with both of our names on it. Then when I was walking to my car, I saw her walking behind me so I turned around and asked if she had seen my message. She couldn’t hear me I guess from the wind so I repeated it and took a step towards her. I could see that she didn’t want to talk so I just turned back and went straight to my car.
She called me after and told me that she was so scared of me that she was shaking when I tried to talk to her. Mind you, I have never been physical with her or even shown any sign of it. She’s even told me before she knows I’m not the type to ever do anything like that. I don’t think I’d ever even yelled at her even in a two way argument. When she told me that I didn’t know what to say other than okay if that’s really how you feel then I will leave you alone. She then still texted me and called me more times that day but we ended it with her saying she had an hour to talk but I just said we didn’t need to talk again since she was already pretty clear from the last conversation.
Fast forward to the following week and we start the new position but she doesn’t say a word to me or even look my direction. I just gave space and didn’t say or do anything. Then I needed to request something from the IT department and I asked my other co worker if he wanted me to do the same for him and extended it to my ex as well since she needed it too. She actually was like “oh yea sure” and gave me all the info needed to fix the issue for her to forward to IT. So after that I’m like okay maybe we can be cordial still since we are literally coworkers starting a new job together and at the same point with everything.
So the next day I say good morning to her and she stone cold ignored me. I was really upset by it and it’s made me feel terrible. She will walk the same way as me and if im behind and she sees its me coming out the door she will let it slam on me. She flirts with other coworkers in front of me saying “oh you’re so sweet” to a guy with a wife and a newborn baby after he bought her a coffee from Starbucks.
What I want to know, is, what can I do if anything to make my life at work better or get her to talk things out maturely. Today, I had the worst headache that started last night. I asked everyone around if they had ibuprofen and no one did but I know she definitely does. So as a last resort I said “hey I’m really sorry to bother, but do you have any ibuprofen?” She just ignored it.
I haven’t texted her or called her or tried to talk about any relationship things since we had broken up. Two weeks before leaving the old position as well, I wanted her to go on a vacation with me since I haven’t been anywhere in years or taken much time off. She said no and she needed to save her PTO. I then tried to get my friends to go and none could so I was going to go by myself just to relax. She told me no. That if I went alone she would breakup with me. So I didn’t go and the following week is when she told me never to speak to her again when all I did was express to her how I felt about something she said to me in a calm manner. I didn’t even bring it up but she could tell I seemed saddened and insisted I told her what was on my mind. Mind you, she since has taken enough PTO she could’ve used to go with me and I even heard she has a trip planned for next month now. She had me block every girl I had on instagram and Snapchat prior and I complied. I made every sacrifice she asked me to do and every time it was thrown back in my face. I have never cheated on her but she says that I cheated on her throughout our entire relationship because she went through every thing on my phone and saw I had been in contact with some female friends throughout the time I met her. Some were flirtatious texts but those were only the times she’d broken up with me.
I know there’s a whole lot of context missing but I have no problem answering any questions to give more details if things seem off or missing part of the picture.
She tried getting me to go marry her in a courthouse on a days notice a couple months ago and pretty much got mad at me because I was actually thinking rationally and even went as far to say we could get engaged but getting married like that is not a good idea. And she was mad at me for that.
We rarely ever argued about anything new that I’ve done. It’ll be about a comment I made 18 months ago and will bring it up then go around in circles for hours and hours on the phone about it even after I’ve taken accountability and assured her any of those same mistakes would never be made again.
She used to talk about her ex all the time and how supposedly he treated her so good and they never had any issues at all. She claims she realized she was never in love with him though. Then with me, she says she’s never truly been in love with anyone until me. But yet claims I treated her so terribly and was so mean to her when I really wasn’t. She would take me saying “hey how come you didn’t eat at all at my families 4th of July party? You have to take care of your body” and she’d twist that to me saying she’s too skinny (which those words have never once come out of my mouth).
I’m sorry I’m just having a really hard time about all this. I was so excited to start this job and now I absolutely hate being here. The worst part is despite all of this, I probably would take her back in a heartbeat if she wanted and I know I deserve so much better. I even started therapy a few months ago hoping it would benefit our relationship and offered couples counseling. I can understand relationships don’t always work and sometimes people lose feelings. I can accept that, but making work miserable and being flat out heartless is really crushing me. I'm really struggling and even my coworkers had agreed that she is being immature and petty. Is there anything I can do or say to make things better? Is HR an option to try and set things straight in the workplace or would this not really be considered an HR issue? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Please be honest but kind as im already going through a really hard time.

Hey everyone! I recently had my laparoscopy and endometriosis excision after years of pain and infertility, and was confirmed to have advanced endo. I myself am a doctor and hope that by and sharing a "surgery action plan" including both my personal and professional experience, it might help you as well! It includes all kinds of things big and small that I found helpful or wished I'd thought of sooner that made the experience much more manageable.
~DAYS/WEEKS PRIOR TO SURGERY:~

• Pick up at a drug store:
  • Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin)
  • Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
  • Miralax (stool softener)
  • Liquid IV packets (or other hydration powder)
  • Prescriptions: depends on your surgery but may include things like ondansetron (Zofran) for nausea, and oxycodone for extra pain relief if needed
  • Organic/cotton pads (if you have a hysteroscopy where they look inside your uterus with a camera during the surgery, you will likely have some bleeding the first couple days)
  • Optional:
    • Extra strength simethicone (Gas-X) — theoretically may help dissolve the gas they use to insufflate your abdomen, which causes significant shoulder pain
    • Diphenhydramine cream (AKA Benadryl cream) — the surgical glue over the incisions commonly makes people itchy, and can be treated with benadryl cream
    • Chloraseptic sore throat spray or throat lozenges — for sore throat after the breathing tube
    • Herbal tea packets — I found warm tea helped my throat after the breathing tube more than anything else)
• Buy a weighted microwaveable heat pack if you don't already own one. I cannot emphasize enough that having some light warm pressure on your abdomen does wonders for the pain in the first couple of days! These packs are like a smaller version of a weighted blanket, but designed to be warmed up in the microwave. There are some great natural options that are filled with things like corn or flaxseed. It was also surprisingly helpful for the shoulder pain that you get from the CO2 gas they use insufflate your abdomen during surgery, so I alternated placing heat there too, but Etsy also has some great combo options that have both a belly and shoulder heat pack (Bonus: they come in some really cute prints!): https://www.etsy.com/market/corn_heating_pad
• Start taking miralax to loosen your stools 5-ish days before surgery, since you will get narcotic pain medications that can cause constipation. Nothing is worse after this surgery than feeling like you need to strain to poop! I bought a box of Miralax with 10 packets and took 1 per day, mixed with a packet of Liquid IV in a 32oz water bottle starting 5 days before surgery, and continued this through 5 days postop. It made a world of difference! Of course, hold off on taking for a couple days if your stools get too loose.
• Hydrate! Water and Liquid IV are your friend. You have to fast for a certain amount of time leading up to surgery depending on your hospital’s guidelines, which can make you dehydrated. Drinking lots of fluids will will help keep your poop hydrated (see above) and will make your day of surgery better for everyone — it makes your blood vessels more plump and easier for your preop nurse to get your IV. And most anesthesia medications can make your blood pressure drop, so you want your blood vessels nice and hydrated so you have “room” in your blood pressure for the drop when it happens. Don’t sweat this though, if they feel like you need more fluid, they can easily give it through your IV once you're back there!
• Head to the grocery store to pick up nutritious, easy-to-make foods for recovery since you won’t feel like going to the store in the first few days postop. Things like fruit, scrambled eggs, plain pasta dishes, and avocado toast worked well for me.
• Plan your comfy outfits ahead of time (see sections below)

~DAY OF SURGERY:~

• Clothing: Wear loose fitting DARK clothes made out of a very comfortable material since the material will make contact with the area right around your incisions. I say dark because you may get a little blood on the clothes after surgery where the incisions ooze some. You won’t want to put your normal-size underweabra on after surgery because the bands will feel tight, so you might want to just do a pad + loose dark pants. I also put on a dark soft t-shirt and got a couple splotches of blood on it. And then over it all I put on a thick zip-up sweatshirt that I would be comfortable wearing out of the hospital without a bra on (zip-up so you don’t have to reach over your head and use your abs to pull it on). I also recommend slip-on shoes – pulling on tennis shoes was surprisingly painful!
• Bring to the hospital: Pad to wear home, Liquid IV packets, and the pain/nausea medications you've already picked up (not to use at the hospital, but in case you need them on the ride home). Don't wear any jewelry, makeup, or lotion.
• You’ll be brought to a preop area and asked health history questions, likely be asked to provide a urine sample, a nurse will start your IV, and you’ll have a chance to meet your care team. Ask your surgeon and anesthesiologist/anesthetist all the questions you have!
  • Ask the surgeon how/when they plan to inform you and your family what they found, about activity/weight-bearing restrictions, and how long you have to wait before “anything in the vagina” (menstrual products, sex, etc).
  • Ask your anesthesiologist specifically about their plan for pain and for nausea. This surgery is very high risk for postop nausea – those with the highest risk of nausea are young women, who don’t smoke, get narcotics during the surgery (which you will), and have a history of motion sickness or prior postoperative nausea. Add the fact that they are operating on your reproductive organs and that they will insufflate (basically inflate) your abdomen with CO2 gas and this is a huge recipe for nausea! Don’t hesitate to ask your anesthesia team for all the extra preventive measures they can offer for postop nausea.

SURGERY/POSTOP:

• You will likely be offered some optional “relaxing medication” (usually Versed, which is like a cousin of Xanax) if you want, then rolled to the OR. You will move to the operating table, have your monitors hooked up, breath fresh oxygen through a mask, and the team will let you know you are going to sleep.
• Next thing you know, you will be in recovery! A lot of recovery is about managing pain and nausea. If you need narcotic or non-narcotic pain medications, don’t hesitate to ask! I however was already feeling very nauseous and had cramping pain, so I personally did not want more narcotic and asked if I could have all the non-narcotic options first (so they gave me a form of IV ibuprofen called ketorolac).
• Warm pressure is your friend! Ask for a warm blanket on your abdomen and around your shoulders if you’re having pain in those places.
• Every time the nurses offered me to try something to eat, even just the thought of it made me so nauseous. But I brought a Liquid IV packet to the hospital with me and that was leqitimately the only thing that revived me (they aren’t paying me to endorse them I swear!! But if there are any Liquid IV reps reading this that would like to sponsor me let me know!! Lol)
• Before you leave the hospital, have your recovery nurse write down when you are allowed to take your next doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen

LEAVING THE HOSPITAL/FIRST FEW DAYS:

• For the first 72 hours, you can take 600 mg ibuprofen and 1000 mg acetaminophen (typically in the form of two 500 mg pills) every 6 hours on a scheduled basis to stay on top of the pain (unless you have a condition that prohibits you from taking either of these, such as liver or kidney problems. Please check with your doctor!). While you're asleep, your surgeon likely will do numbing injections at the sites where the laparoscopic ports are, and those injections usually wear off around 12-18 hours after surgery, so don’t be surprised if it initially feels more sore with time — this is why I recommend taking the pain meds in a scheduled manner to help! I staggered mine so I got to take one or the other every 3 hours (see below), but you can also choose to take both at the same time every 6 hours if that is easier to keep track of. My example:
  • 4:00- take 1000mg Acetaminophen (typically 500mg pill x2)
  • 7:00- take 600mg Ibuprofen
  • 10:00- take 1000mg Acetaminophen
  • 1:00- take 600mg Ibuprofen …and so on
    • This schedule helped me avoid having to take any of the narcotic I was sent home with, but everyone is different, and if you feel you need some for pain then don't hesitate!
• The CO2 gas that was used to insufflate your abdomen during surgery is totally safe, but sticks around for a couple of days as it slowly diffuses into your blood stream, and you breathe it off naturally (CO2 is a main component of what you normally are breathing off, so you won’t notice a difference)! What you will likely notice is it causes shouldeneck pain! The gas collects under the diaphragm and the nerve irritation actually refers the pain to your shoulder(s). The best thing you can do for this is move around to help the gas dissipate! Gas-X theoretically may help dissipate the gas, so I took this twice a day the first few days. Warm heat on the shoulders/neck and sitting or sleeping propped up may help as well.
• Eat something bland and healthy. I had fruit, scrambled eggs, plain noodles, and avocado toast during my first day, and that sat pretty well for me. Your throat may be sore and dry from the breathing tube, so keep that in mind if considering dry foods! You can also drink warm tea or use chloraseptic spray for your throat.
• For the coming days after that, have lots of loose fitting, soft clothes to wear! Move around to help the gas dissipate, and stay well-hydrated. Take care of yourself, and lean on your loved ones to help you as well. You've got this!!

I’ve (F25) been having consistent throat and ear pain when swallowing, that feels very sharp. I feel it in my throat and even lower trachea, like I’ve been punched.
This has been happening for almost 2 weeks. I went to urgent care and they just told me it was most likely allergies and gave me a shot of steroid for my throat swelling. I also got sent home some lidocaine that they told me to gargle but it hasn’t really helped since it’s also in my lower throat.
I’ve been taking Allegra but it’s not working. The only thing that really helps is 800 mg of ibuprofen but that doesn’t last me all day. I just got Flonase so I’m hoping that’ll help.
My saliva won’t even drain itself naturally, I have to forcibly swallow my spit. I had another doctor just take a quick at my tonsils and said they looked fine, and that it’s just allergies.
Does allergies cause this intense of throat pain? What can I do to ease the pain?

I just read an article about chronic disease or illness fakers. I am thoroughly disgusted that even more people are more ignorant than I thought possible beyond my immediate family.
Right before the age of 40 I passed out waiting for a table at a nice restaurant, slowly drinking a beer. Luckily I had not been a heavy, medium, or even light drinker for almost 10 years. All I really had physically wrong with me at that time was testosterone therapy, come shoulder surgeries, and chronic,sometimes horrible pain. Oh, I was also told I had a great, really great bronze California tan.
After that incident right before age 40 I had every test I could have done to explain what happened. Witnesses said, im 6'3 195+ lbs, I just turned white, became instantly soaking wet, and fell straight backwards like a 2x4.
After all the tests were completed I discovered my Iron(its really called ferratin) was at a level of 3,900 (normal safe levels are 50 to 200 roughly. I was given a genetic test for hemachromatosis, which is pretty common, and not a super big deal when treated early. In fact, anyone with hemachromatosis cam firmly state that we people,all people, black, while, whatever are related. Black people have a genetic disease called sickle cell disease. If not treated and allowed to run rampart sickle cell turns into hemachromatosis. Nuff said.
The main treatment for hemachromatosis is bloodletting, the amount of blood you need to get out of your body and how much at a time and how often is usually dictated by the level of your ferritin in your blood at time of diagnosis. Most people, fortunately, get detected and treated by 700 to 1500 level of Ferratin. The body is basically killing itself, "rusting away" to say at levels if 1,000 plus of ferritin.
Now five leads later, testosterone implants every 3 months or so, bloodletting (phlebotomy) treatment 4 times a year now ( I started giving over 550 grams of blood 2 times a week for 4 months, and then once a week 4 or 5 months, and so on and on. I have had a pretty extensive cervical neck surgery, cages, holes drilled in arthritic areas and nerve openings opened up, both hips totally replaced, a knee replacement on left knee coming up soon, always a pain in my ass,, literally,, lol. There's other things, I have to get liver biopsies every year, heart tests performed every year, no alcohol, low Vtamin C diet, no more liver and onions, and reduced use of cast iron and other high iron cooking and eating utensils.
Thing is,, if you see me just see me, you'll see a big, strong, agile, balanced man. But what you dont see is how hard it is for me to just get up and drink a cup of coffee some mornings, or how bad both legs ache, hurt, throb, and sometimes especially feel totally exhausted 2 hours after I wake up. Or a serious neck, nerve issue that I just keep massaging and turning my head.
I don't take opiates, except after surgeries, I can't take much Tylenol or ibuprofen and related. Mostly ice pack/machine, heat pads, hot hot bath soaks, stretching (carefully), keeping moving, and pushing myself everyday or at least 6 days a week harder than the day before.
I have half siblings, 17+ years older than me, with bone spurs, maybe knee replacement, obesity related issues, lack of movement/ exercise issues, and on and on.
I'd happily trade places with them, but keep my age, and very few people I imagine get what I'm about to say next . I decided after the first 6 months of diagnosis I was going to "break and fall apart before I rusted and rotted away".
Do you get that? Understand ? I am happy, no I get exited and thrilled inside when I see people with obvious issues, obesity, laziness, bad diet, drinking, etc struggle, not do, or unwilling to do things they should do, much less want to do to make this life more,, make this life better for themselves. I say F' u all those ignorant dumb lazy scared people that say things, think things, act differently when they interact with you, not knowing you closely and really knowing you, when they see this person that looks, moves, and does lots of physical things better than they can,, and they think your faking or putting on or playing poor pity party me,,, no screw you guys,, try, literally walking 10,000 or more steps in my shoes each day and more, yet sometimes not able to even crawl or move for 2 or 3 hours after 4 or 5 or less some days just living life.
Anyone else have similar stories ? Or experiences? I still can't get over the fact that had a been a normal,, or whatever you call a person who drinks a six pack a week, alcoholic drinker I would definitely for sure have had cirrhosis or liver cancer by now for sure and probably be dead. Anyway,, let me know thanks.
P

I just read an article about chronic disease or illness fakers. I am thoroughly disgusted that even more people are more ignorant than I thought possible beyond my immediate family.
Right before the age of 40 I passed out waiting for a table at a nice restaurant, slowly drinking a beer. Luckily I had not been a heavy, medium, or even light drinker for almost 10 years. All I really had physically wrong with me at that time was testosterone therapy, come shoulder surgeries, and chronic,sometimes horrible pain. Oh, I was also told I had a great, really great bronze California tan.
After that incident right before age 40 I had every test I could have done to explain what happened. Witnesses said, im 6'3 195+ lbs, I just turned white, became instantly soaking wet, and fell straight backwards like a 2x4.
After all the tests were completed I discovered my Iron(its really called ferratin) was at a level of 3,900 (normal safe levels are 50 to 200 roughly. I was given a genetic test for hemachromatosis, which is pretty common, and not a super big deal when treated early. In fact, anyone with hemachromatosis cam firmly state that we people,all people, black, while, whatever are related. Black people have a genetic disease called sickle cell disease. If not treated and allowed to run rampart sickle cell turns into hemachromatosis. Nuff said.
The main treatment for hemachromatosis is bloodletting, the amount of blood you need to get out of your body and how much at a time and how often is usually dictated by the level of your ferritin in your blood at time of diagnosis. Most people, fortunately, get detected and treated by 700 to 1500 level of Ferratin. The body is basically killing itself, "rusting away" to say at levels if 1,000 plus of ferritin.
Now five leads later, testosterone implants every 3 months or so, bloodletting (phlebotomy) treatment 4 times a year now ( I started giving over 550 grams of blood 2 times a week for 4 months, and then once a week 4 or 5 months, and so on and on. I have had a pretty extensive cervical neck surgery, cages, holes drilled in arthritic areas and nerve openings opened up, both hips totally replaced, a knee replacement on left knee coming up soon, always a pain in my ass,, literally,, lol. There's other things, I have to get liver biopsies every year, heart tests performed every year, no alcohol, low Vtamin C diet, no more liver and onions, and reduced use of cast iron and other high iron cooking and eating utensils.
Thing is,, if you see me just see me, you'll see a big, strong, agile, balanced man. But what you dont see is how hard it is for me to just get up and drink a cup of coffee some mornings, or how bad both legs ache, hurt, throb, and sometimes especially feel totally exhausted 2 hours after I wake up. Or a serious neck, nerve issue that I just keep massaging and turning my head.
I don't take opiates, except after surgeries, I can't take much Tylenol or ibuprofen and related. Mostly ice pack/machine, heat pads, hot hot bath soaks, stretching (carefully), keeping moving, and pushing myself everyday or at least 6 days a week harder than the day before.
I have half siblings, 17+ years older than me, with bone spurs, maybe knee replacement, obesity related issues, lack of movement/ exercise issues, and on and on.
I'd happily trade places with them, but keep my age, and very few people I imagine get what I'm about to say next . I decided after the first 6 months of diagnosis I was going to "break and fall apart before I rusted and rotted away".
Do you get that? Understand ? I am happy, no I get exited and thrilled inside when I see people with obvious issues, obesity, laziness, bad diet, drinking, etc struggle, not do, or unwilling to do things they should do, much less want to do to make this life more,, make this life better for themselves. I say F' u all those ignorant dumb lazy scared people that say things, think things, act differently when they interact with you, not knowing you closely and really knowing you, when they see this person that looks, moves, and does lots of physical things better than they can,, and they think your faking or putting on or playing poor pity party me,,, no screw you guys,, try, literally walking 10,000 or more steps in my shoes each day and more, yet sometimes not able to even crawl or move for 2 or 3 hours after 4 or 5 or less some days just living life.
Anyone else have similar stories ? Or experiences? I still can't get over the fact that had a been a normal,, or whatever you call a person who drinks a six pack a week, alcoholic drinker I would definitely for sure have had cirrhosis or liver cancer by now for sure and probably be dead. Anyway,, let me know thanks.
P

My wife has long covid. She was infected in early December 2023. She had all boosters and the latest one a month before she was infected. She had a severe acute infection. Since then, her long covid seems to have gotten worse. She cannot work and is settled into a three day cycle that is fairly reliable:
Day 1: Severe Stabbing and stinging bodywide pain, especially in chest, head, neck, lungs. Also in arms and legs, she often cannot sleep due to the pain
Day 2: Severe scratching/itching pain in same body locations, still cannot sleep often due to pain
Day 3: Pain reduces but she is left exhausted and depleted an still feels weird
Then, the cycle repeats.
She have tried various supplements, drugs strategies and therapies recommended on this sub. They haven't seemed to have made much of a difference.
She has been seen and is in communication with a doctor at a long covid clinic but they appear to be useless.
Here is a list of things we have tried
Drugs:
Low dose naltrexone (LDN) at 4mg - does not seem to help
Lexapro - did not help
Cymbalta - ramping up. Too soon to tell
Zyrtec - did not help
Famotidine - did not help
Benadryl/ diphenhydramine - did not help
Ketotifen - trying to get prescription
Tylenol /acetaminaphen - did not help
Ibuprofen: did not help
Supplements:
EPA fish oil - did not help
NAC - did not help
R Lipoic Acid - did not help
Vitamin D - did not help
Vitamin C - did not help
Vitamin B1 - did not help
Magnesium Malate - did not help
Lactoferrin - did not help
Iron - did not help
CoQ10 - did not help
Nattokinasse - started this week, does not look promising
Pedialyte - did not help
Added salt to diet - did not help
Therapies
Acupuncture - does not seem to help
She has an appointment at a pain clinic coming up. I do not know what they will try.
I've read about the possibility of endothelial dysfunction and she is following up with her cardiologist about that.
Does anyone have any other ideas that worked for them that they can share from their own personal experience for supplements/drugs/therapies or other strategies? I understand that no one can give medical advice and people are just sharing their own experiences. She is in terrible pain and cannot function at this point.
Thanks for your thoughts.
EDIT:
She has also tried:
Gabapentin - did not help.

Hello all, first time making a reddit post so bare with me 😐.
Background: 26 yr old healthy workout 3-5 times a week, although I stopped lifting weights because chest excercises flared up my condition. I run usually 1-2 miles 3-4x a week and bike. During my runs and biking I have no pain!
Chest pain started 9 months ago, went to Dr they said it was probably GERD after X-Ray and EKG were both great! Went to my primary they said it was anxiety or I had inflamed lungs. Anxiety disorder made sense I was diagnosed with it back in June 2023. Problem with that is even when I’m very calm from meditation and medication I still would have the pain albeit it’s always been very subtle pain like on a scale of 1-2 pain wise. Went to Dr a few more times on flare ups. Same thing they said it’s probably anxiety and since I have no other symptoms I’ll be fine. Last night I had the worst flare up at 4am, I took 600mg of ibuprofen and stretched my chest against the wall and boom it cracked and I felt better! Just the normal sore feeling pain 1-2 again. I do agree that my anxiety probably enhances the pain, but regardless it’s still there lurking and flaring up when I’m stagnant too long ie sleeping in one position, sitting in one position too long and long car rides for example. My chiropractor also thinks it’s costo and he says regularly adjustments can help align my ribs better. But he said that’s not the FULL solution. I have another DR appt on June 5th my Dr now thinks it could be costo as well, I’m assuming I’ll need an MRI so they can see the inflammation?
Symptoms: Chest gets tight and can crack relieving pressure, Hurts on left side of wall but only when I move my chest around not when I’m just still. Hurts to the touch only during flare ups.
Relief I’ve found so far: Stretching, but not over stretching it makes it flare up! Hot water feels nice on it, haven’t tried icing it. Ibuprofen helps, but I don’t want to take it a lot.
So what other solutions do I have? Any natural anti inflammatory besides tumeric? Are there certain foods I need to avoid? Does running hurt me in the long run with flare ups? Just looking for tips for sleeping like the best position to not cause the flare ups. Also does this sound like costo in the first place?

Before my colposcopy I made the mistake of reading a lot of scary posts here about the procedure. I was really worked up when I went in for mine today, but survived it! I wanted to share my tolerable experience to hopefully ease some nerves, and give some advice for making it a little easier.
I’d like to start this by saying I’m not discounting anyone’s experience, especially those who’ve suffered trauma from it. Remember, if you’re feeling unheard or unsupported by your doctor it is ALWAYS your right to find a different one, even if you’re already set up for the procedure. Your physical and mental health is important, a good doctor will understand that.
So here’s what I did for prepare for it:

1. Made sure the doc they scheduled me with provided local anesthesia. The secretary pulled the usual “the cervix doesn’t have nerves so the lido will hurt more!” Don’t listen to them. Not all providers do the lidocaine injection so it’s important to insist to be scheduled with one who does. I also requested a prescription for Ativan for nerves which I found really helpful
   
2. If you have a partner or friend you’d feel comfortable bringing I highly recommend having someone with you, my fiancé helped so much
   
3. An hour before the appt I took 800mg ibuprofen to get ahead of the post-procedure cramping, and took the Ativan 30 min before. Typing this 2hr later and I have zero cramping
   
4. I took a lot of time with the nurse and doc beforehand to run through questions and make sure they knew I was nervous. They were both angels and calmed my nerves.
   

Here was my procedure experience: It wasn’t pleasant but it was tolerable. Started with the vinegar solution to visualize any lesions. That stung similar to getting lemon juice on a paper cut, so nothing bad. She saw a small lesion to biopsy, so this is when she injected the lidocaine. Yes, it hurt and was the worst part of the procedure, but I’m positive not having it would’ve been much worse. I didn’t feel the usual lidocaine burning, just a big uncomfortable pinch. It made me jump, but the RN had me breathe through it, hold my guy’s hand, and it was over in 15 seconds. The biopsy part took maybe 3 minutes, they took off the entire lesion and a scraping from the internal cervix. I didn’t feel the actual biopsy itself, by then I was more just uncomfortable from having the speculum in for so long. The entire procedure was over in maybe 10-15 minutes
Overall it wasn’t as terrible as I expected. I mean, I wouldn’t go have this done for fun, but if I ever need another I’ll be chill. I hope this helps ease some nerves!
ALSO. That mysterious coffee ground discharge a lot of us are seeing for a few days afterward: it’s called Monasel. It’s a paste used to stop bleeding following biopsy and looks like peanut butter when they put it on. As it dries up and comes out it looks like coffee grounds. So don’t be alarmed if that happens for a few days!
TLDR: colpo wasn’t bad with the right preparation. Take ibuprofen and Ativan an hour before, ask for lidocaine shot even though it hurts a bit, and if you ooze coffee grounds for a few days that’s just the stuff used to stop bleeding. Lastly it’s always ok to fire your doctor and find a better fit for you. Best of luck!

I’m so frustrated. I met with a specialist and she was wonderful and validating. Suggested a hysterectomy. I’m planning for end of this year as I have young kids and need to plan accordingly. I reached out to ask for what she suggests for pain management during my period. This is the response from their office. I’m beyond frustrated. I feel like my pain will never be taken seriously.
“Thank you for reaching out on Mychart. Dr. Grias does not provide pain medications prior to surgery. It sounds like you have tried Tylenol and Ibuprofen however, most people don't realized how you can alternate the medications. Try alternating Tylenol / Ibuprofen with the regimen as, Tylenol-325-650 mg every 6 hours, or 1000mg three times daily with the maximum 3000 mg daily and Ibuprofen- 400-800 mg every 6-8 hours daily with a maximum of 3200 mg daily. These drugs work by reducing the production of prostaglandins, which are hormone-like substances that contribute to pain and inflammation. Secondly, we suggest trying Heat therapy: Applying a heating pad or taking a warm bath can help relax the muscles and relieve menstrual cramps. Heat increases blood flow to the area, which can reduce pain and discomfort. Make sure to follow the instructions for safe and appropriate use of heating pads or warm compresses. Lastly, Exercise: Engaging in light physical activity and gentle stretching exercises can help alleviate dysmenorrhea. Activities like walking, yoga, or swimming can help increase blood circulation and release endorphins, which are natural pain-relieving chemicals in the body. However, listen to your body and avoid strenuous exercises if they worsen your symptoms. Hang in there, hopefully you will be scheduled for surgery soon to help resolve your pain. Warm regards, “