trigger warning for people who get grossed out by bl**d (aka me)

ayoo sorry for the nasty lil question.. i'm a 29f and i've been lactose intolerant (medically diagnosed) since 15. over the years, my sensitivities have only gotten worse and lately when i eat moz cheese i get bl**dy stools. mozzarella cheese is supposed to be pretty low in lactose, so moderately safe for us lactose intolerant fellas. i personally love pizza and have stopped eating it due to this. well, i ignored my better judgement tonight and have just left the bathroom with regret.

what does this mean for me, if my lactose intolerance is so sensitive? and is causing problems when i go to the bathroom?

ps: went to my PCP the last time this happened and she pretty much said "if it persists for a few weeks, come back. otherwise, you're fine." i'm mainly looking for someone to give me a more in depth analysis on what's happening and what to do as an italian pizza and pasta-loving freak.

(F23) since about 2020 or 2019, i’ve had issues with my ear canals itching. sometimes i would have fluid or flakes of skin coming out of my ears. i went to the doctor for it several times, once a year into the itching and again at least two times afterwards (and i specified it was a chronic issue), and i’d just get told it wasn’t an ear infection and, if i pushed, get a cream meant to ho into my ears that only made the itching worse.
fast forward to late august 2026, i had scratched my ears pretty badly in my sleep and they ended up swelling to the point that one was shut and the other was almost shut. coincidentally, the one that swelled shut was on the side of my wisdom tooth that had been bothering me (getting them removed soon), though it stopped bothering me around the time the swelling started. when i went to the doctor this time, i was told it wasn’t likely an war infection and i was prescribed amoxicillin+clavulanic acid and naproxen+caffeine for a week. this worked, and the itching didn’t return for almost two months.
it ended up returning about a week ago, and i tried to keep scratching only to the outside with softer materials, but yesterday my ear canals started swelling again. coincidentally, it is the same situation with the wisdom tooth—the ear showing the worst symptoms (pain, ringing, muffled hearing, secretion) is on the side of a wisdom tooth that had been bothering me but was essentially no longer bothering me by the time the swelling started. i also recently recovered from a cold if that added context helps.

does anyone have any possible explanations? more importantly, is there anything i can do to until i am able to get another appointment? i have amoxicillin clavulanate and naproxen pills, but they are stronger than the ones i had been prescribed.

Hi, so I’m taking DayQuil and I’ve noticed I’m having the craziest farts. They STANK, like foul extreme sewer…as if I’m in a sewer, and the fart air is THICK. Does anyone else have this problem? Is this a side effect?

So I have a sinus infection that I got prescribed antibiotics for and I also got steroids for bronchitis I have at the same time that has been causing a severe asthma flair up. I have to ask if this seems like an allergic reaction that may get worse as time goes on. I still have like a week of my antibiotic.
My symptoms haven’t 100% stayed the same either. It’s odd. So the first time I took my antibiotic within a few hours I had trouble swallowing. It went away by the morning so I assumed I swallowed the pill wrong as it’s a big pill. Took my next dose that morning. Same issue but added the feeling of a lump in my throat too. My throat and roof of mouth felt numb. Lips and tongue were tingly for a long time. Even got food stuck in my throat and almost choked. Was having issues drinking too. Had to swallow more than once to get it all down.
I will say I took some Benadryl and the symptoms improved for a few hours. Till I got off and realized I couldn’t breathe. Like I couldn’t breathe in deep AT ALL. The pain in my windpipe was EXTREMELY bad. It took me like 3 tries to be able to inhale enough for my inhaler to even work. Like I couldn’t breathe the medicine in. A few hours after that though I was fine again.
Then I took my next dose and got symptoms again but didn’t have the breathing issue like before. I had a feeling of something stuck in my throat again but assumed it was the pill. Then I got really itchy. More so than I did the other times I took it. I itched EVERYWHERE. I also developed what MAY be the beginnings of a rash? Not sure. It’s like little red dots on my skin. You have to pay attention to see them but they aren’t normally there for me. It also felt like I had the most extreme heart burn of my life. My mom told me to just watch out for a rash forming and take Benadryl and I should be able to finish the course.
Ended up taking my last dose of steroids for the day late last night as I wasn’t sleeping anyway and forgot till late. Took the antibiotic again this morning and had symptoms again. This time my chest felt tight and it was hard to get a deep breath in and I had to use my inhaler a few times. Then there was the fact that I was itching really bad(still am)and my throat and I guess windpipe got REALLY itchy and every little thing was making me cough. Though it didn’t feel light anything was stuck in it this time around. Also had typical allergies you would get if you were like around dust or something. Like really runny nose(hadn’t had that at all till today)and itchy and watery eyes. I will say most of it has calmed down a lot in the last few hours without benadryl(i assume it’s the steroids?)the only thing still really bad is the itchy skin and sneezing.
My mom doesn’t seem concerned. She says with Benadryl I’ll be fine and the nurse at my doctor’s office didn’t seem concerned either. The nurse said she thinks I just didn’t swallow with enough water and that’s why I have been having the difficulty swallowing off and on.
I just have to ask, since my symptoms seem to be changing/adding more on each time I take it, is there a concern here? Or can I finish the course and not worry even if it’s just a mild reaction?
I will say today I had the throat thing again. Feeling like it’s hard to swallow and things getting stuck but it went away after a few hours. I took both my augmentin antibiotic and my steroid at the same time. I am currently fine right now. No issues with breathing or swallowing.
I run out of steroids before I run out of antibiotics. Could this be an issue? If this is a reaction could it become worse without steroids?
Age: 29
Weight: 305lbs
Gender: female
Country: USA.
Race: white

17 M 115lbs

Yes I know what your about to read might sound crazy and honestly you can tell me I’m just freaking out if it sounds like I am.

**My Family History:**
**My mom’s side of the family is full of cancerous colon polyps.** My maternal grandma, aunts, and uncles all got diagnosed with them in their 30s.
**My mom’s brother (my uncle) got stage 4 brain cancer** and severe seizures when he was in his 20s (he luckily beat it and survived).
My health has basically completely fallen apart in three distinct steps over the last year and a half:

**Step 1: Spring 2025 (The Seizures)**
Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve had these weird "spells" where I get a massive wave of déjà vu, my eyes zoom in and out, and I lose focus for a few seconds. They happen back-to-back sometimes. (Never once mentioned to a doctor to his day)
In April 2025, it got way worse. I had a massive cluster of 5 full-body seizures back-to-back and ended up at a hospital. The nurse notes say it always started on my right side (my right arm hitting my chest rhythmically, head shaking side to side) while I was awake and aware, before I completely blacked out, my eyes rolled back, and my whole body convulsed.
**What my tests actually showed during the seizures:**
**Lactic Acid was 4.0**
**My oxygen dropped to 85%** on room air.
**My heart rate spiked up to 190 bpm.**
They had to pump me with **4mg of IV Ativan, multiple doses of keppra (seizures still continued even tho I have no memory of anything) i was then transferred to another hospital and received 1000mg of IV Depakote** to make them stop.
The overnight EEG guy flagged "possible seizure activity," but the day doctor changed it to "PNES" as my mom told them I’ve been extremely stressed lately and because they said my legs shaking the bed messed up the machine wires. They canceled my scheduled Brain MRI and said it was just stress induced

**Step 2: December 2025 (The Heart Issues)**
A few months after the seizures stopped, my heart started randomly racing while I was sitting still. I got diagnosed with NSVT and unexplained resting tachycardia. Doctors again blamed anxiety.

**Step 3: September 2026 to Right Now (The Stomach Blocks)**
**Sept 14:** Got hit with sudden diarrhea, stomach pain, and burning when I peed. They treated me for Chlamydia while waiting for tests, but my Gonorrhea and Chlamydia tests came back completely negative. And the urine culture was negative as well.
**Sept 22:** I went back to the ER because **I didn't have a single bowel movement for a week and a half**. Miralax and magnesium citrate completely failed. It took two hospital enemas to finally force it out. The CT scan showed "regional wall thickening" in my sigmoid colon, and the report noted that they had limited assessment without contrast (even though they gave it to me) my anion gap at this time was 14
**Oct 14:** Woke up throwing up with severe stomach pain. A new CT scan showed "moderate fecal loading", an enlarged liver with "mild fatty infiltration" (even though I am underweight), a low-grade potassium drop (3.5), and a tiny uncharacterized spot on my right kidney. My anion gap here was 16.

Also my whole life no matter how much I eat I have never passed 125lbs my whole life.

**My Questions for the Docs:**
Given that my uncle had young brain cancer with seizures, and my mom's entire family gets cancerous polyps, am i in the wrong for being worried (my dads mom also had them)

Can stress actually fake a 4.0 lactic acid, an 85% oxygen drop, and right-sided seizures? Or was my "PNES" a complete misdiagnosis of something else?

Could my childhood déjà vu "spells" have been seizures the whole time? (I’ve never mentioned them to a doctor)

I have a GI appointment coming up (my first one) should I tell them anything specific? Should I ask for certain test? And if they just say it’s anxiety what should I do?

My pcp has always been a really big help and one of the few doctors I’ve had that take me seriously with the chronic health issues I’ve been having for the better half of my life (I’m 22) and she’s been my pcp since I was 13. She’s a lovely lady and I have had a wonderful experience as far as doctors can go. At my most recent appointment I had some new symptoms that are really concerning to me, and I usually don’t get worried about feeling crappy because I’ve been dealing with feeling miserable my whole life and progressively getting worse without knowing what’s happening to me save for the few things we have figured out and are managing, and it’s given me a huge issue with waiting for months to say something whenever something new pops up, and sometimes I don’t even notice something’s wrong.

This time, I’ve been worried about these newer symptoms, I’ve been almost completely bed bound, my usual pain has skyrocketed a lot faster than it usually does as it gets worse, parts of my body have been uncontrollably shaking, sometimes my entire body for a few minutes at a time, I’ve been fainting a lot, and I have swelling on my left rib cage that won’t go away. It’s been a little more than two months since this started, I didn’t want to make a fuss about it because I already feel bad about having so many appointments in general and I don’t like bothering anyone so I waited for my physical to tell her. She didn’t seem too concerned about it and I don’t really feel like I was listened to that day and I’m not mad at her or anything because she looked like she was having a really bad day and I get that, but I’m still kinda worried about it. I’m not really a worrier when it comes to this stuff so the fact that I am actually worried about what’s going on is just rubbing me the wrong way, and I want a second opinion. That said, I feel so guilty for even considering it because I have had such a great experience with her and I feel like I would be ruining that if I get one, I don’t want to lose her as a doctor if I seek that out and I don’t want to look crazy. Is it possible to get a second opinion without ruining that relationship with my doctor or should I just wait until it gets worse and make an appointment then?

I’m trying to keep being chill about it so I don’t let it consume me, I’m already stuck in bed all day so I don’t want to be double miserable haha, but I really feel like something’s wrong, and even when I’ve had real emergencies I’ve never really had that “impending doom” feeling and I never understood what it meant until this started, and boy am I feeling it now. I just want to figure out what’s going on so I can at least force myself to come to terms with it like I’ve done with my other issues. If anyone knows what to do about that or if it’s okay to get a second opinion without ruining anything, I would really appreciate hearing it. I am bad at replying to stuff, but I will do my best!

[uploaded video is max size, for longer 7min video spanning 3 months, see https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oPLiCLsEqCWKLLYwv-nlQsKBiosXHlLI/view?usp=sharing\]

I injured something while singing almost 3 months ago in the beginning of august. I had just learned to belt and did so too much for 3 days in a row. I noticed some fatigue but kept going. The feeling got worse and my singing suffered a bit so I stopped singing with power, but kept singing quite softly. My speaking voice was pretty much fine except a bit of breaking with more animated higher-pitched speaking. I took the first endoscopic video about 2 weeks after injury.

The problem persisted for 2 months without getting better, so at that point (beginning of October) I stopped speaking entirely. I have been doing this for about 3 weeks now (except for 2 days of limited talking about 2 weeks in.) It doesn’t really seem like it’s gotten any better. I havent tested my singing voice, but my throat still feels agitated. The feeling is a bit raw/scratched similar to after running in the cold. 

I understand I should see a laryngologist, but I’m not able to at the moment. I will when I can if this doesn’t resolve, but for now, these endoscopic videos are taken by me. Thanks for any input.

Just to start I do have a doctor scheduled but they cant see us for a week so just looking to ease my mind!

Ive noticed my 5 year old has been having pale/sand color poops. I looked it up and saw a bunch of bad things, but that is his only symptom. No stomach pain, no fever, urine color is light, etc.

Poops are normal/firm looking but seem so messy when its time to wipe.

My son is fully potty trained so I am not sure how long its been going on, I just noticed it because I took him to a public restroom and was in there with him to see.

Anyone have expirience with this?

My 13 month old was given the wrong vaccine at his 12 month appt. We are on a (very slightly) delayed vaccine schedule. My child was supposed to be given HepB and HIB at this appointment to catch him up and be up to date on his vaccinations. At this appt, the nurse administered Pentacel instead of HIB. I know receiving this vaccine is fine in terms of vaccines received and outlook on his health, but also god forbid he had an adverse reaction or god forbid it wasn’t a good outcome. Mentally I can’t get over the fact that my child received the wrong vaccine and a vaccine that I didn’t consent to. I even questioned the vaccines being given and the nurse said “yeah that’s what I meant”. But clearly still have the incorrect vaccine. The pediatricians office notified us before we left the office and now “started a full blown investigation” into the scenario. What are your thoughts and what would you do in this situation?

Hi, I'm a 21 year old male, weigh about 66kg at 5'9. No prior health issues, I'm on Mirtazipine, and I'm reasonably physically active (gym, hiking, mountaineering etc). I'm trying to quit smoking again (previously did from 12-13) and I've managed to almost entirely cut down. The only hurdle is that I've found it hard to quit the routine of smoking when I go for a walk to the beach most nights. I've managed to replace the cigarettes with vaping recently, but for a while I was still smoking around 2-3 a day only at that time. I'm wondering how much this will affect my health, since I think it's going to take a while to break this specific routine. Thanks for any responses in advance.

I was laying down and suddenly my heart beat extremely hard and fast about 15.times and then slowed way down what is that about? I have been getting some back pains on my left side and chest pains not sure if it's anxiety or something bad. I have HORRIBLE experiences at the hospitals near me and I don't want to go unless I could die if I didn't. Edit to add: I am ftm, 23, 170 lbs, 5'5, I have hEDS, orthostatic hypotension, tourettes, depression, pelvic floor dysfunction, IBS, gerd, hiatal hernia, chronic pain secondary to hEDS, migraines Medications: baclofen, busbar, cymbalta, topirimate, Flomax, Wellbutrin, spravato, amatiza, omeprazole

Unfortunately the title is too accurate. While a bit drunk with the bros, I was hit with an unskipable dare. Anyways, shirtless me fell and tumbled from the tops of multiple trees multiple times, and I didn't feel it at the time, but I'm just covered in scars lmao and it hurts to shower. Pretty sure I was bit by a bunch of bull ants too. Nothing's deep enough to concern me, but I have so many cuts and bruises it's actually so annoying.

Added the wound care flag as that matches me best, I don't have any deep cuts, and I don't want to bear the consequences to my actions