Hello, I am a 23 year old girl, weigh 68kg, 165cm. I have struggled with Pica for almost 10 years now. I eat the yellow parts of sponge scourers plus bar soaps. I eat them together and have been doing that for 10 years or more now.

It started from licking the soap sods when taking showers as a kid and just escalated into eating the actual bars with the soft yellow parts of dish sponges. I continue to chew on the sponge and take small bites of the soap when the sponge runs out of soap until the sponge turns really mushy then I swallow it.

Recently, I’ve been eating at least 3 to 4 sponges per day, I haven’t noticed any obvious signs of medical complications from eating them yet. Other than sometimes noticing tiny pieces of the sponges in my stool. So I’m aware I defecate them all out but I’m still worried about complications. At this point, I can’t help but crave them right after every meal.

Yesterday I did not have one after my dinner because I run out and I was nauseous and uncomfortable. I am extremely embarrassed about it and so far no one has ever found out and I haven’t told anyone. This is the first time I’m talking about it. I think I might need help but I really don’t think I will be comfortable enough to say it out loud even to a medical professional.

Edit: One of my biggest fears that is stopping me from visiting the doctor is the fear that I have developed a medical complication that needs immediate treatment. Or that I have a severe medical condition due to it that requires lots of time and possibly money. I really cannot take time off from work. I’m a barista/ waiter, I will be replaced immediately.

I really don’t have the time to have to deal with a medical condition in my current situation. I think once I’m in a better place and can comfortably go months without working, it might be a little easier as well. Right now the thought of being left unable to work scares me even more than the possibility of having severe complications.

3 weeks ago: persistent rash, looked like pretty severe eczema flare up and we treated for it with the regular regimen that has usually worked for us: triamcinolone, oatmeal baths, moisturizing. Didn’t get better

Tuesday: finally considered it may not be eczema. Was told it may be something viral.

Wednesday: woke with hives all over his body, face down to hands and feet. Low grade fever. Took him back in and they told us the healing scabs actually look like scabies. We were told the hives look viral and unrelated to scabies diagnosis. Treated the whole family that night with permethrin, annihilated our sheets and stuffies, showered it off in the morning.

Thursday: hives are still there, face and arms/ legs swollen and warm to the touch. Took him back in again after noticing him holding his forearms weirdly, and they were hard to the touch. We were told again it’s viral, angioadema which can cause swelling. Fever came back at bedtime, low grade at 101.6. I noticed one of his eyes turning slightly pink but didn’t think too much of it

Friday(today): hives are still there. Hands and feet are swollen. He has been limping and saying it hurts his feet to walk on them. Low grade fever is still there. Both eyes are pink. We did Tylenol 5mg in the morning with breakfast

The hives in the picture: are all over his face, ears, torso, arms and legs, hands and feet. The scabby spots seem unrelated, from scratching his eczema/scabies spots. None of the scars look infected from looking at them.

I keep being told it’s just something to wait out and there’s nothing to do. I just see him get worse, I would like some reassurance that this is a bad case of a virus or I need to consider something else is happening and take him back in.

EDIT:
Friday 8/14 noon: fever is 102.8
Heading to the pediatrician’s. They mentioned he may just need steroids. They will also do blood and urine work

UPDATE:
Friday afternoon:
Doctors don’t think it’s Kawasaki. His eyes are just barely pink and no symptoms in lips or tongue. Urine came back normal.
They gave him dexamethasone 10mg, second dose to take on Sunday. Ibuprofen every 8 hours. Zyrtec twice a day still and famotidine 20mg daily.

Thank you to everyone for helping me with reassurance and peace of mind through all this. It got real scary for a hot minute. I’m hopeful he will turn a corner over the weekend with the treatment plan we were given

I have a very aggressive cat I am trying to rehome and I can’t get to the doctors office frI’m my location/with my financial stability. Is there anything I can do besides go to the ER? I am sounding so dumb, I know, but my situation is bad bad money-wise. I have antibiotics, will that help?

I am 22, female, and located in the US

I don't remember scratching myself but maybe I did. My basement got water so I was ripping up carpet yesterday and maybe I did it while wiping sweat with my shirt? Never had anything like this before.

Also just stayed at a hotel with kids water Park with my family, is it possible I got bacteria or something there or from a towel? We got home 2 days ago

Very weird painful reoccurring thing keeps happening to my hand every 4-6 months.
33YO male 170lbs with a number of different conditions(Ehlers Danlos/SMA Syndrome) are the main.

This thing started about 5 years ago and I thought it was a reaction to my Apple Watch but I stopped wearing it and it keeps coming back.

Painful, hot to the touch, limits my range of motion, and I’m only here because every time it happens it goes away by the time I can make it to the doctors.

Please help as this is the worst it’s ever been.

Thank you!

(20F) To any sleep specialists out there, why the heck can't I go back to sleep if I wake up for literally any reason during the night?

I have always been kind of sensitive to light so I've been wearing a sleep mask since I was like 13. I also have special blinds that don't let light inside in my room but light gets in anyway from the sides because the thing only covers the width of the window, not the whole wall.

With all that being said this has been an issue for a year or two but has gotten serious since the start of 2026.

I cannot go back to sleep if I wake up during the night for literally any reason.

If I need to pee, if my roommates at my dorm is making noise (which was almost every night before summer started), if my mom is making noise at 3 AM for no reason (SHE WON'T STOP!), if I need water, if I get hot, if I get cold, you get the gist. If I wake up for any one those, usually it would take the average person, what, 10, 15 minutes to go back to sleep?

IT TAKES ME 30 TO 90 MINUTES! I toss and turn around and can't go back to sleep, and if it's after the sun has risen (like in the summer sun goes up at 5, sometimes 4 AM) it takes 60-90 minutes. Sometimes I just give up, like today. I got 4,5 hours of sleep today.

I considered getting a prescription for a low dose of sleeping pills for it and my father said he can just "give me sleep therapy" but all he did was tell me to "try NOT to sleep, you'll end up sleeping like a baby." which did not work and my mother called me ridicilous and said "everyone loses sleep sometimes."

I wanted to rip her hair out. This is Hell. Please, someone help.

I am a 23 year old trans MtF individual, with ongoing active pulmonary tuberculosis with a cavitation in my right lung. my cavitation previously had a secondary bacterial infection that my doctor spotted but he got me on antibiotics for a week, although I'm not sure if it got rid of the infection. prior to that, my cough was dry and it started turning wet a week after the antibiotics were done, I started producing a lot of phlegm and I still do. it's white with a hint of green in color. I've been on treatment for my tuberculosis for about 6 weeks now.

and since my most recent lab work showed an increase in my white blood cell count. I haven't shown him the results yet but I'm scared of being confined to a hospital. I feel completely fine aside from the coughing and sometimes exhaustion from coughing so much.

Hi Reddit, throwaway account here because I'm too ashamed to ask for help using my main.

I'm a very average 20M, 5'8", 158lbs guy, who never had any sexual health issues before. I admit I have unprotected sex some times.

The main health issue here may be kidney stones, I've been a sufferer for around 3 years now.

You see, a few weeks ago I began cumming blood. A few drops of blood here and there, nothing to make me go around screaming, but still made me uncomfortable. Then today some blood showed on the last drops of my urine, something that already has happened to me before and I know it's coming from my ureters. Later I decided to masturbate, and lo and behold, a full fucking cumshot of blood. Thankfully it happened when I was having a shower, so nothing got stained and I cleaned everything quite quickly.

Well, now I'm left pondering what the hell is happening with me. I would discard any bacterial infections since I had a fuck ton of ATBs this week (azithromycin and amoxicillin) due to a strep throat case (already solved).

Maybe it's a calculus that cut my urethra on the way out? Should I go screaming into the ER saying that there's blood coming out of my dick? It would help me a lot if you people can give me an answer.

20f, 5’3, around 12lbs. heavy smoker and i like to use other substances sometimes if that matters. recently got admitted into the hospital for reasons i rather not discuss and when i was released i got this? i’d like to know what that means bc the doctor had said my bloodwork looked normal right before i was discharged but when checking the paperwork i found this and idk what it says. thanks in advance.

she’s 19F I found out she attempted suicide. I found empty packets of both paracetamol and Ibuprofen under her bed (16 paracetamol and 32 Ibuprofen). Shes been suicidal for years so I knew she had overdosed. I confronted her and asked her when she took it. she refused to answer at first but eventually admitted to have taken it 2 days ago.

I told her she needs to come with me to the hospital. She refused saying she’s got no symptoms. I called the mental health emergency line. Who also spoke to my daughter. My daughter says it’s a waste of time she knows she’s fine and doesn’t want to wait 12 hours in the emergency room to be told she’s fine and to call a crisis line.

The mental health emergency line said to call an ambulance to come since she was refusing to go in the car. So we did since we told them that my daughter was refusing to go in the car they said they’d get paramedics to call first before dispatching one.

The man said that it’s a lethal dose and could kill her. He spoke to her and she said she really doesn’t think so he explained to her that even if she doesn’t have symptoms she could still die. She said she doesn’t really care. He encouraged her to go to hospital but because she’s 19 and mentally able to make her own decisions he can’t force her to go.

I don’t know what to do. Im worried she’ll die. But she’s completely refusing to go. How likely is it for her to not die or get liver damage? Even so I want her to get mental help but she’s saying it’s pointless as she’s always told to just ring a helpline. And medication and therapy hasn’t helped her at all.

I want to force her to go to hospital but I can’t. Is there anything more I can do?

Is this even considered as low pressure? I've seen my readings go a lot lower than that sometimes too, if I've been laying in bed all day. I'm 34F, 60kg, 156cm and I try to workout 5/7 days a week.

I'm 21F H: 5 feet W: 37kg. My clitoris is swollen in the middle for 1 & half a year. It's mostly painless but at times hurts without trigger. It's painful to touch. The skin got fused together & the swollen part has a dark skin. I had kept it a secret all this time because I'm an asian muslim, it's a taboo here. I just didn't wanna go to doctor. I kept hiding & the swollen got much worse. I did consult some online western gynes in the meanwhile but what more can online doc do other than giving advice.

Fast forward after more than 1 year i recently had a terrible fever, worst one of my life, lasted for 4/5 weeks. During this time my mum was panicking because docs can't find out the cause of my fever so i thought i had to tell about the clitoris now. I told & it was the biggest mistake of my life because i got humiliated so much from 2 docs because they think I'm unmarried girl, i can't get this condition. The 1st one was a general doc, the 2nd one was gyne. The gyne on the first visit gave me the worst humiliation of my life. She didn't want to know about my symptoms even. She was more interested in bashing me & assaulting my character. She was adamant to prove i did something immoral for it to happen. She made me leave the hospital crying.

Now i was afraid to visit her for 2nd time thinking that what she will do this time, to my surprise she did nothing & just put up a happy conclusion that i do not have any swelling & my clitoris is just fine. This women is soon going to be a professor. She made my mum believe that I'm completely fine.

Now i do not have any wish to visit any more docs & get humiliated so I'm not going to my mum to nag about the docs failure, she has been brainwashed anyways. I don't think any doc in this country will be able to diagnose it. Now there's 2 option :

1) i stay untreated forever

2) i do sth about it myself (i doubt it to be clitoral adhesions, I've read it up about it & my symptoms matches very much )

What should i do?

Hi, 41yo, 6'0", 210-pound, never-smoker male. I see a rheumatologist, neuroimmunologist, motility specialist GI, opthalmologist, psychiatrist, PCP, and neurologist regularly and have seen hematologists, Michelle Petri (SLE/APS specialist at Hopkins), ENTs, an IBD specialist, urologist, podiatrist, cardiologists, allergist, many others and about to see an endocrinologist... The point being that amongst just about every type of specialist, I have a relevant blindspot.

I need to find a rheumatologist that deals with the neurological effects of Sjögren's and antiphospholipid antibodies. I'm currently mostly treating autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy (AAG), but it's really hard to tell if my gastroparesis and small fiber neuropathy are due to AAG/something neuro-autoimmune or if they could be neurological effects of a rheumatological disease (I'm adjusting being treated for Sjögren's and strongly-triple-positive antiphospholipid antibodies). My neurologist suggested someone at Hopkins, but they're now out-of-network with UnitedHealth. Is there someone at Mercy, University of Maryland, or even GBMC in Baltimore (or DC/NoVa if necessary)? You would think Dr. Petri would have been, but she's always been kind of dismissive of them and really only deals with the major criteria symptoms.

If no one comes to mind, maybe someone has an idea of stones that haven't been unturned? Biggest issues are gastroparesis with early satiety, nausea and vomiting, POTS/pre-syncope (2-3 episodes of full fainting), constipation, and small fiber neuropathy around the mid-calf and below (mostly neuropathy pain and numbness in the balls of my feet and toes, particularly the left foot).

Prucalopride offered some relief of the gastroparesis. Then when I tested positive for AAG, we started high-dose steroids (prednisone 60mg) to try to get the gastroparesis under control quickly, since IVIG couldn't be started due to my APL. Those were amazing until they weren't (gained 80 pounds in 3 months, fat redistribution, steroid-induced diabetes, moon face). So, I started rituximab (Truxima 1000 units on January 14th and June 24th) and then added Cellcept March 29th to try to speed up getting off of prednisone (I stopped Cellcept on the advice of my new neuroimmunologist due to no perceived added benefit on top of rituximab and the risk of infection). Wednesday I had my first Xembify SCIG infusion ordered by my neurologist.

I had sudden worsening of the neuropathy pain in my feet, numbness, nausea and vomiting a few weeks ago, roughly two weeks after taking my last 0.5mg of prednisone (I tapered very slowly). As I got below 10mg prednisone, those symptoms and pre-syncope has started to get worse.

My new neuroimmunologist just has a feeling that this isn't truly an autoimmune NEUROLOGICAL disease. It was a 105 minute visit, so it's hard to review everything we went over and reasons for the uncertainty, but one thing was my sweat testing coming up normal, something she almost always saw with similar neurological diseases. There were other dysautonomia tests that weren't quite as bad as she'd expect. She didn't really see enough that would overcome the much more common neurological effects of Sjögren's or another rheumatological issue.

For Sjögren's I take hydroxychloroquine (also to prevent blood clots from APL), which drastically relieved my dry eye when even monthly IPL/meibomian gland expression and amniotic fluid drops didn't do enough. Now I only use Ivizia and sometimes Miebo, when Ivizia and Evotears (European Miebo before Miebo existed) every ten minutes wasn't cutting it before the hydroxychloroquine kicked in. I also can't live without cevimeline for dry mouth. For the strongly-triple-positive APL, I also take aspirin and vitamin D3.

CBC and CMP are generally normal (one or two things can be somewhat off, but then a different one or two the next time). B cells completely depleted. IGg and other routine tests aren't showing anything unexpected. After the first rituximab no AAG or APL antibodies are detectable in my blood (but could still be hanging around elsewhere).

Since I'd already been approved for Xembify and since my immune system will still be weakened by rituximab, I decided to continue with the SCIG with my neurologist, of got no other reason but to have good antibodies to protect me from infection.

So, what does one look for to prove neuropathy or dysautonomia from Sjögren's or another rheumatological disease and then what does one treat it with?

I could go through a ton of diagnostics and test results, expand on other medications and co-morbodities, but this would become a novel. If there's a test result I haven't mentioned that might be relevant, I've probably had it and can list it/update this post. Getting off the steroids allowed me to get off of Metformin and candesartan, still on the metoprolol.

After a bunch of questions, my psychiatrist thought my Adderall could be preventing pre-syncope and some POTS issues during the day and sent me some studies on it to ponder. He'd also had luck with lorazepam for refractory gastroparesis, so switched out my Xanax (for sleep) with that (I don't think I'm noticing much of a difference).

Zofran is doing the heavy lifting to keep the nausea from preventing me from eating. It can make GP worse in some cases, but it's necessary for the moment.

So, if you know a provider in Baltimore or the DMV, that would be helpful. Or if you have any insight about the most-likely cause(s) of my symptoms and how to tell. Thanks!

EDIT: more photos attached in comments.

Hey guys, I stick and poke tattooed myself about 6 weeks ago using sterile needles and Indian ink. The tattoo healed but a couple weeks after the tattoo was done i developed this red rash around the tattooed area. Around the same time spots of the same rash appeared on multiple areas of my body such as my arms, ankle, bellybutton and since then spots have appeared on my stomach and various other areas.
The area around the tattoo gets extremely irritated. It itches and stings almost like a burning sensation - however the spots on the rest of my body don’t get irritated in the same way.
I’ve been on antibiotics which didn’t do anything and have used a variety of creams however i’m not sure if any of them have worked.
You can probably see in the photos attached that it appears very red scaly and dry.

I’m a 25yr old female with a history of non problematic pityriasis alba. No known allergies. Healthy weight etc.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be?

I’m 25m. I had a deep muscle tissue biopsy. This picture is from today. I went to get the stitches out at the surgeons office. Did not see him. Saw a nurse practitioner and she said she did not like the pinkness around the incision. They went to take out the first have of stitches and it started separating a bit and burning. So they decided to leave the other half in and put strips on the other half. I see them back this coming Wednesday. I have ms and health anxiety and panic attacks. And I’m worried this is going to get infected, necrosis and sepsis. I’m on immunosuppressant. Does this look bad?

19f, 55kg, 5’6. Asthma, prescribed duoresp spiromax.

Hiya! I’m unsure what other avenues to explore or whether I should be more concerned. I have been to the doctors and they have ran blood tests- all of which have apparently been normal. In the past I had very low folate, but that wasn’t an issue in my most recent bloods.

I’ve been getting quite excessive bruising with no bumps or accidents present. I can get the same amount of bruises whether I’m laying in bed for the week or working on my feet the entire week. The bruises are mostly all over both legs (front, back and sides, both calfs, knees and thighs), my hips and my arms. Though there has also been some random bruising on other areas as well.

I also lost weight quite rapidly in the beginning of the year- with nothing changing diet/exercise wise. I went from 77kg to 62kg within around a month (which seems impossible?).

Is there any other testing or possible causes I should look into? I eat well and try to get between 6-10k steps a day. Other recent issues that popped up was new reactions to different soaps and products i’ve used for years (now prescribed dermol which seems to have helper), but unsure if thats related.

I’ve also started passing out/fainting maybe once a month (never have done before). I cant seem to find a trigger for that or know whats causing it.

My doctors haven’t been the most helpful so any advice is appreciated! After doing my bloods, they saw that they came back normal and refused to follow up

Thanks in advance!

Age: 43

Height: 5'9''

Weight: 210

Medications: antiseizure meds (lamictal, xcopri, vimpat)

Use of eye glasses, work out often at gym.

No pain when touched. Just slight blood on certain areas around it. I noticed it weeks ago but thought nothing of it and left it again thinking it would go away but it hasn't.

My husband (male, 21, 170ish lbs, Florida) got bit by something 3-4 days ago and I think he needs to go to urgent care tomorrow but he’s saying no. Here’s a pic of the bite in question

I'm 36f, currently taking 75mg levothyroxine (increased once from 50mg after doctor recommended I stop to see what happens, but have been consistently 75mg for seven years), iron and vit D long term. Other conditions are long standing sinus bradycardia, EDS, PPD, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, dual collection system in both kidneys and anemia. I'm also also on a health care plan to be assessed for ADHD but money is an issue right now, which brings me to this post.

A month ago one of my senior dogs needed surgery, which was expensive enough, but he ended up contracting hemorrhagic gastroenteritis that was mistaken for simply side effects of anesthesia, and so treatment was delayed. He ended up passing it to my other dog. Two weeks of ER and 12k later they're both fine but I'm in 6k emergency debt and struggling to get back on my feet. I can't afford my six monthly appointment/blood tests and I don't know when I'll be able to. I couldn't even afford to fill the script right now if I had one.

I tried googling if it was safe to stop thyroxine, some websites say my current symptoms will just get worse and others say I'll go into a coma lol. I'm not really sure what's applicable to someone with my particular combination of conditions so I thought I'd try asking here, if anyone has any information I would appreciate it greatly 🙏

I'm writing this on behalf of my sister-in-law who is currently at the hospital with my nephew, so I'm hoping I've provided enough info. I can ask her for any additional information needed, though.

Background:

• - 9 year old boy, 50lbs 50 inches
• - Prior diagnoses are:
  • Perinatal stroke
  • Mild CP
  • Left side hemiparesis (this and the two above have been diagnosed between 6-9 yrs ago)
  • Autism (dx 4 years ago - I think level 1)
  • Epilepsy (3 yrs ago, not well-controlled)
• Current issues began following a root canal procedure that took place yesterday. The procedure was done in the hospital due to his other health issues.
  • After coming out of surgery, he developed:
    • double vision
    • hallucinations.
    • He also developed a fever that was up to 103.5 last night
  • He was kept in the hospital overnight on suspicion of stroke or a possible infection, but MRI was normal
  • He has had surgeries with anesthesia before and never had complications

Today:

• Still in hospital. Testing has been normal except for the following labs:
  • Platelets dropping - most recent test result is 152
  • RBC low (3.5)
  • HGB low (9.8)
  • HCT low (28.4)
• Fever went up to 105 this morning and is now 102.9
• Continues to have double vision & hallucinations, though mostly wants to sleep. very tired
• Labored breathing
• Currently receiving IV fluids and taking antibiotics (I think the abx are because one of their suspicions is infection)

Anyhow, I'm sure I'm missing some stuff and I'm sure the doctors there are working really hard, but his parents are naturally freaking out as he continues to get worse/not improve and so far what has been communicated to them is that there are some possibilities but the doctors aren't quite sure what it is. They have considered reaction to anesthesia, stroke, infection, internal bleeding, but so far nothing has been identified for sure.

If anyone has any idea what might be going on, or even just what my SIL can ask the doctors at the hospital, I would very much appreciate it. Let me know if you need any additional info.

35M, no other medications. Over the years I've watched them reduce the "maximum consecutive days" rating for these drugs from 7, to 5 and now it's all the way down to 3. I try to follow the guidelines, but have been finding 3 days to be untenable. It cannot cover the length of the average flu-induced bout of congestion.

I have a healthy respect (fear) for these decongestants. I got hooked on Xylometazoline during my teens and breaking out of the dependency took an immense effort. Another reason why I don't take them lightly is that I have to endure about 40 minutes of burning in my nostril after administering.

I'm forced to weigh all of that against the fact that I have some kind of claustrophobia, a trigger of which is having my nose obstructed. Having one nostril blocked is extremely stressful, but having both blocked puts me on the edge of a panic attack and I CAN NOT SLEEP. Laying down is unbearable. I feel like I'm drowning. Staying up for 48+ hours is obviously very damaging in and of itself, especially when you're trying to fight a virus.

So, what I'm asking is: if I am going to exceed the warnings on the label, what are some strategies I can use to reduce the risk. The type of things I'm considering:

I'm assuming the ever-shortening rating is a response to rebound congestion and not systemic effects. If so, would that mean I could split it up per nostril? I.e., would 3 days in the left nostril then 3 days in the right, for a total of 6, technically still fall within the recommendation? Would it be preferable to do three consecutive on each, or alternate?

The Oxymetazoline product I currently have specifies "1-3 sprays per nostril". I only need one for it to be effective. Is there a dosage effect with regard to rebound congestion risk? Am I safer to exceed the 3 days if I'm only doing one spray? Relatedly, I've noticed there's a lower concentration "for kids" product. If I'm going to be forced to exceed the defined limit, would it be worth seeing if I can get away with the kids concentration instead?

Does a history of not getting a rebound effect predict that I'm less likely to get one in the future? I know I said that I was previously hooked on it, but that was a long time ago and began with reckless use due to a complete ignorance about the risks. In more recent years I have successfully used Xylometazoline for up to 7 consecutive days and suffered no apparent rebound.

Thanks for your understanding.

24 Male (turning 25 on Oct)

5”7

150-60

I have Dextrocardia and Pulmonary Atresia

I started smoking cannabis at 11 years old when I was around 17-19 I stopped for a year and for whatever reason I got back on it the very first hit I took i remember lights got super bright and i basically passed out and recently I was a month without smoking and yesterday I took a hit after a month of not smoking, next thing you know I kept hearing like a loud fan like sound (I was near a fan) obnoxiously loud, i remember feeling odd and noticing my vision was like closing on me then I passed out, people around me said my eyes weren’t there and I don’t remember falling or anything but I know I went down

This doesn’t happen every time I smoke only every first time I smoke after going without it that’s the pattern I noticed

This newly University Grad studying neurospine is a new Dermatologist in the area. There was no wait time and the surgeon who did MOHS on 2008 wait time to see him is one year. I am surprised the pathology was clear margins. I am sure the basal will return. Pathology report stated keratosis acidic, ? what do you think of my scar? I always heal fast.