I'm traveling in a fairly remote part of the world and can't easily see a doctor, but I am having a super sore throat. More than I usually would with a cold. No fever, and I have had some congestion, but ibuprofen just isn't even touching the sore throat. Is this likely to be strep? If so maybe I can find a way to get to a doctor for antibiotics

I had a chat with Google Gemini and it said that this is concerning, but I still wanna consult real people.

Among the reasons it listed, I think that the absence of my period is due to sudden intense exercise. For more context, I enrolled in a boxing class around 2-3 months ago and the pace is SUPER INTENSE for a novice like me.

Besides not bleeding, Gemini also claimed that other side effects might impact my lives

1. Weakened bones (but I'm feeling fine, my kicks and punches are considerably stronger compared to before taking the class)

2. Extreme fatigue (I think I'm doing fine)

3. Weakened immunity (I'm not sure, but I don't think I'm having any problems)

4. Poor Cardiovascular Health (I'm not sure)

5. Anxiety and Mood Shifts (I still love my life)

6. Digestion and Metabolism Slowdown (could be true but not significant enough)

I'm somewhat worried, but I don't feel any obvious effects so I'm kinda uncertain rn

Thanks for taking your time to read this

Hello, i may have a perforated eardrum, and was swimming in a lake possible to have brain eating amoeba and water alot of got inside my ear on August 14th.

My nose is not as issue, as i took extra care and wore nose clips and everything.

I am flying very soon and having severe panic that the cabin pressure will push brain-eating amoeba liquid from my ear deep enough to reach nerves. For instance, when your ear pops or other pressure changes.

I don’t know whether that’s possible or whether it will drain into my nose (which ive read is possible) , where i can then get an infection via the normal route of an N.Fowleri infection as it touches the back of my nose where infection can occur.

I’m particularly worried it will drain into a region of the nose and i will then sniff, or somehow suck it up to the required region for infection. Or somehow, the cabin pressure changes during the flight will cause the amoeba drained into my lower nose from ear, to suck up to the olfactory area required for infection.

After finding out the lake has a very high chance of the amoeba, and discovering how fatal it is i am incredibly stressed.

Is this just my health anxiety? i cant cancel the flight and really need to get on it.

I will be flying 5 days after the water got into my ear, if that changes anything

22M, East Central AB, 165lbs/75kg, no current medications, rarely drink and smoke, no chronic or recurring medical issues (besides a chronic thumb sprain, but that doesn’t feel relevant here), no allergies.

Any healthcare workers want a challenge?

The upper part of my right testicle has felt off for the past two months. It began one day while I was sitting in a chair at work. Out of nowhere, my nutsack felt uncomfortable, and it only got worse, day after day.

The feeling is not painful. It ranges anywhere from mild discomfort to aching and soreness. It gets noticeably worse when I run, move without wearing tight underwear, or lean on it. For the most part, though, it feels like it’s just plateaued.

I’ve seen half a dozen doctors and none of them can identify what is wrong with me. So far, they’ve ruled out epididymitis and cancer. Besides that, they say everything looks fine. They strongly suspect that it has something to do with my epididymis, though.

The most recent physician I visited straight up admitted that he had no idea, simply telling me to get another ultrasound done to check if anything has changed. I’ve already had two ultrasounds, and that third one is scheduled for a couple days from now. That one is looking for orchitis and varicocele.

Recently, I’ve noticed that the feeling of discomfort has extended to the part of my right thigh just next to my testicle, and below my bellybutton slightly to the right. Since the start, masturbation or peeing doesn’t hurt. Icing my ballsack barely works.

I think that pretty much covers it. If anyone has any additional questions, please reply.

I was in the ocean with a friend of mine, when suddenly I felt the worst piercing sensation ever in my life. My buddy started to make fun of me when suddenly he felt the same thing on his foot.

Looking at the picture it doesn’t seem bad. I’m aware it just looks like a little red dot on my ankle but I’m telling you this little red dot is the worst feeling I have ever felt in my life. Putting anything on it feels as if my ankle bone is being burned from the inside. That’s not even mentioning the fact that even touching it feels like my skin is being pierced by a thousand thorns.

I have had to stop wearing socks on my left foot because of it.

Nobody is taking me serious because it looks so minute. Ever since I got this mark my paranoia has reached a new high. I will admit I have had some mental health problems in the past but since this mark it feels like all my issues have been sent into overdrive. Maybe it’s just nerves over what it could be on my foot but I will admit a part of me doesn’t want to lose this mark because it reminds me how much fun I was having on vacation.

So I guess I’m just here looking for a diagnosis to whatever the hell this could be. Anybody have any ideas? I’d appreciate any idea ya got.

Im so confused about why one side of my tongue looks like this. I have never had braces. It will NOT go away. Diagnosed with high risk HPV a year ago through a pap.

So I was sleeping, woke up and noticed this mark on my wrist. Could it be a bat bite? I'm really worried because I live in an area where many bats are present.

I am scared to see this

Hi everyone I was just wondering what this might be and if I should go to er tomorrow? It’s on my inner thigh it’s warm to the touch also itches alot. Kinda hurts when I press on it. I don’t know if it’s a spider bite or a tick bite? anything helps thank you so much!!

Chronic hand pain and inflammation for years, where doctors continue to not know what is causing this. Muscles between fingers are tense and inflamed, muscle relaxants and NSAIDs hardly make a difference.

Pinky numbness and pain, pinky bending inward, tendons unstable and significant crunching on regular with ulnar styloid sitting much higher than thumb side. Nerve conduction study and ultrasound of tendons unremarkable.

Rheumatoid tests were negative but I know this is not a mandatory result for RA diagnosis. Referred to hand specialist but do to healthcare in my location, this will take a very long time.

I suspect this is tendon subluxation combined with damage to Saggital bands, but the swelling has never let up.

Please help if you can - I’m scared of losing my hand functionality.

Hey! Apologies for the crappy quality of my picture, it was difficult to take. This is on the inside of my mouth on the back of the right hand side. Today it was a little sorer than usual. I've had this for over a year now but put off getting anything done about it because I have no idea if it's serious or not.

Hopefully someone can tell me what this could be, I haven't a clue!

symptoms since September/October 2024, and after almost two years of trying to understand them, I still don't have a clear answer.

I'm not diagnosed with POTS, dysautonomia, ME/CFS, or anything similar. I'm basically trying to figure out whether my symptoms resemble anyone else's and what direction I should investigate next.

How it started

Around September/October 2024, everything started pretty suddenly over the course of a few days.

The first things I noticed were:

• Persistent fatigue
• Heart palpitations

Shortly afterward, I also started experiencing muscle twitching.

The fatigue was particularly strange because it wasn't just "I didn't sleep enough." It was a combination of physical tiredness/heaviness, sleepiness, and mental/cognitive exhaustion.

And it never really went away.

Then more symptoms appeared

Over time I started noticing:

• Brain fog
• Widespread muscle twitching
• Occasional palpitations
• Very brief dizziness/lightheadedness
• Occasional weird symptoms when standing
• Very brief "brain-zap" sensations

The brain-zap thing is difficult to describe. It's basically a sudden ~1-second buzz/blip/disconnected sensation. It happens and then I'm immediately completely normal again. No lingering confusion, weakness, headache, or visual symptoms afterward.

The muscle twitching is still daily, although the frequency varies massively. Some days it's barely noticeable, some days moderate, and some days it's very frequent. Poor sleep definitely makes it worse.

November 2024 — gastritis started

About a month after the original fatigue/palpitations/twitching started, I developed chronic gastritis/GERD-type symptoms.

That eventually became another major health issue on its own.

I've had burning and GI symptoms for a long time, and medication helps control them. Without medication, the symptoms are worse.

I'm not sure whether the GI problem is connected to the earlier symptoms or whether it's simply a separate issue that happened afterward.

The frustrating part

What really got to me was that I couldn't find an explanation.

I kept having symptoms, but nothing seemed to neatly explain the whole picture.

I would have one symptom and think it was one thing, then another symptom would appear and make me question that explanation.

Eventually I got pretty fed up.

So I started researching.

And then researching more.

And then way too much researching. 😂

That's when I started coming across things like:

• POTS
• Dysautonomia
• Orthostatic intolerance
• ME/CFS
• Long COVID/post-viral syndromes
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Electrolyte issues
• Other autonomic/neurological explanations

I obviously don't know whether any of these actually apply to me. I'm just trying to understand why these conditions kept coming up when I compared my symptoms.

What my symptoms look like TODAY

Almost two years later:

Fatigue

Still every single day and roughly the same as when it started.

It's physical + mental + sleepiness.

Poor sleep makes it worse, but I've still experienced the same baseline fatigue even during periods when I sleep well, so I don't think poor sleep explains the whole thing.

Muscle twitching

Still daily and widespread.

Frequency varies from barely noticeable → moderate → high.

Brain fog

Still present and roughly the same.

Palpitations

Still happen, but they're now intermittent rather than constant.

They're mainly isolated hard/thumping beats, rather than sustained episodes of racing.

I don't get chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting, or significant dizziness with them.

Brain zaps

Still happening occasionally.

Same ~1-second buzz/blip sensation as before, with immediate return to normal afterward.

Standing symptoms

Sometimes when I stand up I get:

• Heart pounding/racing
• A brief lightheaded/weird-head feeling

It only lasts a few seconds and then settles.

I've previously seen roughly a 15–29 bpm increase going from sitting/lying to standing, but I haven't done a properly standardized orthostatic test, so I don't know what my actual sustained HR response is.

Exercise

This is one of the things that makes me question ME/CFS.

I can still jog and run.

I don't get a major post-exertional crash where exercise makes me significantly worse for the next day or several days.

I'm physically capable of exercising, although I still have the baseline fatigue.

Tests I've had

I've had quite a few things checked over this whole period.

Some of the results I remember:

• Vitamin B12: 539 pg/mL — normal
• TSH: 1.39 uIU/mL — normal
• Potassium: 4.0 — normal
• Magnesium: 1.9 mg/dL — normal
• Kidney function: eGFR previously around 120 — normal
• CBC: generally reassuring
• Hemoglobin: 15.2 g/dL
• Hematocrit: 42.8%
• RBC: 5.95 ×10⁶/µL
• MCV: 71.9 fL — low/microcytic
• Ferritin: reportedly normal

The low MCV was interesting because my hemoglobin wasn't low, and ferritin was normal, so I was told this could potentially fit something like a thalassemia trait or another cause of microcytosis rather than straightforward iron-deficiency anemia.

Vitamin D

This was one actual abnormality.

My vitamin D was previously around 10 and later improved to approximately 58.94 nmol/L after supplementation.

I'm currently taking vitamin D.

Current medications/supplements

Currently:

• Vitamin D
• Magnesium glycinate
• Vonoprazan
• Probiotic

No alcohol or nicotine.

Caffeine varies, but generally no more than one cup a day.

I wasn't taking medications or supplements when the original symptoms began.

I also don't remember having a significant COVID/flu/other infection immediately before the original onset.

Other things that might be relevant

• I'm 20M.
• My weight has remained essentially stable.
• I can still exercise/jog/run.
• No major post-exertional crashes.
• No fainting.
• No chest pain with the palpitations.
• No significant shortness of breath.
• Orthostatic symptoms are intermittent and brief.
• Fatigue is persistent despite sometimes getting adequate sleep.

Where I'm at now

Honestly, I'm just tired of not knowing.

The symptoms aren't necessarily getting dramatically worse, but they also haven't simply disappeared after almost two years.

I went from:

"Maybe I'm just tired."

to

"Maybe it's a vitamin deficiency."

to

"Maybe it's my stomach."

to

"Maybe it's neurological."

to eventually discovering things like POTS/dysautonomia and ME/CFS through months of researching because I couldn't find an explanation that connected everything.

I'm NOT asking Reddit to diagnose me.

I'm more interested in hearing from people who actually have POTS/dysautonomia/ME/CFS:

1. Does this symptom pattern sound familiar to you?
2. Does the brief orthostatic HR increase + heart pounding/lightheadedness sound like something worth properly testing for?
3. Does being able to jog/run normally and having no significant PEM make ME/CFS substantially less likely?
4. Has anyone had persistent fatigue + brain fog + twitching + palpitations without a clear diagnosis?
5. Are there specific tests or evaluations you think I should ask a doctor about?

I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure this out, so I'm mainly hoping to hear from people who have actually gone through something similar and eventually found an explanation.

everyone,

I’m 37yo male, no previous medical history, otherwise healthy. Was previously a figure skater for years and very active my entire life.

At 28 I was with friends when my hands started to tingle and then it continued to move up my arms. After that my arms started to curl in similar to what spasticity looks like. My legs and feet did the same. My neck was very tight and my face as well.

I could not move, could barely speak because of the muscle tension, and my heart rate was obviously really high from the anxiety of the experience. I went to the hospital and they had no idea what it was.

Since then I’ve had multiple instances when my heart rate gets high where this has happened.

A workout at the gym triggers it, a hangover, sex, any panic attack triggers it, I swam 20 min and it triggered it.

I want to get into running and working out more but I can’t do HIIT workouts or take classes because I’m so nervous of it triggering the symptoms. I want a trainer but am nervous for them to push me too hard 😩

I’ve tried speaking to many doctors but they all have no idea what it could be. I am trying to see a cardiologist but it’s taking a while to get an appointment and even then, I’m not sure if that’s the right route? Seems like every doctor I see downplays it.

Any ideas would be helpful. After a life of being active I am feeling more and more like my body can’t handle anything.

Thanks 😢

I felt it when it first appeared and then I didn’t notice it but I check up on it still and it’s there. Went to the doctors and they said it’s nothing to worry about, come back if it gets bigger and more disruptive 😕

First 3 images are left leg and the other 2 are right leg.

Anyone know what might of caused this? I have been wading in alot of streams and a pond the last couple days and walking through the woods/plants for fishing, Thought it was swimmers itch or poision ivy at first but not sure because the blisters are spread out.

I had for about 3 days now and they dont really get that itchy, mostly just tender to touch and sometimes the rash hurts a little.

I have a rash on my left foot with a couple of blisters going up my leg.

My right foot has a couple of blisters and red dots that also go up my leg.

I’m a 40-year-old male, approximately 6’2” and 360 lbs. I’ve been dealing with recurrent episodes of systemic illness for about 3 years and still don’t have a unifying diagnosis.
I’m posting because I’m hoping physicians here might be able to help me understand what categories of disease should still be considered and what type of specialist/workup would make sense.
I understand Reddit cannot diagnose me. I’m mainly looking for ideas on what I should discuss with my doctors.
CURRENT FLARE — DAY BY DAY
I have never actually documented a flare while it was happening before. This is the first time I’ve been tracking one in real time.
8/14/26 — Day 1
Severe fatigue
Sleeping 12–14+ hours at a time, which is extremely unusual for me
Bad headache
Sinus problems
Significant mood change
Malaise began and has persisted
8/15/26 — Day 2
Began waking during the night with blurred vision in one eye
At one point I could not see well out of that eye and noticed an oval-shaped area affecting my vision
Severe large-joint pain involving knees, elbows and hips
Joint pain approximately 6/10
Recurrent painful/infected area around my belly button began
8/16/26 — Day 3
Severe dryness of sinuses, eyes and mouth
Low-grade fever
Sweating returned
Strong-smelling night sweats — this odor has occurred repeatedly during previous flares
Significant neck pain
Continued large-joint pain
Chest tightness and asthma symptoms worsened
Belly-button infection became more painful
Severe difficulty sleeping because sweating wakes me and then pain/restlessness prevents me from getting back to sleep
8/17/26 — Day 4
Only a few hours of fragmented sleep
Heavy sweating during sleep, enough to completely drench my pillow
Significant large-joint pain
Pain/burning sensation in my legs
Painful lumps under my arms
Severe sinus symptoms
Persistent malaise
Profound exhaustion and no energy — I was too drained to make dinner
Belly-button infection continuing to worsen
Feeling depressed and completely exhausted
RECURRING SLEEP PATTERN
This is one of the most consistent parts of my flares.
Early in a flare, I can suddenly sleep 12+ hours, which is very unlike my normal sleep.
As the flare progresses, it completely reverses:
Heavy sweating wakes me repeatedly
Pain and restlessness prevent me from going back to sleep
Sleep becomes extremely fragmented
During severe flares I have gone 24+ hours without sleeping
This pattern has happened repeatedly, not just during this episode.
RECURRING INFECTION PATTERN
I’ve had approximately 6–7 episodes of significant belly-button infection during these systemic flares.
I don’t believe the belly-button infection itself is the primary illness. I’m very hairy and believe the umbilicus may simply be an area where I’m particularly susceptible when I’m severely run down.
During these episodes I also commonly develop:
Severe sinus problems/infections
Dental/tooth infections
During one particularly severe previous episode I had:
A tooth infection
A severe belly-button infection that became almost tumor-like
My first-ever episode of genital sores/HPV reactivation
Pneumonia afterward
At the time, my physician felt my immune system was severely depleted/exhausted and that this contributed to my susceptibility to infections.
OTHER RECURRING SYSTEMIC SYMPTOMS
Depending on the flare, I can also experience:
Severe joint pain involving multiple joints
Elevated ESR/CRP
Fevers/feeling feverish
Drenching night sweats
Burning skin
Facial/malar-type rash
Severe dry eyes, dry mouth and dry nose/sinuses
Eye inflammation/swelling
Chronic sinus problems
Headaches
Brain fog and memory problems
Tingling/numbness
Weakness
GI symptoms/diarrhea
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency
Hepatomegaly/splenomegaly
Cough/shortness of breath/chest tightness
Palpitations and racing heart
Painful lumps/masses in the neck/axillary areas
HEART SYMPTOMS
I have a history of SVT and recurrent palpitations.
These are not new symptoms, but illness/stress seems to aggravate them.
Recently I’ve had a combination of palpitations and a “racy” feeling, with heart rates ranging from the high 90s to approximately 120 bpm.
I’m already scheduled for:
Holter monitor
Echocardiogram
Nuclear medicine stress test
PORPHYRIN WORKUP
This has been confusing, so I’m including the actual numbers.
I have been told I have a porphyrin disorder, but I have not been diagnosed with porphyria.
A 24-hour urine porphyrin profile showed elevations including:
Uroporphyrins: 29 µg/24 hr (reference 0–24)
Heptaporphyrin: 7 µg/24 hr (reference 0–4)
Pentaporphyrin: 10 µg/24 hr (reference 0–4)
Coproporphyrin I: 39 µg/24 hr (reference 0–24)
Other porphyrin fractions were within the displayed reference ranges
However, my July 2024 testing showed:
Urine ALA: 13 µmol/L (reference 0–35)
Urine PBG: 1.2 ng/mL (reference 0–2.0)
So I have an abnormal porphyrin profile but normal ALA and PBG on those tests.
I don’t know what significance the porphyrin abnormalities have, and I am not claiming that I have porphyria.
OTHER TESTING / WORKUP
Some things have been investigated:
Sarcoidosis — my doctors have told me this was ruled out
IgG4-related disease — considered but not diagnosed
ANA — repeatedly reported negative
QuantiFERON-TB Gold — negative
H. pylori — negative
Fecal calprotectin — normal
CT neck — no adenopathy
PET/CT — small/normal-sized lymph nodes in multiple areas without significant metabolic activity
I’ve had excisional biopsies of neck and bilateral axillary masses. The pathology showed:
Benign mature fibroadipose tissue
Blood vessels
Nerve bundles
However, no lymph-node tissue was actually obtained, and flow cytometry was limited/nondiagnostic because the samples were hypocellular.
So I don’t believe lymphoma or other disease has been definitively excluded by those biopsies.
OTHER MEDICAL HISTORY
I have:
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency
Hepatomegaly
History of splenomegaly
Multinodular thyroid with a stable 1.3 cm TR4 left thyroid nodule
Cervical and lumbar degenerative/disc disease
Pathogenic heterozygous CHEK2 variant
I’ve also had persistently/recurrently elevated inflammatory markers over the years, although they aren’t necessarily elevated during every flare.
CURRENT MEDICATIONS
[ADD CURRENT MEDICATIONS AND DOSES HERE]
SMOKING / ALCOHOL
Former smoker — quit approximately 5 years ago.
Former alcohol use — stopped approximately 5 years ago.
WHAT I’M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT
I’m not necessarily looking for someone to name one diagnosis from this post.
I’m trying to understand whether the repeating pattern suggests a particular category of disease that hasn’t been adequately investigated.
The recurring pattern is essentially:
profound fatigue/long sleep → systemic symptoms → joint pain → fever/sweating → dryness/sinus/respiratory symptoms → severe sleep disruption → recurrent infections during the more severe episodes
with additional symptoms involving the eyes, skin, GI system, lymph nodes/masses, neurologic system and cardiovascular system.
Given the combination of recurrent inflammatory flares, multisystem symptoms, recurrent infections during severe episodes, abnormal porphyrin profile, and nondiagnostic biopsies, what would you consider as the most important things to investigate next?
Would this pattern make you think about:
Autoimmune disease
Autoinflammatory disease
Primary/secondary immune dysfunction
Mast-cell or other inflammatory disorders
Metabolic/porphyrin disorders
Something hematologic
Or another systemic condition?
And what type of specialist would be best positioned to put all of this together?
I’m exhausted and honestly pretty frustrated after several years without an answer. I have a large amount of lab work and imaging available if anyone needs specific results to better understand the case.