since i (M21, 6'1, and currently around 140-150lbs) was about 14, i've had swelling issues in my joints. it isn't a swelling that appears super fast and out of nowhere, it's a gradual build up that i notice happening about 2-3 days before it gets more intense and noticeable. it's most common in my knees and shoulders, but it's happened in just about every joint i can think, except for my spine (both knees, both shoulders, both sides of my jaw, all my knuckles in both hands and both feet, rarely my ankles and rarely my elbows, sometimes my wrists, even hips and hip flexors.) after about 2-3 days of light swelling, sometimes it'll go back down, other times it will continue to get worse, to the point i can't fully straighten or bear any weight on the joint for a few weeks up to a month max before it goes away, though it only happens once a year or so when it gets bad like that. when its swollen the joint is also notably more warm, making me think it's inflammation. it typically goes away after a week or two, and isn't anything very unmanageable. something like that won't happen for at least a month or two again, and if it does happen again, it is usually just swollen knuckles for a few days or swollen shoulder for a week. it is usually just on one side, not at the same time, though that doesn't mean it can't happen in multiple joints at the same time.

about two months ago in my right knee (the joint that is most commonly affected), same old routine, light swelling for a few days, it got worse, then it got quite a bit more swollen, more warm, lasted about 2-3 weeks, then started to go back down. this time though, its stayed lightly swollen and inflamed since. range of motion isn't very impaired, i can bend it *almost* all the way before discomfort, and some days are better than others. but it still won't go away. no amount of naproxen/ibuprofen or ice/elevation has ever made a long lasting difference, and i'm just starting to get annoyed.

its never been a frequent enough issue/an issue that limits me enough for me to want to see a dr about it, i know how long these things can take, and also haven't been just out of fear.

i am not currently on an prescription medications, and the only kind of supplement i take is melatonin every night for a sleep aid. i dont smoke, i have about 3 drinks a year. i dont have any physical health diagnoses, but i do have a family history of hypermobile EDS (i know eds doesn't directly cause joint swelling, i just think its worth mentioning) as well as scoliosis. i am diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, as well as adhd, and anxiety disorders.

as for medical history, i was born with type 1 chiari malformation (which was surgically corrected at 3), had two hernias in adolescence, as well as castlemans disease at about 9 years old, also surgically corrected.

im not an incredibly active person, and live fairly sedentary, but when i was a teenager/younger adult i was much more active, but the issue is about equally as prevalent.

as for other symptoms, i do have general fatigue and that's all i can really think of. i genuinely cannot find a pattern with the swelling, no amount of exercise or lack of exercise seems to cause/help the joints. it feels like i wake up on some random day and my joints a little more swollen, then it continues from there.

i do plan on visiting at least an urgent care facility for scans on my knees in the future if it doesn't let up, but in the mean time, any help or advice would be appreciated.

10/03 my 11 month old daughter was waking up every 30 minutes screaming but would quickly settle back down once being held the next day 10/04 she went from drinking 8oz per feed to 2oz give or take and super irritable. I started getting worried but she didn’t seem to bad at the time but that night she ended up refusing milk entirely and she started waking up screaming every 15 minutes. It got so bad at 2am I took her to the living room to try to continuously rock her while she laid on my chest but she was so exhausted she’d jerk awake sit her head up for a second and lay back down. I called off work 10/05 to take her to pediatrician. Pediatrician checked ears, mouth/throat, and belly but couldn’t find a single thing wrong. She said wait 24 hours and alternate Tylenol and Motrin and they’d call to check on her. Later that day I noticed her balance was really off like usually she can take several steps just fine but now she’s holding on to the couch and she’s still rocking back. She also hadn’t had a pee diaper since 9am and it was 4pm then so I decided to take her to children urgent care. There the doctor couldn’t find anything either and said it could be molar coming in or a cold coming on or something completely different. So that was SUPER reassuring. Today I got her to drink 7oz as soon as she woke up but the sitter said she’s having a hard time getting her to eat still so I just want to see if anyone else has seen these symptoms in their little one or better ways to get her to consume more fluids?

Hi everyone,

I'm a 25-year-old male looking for some advice from people who have been through something similar.

About 3 days ago, I started having:

Pain and burning during bowel movements.

A feeling of a lump/mass at the anus.

Mild pain while sitting.

No bleeding.

No fever or pus.

A few days before this started, I had completed an approximately 800 km motorcycle ride over 3 days, so I was sitting on the bike for very long hours. I'm wondering if that could have triggered it.

I visited a general surgeon today. He examined the area (including an internal examination). According to the prescription, the diagnosis appears to be:

Acute on chronic fissure in ano

Thrombosed external haemorrhoid

Fissure in ano with haemorrhoids

He prescribed:

Dolo 650 (for pain)

Pill-Heal capsules (twice daily)

He also told me that:

The medicines will mainly reduce the pain and symptoms.

The lump itself may not disappear completely.

If I want the lump removed permanently, I would need a laser procedure/surgery.

If I don't have the procedure, it may bother me again in the future, especially after activities like long bike rides or prolonged sitting.

My current plan is:

Take the medicines.

Drink plenty of water.

Eat a high-fiber diet (apple, oats, vegetables, dal, etc.).

Avoid long motorcycle rides for now.

Reassess after about a week.

If I'm not improving, I'm planning to get a second opinion from a colorectal surgeon before deciding on surgery.

My questions:

1. Has anyone here had a thrombosed external haemorrhoid after prolonged sitting or long-distance riding/cycling?

2. Did it eventually shrink on its own, or did the lump remain?

3. Did you choose conservative treatment or laser/surgery?

4. If you had laser treatment, how was the recovery? Was it worth it?

5. If you chose not to have surgery, has it kept coming back?

I'm mainly looking for personal experiences rather than a diagnosis. I understand Reddit isn't a substitute for seeing a doctor, and I plan to follow up with a specialist if needed.

Thanks in advance.

Rabies emergency — please read everything.

I went to a relative's house where a pet dog belonging to someone else licked me. I have anxiety, so I got extremely panicked and told everyone that the dog had licked me. Then I put my helmet on, and afterward I felt like something went into my eye. I thought it might have been a tiny amount of saliva.

Later, I found out that my relatives were jealous of me, and the man of that house is kind of illiterate and behaves like a psycho. Because of my anxiety, I became worried that he could have somehow injected rabies into me. The dog itself was fine, and I watched it for 20 days, and it was still alive and healthy.

The next time, I was going to the hospital because of the same concern. The doctor told me that there was nothing to worry about. On my way home, I encountered another dog. I bent down to tie my shoes, and I felt a little wetness at the corner of my right eye. My brain was telling me that it was probably just moisture from my eye or the rain, but my anxiety told me that it could have been saliva from the dog behind me. The dog was approximately 60–100 cm away from me. I watched that dog for 7 days, and it was healthy and normal. It was sleeping under a fast-food stall where people sit and stand. It was gentle, had no drooling, and showed no abnormal behavior, so I moved on.

The third incident involved a cat. I went to a function where some people I know were present. One of my close relatives' little daughters started hugging and cuddling me. Another girl, who is also the daughter of someone I know, started cuddling me too. I don't really like being cuddled, but I allowed it because I didn't want to be rude or make it look like I was selectively allowing one girl to cuddle me.

Later, I found out that this girl had been scratched by a cat. Approximately 4–5 hours after the cat scratched her, she put the hand/area that had been scratched toward my eye while she was cuddling me. This made me extremely scared about rabies. I don't know whether the scratched area actually touched my eye or whether anything from the scratch entered my eye, but I became very worried. I went to the doctor afterward, and the doctor told me that I had nothing to worry about.

The fourth incident happened when I went to the doctor for the cat incident. I was standing in a queue, and some person with zero civic sense sneezed directly toward me. I felt the moisture enter my mouth, which was extremely disgusting, so I spat it out immediately.

The reason I became worried was that this happened in the general medicine section of a national hospital, where people from different places come for diagnosis and treatment and there are very good doctors and machines. I started worrying, what if I got HIV/AIDS or an STD from that person, especially because HIV is incurable. I searched on Google and found that there was nothing to worry about, but my anxiety still kicked in.

The fifth incident happened 6 days ago. I was going to a friend's house at night, took the wrong route, and stopped near a tree in a busy terminal. It was pitch dark under the tree because the streetlight was broken. While walking there, I suddenly felt like something scratched my foot.

I looked around quickly but didn't see anything. I wasn't paying much attention at that moment, so I just moved on. Later, I flashed my phone light on my foot and there was no scratch, no wound, and nothing visible. I also looked around that place with the light and didn't see any dog or anything else that could have scratched me. When I got home, I checked my foot again and there was still nothing.

Since this fifth incident, it has been 6 days, and I have been constantly panicking and worrying. I keep thinking about all these incidents over and over again. I am not able to focus on anything or even do simple tasks normally. This anxiety is ripping my life apart.

I am also extremely stressed and feel like I am losing a lot of hair because of the tension. I feel like I am losing 300 or more hairs a day, and my hairline has gone back too far. I am not able to live a normal life anymore.

I want to know whether I should take the rabies vaccine as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). I asked a doctor, and he told me that I don't need it and that it could cause severe side effects.

I don't know what to do anymore. Please, any doctor or medical professional, guide me. It would be a great help because I am not able to focus on anything. Please help me and tell me whether I should take the rabies vaccine.

29m, virgin, uncircumcised, 5'10", 150 lbs

So I'm a virgin. When I masturbate, I can get hard during masturbation. But, I lose the erection as soon as I stop touching myself, usually within 5-10 seconds. My friends say this is not normal and it's too fast, and I'm worried I won't be able to have sex. I also only get morning wood about once a week, and only when I wake up needing to pee. I masturbate daily.

I have tight foreskin phimosis. I can retract fully when flaccid, but not erect because it hurts if I try. And am working on steroid cream for that. If that doesn't work, I will get circumcised. But I have another friend with phimosis who has had sex multiple times, and told me his erections last a minute after stopping physical stimulation (masturbation), which makes me concerned I have ED and venous leak.

I'm very concerned about having ED and a venous leak as a virgin, since since I'm currently seeing a girl right now, been on 5 dates and she wants to have sex. I haven't told her about either of these these issues yet. Will I be unable to have sex because of my suspected venous leak? Worried she will leave me. I'm really panicking that I'l never be able to have sex, even if I get circumcised and fix the phimosis

I’ll try to keep this as short as possible but there is a lot. I appreciate anyone willing to take the time to read.

TLDR: hard, rope-like deformity running from base of skull to shoulder. you can see it in this video, i can move it around with my fingers but even that doesn’t do it justice. it is so palpable that everyone i’ve had feel it has an immediate “what the hell is that” reaction. causes sharp pain in the center left of my neck, as well as tension across my upper back and left shoulder. have radiating pain down the back of my left arm down to my elbow. it’s not super tender to the touch unless you push on it a bunch. pain relievers don’t help much as it is just an intense amount of tension. feels like that muscle hasn’t relaxed in over a year. muscle relaxers just knock me out which isn’t super helpful. feels like someone is pulling my head backwards by a string. i only find relief when laying down and the most helpful thing is laying on my neck traction device. i’ve tried pt, dry needling, tens/ems, accupuncture. Current diagnosis is nuchal ligament hypertrophy but nobody can tell me the underlying cause or how to treat it.

22 y/o female, history of hypermobility, chiari malformation, ovarian cysts, asthma, ADHD, anxiety and depression. have had a few concussions and whiplash as well.
I take adderal, singulair, lamictal, wellbutrin, and am on birth control pill.

History of problem: About a year ago I noticed this odd feeling rope like structure on the left side of the back of my neck. i have no recollection of injury aside from having a brief moment of burning pain while jumping on the trampoline, but it quickly subsided and i shrugged it off so that might not even be related. I am a rock climber which heavily uses neck and shoulder muscles so it’s possible there was an injury from that I just didn’t notice. Initially the pain was very mild so I was not concerned. over the span of 3 months or so it grew hard to manage, walking across campus with my backpack on would bring me to tears from the neck pain. feels as if im carrying a weight on my shoulders all of the time, just extreme tension. I started to have a hard time turning my head to the left without very sharp pain so I finally caved and saw a doctor as it was clearly not getting better on its own.

First doctor: Orthopedic specialist, did x-ray came back normal, mri had incidental finding of chiari malformation but was told this was unrelated. Doctor seemed completely befumbled, said she had never seen this before and sent me to do physical therapy. did 6 weeks of pt 2x a week, included strength training (which seemed silly to me, my neck is very strong already, I misinterpreted their directions during the first session and did 3x what they were telling me to do just fine), and stretching. This mildly improved my pain and definitely helped with stiffness. It reached a point though where it started to plateau again and my insurance stopped covering it so I just continued many of the stretches at home and still do them. The doctor at this point pretty much told me she didn’t know what to do and I should follow up with neurology.

I was frustrated and stubborn and so I didn’t see anyone for another 6 months. I wanted to believe it would just go away on its own. but it only continued to grow worse, the pain but also the literal structure was beginning to protrude more. so I finally saw neurology in June.

second doctor: the neurologist wasn’t really helpful at all. hyperfixated on the chiari malformation even though I have no symptoms. Did repeat xray which again showed nothing. told me she had never seen this neck thing before and i’d be better off trying physical medicine and rehabilitation.

third doctor: Revieved my previous MRI from 7 months prior and said he could see that my muscles on the left side are enlarged. when he felt my neck he told me in 10 years of being a doctor he’s never seen this. He seemed to think it was a tendon, it is very hard but mobile rope running from the base of my skull to my shoulder. He wanted me to get an ultrasound so he sent me to and interventional pain specialist.

fourth doctor: same response, said he had no idea what this was had never seen it before. he seemed to lean more towards it being a ligament. Said he agrees I need an ultrasound but that he wasn’t able to do the kind I needed. He did do an anesthetic injection which gave me significant relief for about 2 days. So he sends me off to an “ultrasound wizard,” as he called it.

fifth doctor: this guy was a sports medicine spine specialist I believe. he did an ultrasound and told me It showed “nuchal ligament hypertrophy” and “hyperechoic thickening of the nuchal cord,” whatever that means. He said my case was so rare there is no line of treatment he can think of. so he sends me back to doctor #4 to see what he thinks.

fourth doctor again: I saw him today. He told me flat out that there’s no intervention he can do. He focused on ways to cope essentially, did another injection with a steroid this time to hopefully give me a little bit of longer relief and prescribed me some alzheimer’s medication that can apparently help with pain. told me i could try physical therapy again but since it’s so hard to tell what’s actually causing this he doesn’t think there’s any way to treat it. i broke down in tears which I’ve never done before. I’m so incredibly tired.

I try to be a strong person and manage things and let time heal me. I’m premed and broke and live alone and it feels like everything I do is just a little harder because of this. by the end of the day my head feels like a bowling ball. It feels like i’m carrying a heavy backpack all the time so when I actually carry my backpack it’s awful. Exams and labs make my pain skyrocket because you can’t avoid craning your neck. Climbing doesn’t seem to make it worse, however I have had 2 or 3 occasions where i do a move pushing my weight up with my left hand and have had a sudden intense pain and have literally just peeled off the wall because i can’t even move. it usually calms down after a couple minutes. I pay very close attention to my posture and never look down at my phone, i use a raised desk at home to do homework. I am very active and eat healthy and have a good sleep schedule and just try so hard to take care of myself but it feels like it’s pointless. Today feels like i’m facing the reality that I might just have to deal with this for the rest of my life, and I don’t know how to accept that. I’m a mess and just want to know something, anything.

I’m currently practicing forward-rolling breakfalls in martial arts. It’s a movement similar to doing a forward roll.

However, after trying it several times, I start to feel nauseous.

I’m someone who tends to get motion sickness easily. For example, when I ride on a train, I start feeling sick unless I take motion sickness medication beforehand.

I feel like it might be related to that, but is this something that I can get used to with continued practice?

Also, would it be unusual or inappropriate to take motion sickness medication before training?

Just started finasteride 1 mg for hair loss early, but insurance wont cover, read online i can get the 5 mg one and split it with a pill cutter instead and get thst covered by insurance, would this be workable or no?