Burning in uretha after urination

So for a brief background roughly around Fall of 2020 , I had some discharge , burning urination and constant urge to urinate and unprotected sex.
Naturally went and got tested and nothing came back from the std panel. I was prescribed antibiotics to try and whatever it was went away temporarily. Short time after it came back just this time without the discharge. Once again went through the same process of medication which yielded the same result. For the past 3-4 years this has been an on and off occurrence. Sometimes with different meds it’ll go away for months then randomly come back after something as simple as masturbating. I’ve taken doxy , cipro and augmentin as the urologist thought what I had was urethritis originally. He also did use a camera to look in the urethra and found no issues at the time. Randomly in September of 2022 I got an std panel again as I do yearly usually to be safe and it said I came back positive for hsv-1. I have never once had an outbreak , sores , anything as a result of that diagnosis.
Another urologist I am currently seeing thinks it could possibly be prostatitis. The girl I was seeing at the time in 2022 mentioned when she went to her gyno they said something popped up and seemed consistent with that of chlamydia or gon.
My question is this.. do you think that the original cause of the urethritis and the current reason it has still hung around is because of the hsv1? As I previously mentioned I had these issues about 2 years before ever getting diagnosed with hsv and never any outbreaks flare ups and it comes back randomly(urethritis , prostatitis , whatever it is) not even always as a result of sex. I’m thinking it’s just a difficult type of urethritis to diagnose/treat or it has moved to the prostrate and caused the infection to hang around and keep reoccurring ? I know a lot of similar individuals on Reddit have reported issues with getting by proper treatment for this and urologists are kind of stumped on what the issue is and why it keeps coming back. Any insight ?

I have a history of chronic UTIs. A year ago I was prescribed a post sex dose of antibiotics that I took for about 6 months which was my longest period UTI free. After I stopped taking them I was UTI free for 3 months until I got another one. In between the UTIs I suffer from burning and urgency symptoms all the time. It’s really messing with my quality of life. Sex makes the burning a lot worse for a couple days after. I’ve been tested for STDs and yeast infections so that’s ruled out. These are all the things I’ve done that have not helped…
I’ve tried: - pelvic floor PT - increased water intake - decreased water intake - bladder training - Azo (did nothing but caused kidney pain) - d-mannose - cranberry - diet changes - baths with epsom salts (makes things WAY worse) - heat/cold
I’ve seen a urologist who completely dismissed my symptoms outside of my positive urine cultures and he wants to do a cystoscopy before he’s willing to discuss anything else with me. I’m really not sure that’s the right move for me and I don’t think I want to have that done so a urologist is a dead end for me.
Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Hi fam,
Hope you are all well
I just wanted to understand something a little, my only symptom is a dull /burning ache AFTER i urinate it will last in my vaginal bone and top near the bladder. I dont have urgency or frequency i urinate normal times but hate going to the toilet because of the dull/burning pain?
What is everyones thoughts on this? I know IC can vary from different types and everyone has different symptoms anyone else have these type of symptoms?

Hi everyone,
I’m posting this to hopefully get some help/advice. Sorry it’s so long!!
My issues all began after UTI-like symptoms in December 2023 after sex. This was a common thing for me after sex as I would frequently get UTI-like symptoms and just treat it with antibiotics (I never actually tested for UTIs 😣 but was certain it was because I knew how it “felt”). In the months before this I was also using feminine wash and wipes daily which I’ve read can cause irritation.
After treating this UTI in dec-23, it felt like the antibiotics didn’t totally get rid of my symptoms. Over the next 2 weeks, I was dealing with burning when urinating, urge/frequency, waking up several times in the night feeling like I needed to pee even though I made sure I didn’t drink a lot before sleeping and used the toilet before, eventually this developed into occasional bed wetting too (I’m 21!!). Intercourse with my boyfriend became painful with burning at the entrance and an inflamed vestibule at 12 o’clock around urethra area, leading to me either immediately stopping or avoiding sex. I developed pangs/shooting feelings of internal itch - when walking I’d literally have to stop and crouch down or apply pressure. Vulvar itch developed too on my labia majora. This completely destroyed my life, I couldn’t even walk let alone go to the gym or work in the office (worked from home a lot more) - my mental health was at an all time low.
I’ve had SO MANY GP, gynaecologist and sexual health consultations. I’ve done STI, thrush, BV, diabetes and urine (dip, culture, MSU) tests. A vaginal ultrasound which is all clear. My vulvar skin has been checked by sexual health nurses and 2 senior consultants (gynae, GUM) - all normal.
After 4 months in March-23, my GP diagnosed me with Vestibulitis/vestibulodynia. I have been taking Amitriptyline since. The first dose (10mg) immediately relieved my urinary issues!! I am currently on 30mg and using lidocaine ointment (5%) nightly, and lots of lube for sex - this has enabled me to have sex, often with mild-no pain. Internal itch is gone too.
The thing which has not been relieved at all is itchy labia majora 😩. Since January, I have been washing and applying an emollient only, using sensitive laundry detergent, cotton underwear and sleeping without underwear. The itch is sometimes worse at night but I think that’s because I’m less distracted. In April I took antibiotics for Group B Strep that was found on my vaginal swab but this just worsened my symptoms, my labia were extremely inflamed, swollen and red, labia majora itch was so bad. I took probiotics and applied hydrocortisone which helped. I have continued taking probiotics.
I have also been on a low estrogen oral contraceptive pill for 2 years. Since the amitriptyline has helped for most symptoms I’m guessing it is irritated nerves (vestibule is red at 12 o’clock). However, I still have labia majora itching and my boyfriend noticed that my labia majora looks redder than it used to be and my labia minora look more ‘dehyrdated’, slightly browner in colour. Could this itching, dehydrated appearance be hormonally-mediated? All my doctors have sort of shut down the hormonal idea when bringing it up.. either way I have stopped my pill. I also only recently told my GP I had a few episodes (5 in 3 months) of bed wetting before starting the amitriptyline and he seemed quite concerned so has booked me in for an ultrasound of my bladder and a spinal MRI to “cover all bases”.
Sorry for such a long post, I just wanted to get everything in there. I’d appreciate any advice, similar experiences etc. 🥰

Hi everyone,
I’m posting this to hopefully get some help/advice. Sorry it’s so long!!
My issues all began after UTI-like symptoms in December 2023 after sex. This was a common thing for me after sex as I would frequently get UTI-like symptoms and just treat it with antibiotics (I never actually tested for UTIs 😣 but was certain it was because I knew how it “felt”). In the months before this I was also using feminine wash and wipes daily which I’ve read can cause irritation.
After treating this UTI in dec-23, it felt like the antibiotics didn’t totally get rid of my symptoms. Over the next 2 weeks, I was dealing with burning when urinating, urge/frequency, waking up several times in the night feeling like I needed to pee even though I made sure I didn’t drink a lot before sleeping and used the toilet before, eventually this developed into occasional bed wetting too (I’m 21!!). Intercourse with my boyfriend became painful with burning at the entrance and an inflamed vestibule at 12 o’clock around urethra area, leading to me either immediately stopping or avoiding sex. I developed pangs/shooting feelings of internal itch - when walking I’d literally have to stop and crouch down or apply pressure. Vulvar itch developed too on my labia majora. This completely destroyed my life, I couldn’t even walk let alone go to the gym or work in the office (worked from home a lot more) - my mental health was at an all time low.
I’ve had SO MANY GP, gynaecologist and sexual health consultations. I’ve done STI, thrush, BV, diabetes and urine (dip, culture, MSU) tests. A vaginal ultrasound which is all clear. My vulvar skin has been checked by sexual health nurses and 2 senior consultants (gynae, GUM) - all normal.
After 4 months in March-23, my GP diagnosed me with Vestibulitis/vestibulodynia. I have been taking Amitriptyline since. The first dose (10mg) immediately relieved my urinary issues!! I am currently on 30mg and using lidocaine ointment (5%) nightly, and lots of lube for sex - this has enabled me to have sex, often with mild-no pain. Internal itch is gone too.
The thing which has not been relieved at all is itchy labia majora 😩. Since January, I have been washing and applying an emollient only, using sensitive laundry detergent, cotton underwear and sleeping without underwear. The itch is sometimes worse at night but I think that’s because I’m less distracted. In April I took antibiotics for Group B Strep that was found on my vaginal swab but this just worsened my symptoms, my labia were extremely inflamed, swollen and red, labia majora itch was so bad. I took probiotics and applied hydrocortisone which helped. I have continued taking probiotics.
I have also been on a low estrogen oral contraceptive pill for 2 years. Since the amitriptyline has helped for most symptoms I’m guessing it is irritated nerves (vestibule is red at 12 o’clock). However, I still have labia majora itching and my boyfriend noticed that my labia majora looks redder than it used to be and my labia minora look more ‘dehyrdated’, slightly browner in colour. Could this itching, dehydrated appearance be hormonally-mediated? All my doctors have sort of shut down the hormonal idea when bringing it up.. either way I have stopped my pill. I also only recently told my GP I had a few episodes (5 in 3 months) of bed wetting before starting the amitriptyline and he seemed quite concerned so has booked me in for an ultrasound of my bladder and a spinal MRI to “cover all bases”.
Sorry for such a long post, I just wanted to get everything in there. I’d appreciate any advice, similar experiences etc. 🥰

Aussie, from the sound of it. I feel bad for anyone in your life who has to deal with your gaslighting bullshit outside the context of a video game. you're a pizza burn on the roof of the world's mouth. You're a stubbed toe before a walk to work. You're a missing earbud that ran out of battery 5 seconds before it was realized missing. You're the $4 in change rattling around in the dryer 2 minutes after laying in bed. You're the pet hair caught on the back of someone's tongue. You're the last bit of speed stick falling out of the tube when you didn't get another at the store because "I still have some left." You're the bottom eyelash bent so that it hooks with the top like velcro every time you blink. You're the shoes that make the left pinky-toe fall asleep after 3 hours. The sock without a mate. The password that's "incorrect" and when you go to change it, "new password can't be the same as old password." You're the ice stuck to the bottom of the glass that hits you in the face when you turn it upwards. You're the splash-back at the dive bar urinal that gets on your pants and you have to act like they ran out of paper towels and it's just water from when you definitely washed your hands.
We were on a bug mission. I was running around kiting some enemies, and you started firing at them with a grenade launcher. Or so I thought. You hit me, and I typed, "well...you tried."
You responded on the mic, laughing, "Tried?! haha yes, I was TRYING to kill YOU!...Silly"
I let it slide...maybe I misheard you. Maybe it was just a one-time goof. A gaff. A prank bro, if you will.
Then we get to the objective, and you start mag-dumping teammate 3 while he was using the terminal at the objective. "Oh. This guy is a size 48 clown-shoe masquerading as a human," I thought. While I reloaded, you killed Teammate 3, so I popped you in the face. To my surprise, you groaned about it as if you didn't literally beg me to put you down by acting like someone with a toilet where their brain should be.
Then we were extracting, you and teammate 3 were away from exfil, me and teammate 4, who wasn't privy to your juvenile bullshit, were waiting. Now, I'm already watching the map. Because I know exactly what's about to happen. You turn toward teammate 3, and he dies. He exclaims in the chat about the TK.
Bet. Against my usual behavior but feeling warranted in this case, the way a farmer might feel about putting down a cow that keeps trying to chew off the other cows' hooves for no reason, I thought, "well if he thinks killing teammates is fun, he's gonna LOVE this!" and force-fed you an eruptor round as soon as you peaked your narrow head over the berm.
And how did you respond? "WHOAAA!! Bro! What the hell man?? You killed us!" to which teammate 4 admirably responded by killing me in return. Not his fault, he didn't know what was going on.
It's the audacity for me. You spend the entire match TKing us on purpose, not even denying it, not in a way that was funny or clever or reciprocated, presumably due to the fact that we were down to 3 reinforcements, and yours, the smoothest of brains I've encountered in months, SOMEHOW managed to generate the synaptic activity to play victim when someone does it right back to you? Get fucked, ******_****.
And just in case, I have this whole thing recorded. I was already recording, so I have it from before you even joined the game. Why I didn't report you, I'm not sure.

I have been struggling as my posts show with some serious health anxiety over the last 6-8 weeks. Since about the beginning of March. I think I may have run out of hope that this is simply anxiety and not something more serious.
I recently went to a rheumatologist to discuss my high ANA panel and she scheduled a bunch of tests. Telling me that lupus could be causing these symptoms I’ve been complaining of, but also that 50-60% of ANA panels that come back positive are often nothing.
For context Im a 27 yo male who had a bout that was virtually identical to this three years ago, and these unbearable symptoms consist of

• patches of skin that feel like they're burning
  
• randoms stinging pains
  
• twitching
  
• it feels like im leaking urine but i cant tell
  
• buzzing sensation
  
• joint pain
  

and all of this fires up at random with no warning. my psychiatrist says it could be due to the fact that my anxiety is virtually all somatic, like i dont feel mentally anxious but my body does.
Ive been through the wringer with this, im terrified its ms or lupus or something like a brain tumor. What dignity is there in life if i have to pee in a diaper, or cant exercise because i cant move or because i have to be carful not to aggravate my condition. who could love a man who was basically helpless, wreaking of urine with sexual deficiencies.
I’m supposed to be building a life I put myself through college after I dropped out of high school, I dealt with drug addiction and family trauma, the loss of a sibling, being abandoned by my father, and then I dealt with this whole event once with the sole solace that no matter what my partner would love me. Last year she left me. Now I am alone trying to piece together what is happening to me. I’ve gone up on my dose of lexapro, I’ve spoken with my pcp and got referral to a neurologist who ordered more test but the process is so slow.
I am in limbo and what if the news I get is the news I expect, why should I continue to live I’d simply be taking up space.

Age 30 Sex F
Hiii I just have a few questions since my doctor provided little to no advice…looking for someone to shed some light:
Situation: the wound is on the top of my inner lips (but still outside, not inside of inner lips) right under my clitoris. About a size of rice grain. It was done by cutting off and silver nitrate to stop bleeding.
The side of my outer lips that touched the wound also got chemical burnt with silver nitrate I think (it’s dark around it) 😭. When I got home from the clinic I noticed a piece of skin is gone, it looks like a mild second degree burn! About a size of a quarter.
I followed up w my dr and he said just leave it dry as much as I can and use antibiotic polysporin… unless it gets an infection. I’m about to leave the country next week so won’t be able to see a doctor anytime soon, so any advice would be helpful!!
1- should I use OTC antibiotic polysporin? I heard it’s bad sometimes. My outer lip wound and gw wound is slightly rubbing together 😭 I’m scared it will make it too moist. I tried to clean it with a QTIP every 4-5 hours and rinse with warm water after I urinate and wipe dry. Maybe 4 times a day?
2- im on day 2.5 now the skin doesn’t look like it’s healing that much? The gw wound’s silver nitrate crust fell off and I can see some grey mucus, it doesn’t really look like an infection tho(not hurting, no weird color or smell or blood). Ive been putting some light layer of antibiotics on after water cleanse, is it ok or is it infection?
3- the burnt area has some white part in the middle, doesn’t look mucusy, the nurse hotline I called said it’s probably fat tissue growing, is it true? 😭 but I treat it also like the method above.
In general it doesn’t hurt that much. I take vitamin B complex, zinc, D + ibuprofen + be at home without underwear for 1-2 hours to air it out.
Do you think the wound would scab in a week? Also should I throw away the underwear that I wore these days to avoid future cross contamination?
🙏thank you 😭

Hiii I just have a few questions since my doctor provided little to no advice…looking for someone to shed some light:
Situation: the wound is on the top of my inner lips (but still outside, not inside of inner lips) right under my clitoris. About a size of rice grain. It was done by cutting off and silver nitrate to stop bleeding.
The side of my outer lips that touched the wound also got chemical burnt with silver nitrate I think (it’s dark around it) 😭. When I got home from the clinic I noticed a piece of skin is gone, it looks like a mild second degree burn! About a size of a quarter.
I followed up w my dr and he said just leave it dry as much as I can and use antibiotic polysporin… unless it gets an infection. I’m about to leave the country next week so won’t be able to see a doctor anytime soon, so any advice would be helpful!!
1- should I use OTC antibiotic polysporin? I heard it’s bad sometimes. My outer lip wound and gw wound is slightly rubbing together 😭 I’m scared it will make it too moist. I tried to clean it with a QTIP every 4-5 hours and rinse with warm water after I urinate and wipe dry. Maybe 4 times a day?
2- im on day 2.5 now the skin doesn’t look like it’s healing that much? The gw wound’s silver nitrate crust fell off and I can see some grey mucus, it doesn’t really look like an infection tho(not hurting, no weird color or smell or blood). Ive been putting some light layer of antibiotics on after water cleanse, is it ok or is it infection?
3- the burnt area has some white part in the middle, doesn’t look mucusy, the nurse hotline I called said it’s probably fat tissue growing, is it true? 😭 but I treat it also like the method above.
In general it doesn’t hurt that much. I take vitamin B complex, zinc, D + ibuprofen + be at home without underwear for 1-2 hours to air it out.
Do you think the wound would scab in a week? Also should I throw away the underwear that I wore these days to avoid future cross contamination?
🙏thank you 😭

Hiii I just have a few questions since my doctor provided little to no advice…looking for someone to shed some light:
Situation: the wound is on the top of my inner lips (but still outside, not inside of inner lips) right under my clitoris. About a size of rice grain. It was done by cutting off and silver nitrate to stop bleeding.
The side of my outer lips that touched the wound also got chemical burnt with silver nitrate I think (it’s dark around it) 😭. When I got home from the clinic I noticed a piece of skin is gone, it looks like a mild second degree burn! About a size of a quarter.
I followed up w my dr and he said just leave it dry as much as I can and use antibiotic polysporin… unless it gets an infection. I’m about to leave the country next week so won’t be able to see a doctor anytime soon, so any advice would be helpful!!
1- should I use OTC antibiotic polysporin? I heard it’s bad sometimes. My outer lip wound and gw wound is slightly rubbing together 😭 I’m scared it will make it too moist. I tried to clean it with a QTIP every 4-5 hours and rinse with warm water after I urinate and wipe dry. Maybe 4 times a day?
2- im on day 2.5 now the skin doesn’t look like it’s healing that much? The gw wound’s silver nitrate crust fell off and I can see some grey mucus, it doesn’t really look like an infection tho(not hurting, no weird color or smell or blood). Ive been putting some light layer of antibiotics on after water cleanse, is it ok or is it infection?
3- the burnt area has some white part in the middle, doesn’t look mucusy, the nurse hotline I called said it’s probably fat tissue growing, is it true? 😭 but I treat it also like the method above.
In general it doesn’t hurt that much. I take vitamin B complex, zinc, D + ibuprofen + be at home without underwear for 1-2 hours to air it out.
Do you think the wound would scab in a week? Also should I throw away the underwear that I wore these days to avoid future cross contamination?
🙏thank you 😭

I am in recovery from my ureteroscopy on a calyceal diverticulum, and while I found some journal articles and a few stray posts on here about them, I want to paint a bigger picture about my actual experience and what I felt.
This is a very long post because I wanted to err on the side of more information so that others may feel much less alone than I have felt. I have included subheadings so you can read only what is useful to you.
To start, I am a 31-year-old female with endometriosis (I explain the implications of that in one of my subsections.). I live in New York City and was operated on by a surgeon at Smith Institute for Urology at Lenox Hill Hospital, which specializes in “complex anatomy” and kidney stones.
TL;DR Calyceal diverticula are pockets on the kidneys affecting 0.5% of the population. Stones can form and get trapped due to their narrow opening (infundibulum). As a result, their pain pattern is different and diagnosis can be delayed. To resolve the problem, you will need a surgeon to remove stones and expand the opening and/or ablate the lining of the diverticulum via ureteroscopy or percutaneous nephrolithotomy.
What is a calyceal diverticulum?
For a good scientific review of what calyceal (kay-luh-SEE-uhl) diverticula are, there is a review study from 2014 with primary author Nikhil Waingankar. In short, these are pockets within the kidneys that have much narrower entry points (“infundibula”) than a normal calyx, and they are theorized to only occur in 0.5% of the human population, with an estimated 96% of those who have them forming stones inside them.
They are often found incidentally on imaging because many people remain asymptomatic. In my case, we saw “a cyst requiring further imaging to rule out neoplasm” (cancer) when I was having my appendectomy in 2022 and had a CT scan in the ER.
They will look like cysts until you either get a radiologist who knows what to look for and sees a stone inside, or until you do a CT urogram, which is a more involved CT scan where you can see if the urinary system communicates with the “cyst.” Simple cysts and neoplasms will not show urine entering the mass; a calyceal diverticulum will, because it has an entrance.
Important stipulation in my experience: endometriosis and its surgeries
My story is complicated by the fact that I have endometriosis, which is a disease wherein cells resembling uterine cells occur outside the uterus. This is an extraordinarily painful condition that causes widespread inflammation due to the uterus-like cells’ having “menstrual periods” outside the uterus. It that can occur anywhere in the body; while most people’s disease presents primarily in the ovaries, uterus, and Fallopian tubes, the disease has been found in every organ in the body. In my case, my disease was confirmed to be extrapelvic as soon as my appendix pathology report revealed that my appendix had endometriosis on it; the cells existed beyond the typical pelvic organs.
I have already had two laparoscopies for endometriosis, and while these were immensely helpful in restoring my quality of life, every abdominal surgery comes with the risk of adhesions. Adhesions are bands of tissue that the body forms when it experiences inflammation or trauma. Endometriosis forms adhesions by itself, and surgery to remove it risks further adhesions. In 2020, when I had my radical excision surgery, my surgeon had to perform ureterolysis to cut my ureters free: whether from previous surgery in 2016 or the disease, my ureters were stuck to my uterus due to adhesions.
I share this because having endometriosis and its surgeries in my history affected my path to diagnosis and probably my pain pattern. (Endometriosis forms its own nerve endings, too!) But for the record, the kidney stones and the kidney surgery in my case were more painful than endometriosis…probably because they freaked out any remaining endometriosis.
(Sorry for no source on this endometriosis information. I am unfortunately very well-read on the disease! If you want to learn more, I recommend The Center for Endometriosis Care website and the book Beating Endo.)
What did the calyceal diverticulum feel like at first?
On a Tuesday in January 2024, I was trialing prazosin, an alpha blocker related to Flomax (tamsulosin) due to PTSD nightmares.
One day after taking this drug, I woke up with 8/10 pain muscle spasms in my “iliac crest,” which is the top edge of my pelvis, on the right side. I thought I had “slept funny” and the pain subsided after about 3 hours. I tried to roll around on a lacrosse ball, thinking it was a muscle spasm.
I took the prazosin for two more days. By that Thursday, the pain lasted more like 6 hours and did not go away; I had the muscle spasms as well as a feeling that there was “trapped gas” right at my waist, right on the side of my body. Because the pain stayed at 8/10, nothing would calm it down, and I couldn’t focus on work, I went to the ER. We did a CT scan and saw nothing different from my last CT for my appendectomy. They decided it was probably a kidney infection with strange presentation due to my endometriosis and sent me home with cefpodoxime, an antibiotic.
I finished the course of the antibiotic over 7 days and felt better.
But then the “trapped gas” feeling returned and lasted 18 hours. I went back to the ER, mostly concerned that I had failed antibiotics and the “infection” was getting worse. I made a urologist appointment while I was waiting in the ER because I suspected this might be beyond their mandate of ruling out anything life-threatening. We did another CT, and this time I really carefully read the results: inside what we had identified as a calyceal diverticulum in 2022 during my appendectomy CT scan were two kidney stones, each about 0.2mm. Because there was not much change from my last ER visit, the doctor at the ER did not think this explained how I was feeling. He did not want to send me home with antibiotics because he thought his colleagues were too cavalier with testing, but he did send for a urine culture and sent me home at least assured there was no emergency.
The culture came back, and I did test positive for E. Faecalis, which is a rarer bacteria to have, so the doctor at the ER urged me to get on Levaquin, an antibiotic, as soon as possible. (My endourologist later theorized this bacterium was an incidental finding; he thinks I just happened to be colonized with it and it was not causing symptoms. Regardless, it was not present in my culture before surgery.)
Again, I took almost the full course of the antibiotic and was feeling better and safer. I also saw a urologist, and she was skeptical it was an infection but told me to continue the course. She was pretty sure it was endometriosis-related but saw that I had seen my gynecologist, who has been treating me for 5 years, days prior who was pretty sure this was NOT consistent with what she had seen when we operated in 2020. The urologist said she felt this might be beyond her skills and referred me to one of her medical school colleagues who is a specialist in “complex anatomy” like calyceal diverticula as an endourologist professor at Lenox Hill in NYC.
But before I could see the endourologist, only one week after my last ER visit, I was in 9/10 pain for 7 hours overnight. I really did not want to go to the ER again, but I was vomiting, sweating, using the bathroom (both ways) constantly. After 7 hours not being able to get it to calm down, I went back to the ER.
The first thing they did was test me for sepsis, because I was being treated for an infection. They also did a CT scan again and then we saw it: one of the kidney stones had left the calyceal diverticulum and was stuck in the ureterovesicular junction (“UVJ”). By the time I was diagnosed, I was in 9/10 pain for 18 hours, so what we now know to be the renal colic phase lasted for 18 hours. They admitted me overnight to the hospital to observe and had me on ketorolac (Toradol) and oxycodone/acetaminophen (Percocet) every 6 hours alternating. The pain subsided the next morning.
Confirmation and surgery
Luckily, I had the endourologist appointment on the books already, and I got all of my images from the ER to bring to this doctor, letting him know I was confirmed to have passed the stone.
What he was able to do for me I will never forget: he showed me exactly why I was in enough pain for the ER each of the three weeks I went. Unlike a normal stone situation, a stone in a calyceal diverticulum has far more opportunities to get stuck. Also unlike a normal stone, you can feel the stone passing before it reaches the ureter because it has to leave via the narrow opening of the diverticulum. This means the pain can feel different and, due to its location within the kidney is more prone to being referred pain (pain you feel in a place other than where it originates). This is why I did not feel the pain in the classic place and why it felt much more like trapped gas. Furthermore, most radiologists do not have the same training as he did to identify where in the opening the stone was, which explained why they believed the stone was in the same place each time.
We wanted to take a “wait and see” approach on the second stone, but my body did not want to wait. As I was falling asleep one night in early March 2024, I felt that familiar “trapped gas” feeling, way too far right to be my intestines. This is 6/10 pain, so I could go to work for an important meeting, but I called to get an ultrasound and appointment right away. (We have since found that for my specific diverticulum, ultrasounds are not useful. I will need a CT urogram any time we want to visualize the kidney post-op.)
My doctor said that he wanted to attempt ureteroscopy before percutaneous nephrolithotomy because it is a less-invasive modality and we were worried about impacting any endometriosis. He had me sign paperwork consenting to either method, and it was a “game time” decision based on what he saw with the camera.
In the two-and-half week wait til surgery, his hypothesis gained traction: I would have days “on” with the pain and “off,” suggesting the stone was able to enter the diverticular opening and then flow back into the diverticulum. When I was in pain this time, I would also feel a lot of fatigue and brain fog that made it hard to work. This could be consistent with a kidney blockage, but it is hard to say for sure with an area so small.
The surgery, the stent, and the pain after the stent
The surgery itself went pretty well and only lasted 1.5 hours. The surgeon let me know that it was not easy to get into the diverticulum because the opening was not straight, as expected. He was, however, able to complete the surgery with only ureteroscopy. He removed a 0.2mm stone and observed that the stone was exactly the width of the opening, meaning it could absolutely flow into and out of it and get stuck for days. He widened the opening with laser to be “wider than a normal calyx” to allow for scarring, and, at my request to avoid further operations, ablated as much of the lining of the diverticulum as he could, encouraging it to close up.
While the surgery was uneventful, I am one of the unlucky ones who cannot tolerate a stent. This is probably due to my endometriosis, which leaves me in a heightened baseline of inflammation and nerve arousal, as well as the fact that, for me, the stent had to go into the diverticulum, which had been lasered and burned, in order for it to heal. I spent four hours in the recovery room while we tried to get my pain down to my goal of 7, which meant we needed to dose me, as we did in the ER, with ketorolac (Toradol) and oxycodone every 6 hours with no gaps in between.
I only had the stent in for 3 full days, and unfortunately, due to my specific circumstances, that was the worst pain I have ever been in. I was agnostic about 10/10 pain until this time, in which I felt like I was passing a stone and experiencing my worst endometriosis cramps at the same time. I was in 8-10/10 pain despite the painkiller regimen, and since we found that dilaudid does not work for me, this was good as they could do for me.
Thankfully, my surgeon listened to my experience and agreed to take the stent out as soon as was responsible: 72 hours later. The actual removal was uncomfortable but not painful beyond a “scrape” sensation in the urethra, and as soon as it was out, my husband noticed I could move as normal and was talking more like myself.
However, 1 out of 4 people will experience pain after the stent is removed, and risk factors include female anatomy, being “younger” (I am 31.) and having a stent in for less than or equal to 7 days.
The day of the removal I had some muscle spasms but was mostly so relieved that I slept all day.
34 hours after the removal, I experienced a feeling like I was passing a kidney stone. I was in 9/10 pain for 6 hours, feeling like I needed to move my bowels (which was not easy after opioids!) and having unrelenting spasms above my right iliac crest (top of pelvis). I was on ketorolac (Toradol) during this and knew what it was, but I otherwise may have gone back to the ER. I refused to take more opioids because my bowel was upset as well.
Today, I have had one episode of the iliac crest muscle spasms lasting an hour. I have found that crouching on the floor, against a wall, and/or going into “reclined butterfly pose” may help. It may just make me feel like I have more control over the situation.
I will update this post if I feel more pain in the coming days.
What’s next?
My endourologist/surgeon thinks it is very unlikely that I am “a stone-former” because the stones were only in the diverticulum and likely formed due to the urine reflux of that structure.
We will follow up in 3 weeks to see if the sensation I felt in March of the “trapped gas” recurs. If it does, only then would we do a CT urogram to see if the diverticular opening closes up to anywhere near its former width of 0.2mm.
This is unlikely because the surgeon lasered the opening very wide, “wider than a normal calyx,” to allow for scarring to take place. The ablation of the lining of the diverticulum should also take care of its tendency to collect urine.
I am not expected to have further stones or need for surgery, but he has seen cases of recurrence, so we need to manage my expectations.
Despite the extreme pain of the stent, I am content with my decision and hope that I do not have to go through this again. The one blessing in my case is, if this surgery succeeds, I should not have any further kidney stones.

First/Previous
Satan was on the air, on the night, within everything in the long shadows cast by the setting sun and with him came a chill to the air that I could never hope to internalize; it might kill me.
From a rotted abode across the street, I watched the large outbuilding and the field in which we’d buried the hand and I found myself in prayer—among the torn and exposed studs of dry-rotted wood and rusted metal I caught my own whispers and forced myself to stop like I intended to convene with God right there in the dark; I wasn’t there for Allah. It was something else that compelled me there. I whispered the prayer and felt foolish at my own voice and ducked lowly among the rubble and held my breath to watch the sunlight go from the land and in a blink, the light was gone, and I was there in darkness that at first was a terror and then I slipped into it through blinks and the surroundings became clearer even in the dark.
Time went on.
I was exposed, but the yougins were safe—Trouble too. If nothing else mattered in the world, then they should go on without me. It had come to me so suddenly (maybe it was the prayer that withdrew such a sentimentality) that I liked them okay.
Before anything else, a cat’s hiss came so faintly that I plugged my ear with my pinky, shook it and listened again; the noise grew closer, and I could do nothing but watch the field and squint in the darkness and wait.
Fumbling, I counted the glass containers with touch only—two in my jacket pocket and the third by my feet—and my fingers then danced to the threadbare strap of the shotgun on my shoulder; I shed my pack for mobility.
The domineering creature lurched forcefully from the shadows and then went on display in the moonlight properly and its arched back protruded even over its own head till it lifted that muzzle, so its rattish face was cut out in a black outline; it was sniffing, and the hiss came through the air again. The Alukah kept a serpentine strut, smoothly gliding across the ground as it used its hands like forelegs to press its snout against the ground. In watching, I consciously relaxed my shoulders and refrained from biting my teeth together. That creature found the spot it had been searching for—it seemed roughly the place we’d buried the hand—and it took its claws there with bestial shovelfuls.
In a hurry, I gathered the jar I’d placed by my feet—it would not slide so gracefully into my jacket as the others—and as quietly as I could, I slinked around the rubble, through two studs, and onto the dirt. Within milliseconds, my own heartbeat pounded all over my body and I stood in the street and lit the Molotov cocktail with a lighter and took closer to the creature.
It shifted around and in that moment I wished I had a light source powerful enough to expose its body; I tossed the cocktail in a high arch and it exploded in a moment by the creature’s feet as it stood and pivoted to look at me fully; its solid white eyes were wide in a glance of moon-shine and it slung itself from the eruption of flames around its feet with violent speed. Its black hair hung down the sides of its face and its head parted midway to expose a snarl. It stalked in a circle around the concentration of flames, remaining mostly in the dark; the thing moved slowly nearer, those long arms swaying in front of itself with each step.
You should know better. It stopped midstride, coming no closer and we each stood there in the field roughly thirty feet from one another, and I refused to take my eyes from it. The boy’s mine. The flames began to flicker and die. For how long we stood like that, I couldn’t say, and I waited.
I couldn’t find a voice till it was all dark again, besides the moon and stars. “Why can’t you leave us be? There’s easier pickins.”
You offer yourself too much credit, Harlan. We remained in silence and in the darkness the creature may have been a statue—in a blink it seemed as much. You are a corpse, no? A walking corpse of a man! A terrible sickness is in you. I know it. I see it on you as plainly as I see your fear.
Rigidity took over my body and I puffed my chest out like it meant something and I shook my head, “I’m not afraid.”
Not of me, no. Of yourself? Something. The voice lingered with the ends of its words, drawing them out first guttural then it left them on hisses. Something I know.
I lit the next Molotov, and the creature didn’t move; I threw the bottle furiously and it went into the darkness like a far candleflame till it erupted in the spot the Alukah had been standing—the thing had leapt from there, leaving me unawares and I lowered myself to the ground in a crouch, swiveling my head around to catch the thing in the dark. The flames on the ground danced brightly, leaving me light-blinded.
Not again, said the thing, You will not catch me so easily with fire again. It was behind me, nearer the outbuilding and it took a moment through blinks for my eyesight to return well enough to see the grotesqueness of the misshapen massive humanoid thing.
The Molotov explosion burned then disappeared and we stood looking at one another again and I felt silly, foolish, radically unprepared, and overwhelmingly trivial in the grand scheme of the universe—if it wanted to, it could leap the distance between us and rip me to shreds. Why didn’t it kill me? Why wasn’t I dead?
That damnable night creature extended one of its massive forehands, flexing the digits on the end of its arm and whispered its words like a plea, The boy, Harlan. That is all. Take that brimstone smelly girl and carry that shell of a body—walk on to whatever hole you humans call home.
Hoping to not draw a movement from the creature, I pressed my forearm against my ribcage, feeling the last Molotov that was there in the inner pocket and I gently slid the strap from my shoulder, and held my shotgun in both hands, licking my dry lips, watching the dark frame of the Alukah, fearing even a moment of distraction; my eyes locked on the creature and I refused to speak.
No deal then. It wasn’t a question; its rattish snout offered a mild nod of understanding. You despise a good sense of words.
I readied the shotgun, legs spaced in proper formation—looking down the barrel, I held my breath and upon squeezing the trigger, the thing knocked into my shoulder, but the creature was gone. In scanning, I found the thing had moved from the field and bounded wildly across the street towards the dead ruins of Annapolis, its muscular limbs made short work of fleeing.
The outbuilding remained quiet and erectly tall, and I moved to its shadow and cussed whispers for wasting ammunition. Only three shells remained; worse, I’d wasted two of my explosives. I watched the horizon in the opposite direction of the crowded foundations of Annapolis and carefully held my breath in watching and I prayed again, hoping that the commotion would not draw attention.
An overwhelming sense of foolishness welled in my guts, and I trotted off towards the direction I’d watched the Alukah go, through the ramshackle streets haphazardly.
The darkness was maddeningly empty, so I filled it with shouts, “C’mon! This is your turf, ain’t it? This darkness is yours so come and take me if you can!” Rusty as I was, I held the shotgun like never before, squinting my eyes, keeping my pace in unison with my heartbeat. There’s a place in that darkness that is beyond reproach, beyond the comprehension of a city dweller, beyond even my own understanding and I found myself padding through those streets at an accelerated rate, hopeful to confront the demon and I only found more dead and vacant lots and I crossed more than two intersections where the signs were either gone or indecipherable in the black shadows cast there. I wished for a payback of the demon’s hunt or perhaps I wished for something even more than that—what did I need to prove and to who? “You sick and twisted and foul beast!” I went so loud I continued to hoarseness, “Slimy fuck!” I’s so mad that spit came with the words too.
Still, there was nothing and I came to a final crossroads, a place more commercial—at least for a flatland dead town—where brick storefronts half-stood on those four corners. Finding my voice again, I continued my tirade, cursing the demon, “Come get some—c’mon already! Here’s your fight?” I was scared though.
A sudden noise from the dilapidated storefront to my left startled me to pivot and watch, gun pulled up, and I focused as hard as I could on the recesses of that shadowed place; it was a large antiquated face where a window might have sat many years prior. Wet and hungry sounds emanated from that place, the disgusting noises of a fiend—even in knowing it, I was surprised in seeing the new creature spill out in a lumpish mess of slickened muscles, lubricated, its innumerable arms and legs clawed its own body forward so that it rolled like a mushy ball—each of those limbs remained human in nature. Upon the thing pulling itself onto the street, I staggered backwards, gun still raised, and watched its form take a modicum of understanding in the moonlight; its mouths—sporadically, illogically placed over its mass of a body—opened and seemed to try and speak with each one merely letting go of meekly audible, painful sighs in doing so. The eyes, spaced much the same as the mouths, blinked and rolled as if it was torture for the thing to live. The mutant was a tongue-like mass at its center, and it was almost the size of a horse—I’d seen fiends grow much larger, but this was still a great threat.
In moving away from where it spilled onto the street, I stumbled backwards and caught myself on the backfoot and clumsily spun into a sprint; my boots pounded in my flight from the thing, and it chased after.
Its mouths exhausted terrible sighs as it gained speed in the relative openness of the street and in seconds, I would not have been surprised if the thing snatched me by an ankle and devoured me without thought—not that fiends had any other thoughts above the basest urge to consume.
The pursuit kept me going in the dark, watching the still shadows of the dilapidated housing and I pushed on until I tasted copper; my breathing went raspy—it’d been so long since I’d been forced to run from such a creature in the open. I took a glance back and saw it coming, gaining speed in its perpetual roll; its body excreted some fluid across itself so that it could glide more easily.
Coming to a crossroads I’d passed earlier, or perhaps it was a new one—I couldn’t fathom in the dark—I took in the direction of what I thought was south and ran full throttle; my knees ached.
In hoping to confuse the mutant, I quickly dove towards the right side of the southbound street, towards some ramshackle, through the skeletal framing of a skinless house without a roof; I pushed through the pencil-narrow vertical beams and stumbled through, landing onto the unseen ground on the other side. My left leg spasmed and in the millisecond that it took for my nerves to register the pain, I let out a mild, “Oh.” I tried to lift myself from the spot and found that my left leg refused to bend straight; in total horror—more so from my body failing than the mutant—I swiveled my torso around and scooted on my rear across the ground, raking myself in the opposite direction of the fiend.
The mutant slammed into the frame; its many arms reached through the bars and in a moment, it began to use its hands to lift itself along the exposed wall and I scooted further away till my back met the bars of where an opposite wall would’ve gone. In a scramble, I snatched the shotgun, pushed myself sniff against the bars on my side and watched the thing down the barrel; I waited and concentrated on my own breathing. If nothing else worked, I still had that Molotov—if not for it then for me.
As it crested the top of the wall made of bars, I watched patiently and only when I was certain I fired.
The mutant, the great meatball-thing that it was, lost its grasp for a moment and slipped onto the arrangement of vertical bars; I gush of liquid, illuminated in starlight, shot from its base of its soft body; it began to try and catch its grasp on the bars and I took a moment for myself to examine my left knee—I pulled it as close to my face as I could manage which was hardly at all—some black triangular mass had lodged itself into my flesh; more accurately, I’d slammed myself onto something sharp in my panic to flee the fiend. In a second, not thinking of the repercussions, I gripped the thing with my left hand and clamped my mouth onto my right hand, biting into fat of my hand by the thumb. The debris was free from my leg, and I let it to fall to the ground; blood ran freely into my mouth and I let go of the bite and tentatively lifted the gun again, ignoring the pain; the creature continued to struggle, and I fired again. It slipped again, further impaling itself on the bars.
I had one shell left.
Using the place I’d propped my back, I pushed free from the ground and put all my weight onto my right leg, testing the left; I staggered—hopped really—around in the small square of ground surrounded by metal framing and searched the ground for something long. I unearthed the dirt around my feet and found a long piece of metal rod; setting the gun to the side, I lifted the metal rod over my head and then slowly arched it out from my body. It would give me just enough room to further injure the thing while also staying well out of its grasp.
I swung the makeshift weapon down like a bat or a sword and the fiend slid a little further down the bars, the exit wounds began to show across the top of its roundish body, and I smacked it again—its mouths spoke words that could nearly be understood. Though it took only moments, I was thoroughly exhausted by the time the creature had reached the ground again, good and dead and impaled upon six of those vertical bars. I tossed the weapon to the ground, lifted my gun, and shimmied through the bars on the opposite side of the square.
Adrenaline only lasts so long, and my left leg throbbed to the point of nausea; I did not want to inspect the wound, but on rounding the ramshackle and watching the still dead thing, I stumbled into the street and knelt and lifted my pant leg. It was dark and bloody and already it was burning. Infection was my first thought. A puncture wound could spell a terrible fate. I shifted to sit in the street. My leg didn’t bend right.
The cat’s hiss came from the darkness and there wasn’t a way I could respond in time; I felt those long nasty fingers grab me by the back of my neck and I was lifted immediately from the ground—the gun clattered to the ground and all I could do was initially freeze and stiffen and then my hands moved to the grasp which held me firmly by the throat; those massive knuckles were like stones.
The Alukah had me and situated me so that it could look into my face, its long black hair hid its eyes but I could smell its breath and see its teeth which rested in its round mouth. I could snap you. It seemed to nod its head, but to detect humanity in that damnable pale face was a mistake.
I choked.
What’s that? It relaxed its grasp on my throat.
“Do it.”
Why’re you crying? Its foot brushed against the gun at its feet, and it lifted it with its free hand, and it commented casually, Little human toy.
It moved, holding me by the throat, dragging me along the ground in an abnormal sluggish gait. It was hard to see anything but the night sky, anything but the strange angle of the demon—with its grip, it was hard to breathe, and tears indeed welled in my eyes, and I held to its forearm to distribute some of the weight of my own body away from my neck. With its tugging, I could not speak, but it spoke.
I’ll squeeze you dry, but your blood’s too tainted to drink. That won’t make it any less interesting. I’ll twist you like a rag and see which hole it comes from first. More than that, you’ll scream. You’ll scream so loud everyone will know. Everyone will know what I’ve done to you—once you’re no more than ruin. Not even Mephisto would balk at my handiwork once I’ve had my time with you. God will look on your sour corpse with so much disgust there won’t be a place for you anywhere. Only Oblivion, a place worse than any.
The creature moved us to the open field, tilted its head back and forth, rose its rattish face to the sky and snorted and then clearly sniffed, dropping the gun to its feet to brush the long black hair from its eyes; its muscular body shone in the moonlight so that even its bluish veins stood plainly from its white skin. It shifted its gaze to the outbuilding—maybe fifty yards away—where the youngins were hidden.
Deftly, the thing lifted me from where it had kept me by its side and my feet levitated over the air, I felt feet taller, suspended from that long arm the way I was. It took its free hand to my midsection and I felt the digits of its hand squeeze my ribs and it let go of my throat and I coughed and wheezed, placing my hands on its fingers to dig into that thing’s skin—it didn’t matter—in seconds, a scream escaped my rattling throat; it squeezed more and I felt the glass bottle in my jacket burst from the force then the Alukah gave relief and I tried to gulp air, but felt pangs along my body. My jacket was wetted from blood by the broken bottle shards entering my body or from the contents of the bottle or both.
Urine? It pulled me close to itself, sniffed, and shook its head. Oil? it cackled, Again! Beg for the help you do not deserve! It held me outright once more.
Again, the great hand constricted me and again I could not help but to let out a scream—my lungs were on fire, my voice stretched like a dying animal. I heard barks and saw nothing through wild choking tears. The grip softened.
I coughed more and tried to speak; the Alukah brought me close to itself as if to wait and listen to what I had to say. Weeping words fell out in a whisper, “Kill me. Do it. I don’t mind.”
Another sharp laugh exited the thing’s throat and it squeezed again, facing me out so that I could look at the black outline of the outbuilding. I heard the barking again and I saw the figures stumble out from the sidelong face of the outbuilding. I blinked to remove the tears.
A voice, neither mine nor the demon’s, shouted an attempt at authority, “Let him go!” It was Gemma. They rounded the building so that moonlight removed them from obscurity. Gemma held Trouble on a lead while Andrew followed.
Trouble growled.
The smile was audible through the Alukah’s voice, Strong words for one so dainty. I felt its grip tighten and I chuffed and couldn’t manage a word.
“Get it!” shouted Gemma; she let go of Trouble’s lead and the dog looked curiously at me and the demon where we were and tucked its tail and circled to hide behind the children.
The Alukah laughed. Scary dog.
I was lightheaded while my vision went; I should die—I’d bleed out there or some unknown medical oddity would shut me off. Perhaps I’d will myself to death. My head nodded tiredly, and I fought it, blinking, shaking my head to maintain my eyes.
“You want me?” The boy took a few steps forward and his voice cracked. “We could make a deal.”
The Alukah lowered me so that my feet skimmed the ground but shifted to keep a tight hold around only my throat. Oh?
“What are you doing?” shouted Gemma; she closed the space between herself and Andrew and shoved him.
He shoved her back. “Me for him,” he addressed the demon.
Is that the deal?
Everything in my body protested while I reached for the jean pocket on my right side; I could not reach it. I stretched and my ribs screamed in pain—it was worse than bruising. The demon did not notice me moving. Maybe because my movements were weak, subtle. I tried again while mentally asking God for help and I came short of the pocket. I cursed Him and then my shaking fingers found the pocket. I withdrew the lighter there.
“That’s right,” said Andrew.
“No, he won’t,” Gemma’s voice was aflame.
It’s not your deal to make, girly.
I took the lighter to my jacket, lit it, and the flames grew around me in a flash, feeding on the oil.
The Alukah hissed, attempted to unwrap its hand from around me while I dug into its forearm with two claws and bit onto the thing’s hand for extra purchase. It swung me around and my legs flew limply. It took every bit of strength I had.
Let go! The Alukah shrieked.
Trouble barked, the children screamed, and I bit deeper till that thick black blood filled my mouth. The flames were immaculate, cleansing, more furious than I could’ve imagined. Not for life—that’s not why I held on so strongly—it was for them, for Andrew and Gemma. Me and that creature should’ve burned together. Fitting.
Delirium took over and I swiveled overhead in the demon’s tantrum, holding onto that arm. The Alukah hissed, roared, shouted nasty epithets.
The gunshot rang out and I met ground, hard.
Exhaustion or death could’ve taken me then, but it was the former.
When consciousness came again, it was hands, smacking hands that brought me to life—then the vague smell of burnt hair, cooked flesh. My body stung and I could not move but to lift my face from the dirt where I lay belly-flat.
“You almost died,” said Gemma somewhere between hope and sorrow, “You almost killed yourself!” She shook me and shoved me hard enough so that I rolled on my back. She’d been crying, but surely, we’d won. What was there to cry for? If we’d lost, she wouldn’t be talking at all.
She left me and I stared at the sky through slits. The sun was coming but I couldn’t feel the warmth; I couldn’t feel anything (that would be a sweet memory in the time to come). It was quiet save the crackling I heard; it was like the lowness of a dying fire. It wasn’t me? I wasn’t on fire?
When she returned, she lifted my head to place my pack underneath it; it elevated my vision. I surveyed my surroundings. The outbuilding was there and the Alukah lay on the ground perhaps ten feet from me; its body charred and sizzled and caught little flames in response to the cresting sunrise; everything was a daze—we’d won.
Gemma’s eyes glittered, and she called the dog over and the dog sniffed my face and the girl’s lips remained flat, expressionless.
I saw the boy’s body—it lay motionless alongside the dead Alukah and alongside that body was my shotgun. The body’s head sat on its side, disconnected from its owner, facing away from where I lay.
“He killed it. He shot it.” Gemma sat beside me, and Trouble placed her snout on the girl’s shoulder. “We’re going to die,” she nodded.
First/Previous
Archive

Some context first:

• This happened when I was in HS, so a little over 10 years ago.
• I'm French, so sorry in advance for any mistakes / weird phrasing. The teacher I'll be talking about was my French teacher, so I think it'd be the same as an English teacher is the US/UK/ English speaking countries.
• For various reasons, I went to a private HS, which in France often means, religious HS. We didn't have Catholicism classes or anything like that, but there was options to have "faith breakfasts" before class to discuss religion and faith, and things like that.
• But the main difference with French public HS are the rules: stricter dress code (skirt and shorts not above knee level, no shorts or open shoes for boys, no cleavage allowed, no tank tops, no piercings even on the ears, etc.), a no phone on school ground policy, and no drinking or eating during class. Not even water, because there has been cases of students putting clear alcohol instead of water in their bottles.

Now, to the story.
So I was around 17, and I recently had urinating pain, feeling like cystitis (urinary tract infection). After analysis and a bladder ultrasound, it was revealed that I had crystals in my bladder. This was the begging of renal calculus, so obstruction of my urinary tract, and if not treated, I could end up with kidney stones before turning 18. (I don't have the best of health, but even I was shocked). The treatment: Drinking a lot, and a lot, and then again a lot of water with low calcium in it, and hope it would suffice. The school policy was no drinking in class, not even water, but most of the teachers were lenient because in the HS (and in most French schools) there's no AC. So in the summer, you don't want the kids to get dehydrated, or worse have heat strokes occurring, because small private HS means no Infirmary.
So during the first half the day, I had my little water bottle, and would take sips regularly, refill it while taking a bathroom break between classes. Then the afternoon begins with 2 hours of French class. I put down my papers and pens, then my bottle, and the teacher immediately says loudly in a condescending tone "You do know, miss [my family name], that no drinks or food are allowed in class?" I try to ask for an exception, but he interrupts me, still condescending "You surely can manage 2 small hours without drinking, it's not like it will kill you". Looking back, it probably wouldn't have killed me, but I was 17, in pain because of the crystals, and really stressed at the idea of having kidney stones, because I heard the pain is worst than giving birth, and I'm sensitive to pain. So as class was not yet started and not everyone was sited, I went to the teacher's desk, to talk more "privately".
"I know sir that not even water is allowed in class, but I and urine analysis and a bladder ultrasound very recently, that showed crystals inside my bladder. The doctor urgently encouraged me to drink two or three times more water, or I could have calculus in my kidneys before graduation. I have pain medication in the meanwhile to help me going to the toilets without crying because it burn like hot razor blades when I urinate, but it doesn't remove all the pain, and I'm really scared for my health, as nephritic colic would mean hospitalization and missing class. So I'm really sorry to insist, but could you please make an exception, at least until my health is better?"
He was dumbfounded and looked embarrassed, then stuttered a bit before saying "Oh.. Okay fine, I do hope you'll be okay" Between the amount of medical terms I just threw at him, and the seriousness of the matter, he had no ways of denying me a poor water bottle. For the rest of the day he wouldn't look me in the eyes, and I think he passed the news to my other teachers, because some of them would look at me with sympathy even though I never told any other teacher.
Might sound stupid, but to this day I'm proud of myself, because that teacher was really not agreeable and I was a people-pleaser and a door mat, but I stood my ground that day.

Hi, I've had reccurring UTIs for the past 5 years and a half, and I also have a kidney malfunction which might explain why I'm prone to UTIs. Some of these UTIs were confirmed via a urine test, and all of them stopped after one or several days on antibiotics. However, I've had symptoms which seem like a UTI, but less intense, for the past 2 years, they don't require antibiotics and go away within a few days if I drink huge amounts of water (those symptoms are burning/itching while and after peeing, but not to the point that I feel like I'm peeing razor blades like in regular UTIs). That's why I've been thinking I might have IC.
Last Sunday I was at a Taylor Swift concert, I queued for hours and was standing in the pit so I couldn't drink a lot, nor use the toilets as much as I wanted. The next day, I had what I thought was my first actual UTI in a year and a half: the burning and itching was intense, I felt like I needed to pee constantly and was feeling dehudrated despite the huge amounts of water I drank. I also had bladder pain, but I didn't get that specific UTI feeling where you desperately need to pee but can't. I was feeling extremely uncomfortable, but I could still pee when I felt the need (which was constant). I decided to go to a doctor who pescribed me fosfomycin, and I took it without getting a urine test done. I felt instantly better. Yesterday I was at another concert, same story, couldn't drink nor pee as much as I wanted, and when I got home I felt the same symptoms. I took another dose of fosfomycin (the doctor had prescribed two in case one wasn't enough) and I'm feeling much better already. Was this an actual UTI? I mean, does the fact that the antibiotics worked mean that it was a UTI? Because the symptoms felt more like IC symptoms, but more intense. Even now, I'm feeling much better but I still feel extremely dehydrated despite the HUGE amounts I drank today...
I'm French and here none of the urologists I've seen have ever told me about IC. But I live in constant worry that I'm going to develop symptoms, and this week, with the intense symptoms that required me to ask for antibiotics, got me wondering if what I have is recurring UTIs or IC, or something else, I don't know. I'm feeling quite alone as doctors don't seem to care or want to know the cause of this (typical, I know).

I've been in a new relationship for a few months and we both went through check ups before we started doing it without condoms. We did it only once. (She takes the pill)
One day I was concerned about what I always thought were skin tags. They protrude from the skin like skin tags and did not spread visibly for several years. An acetowhite test at home did not turn them white after 5 minutes, but they seemed a little lighter the following days after. I had a lot of visits to different urologists in the past because of other problems (burning sensation in the urethra, 7 examinations, multiple urine and sperm samples, cystoscopy, prostate examination, all without findings). They also told me that everything looked normal down there.
However, an online dermatologist had a different opinion: It might be genital warts. I asked my regular dermatologist to confirm the diagnosis. His answer: He couldn't rule it out. I should apply Condylox for 5-6 weeks and see what happens. Follow-up appointment after 8 weeks.
I have now completed the first treatment (Day 6). The suspicious areas have turned white.

• Would skin tags also turn white as an inflammatory reaction of the skin, or does it mean that they are definitely GW’s?
• During the treatment my burning sensation (urethra) was worse. Can this be associated with HPV?
• My GF also had her cancer screening last week. Are HPV 6 and 11 also tested on those screenings?
• Can you test for antibodies for those HPV Types?
• If she were immune to HPV 6 and 11, we would not have to abstain from sex, right?
• She was vaccinated with Cervavix (HPV 16,18) Has anyone experience with also getting Gardasil 4/9 after already getting Cervavix?

I’m having another appointment with my dermatologist on Tuesday, and my GF an appointment with her Gynaecologist the day after.
But maybe someone on here has had some experience and can tell me more…

I am 15W +3 days FTM and everything has been going well. I have started having what feels like menstrual cramps for 3 days. I saw my doctor today and gave a urine sample for potential UTI but I don’t think that’s what it is. The culture won’t come back until Monday so she gave me antibiotics to start over the weekend if I need to, but I don’t plan to unless I start having burning or sudden frequent urination.
I’ve not had painful bathroom trips or trouble. But my cramps get MUCH worse when I urinate or roll over in bed for some reason. It’s a very sharp shooting pain. Now I’m wondering if it has to do with my intestines maybe? I went to the bathroom and then after I wiped, there was this mucus? With bits of blood in it. It was definitely blood and not a colored food. I am pretty certain I don’t have hemorrhoids either.
Any ideas? Anyone else have or had this? My hormonal brain has me all sorts of overthinking🤣

This past Sunday, I had an onset of symptoms that included pain/burning during urination, urgency to urinate, irritated tip of the glans penis and a light discharge. I visited urgent care on Monday to test my urine. The initial results were fine. I then asked to do a culture. They proceeded with testing chlamydia, gonorrhea and a urine specimen. They don't press for the rest of the panel (though I probably should have). I received my results on Thursday and they were negative. In the interim, I visited my primary clinic on Tuesday to see if they can treat the symptoms. I was prescribed one 500mg dose of Azithromycin. Thinking I was on the mend, I decided to play soccer yesterday. I noticed that my discharge became more yellow after playing and remained such today. It isn't viscous or purulent but it almost resembles urine. I visited my primary clinic again today because my symptoms haven't changed much. They just proceed with a more extensive STI panel but I do ask them to include a prostate antigen test. I will visit the lab tomorrow.
Should I consider the original, though limited panel, conclusive? Do I just have a strange case of NSU?

Just a warning, this maybe a bit disorganized and or have poor grammar at times.
Hello everyone, I'm at a bit of a bad place right now and I've been looking for information / support / acknowledgement that this exists from strangers. I don't really know what good it will do me, but I hope by getting myself out there it can help my mental health a bit.
Bit of a back story. I'm 36 now and I've had anxiety all my life. It started when I was 9 and I chocked on a tortilla from taco johns. From there I remember infrequent times where I was hungry I would shake uncontrollably. I didnt always have the best food options growing up but I learned to live with it. As an adult I would have panic attacks if I went to long without eating. The symptoms were essentially copy and pasted what hypoglycemia would look like. However my blood sugar during these times was fine.
I've been on lexapro for about a decade now and my anxiety was under control with the trigger listed above as the only thing I had to actively manage. With needing to eat to avoid panic attacks, you can imagine it was hard to control my weight.
Cue last september, I had a burning sensation when taking a pee. Turns out I was passing sugar in my urine. It's type 2 diabetes time! I immediately took control the best I could with dietary changes. I lost about 25 lbs in a few months on my own adding victoza about 6 weeks after my diagnosis. I had wanted ozempic as many of my friends were on it. I was also scared of metformin because of its rare interaction with alcohol.
Late january we had a shortage of victoza here. At the same time I conveniently got a letter in the mail that my insurance would now cover ozempic. I had been stable and doing quite well. My weight had plateaued but my blood sugar was under control. Now it's time to restart the process but hopefully lose more weight! Around 2/23 I started my first dose of ozempic.
April 10th was my first episode. officially I was diagnosed with fainting. I was sleeping in bed and I woke up and something felt off. I was overwhelmed with panic and rushed out and immediately fainted. I went to the ER and after a battery of tests nothing was found to be wrong with me.
May 1st it happened again. This time my primary started my on buspar to help with the anxiety. I had high hopes that this was just my anxiety and this would fix it. It lasted all of 2 weeks.
May 15th was just a few days ago now. I've had some normal and some not so normal days between my last 2 dr visits but something broke for me this morning. I was looking at something and had a feeling of nostalgia and it triggered a panic attack. I was stuck in that moment and everything I did to look forwards felt hopeless. I woke my wife and tried to have her help calm me down. After talking to her I was feeling numb and felt like doing things to feel again. I wanted to hit the walls, bite myself, or anything to feel real. Thats when I decided to go in again, these thoughts were not my own.
In the ER they have me ativan which calmed me down. I made an appointment with my primary and saw her that afternoon. We agreed to stop the buspar and the ozempic as well. We feel as if the ozempic nausea is triggering my anxiety and the buspar seems to have exasperated it rather than help. It's been 8 days since my last shot of ozempic. I'm taking hydroxyzine for the anxiety episodes. It helps but makes me sleepy. Last night I had nightmares and when I woke up i couldnt stay awake long enough to get away from them due to the sedative effect. I think I'll try and ride out the day without them.
For now I'm trying to take it a minute at a time, an hour at a time, a day at a time. Each time I have a slight bit of nausea its sugar coated with anxiety. We are hoping that once the ozempic leaves my body ill return to how I was before and able to manage my anxiety.
If youve made it this far thanks for reading. There is no tldr if you skipped to get here.

Just a warning, this maybe a bit disorganized and or have poor grammar at times.
Hello everyone, I'm at a bit of a bad place right now and I've been looking for information / support / acknowledgement that this exists from strangers. I don't really know what good it will do me, but I hope by getting myself out there it can help my mental health a bit.
Bit of a back story. I'm 36 now and I've had anxiety all my life. It started when I was 9 and I chocked on a tortilla from taco johns. From there I remember infrequent times where I was hungry I would shake uncontrollably. I didnt always have the best food options growing up but I learned to live with it. As an adult I would have panic attacks if I went to long without eating. The symptoms were essentially copy and pasted what hypoglycemia would look like. However my blood sugar during these times was fine.
I've been on lexapro for about a decade now and my anxiety was under control with the trigger listed above as the only thing I had to actively manage. With needing to eat to avoid panic attacks, you can imagine it was hard to control my weight.
Cue last september, I had a burning sensation when taking a pee. Turns out I was passing sugar in my urine. It's type 2 diabetes time! I immediately took control the best I could with dietary changes. I lost about 25 lbs in a few months on my own adding victoza about 6 weeks after my diagnosis. I had wanted ozempic as many of my friends were on it. I was also scared of metformin because of its rare interaction with alcohol.
Late january we had a shortage of victoza here. At the same time I conveniently got a letter in the mail that my insurance would now cover ozempic. I had been stable and doing quite well. My weight had plateaued but my blood sugar was under control. Now it's time to restart the process but hopefully lose more weight! Around 2/23 I started my first dose of ozempic.
April 10th was my first episode. officially I was diagnosed with fainting. I was sleeping in bed and I woke up and something felt off. I was overwhelmed with panic and rushed out and immediately fainted. I went to the ER and after a battery of tests nothing was found to be wrong with me.
May 1st it happened again. This time my primary started my on buspar to help with the anxiety. I had high hopes that this was just my anxiety and this would fix it. It lasted all of 2 weeks.
May 15th was just a few days ago now. I've had some normal and some not so normal days between my last 2 dr visits but something broke for me this morning. I was looking at something and had a feeling of nostalgia and it triggered a panic attack. I was stuck in that moment and everything I did to look forwards felt hopeless. I woke my wife and tried to have her help calm me down. After talking to her I was feeling numb and felt like doing things to feel again. I wanted to hit the walls, bite myself, or anything to feel real. Thats when I decided to go in again, these thoughts were not my own.
In the ER they have me ativan which calmed me down. I made an appointment with my primary and saw her that afternoon. We agreed to stop the buspar and the ozempic as well. We feel as if the ozempic nausea is triggering my anxiety and the buspar seems to have exasperated it rather than help. It's been 8 days since my last shot of ozempic. I'm taking hydroxyzine for the anxiety episodes. It helps but makes me sleepy. Last night I had nightmares and when I woke up i couldnt stay awake long enough to get away from them due to the sedative effect. I think I'll try and ride out the day without them.
For now I'm trying to take it a minute at a time, an hour at a time, a day at a time. Each time I have a slight bit of nausea its sugar coated with anxiety. We are hoping that once the ozempic leaves my body ill return to how I was before and able to manage my anxiety.
If youve made it this far thanks for reading. There is no tldr if you skipped to get here.

30 year old male.6 foot. non smoker. I tested positive for Mgen February 2024 I have being with my current partner for 4 years so believe I had Mgen for 4-5 years without knowing and stupidly not getting tested due to symptoms only be mild but at the start of this year symptoms became more noticeable and increasingly uncomfortable. Frequent urination, clear discharge, sting in tip of penis and urethra opening (especially when passing urine), very painful urethra opening and penis tip after ejaculation with the constant urge to pass urine, discolouration around urethra opening and urethral stricture. I was seen by a urologist who performed surgery to fix the stricture, cystoscopy and took a biopsy of penis glans at the start of March. Results from biopsy were all clear. After these procedures I took a course of doxycycline and azithromycin to treat the Mgen. I retested for Mgen 5 weeks later and the results came back negative this was middle of April. After testing negative for Mgen I’m still having symptoms. Clear discharge, frequent urination, painful when passing urine at the tip and urethra opening, but the most uncomfortable symptom is the pain on penis tip and urethra opening after ejaculation and the constant urge to wee which then makes it burn even more. This can be really painful and burn for up to a hour after ejaculation and almost feeels like cystitis. My dermatologist is keeping me under review but believes it’s possible that all of these symptoms could be caused by the damage and inflammation that the Mgen has already caused especially with me having the infection for as long as believed. Has anybody else experienced similar symptoms during and post Mgen infection? Thanks for your time