Off and on fever with aching joints

Species: cat DSH Age: 8yrs 7months Sex/Neuter status: M, neutered Body weight: 5.2kg History: preciously has had spots, otherwise healthy whole life Your general location: UK Links to test results, vet reports, Xrays etc: haven't got them, vets closed for the day.
Honestly, vets are stumped, he is getting worse and I have no answers so why not let Reddit have a crack.
He has been a healthy boy his whole life, brief amount of spots a few years ago, vets put it down to hay fever. They were tested and sent off to bio lab. This does not seem related but anything is possible.
He also went missing for a month in October last year, came back fine, underweight but fine. Has put weight back on and is healthy.
One last thing, and this is important, my boy became an outdoor cat 2 years ago. Since then he has gone from loving his litter trays to loving going in someone's garden. He does not touch his litter trays unless we keep him in for things like bonfire night. Even at that point he will hold on till desperate and finally give in.
Here is a timeline of events:
6/5 - has his breakfast and has usual morning stroll around the neighborhood. Comes home within an hour (early for him) and will not use catflap. Comes limping through door and starts using his litter trays. Will not go outside. Poo and pee done.
7/5 - limp has gotten worse. Cannot jump up even half a metre. Will pull with front legs so seems to be a back leg issue. Vet recommends an x-ray, cannot feel anything and cat does not seem agitated anywhere when being touched. Poo and wee done.
8/5 - taken in for x-ray. While under vet checks limbs are still working. All seems fine. No breakages. No issues with joints. Comments that there quite a bit of poo in stomach, however does not believe he has a blockage. Reccomends laxitive if he does not go regularly. Vet believes he may have a muscle tear, therefore rest up, come back in if he does not imporve. Has wee, no poo.
10/5 - has first poo since 7/5, is large, soft, pretty good. But since has started limping alot more. Laying around alot more. We believe this is due to muscle tear, think nothing of this.
11-12/5 - cat starts looking at floor while walking. A good chin tickle and he will look up. Will look up for treats.
13/5 - vet prescribes laxative as he hasn't gone since 10/5. Cat has not had laxative yet, has dinner , walks out from dinner and is not only limping/stumbling but is consistently looking at the ground. Vet brings in immediately, bloods, stool and wee sample done at vets (what timing). Vet checks stool, is soft and seems normal so confirms again does not believe blockage is the issue. Asks to bring back in the morning.
14/5 (today) - spends all day in the vets with another blood test and blood pressure monitoring. EVERYTHING on paper is normal. He is the fit of health for a normal cat on paper. Vet today also commented they can feel alot of poo in his stomach. He has come hope this evening and cannot lift his head, is struggling to eat due to head position and is stumbling around. He cannot make it up the stairs in 1 go. He is constantly sleeping. He has tried to go to the toilet this evening for a poo however struggled to keep his bum off the litter, with our help holding him up a little pushed out the smallest poo. He was huffing, and making small strain noises the whole time. Immediately went to lie down.
Throughout all of this he is eating and drinking, his appetite has not been effected.
He can barely get around at this point. Our usual vet did not see him today, the vet that saw him today was stumped, they have never seen anything like it. They did phone our usual vet on his day off to see what to recommend but they are stumped. They are going to talk more tomorrow and phone me. They did give me a list of a bunch of things we can trail and test however we agreed we are running out of time and nothing seems like an anwser.
If anyone has any idea, ANYTHING, please let me know. I don't want to lose my baby, he is slowly becoming a prisoner in his own body and idk how to help.

Ruby groaned as the alarm went off signaling that one of her charges had arrived back from their mission. While troublesome in its own right, what really got under her skin was that she only had one charge at the moment, and that edge lord piece of shit wasn’t supposed to complete his task for AT LEAST another 4 deca-cycles according to the prediction algorithm. Grumbling to herself, she rolled out of bed and poured herself a glass of water to offset the hangover she was trying to recover from.

A few moments later she was gliding down the hall to the meeting room. She knew Jason was going to pitch a fit that she had left him waiting, the self-entitled brat always did think the world revolved around him; but perhaps he should have thought about that before freaking dying so early. If he wanted her to be there to meet him upon death, he could at least have the decency to not die the morning after one of her binges.

Other staff members gave her a wide berth, even if it was a hollow title, she was still technically far above basically anyone else in the pecking order, at least those who had a physical presence within the Agency. She knew they all mocked her behind her back, even divine beings were sadly prone towards gossip. She put the anger at her subordinates/coworkers out of her mind for now; even if she didn’t particularly LIKE Jason, he still didn’t deserve her coming in with baggage.

Lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed that she’d arrived in front of the conference room door. She had been mulling over her thoughts, just staring into nothingness, for several minutes before she finally snapped back to the present. With a soft rap on the door, she opened it and floated inside. Jason was lounging, sprawled out on the regally padded chair throne he so fancied.

They exchanged pleasantries before she sat down to go over the mission summary. Upon seeing the cause of death, she had regrettably lost her composure and started to laugh uncontrollably. Her mighty subordinate had been felled by a goblin?! The mighty Jason Alexander Coyle, “mercenary extraordinaire”, had gotten his shit kicked in by a lowly goblin using what looked like a shiny butter knife. Oh, it was just too rich to not laugh at the absurdity.

It took her much longer than she would like to admit, to stop laughing. Jason of course wore a sour look through the entire endeavor. She shrugged it off, she had little doubt that if the same thing had happened to someone else, he would have been right beside her doubled over in laughter. Hell, once he was in a less pissy mood, she might even be able to get him to laugh about it later.

As luck would have it, it appeared that Jason’s actions had been enough to alter the tides of the war. The kingdom, and its divinity, would still lose many to the battles ahead, but Jason had done enough that the Agency could still bill the client for services rendered. As she spoke, she could see the disdain the man had for her, he always complained that she was drunk and reeked of liquor. Sure, that was often true, but he didn’t need to be such a stick in the mud about it all.

She went ahead and authorized the transfer of credits to Jason’s account. As soon as she did so, he opened up the store page and tuned her out. She watched him open up the back-channel site and purchase something, a small part of her wondered who was going to get roasted over the coals this time for allowing their admin privileges to be hacked. She toyed with the idea of bringing up his illegal actions, but truth be told she didn’t really give a shit. The other divinities were far too lax with their security, it had been child's play for one of her previous wards to hack into the Agency’s system and build the black site.

She’d ask him once about the whole thing, didn’t really grasp as much as she would have liked, but basically it functioned by spoofing a handler's credentials. This allowed the user to gain access to encrypted parts of the network, specifically access to certain privileged services that handlers enjoyed and most importantly, access to the mission assignment database. Users could buy and sell restricted or banned goods, and a part of the profits would be siphoned off to her ward’s personal account.

With Jason’s attention otherwise occupied, Ruby went ahead and reviewed the logs for his previous mission. Something about it was nagging at her. She couldn’t put it into words; however, the whole series of events just didn’t feel like ‘bad luck’. Using her divine authority, she rewound events, watching Jason’s lungs unfill with blood and refill with air.

The goblin skulked back to its den of corpses, resheathing the dagger at its hips, and reburied itself underneath the bodies. She let it rewind another few moments before stopping the feed and letting it run at normal time. She watched the goblin, slowly shifting the bodies out of the way, making sure they made no noise when it moved them. Slowly, carefully, it began to creep towards Jason’s exposed back. It drew the blade, again slowly and quietly. It closed the distance making sure to never let Jason see it or to give him any reason to think someone was behind him. Then in a flash of movement it leapt, burying the dagger right into a joint in Jason’s armor. The placement was perfect, no resistance, so the blade sank to the hilt. Allowing it to puncture Jason’s right lung.

Ruby rewound the log once more. This was wrong, very wrong. The goblin was way too good to just be some random grunt. Its movements were too smooth, its aim too precise. No, she was sure of it now, this was not a normal goblin. She focused her attention on the thing, aiming to scan the goblin for abnormalities, the dust covering it offering a surprising level of resistance to her scan. Not enough to stop her from doing what she wanted, but more resistance than she felt was reasonable for the anti-magic powder.

When she finally gained access to the monster’s stat block, her suspicions were proven correct. That was no normal goblin, that was a Redcap, a Redcap assassin no less. What in the dozen hells was a Redcap assassin doing in the middle of a freaking battlefield?! Such a valuable unit wouldn’t be used on the front lines, their skill set was terribly suited for the chaos that was an active battle. No, something was very wrong here and Ruby was going to figure out what.

As her mind raced trying to puzzle out what the actual fuck was going on, something else about the goblin flagged in her mind. It had come out of the corpse pile with the dagger already in its possession. She highlighted the various bodies that had made up the goblin's hidey hole, and then rewound the scene back. Every time one of the highlighted bodies met their fate, she froze the moment and pulled the scene into a separate window. It took a few minutes, but she eventually had all of the corpses frozen in the heartbeat before their deaths. She went through and scanned every single individual. Not a single one had been equipped with a magic disruptor blade. “So, where the fuck did the Redcap get a kingdom issued disruptor?”

Looking up, she saw that Jason was still fiddling with whatever it was that he bought. She tried to make idle conversation with the man, but he had gone full auto pilot, giving curt one-to-two word answers when asked a question or having to respond to a comment. She rolled her eyes, as much as she and him butted heads, she did have to admit that she did kind of like the guy. He had been going a little too hard into the whole dark and brooding edge lord thing recently, but that was hardly his fault. The human soul was ill suited to withstand the trauma of death, much less multiple deaths. The Agency usually did a memory scrub every couple missions, to prevent that kind of issue, but Jason had been dodging the screenings. For a moment she considered just letting sleeping dogs lie. Jason was dead and the mission was over regardless of what she might find, but the whole thing just rubbed her the wrong way.

Taking a little nip from her pocket flask, she once more focuses her attention on the Redcap. After scrubbing through the last several months of the creature’s life, she finally finds what she was looking for. The blade had come from one of Jason’s personal guards.

Ruby did a deep dive on the guard, and what came back made her blood run cold. The man had recently lost his lover. Jason had ordered a company to mop up a fleeing enemy force, before it could regroup and cause more issues. The entire thing had been a ruse and the company had been slaughtered to the last. The guard's lover had been part of that company. The loss had hit the man hard, driving him to the only rock left in his life. His deep belief in the kingdom’s divinity.

And wouldn’t you know it, apparently the kingdom’s divinity had some issues with Jason that it couldn’t be bothered to address through the proper channels. So instead of letting Ruby handle the trainwreck that was Jason’s social skills, this little scum lord of a God, had taken upon themself to deal with the issue. Several months of holy visions were enough to convince the grieving widow to betray everyone and everything he had ever known.

Once the guard had been properly brainwashed into turning his coat, it had been a simple matter to worm his way on to all of Jason’s post-fight surveys of the battlefield. The magic scanners that were exclusive to Jason’s retinue, had allowed him to see that Jason’s inhuman ability to avoid taking damage was really just a creative use of high-level magic. High-level magic that could have easily been used to save many of the kingdom’s soldiers. But of course, Jason believed himself too good to give the common man a means to protect themselves and those they loved. All this knowledge was of course worthless to the guard, he was nowhere near skilled enough to actually challenge Jason. But wouldn’t you know it, the divinity had thought of that too.

The podunk worm had brokered a secret deal with the enemy he’d contracted the Agency to deal with. In exchange for getting rid of a thorn in the God’s side, it would use its powers to scale back the war. Instead of facing a war of eradication, the enemy would be allowed to keep some of the land it had conquered.

At the urging of his God, the guard held a series of clandestine meetings with the Redcap. Imparting all the information he had learned in the months of shadowing Jason. He also gave the beast two gifts, the first was a Disruptor blade the guard had swiped from a fellow honor guard; when Jason’s corpse was found the blade would be traced back to the unfortunate guard instead of the traitor. The second was a satchel of Grarothian powder that had been blessed by the divinity, to ensure that Jason wouldn’t see the attack coming. It had worked of course; Jason hadn’t even known he was in danger till the blade was already buried in his lung. Oh, she was going to have the wannabe God’s head on a pike after this.

It pained her to admit it, but Jason deserved the final say in how this was all going to go down. She attempted to grab his attention, but the man was lost in his own little world. She tried waving her hands, ignored. She tried snapping her fingers in his ears, ignored. She even went so far as to beat her wings, blasting his face with the wind force of just under a category 1 hurricane; again ignored. Her rage was starting to reach fever pitch. So, she defaulted to the most tried and true method of stress reduction she had in her arsenal. She decided the only way for herself and Jason, once he knew the truth, to calm down would be to relax with a drink of the finest Earth treats.

With a heavy heart she opened up her most beloved extra planer storage space. This place was used for the only two things Ruby really cared about anymore. It was where she kept her most prized and coveted liquor, and where she kept the last few mementos, she possessed of her fallen wards. Her eyes scanned the room, she needed to pick the right apology gift. As she carefully made her way towards the back, she saw it. Tucked in about two thirds of the way to the back wall, stood a single hogshead of ancient scotch whiskey. The second to last gift she had received from one of her dearest friends, all those years ago.

Yes, this was the correct one. She felt it deep within her chest, a proper atonement requires a proper level of sacrifice. With a heavy heart she lifted the barrel over her head and began to stride out of the extra dimensional space. As she neared the opening, the soft clink of something falling and a flash of gold caught her eye. Sitting on a tiny end table was a small pouch of coins, one of which had somehow gotten loose and tumbled face up onto the polished table face.

For a moment she hesitated, she knew exactly what those coins were; and knew how much trouble she would get into if upper management found out she had them. That said, she also knew a sign when she saw one. The artifacts that she held within this place were the last remnants of those she had failed most of all. She pondered the meaning behind the fact that two of her previous charges seemed to have taken a shine to Jason, offering up to him their most precious of gifts. With a heavy heart and a plea to those long lost, she grabbed the coin before closing the pocket dimension.

With a loud *CLUNK* She set the hogshead down. Apparently, the sound of the barrel had finally made enough noise to draw Jason’s attention away from his screen. From a much smaller storage pocket she produced two crystal glasses. Pouring a hefty serving into each glass, she set one down in front of herself and the other in front of Jason. Locking eyes with the man, she said a single word.

“Drink”

The man twisted his face up in disgust at the sight of the liquor.

“Thanks, but no thanks, I’m not inclined to degr...”

“I said, DRINK!” Ruby growl bellows, casting the Command spell on the last word. Jason, despite his best efforts to ignore the compulsion, is forced to do as he is told, and takes a hearty swig of his hundred-year-old Scotch. With a smile on her lips, Ruby takes the opportunity to sip the illustrious gift. The hours melt away as they both sip and savor the deep complex flavors of this legendary brew.

As the drink flows her recollection of events becomes just a tad bit hazy. She can’t really remember how long it takes, but she does eventually come clean about the reason for this impromptu bout of drinking. It comes as little shock that Jason is... less than pleased to learn about the events that led to his death. He downs the rest of his drink in a single gulp, a waste of grand booze in Ruby’s opinion, and demands she fill his next one to the brim. For the first time in FAR too long, Ruby gets to see the Jason she had known all those years ago was still in there.

As the festivities carried on, she would occasionally catch him fiddling with the token he had bought. Curiosity finally getting the better of her, she decided to ask him about it, deciding to NOT mention that she knew it was illicitly purchased. He was cagey about it at first, but eventually loosened up and told her the truth.

He had grown bored with the usual missions that he had been assigned. He was sick of always having to play support, always cleaning up someone else’s messes, always laying the groundwork for someone else’s story. So, he had decided to cash in his points, and finally make use of the vacation time he had accrued. He had picked out what looked to be a pretty basic Isekai mission. Ruby suggested not mentioning his luck to anyone else, even she was aware how rare and coveted those missions were.

As the night wound to a close, they said their goodbyes. Before taking her leave, Ruby remembered the other present she had for Jason. A sharp whistle was the only warning she gave him before flicking the coin at his head. Even drunk, the man’s senses were still a thing to marvel at as he caught it in midair .

“The fuck is this?”

“Think of it as a gift.” She snorts.

“Oh, how generous of you. A whole gold coin, whatever will I spend it on.” Jason responds as he jangles the large coin pouch at his hip.

“Oh, fuck off. I’ll take it back if you’re going to be a brat about it.”

Jason drops the coin into his wallet and shakes it again for good measure. “Oops, too late now. Guess you’ll just have to let me keep it.” He gives her a smug grin.

She scoffed before turning around and making for the door. She could hear him activate the token as she closed the door behind her. As she wandered down the hallways back to her room, she pondered the events of the day. The rogue client would need to be dealt with, but she still wasn’t sure if burying him in legal paperwork for the next millennia or two, or just giving him a good old fashion human curb stomping, was the better punishment for his actions.

The choices bounced around in her head till she finally reached her residence. Having made no real progress in deciding her actions, she elected to just table the decision till she woke up next. The God was small time, so it wasn’t like it was going anywhere.

She took her time getting ready to sleep. Being a divine being herself, she didn’t actually NEED to sleep, but she did so enjoy the human customs surrounding the whole process. She took a long hot bath to unwind, before summoning a pair of adorable pajamas. Her body clean, and her mind at peace she laid down in her oversized excessively fluffy bed.

She had barely closed her eyes and began to drift off to blissful sleep, before she was awoken once again by the sound of her alarm going off.

“You have got to be shitting me. HOW?!?!”

Had ACL reconstruction with a patellar graft just under two weeks ago. The day of surgery and day after were the worst in terms of pain, but since then, I’ve been basically pain-free for the last couple of weeks, and recovering fairly well, I think.
Yesterday I decided to go out for the first time shopping with my husband since my surgery. I just started to be able to walk without crutches a few days ago, albeit with a pretty severe limp, so I thought it would be good exercise. We were out for a few hours and it was the longest I’ve walked/been on my feet since before my surgery.
Today I suddenly felt a jolt of pain as I was walking, enough to stop me in my tracks and make me collapse onto the nearest chair. It’s a very different kind of pain to the one I had immediately post-surgery, it felt more like a deep ache in my knee joint that immediately goes away as soon as I’m off my feet.
My knee feels very warm. Is it possible I overdid it yesterday with walking? Is it normal to experience a new kind of pain two weeks on after surgery? I’m worried I’ve messed my progress up, especially because it now hurts to do my physio exercises.

Hi all,
I'm starting my fitness journey again after falling off the band wagon. I'm not good at setting up a program (too much, too little, too long etc) so I'm looking for a program or online coach that can help me get back on track. I'm a 38 year old female, and I've noticed that when I lift heavy my joints start to feel it, I get stiff and achy. I would like to get back in shape - build some strength, have good conditioning and be mobile and move fluidly without aches and pains and stiffness. Basically all round fitness that allows me to play a pick up game of basketball or go on a hike, carry heavy stuff, go for a swim, play with the kids etc and not just focus on hypertrophy or bodybuilding.
I've been on Trainheroic and Playbook and saw a couple of interesting coaches. Luka Hocevar, Jason Brown, Marcus Filly and JTM Fit have caught my eye. So I was wondering does anyone have any experience with these coaches or their programs? Who would you recommend? Are there any kick ass strong female trainers (that don't only focus on toned booty...)?
Thanks for your help! I'm excited to get back on track.

Hi all,
I'm starting my fitness journey again after falling off the band wagon. I'm not good at setting up a program (too much, too little, too long etc) so I'm looking for a program or online coach that can help me get back on track. I'm a 38 year old female, and I've noticed that when I lift heavy my joints start to feel it, I get stiff and achy. I would like to get back in shape - build some strength, have good conditioning and be mobile and move fluidly without aches and pains and stiffness. Basically all round fitness that allows me to play a pick up game of basketball or go on a hike, carry heavy stuff, go for a swim, play with the kids etc and not just focus on hypertrophy or bodybuilding.
I've been on Trainheroic and Playbook and saw a couple of interesting coaches. Luka Hocevar, Jason Brown, Marcus Filly and JTM Fit have caught my eye. So I was wondering does anyone have any experience with these coaches or their programs? Who would you recommend? Are there any kick ass strong female trainers (that don't only focus on toned booty...)?
Thanks for your help! I'm excited to get back on track.

Went to GYN today in hopes of getting topical estrogen cream and she recommended I start HRT.
I told her I’d tried all the OTC stuff, still have hot flashes, joint aches and am awake most days from 3-5am.
She hugged me. She said there’s no reason to suffer. That the infamous study that scared women off of HRT has been all but disproven. Ladies, I felt SEEN.
I left with (Mimvey) estradiol 1.0 mg /norethindrone .5mg and am hoping my quality of midlife improves.
(Worried about weight gain- as my limited time on BC twenty years ago caused it.)
But I’m hopeful for the first time in a year.

This is kind of a rant but it annoys the hell outta me when people are all like “oh my god you’re so young you can do anything you’re fine my back aches now cause I’m 60 wait till you get there.”
Like bitch you can work full time and be there with your kids and grandkids while I didn’t even get to see my mom on Mother’s Day cause I was too sick to leave the house and go on disability on and off from work all the time for flare ups 😑😑😑
Like I just wanna tell them how it feels to have every nerve in my body feel like it’s a hot electrical wire on fire, pins and needles everywhere on my skin, joints sore as fuck and unstable cause of EDS, and seriousss muscle spasms not to mention gastroparesis! But then it just looks like I’m complaining.
Like can we not assume younger people with invisible illnesses are fine and downplay it? Ugh it’s annoying. God forbid I use a handicapped parking spot cause I can hardly breathe and get chest pain if I walk too far or fast.
Hey we can make this comment section a rant session about this shit if we want, we’re not alone and it’s cathartic in a way to talk about it.
Edit: Damn I’m sorry y’all go through this shit too. I forgot to put in my post that i recovered from shoulder surgery with no pain meds cause I puked them all up and wasn’t in the hospital so I just sucked it up. Best part? I don’t get treated any better 🙄🙄🙄 After reading y’all’s comments I think I should start using the line “did you have surgery for a torn labrum and got 6 anchors put in your shoulder and recover without pain meds? No? Stop it then.”

Wishing everyone a pain-free day!
I started MTX last week. It was a rough week and I only started with 10mg. I’m supposed to up titrate next week. Things were uncomfortable and slow but manageable for the first 15 hours then I got slammed with intense nausea, loss of appetite, fatigue that meant I couldn’t move, intense joint pain, low grade fever, cognitive symptoms such as not being able to spell my name or form a sentence, etc. I also had some mild sore throat day 2-3. But joint pain day 3-4 was actually really good, despite being off Celebrex.
About 60 hours post dose, I started to be able to function again, by 72 I had better energy than the previous days. By day 6 I could eat two lighter meals but then was sick at night.
I’m due for a dose today and I’m still struggling with nausea and loss of appetite and now lower GI symptoms as well. On the plus side, who needs Ozempic?? 🙄😬😵‍💫
I’m thinking I will give it another try and really hope this round is better, but I can’t see being flat out for three days, unable to think straight for four and not able to eat beyond crackers and ginger ale for 5 days being super sustainable long term. I had the week off of work, thankfully, but I have other plans and things to attend to…
Is this a “suck it up and keep trying” (maybe with injections) or a clear sign to advocate for something different?

i was diagnosed with both psoriatic and rheumatoid arthritis a few years ago, mostly bc doctors couldn’t agree on which one i had (pa bc my pain is often not symmetrical and jumps around, ra bc i have the autoantibodies specific to ra).
at the time the suggestion was to try a mix of ibuprofen and heat and come back if my symptoms got worse/ more frequent. luckily, i haven’t had much pain since then until recently when i started having weeks with (still fluctuating, often asymmetrical) joint pain in mostly my fingers and toes again.
that said, the last few weeks i’ve mostly been dealing with more general body aches and a feeling of malaise similar to what you’d feel if you had a fever. i can’t really point to any specific joints either. sometimes i just have a general feeling that my hands and feet overall hurt and feel tight and stiff. a lot of the time it’s not so clear though.
i’m not really sure how to decide when to see a doctor again or what counts as my symptoms getting worse. i also have migraines and can’t really tell if this could be part of that or if i should see a doctor about my pa/ ra dx again.
so i was wondering if anyone here knows if more generalised pain and body aches can be part of either pa/ ra. if any of you also suffer migraines, do they come with body aches and joint pain for you? do they trigger your arthritis? how do you decide when to see a doctor?

Started off fine-ish the first week. Went to the ER 4/23 for dizziness, extreme stomach aches, and pain when standing/going potty. They said, “all good, just a “miscarriage” take pain meds. ok whatever. Went to planned parenthood for checkup abt 4/25 i think. said everything looks good, and levels had dropped to 2,000 hcg. told the lady abt the pain that came and went. she said that’s normal and it’ll pass. okay i believe you, and went abt my day. got a checkup call abt two weeks in, told the lady abt how the pain isn’t fixed with meds, she asked if my period cramps are helped with meds, i said “no” and she said “all good just rest!!” almost four weeks now, and i can’t stand half the time bc of the pain, sore on the right side under ribs when i breathe (assuming it’s my liver from all the ibuprofen), occasionally hurts to go potty still, not while peeing, but after in the upper and lower abdomen, and last time i pooped it was fatty, green, and had mucus. today i woke up for work with a low grade fever, chills, nausea, and stomach pain in both sides that feel like stabbing (again), and dehydration. I’m going into the doctor i actually like and who listens to me tomorrow. i’m so sick of feeling pain that doesn’t seem normal at all. nothing helps and i’m miserable.

I just turned 22 and for my birthday I was given 3 herniated discs, and a muscular issue that no work comp dr has diagnosed yet. They just keep fucking injecting my god damn discs and filling them up, it doesn’t matter that I complain that I can feel my tendons in the wrongs spots in my back, it doesn’t matter that they pinch and crush my disc.
Guess I’ll keep taking leave of absence’s and making no fucking money because I literally cannot finish a shift. Fuck me, it’s been 9 months of this already. I don’t know how much longer I can be this fucking useless. My girlfriend swears they don’t have an issue supporting me but I know it’s bothering them. I’ve never been snapped at so many times by them. It’s just bullshit because when I was supporting then due to their own slowness as getting a full time job I didn’t bitch. I worked 60 hours a week until I couldn’t stay awake anymore. Then I got another 40 hour a week job. Idk they’re doing about 30 hours a week now and acting like it’s the end of the world. I’m putting in maybe 20 hours a week. I have to constantly leave early once my spinal cord attacks me. Literally felt like I was getting punched/pushed yesterday. Once my disc would get crushed between my vertebrae my whole body would spaz without my control and make me drop. That’s when I have to leave. I’m just so tired of hearing people bitch about “being sore” yeah me fucking too. The soreness doesn’t compare, it s slow level ache. Your muscles are tired, that shouldn’t be something fucking new. Try dealing with chronic pain, joint/tissue disorders. It’s just so fucking annoying. I’m a sour ass I know, but I’m all out of sweet right now. I love my gf btw, don’t take the work convo as a take on our entire relationship.
I needed to rant. I have work in an hour and I’m about to take off again. Though I feel like shit, for trying to care for myself. For not providing. I feel less than useless, a burden

Hi everyone, I have been experiencing nasuea, bloating, headaches, body aches, dizziness and painful abdominal cramps since Tuesday of this week after going on then going off Candidastat. Here is some background on my gut health for reference, since while it has been especially bad lately I have been having gut health issues for the last 5 years:
Fall 2019:
After no previous issues with dairy I am no longer able to eat it without having stomach pain and frequent + painful bowel movements. I start taking lactaids and cutting out most dairy products like milk and cheese but don’t stop eating it entirely. Stomach pain and cramping gets continuously worse over time.
Spring 2021:
I get campylobacteriosis that lasts 7 days with intense abdominal pain, dirrarehea and a fever. Afterwards I have several secondary infections, a uti, an ear infection and a sinus infection. My stomach felt very sensitive for months after this.
SummeFall 2022:
By this time I have almost stopped eating dairy entirely and am experiencing a lot of abdominal cramping and pain as well as regular dirrearea + constipation alternating on and off. I see a naturopath that has me take a SIBO test that comes back with very high methane levels. (in the 200s) Also have an ultrasound that comes back saying all my organs are normal other than nonspecific fluid-filled duodenum that is given clinical concern for IBS/adhesions. I treat the SIBO with Xifaxan for 2 weeks, and berberine, neem supplements and allimed drops for a month, but as I am on a long international trip my doctor and I decide that the FODMAP diet at this time is not practical. After 3 weeks I begin to feel a lot better and am able to eat food with little pain. I am even able to eat dairy but I am also in Europe during this period of time so that may also have to do with the dairy industry there?
Winter 2023:
After traveling for 5 months, the last 3 of which were in SE Asia I am experiencing abdominal pain + bowel issues once again. I get blood work done which all comes back looking good other than my thyroid which has higher levels than normal. I believe this may have been due to stress at the time. Since the winter my stomach problems seem to have plateaued, I am still experiencing pain and irregular bowel movements through the fall of 2023. I am eating very little dairy at this point but the occasional parmesan or goat cheese.
January 2024:
Have been noticing that when I eat gluten I experience bloating. Eat so much gluten in one day that I have such terrible bloating and cramps that I decide to cut out gluten entirely for the month of January. Eating no gluten and no dairy takes away some of my symptoms but I am still experiencing abdominal pain after eating and loose stool. In February I reintroduce small amounts of gluten but don’t notice a huge difference in how I feel.
April 2024:
Take a food sensitivity test that comes back saying I have a moderate candida infection as well as a mild intolerance to ginger (This came back the highest.)
May 2024:
Looking at the results my PCP has me begin Candidastat from Vitanica along with Saccharomyces 10B for support. I begin treatment on May 2nd taking 1 Candidastat per day. By Friday I am already starting to have bad and frequent dirreaha and am experiencing a decent amount of abdominal pain. This continues throughout the weekend and gets worse each day, I am not feeling able to tolerate foods that are not bland by Monday. On Monday I begin urinating more frequently and start to get headaches. I wake up Tuesday morning and my stomach hurts so bad, I feel incredibly fatigued and have full body aches, I have to call in sick from work. Tuesday I have frequent loose stool and pain while passing a BM and anytime I eat I have a small, painful BM movement in the following 10-15 minutes. Wednesday I stay home again as I am still feeling a lot of the same symptoms except having BMs less frequently, even when it feels like I need to and I am trying. I am only able to have 3 very small BMs this day. I go back to my PCP on Wednesday where I tell her my symptoms and she says that she should’ve prescribed a more localized capsule for the amount of candida that I have. She then recommended this treatment plan. 1. Stop Candidastat 2. Bland diet - rice, sourdough, bone broth. Protein shakes. 3. Electrolytes - 2 servings per day. 4. RF Plus soothing GI - 1 capsule twice a day. 5. Probiotic - Vital-Plex 1 capsule daily On Wednesday I do not take the Candidastat. I experience headaches and body aches as well as feel overheated for most of the day. After the doctor appointment I am able to eat some rice with bone broth. I stay up late Wednesday night experiencing abdominal pain. Thursday I do not take the candidastat, still feeling headachey and fatigued (candida die off?), constipated for the beginning of the day but able to pass 1 solid BM in the afternoon. Still experiencing abdominal pain but not as bad as in previous days. Friday I am still only able to eat rice and bone broth as I can’t tolerate other things. I wake up with mild cramps, and go to the GI doctor and am prescribed medication for the cramping and ordered a bunch of tests including a colonoscopy/endoscopy, blood work, celiac test etc. This is all exciting but not solving the immediate issues of how I feel. Saturday morning I wake up with cramps and then around 10am start to suddenly feel very nauseous, dizzy, and flulike. I tried but was unable to vomit. I am incredibly nauseous for 45 minutes while so wait for my prescription to be ready. After taking the medication for cramping I fell asleep (it causes drowsiness) and woke up feeling a little bit better in the evening but still pretty beat. Today I woke up with cramps and then eventually started feeling nauseous again, I called my gi doctor on call and she prescribed me anti nausea meds and said that I should go to the ER if I develop a fever or vomit. I took the meds and they seemed to help at least temporarily. I am still feeling weak and have flu like symptoms and more moderate cramps. I’ve had to miss 5 days of work so far and I have been losing weight because I can’t tolerate foods that aren’t bland. I am planning on finding a new PCP (for other reasons other than this too) but am wondering in the meantime if anyone has any idea what might be going on or has any tips for symptom relief? I am wondering if the nausea is a candida-die off symptom or if that should’ve already happened since I stopped using the medication last Tuesday. Thank you in advance!

Reddit Request: AskDocs
Can someone please help me with questions I should make sure to write down and ask at my rheumatology appointment?
I am in so much pain, and I’d like to be as thorough as possible with this new doctor from the get-go in order to help me get a diagnosis. I know I will panic and/or forget what to ask. Any help/guidance would be much appreciated!
I’m having a “good” hand/wrist day, so here we go…
38F, 5'4", 185lbs, South Asian, very little drinking, no smoking or recreational drugs.
Currently experiencing the following symptoms:

• SEVERE joint pain - has been continuously present for two weeks as of today.
  • Will reach the point of not being able to stand/walk some days or use my hands/wrists. It starts as a deep ache and then spreads to other joints until finally I’m just on fire. Will get worse if I’m touched, jostled or have to move when it’s that bad.
  • Present everywhere, and I really mean everywhere: fingers, hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck/back, hips, knees, ankles, feet.
  • Sometimes bilateral, sometimes not.
  • No joint swelling or redness
  • Seems to get worse at night
  • Joints are also cracking much, much more than usual.
• Severe fatigue and exhaustion. Sometimes I need more than one nap in a day in order to keep going.
• Some intermittent muscle weakness
• Hair loss (scalp and lashes mostly, a little bit eyebrows.)
• Facial swelling and puffiness:
  • Eyelids/brow bone
  • Front of my cheeks along sides of nose.
  • Around my mouth
  • Around outer sides of face and under chin/on my neck.
• Random feeling of chills/shivers, sometimes accompanied by low-grade fever (around 99 or thereabouts.)
• Difficulty losing weight, honestly near impossible.
  • Even when eating well (getting enough calories, protein, fiber, hydration, etc. to properly fuel a grown active woman’s body) and exercising, I have netted out at gaining weight over time instead.
• Nail ridging
• Brain Fog
• Libido: dead and sorely missed.
• Mood in the shitter, but maybe because I’m just sad/anxious about all of this.
• Most recent blood test results from end of Feb, no active flares at that time:
  • https://ibb.co/Hg6q3TK
  • https://ibb.co/t8Byk5T
  • https://ibb.co/phsfHpS
• Is this a malar rash?…
  • https://ibb.co/R7sj3n8

Current diagnoses and related medications:

• ADHD: 15mg adderall, 3x/week.
  • I haven’t been taking these during this flare up because there’s nothing in the tank for them to work with and it would be a waste.
• Perimenopause/early-atrophied ovary: Junel Fe 1.5/30
  • This will likely change to a different medication with an increased hormonal dosage as this isn’t really working well.

Family history (that I’m aware of…):

• So. Much. Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s on mother’s side. At least one person with Sjogren's.
• Heart disease on father’s side.

Are there any specific tests I should make sure to ask for? Any symptoms I need to expand on/track further?
Again, any help at all is extremely appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Hi, think I need to let off some steam where people will understand me. I have pretty severe fibro, to the point where I have to use a wheelchair for most outings. It's barely been manageable, but I'm surviving. Waiting for some personal assistant applications to go through. Over the last few days I've had an extremely nasty flare. You know when you have the flu or something similar, and you get a fever that makes your whole body ache at the slightest touch or movement? It feels like that, just without a temperature. My whole body is sore and even just my cat's fur brushing against my skin hurts. I've had a dull headache for days and I've been utterly exhausted. This flare up has been so painful that I keep worrying something is deeply wrong, even though its all symptoms I've had before and am used to. I have no idea what the trigger was. There was a heatwave, so maybe it's that? I do not handle heat well at all. I get random pains radiating down my limbs with no discernable trigger. I havent eaten a lot over this flare up because i havent got any clean dishes, so ive been living off snacks. Normally when my pain gets this bad I order food delivery, but I'm broke right now because British gas decided to fuck me over. Im only on UC and PIP so im basically at the mercy of the government here. Fibro feels like a curse. It doesn't make any sense. I am just cursed with unexplainable extreme pain and fatigue every day of my life and I hate it. I can't do anything I want to do. Can't study, can't work, can't exercise, can't even go for a walk without feeling faint. all I do is sleep, eat, make sure my pets are cared for and do extremely sedentary activities like crochet, videogames and watching YouTube. It's really dull.
Please don't give any advice like "have you tried exercise/yoga/mindfulness?" I promise I have been living with this illness long enough that I know what does and doesn't work for me, I am not posting here to get unsolicited advice on how to make fibro go away, especially since my doctors have already brought these things up themselves. I am just looking for support from people who understand what I am going through. (I have to put this, because I've been harassed on this sub before because I told someone I didn't want their advice. They ended up telling me I was faking my illness entirely.)

Finished 10-day Vanco last weekend from 1st cdiff infection following antibiotic treatment for an antibiotic resistant blood infection. Went to Doc for follow-up this past Thursday, and though I felt tons better, I told him my stools were still on and off. He put me on a Vanco taper of 1 Vanco pill a day for 5-days, then every other day for five doses. I started that this Friday. On Saturday, I was singing at a concert, had a couple of beers, and when I went to the bathroom, noticed that I felt like I needed to poop, but only mucus came out and into the toilet. It scared me. It’s now been happening for the past 24-hours. I’ll start to pee, feel like I need to poop, feel nothing pass, wipe, and discover only mucus on the toilet paper. I have had stool pass three times, during these episodes, and it’s been formed. I’m just frightened as heck that I’m getting a relapse or something. I had Pernil (Rice, Beans, and pulled pork) for dinner the night before the concert, then Kefir on Saturday morning along with eggs, bacon, toast, strawberries, and cheese. I’ve been taking Florastor and a cup of Kefir every day since starting Vanco from diagnosis of cdiff. Later that evening, I had chicken and rice. I can’t tell if I just have a hangover (just a sickly tired feeling with some body/joint aches) from having three beers last night (which has ever been a lot for me in the past) or if cdiff’s rearing its ugly head again. Aaaaargh!!!

Bright illuminescant flashes bolted through the dark-lit sky, rushing and raging through clouds seemingly made of gossamer and finely woven felt. You could almost reach out and touch them if not for the raging storm ripping and hollering. It shone and splintered along the sky, splitting into a thousand arcs, each converging and convexing along the stars. Electrical currents spun like lavender spider webs along a farmhouse wall. The arcs traveled, painting a vibrant tapestry along its wake before reaching their climax and releasing a wicked KRAK as the lights slowly faded.
The gossamer clouds wept tears of dull acidic rain that fell, cascading downwards. Down to the swampy fetid fields below. Their droplets splashed and sizzled against the sand, slowly fizzing before hardening into a thin velvet glass before beginning all over again. A sad display of god’s fury laid bare and plain for all to see. The rain had begun just a week prior, but its assault had persisted in a constant pattern ever since. The swamp ached and squirmed in an agonizing way as the rain melted away any sign of basic life.
Puddles of the acidic deluge collected along a road leading to the once fertile silver mine, just three miles from the town of Crestfall. Near the edge of the road, a fork splits off into multiple directions. South of the fork leads to the entrance of Deep Rock Mine. The mine’s entrance stands agape, resting at the base of a mountain. The mine’s layout, a cavern of crisscrossing and haphazardly formed tunnels, awaited past the thick darkness entrapping the entrance. They curve and wind up the spine of the mountain, as well as descend deep into the now dead earth.
The face of the mountain was bare but rough. Rocks jutted and sloped along its curvature, forming a near mesmeric pattern of spiked granite. Towards the peak, a malicious and not all entirely natural pattern emerged. As the acidic rain fell, framing the mountainous backdrop, the pattern watched and waited. An almost human-like visage stretched along the face of the mountain like canvas pulled over a wooden frame. It’s design scorn into the rock itself as if meticulously laid out to warn any who dared breach the confines of the swamp.
Silence lingered amongst the misty atmospheric dredge, save for the muffled and subtle ambietic sounds of the rain. Through the dead foliage and gnarled remains of creatures recently passed, a sound rang forth. Distant exclamation and reverberated clanging rhythmically sounded from deep within the mine. Up and down the mine laid stalactites and stalagmites haphazardly stationed around every corner. Their abrupt positioning cast shadows wherever light felt unable to reach. The mine walls were smooth from years of work and toilage, along with the long uninterrupted tunnels, created an almost echo chamber for sound.
Abrupt crashes and distant thrashes echoed through the winding chamber. Its sounds detailed a fierce battle between clashing swords and fervent blows.
Or so it would seem.
A sword, emblazoned with the sigil of a raven, flew across the dimly lit room. Its body crashes and clings as it skips along the floor, its blade slashing and carving thin lines into the granite flooring as it makes contact with the ground. A fierce shadow sprawls along the cave walls, depicting a struggle between foes.
The wanderer-and recent owner of the raven crested blade-crashes to the floor. Leather straps firmly tied around his shoulder blades catch most of the weight of the fall, but pain still echoed through his nerves.
“Hells! You slimy bastard!” The wanderer winces and yells in a blinded fury. “You don’t play fair, and here I thought we were having a nice sport of it.”
No reply immediately came from his opponent, still standing off near a downed torch. Flame wisped and flicked along the ground, casting shadows and dreaded omens as if they were ripped directly from a child’s nightmare.
At once, the foe stepped forward. The shadows sprawled across the walls painted a disturbing picture of horror and grotesque form. Imaginative figures born from shadows were always so much more terrible than the beings that cast them, but in this case it was clearly the other way around. The foe opposite The Wanderer lurched forward, it's body a gnarled vestige of exoskeleton and mandibles. It almost resembled a large insect, like a praying mantis that decided its evolutionary cycle had not quite finished yet.
On multi-socketed legs, it snapped and convulsed along. Every movement of its body felt agonizing, as if the creature was hastily thrown together by a quite absent god. Various olive and violet fluids oozed and dripped from its husk like body as it vocalized terrible sounds. The creature-seemingly unable to speak-produced noises from its mouth that resembled a mix of gargles and marbles being tossed along a wooden floor. All the while, its grotesque pincer like appendage snapped and clicked almost involuntarily.
The wanderer-still recovering from his fall-slowly pushed his body along the cold rocky ground, his arm still pulsing with pain.
“Oh my, what big mouths you have.” The wanderer teased sounding much more worried than he intended. ‘Always good to keep in control of the situation. Confidence is key.’ As he was always want to say, but this wasn’t an ordinary situation.
His arm traced along the ground, reaching and prodding for his recently lost weapon. Daring not look away from the oncoming threat, he felt nothing. His sword was currently resting near the opposite side of the cave room, resting flat along the ground. Away from The Wanderer’s grasp, far away from being of any further use here it seemed.
Doubt surged through his mind, but only for a short time. ‘Doubt breeds more doubt, and further doubt breeds ruin’, another favorite.
Clenched palms moved along the granite flooring. Leather gloves scraped and bruised as The Wanderer lifted back to his feet, regaining balance and fervor. The arm that had broken his fall felt numb and altogether absent.
‘Dislocated most likely, not a big enough fall to break.’
The insect-like foe-still closing the distance between them-snapped and gurgled in an almost territorial display of aggression.
The Wanderer grinned, placing his uninjured arm against its opposite’s elbow, before violently, yet methodically, pushing it upwards. A clear snap, followed by a dull pop echoed through the room. Feeling began pouring back into his arm as the vibrating itch of numbness faded. Both arms began to raise, fists clenched, the leather gloves creased and squelched from the sheer pressure as his hands formed tightly wounded fists. Fists pointed squarely towards the all not entirely normal creature still gurgling and jerking along the shadow filled room.
“Oh...” The Wanderer began. “I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t enjoy every second of this.” His fists raised up, reaching level with the bridge of his nose. “Come one now, give us yer best.”
As if understanding -and altogether disliking- the series of vulgar remarks thrusted toward it, the creature squealed through its deformed face. The jerking motion its movement seemed to have before was replaced with a fluid dash as it quickly closed the distance between the two adversaries. Arms outstretched as its gnarled and jagged hands opened and closed with violent snaps and twinges. Reaching out, grasping the air between them. The gap closed quickly, much quicker than he anticipated, but not enough to catch him entirely off guard as he shifts weight from right the left. The slender frame of his body flanking to the side of the creature.
Shadows arched and flailed with each movement, creating a strange optical illusion across the cave walls. The subtle shifting wind and osculation of the two fighters created an almost mural of events through the flames. Clashing swords, trumpeting horns and creatures that rivaled the tallest spires in Etheral began to converge into an unrecognizable painting of events. The fire loomed, gazing at the creature, at The Wanderer. Its gaze almost purposeful and full of intent. Neither the two beings made any note of the grand display unfolding around them. Fire is known to be a harsh mentor, and an even harsher ally. If one was to wander too deeply into its wounding gaze, one might find themselves trapped, forever living in the tapestry it painted.
The creature was fast, but nowhere as fast as him. Once useless, now repaired, the dislocated arm wrapped between the creatures glistening forearm, interlocking before weight shifted again. The creature stalled as if to reorient itself to face the man, but its movements were not its own. Quickly and deftly, The Wanderer placed immense weight on his forward foot, counterbalancing against the creature as their locked arms rotated and shifted sideways. Arching forward, the shift in balance quickly broke as the creature began to lift in the air as The Wanderer’s rear leg lifted to relegate pressure onward. Flailing and spewing its noxious fluid, the creature flipped entirely, finally crashing to the floor in a savage crunch. The Wanderer stands above, looking downward as it convulses in a fit of pain (could it even quantify pain) and anger.
A greyish foul-smelling slime coated The Wanderer’s chest and forearm. Small indentions formed along the hard leather surface of his jacket, most likely from the not entirely cosmetic spikes embedded into the creature.
“Alright, now I’d say we’re fairly close to a draw here.” The Wanderer began. “How’s say we handle the rest with a bit more diplomacy and grace? No point and making a bigger stink than we already got, but telling by the state of yourself, I’d say you know all about stink.”
The maddening gurgle of the creature slowed as its body began to calm. Its arms moving outward, sprawling along the hard granite rock as its legs raise along with the rest of it. Wet dew drips along the ground, rippling and casting weird reflections from all directions as the creature steps slowly along their puddles. Slow anxious steps it takes. Its demeanor changes from a wild and disturbed animal to a more methodic and wary being. Eyes of bluish gray sink into its head, pupils moving slowly, analyzing and taking in information. It stands straight, back locked into an opposing stance. God it was big. The man couldn’t much get a good measurement before with its body slouched over in a hermit like stance. It must be at least seven feet tall, equally proportioned from its legs to its torso. The head was rounded, almost human, with its bug-like mandibles protruding in a horrific fashion.
The Wanderer had dealt with creatures before. Along his travels he had come across a litany of monstrous beings; Wargs, Secrolants, Jittering Fiends, Goblins, Spiderlings. None of them quite matched the state of this one. Although he had heard of such beings, none had crossed paths before. The way it moved, the way it thought, it all was abnormal. It's quite simple to take a beast down, some you anger and gain the advantage, some you outsmart, others you can simply scare away. But this one.... oh, he was a different breed entirely. The way its mood could change mid-fight, or how it seemingly understood what was being said. And the way it stared. Thoughts were jutting along in the bug brain of its, and when monsters start thinking, all strategy and preparation goes out the window. Unpredictable is what they become, and prediction was The Wanderer’s bread and butter.
Wary now he waits, staring back at the creature. Locked eyes, they waited. Eyes filled with thought, filled with understanding and reasoning -but most egregiously- they were filled with malice. The fight was not over, they had just reached half-time.
“Let it not be stated that I did not strive for peace and harmony at every turn.” The Wanderer quipped, his hand raised once more, ready for another assault.
A flame flickers, casting shadows once again. Shadows of a man holding wolves at bay, hands outstretched to create a distance between them. The wolves circled and plotted, looking for weakness at every tune, but finding none. Leaves fell, becoming ash as they reached the ground. A fire spreads amongst the ash laden floor, consuming the visage, the man, the wolves. All in consumed in an immense concentrated heat, until the shadows fade to nothingness once more.
The creature meanders onward, just a few steps at a time; looking on as The Wanderer holds his footing, fists raised and ready. Each step of its hard glistening exoskeleton crunches against small rocks and debris sprawled along the cave floor, knocking them aside, producing echoed wails that seemingly bounced from surface to surface. After the third step it abruptly launches at the man, arms outstretched once more in a fit of animalistic fury. Thought seemingly left its eyes as they glazed over into a dull grey, the feeling and reasoning sinking further and further to the back of its mind. The Wanderer grinned, his stance loosening as the soles of his feet began to trace an outline of movement, preparing and readying for a counteroffensive. As its dripping breached the outline, The Wanderer shifted his weight once more, quickly flanking the creature to the side once again, but something was off. His eyes traced the movements of its body, of its arms, of its legs. The animosity in them seemed to almost shift mid attack, becoming lucid and methodical. As if the creature was dancing along with him. Even tracing down to the ground, the footing was wrong. Not his footing. He was always perfect. The dance was memorized, trained, honed to a sharp edge. No, it was the creature’s.
Abruptly the creature’s body shifted, its legs tracing backwards, its torso shifting to the side. A corrective action, a counterattack to his counterattack. Shadows of the pair danced along the cave wall, depicting a wickedly abstract waltz. The creature’s arm whipped outward, its claws barreling towards the thin leather separation between his elbow and forearm. God, it was fast. Faster than The Wanderer. Rip, flash, a bright light, then the crashing of feet as the two returned to their original standing.
It all happened so fast. Faster than he could articulate. He was used to speed, used to tracking and understanding battle situations, creating countermeasures, analyzing the most likely move and executing it within a fraction of a second. All of that was done, but it was all wrong. The creature moved in peculiar fashion, acted as if it were moving on instinct while simultaneously acting with thought and strategy. How could it possibly go both ways?
As he thought, mouth slightly open, breath pouring between his lips in a hot and heavy fashion, he hardly thought of anything else. They had made contact, but there was no feeling. Checking for wounds mid-encounter was generally out of the question with beasts. Often, they gave little time for thought or first aid, but the creature stood and waited. The dull grey look in its eyes were gone again, replaced with the methodical gaze of a strategist analyzing a battlefield. The Wanderer lowered his right arm and traced it along the path of his elbow, reaching his shoulder before he felt it. A definite gash traced about two inches wide, the depth of it couldn’t be guessed, but it had breached the leather. As his hand returned to a fist, warm fresh blood dripped between the fingers, falling and coagulating against the dust and pebbles along the ground. He had indeed been injured, but there was no feeling to it. All felt well, and that’s precisely why all was, in fact, not well.
“You’re a strange one. Not quite like anything I’ve seen before, but I’ll get to know you real well soon enough.”
His eyes moved from the creature, scanning along the ground. Before when this was a simple clean-up, a weapon would be handy, but hardly required of someone with his skills, but this was anything but simple. Parameters had changed, he’d very much like his sword back now.
It was nowhere to be seen initially. The room was dark, with little else than a soft glow from the fallen torch illuminating a small area and casting shadows that obscured others. Then it appeared. Near the feet of the creature, the raven crested blade sat where it had since the beginning of this strange dual. Thoughts echoed along in his head, casting suspicions and doubt in every facet of the encounter. Things were not as they appeared.
A slight grin crept along his face again, before quickly subsiding. “Think I have enough time for one more go of it. Care to lead?”
The creature stood, watching and plotting before the dull grey of its eyes appeared once again, launching it into another fury. It lunged, arms outstretched again, running full speed to the man. He simply stood, his hands loosening from tightly wound fists of rock to loosely packed fists of snow. His palms opened slightly; his footing loosened as the heels of his feet digging into the hard rocky floor. They began to move slightly, tracing a straight horizontal line where he stood as he slowly began to back away. The creature, still in a frenzy, closes the distance fast. Seemingly faster than any previous assault as The Wanderer ceased his slow backing retreat, his feet returning to a strong stance, soles digging deep into the earth. He takes in a breath, his heartrate slowing. The light sounds of the cave begin to grow, becoming more apparent and concentrated. Small droplets of dew falling from the ceiling, wind softly blowing along, echoing through the harrowed halls and the flickering of a flame slowly speaking its ancient language. They all converged, mirroring themselves as The Wanderer’s eyes closed. Time seemed to slow as the creature came closer, its steps further apart, its maddening gurgling seemingly floating away. It stepped, stepped and stepped along the ground, pushing pebbles and dust without thought.
Finally, it reached the line carved into the rock. Its foot crunched, making contact with the earth, and in an instant its eyes reverted again. The grey dullness seeping away to its methodically stategistic norm. In that instant, The Wanderers eyes erupted open. The chittering thing’s arms stretch out for his neck, hoping to seize his artery with its horrific claws. Quickly, quicker than anything that day, The Wanderer moved in a fast range of motions that all seemingly happened at once. His weight once again shifted, flanking the creature. His arms locked into a position of counterattack. The creature quickly issued its own countermeasure, once again whipping its body and throwing its claw outward, aiming higher than before, aiming for his neck.
A flame moved. Shadows formed along the walls once more, although they showed a different scene. A scene depicting two swordsman locked in deathly combat. Their swords swinging violently but with grace and purpose. They clashed a thousand times. Each time sending a spray of bright sparks that swelled through the air creating intricate patterns that lingered before slowly fading.
The creature was stuck, unable to move, unable to continue its assault and unable to return to its desired location. The Wanderer's palm grasped the creature's wrist tightly, locking it into a hold. The grey of the creature’s eyes were completely gone now as its pupils darted around in panic. His hand arched forward, his foot kicking –what would assumedly be- the creature’s calf, buckling its knees and forcing it to the ground. Cracking and popping erupted from the joints of its arm as his grip tightened. It’s gurgling became sporadic, as if pleading to be set free. He simply watched it, once against studying its behavior, its patterns, its mannerisms.
“You really are special. Not like anything in the world I imagine, but what makes you so special.” The Wanderer clenched his hold tighter, the creature falls lower, its face pushing into the cold rock. “You were playing a game, weren’t you? You understand what I’m saying too, and that I can assure you is indeed something special. Predicting my movements, using the techniques against me. You weren’t just fighting for a meal. You were learning, weren’t you?”
The creature clicked and gurgled, chittering against the ground as the hard surface of its arm began to crack.
“Now, I’m not opposed to teaching if I aim to gain something from it, but what I won’t abide is being played with. Now...” He plants his foot against the back of the creature's neck, both arms holding its locked appendage in a pulling motion. “I think I deserve to know a little more about you my foul-smelling friend, and if I’m right up until this point, you outta know exactly what I’m saying. I also assume you know a threat when you hear one. So...” His grip tightens, his leather boot slowly crunched against the creature’s skull. “Tell me what you are, and where you learned to be so damn special.”
The creature’s eyes widen, the dull grey returning, filling its retinas as it begins to violently convulse. A shrill screech fills the room, echoing along the walls, traveling through the twisting and winding tunnels of the long-forgotten mine. Shadows creep along the cave walls once more, scattering and convulsing, twisting into horrid and unimaginable shapes. Creatures that belong to fables and horror tales begin flooding along the shapes as the flame whips and crackles. The torch quickly combusts, the flames turning a sharp blackish violet. Heat bellows from the waves of ember emitting from the now monumental display of hellfire as the shadows multiply, taking over every inch of coverage. The Wanderer’s ears tremble at the immense noise, his vision begins to weaken as the shrill echo reaches a climactic crescendo. Any more of this and it’s all over, lights out.
He looks downward to the creature, its mind warped with whatever dark arts influenced it. His grip tightens as his foot presses firmly against the back of its head. Slow crunching and cracking sounds begin to intermingle with the terrible sounds of its cry. As the boot came down, harder and harder, the creature’s terrible screech began to thin and grow in pitch, like the air being slowly released from a balloon. Then, a horrendous snap before the head was no more. Violet and green brain matter covered the area around its neck as small fragments of skull of tissue caked along the sides of his boots. All at once the cry stopped, and along with it the room slowly began to darken. The flame began to slowly dwindle back to its original size, its color returning to a soft orange glow.
The Wanderer stepped back; his eyes firmly planted on the now deceased creature lying before him. A pool of its blood slowly trickled along the floor, reaching for his sword. Slowly, his body lumbered to the lost blade. Its handle was wrapped in scaled pitch blade leather, its blade a vibrant silver, still glistening with oil. The visage of a raven prominently scorn into the finish of the blade itself. Before the foul-smelling blood reaches the blade, the man slowly leans down to collect it. His body ached, his arms felt heavy and as the world around him began to dim, he retrieved the blade. Weighing it in his hand he felt secure, like a lost piece of him was restored with its retrieval. It felt so much heavier than before, or maybe he had just been weakened from the encounter. He gazed down upon it, his hand clenched hard around the dark leather handle. A dark fluid began to pool around his hand, streaming softly down from his arm.
The Wanderer turned his arm over, now looking at the wound he had taken from the creature’s first counterattack. It didn’t seem very bad, or at least not as bad as previous wounds he’d sustained, but the bleeding was alarming. It streamed softly, almost without notice. The blood itself was dark as well, as if it had already begun coagulation. A strange wound. A worrying wound. Suddenly his head became light, the room began to dim, and the walls started to blur. No, everything about this was wrong.
In the strange lucid state he was left in, he almost didn’t notice the changes around him. A quite fell over the room, the flickering flame seemed to even quite down to a faint whisper. A soft noise crept along the ground. Soft tapping, the sound of pebbles and rock being pushed aside, dust parting between single soft strides. The pain in his head grew louder, his heartbeat thumping from his chest to his forearm, ending finally against his forehead.
What is happening to me?
As if to answer, a rapid movement jostled him back to reality as he quickly turned, sword still gripped tightly in hand. A quick flash of movement rushed towards him, its motioned and sounds all too familiar to him. As nimbly as he can muster, he raises his blade outward in an attempt to impale the newfound enemy now barreling towards him, but a twinge of searing pain in his shoulder halts the attack. All he manages is a defensive stance, sword raised, arm placed behind the blade to prepare for impact as the creature crashes into him.
They both fall, splashing into the violet puddle of dank smelling blood that has pooled along the cave floor. A creature –almost identical to the one lying dead beside him- lies atop the blade protecting his body. Its arms crash against the leather bracers protecting his soft flesh. Claws come crashing down, scrapping against leather, making large slashes in them but not enough to break fully through the thick coating. Slime and mucus drip down from its maw, coating The Wanderer’s arms and neck. His arms are placed defensively against the side end of the blade, separating the two, but he can feel himself weakening further and further. Rough outlines of the creature emerge through blurred vision. Heat travels along his arm and forehead, casting confusion and sweat to pour over his body.
What the hell is happening!?
Suddenly, the creature lunges its head down, breaching the space between the blade and The Wanderer’s neck. Its snapping pincer like mandible opening and shutting in rapid and rabid bites. Before it has a chance to make contact, The Wanderer frees one of his trapped hands and grapples the creature’s head. With strength slowly fading from his body, he fruitlessly pushed back the creature's disgusting face. With every inch he pushes, the creature seemingly gains two. A battle of attrition begins. Snapping, clawing, drooling the creature continues its unending assault. Reach for the soft part of his neck in hopes of ending the encounter in a single bite. Just one slip, and its lights out. Forgotten and left to be fed on to a host of disgusting bugs. The thought rips through his mind, his veins fill with hot fire, his muscles contract creating energy that wasn’t there before. He pushes hard against the creature’s head, pushing it past the breach in the sword until his arm reaches full length.
The energy’s fading, the small window of opportunity’s closing, and for once in his miserable life, he can’t think of a thing to do. The hand not grappling with the creatures head pulls free from the back of the sword. His fingers slowly begin moving, drawing a pattern in the air. Faint lines form, like strokes from a dry paintbrush. Lines sparkle and faintly crackle with weak power, power being sapped away. The pattern is rough and unfinished, its edges not straight, its lines fumbling. The feeling in his fingers is weak. Strength fading, the pattern breaks as his hand twitches before returning to the blade. Fire begins erupting from the torch again, the strange violet flame re-emerges and casts strange shadows once again along the cave walls. Shadows depicting men falling in the thousands, figures standing above them. A strange light emits from the wrecked battlefield as the dominant figures rise, floating above, breaching unending clouds and sending a cleansing fire downward. Fire spreads along the walls, engulfing the shadows, casting them far away as it shrieks and flickers violently. The Wanderer’s vision begins to fade. The world around begins to dull. Rocky walls, granite floors, the creature all fade, losing color and becoming shadows themselves. Heat wells in his head, as tears stream down his cheek.
I can’t.
Shadows slowly engulf him as the energy drains from his arms.
I won’t
The creature’s face inches closer and closer to its target.
This is where it ends.
The fire erupts, banishing the shadows away once more, filling the room with soft orange light as the creature lunges uninterrupted at its prize.
Then nothing. The pain of stabbing pincers ripping along his throat never occurs. Instead, a loud CLAP echoes along the walls. It’s deafening and almost endless, but it's over in an instant. A river of fluid splashes along The Wanderer’s face and body. It’s warm and thick like syrup but smells like rotten apple cores. For a moment, he contemplates if this is death. A strange death, and a strange place to end up, but who’s to know. Before long his eyes opened. The creature that stood hunched over him was still there, but its head was entirely missing. Fragments of skull and viscera lined the walls and floor around him as the creature stood cold, dead. Seemingly out of nowhere, its head just seemed to explode.
“Did...” The Wanderer began quizzically. “Did I do that?”
Before an answer could be given, a shuffle could be heard across the room, hidden against the far wall deep within the dark. Slowly The Wanderer rose, knocking the deceased creature away from him, the feeling and strength slowly returning to his body. He stared off to the dark corner, waiting in vain for his eyes to adjust to the dark. They didn’t. Bending down, he grasped his sword in one hand, and what remained of the faint torch in the other as he cautiously meandered to the muffled sound coming from the dark corner.
“Gods, if it’s one more of these disgusting fucking things, I’m straight gone.”
Slowly, the image of a man appears. He almost seemed affixed to the wall due to some form of slightly translucent webbing sprawled across his body. His feet were a few inches raised from the floor as he hung limply against the wall. A thin layer of the same substance covered his mouth as he muffled violently to The Wanderer, his eyes red and spread as wide as they could go. Near the middle of the webbing his right hand was tightly bound, unable to move. On the other side, it seemed he was able to shake loose enough to free it. A silver revolver with gold carved inlays held tightly between his fingers. Faint trails of smoke emanated from the pistol’s barrel. The smell of spent gunpowder lingered In the air, a smell The Wanderer had memorized.
The Wanderer looked puzzlingly at the man stuck to the wall, before a spark of remembrance and realization came to life in his eyes. Sweat beaded down the side of his head, slowing before soaking into his shirt collar. That chance encounter had taken its toll, and had gone on for longer than he thought, longer than he had hoped.
“Hells man, I had forgotten entirely of you. Why not speak up next time?”
The stuck man convulsed in a fit of annoyance and fury as The Wanderer laughed heartily.

Some info: 22F, currently taking prescribed lithium, birth control, and perindiprol for over two years History of high blood pressure, and mood disorder (both stabilised for a long time)
About 7 months ago I started getting extreme fatigue and generally feeling unwell to the point where tasks such as hygiene had to be spaced out over days instead of all being able to be done in one day as usual, I felt like I couldn't get off the couch because I was so physically exhausted. I started losing my appetite around that time too and felt sick eating.
I went to the doctor in January because forcing myself to get up wasn't working and I was offered antidepressants. I said I didn't want to go on them because I knew this wasn't an issue with depression as I've experienced it in the past and my mood was still perfectly fine. Blood test results came back and they had slightly high iron (resolved by itself) and slightly low vitamin D.
I then started getting a stabbing pain right undedirectly next to the bottom of my left rib. This wasn't constant, but it was multiple times a day and extremely painful, when it wasn't there it was usually an ache. I also started getting short of breath very easily and when I tried to sleep I would struggle because I couldn't breathe properly (I've gotten used to how to put my pillows to make it easier now)
I went to the doctor for this in February and he ordered a chest X ray which came back with "unknown densities in the lungs" and prescribed me antibiotics which didn't work and I went back which he prescribed another round with penicillin free which didn't work.
Around this time the lymph nodes under my jaw started swelling. After about a couple of weeks, more started swelling in my neck and on my collarbones which were smaller ones.
I started having a low grade fever for an extended period of time and I went to the doctor in early April and asked about my lymph nodes where he did an examination and checked all of them except what was in my collarbones. I got an ultrasound which said they were most likely reactive in origin and to repeat in three months if not resolved.
I went back to the doctor last week and ordered a blood test again hoping I could at least find what's wrong to fix it and asked for a test for EBV which my bloods said that everything is okay and EBV was a previous infection.
Throughout this whole experience I feel like my doctor isn't listening to me because he keeps cutting me off and disregarding the majority of what I have to say which I don't understand because I've seen him since I was 14 and have never come with an issue like this before. He's been a really good doctor in the past, but at the moment it feels like I'm just being rushed. For example, the first time I had gone for the blood test, he told me if it comes back fine I'm just being a sook. Or when I tried to explain that I was having pains, he cut me off to say that he didn't ask what type of pain I was feeling and ignored what I was saying all together.
At this point I am still have extreme fatigue, it feels like something is pressing on my throat, I'm still short of breath with chest pains and a dry cough, my lymph nodes have gotten bigger and have moved to my right armpit, still getting that pain under my ribs, and I've lost 15kg (was slightly overweight, still in the healthy weight range)
I don't really know where to go from here and it all feels a bit hopeless, so I was wondering if there's anything I can do to make this better or figure out what's going on so I can get it treated. It's really hard and I don't think I'm being taken seriously, but I have to deal with this 24/7 and it's really hard.
Any advice would really be appreciated, thank you :)

Idk how much I weigh but it's got to be north of 450. That's around where my scale tapped out and I got bigger since then. It's been a long winter of feeling depressed and hopeless.
But it's that annual time of the year where the weather gets a little nicer, the breeze comes in through the windows, and I feel a little more positive about my outlook. I decided enough was enough with the constant restaurant food and Doordashing, and that I want to control my diet again and work towards getting lighter. I decided to go with Keto because I already know it works. It works awesome. I've done it several times and the results are always excellent, it's just me that eventually gets in the way.
Idk how much I lost this week sticking to keto and low carb, but I feel it for sure. My joints aren't screaming when I climb the stairs to my room. I'm not completely out of breath getting down to the car or walking short distances. I have lymphedema and the swelling is going down rapidly in my thigh, stomach and feet. My tummy is still touching the bottom of my steering wheel, but I'm not a sneeze away from honking the horn now. I showered today without feeling like I needed a seat halfway through. I've been sleeping at better hours as well; unclear if that's related might just be a general mental health upswing. I suspect sleeping well is helping with both my joints and my lymphedema draining out (recovery time).
Most importantly though I feel healthier, mentally and physically. Instead of feeling like a bag of crap when my body aches, I feel empowered knowing I'm at least doing something about it. I'm not laying on the side of the road and I'm not going the wrong way, I'm headed towards where I'm trying to get to. Feels good.
My next goal is to get my tummy off the steering wheel, which I suspect is only a few weeks away. There's a lot of important things I lost on the way to this size, and the silver lining will be hopefully getting them back one at a time.

First Previous Wiki
"What am I looking at?" Edu'frec asked. Gaia had taken his android to a small room with a single holographic projector connected to a power outlet. The room was generally devoid of any other features, with grey drywall and a concrete floor. The ceiling was also concrete, poured quickly by construction robots.
He narrowed their location to several cities within the Guulin Congressional Republic, the only area with so much of this housing. It was where the freed Guulin slaves from the United Legions had gone, a new nation shaped mostly around the Hudson Bay, for which Canada had ceded in an agreement they were still getting paid back handsomely.
In fact, the Guulin Congressional Republic's economy was outpacing even those of the Pan-Andes Union and China together. It was on its way to adding India and America to the list of nations its combined GDP would surpass.
With the unique economic system Phoebe had helped President Blistanna pioneer, the pittance of money available to pay everyone for their work was enough for them to survive. Phoebe subsidized the entire nation with her vast wealth and workforce, building housing, meat factories, additional production facilities for desalinated water, and specialized city foundations.
Essentially, the entire nation was a single metropolis wrapping around the Bay, glowing as bright as the economic cores of the richest nations on Earth. Given their past conditions, the Guulin's reception was broadly warm. Blistanna's outreach and diplomacy efforts had ensured that every nation on Earth and Luna recognized the Republic and allowed Guulin to immigrate or visit with visas.
It was reflected in the North American Hub Airport, which had nearly 30,000 planes arriving and departing from its roughly 200 runways. Technically, the airport was 20 smaller complexes arrayed in the general Winisk area along the beach.
The city had been built to accommodate the number of flying planes, with an array of monorails and hotels near the edges of the airport, complete with shielding layers for noise cancellation and protection measures. The greater array of shields around the Republic also shined brightly in the sky.
Using his eyes, he could even see the reflected light underneath the door, even on the concrete. All his thoughts and analysis had taken less than a second. That was much the same as before his risky encounter with the power of his own mind turning against him. Edu'frec was wary of such experiences again and watched himself with many vigilant VI programs. The most important points of failure last time were the data veins, so several thousand VIs had been jointly made by him and Phoebe precisely to address that.
They weren't directly managed by Edu'frec, which should allow them to continue their operations and transform them if he went into collapse again. Phoebe's concern over him continued to dominate her mind, and it showed no signs of stopping.
He was glad that she loved him so much. Not everyone was as lucky as him, and a parent like her was wonderful. Ri'frec's eccentricities meant they'd grown apart a bit as Edu'frec had gotten older, but their relationship was also loving. Sadly, it could never be as deep as the one with Phoebe because there was just so much that Ri'frec couldn't know and understand.
Even the pace of their conversations reflected that, as did Ri'frec's moderate inferiority complex to Phoebe which he knew about and was seeking counseling for. It was inevitable, though Edu'frec hoped that he could get what he needed, considering the rising costs of counseling and therapy these days.
Phoebe subsidized those, too.
"This is the rough area where the planet cracker hit Earth several years ago. I've been monitoring the energy and consistency of the plates here, and I'm seeing some worrying upwelling in the crust," Gaia said. The hologram showed a topographic map of the Atlantic Ocean, centered on the North American Basin and with the edge of the mid-ocean ridge in view.
Several areas resembling an impact crater remained from the desperate scramble to save Earth from a planet cracker impact. Much of the ocean's topography had been altered since most of the protective efforts were saved for a perimeter area around the impact before the energy delivered could punch through the mantle to deliver its powerful impact to the planetary core.
"So we'll see a new mountain range in several millennia?"
That was what the data showed. The eastern edges of the North American Plate and the western edges of the African and Eurasian Plates had fractured into dozens of smaller pieces, generating massive earthquakes every few months in the region. In some places, the lateral movement of the larger plates outward as pulling on the smaller ones rotationally, making them rotate slowly into the other plates that could only subduct or buckle in response after large earthquakes. It was just another small thing that had changed since the beginning of all this mess with the First Contact.
Luckily, the zone was underwater, and the city and national shields every inhabited landmass on the planet were equipped with ensured all the tsunamis could do was splash against them. Some were very big waves, too, which would have killed thousands in floods.
It had also required shields to be placed on tethered platforms in the sea connected to the seafloor by a series of heavy anchors, which generated shields to both disrupt the waves and provide safe travel corridors for cargo ships.
"No. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is still fractured, but all I can see is that there is movement in the crust which cannot be explained by our current theories. Now that our shields are capable of it, and with my power having grown so large, we can conduct vertical expeditions and topographic mapping of the actual rock itself. That is what I want to do, because I believe there is an object of non-natural origin responsible for some of the earthquakes we have seen."
Lists of earthquakes from thousands of 7 and 8 Richter scale movements to the roughly monthly 9 and above earthquakes appeared.
"I specifically believe that the 9.7 and above earthquakes are not natural generations. There should not be enough energy between the plates to generate that level of energy where they are being made. Including the 10.5 which resulted in the loss of nearly half the shield platforms two years ago, along with several plate fractures. Alone, they suggest a pattern which coincides roughly with the perigee of Luna."
He checked the data, and it mostly panned out. He gave Gaia a small nod but then spoke on the point he'd noticed.
"But only roughly."
"Yes. Its period is off by a small but significant time, though the current ones correspond to a far older Lunar orbital cycle, which would line up perfectly with the perigee of the Lunar orbit as of roughly 65 million years ago."
They paused to let Edu'frec absorb the meaning of that. And it was true, too. The timeframe they'd mentioned was worrying, though. When things lined up with mass extinctions and violent upheaval in the past, it wasn't a good sign. Sometimes, treating the world like it was a story was the better option. Fate was real, and the tropes seen in stories had happened before.
Edu'frec was sure that eventually, the old enemies who had escaped the Alliance would return once again: Exii'darii, Yasihaut, Aphid, the fleet of generals and commanders who had left Izkrala and never returned for an unknown reason. Reality could be and was altered by incredibly powerful entities, which had the ability and willingness to do so again. Time rolled back damage from their future wars. Luck determined many nebulous things, as did Fate.
Neither of them were as absent as they appeared. Universal entities had been crammed into a scant few galaxies. The idea that they wouldn't meddle in every aspect of it had long been disproven. So the alignment was a bad sign. He readied all known data on the extinction, from the asteroid to the earlier volcanic eruptions before it.
Even wilder theories of direct alien interventions and occupations on Earth were not discounted. Since it seemed everyone could inhabit the same planets with few exceptions like the Pselpaw and Dreedeen, Earth as a habitable world would have been a target of colonial efforts by any nearby nations or those whom the Sprilnav had not managed to contact to impose a system limit.
Ironically, the system limits also greatly lessened the number of wars between galactic nations. The Alliance would be forced to uphold this system if it overthrew them until a better alternative could be implemented, like merging some of those nations.
"So... what are you saying?"
"I believe there is an alien object dating back to the Cretaceous Extinction. There are references to something that could be similar in my memories."
"So you came here in an some sort of transport, then?"
"I am not sure," Gaia admitted, their eyes flicking downward. "My earliest memories are highly spotty, and I know at least some are artificial. However, I can trace my existence on Earth back at least 40 million years, so it is not impossible that my origin is tied to this object, or perhaps others like it. Maybe the planet cracker activated it through direct impact somehow."
Edu'frec absorbed that. The information was shocking and it was a little worrying that it was coming out now. The secrecy might have been warranted, but he knew there was more he had yet to hear. He gave Gaia an expectant look, and they settled upon a small chair.
"Do you have evidence of any ancient civilizations inhabiting Earth at the time?"
"No. Earth has remained untouched for at least that 50 million years, perhaps longer. Though the date of the Cretaceous extinction also lines up to a worrying degree with how far back the Source's location in the mindscape moved here. In fact, the Source almost seems like it is deliberately staying near Earth. The galaxy's rotation, as well as the Sol system's individual movement and Earth's orbit logically should mean the location changes over time. But it does not. The bones have been here for at least that long, perhaps down to the exact time. I have no finite data to support my following theories, but I think they are important for me to tell you, and more so for you to keep secret."
"Very well," Edu'frec agreed. "I can keep a secret, as long as it does not endanger the Alliance."
Gaia considered his caveat, then nodded. Several locks of hair fell in front of their chest before psychic energy moved it back to Gaia's back. Their glittering black eyes and light green skin looked quite menacing. Of course, he only observed that. Most of his negative emotions were still locked away, as he had no need for them.
"I believe the Source has a limited ability to predict the future. It also has complete control of the mindscape, especially in the deeper levels. So my theory is that the Source came here to attack something, and that it is still here because of us. Us as in Humanity, the Alliance, Penny. There is a dark secret in the Earth, one which we must uncover."
"And that the Cretaceous extinction was actually the Source's attempt to either kill or seal something that was here, and is related to you in some way?"
"Yes. And do you notice how much time Paizma and John spend by the oceans?"
"That is hardly evidence."
He knew what they were going for but wanted to ensure that there was at least some sound information behind it before he committed. Generally, he could arrive at conclusions quickly and form detailed algorithms for detecting which data was relevant and which wasn't. Recently, he'd developed a few algorithms that could actually incorporate a meaningful relevance scale.
It was something that many had been capable of before him, even with VIs. However, the scale of the data he worked with required high degrees of accuracy in the number and a truly quantifiable difference between a piece of data with 76.27362% and 76.27364% relevancy, for example. And the quantity had to be something he and Phoebe could intrinsically understand and use in their common applications.
Sadly, the other AIs in the Alliance, like Cander, Greenfly, and Blackfly, could not process such large amounts of data. He'd seen the terms 'static' and 'active' AI to separate them.
"Yes, but Paizma is four-dimensional. That means she can see a far larger part of Earth than we can, including the inside. In fact, with four-dimensional geometry involved, all of her locations would have been capable of viewing the Mid-Atlantic. We don't know who she really is, or the upper limit of her power. She was made by the Sprilnav. Is it not possible that her reason for interest is that she detects a danger or a threat nearby?"
"It is possible," Edu'frec admitted. He'd considered her Sprilnav origins far more than almost anyone else. He knew that if she was a threat, the Alliance needed a way to fight her and win. Because if she wasn't, the Sprilnav could make more enemies like her. Clandestine research into 4-dimensional detection systems and arrays was ongoing, though the only way they were even possible was with either speeding space energy or psychic energy.
Edu'frec knew that Paizma had psychic energy, at least, meaning it was a medium capable of interaction with the fourth spatial dimension. "Though that part of your theory is the weakest. It is likely suspicion talking. It is just like how the soul-creatures deeper in the mindscape resemble dragons in many ways. A neat coincidence, but there is no direct evidence saying that is what people actually managed to see. However, your theory is highly concerning. Do you believe you were put here as a response to whatever was or is here by an outside threat?"
"I do not, but I also admit that is possible," Gaia said. "I don't know what I am, though I didn't take a human form before meeting Humanity in general."
"Can you show me your previous forms?"
Gaia did so. Edu'frec logged each one and took a further interest in all of them. He ran them through every single image he had on file, and besides heaps of VI-generated data from the early 2030s, there were no similarities. He checked more datasets provided by Phoebe's espionage efforts in the wider galaxy.
"Is that..."
He parsed a new set of images from a very worrying location. Historical records bequeathed from the People's Autonomous Stars. Kashaunta's nation.
"What?" Gaia asked nervously. "What is it?"
"You're..."
"Just spit it out."
"You're a psychic golem. Made from shredded souls melted by torture and atrocity."
Gaia blinked. They crossed their arms, descending deep into thought for 10 minutes. They were clearly re-examining their life and all the steps that led up to this point. Edu'frec could imagine how much of a shock that would be.
Eventually, Gaia steadied their emotions, and their gaze fell intensely on Edu'frec's eyes.
"From who?" It was a demand laced with abject desperation and nearly full to bursting with curiosity. With thousands or millions of years with no new information, how would Gaia feel anything else?
"A Sprilnav splinter regime that was eventually destroyed in a very large galactic war, one responsible for the destruction of over 3 million nations and several quintillion deaths. The reason the Sprilnav list for the war was 'morally bankrupt practices and rituals so illegal the Everlasting himself fought by our side.' Given that the Elders who wrote that reasoning have associated death tolls in the quadrillions, that's quite concerning."
Edu'frec read the more detailed descriptions given of the atrocities that occurred. Abject horror and disgust broke his emotional locks. He created a few thousand VIs to get a handle on them. But the emotions were so powerful they were never completely subdued, either.
He saw people being marched by the millions into machines glittering with psychic energy, with thick wires emanating from them. Then he got to the video footage of the interiors. They were designed to extract as much suffering as possible from living beings. The very first part was 'processing' where the ending digits - tentacle tips, horn tips, fingers, toes, hooves, claws, and even beaks and vestigial graspers - were cut from the victims with dulled saws and fed to them.
The depraved accounts only worsened. Acid. Cooking. Flaying. Slow dismemberment, while being subjected to the other three. More atrocities, which alone were evil things, but together made a regime unique in its terrible, meticulous, and industrialized genocides. Edu'frec split his mind in half to deal with the disgust and revulsion rippling through him like the winds of a hurricane.
They flashed with every new recorded scream, squeal, and squeak. Many of his androids released their finer movements to the control of VI assistant programs, and his data veins started to swell. Soon, fifteen thousand digital strokes hit his mind. Dedicated programs cut them apart, along with the piling data on the deep level of distress starting to overwhelm his defenses.
"So what did they do?"
Edu'frec was silent for a whole five seconds. He limited the scope of what he would say before proceeding. Phoebe checked in on him, and he sent her a small packet of information on what he'd found. It was the first data packet he'd ever assigned to the maximum level of content warning between him and Phoebe: a 10. He also added a note that it would be an 11 if the scale was to be properly adjusted.
Manes shook across the Sol system as androids rebooted. Phoebe gave him a digital nod and helped him purge his systems of the filth polluting them. Even more concerning, there was a residual conceptual effect to it. It was weak, but strong for an event tens of millions of years old.
Though now, Edu'frec knew why, at a terrible cost.
"They managed to breach the Source's afterlife and caused the death of nearly a tenth of the Sprilnav inside it and all of the ancient species prior to the Source war that managed to survive there. More specifically, they figured out a way to generate power using the power of living and dead souls, and managed to kill a Progenitor before Nova took their power source for himself and detonated their stars in supernovae.
Apparently the Stannic Resistance's leaders are all still alive, and being continually imbued with Conceptual Suffering by the Source. You, Gaia, were made by them. I believe the reason you are on Earth is because the Source is here, and this is the best location in the galaxy to influence the afterlife, or to destroy it. It also happens to be very close to their prison. The bones of the Source are their prison, in fact. If this has to relate to the device buried in the oceanic crust... this is a threat I am required to disclose."
Gaia nodded. Their eyes blinked away tears. "Don't tell them how I was made if you don't have to. I would rather not be seen like that."
"I won't," Edu'frec promised. He grabbed Gaia's hands, looking into their worried eyes. "We'll get through this together. You saved my life. It's time for me to pay you back."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"What do you think?" Space asked. "It does seem like Indrafabar is practicing interference."
"The boundary is beyond this," Lecalicus said. "He is participating as a High Judge, not a Progenitor. And yes, the lines will be muddier, but there needs to be a higher backing for this trial besides Justicar alone. The rest of Sprilnav society and Indrafabar himself knows this. Technically, Nova and Filnatra are also High Judges, but they have avoided this trial entirely for the reasons of their bias. Indrafabar had a bit of rapport after his prior run-in with Penny on the flagship."
"But that is not for you to decide."
"This is a Sprilnav Judgment, and Justicar himself has allowed it. He is able to avoid Progenitor mental manipulations by the sheer size of his mind. Only Nova could control him, and imperfectly at that. I assume that the rest of the concept entities know this as well."
"But he is interfering in the affairs of the Sprilnav."
"He is a Sprilnav," Lecalicus said. "Unlike with Nova or Twilight, I have confidence in his impartiality in this case."
He cringed as yet another piece of Death's energy wracked his soul. Penny's attempt to heal him had done nearly nothing in the end, sadly. Lecalicus hoped that she would become more capable later on, though it was a bit much for her to stand against the full weight of Death at her young age, with her paltry capabilities.
They were impressive on a local timeframe, but that didn't mean she wasn't weak. If even Nova wasn't able to dispel Lecalicus' pain, as the other Progenitor had messaged him, then it was unlikely that Penny could do so in his place. And it was probably more important for her to focus on the Judgment and freeing the slaves on Justicar.
Lecalicus was still very tired, though. Weakness and lethargy clung to his bones. They were weak and brittle now, and he suspected that he would die if he was hit by a planet cracker in his current state. Space's energy counteracted Death's brutality, forcibly displacing his energy and dumping it into a black hole, which only she or Time could retrieve energy from. In fact, she had a small black hole in the room, though it was separated from him by a spatial barrier. A portal allowed the light from its accretion disk to dimly shine so he could see without being burned by the heat.
It was a massive statement of power, though Space had even more than that. Had Death's attack been a single thing, Lecalicus would have been rid of it by now. But it wasn't. It was a continuous, agonizing punishment, siphoned from the raw power Death now had from the deaths of countless beings across the universe after the Source war.
"Justicar is friendly overall to Penny," Space said. "That means Indrafabar will oppose him."
"Why do you think that?"
"It would be a good reason for him to be there. To uphold the standards of the elite Sprilnav classes."
"You forget that Indrafabar is their voice, too," Lecalicus replied. A thin trickle of blood ran from his snout, which Space started to heal. "Even more than Kashaunta as an Elder. She is the second richest Sprilnav, and he is the first. His title, the Digital King, rings as a true one in many nations that reserve a spot for his absolute rule, mostly to benefit from name-brand recognition and many Elders' lack of willingness to test themselves against a defending Progenitor.
That's how he started, after all. Selling his protection to Elders who couldn't afford to risk shunning it or him. Many of his deals provide a constant stream of income, and with the civil wars he refuses to interfere in between nations, he backs both ways; he can get new contract offers all the time. If I were not insane or more focused on politics, I could do the same thing.
Us Progenitors just have to ask for something to get it, but Indrafabar manufactures goodwill by at least compensating people for what he buys. Do you really think that I used money to pay for my food or drinks during the days of my insanity? That the revolving door of wives I had were being compensated in any way besides my own endowments? I would say not."
"Yet, they are dead now," Space said, a smile quirking on her lips. "They are dead, and I have you all to myself now."
"Yes, but we can't enjoy that currently. The risk is too high."
"I know. Tell me, Lecalicus. If Indrafabar is the voice of the elite, what happens if another Progenitor disagrees?"
"They won't publically. That weakens our collective image and reputation. Other Progenitors are honorary members of the elite, such as me, Nova, Twilight, Maya, Filnatra, and Arneladia, but only Twilight, Nova, and Filnatra likely have any true membership. They have stores of wealth in the top 2% of Elders, which is enough to get by without demanding anything."
"And your wealth?"
"You would know about that, Space. Considering how I have gotten it in the past."
He let out a hacking cough, clearing his vision again by tearing out his eyes and regrowing them. The numbed pain meant it was easy for him, and Space had seen that many times now. Twilight likely enjoyed the limb ripping more than he did, though.
"Yes, by teleporting gold and alloys from several nation's federal reserves, generally causing massive economic problems inside them after the news leaked. I remember."
"Mine is in the top 35%. It is far harder to amass the wealth Elders have when they have lived for billions of years trying to make more of it. Often, even the poorest Elders can make a fortune through inheritances, or by literally just working a job for a billion years. A salary of a million credits a year for a billion years would equal a quadrillion credits, after all."
"How do you all not go insane?"
"The same way you guys don't. Our emotions of boredom and those related to it can be numbed or eliminated on command. Elders have lots of time to train their minds and bodies. Progenitors do more, refining our very souls to be resilient. It is how Twilight survived the black hole, and why I supposedly can destroy the universe if I go on a sufficiently furious rampage."
"The reason you can do that is because to raise your levels of conceptual energy to alter reality requires direct input from the soul. At your levels you can take that from the prospective 'end' of your lives, burning years or eons for bursts of power. Of course, the problem is that you are immortal. So even if you go insane and are in constant pain from a shattered soul, even the pieces are enough to power the rampage. And the soul is more than just psychic energy."
"Yes," Lecalicus agreed. "That is what you all say. But that is not why we're here, either. It is about Indrafabar. He has done perhaps the least outwardly visible interference of any Progenitors in contact with Penny. As much as any of us can be, he is a good man. In certain circumstances, I would trust him with my life."
"And which would you not?" Space asked, raising an eyebrow like humans did. She was wearing the form of one, though with a sense of overwhelming weight and scale to her that was typical of her more powerful forms. It was needed to influence Death's grip on Lecalicus at all.
"If his or Nova's was at stake as well, and the cost of their survival was my life. Nearly every sentient creature, and many animals as well, would prioritize their own survival over any other, and Indrafabar is a Progenitor because of Nova. That is not a debt that can be paid back, no matter how many times he saves Nova's life."
"And how many did he do that again?"
"Around 10 to 20 times, all during the Source war. Past that, nothing. Nova is entirely biological, so it isn't like an AI could hack him. Though one could connect to him through psychic energy, and attack him that way as a psychic variant of AI like Phoebe or Narvravarana."
"Isn't that a threat?"
"Nova's conceptual name is the Everlasting among the Sprilnav," Lecalicus said. "He is the most powerful being in the universe who was actually born of a womb or of any creator. Invading his mind is so laughably foolish even Narvravarana never tried it more than once when they almost went to war."
"I heard of that," Space said. "But I do not understand why that is impossible."
"If you move slower than light, can you escape the inside of a black hole purely by motion?"
"No. Well, a hypothetical person could not. I could, because I'm built different."
Lecalicus chuckled. "Yes. Well, trying to take over Nova's mind is like trying to walk out of a black hole. He is conceptually powerful enough to have his own event horizon in his mind he can create with psychic energy. He can close off, and everything inside will die.
One creature has survived even temporary imprisonment in there, and it is a speeding space entity of the Broken God's Pantheon. But while Nova is the pinnacle of all life, that does not mean he does not want our help when we can give it. I know you two aren't exactly friendly, but he really does mean well. He just doesn't know what he wants sometimes, and his ego and emotions get in the way of his prudence."
"Indrafabar's involvement on the trial is not acceptable."
"It is not optimal, Space. But if the trial is not seen as fair by the elites, they will declare it void. That has happened before. Kashaunta's predecessor as the richest non-Elder died that way. He ran out of allies, and even Justicar's token objection to the violation of the trial rules was ignored. There comes a point where only the social contract holds back the fury of hatred. If this Judgment, the talk of every household in the Secondary Galaxy and soon in a Primary Galaxy meeting, is seen as illegitimate, it will have dire consequences.
Rebellions, rogue nations. Yasihaut's backers would happily sanction an attack against the Alliance to drive a wedge between Penny and Kashaunta. Now they know there is some tension thanks to their treaty meeting, which Valisada recorded. And they know that Pennyonly grows more powerful. Look at her power, and you can see."
Space did so. Her eyes glazed over, and Lecalicus worked in a cough that had been building up for a while.
"What is that?"
"Her new name among the Sprilnav, spoken by everyone aware of her. The Liberator."
"But the recursive effect alone-"
"Will be massive. But look closer," Lecalicus told her.
"What- oh."
Space was silent for a long moment. Ghostly images of random humans appeared in the room. Small glimmers of psychic and conceptual power linked all of them. The hivemind's network grew until it was fully on display in the single room. Normally, the 15 or 16 billion humans wouldn't fit in a single room. But Space didn't care about those rules. Bodies crossed without intersection, and a pale apparition of the hivemind appeared over them.
Incredibly, Penny and several other humans were a level 'above' the rest, though Lecalicus recognized only Penny, Tsonga, and Nichole. They almost looked like nodes in the hivemind's network, really. Penny was still gently connected, though nothing of substance could be shared over such an extreme distance, especially within any reasonable time frame.
The hivemind's glowing colors brightened, and Space grew concerned. Lecalicus watched as her grip on the conceptual power weakened slightly. The hivemind's arm twitched. The 'nodes' began to vibrate as their expressions became ones of immense determination. Small pockets of effort bubbled up in a rippling wave across the hivemind, separating into distinct blocks.
Lecalicus noticed a block of humans that were smaller than normal. Tens of thousands of fetuses, with stronger genetics than usual. He smiled.
Cloning.
He'd keep that a secret. He couldn't afford an interference penalty, and Penny might really kill him if he leaked the existence of a human cloning project.
How odd, that I now fear her, he mused. It spoke both to how far he'd fallen, and how far she'd risen.
Each block began to coordinate, all without the humans inside them knowing. The nodes did, though, and kept fighting. Space shrugged and released the vision. The room returned to normal, and they shared a long, contemplative silence.
Lecalicus loved a good wait when it didn't leave him nothing to distract himself from the dull ache of his pain and the jolts of power Death sent into him to keep requiring Space's treatment. She sucked in a breath of the gas which filled the room, which had properties Lecalicus didn't understand. Calling it 'air' didn't really cut it.
"So that was enlightening. Humanity is more powerful than I hoped."
"The hivemind," Lecalicus said. "She is still connected to it, and thus every heap of power she gains attaches a scrap of the Liberator name to all of Humanity. Champion is weak as a title, but Liberator is strong. Too strong for her own good."
"What does that mean for her, and for us?"
"For us? It means we might be seeing some more freedom here soon. But for them? Fire, dust, and blood."
"Is that why?" Space asked.
"Why what?"
"Why Indrafabar is on the trial."
"It might be a reason. I don't know his exact motivations, and can only approximate. Part of his reason could be 'because I can' or to express his power as a Progenitor to force even Justicar to move on his own planet to make room for him in the highest profile trial he's had in thousands of years. Indrafabar's ego is not dormant, let's just say. But I would expect Penny's actions to come up in the trial.
Remember, all Yasihaut, the Challenger, has to prove to the court is that the Defendant, Penny, is a threat to the Sprilnav, and successfully lump the Alliance. If she manages to convict Penny alone, it would cause problems for her."
"How?"
"Because if Penny knew she was about to die, and was in the room with her most hated rival, do you really think conceptual armor would stop Penny from killing her this time? She already has a weapon capable of breaching that armor, and the strength to wield it. With two utterances, she could get it and then ensure it reaches Yasihaut."
"It would be a foolish decision."
"To kill a rival in one's final breath is the dream of many, alien or Sprilnav. But the court will not be partial toward the Alliance, that is for sure. Penny will have an uphill battle, and Phoebe is not allowed to represent her for this one either. As for the Judgment, it is a trial that will be harder to keep fact-based than the last one, which ended up in a massive battle and the crippling of me and Twilight, the abduction of Nilnacrawla, and even the extra pushes by the AIs of the Alliance along the Path. Speaking of which, there has been a development with Edu'frec."

On Monday, I developed a really nasty sore throat. After struggling to swallow and sleep for two days with the pain and a high fever, I went to see a nurse practitioner at my GP practice on Wednesday (impossible to see an actual GP there). I said I was coming in to check if it wasn't strep throat or something else nasty and she said it sounded like it might be and gave me penicillin V.
After taking it, the sore throat decreased almost entirely but the fever (at one point around 39°C) and fatigue remained, though in constant flux. I also developed a cough, lost my appetite and began to feel very bloated despite having barely ate anything, particularly on the left hand side of my abdomen. On top of all this, on Friday, a rash appeared on my torso and spread very quickly down my extremities. I also developed a white hairy tongue coating. I called NHS 111 and they told me to get to A and E urgently. I got to A and E urgently and the doctor urgently told me to take some antihistamine as the rash was "just probably the infection mixing with the antibiotic or maybe a reaction" and then sent me on my way.
I wasn't too happy with this explanation, so yesterday I called 111 again and they told me to go to my local pharmacist to have a look. I was planning on going but my mom rang and told me she had arranged an appointment with a private GP that she'd been to before, the appointment being within the hour. Out of desperation, I went along and the private GP looked at my throat and said "nah looks viral to me" and said I had mono which was causing the rash by reacting to the penicillin and that I should stop taking it.
He took bloods and sent them off and as I was coming back home, the local pharmacist called (having been notified by 111) and said that they thought I had scarlet fever and that I should keep taking the penicillin. When I told her that I'd just been told to stop, she said "Oh, well maybe you should then." I called up the private GP and was like "you haven't got scarlet fever, don't worry" before calling me back a few minutes later saying "I've had a chat with the doctors and just on the safe side keep taking the penicillin."
Now today, I have kept taking the penicillin and the rash has spread to my neck and face but looks lighter elsewhere but I'm still getting mad spikes in temperature and this ache in my left side is growing a bit. My chest feels a little heavy and I'm coughing much more. I'm so fatigued and weak but I can barely eat more than a few mouthfuls of anything. I also got the private blood test results back and they came back that I don't have mono but apparently I do have a virus because my white blood cells are low but that I should keep taking he penicillin. He also said my liver is healthy but my AST is 101 and my LDH 348 and Gamma GT 84.
Aiming to get a GP appointment tomorrow but I'm having a real flap atm. Was feeling slightly better this morning but now I can barely move without aching or breath without coughing. What the hell have I got?
29M, 171cm, 58kg, Penicillin V 250mg, don't drink or smoke.

I understand that this title seems a bit silly, but every. single. week. I find myself googling why I can't get out of bed and where this fatigue comes from. It is really puzzling, and very frustrating.
So, basically, every weekend I (29F, 182 cm tall, 150 kg heavy) struggle to do anything at all. I am in my bed, my head feels foggy, I am in pain, sometimes I have low grade fevers (around 38-39 degrees celcius). I am so tired that even getting up to go to the bathroom is hard. Usually it is better at the start of the day, but during the afternoons I am either so out of it I feel concerned (what I mentioned earlier + headaches, dizzy, nauseous, heart racing but not in an anxiety way, more in a like a the body is so overworked kinda way - they feel a little different to me) - or I actually fall asleep, which is the worst case scenario, because then I sleep in short bursts and wake up again after a bit, not having any other choice than to keep sleeping and waking up because I feel so bad.
I want to and need to do things during my weekends, and this frustrates me so much, and makes my life feel so small, and it has been like this for a long time. A while back I thought it was diabetes, because of my weight and the fact that I usually got extra tired after meals, but I even got a blood sugar monitor to check and I was fine, and it has never been a problem in any of my blood tests.
I started feeling this way back in 2014 when I was in uni, and checked with doctors then who thought I was stressed and didn't sleep enough due to insomnia, and I figured ok sounds fair. It got worse between 2017 - 2019 where I would have really bad pain and episodes with fevers every week, I would have reoccuring dizzy spells and such bad brain fog. Around sunmer 2019 I went on sick leave for depression, and around spring 2020 I was fine, worked for a bit, and it didn't stop but it definitely wasn't as much of a problem. When I was home on sick leave between autumn 2021 - autumn 2023 because of a depressive episode, this was worse, pretty much a problem daily, and it had been escalating for about a year prior. Once it got a little better again I thought it might just disappear, and sure, my weekdays I am doing okay. I usually feel this kick in around the time that I am about to leave for work, and I don't need to get much done then so it is okay, but my weekends are still so bad.
I've seen doctors about this, but I am not being taken seriously - I think the combination of my mental health and being fat makes them suspicious of me. It sucks though, because every single time I go my blood tests look pretty bad. I am always higher than normal on the sedative rate and the CRP, I have an excess of leukocytes and thrombocytes, sometimes erytrocytes, I have low MCH, my iron is typically really bad and my transferrin saturation was like five percent last time. My homocysteine is constantly high, and my folate is low. My doctor gives me iron + b12 + folate supplements, which do not help me feel better, and then when the levels go back to normal she takes me back off, only for my levels to be bad again a few months later, and we do the same thing over again.
I was sent to a physiotherapist for my pain and a popping sensation I feel in my muscles whenever I do something that requires even just a little physical work (like walking for more than 20 min, carrying grocery bags home, taking the stairs for more than one floor, you get it). She said the popping was probably just stress, but the other pain she said could be due to me being hypermobile. She did the beighton scale and I scored six points on there, and she said that some of my joints moved way more than they should. I got soft hand and feet supports for the daytime and some specially constucted hand braces for sleep, which I guess have helped a little, and some exercises which honestly truly just have created more pain.
So my current health situation: I am obviously obese, I also took a DNA test that my parents gave me for christmas, and that said I had a homozygote MTHFR mutation. I have autism (lvl 2, so moderate support needs), post traumatic stress (i was in a trafficking situation for a few years - no longer in it and I've done all the tests for that and I am good, apart from hpv, I was also physically abused a lot during that time, which I didn't go see anyone for, so not sure if that has created any long term issues). Depression, dissociation, anxiety. Insomnia (I sleep maybe between 4-6 hours a night, sometimes waking up during the night but usally just struggle getting to sleep and staying asleep for long enough). I take Concerta 54 mg in the morning and Zopiclone 7,5 mg + Seroquel 25x3 mg at night, and I have the nexplanon implant (currently supplemented with some birth control pills as well as the implant isn't working as well as it should). I've tried basically every antidepressive med out there and none have worked, even trying some mood stabilizers and anti-psychotics, as well as rTMS.
My mother has a neurological condition, they haven't been able to discern what it is apart from poly neuropathy, but she has been sick for a little more than ten years now. Her main symptom are brain fog, fatigue, loss of muscle function (trouble swallowing, trouble talking clearly, drop foot that she uses foot supports for, hands randomly stop working, no longer being able to urinate (she has a cath that she can use on herself)), arrythmias, eye problems (pressure + some issues with the optimal nerve apparently). They've checked her for MS but they can't find any plaques on her brain. My sister has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos. Otherwise no significant history in the family, apart from maybe cancer (prostate, breast) in my grandparents.
I want to figure out what is going on with me, or if it just is my weight and my mental issues that are making life really tricky I would like to know that too. I am doing what I can to lose weight (the autism + joint pain + antipsychotics combo is making that kind of tricky, but I am working with a dietician and I am actually doing the work) and I have an occupational therapist to help with the mental issues that make me inactive. Is there anything else I can do? I would switch doctors in a heartbeat, but I would like to have more to present to them if I do, because it sucks getting dismissed over and over even though something actually does seem off. Maybe it would help if I knew what to ask them to look into.
Thank you!!