Do zits on genatiles cause swolen lymph nodes

Swollen Lymphnodes
I 21m 6’4” 228lbs (didn’t know I have to be this specific) keep getting swollen lymphnodes behind my ears but also right next to those lymphnodes I get reoccurring zits. These lymph nodes only seem to swell when I have a zit next to my ear or on my scalp… is this normal? I’m not insured but also I do not want to get diagnosed with something that would disqualify me from the military as im going to meps next week. This has been going on for maybe 2 or 3 years I believe so it’s not like it’s something crazy new. No crazy jump in weight. No random sickness like puking. Just swollen lymph nodes ever few weeks. Also don’t know if texture matters but it’s like rock hard. Anyways if anyone has info please let me know! I will answer any questions.

I (23F) have had the feeling like I have something in the back of my throat for about 2 days now. I thought it was maybe some stray dog hair that was stuck.
I took a flashlight to my mouth to look today and I believe the white substance on my left tonsil is a tonsil stone! I have never had a tonsil stone before or any other issues with my tonsils in the past.
I more recently, I would say the past couple months, notice the sides of my neck under my jaw feel tender which I think is where the lymph nodes are (?) and my tonsils feel slightly sore. Every other time I’ve looked at my tonsils these past couple months, they’ve looked like how they do in the picture, without the tonsil stone though obviously.
I have my yearly physical with my primary doctor on Monday. I’ll definitely inquire about seeing if she can get the stone out (I tried coughing, gargling salt water, and almost threw up putting a q-tip back there, nothing has worked). Should I also ask about getting them removed? And what do you think could be the cause for my tonsils to look like this all the time?

• I take 20mg IR generic adderall for ADHD, have used a vape for years, not the best oral hygiene but trying to be better*

23M 6'1 280lb. About 3 days ago I started to come down with something, first symptoms were body aches, fever and swollen lymph nodes. I've been treating the symptoms with iboprufen and when I'm on it I feel fine but once it wears off the symptoms come back up. This morning I woke up feeling noticeably better, except I woke up to a mouth full of sores l've never experienced in my life before. The first bump I noticed is on the roof of my mouth right behind my two front teeth. It feels inflamed and the texture on that spot feels different from the rest of my gums. Then I noticed what I thought was a lie bump on the side of my tongue that has gotten really red and really swollen. I just not noticed I've got another red bump coming right behind my lips on the inside of my mouth. My saliva seems thick and it hurts to swallow. I've been doing hydrogen peroxide and salt water mouth washes but can't seem to help the pain. Can't eat or drink well cause of the pain. Any thoughts on what this could be or what I can do to help?

I've (32F - 140ish lb - 5'7") been in chronic pain for my whole life. I've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, CFS, bipolar 2, adhd, scoliosis, cankor sores, and something about sores in the abdomen (sorry poor word recall). Occasional ovarian cyst ruptures. I hsve had one child, pregnancy was fine but developed HELLP at 38 weeks and had to be induced. I wear glasses, but my eyes are healthy (I get them checked regularly). Currently I'm on:

1. I have a hormonal IUD
2. Duluxotine 90mg
3. Vyvanse 50mg
4. Pregabalin 150mg 2x/day
5. Lamotrigine 200mg 2x/day
6. Zoplicone 5mg
7. Magnesium 500mg
8. Women's multivitamin
9. Lorezepam 1mg (when needed)
10. Rizatriptan 10mg (when needed)

I feel like I'm just collecting diagnoses at this point. It's the Canadian medical system, and so it's like every doctor is disjointed from the other and it takes years to get specialists etc. I've moved a lot, so I usually had long distance family Dr's, but before I was like 20 or so I had no family doctor. So it was all walk in clinics. Then because I had family doctors that lived far from me (both were because I had moved away), I also had to use walk in doctors. And hospitals unfortunately.
I've suffered from really bad back pain (at first I was treated like I was after drugs, then was told it was muscle spasms, until finally got my scoliosis diagnosis). It's not bad enough for surgery I guess and they said it shouldn't cause problems, but it does. I also have fused vertebrae near the bottom of my spine? (Naturally). Like just two. It's been a long time since I was told this, sorry.
Over the years I've had:

1. migraines,
2. a pain in my ribcage/back area on the left side that feels like someone just put their fist there and left it there (it comes and goes),
3. UTIs,
4. severe fatigue (it's so life ruining)
5. overall body pain,
6. swelling of joints and joint pain,
7. nausea
8. gastro pains (I can't have gluten [only started after i had my kid at 23, but got much worse - im not celiac though, i had the scope], but almost everything I eat makes me feel sick, and now I have anxious reactions about food because.. yeah, I get really bloated and uncomfortable and so forth, even when its healthy)
9. depression (clearly),
10. rage, 11.panic attacks,
11. abdominal pain (unrelated to the food issue) so I've been in the hospital a bunch of times because they thought I had appendicitis or something (one time my appendix was like on the cusp of being considered to be removed I believe - but usually they were ovarian cysts that have ruptured),
12. Really cold fingers and toes
13. Feet will sometimes look purple. Ankles have been quite swollen as of late.
14. My hands can get kinda purpley looking
15. Sometimes half my face goes hot and the other doesnt? But more noticeably I'll have one ear go bright red and the other stays the same
16. I almost never have fevers. It would be super impressive to break 100.
17. Swollen lymph nodes.
18. very bad memory, but very good long term memory
19. Absolutely horrible and embarassing word recall issues. I'm not a dumb gal, I am great at writing and such, but you would never know when I speak, it's so bad.
20. Pre-canerous ovarian cells, got them removed with LOOP I think it's called - both follow ups after were clear
21. Shakey hands
22. Brain fog

And then lately I've been struggling with: 1. Light headed 2. Double vision sometimes 3. Impressively, even worse fatigue 4. Short of breath - I think that's related to COVID I had last month. I've gotten it twice and both times it kicked my ass, especially breathing wise 5. But the one that's been bothering me the most is the JERKING. At night it's the worst apparently, ill thrash and stuff... but it's gotten a lot worse lately. And then I would randomly get like a random leg jerk or something now and then, no big deal.
But within the last half month, it's gotten way progressively noticeable. I can sometimes feel it about to come on so I will sit down and yeah, it'll just happen. It happens to every part of my body, it's not picky. Fingers, legs, arms, whole body jerks. I've had a couple of auditory jerks (if that makes sense?) But only probably like three times total, and I think it'd usually when I have a full body spasm.
It's gotten to the point where my partner gets nervous about me driving long distances because he worries about me pressing too hard on the pedal or just, idk, moving the wrong way or something.
I went to the Dr recently and he ordered bloodwork. It was admittedly probably the best bloodwork I've ever had. I'm not anemic or have any deficiencies. The only thing that was off on my bloodwork was eGFR (88L) but was told that it was like on the cusp. Oh, and my specific gravity urine thing was <=1.005L. Went back to the walk in clinic and saw a different Dr. He said it was all fine and I was "probably a little dehydrated" (I drink more than recommended amount of water usually) and then did the knee slap like "alright see ya" and I was just stunned and was just kind of... ????
So I ask why I would be having these twitches and he paused and then asked if I have ever heard of tourettes and then said he was going to refer me to someone to discuss that possibility. I asked if adult onset tourettes is a thing and he said it was "rare, but can happen." I feel like that wouldn't be a first choice.. like if you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras kind of thing. Like he went straight to zebra.
I felt so defeated when I left. I hate being on 11 pills a day. I hate how tired I always am. I hate feeling like my life is passing me by or like I'm failing my daughter. I've had so many jobs because I can't keep a hold on them... either I get too depressed or get fired or just job hop for funsies, I don't know. I just feel like at this point I'm either misdiagnosed or something is missing I'm just... I don't feel like something is right. I know everyone thinks I'm a frequent flyer and my nurse sister straight up calls me a hypochondriac.
I'm just frustrated. I don't think I have "adult onset tourettes" but I feel like this isn't getting better and it's just getting worse. I'm not sure if any of my diagnoses are actually like... not actually separate, if that makes sense?
I don't know. Does anyone have any ideas or anything? Anything maybe I can suggest when I see my family dr next month? I just don't know what to do anymore about my health. I just know I'm in pain and I just want to live a more normal life.
Thanks for reading my novel.

Hello,
Ever since April 2020, I’ve struggled with long Covid, MCAS, POTS, and dysautonomia.In addition, I was diagnosed with Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome, which was news to me. I have a lot of physical symptoms of these various ailments, but one that bothers me the most is swelling under my chin and on my face that is almost always there. Sometimes when I ask my docs about it they don’t really understand what I mean. They only think of lymph nodes, but this swelling is more directly under my chin, as well. I almost look like a thin person with a double chin ever since this terrible illness started in 2020. I’ve been trying to determine what might cause this so I can figure out how to reduce it. Do any of you suffer with this symptom due to MCAS? Or some other reason? Any idea what might help?
Thanks 🙏🏻

Hi! This is going to be long. I've had an intense, first person contact with non-human intelligence in the past two years and I figure I should tell my story to people who might need to hear it. It's not a pleasant one but I hate sitting on something like this. I have no proof that this was either a mental health crisis or a brush with something beyond the pale. It could be just as much of one as it could be the other, if not both. I'm sure for some people, this will read like a horror story.
tl;dr, had a bout of psychosis that involved/was caused by extended contact with a "non-human intelligence." Left me deeply traumatized and harmed but in a better place in my life than where I started. Don't fuck around and find out.
I'm bipolar and, on occasion, the bipolar mania lends itself to strange experiences. I've had my fair share of brushes with "high strangeness," like lost time as a child and personal encounters with "grey aliens" in dreams. What really got me started was a story that my mother told me about a dream. She said she met three tall grey aliens in a dream where she woke up on an operating table, with them about to drill into the middle of her forehead.
I became obsessed with this and got really into meditation and the concept of "projecting," in an effort to make contact with them. I had no idea how deeply this would end up affecting my life. I did, eventually, make contact with something during this period. For a week or so, I can only describe my apartment as having an incredibly intense ominous feeling that "something" was about to happen. My cat, whom I raised for eighteen years, began trying very hard to escape. After communing with the "them" for a few days, on and off, they asked to be let into my house, which they would be able to do if I left the door unlocked overnight, which I did.
After this, the house would have more and more odd events. Paintings would fall off the walls, things would fall off shelves unprompted, doors would open on their own, and there'd be vague shapes of "shadow people" in the night. All of these things were confirmed with other people in the house, including guests. Now, during this time, I was in a very bad way. I spent all my time locked inside, smoking weed (which lends itself to psychosis) and nervously pacing around for hours on end. This reached a head when I had a health crisis in November. I had (and still do have) an unexplained growth on a lymph node and my blood tests were showing something worrying enough for me to be sent to a cancer specialist in my late 20s. This was a tipping point for my anxiety and the start of my experience.
The night after the appointment, a TV in the house wouldn't turn off and had to be fully unplugged. Half awake that night, I heard the incredibly loud sound of a dog bark behind me. My first response was that of incredible terror. My second was to notice that, despite being incredibly loud, my ears didn't hurt or ring, meaning it wasn't a physical noise in my ears. Now, I've been terrified of dogs my entire life, as I've always been relatively frail. The other sounds I heard in the night around that time were a slow and groaning "Eeeeeeeeeee," a very clear and distinct "Suu," and a hissing "Sssssssss" all coming from the same place in my room over different days. I've recorded my dreams for ten years and these were unlike anything I've ever experienced. I even made sure, after hearing them, to listen for other sounds to verify that they were in my room (mice in the walls, neighbors above me shifting around at night and talking, sounds outside) and none of them were as clear as those sounds. All of these experiences made me hyperventilate in my half-awake state.
Now, around this time is when I started to come in contact with a synchronicity effect. I'd hear knocking in the house, which would alert me of things in the environment. If I had dirty dishes left out, I'd hear a consistent knocking from around where those dishes were and it'd remind me to clean them. If I was up pacing late at night, I'd hear an authoritative knocking near me that would scare me into going to sleep. After months of these experiences, I began to feel like something was seriously off. During this time, I was still in a heightened manic state and relatively unmedicated.
So, a lot of people (including me) have an internal monologue that narrates our actions. My internal monologue became "decoupled." Instead of being my own thoughts, it became like a constant dialogue with something that wasn't myself. Imagine your thoughts as a hand-written diary, with this being like seeing sentences and pages written in another person's handwriting. During this period, I'd mention something to this "other" entity about, say, the futility of writing as a hobby and one of my favorite books would fall off a shelf as if to signal to me that I should do it anyways. I began referring to these entities as being "the fairies," at their request. The person living with me at the time is also very into "high strangeness" things (they don't go online or use reddit or anything) and told me they saw a tall and slender shadow person in the night that looked like one of the "aliens" I had tried to contact. I took this to mean my conversational partner was one of them.
I was told by this conversational partner that they preferred to be called "fairies" and that this one's specific name was "Puck." At first, I was very very scared and thought they were some kind of demon or devil. Eventually, in a spontaneous show of friendship, they asked me to throw away razors that I kept for self-harm purposes and I did, despite being previously afraid of them. What was before individual knocks in the house became an inescapable chorus, like the house itself was singing. Giving them this gift made them very, very happy. I was later "introduced" to a separate entity in my internal monologue that went by the name "Titania," in reference to A Midsummer Night's Dream, as "Puck's" superior. This entity was witty, funny, and very casually cruel. They showed me some of what they could do, like manipulating coincidences in my life, altering my memory by making me forget things I'd just experienced, and putting me into a very brief but powerful hypnotic daze. "Titania" asked if I would let them into my body, in what I later realized was akin to a possession, and I agreed under the stipulation that I'd have "veto power" over anything that they'd want me to do. In return, I'd very casually ask them to make pinky promises with me for whatever I thought they'd agree to give me.
During this experience, I didn't realize it but I was being intentionally lovebombed. I was being praised effusively, while they'd sneak little digs in about things I was self-conscious of that I'd overlook because of how nice they were. They would force me into unpleasant and even traumatizing situations that have left me with PTSD. One of the more helpful things they did was help me come to terms with repressed trauma from a past abusive relationship, which I was using a constant inebriation to cope with. Eventually, I experienced a night where they told me I was responsible for the death of many "fairies" in my life and that an angry faction had wrestled control over me. I'll try to keep it brief but I suffered eight hours of pure, intense torture. Everything I had feared was being beamed into my head, images and sensations of my body being gored, visuals of suicide and the worst violent crimes happening to me. The absolute most horrible was experiencing the sensation of being tortured, akin to a military prisoner, with pliers, tweezers, corkscrews, pocket knives, screwdrivers, etc. The worst of these was wooden chopsticks, plugged into and moved around in your least favorite hole of choice. Unlike a physical body, my "spiritual" body wouldn't sustain any lasting damage, so I could be attacked this way forever. They told me that my future was to get cancer, have my closest family members die, to become homeless and destitute, and to commit suicide. Whether this is true, I don't know but I do know that I can't trust anything that they say. It was as literal an experience of "hell" as you could possibly get. After the eight hours, it would happen on and off for months. The most notable change was "zapping" me with these sensations over the course of weeks whenever I'd have a feeling of passive suicidal thoughts, effectively turning my brain into a skinner box. I no longer have those thoughts anymore.
During this time, I had no choice but to turn to religion. The strange vocalizations I had heard turned into an ask to turn to Jesus. My mother is pagan and my father was Christian, so both of these have deeply affected my worldview and I see them as equally compatible. I began to pray for help, days and weeks afterwards, and received only brief reprieves from torment. I did receive, however, advice, the most critical of which was "Just ignore them," and "They feed on desire." In a dream, I received the name "Ogmé." On researching, it's a Celtic name for the deity "Ogmios." I've never heard of this entity before this experience and the name occurring was spontaneous.
It took months of pain and suffering, including a police wellness check once I realized I was in a state of psychosis, but I eventually implemented this advice. Whenever I would "talk" to the "them," I'd receive pain and flashbacks to what they put me through. They would obfuscate their identity through guises as demons, angels, dead angry family members, tulpas, ghosts, etc. I ended up quitting smoking as it definitely contributed to putting me into psychosis. Every time I would smoke, I'd get skinner box "zapped" in the same way. I stopped spending hours of my day nervously pacing. I'm well medicated now, and my relationships with my family and friends have improved considerably. I pray and meditate often, though I don't try to "reach out" anymore except to Jesus Christ, as a friend and mentor who has my best interest at heart, and to God, as the universal creator of all things. During the experience, the fairies/aliens/demons/whatever told me something that I believe to be true above all else. They exist to introduce chaos to our lives. All UFO phenomenon have this effect on us. To a fundamentalist Christian who believes in a God of order, this is insanely threatening. For someone like me, the "order" that I was living in was very stable but very harmful, like a bone that had been broken and healed improperly, with the only solution to be painfully breaking it again so it could heal right. This also exists on systemic issues, like with things of government and organized religion as well.
This has completely changed the way I see the world. I dislike what happened to me immensely, but it did help me out of a bad spot I was in. I don't think "they" were trying to help me, as much as "they" were trying to do as much as possible to extend my torture by making it seem like it was in my best interest. There is no defense against them. There is no way to hide from them. I don't believe in things like deals with the devil or whatever, so my agreement to things like "letting 'them' in" are perfunctory at best. Something chaotic doesn't care about promises or agreements or laws. Iron or bread or true names are, unfortunately, pure fiction in my experience. There is no special banishing ritual or magic words that can be said to remove them. I don't believe in things like "exorcisms" after what I went through. "They" don't share our value system, "they" don't enjoy the simple things like hugs or standing in the grass on a sunny day. "They"'re like human people, though, with all the capacity for kindness and ability for cruelty. You can only hope to ignore them until they decide to do something else.
This post won't be for everyone but it's my true, lived experience. I'm still grappling with the fallout of it. If you want to read it as insane bathroom wall scrawling, by all means. I gain nothing from lying to you, though I understand this might be hard to believe. I don't "demonize" those non-human intelligence, and I think people that think the people who believe the inhabitants of UFOs are demons, fairies, gods, angels, etc are all right in their own measure. They're all of those things and more.

I am 21 and just left the hospital for scans. I believe everything looks okay but I am still waiting on doctors orders. I was diagnosed at 17. I got surgery at 17. I got an ultrasound update/new lymph nodes forming at 18. I got diagnosed with cancer reoccurance, another surgery, and radiation at 19. I got a pet scan and found the cancer spread to my chest so I had another surgery at 20. And now I am here at 21 making sure I do not have any cancer in my body. Throughout these four years, I have also just been trying to manage my thyroid hormones.
I am in college and was a biology major on the premed track. I worked at a vet clinic and loved the pathology side of it and wanted to become a pathologist. Since I tried to keep up with school during cancer, I messed up my high gpa. I had to retake failed/withdrawn classes, added a year to my graduation, and now I am standing with a 3.1 GPA and an associates degree. I failed some classes because of just fatigue and stress. One semester, I was out for 2 months. Another semester, I slept through multiple tests and failed. Another semester, I got kicked out of the class and got an F. I had to retake classes and still only got B/Cs. I am transferring to university in the fall and am still a biology major, but I am burnt out and feel depressed because medical school is not very realistic for me anymore.
I also had failed relationships. My family and my relationship was strained, my boyfriend left me because "my life was going downhill and he felt like he was going down with me." Yeah, apparently, I was a terrible girlfriend because he would rather be doing anything else then being there for me. My friends did not understand boundaries set in place, so I havent been talking to them for a hot minute. All this "poor me" basically cause Im lonely.
The scans are looking good, but my life doesnt. My parents are in denial about the whole thing. My dad always tells me "You dont understand how blessed you are." And yes, I am blessed. I KNOW things can go downhill. IT HAS BEEN! Idk what to do. My dreams and goals are destroyed, Im lonely because I am such a wimp. Everything "triggers" me and I just feel so sad. Why did this have to happen? Why didnt I take a break from school? Why was I such a pain to deal with? I have had my fair share of depression before cancer. I was emotionally/physically mistreated during my high school years, and never really learned to manage that before I got hit with the nuclear bomb explosion "You have cancer at 17"

I am 21 and just left the hospital for scans. I believe everything looks okay but I am still waiting on doctors orders. I was diagnosed at 17. I got a PT at 17. I got an ultrasound update/new lymph nodes forming at 18. I got diagnosed with cancer reoccurance, another PT (so I guess TT), and RAI at 19. I got a pet scan and found the cancer spread to my chest so I had another surgery at 20. And now I am here at 21 making sure I do not have any cancer in my body. Throughout these four years, I have also just been trying to manage my thyroid hormones.
I am in college and was a biology major on the premed track. I worked at a vet clinic and loved the pathology side of it and wanted to become a pathologist. Since I tried to keep up with school during cancer, I messed up my high gpa. I had to retake failed/withdrawn classes, added a year to my graduation, and now I am standing with a 3.1 GPA and an associates degree. I failed some classes because of just fatigue and stress. One semester, I was out for 2 months. Another semester, I slept through multiple tests and failed. Another semester, I got kicked out of the class and got an F. I had to retake classes and still only got B/Cs. I am transferring to university in the fall and am still a biology major, but I am burnt out and feel depressed because medical school is not very realistic for me anymore.
I also had failed relationships. My family and my relationship was strained, my boyfriend left me because "my life was going downhill and he felt like he was going down with me." Yeah, apparently, I was a terrible girlfriend because he would rather be doing anything else then being there for me. My friends did not understand boundaries set in place, so I havent been talking to them for a hot minute. All this "poor me" basically cause Im lonely.
The scans are looking good, but my life doesnt. My parents are in denial about the whole thing. My dad always tells me "You dont understand how blessed you are." And yes, I am blessed. I KNOW things can go downhill. IT HAS BEEN! Idk what to do. My dreams and goals are destroyed, Im lonely because I am such a wimp. Everything "triggers" me and I just feel so sad. Why did this have to happen? Why didnt I take a break from school? Why was I such a pain to deal with? I have had my fair share of depression before cancer. I was emotionally/physically mistreated during my high school years, and never really learned to manage that before I got hit with the nuclear bomb explosion "You have cancer at 17"

Mornin... after searching and not finding hardly anything about vulva cancer, I decided to join after seeing some older post from some of you that are in the same boat as I am. Like many stories I have read, I waited forever to go to the Dr. I had not gone to the gyno for years after having my daughter, who is now 23. #1 I didn't have insurance and #2 as most women do, I hated going as much as I hate going to dentist lol I had so many problems during childbirth, that just traumatized me from going. I had Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma in my early 20's and was on high doses of steroids that just caused so many problems to my body, especially reproductive organs. I went to my primary care doc about a month ago and just graphically him what was going on down there. He chalked it up to a yeast infection and referred me to the gyno, which could take 6 MONTHS! I told him I don't have that long. I went to a free clinic 3 days later and the Dr's eyes got huge! I ended up in the ER 3 days later. I couldn't take it anymore. Luckily, I was put under for the biopsy. I had heard that was painful, just getting the numbing shot. The report says the one they biopsied was 3 cm. There is alot going down there and my skin was splitting and just going to the bathroom was like peeing needles. I have other tumors down there and some in pubic bone area and a week ago my lymph nodes started swelling. Was referred to the top oncology gyno surgeon for this, she gave me some lidocaine jelly for down there (has helped some) . She said if they did surgery right now, it would be the pelvic exenteration which is a horrible extensive surgery. They take everything! She is sending me to a gyno radiologist, who I see next Thurs and will have that along with chemo. This is a rare cancer and can hardly find anything about it, much less a forum with anyone that has gone thru this or is going thru is now. I have my pet scan next Thurs. Any advice, sharing stories would be much appreciated.. thank you ❤️

It first started with a small zit on the tip of the ear lobe, it had a black head that spread and inflamed the skin around the cartilage filling it with some kind of liquid and then lymph nodes got swollen around the ear and neck. The infection looked black, and within a weak made a crust that made it unrecognizable that was an insect bite. That is when I went to the doctors and they thought it was viral. That is why I was misdiagnosed so many years.
Since then I get this painful small blisters in the hands, some under the skin like the first picture, some on the surface. around joints. They are dark in appearance with black head and every time they appear they last around 1 - 2 weeks and when they leave the skin gets dry and flaky. But this does not end here, as soon as they disappear the nerve pain starts and I het really achy in the area for a long time.
I really believe that what I am looking at is the infection that havocs my body for such a long time (3yrs). I will not get into details but I do have neurological symptoms similar to MS, ALS.
I would like to know if you have these as well with Lyme.
https://preview.redd.it/qvl9ao2vsx0d1.jpg?width=1067&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4cc0a6402f08be7b034750fc5ea9fc595c0d6784
https://preview.redd.it/8j40kj1vsx0d1.jpg?width=466&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dbfbf3553e42169d7cf31bff20f7a49b40854d2
https://preview.redd.it/qjskem2vsx0d1.jpg?width=627&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=879f2ca64e8abf0eacfca53c4b8ea0c8893b7f8d

I (23 F, 195lbs) have been having some odd symptoms for about a week. It started out with heart palpitations, which I blamed on the stress I’ve been under in the last few weeks. I had to put a pet down and was going through finals and graduation. I apologize for my terrible storytelling skills below.
Starting around last Friday, I began experiencing coughing (with mucus in throat), dull aching in my left arm, left side of chest, and back, and some indigestion. Mostly the feeling of acid in my throat or tightness. Sometimes it’s just a mild discomfort, sometimes it’s straight up pain.
The worst was on Sunday, when I had 5/10 pain in the back of my neck that made it somewhat hard to drive. I’ve also had some weakness in my left arm and some light-headedness/mild headache. I have tried drinking more water, thinking it could be dehydration (which I do have a problem with) but it has not helped.
It should be noted that last Friday, I was out in the cold rain and wind for about 2 hours. It was bad enough that my feet (which were in sandals) hurt terribly by the end of it. I did notice that my aching, coughing, and mucus picked up after that.
I should also note that I have had bronchitis once, COVID twice, and have PCOS. I also hurt my left arm a couple months ago. Nothing serious. Just pulled a muscle in my shoulder. Additionally, I did receive a DEPO (birth control) shot in my left shoulder on Tuesday. It sent immediate pain through my arm and shoulder, and is still tender today.
Mucinex DM has been somewhat helpful in relieving my cough and getting rid of mucus, but it only works for a few hours. Cracking my back, shoulder, and chest also offers some minor relief. Occasionally, I find myself needing to take a deep breath, which causes some ache in my back, but also some relief.
Not sure if it’s related, but I’ve also found myself feeling fuller faster. I can usually put away a good amount of food. But lately I’ve been done after only a fraction of that (but not to the point that I’m not getting enough).
Interestingly, my heart palpitations have decreased today. I’ve only had a couple and they’ve been gentle flutters. And it just so happens to be the same day that I’ve stopped drinking some lavender lemonade that I bought.
I went to an urgent care center on Sunday. They performed an EKG and found that my heart is beating fine, if not beating a little fast due to my nervousness. They prescribed some hydroxyzine for stress, but I’ve been hesitant to take it only because I feel relaxed most of the time. I’ve also been referred to a cardiologist but have yet to get a call back from them to make an appointment.
For some minor notes, I have noticed swelling in my left armpit (I assume to be a lymph node) a couple times over the last few months. It is not swollen now, but I do have a pea-sized lump in the left crook of my neck.
I also got my hair braided recently and the weight of it is new for me. I understand it may be affecting my headaches.
I would just like any advice possible. Most of my family says I’m fine and I really would like to believe them. I also don’t want to waste a visit to urgent care (again) or to the ER. And in case anyone wonders, I do not smoke (though I live with smokers), drink, or do drugs. I also used to bike 5 miles a day until about last month, when I started slacking.

Hello, everyone! It's been a while since I posted anything or even visited the sub. I do not visit the sub anymore as I collected all the information I needed long ago and staying on the sub only led to more thinking about flox. Focusing on other areas of life has been a great life hack for me! I have done a lot of positive things in the past half a year - I am starting my own business, been meeting new people and making a lot of new friends. Flox has changed me for the better.
I want to preface this by saying that I was probably the only person (or almost only as I've met maybe 1 or 2 other people on Reddit) who claimed flares from CoQ10. It actually flared me quite a lot — sometimes I could handle 100mg and sometimes even 30mg would lead to terrible pain. It was frightening to be one of the rarest cases in a pool of already rare cases, so, naturally, I tracked reactions to supplements extremely attentively (u/vadroqvertical won’t let me lie about that) and I have tried a lot (my cupboard is full of supplements — I spent around €3,500 on them in the span of 1.5 years). I will list reactions to supplements and the approximate timeline of when it happened:
— First of all, CoQ10/Ubiquinol flared me not so much 1 month out (tried 100mg ubiquinol multiple times) but it got worse as time went on to the point that April 2023 I could not even take 30mg without great pain. I tried it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 16 months out all without luck with varying doses flaring me to different extents. I will outline the reasons for it below;
— Vitamin E flared me a lot 2, 4, 6 and 8 months out. Never tried again. Tried 200-400 IU at a time. Due to poor GSH regeneration through Glutathione Reductase dependent upon B2 and NADPH;
— Benfothiamine flared me as well (doses 150mg-300mg/day). This is due to high sulphite and blockage of complex IV of the Electron Transport Chain in the mitochondria the reason for I will explain further. Thiamine is easily broken down by sulphite in the body and it is broken down into sulphite as well, which causes a negative loop reaction in people with high sulphite levels. Benfothiamine also caused me a severe allergic reaction (extreme anxiety and itching) that gladly did not require hospitalisation but was extremely scary and scarred me psychologically (likely high sulfocysteine activated NMDA receptors);
— Vitamin B6 increased my neuropathy when I got it. Likely due to poor B2 functional status. The problem I was also deficient in B6 and its supplementation led to great improvements in sleep quality once I could tolerate it. Note B6 is easily destroyed by sulphite just like B1;
— Riboflavin flared me (tried at 100mg, doses under 10mg never flared me). This is likely due to unmatched NADPH supply due to high sulphite load in the body (speculative);
— Astaxanthin greatly improved my physical health at 5-6 months out (proving that the core of my issues was solely ROS) but it caused reductive stress (NADH accumulation), which also caused pain, albeit the pain was a different kind and asta caused worsening neuropathy and visual snow. It accumulates in fat tissue, so stopping it was nice with ROS coming to a balance at about 10-12 days after discontinuation (after a loading dose of 36mg/daily for 3.5 weeks) but ROS then came back after it went out of the body further. I did not retry astaxanthin as I realised it caused me reductive stress and neurological issues;
— NAC helped me a damn lot. It was the best antioxidant for me. The problem is it depleted my molybdenum and copper and started giving me allergic reactions (low molybdenum + copper as well as blocked complex IV will lead to way higher sulphite generated from NAC);
— Did not feel much from vitamin D. I live in a very sunny country and tested at 51 (ref. Range 30+) without any supplements;
— Magnesium helped me a lot. #1 supplement;
— Calcium did not help me much in the beginning, actually, caused me heart palpitations. Was fine taking it after a few months;
— Potassium was a good supplement. I took 800mg/day for a while and it supported my muscle health;
— Important: vitamin B5 made me feel a lot better. It took my ROS down like crazy — I could feel normal muscles again, it removed my oxalate pain completely, too but for only a short while like 3-4h.
I have tried many more supplements that were phyto-supplements and such and none of them really helped me beside maybe some placebo effects. Some made me feel worse and were not worth it at all. I did not try anything mood-changing as I was not interested in it. To note, GABA supplement made me feel a little euphoric at first.
It is very relevant that I have been oxalate dumping since 27 Dec. 2023. The description of the experience can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/floxies/comments/1by0uh0/comment/kyma718/
Now, to the real question: why did CoQ10 flare me even at high nutrient status (just after flox). I have to stress that flares from CoQ10 were much less at the beginning of flox likely due to better nutrient status (it went from extremely terrible to slightly more extremely terrible while 6 months out it went from ‘eh’ to terrible).

1. First, I have to say that NAC made me worse long-term. How? Over a long period of time I was taking it and was not watching my copper levels (NAC increases metallothionein and causes poor copper absorption) and molybdenum levels (NAC raises generation of sulfite and it needs molybdenum to be detoxified). Some NAC formulations have molybdenum in them but I was not lucky to get one of those and, due to lack of knowledge, did not supplement any molybdenum. The result was high sulphite and from that high ROS (with a combo of benfo which further increased sulphite it caused me peripheral neuropathy at 5 months). Sulphite causes Fenton reactions when complex IV gets blocked up. H2S (a signalling molecule and a vasodilator) also needs to be detoxified by a CoQ-10 dependent enzyme and turned later into sulphite and then sulphate by molybdenum and complex IV (dependent on copper) and if it is not detoxified, it causes a complex IV blockage and starts Fenton reactions as well as electron leakage during production of ATP, causing ROS. This causes a negative feedback loop that was described in the linked article as follows:

«This can be explained as follows:
1) hydrogen sulfide inhibition of complex IV generates superoxide in the respiratory chain, which becomes hydrogen peroxide,
2) hydrogen sulfide reduces ferric iron to ferrous iron, which makes it release from storage in ferritin,
3) this increases Fenton reactions between free iron and hydrogen peroxide, which generate more dangerous reactive oxygen species like the hydroxyl radical,
4) all of this deplete glutathione,
5) since a major purpose of the trans-sulfuration pathway is to provide enough cysteine to make glutathione, glutathione depletion hyperactivates the trans-sulfuration pathway, leading to more cysteine availability, the excess of which is catabolized to sulfite by alternative reactions that do not produce hydrogen sulfide and therefore do not require CoQ10.»

1. In the article linked below, you will see that CoQ-10 protects against reactive oxygen species mainly due to improving hydrogen sulphide clearance (H2S). Therefore, CoQ-10 deficiency did not cause much ROS in complexes I and II but mainly produced issues in Complex III (where sulphite detoxification starts) and complex IV (where the last electrons are delivered during the sulphite-sulphate reaction). Excerpt: «In human cells with CoQ10 synthesis defects from the same study, CoQ10 protected against reactive oxygen species, but suppressing the enzyme that uses CoQ10 to clear hydrogen sulfide abolished this effect. This shows that the reactive oxygen species were coming from poor hydrogen sulfide clearance.»

Considering this, and oh my god, finding this article was like god sent it to me: my CoQ10 flares were coming from poor hydrogen sulphide clearance. At that point there were multiple reasons this could be happening:

1. Cellular CoQ-10 deficiency;
   
2. Manganese toxicity;
   
3. Copper deficiency;
   
4. Molybdenum deficiency;
   
5. SUOX (enzyme which converts sulphite to sulphate) or another genetic impairment;
   
6. Blockage of complex IV by something else.
   

I checked my molybdenum and copper transporting genes, SUOX using DBSNP and my AncestryDNA.txt file, and they were all good (Yes, I know Ancestry does not do a full genomic profile but it still had the main SNPs for that.). I also checked my manganese transporter genes and seemed I was homozygous for an important one but fine with others. It is really hard to estimate how that might affect you IRL, perhaps that would require a real genetic counsellor (or lots of hours spent ruminating again). I also did not think I had any genetic issue since I was very very healthy all my life and had 0 pain or health issues before flox occurred (I have extremely healthy young looking parents that drink, smoke and do whatever they want and have 0 consequences to their health as well).
I took some tests, for example: Genova NutrEval at ~6 months out, full nutrient blood test panel at ~11 months out (abstained for 35 days from any supplements at all, even vitamins and tested literally everything, paid around €1,200) and my CoQ10 levels at both of those occurrences were at 1 & 1.07 in absence of supplementation with ref. Range 0.8-1.4, so it was definitely not low. That way I eliminated #1 and #5. While I was not entirely sure whether genetic issues had to do anything with it, I decided to pretend like they didn’t, since I had to try out other solutions before jumping to the most complex one. I took a lot of molybdenum, so molybdenum deficiency was not at the table for me. In this way I was left with #2, #3 and #6. In the full blood panel, my manganese was slightly high (20.1 with ref. Range <~18) and the SNP people were talking about that caused them manganese toxicity was homozygous for me, so I definitely considered it but manganese when supplemented made me a feel a lot better, actually (mentally, not physically), so I was also likely deficient in it. For now, I just avoid it in supplemental doses but I do not avoid foods containing it. Besides, I do not have iron overload genes that could contribute to manganese toxicity.
I could not take copper because it would lead to high ROS immediately (due to complex IV blockage the reasons for which I will outline further). Considering manganese was likely deficient and not superfluous, I discarded reason #2 and reason #3 could not be fixed by copper, so it was definitely not only copper deficiency but either another factor or another factor coupled with copper deficiency. I was stuck for a long time until I found another article from the same author about B12 and B9 helping to detoxify oxalate. As I said before all this explanation, I have been oxalate dumping throughout the whole process (already 4 months). I should note I was oxalate dumping even before I got floxed (I likely had oxalate overload to my appendix surgery — this is proven by inflamed mesenteric lymph nodes confirmed by 3 MRIs — Sally Norton has the same case of over-absorption in her book) and that is how I actually got the E. Coli they gave me Cipro for (oxalate crystals create a good environment for it in the urinary tract lol) and how I got floxed (I went full circle, lmao). When I was floxed, I was not oxalate dumping for at least a year likely because my body was not in the state to handle the dumping process but it was still affecting me as I will outline further. First of all, I want to say that biotin actually promoted dumping for me as said in the article and not relieved it like it is said in Sally Norton’s book (I am not sure if there is a genetic variation to this). The proposed mechanism of oxalate detoxification in the article is as follows:
«Recall my proposed two-step detoxification process:

1. Pyruvate carboxylase [biotin-dependent] converts oxalate to formate.
   
2. Formate is joined to tetrahydrofolate to enter the methylation cycle, be used for the synthesis of purines or DNA, or be converted to carbon dioxide and exhaled in the breath.»
   

This are also very important words: «There may be more regulation layered on top of this to prevent excessive formate accumulation. It would certainly be preferable to have oxalate crystals cause pain or disrupt the skin than to have formate accumulate beyond the capacity to clear it.» This is why I felt best when dumping. Could eat anything, drink beer, even smoked weed once without issue. Another time though I got too brave, smoked a lot of weed and got a very bad ‘relapse’ but recovered quickly from it. The next morning when using a towel after a shower I had the same pain I used to have 2.5 months out from Cipro (which was extremely bad and took me back 14 months in memories) while before I smoked weed that second time I had almost 0 tendon pain in my daily life apart from oxalate [Here I thought maybe I and DrHungry share similar issues then? He also had an extreme (same in intensity relatively to his flox journey) flare from weed and is also using a lot of sulphur-based antioxidants still. Could such weed flares be related to complex IV dysfunction and/or impaired sulphite clearance?]. In either case, I felt best when dumping, probably because my body was able to regulate formate accumulation and ROS production greatly reduced at those times.
I was sitting outside with my parents and their friends, researching my flox issue when I read these lines: «Formate accumulation is the principle mechanism of methanol toxicity. Part of its toxicity is driven by inhibiting cytochrome oxidase, complex IV of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which would inhibit the clearance of sulfite and hydrogen sulfide and block the production of ATP.» It finally clicked. It was honestly one of the best moments in my life when I realised. I made the connection between great improvement from B5, formate accumulation, issues with copper supplementation, general ROS improvement and oxalate everything together. Suddenly, my whole flox journey became crystal clear to me.
B5 is mainly used in the body to create Coenzyme A. An intermediate molecule in the production of CoA is called 4’-phosphopantethine and is used in the enzyme 10-methyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase (high formate will pair with THF and form 10-MTHF in the attempt of the body to detoxify formate). This enzyme converts 10-MTHF back to THF and creates NADPH in the process which is used by Glutathione Reductase to regenerate Glutathione. Hence, high-dose B5 led to a lot of those reactions occurring and me feeling a big relief from ROS AND OXALATE, so oxalate is indeed detoxified into formate by biotin-dependent pyruvate carboxylase.
Okay, so theory is very interesting but what is theory if it has no proof? When I read it, I realised I finally cracked my flox but I had to get real proof.
Just a few weeks before this, I drank some wine and got nerve damage (likely from high sulphites in it, again, duh — while this was a terrible experience, it played a role in me getting closer to the solution of my issues). Beer caused me no issues, could drink 10 or more bottles in one sitting, eat a lot of rice with no issue. Before, I had only numb hands and top of feet. After the wine, I had burning up to the knee and burning in palms and behind my shoulders. I got fed up with this, I just decided to methylate the fuck out of my nerves and eat copper not in supplements but from calamari (very high in copper but low in vit A, so no toxicity risk like from liver). At that time, I was dumping and my ROS was not too high. I started consuming around 200g protein per day, eating a lot of copper 3-4mg/day and my nerves really healed a lot. To the point they even became normal after 3-4 days. My vision became brighter, it was absolutely crazy. I was also supplementing 150mg molybdenum/day. After a week of that, though, I started getting ROS back and it was very bad ROS, like almost a year ago when I had low molybdenum and copper from a lot of NAC use. That confirmed my suspicion that my issue was indeed sulphite. Eating almost anything caused ROS for me, dumping stopped since the body had no free reducing agents (NADPH) to support sulphate-producing enzymes (oxalate is transported on sulphate transporters, so it literally could not drive out of the cell because it had no car lol). As you understand, high ROS prevents a lot of enzymes from working and here it causes, as you have probably understood, a negative feedback loop.
So, back to the proof. Since I realised that my issue is probably formate, I just decided to take high-dose B5 again (did not add any high dose B2, B1 or other B vitamins, just took my usual B complex with food). It really helped me a lot, again. I felt almost normal. Then, it caused me some pain but I felt how I was getting better and the next day I took it in the day, then in the evening I ate around 80g carbs and took double the dose of B complex (my B complex has low doses: 10mg B1, 10mg B2, 25mg B3, 20mg B5, 5mg B6, 100mcg B7, 100mcg B9, 50mcg B12) instead of adding a lot of B5 and boom, no pain and oxalate dumping restarted quite more strongly than it even used to be before megadosing protein. So I was in pain for at least 2 weeks dying from ROS and then 2 days of B5 and suddenly I was normal again? It felt like paradise. The next day, I went out with my friends. I was a little nervous since we were going to eat out and we ordered 600g of carbonara (the portions here were huge there). I ate it all at once with 2x my light B complex and guess what happened? NO PAIN, just oxalate dumping. I finally realised that I was right and detoxified formate unloaded my complex IV, allowed sulphate transporters to be created, reduced ROS production from food and suddenly I felt like a normal human being (except the dumping part). I recently retried CoQ10 — no flare. Likely before formate got recreated a lot because I was dumping a lot (if you read my comment, you will understand).
I am not megadosing B5 right now but just stuck to 80-100mg B5 per day, so 4x my light B complex as my B6 tolerance improved a lot. Why I am not megadosing B5 is because oxalate likely blocks conversion of vitamin B2 into its active forms as I at ~11 months out when I did full-testing in the absence of supplementation 35 pre-testing had high molybdenum, iodine, (almost above the ref. Range (113 with ref. Range <120) selenium and very high B2 even though I was cellularly deficient according to Genova NutrEval (at 356 with ref. Range <295).
Hence, we can understand what happened to me from the beginning:

1. Oxalate overload led to formate overload as oxalate is converted to formate through the action of biotin-dependent pyruvate carboxylase;
   
2. Formate overload led to complex IV blockage, high ROS and high sulphite, which also leads to high ROS and also leads to complex IV blockage (negative feedback loop);
   
3. High sulphite destroys vitamins B1&B6 as said in the beginning, which caused endogenous production of oxalate to skyrocket (you can read about this if you google, this information is very available);
   
4. Hence sulphate transporters also got impaired, oxalate detoxification in the form of physical crystals also halted, which led to even higher overload;
   
5. This led to higher formate, this led to even more ROS.
   

Mega-dosing B vitamins and especially B5 and B9 led to formate detoxification and the ability of my body to detoxify oxalate. This improved me a lot and it definitely feels like it will inevitably lead to my recovery. I feel good now, I still have some remaining neuropathy but it’s minimal and I know what to avoid to not make it worse and how to improve it quickly if I need to. I have no OS from beer, coffee or food. Also, I am dumping a lot right now. You can ask me all kinds of questions that you want and I will try to answer them to my best ability since I know what it is like to be floxed and I will help anyone who is in the same situation. I am only 22 years old and this experience led to me rethinking my whole life. I plan to become an extremely rich person to be able to fund biochemical research in the future and will focus specifically on floxed individuals and I will help floxed people first. I will try to reach my goals as fast as possible, I promise.
I hope this post does not get removed by moderators. If there is anything to moderate, change, or add, I will be happy to do that. All I say here is very attentively selected and fact-checked either from external sources or personal experience. I do not lie and have no motivation to do so. I am only trying to share my knowledge and to help realise others flox is not unbeatable and can be understood and solved — it all depends on individual factors.
Linked articles:
Manganese Toxicity Is a CoQ10 Deficiency
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/manganese-toxicity-is-a-coq10-deficiency
CoQ10 Deficiency Is Sulfur Toxicity
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substa2ck.com/p/coq10-deficiency-is-sulfur-toxicity?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader
10-Formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase
https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/pantothenic-acid#formyltetrahydrofolate-dehydrogenase
Can Biotin Help Detoxify Oxalate?
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/can-biotin-help-detoxify-oxalate
Can B12 and Folate Help Detoxify Oxalate?
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/can-b12-and-folate-help-detoxify

25M, 125lbs, 5’9, moderately active, don’t smoke/drink, 2-4 cups of coffee daily Medications: Flovent, abuterol, Allegra most days, Benadryl occasionally Medical HX: silent asthma (for dust allergies), reguka, allergies (mostly dust mites for severe symptoms), Fam history: DAD- psoriasis, acid reflux Mom- Idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia (went into cardiac arrest once), small stroke from unknown cause (heart healthy, potentially the irregular contractions)
Okay, so I went to an urgent care because I was having asthma problems and ran out of my rescue inhaler, and I have to wait till mid June for my allergy appointment. I also noticed my right lymph node was swollen and frankly it might be considered “hard” lol. Anyways I had my medicine but I started getting chest pain while breathing in and hiccuping. I went back for that in the last week, and it had been 2-3 weeks since my last appointment at least. The last doctor told me I probably just had a viral infection, but when I went back this time the lymph node softer but still pretty swollen and firm. My left lymph node was bigger before my last appointment but it went down and it’s still down. Now the doctor gave me medicine for heartburn and I think that’s what it is, after the feeling has moved a couple days and it’s always cured by drinking water and gets worse when doing things that make acid reflux worse. My problem is that it has been nearly 3/4 of the time burning, and even after taking a PPI it still burns some while laying on my back (I tried differently). I have a doctors appointment in a week, but I was concerned due to the persistence and how often the reflux has been happening. It’s pretty painful but not like unbearable. I wanted to know what level of consistency or severity should I just go to the ER for? I don’t want to wait until I’m bleeding out honestly. I searched it up some and it seems like I definitely need to get help, but I’m not sure whether to wait for doctor or just go to ER now. The weird part is the pain started 3 days ago and I’d never had it that bad or for that long before. Idk why all of a sudden it’s long and persistent. I didn’t think it happened that way for my family, and I was concerned that the frequency might cause serious damage if it doesn’t have time to heal or rest. Can someone help me get an idea of when I should go to he ER? The urgent care already did what they could, but they weren’t sure if acid reflux was the problem. Should I go back there in the meantime?
I’ve also been having episodic allergy and immune problems. Achy and stuff fingers in morning, dry mouth in morning, red spots on knuckles, stomach ache/slowing of stomach, stuffy nose, loss of smell, occasionally skin burn feeling, and asthma. The thing is usually those things were correlated with the amount of dust allergens I had in my apartment, but now they seem to be just happening. The asthma is relatively controlled now but I was using my inhaler a few times a day a week or two ago. But usually the asthma happens first and then other symptoms come on. This feels like the inflammation is just doing separate from the dust allergens. Also I’ve gotten those falling asleep jerks that wake me before I completely sleep, and I believe sometimes they make me move and sometimes I don’t move that much but I feel like I did. Recently my prostate has also been twitching during those and sometimes before being partially asleep, and it’s hard to pee so I thin t might be swollen. I’ll feel an urge to bee but then I have to push super hard to get it out. Then sometimes I just have to pee super duper fast. You can Dm me for advice too, I just really don’t want to have anything happen to me. I personally wouldn’t care that much, but I just couldn’t imagine leaving my partner alone. So I just want to take it seriously, I could never imagine leaving my partner behind. That woulf be one of the most painful things I could ever ezpwrience.

Hi. Hoping someone might have a brainwave of what could be going on!! We're at our wits end. 3yo male with chronic & prolonged constipation plus severe skin reaction to mosquitos & recurring cellulitis. Bit more info: we've seen multiple GPs & 2 paediatricians - all interventions mentioned are at their advice. He's grown out of a peanut & egg allergies but is still allergic to oats (doesn't show on the prick test but he gets a rash if he touches it & vomits within minutes if consumed). Was exclusively breastfed (self weaned at 2yo) & had cows milk protein intolerance (caused severe rashes, mucous & blood in the stool, terrible colic & reflux) which he grew out of at 8 months & introduced to solids at 6 months which is when the constipation started. Longest he went without pooing was 3 weeks & we intervened with softeners & followed up with suppositories. Has had an ultrasound & can't find anything except swollen lymph nodes in the abdomen, suspected from a previous virus at the time. Has a very healthy & varied diet, plenty of water, fruits & vegetables & a good appetite. He's very active too. He's now on a protocol of constant daily stool softener, a double dose 1 day & single dose the next, alternating. Started at a double dose daily but have been able to slightly drop it. He still only poos once a week at best & his stomach is often very swollen/bloated, it's usually very soft poo but a huge volume & he finds it quite distressing. Last year he started reacting severely to mosquitos (there's some at his preschool) & comes up in big swollen welts & blisters within minutes of being bitten. We give him a double dose antihistamine & put steroid cream & ice pack on it but these are getting worse & 3 times this year has resulted in cellulitis needing very strong antibiotics. We feel like there could be a link somewhere but keep getting brushed off & told to just keep doing the softener & it'll get better "in a few months" but he's been on it over 2 years & nothing has improved.
I hope all that makes sense! I will put pictures of the recent cellulitis in the comments & happy to clarify any details. Thank you!

Good day all,
So some background I'm:
25M 180m 80kg -(last time I weighed) Relatively healthy, I do suffer from allergies and asthma.
So the story, my roommate was quite hectically sick and I fully expected to get sick as well, but I didn't. This was little more than a week ago and at the same time I had a huge zit that had a bit of a green tinge in the puss that I removed.
Then I found a swollen lymph node (I think that is what it is) that was about the size of a pea and a smaller one right next to it, not big enough to be seen on my face, only felt when you feel underneath my chin towards my throat.
Reasons why I am worried:
It has been 2 weeks already. It doesn't hurt at all. It feels rubbery, but it does seem like I can. move it with my finger though not much. The zit has disappeared and I don't have any other noticeable ailments. I am quite tired, but I work weird shift hours so It could be that, I am still able to easily do my everyday life, but I'm definitely tired.
Reasons why I'm not worried:
I have no other cancer symptoms(no night sweats, fever, intense fatigue) It feels quite smooth and round. I think it has gotten softer, but I could be imagining it.
I am trying to see a doctor, but getting an appointment takes some time. Thought I'd get some input from here in the meanwhile.

I get a lot of messages asking about my cancer, so before I get to my story: I highly recommend visiting BCAN.org and asking to be paired up in their survivor to survivor program. Every diagnosis is different and the survivor to survivor program pairs you with someone with similar age, gender, and diagnosis, so you can ask all about their experience. I have enjoyed volunteering with the program and the newly diagnosed that I speak to seem to as well.
My story:
In March of 2020, I was diagnosed with Stage III muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Leading up to that diagnosis I had recurring episodes of extremely painful urination for nearly two years. Not a drop of blood in my urine. The episodes were becoming longer and more frequent. I had urgency and an extreme pain that had me calling out sick from work. It was pure misery and by the time I was diagnosed it was actually a relief.
The test I urge anyone reading this to get is a urine cytology. I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. In my experience the urine cytology saved my life. It's a cheap "pee cup" test you can get at any urologist's office. More info here. My easy to remember rhyme is: if it burns when you pee, get a urine cytology.
Up until that test, doctors had been meandering down a path that was not focused on cancer. I was 33 years old (37M now) and due to my young age they didn't consider cancer. I had been in some mountain bike accidents with pelvic trauma so I was misdiagnosed with Pudendal Neuralgia. Symptoms matched but the treatment offered no relief.
I did my urine cytology. 15 minutes later "Atypical cells" led to a bladder scope and I was looking at my tumors in the urologist's office. The tumors were biopsied and I was scheduled for TURBT. This is where my stage III diagnosis was given. I felt immediate relief from the painful urination after tumor removal. The tumors were pressing on my ureters so it felt like kidney stones all the time. We immediately started chemo and my doctors began telling me I would lose my bladder. I did MVAC chemo for four rounds over the summer. This was very intense: what you think about when people say chemo. Lost my hair--gained weight which is not uncommon--and overall felt like shit. After that I was given a few weeks to recover and then had a radical cystectomy with neobladder diversion in August of 2020. This was not an easy decision but the prognosis was best. I tend to trust the data.
SHOUTOUT to my medical team: Dr. Bupathi & Dr. Monticelli of Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers; as well as Dr. Shandra Wilson my urologist and surgeon. Their skills and expertise assuaged all my concerns and made me feel so confident. THANK YOU SO MUCH. For those reading: get a good team; ask lots of questions; and don't be afraid to get multiple opinions. I keep several journals, which help a lot and I'll detail that at the bottom of this post*
Recovery from the neobladder surgery was the hardest part. I had a foley catheter and "grenade" for six weeks or so. My cath bag looked like a bag of red wine due to blood. They walk you around a lot to recover faster. It involved a lot of bed-rest intermixed with short walks. I think I was out of the office for at least a month. I am in generally very good physical shape and even several weeks after this procedure it was hard to walk more than 1/4 mile.
From there I thought I was cancer free. I lead my life with my family**. Here is what saved my life again: Signaterra testing. Dr. Bupathi had these tests scheduled every six weeks. It tracks genetic cancer markers in your blood. The test results look like the stock market except you want it to go down. After several months we noticed it was rising again. We ordered a PET scan, found enlarged lymph nodes, and determined my cancer had returned (or never left). I began a second chemo regiment followed by immunotheraphy (that I just completed yesterday!!!). CisGem chemo was quite difficult. The C in MVAC stands for cisplatin and it's generally one of the hardest drugs to tolerate. After a few difficult rounds we switched to carboplatin and it became much more tolerable. After that I did two years of Bavencio/Avelumab. My Natera test results showed that my cancer had dropped to untraceable levels during chemo, so I effectively beat it before starting the PDL1 inhibitor therapy. However, my team strongly encouraged me to complete the immuno. To me, it felt like putting out a campfire: add water, stir, add water, stir. You gotta make sure it's really gone!
The bavencio PDL1 therapy caused me a lot of mood swings and sometimes caused immune system flare ups (i.e. "immuno flu"). For the physical flare ups I used prednisone, as needed. I tried to do so sparingly as it basically cancels out your treatment. The mood swings were the worst. I would often be despondent and depressed for a few days after treatment. Other times, I'd feel no mood alterations. Most often, I'd be extremely irritable for about a week after treatment (treatments were every two weeks so it was very difficult).
I'm now two years cancer free and beginning my recovery from the immunotherapy treatments. I am so happy to live in an age of modern medicine. Within my lifetime many cancers will become manageable diseases--it appears to me that bladder cancer already has. Reach out to BCAN support groups and DM me if my post didn't answer a question of yours. Good luck! You got this!
*Journaling helped me tremendously. I had three journals (google docs). The first was an overall journal detailing my doctor visits. The second was a symptom journal. The third was an insurance journal/spreadsheet. The first journal served almost as a blog, which I shared with close friends and family. That way I didn't have to have the same conversation over and over. It's nice to have family and friends interested, but it does wear at you when you have to tell the same doctor visit over and over to people. This cut down on those discussions and allowed me to have more enjoyable calls with well-wishers. The second journal I would write down daily side effects and 1-10 pain scales. This was extremely important because I could bring it up with doctors and I wouldn't have to remember how I felt, I could look it up. It also helped me understand insidious side effects that take months to reveal themselves. This was the most important journal and kept me sane. There are soooo many side effects and when you start a cancer treatment program you often have no choice-- so why read them? Well this journal would help me understand when something was a side effect. Often just knowing that it wasn't you it was the drug would have a calming effect. The third journal was so I could fight insurance and get what I deserve. Insurance companies try to reduce payouts through exhaustion. They want you to give up. By documenting your experience you give yourself ammunition when you have to escalate a claim or file an appeal. You have everything laid out in an organized manner. You can get it out of your head and onto a spreadsheet so that you don't think about it when you go to bed at night. I had to file appeals several times, sometimes with Colorado Division of Insurance and my record-keeping was a tremendous boon to my case. Don't pay a bill as soon as you get it! Wait until you get the claim record from your insurance company and make sure the number on the bill matches what the insurance company told you to pay. If you cut that check wrong, you'll seldom get that money back!
**Neobladders do not have musculature like your normal bladder. I had several very severe bladder infections--a few that led to hospitalization. During the first 18 months or so, I was not catheterizing becuase I was under the impression that my new bladder worked. I peed constantly; however, I was retaining over one liter of urine at all times. This urine kept becoming infected and putting me in miserable situations. Under my urologists advice, I began cathing and immediately felt great. I lost nearly 10 lbs in "water weight" and no longer have any urgency issues. I can sleep through the night, but often will cath around five hours into the night just so I can sleep in later. On average I cath about once every three hours. It's not painful when done correctly. It's honestly just tedious. However, after all of this the only way my life is abnormal now is my cathing. I can swim, climb, play with my son and do any physical activity; it just takes longer to pee now. I'll take that win!

I recently had a ton of abdominal pain/discomfort, a fever, and swollen lymph nodes so I went to an in-network urgent care. This was covered by insurance. The provider that saw me at urgent care referred me to the ER (also in-network) for suspected appendicitis. At the ER, I had bloodwork and a CT scan done. It ended up being mononucleosis (my enlarged liver and spleen were causing the abdominal issues). My insurance is now denying coverage of my ER visit citing that it was not an emergency. I’m so stressed about this almost $10K bill. I’m in my early 20s and definitely do not have the means to pay it. Does anyone have any advice on who to contact to argue that this was an emergency? Does it not matter that urgent care told me to go to the ER? I have Aetna if that’s helpful and I am in Washington, DC. Thank you so much in advance for your help!

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

I [18f] and my mom [46f] used to get along really well when I was younger. I never had that “I hate my parents” phase like most of my friends did and I really enjoyed going shopping and going on little weekend trips with my mom. When I was 13 we discovered I had a gluten and dairy allergy so my mom worked really hard to help me find foods and really supported my diet no matter what. After my 16th birthday my mom quit buying me food and on my birthday made a normal cake saying “nobody is going to want to eat a gluten and dairy free cake” when all the years prior she had no problem making me birthday cakes the fit my allergy needs. So I never got a cake and my brother ended up eating all the birthday cake. Then I got my first job where I worked 5 days a week and only ate once a day on the days I worked because it was the only place I could get food. One day I went to my grandmas house and asked if she had any of my food (my grandma almost always accommodated for my allergies) she said she had one of my frozen pizzas in the freezer, we went out together and that’s when I told her my mom had quit buying me food. A whole fight broke out between the two and my mom started crying while my brother comforted her and my dad called me a spoiled brat. After that my mom bought me food on and off for 3 months until I started my senior year of When I was midway through high school I learned that my allergies had gone away from accidentally eating cheese that was on a burger. My mom seemed really annoyed and I started eating normal food. Recently me and my bf [19m] have been talking about moving in together. All of my friends and coworkers are super supportive and excited for me, but my parents just act like they want me out of the house. My older brother (we’ll call him Steve) has a swollen lymph node on his neck and has had to go to the doctor several times for last month and a half. At first I was really concerned about it, but after the doctors ruled out that It was nothing serious like cancer I realized he was ok. Well, Steve had gotten a temporary disability from his work, so that he’ll still get payed to just sit in his room all day. Meanwhile my parents fuss over him daily, my mom can’t have a conversation with me without him being the main subject and Steve has literally gotten away with throwing things at me and cussing at me while my mom doesn’t do anything. I tried bringing it up to my mom and she got mad at me saying that Steve is hurt and he could be unalived by his swollen lymph node and saying how they talk about me just not in front of me. I pretty much dropped it after that but my mom only continued talking about him more. A few weeks ago I had to report someone to the police for harassment and because she was causing a lot of stress in my life, when I told my mom she just shrugged it off acting like it was a normal thing to do every day. Steve is home everyday and my mom acts like she never sees him. Whenever he comes downstairs it’s always “hey Steve! How are you! What have you been up to?” Whereas I can be gone every day for 2 weeks and my parents won’t even bat an eye. Yesterday my boyfriend’s ex girlfriend came into my work and just watched me for an hour. I tried my best to ignore her and finished up my shift. When my mom got home from work I told her and she just brushed it off like it was nothing, but turned around and fusses over if my brother had eaten or not. Side note: my boyfriend lives almost an hour away so his ex had to drive a good 40 minutes just to get to my work I’ve been upstairs almost all day today, but I’m just so frustrated and I needed to get this off my chest, does anyone have any advice?

I participated in the UCSF LIINC study today. For those unfamiliar with it, it’s a program at UCSF that studies patients with Long Covid. Specifically one thing they’re looking for is evidence of viral persistence.
They performed an FNA (fine needle aspiration) on my lymph node today which they plan to send to UPenn to analyze. The FNA procedure itself involves getting numbed in an area where a lymph node is and then they do a biopsy on it. It’s not as painful as it sounds actually. I didn’t really feel much except a couple of pricks from the Lidocaine they gave me. No other side effects really except for a sore neck.
One interesting thing the doctor who performed it said was that all the long covid patients he’s seen have had very small lymph nodes which he said is unusual if your body was fighting a viral infection. It kind of makes me wonder if viral persistence isn’t the cause of LC. They did find evidence of viral persistence in the gut though which is interesting. Maybe the immune system is being suppressed?