Health Problems

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Borzak

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Went through a 5 day infusion of methyl prednisone of 1,000mg a day again. Nothing. It helped with the everday small aches and pains of being 50 is all. The nurse this time was not near as cute or interesting as the last time :(
 

Frenzied Wombat

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Shout out to all the shitlord forum healthcare bros that might have a clue to this ongoing mystery.

- Was diagnosed with a 4mm kidney stone a few months back in the ER and was given 800mg ibuprofen and hydrocodone and flomax and told to pass it with a follow up with kidney ultrasound a month later.

- Two weeks later I developed a skin abscess on my chest from an ingrown hair I picked at. I've never gotten one before, and it developed into mild cellulitis that hurt like hell, but it was beaten back with a course of Augmentin

- Go for the kidney stone follow up (I had no pain the entire month besides a few episodes), ultrasound shows kindey stone is almost at the bladder, and am told to wait it out as it's not blocking anything and/or threatening kidney function. Microscopic blood detected in urine. Follow up with an ultrasound to be done a month later, again. Ultrasound also showed fatty liver.

- A week later I get another abscess, this time on my back and from no discernable source. I just woke up with what looked like a large painful inflammation on my back with no pus or anything that became big and angry and infected. Go back to my GP, this time he writes me a script for doxycycline and decides to do an MRSA test and metabolic panel. MRSA test comes back negative, but metabolic panel shows an AST of 55 and an ALT of 118. He orders a liver ultrasound to be conducted at the same time as my upcoming kidney ultrasound, though he suspects that they may be elevated due to recent infections and drugs.

- Starting around the time all this shit started, I started noticing occasional pins and needles feeling in the soles of my feet, just at night, along with occasional random muscle twitching. Didn't think much about it, but over the last few months its gotten worse. Pins and needles has moved on to an itch, along with occasional shooting pains in my heel and big toe. I also frequently now have "cold feet", and now I get the feeling during the day as well. Blood sugar is elevated, but not quite pre-diabetic levels

- I've always had blood pressure on the low side my entire life. Well recently it's shot up to around 135-140/85-90

Doctor wants to wait to see the ultrasound before deciding whether I need to see a liver specialist, cardiologist, or neurologist, but I'm freaking out. Each day my feet feel more fucked up. I'm 47 and not overweight, but definitely live a sedentary lifestyle.
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Good luck. Don't know anything about the kidney stone deal. I was told low B12 can cause the tingling issue if you have it long enough. Assume they checked that however.
 

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
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Potentially a gallstone blocking the hepatic duct, causing an increase in your liver enzymes. Did they also check your bilirubin?

In regards to the kidney stone...I don't think this has anything to do with the symptoms you are feeling. 4mm is very small and it sounds like there is no hydronephrosis that you should be concerned about. When you start experiencing significant pain, it's either trying to pass (but can't), or it is finally able to pass.

Your neuropathy is definitely unusual. Did your PCP refer you to a rheumatologist or neurologist? How high is your blood sugar?
 

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
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At 40, I still have my wisdom teeth. Recently, my bottom two started moving and now I have an insane intolerance to cold on both sides and the jaw throbbing and pain is causing migraines. Over the last week it's got less and less, but man, it's painful.

10 years ago I had a tooth pulled and it became infected, wouldn't clot, got a dry socket and to this day was the worst pain I've ever had in my life. I missed a week or work over it and am deathly afraid of it happening again with my wisdom teeth, which is why I still have them.
 

Frenzied Wombat

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Potentially a gallstone blocking the hepatic duct, causing an increase in your liver enzymes. Did they also check your bilirubin?

In regards to the kidney stone...I don't think this has anything to do with the symptoms you are feeling. 4mm is very small and it sounds like there is no hydronephrosis that you should be concerned about. When you start experiencing significant pain, it's either trying to pass (but can't), or it is finally able to pass.

Your neuropathy is definitely unusual. Did your PCP refer you to a rheumatologist or neurologist? How high is your blood sugar?

Yeah, they did a complete metabolic panel and only ast and alt were elevated. Billirubin and others were normal.

I got a complete abdominal ultrasound yesterday and just got my results, but doctor hasn't yet called to discuss, just sent me a summary. Liver, spleen, and pancreas all normal, so doctor thinks elevated liver enzymes were due to abscess infection and/or painkillers, but will retest in a month. The kidney stone follow up results are baffling and annoying though. A month ago when I saw the urologist she said the 4mm stone was basically "crowning" and at the last stop in the ureter before entering the bladder, and since it wasn't blocking anything gave me another month to pass it. Now, this is what the ultrasound report says:

"The kidneys are normal in size and echogenicity. The right kidney measures 11.6 cm. The left
kidney measures 11.4cm. There is no hydronephrosis. There is a nonshadowing small nonobstructing 5
mm stone in the lower pole of the right kidney. There is a nonobstructing 5 mm stone in the
interpolar left kidney. "

So, besides now having a 2nd stone in my left kidney I had no clue about, the other stone that was just a month ago at the bottom of the ureter is now actually in the kidney?? I'm assuming a stone can't move backwards, so either the initial imaging was wrong, this imaging was wrong, I passed the 4mm stone and never knew it, and/or I formed a brand new 5mm stone in a month??

A1C levels have ranged between 5.5 and 6.0 the last few years, with the most recent result being 6.0 and the highest I've ever been. GP debating whether to send me to a neurologist or cardiologist for the neuropathy.
 
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Frenzied Wombat

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At 40, I still have my wisdom teeth. Recently, my bottom two started moving and now I have an insane intolerance to cold on both sides and the jaw throbbing and pain is causing migraines. Over the last week it's got less and less, but man, it's painful.

10 years ago I had a tooth pulled and it became infected, wouldn't clot, got a dry socket and to this day was the worst pain I've ever had in my life. I missed a week or work over it and am deathly afraid of it happening again with my wisdom teeth, which is why I still have them.

I've had two impacted wisdom teeth my dentist was bothering me to remove since I was 18 years old. I never did so and nothing has ever happened, then they stopped bothering me around 35 or so as they finally said that if it hasn't caused problems by that age, they likely never will.

That being said, if you're in pain and x-rays show they are impacted or have other issues, definitely don't ignore it, cause a wisdom tooth infection is supposedly hellish pain and very dangerous. What you experienced is very unusual. Find a really good dentist with last name Goldstein or something.
 

Kuriin

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Yeah, they did a complete metabolic panel and only ast and alt were elevated. Billirubin and others were normal.

I got a complete abdominal ultrasound yesterday and just got my results, but doctor hasn't yet called to discuss, just sent me a summary. Liver, spleen, and pancreas all normal, so doctor thinks elevated liver enzymes were due to abscess infection and/or painkillers, but will retest in a month. The kidney stone follow up results are baffling and annoying though. A month ago when I saw the urologist she said the 4mm stone was basically "crowning" and at the last stop in the ureter before entering the bladder, and since it wasn't blocking anything gave me another month to pass it. Now, this is what the ultrasound report says:

"The kidneys are normal in size and echogenicity. The right kidney measures 11.6 cm. The left
kidney measures 11.4cm. There is no hydronephrosis. There is a nonshadowing small nonobstructing 5
mm stone in the lower pole of the right kidney. There is a nonobstructing 5 mm stone in the
interpolar left kidney. "

So, besides now having a 2nd stone in my left kidney I had no clue about, the other stone that was just a month ago at the bottom of the ureter is now actually in the kidney?? I'm assuming a stone can't move backwards, so either the initial imaging was wrong, this imaging was wrong, I passed the 4mm stone and never knew it, and/or I formed a brand new 5mm stone in a month??

A1C levels have ranged between 5.5 and 6.0 the last few years, with the most recent result being 6.0 and the highest I've ever been. GP debating whether to send me to a neurologist or cardiologist for the neuropathy.


So, it is totally normal to have kidney stones without being aware of it. It's when they decide to pass through obviously small tubes do you begin to feel the pain.

Re: LFTs -- were you taking a lot of acetaminophen? That includes the narcotics that combine them, as well as sleep aids for fevers.

Re: Neuropathy -- not sure what cardiology will do aside from looking for vessels to stent from occlusions. Definitely a neurologist, though. Would be curious to see what they say.
 

Guurn

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Ok, here is a new one I don't have any clue how to solve. A friends husband is really confused. He is 25 and sounds like an old person with dementia. He talks about being able to hear satellites, gets angry about having children, claims to be able to read minds and see right through people and has stopped working totally without calling in. Something about the corporate overlords etc etc. Also he is convinced his wife is working as a prostitute even though he is around her all day every day now. The confusion is extreme most of the time but he will have periods of lucidity. He is refusing help and the one time she did get him into the ER they wouldn't let her in with him because COVID. Because he is in no way suicidal so they won't admit him for observation and no tests are being done.

I have no idea how she can get a guardianship without an evaluation of some type. What options does she have? She is disinclined, for obvious reasons, to say he is a threat to the kids or whatever.
 

Kuriin

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Sounds like paranoid schizophrenia in addition to delusions of grandeur. He will, unfortunately, be placed involuntarily on a 5150 for grave disability and potentially danger to others. Tell your friend to call 911 and take him to the hospital. The hospital will speak to her and get all the information; a psych consult will be placed, and a formal diagnsosis will be done then.
 
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Erronius

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Had a weird winter.

My right eye started hurting. But just the right eye, 95% of the time (a couple of times the left hurt, but mostly the right). Like, a dull pain, almost as if someone reached up and flicked my eyeball really hard. It itches too, but probably because I start rubbing it. Vision was always ok. Not affected at all.

Then I started getting headaches. But I never get headaches, which is weird. Then the headaches started getting so bad I'd feel legit nauseous. It never bothered my vision, but I'd actually feel sick. Had to take a few days off sick a couple times because I couldn't function. Just felt terrible at work. At least I was able to go home and sleep. Not sure what I would have don't if I hadn't been able to sleep. Assuming they veered into migraine territory.

Occasionally I'd get an isolated 'pang' of pain in an ear, and then...nothing. That was just super weird.

A coworker tells me that her husband gets headaches that coincide with barometer changes, and that's what it sounded like to her. A few times I'd mentioned to her that I was getting hit with headaches, and she'd text her husband to see if he was going through the same thing. I think we were batting 100% that he was. But how did I get through my entire life w/o headaches for the most part, and then suddenly become sensitive the barometer changes? Makes no sense to me.

I got tired enough of this bullshit that I went to the doctor. But of course, the headaches weren't happening on that day. Doctor looks me over, says he doesn't see any swelling and has no idea what is going on. Refers me to optho and neurologist. Turns out I'm nearsighted and am getting glasses, but he said he didn't know about the pain. I get dilated for the first time in my life, but doesn't find anything that would cause the pain. He does tell me that I have mild blepharitis. Which, hilariously enough, I was excited to hear because now I know why the edge of my eyelids right at the base of my eyelashes itch. Motherfucker.

Gotta wait 2 months for the nuero appointment, though. Which sucks. I've had about 10 days w/o any debilitating migraine or headache, though I've had some mild stuffiness. I wouldn't be surprised if I just had some sort of sinus infection that resolved itself. Still not sure why my doctor didn't send me to a ENT, but whatevs. Currently I'm debating whether or not I wait the 2 months for the Neuro to tell me if my head pain is all just...in my head...or not. I'm half tempted to just cancel.
So turns out, 2019 was a bad year for my migraines. But not 2020, really. Had a few minor ones...or maybe ones that didn't fully develop. But nothing as bad as what I had in 2019.

Sumatriptan seems to work. Tastes terrible, but if I feel one coming on I can take one to head it off. I've had the weird feeling that a migraine was 'lurking' all day today. Like...it's not a migraine yet, but you feel funny and now I'll be like "shit, please, not this crap today". I've also been feeling dehydrated today, so I've been pounding water, taking naps and I just ate a salad instead of anything 'good'. Finally took a 100mg because the pre-migraine feeling wouldn't go away.

I still have no idea what triggers them, or why I didn't get a migraine until I hit my mid 40s. Then...suddenly...migraines. Sometimes I feel like maybe it's linked to exhaustion and a lack of sleep, or possibly my food allergies. I am allergic to milk and other foods, but I ignore them. But I *DO* sometimes feel like my sinuses aren't draining (often after I eat, my sinuses go nuts...because allergies) and then BOOM! Migraine. I've mentioned this to doctors, thinking maybe my sinuses trigger migraines, but they don't seem to take that seriously, so /shrug.



Right now I'm afraid that I might need shoulder surgery. I've been going to PT for a while after I started getting numbness and pain/burning in my fingers. After about 2 months of PT a lot of the nerve shit is gone (less frequent and not as bad) but it's still there at times. Plus I just have a lot of different pains, from my neck to my back and my shoulder. Different things have helped reduce some of it, but I still get some symptoms and not all of the pain will go away. My therapist (who is a pretty good dude) was wondering if I have some sort of shoulder/labrum issue that had other issues stacked together with it, so I might end up seeing a specialist soon. Which I'm kind of happy about, because I've had some back/shoulder pain that was bad enough at times that I literally couldn't sleep (tossing and turning all night due to pervasive pain) and my employer wasn't happy that I've had to take a couple days off due to not being able to sleep (first the migraines, now this!).

FML, getting old sucks.
 
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Hateyou

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So turns out, 2019 was a bad year for my migraines. But not 2020, really. Had a few minor ones...or maybe ones that didn't fully develop. But nothing as bad as what I had in 2019.

Sumatriptan seems to work. Tastes terrible, but if I feel one coming on I can take one to head it off. I've had the weird feeling that a migraine was 'lurking' all day today. Like...it's not a migraine yet, but you feel funny and now I'll be like "shit, please, not this crap today". I've also been feeling dehydrated today, so I've been pounding water, taking naps and I just ate a salad instead of anything 'good'. Finally took a 100mg because the pre-migraine feeling wouldn't go away.

I still have no idea what triggers them, or why I didn't get a migraine until I hit my mid 40s. Then...suddenly...migraines. Sometimes I feel like maybe it's linked to exhaustion and a lack of sleep, or possibly my food allergies. I am allergic to milk and other foods, but I ignore them. But I *DO* sometimes feel like my sinuses aren't draining (often after I eat, my sinuses go nuts...because allergies) and then BOOM! Migraine. I've mentioned this to doctors, thinking maybe my sinuses trigger migraines, but they don't seem to take that seriously, so /shrug.



Right now I'm afraid that I might need shoulder surgery. I've been going to PT for a while after I started getting numbness and pain/burning in my fingers. After about 2 months of PT a lot of the nerve shit is gone (less frequent and not as bad) but it's still there at times. Plus I just have a lot of different pains, from my neck to my back and my shoulder. Different things have helped reduce some of it, but I still get some symptoms and not all of the pain will go away. My therapist (who is a pretty good dude) was wondering if I have some sort of shoulder/labrum issue that had other issues stacked together with it, so I might end up seeing a specialist soon. Which I'm kind of happy about, because I've had some back/shoulder pain that was bad enough at times that I literally couldn't sleep (tossing and turning all night due to pervasive pain) and my employer wasn't happy that I've had to take a couple days off due to not being able to sleep (first the migraines, now this!).

FML, getting old sucks.
Lumi Lumi gave you a moron reaction for this post so it’s pretty obvious what your solutions are, moron.

The only thing I have to offer is have you tried Neti rinses when your sinuses get stuffed? I got severely congested chest and sinuses in October. It would not go away and eventually progressed to the point my sinuses were so clogged I couldn’t hear for shit, was like I had a ton of water in my ear. I could tilt my head back and the fluid would drain back enough I could hear for a couple minutes before it drained back. Doctors had me try steroids, ibuprofen, Benadryl.

Anyways what finally cleared it was hardcore neti rinses. Just brute forcing the water in, the blowing it all out. Shit just kept coming out. Eventually the brute force was going through my entire sinus network (I have to close one eye or the rinse shoots out where my tear duct is lol) and into my ears, finally rinsed it all out.

Every few days I still wake up an my ears have a minor clog and I just power rinse it out once and it clears it out now.
 
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Erronius

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I have not tried the Neti pot thing. For some reason it sounded a bit like ear-candling to me.
 

Alasliasolonik

Toilet of the Mod Elect
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Ok, here is a new one I don't have any clue how to solve. A friends husband is really confused. He is 25 and sounds like an old person with dementia. He talks about being able to hear satellites, gets angry about having children, claims to be able to read minds and see right through people and has stopped working totally without calling in. Something about the corporate overlords etc etc. Also he is convinced his wife is working as a prostitute even though he is around her all day every day now. The confusion is extreme most of the time but he will have periods of lucidity. He is refusing help and the one time she did get him into the ER they wouldn't let her in with him because COVID. Because he is in no way suicidal so they won't admit him for observation and no tests are being done.

I have no idea how she can get a guardianship without an evaluation of some type. What options does she have? She is disinclined, for obvious reasons, to say he is a threat to the kids or whatever.
What state are you in?

Kuriin is correct to a point but if hes not a REAL threat to himself or others, the cops and hospital wont do shit besides MAYBE a 24 trip to inpatient. Took me 20 years to make people understand my biological father is a true 5150. I got a whole lotta stories about cops and hospitals not giving a shit.

Depending on your state and where you they live in that state, DCFS ( Department of Children and Family Services) or whatever they call it where you are at will be the best bet to tell a judge that he aint right. They will come to the house, talk to everyone and he will show his cards unless hes used to his insanity Tell your lady friend to automaticlly try to get a restraining order because once all that goes down, he will go crazy(er).
 
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Hateyou

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I have not tried the Neti pot thing. For some reason it sounded a bit like ear-candling to me.
It’s not at all, I’ve done both. Don’t get the pot, get the squeeze bottle. Candle isn’t getting in your ear and cleaning shit out from the inside...the neti is. You can feel it flowing around in your head, hear it in your ears. Then when you release all the water and mucus comes out. Just use bottled water and let it get to room temperature. I have a few bottles of water stored in the pantry with the squeeze bottle. It’s not as bad as it sounds. The first couple times getting used to it was weird, now I just flush and be done in under a minute.

This one. I also got a pack of the salt mix stuff. The bottle comes with a couple but it’s one pack per flush. I was doing 3-4 bottles per flush in the beginning. You can get this stuff at CVS or Walgreens too

Neil Med SinuFlo Ready Rinse, 8 ounces Bottle Amazon product ASIN B0030HMR7E
 
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Izo

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Cook the water first. Don’t want to add to the infection. Let it cool, obviously. Use it a room / body temp. Don’t spray cold water, you risk syncope. It works, Erronius Erronius
 
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Blitz

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Lumi Lumi gave you a moron reaction for this post so it’s pretty obvious what your solutions are, moron.

The only thing I have to offer is have you tried Neti rinses when your sinuses get stuffed? I got severely congested chest and sinuses in October. It would not go away and eventually progressed to the point my sinuses were so clogged I couldn’t hear for shit, was like I had a ton of water in my ear. I could tilt my head back and the fluid would drain back enough I could hear for a couple minutes before it drained back. Doctors had me try steroids, ibuprofen, Benadryl.

Anyways what finally cleared it was hardcore neti rinses. Just brute forcing the water in, the blowing it all out. Shit just kept coming out. Eventually the brute force was going through my entire sinus network (I have to close one eye or the rinse shoots out where my tear duct is lol) and into my ears, finally rinsed it all out.

Every few days I still wake up an my ears have a minor clog and I just power rinse it out once and it clears it out now.

I need to get back to using my neti pot more often, it really does do wonders. Then again I've never used it consistently enough to probably get the full benefit. By power washing, do you mean how often you were doing it, or were you really squeezing the shit out of it to get way in there? I always just do enough pressure for it to come out the other nostril etc.
 

Hateyou

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I need to get back to using my neti pot more often, it really does do wonders. Then again I've never used it consistently enough to probably get the full benefit. By power washing, do you mean how often you were doing it, or were you really squeezing the shit out of it to get way in there? I always just do enough pressure for it to come out the other nostril etc.
I was squeezing the shit out of it, blocking the other nostril. It fills pretty fast if you’re really stuffed up but each one clears out more mucus. Eventually you can flood your entire sinus cavities with the saline, like up around your eyes, through your ears, etc. if you have the other nostril open it’s just going to hit the end of the blocked mucus then flow back out, there’s no pressure trying to break through the clog. That’s why the first time I had to do 3-4 bottles. So much shit just kept coming out cause I was pulling it from very deep.

It feels weird flowing through your whole head, one time I even got dizzy. It was the only thing that worked, I’ve never been that stuffed up for so long. It was months of nothing working, then doing that just brute forced it out.
 
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Hateyou

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Cook the water first. Don’t want to add to the infection. Let it cool, obviously. Use it a room / body temp. Don’t spray cold water, you risk syncope. It works, Erronius Erronius
Yeah that’s why I used room temp bottled water. Absolutely don’t use tap or pond water, you’ll fuck yourself up lol
 

Hateyou

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Right ear was clogged this morning, half a bottle cleared it up. Erronius Erronius and Blitz Blitz if you don’t look like this half a bottle in then you’re not using enough pressure.

173E514C-A61F-4C5A-8A23-29C96DC344F3.jpeg
 
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