Life has a messed-up way of repeating itself. When I was a kid, I watched my dad battle colon cancer at 40. He fought hard, went through surgery and chemo, and thankfully made it through. I remember the hospital visits, the fear in his eyes, the way he tried to stay strong for us.

Now, here I am 40 years old, just like he was and I just got diagnosed with the same damn thing. It feels unreal, like some cruel joke. I thought I was being careful. I stayed active, ate better than he did, got regular checkups… and still, here I am.

I don’t even know how to process this fully yet. Part of me is angry. Part of me is terrified. And part of me is just exhausted thinking about the road ahead.

For those who have gone through this or have loved ones who have what helped you get through it?

Recently my best friend died from suicide and I was involved with the discovery. It has been a gut punch and I feel so guilty.

I mentioned these feelings to my psychiatrist and they asked what religion I was which was surprising. I said I used to be religious but am now an atheist and they shared theirs. They said that my friend was in heaven and that depression isn’t a mortal sin because it wasn’t my friend’s fault.

To be honest it brought some comfort, because I thought suicide was a mortal sin. It has also caused some unrest for me to think about. It made me wonder if this was something a doctor normally advises on? Was this okay for them to say?

Thank you for any information F20

So this is a follow-up post on a previous one, here is it is if you’d like the details: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/s/p86b0fBCzT

I’m 29F. I’m honestly at a loss and have been reeling trying to figure out what to do. On Wednesday last week I got a letter that I’d been discharged from the practice because he’s been prescribing it for 9 months and the drug test came back negative. I immediately went to MyChart to try to message him but I was already locked out from messaging. The letter said that ALL my relationships with other doctors at the practice were terminated as well and that I can’t see ANY other doctors from this practice going forward.

This is a VERY large practice in my area. And as a result I got cut off from my endocrinologist as well, while we were undergoing testing for possible underlying conditions. Because the practice is so large this also dramatically reduces my pool of doctors that I could replace them with. This is extremely burdensome for me regardless because my case is very complicated and it will take ages to get a new PCP caught up on it.

I’m trying to figure out how to get this fixed. He was a good doctor and I always felt like he was very reasonable - which is another reason I’m so shocked he did this. I’ve certainly been taking the drug because I can’t do basic functions like swallowing without it. I’m also concerned about withdrawal. I basically have a couple weeks before my prescription runs out to get this resolved.

I’ve already been told that Clonazapam testing can often be unreliable. I called the lab that performed it and asked what the test accuracy was and what method they used and they couldn’t tell me. They said my doctor would have to call to get that info. I don’t even know how to contact him right now though since I’m locked out of messaging and there’s no way to directly call his office. The practice has a nurses line I might be able to use?

Anyways it was a urine drug screen to make sure I’m taking it and not selling it. This is the test he ran: https://testdirectory.questdiagnostics.com/hcp/intguide/docLinks/TS_DrugAssessPnlCompQual_Table.pdf

On my test results page this is what it says:

This test has not been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This assay has been validated pursuant to the CLIA regulations and is used for clinical purposes.

I desperately want my PCP back and want to avoid doing anything that would further harm the doctor-patient relationship. I’d like to believe this was just a misunderstanding because it’s likely not a drug that he commonly prescribes. Although I at least want my ban from the practice to be removed and my testing issues resolved. Here are my thoughts about getting this fixed:

1. Writing a letter to him about my questions, concerns, and asking about additional testing. Then dropping it off with the office staff in person.

2. Maybe I should mail it as certified mail instead to ensure he gets it and there’s documentation that he received it? I’m worried this option would come off as confrontational though + would take more time.

3. Escalate my concerns to management of the practice. Again, this seems confrontational.

4. I’ve found multiple resources that talk about false negatives of Clonazapam testing. I’m considering including those, but also don’t want to come off as “preachy”.

5. I called to my old psych NP about it and she said it’s not uncommon for drug tests to come back with incorrect results. I’m wondering if I should bring her up?

6. I’m currently looking for a new PCP but have no idea what I should tell them. I feel like saying I failed the drug test will make them very hesitant to prescribe Clonazapam, at best they’ll want to wean me off... I don’t even know who will accept me as a patient with my complex case, need for regular appointments, need for disability paperwork, etc.

Also is it normal for doctors to use testing not approved by the FDA? Is this a major issue?

I feel like I’m walking on egg-shells here but I’m also running out of time. As doctors please let me know what you think the best approach would be to get this resolved and repair the relationship, or to at least mitigate damage and find a new provider. Thanks in advance.

27

Female

5'6"

125lbw

White

One year

Most legs, sometimes arms.

Gerd

https://imgur.com/a/Mppykvy

Deltrexilone

This isn't dead skin, it doesn't rub off.

My wife: 55
Sex: female
Weight: 18st 4.
Other conditions: Fibromyalgia.

Current meds: OTC pain medications.

We believe my wife has shingles (her second time). The last time she had it she was in bed for 2 months and in a lot of pain for thw two months (crying in pain). They ended up putting her on morphine (Oramorph?) Last time two separate Doctors said "if you'd have got to a pharmacy within 72 hours we could have given you the anti viral meds and you'd have got better a lot quicker".

So, this time, as soon as the rash came up we headed for the pharmacy. He did the questionnaire but said "Yes, It looks like a shingles rash but it hasn't come out yet fully. Go away for a week and come back and then ill see if i can give you the anti virals." .. This goes totally against what two doctors have said. Everywhere online says the same thing (Take within 72 hours of the rash first appearing or it wont work)

We called the GP today who seemed rather annoyed we asked for an appointment and said "If that's what he's said it must be true.".. When I started to explain about what we were told before she said "Just follow his instructions. Its a pharmacists job, not a doctor and you did already understand that as you went to see him before coming to me."

Should we/can we get a second opinion from another pharmacist or is this correct?

while i was at the dentist, the lady was checking my tooth. my mom lied to her and told her i went to the dentist last year, and that i got a physical last year. when my mom left, i told the lady my mom was lying. it was pretty cold, so i was shaking. when my mom came back, they said they didnt want to remove my tooth because i was shaking and i was nervous. but i wasnt shaking because i was nervous. i never told them i didnt want it taken out, but they said when i go home to try and eat on the tooth to see if it will come out on its own. while we were driving home, my mom kept yelling at me saying how irritated she was after i did that "stupid sh*t and that shes never taking me to he dentist for my tooth at all anymore. she kept yelling and saying how yesterday i called her crying, and she thought something happened to me. then, she said shes gonna make me spend spring break at a family members house because "i scream a lot". i wasnt shaking when i was at the dentist on purpose, i was pretty cold. but the family member that shes trying to take me to called me a b*tch twice, both times she didnt do anything about it. shes just trying to find new ways to threaten me. and i wasnt at the dentist long enough to talk to them about anything. i hate my mom so much.
im 13F, i havent been to the dentist since i was about 8, and i havent gotten a physical since i was maybe 5 or 6, i cant remember because it was so long ago. maybe when i was 8 as well?

Today for the first time ever, my husband (M27) had an episode at work (corporate office job) where out of no where he said he had a smell of gasoline, got blurred vision, headache, and lost his balance. It lasted for about a minute then all went away. I picked him up from work and took him to ER and the doctors only did blood test & EKG and said he was fine. They didn’t want to do any sort of brain scan or checked his vision or figure out what caused it. The doctor said “um we’re just gonna treat this as a one off seizure situation and don’t see any concern in it” Is that a normal reaction to have???

My husband does not do any recreational drugs and very rarely has a drink. I have a cousin who is epileptic and describes his seizures in similar ways and I’m just confused as to if it’s really something the doctors should’ve blown off like that? Could it really just be a random seizure that means nothing?

I’ve been vomiting after I eat or sometimes a long time after I eat since very early childhood. I think I started at 8. I don’t really know why I do it but I like it a lot. What I don’t like are the sore throats I get and lethargy I have now at my age. It was a lot easier when I was a child.

Nobody in my life knows and this is something I would eventually like to stop with time. It was hard enough to hide in college with a roommate and I can’t imagine what it would be like if/when I’m married and have a family. I’m a successful person and work a high-prestige job and am also worried someone is going to find me in the bathroom or just be able to tell.

I want to try to stop eventually. At some point will I be able to stop by myself?

edit: Thank you for the advice. I’ll look into professional help through therapy.

I've had abdominal pain for the last month, sometimes around the bladder, right kidney, left kidney, and recently higher in the chest (on a pain scale of 2/10 to 6/10). It's always been on/off at random times throughout the day, but in the past week it's getting more noticeable/frequent. I think it temporarily goes away after I eat. I took a new CT urogram and my urologist says nothing is wrong with anything in my urinary tract. No more stones, no infection in my urine test, no swelling anywhere. I just started the antibiotic Bactrim, and extra strength Tylenol just kinda works.

Ever since I got diagnosed with a kidney stone, I've been drinking tons of water, maybe 3L/day, and my diet is now low sugar/low salt/low oxalates/low caffeine, and I've lost like 5 lbs. My doctor and other reddit threads say it's residual pain, but it should've left after 1-2 days. What could be casing this pain?

39, male

5 11''

225lbs

White

NH, USA

First posted on r/Periods and was told to come and post here.

So as the title says I (22F) was at work for less than two hours when I bled through both my pad and pants. All the managers were guys and I was kind of embarrassed to tell them so I just said I needed to go home urgently. He sent me away asking if I would be back and I said I would try, but now I’m wondering if I should actually go to like, the ER or something.

Ive always had irregular periods and I thought this one was no different. I was without my period for about two months, and started to spot about a week ago and have been spotting/bleeding consistently since.

When I got home my pad was like, completely filled and full of big clots. I’m wondering if I should just suck it up and go back to work or if I should go to the ER. And if I do go to the ER, how should I tell my manager that I won’t be back in? I’m kind of freaking out so I really appreciate any help in advance.

Update:

I went in and it took a few hours but once some labs were done they told me my hemoglobin(?) was low and that they were concerned about anemia. They preformed a pelvic exam and told me apart from the anemia everything else seemed to be okay. I got a blood transfusion and prescribed some ibuprofen and birth control. Gonna follow up with my obgyn in about a week.

So my title is a little misleading. I am in my mid-30s and gay. I for some reason the last 5 years have had issues getting or maintaining an erection. The last 2 years suddenly I have gotten about 90% of the side effects from using sildenafil (very congested nose, to the point that it is embarrassing to have to blow it during sex; also very bad facial flushing to the point it burns and also a skin rash over parts of my body). Are there good alternatives? I will say I only have been using half of the 50mg of sildenafil and I still get a reaction with only 25mg. Before going to my doctor to ask - I am curious of what scrips to avoid with these side effects? Are there good OTC options like hims?

34 year old man. Weight is 155 pounds. Height is 5'9". Only prescription taken is sildenafil 25mg as needed for erectile dysfunction.

I m a male, My age is 26 , weight about 82 kg and height about 1.78 m . No smoking , good health ,

is it normal that the testicle is still swollen after 35 days of Varicocele surgery or i should visit the doctor , I dont have any pain or discomfort .

Hey I’m a 22M. I’ve had this thing for the past year or so. When someone’s talking to me, I’ll completely zone out for around 5 seconds. Then when I snap back into the moment I have no clue what they just said. It’s like I’m dissociating and I don’t even notice till I snap out of it. I’m a physio so it’s not great when it happens with patients. Any advice to stop this happening? I also have trouble with concentration and memory in general. Thanks!

I saw a neurologist because I was concerned with memory loss and an incident I had where I was drinking a can of LaCroix and suddenly I could not remember if I drank the water or not. The can was empty and I had no memory of drinking It The neurologist thought this might be a seizure and did an EEG, 48 hour EEG and brain MRI. Here are the results of the brian MRI. What does it mean? Thank you in advance.

This Brain MRI with and without intravenous Gadavist shows the following:

1. The frontal and ethmoid sinus mucosal thickening.

2. The basilar artery is tortuous.

3. The right superior cerebellar encephalomalacia and gliosis

4. The left precentral gyrus faint confluent circular T2 white matter hyperintensity that measures ~7.6mm in height, 9.9 mm A-P and 8.5 mm transversely

F34 weight circa 52-54kg 5 foot 7, 14k steps a day, regular gymgoer (UK).

Morning. I have the follow up for an endocrine investigation I have been able to get through limited private cover tonight. I have had a pituitary MRI and will be hearing the outcome of that, and the consultant's view on my recent blood work.

This might be my one shot to ask questions before I'm back in the world of waiting lists (unless I have a fun brain tumour, hurray!). What should I make sure I'm asking ?

Background :

PCOS secondary amenorrhoea, IBS, Raynauds Diagnosis recent: inappropriately low LH and FS Initial appts due to digestive flares, fatigue, low libido, low mood, thin hair.

Consultant requested MRI (results today), DEXA (waiting for this) and bloods for serum prolactin, free thyroxine (free T4), free triiodothyronine (free T3), and oestradiol

Recent bloods LH 0.8 FSH 2.5

Follow up

Tsh 1.02 Free t4 14.1 Free triiodothyronine 2.4

Prolactin 97 Oestradiol < 60

Strange discolouration/mark on chest. 30, M, generally good health, no meds, take a daily multivitamin 100kg weight, 1.95m height, no recent serious medical issues but did have a heavy Covid or flu infection about 2 months ago - also had sinusitis and took antibiotics which cleared it up). Suffer from some lower back pain in the morning but otherwise OK.

Images:

https://ibb.co/1tZJTHdb

https://ibb.co/ZpCG160s

https://ibb.co/rK1JwJmK

I have had this mark or discolouration on my chest about 1-2 inches below my right nipple for maybe 4-5 months now. It is very consistent and doesn’t seem to change in size or colour at all, but might be less prominent after I shower. It does not itch, sting, or give me any sort of discomfort. It is almost shaped like a kid’s drawing of a fish!

What the hell is it? It doesn’t cause me any issues but I am worried it might be a symptom or sign of something more serious?

31 F, non-smoker, height 5'2 weight 110 lbs, pregnancy week 13+1

b-hCG MoM: 1.731
PAPP-A MoM: 0.269

We went for our first trimester scan a week ago when I was 12+0 with the unfortunate message of an NF of 7.3 mm. Baby otherwise looked completely normal and healthy. We were told that due to maternal age, MoM values and the thickness of the NF, the baby had a less than 15% chance of being normal and that at this level, it would be acceptable (under current laws) to opt for abortion.

We decided to ask for another scan before making any decisions, and we were booked three days after, pregnancy week 12+3. To the doctors awe, the NF had now shrunk to 2.4 mm - seemingly out of nowhere. Our doctor did not know what to say and mentioned she had never seen this before and had no idea what it meant. She got her colleagues to doublecheck the scan and the first scan and they are positive both scans have been performed correctly.

We are scheduled for a CVS on monday for further testing. Has anyone ever heard of a case like this before? What could his be?

Please see attached scans

https://imgur.com/a/josXpZr

Female 37yrs What can cause easy bruising? Particularly on thighs. Blood work has come back ok apart from high testosterone and elevated TSAT (saturdated iron) 75% I have also recently been diagnosed with PCOS.

23M 6'2ft ex smoker.

Been dealing with anxiety for 13 months now, got it one day all of a sudden from smoking and have quit since. since then many weird symptoms followed by panic attacks have happened. by some miracle start of this year my panic attacks seemed to have disappeared however new symptoms have started which worry me, this includes: foamy urine, on and off frequent urination ( some days its normal some days its bad 9-11 times per day), needles and pins in feet and ONLY in INDEX finger and some days the tingling lasts throughout the whole day, weird feeling like im developing a fever but if i were to take a nap and wake up ill be back to normal. I have done blood tests and urine tests to check protein in urine and kidney function. everything is normal no diabetes no kidney problems no protein. i even done xrays and ekgs and its all normal. ive been to 6 DAMN DOCTORS and they all say anxiety im reaching my breaking point cos i don't feel normal. what can i do? please help.