/r/medical
Welcome to r/Medical! Your safe space for medical questions. -
Read the rules, ask and answer questions, and remember, your well-being matters here. -
This is a supportive community where you can explore, share, and learn about health and related topics. -
Join the conversation and let's navigate our medical curiosity together!
DO NOT MESSAGE MODERATORS WITH YOUR MEDICAL QUESTIONS, WE DO NOT ANSWER POST QUESTIONS THROUGH MODMAIL
THIS SUBREDDIT IS FOR MEDICAL QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION
IF YOU HAVE A MEDICAL QUESTION, THINGS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR POST
Remember, the more information you can give, the better.
Please mark your post as NSFW if it is.
Do not post:
Other Subreddits -
If you are a medical professional and would like to receive a flair, please visit the wiki for more information.
Rules
Please read the following thoroughly, if you do not understand then do not post or comment.
RULE 1 - Understand legal disclaimer
This is a discussion forum for medical topics. This is not a replacement for a medical evaluation. Many of our members are not medical professionals.
Posting in this community does not establish liability nor a professional-client relationship. If in doubt, consult qualified healthcare personnel.
Note: This community cannot provide emergency assistance. In urgent situations, seek immediate medical help.
RULE 2 - r/medical Purpose
r/medical is a space for all your health related questions, regardless of it being somatic, psychiatric, sexual—all medical related questions are permitted as long as they are within the confines of our rules—whether it's a common concern or a personal question, there's no judgment here. Every question is valid unless it poses harm.
While the advice shared isn't a replacement for professional diagnosis, consider it a supportive community for understanding your body and health.
RULE 3 Moderator and Community Manager's Discretion
The moderators and Community Managers of r/medical reserve the right to take any action that is in the best interests of the subreddit or its community.
This includes, but is not limited to, removing posts or comments, banning users, or changing the content, interpretation, or enforcement of these rules.
The goal is to foster a supportive and informative community.
Further information may not be provided.
RULE 4 - Community Safety
We prioritize kindness, respect and inclusivity. Jokes about serious topics like rape, death, self-harm or hurtful speech is strictly prohibited.
Misinformation has no place; offer only genuine advice. Protect privacy by censoring personal details before posting.
Foster an environment where questions are encouraged and learning about our bodies is embraced.
Familiarize with Reddiquette for guidance.
Remember to censor personal details before reposting to uphold privacy.
Violating this rule will result in a ban, either temporary or permanent depending on the severity and prior sanctions.
Rule 5 - Use Descriptive Titles for Your Post
Post titles should provide a clear and specific idea of your question or the photo content.
A descriptive title not only attracts users with relevant expertise but ensures you receive the most useful advice.
Avoid titles like 'What's this?' or 'Is this normal?' as they may not accurately state your concern, potentially restricting assistance.
Be specific, and informative in your titles, clarity increases the quality of assistance within the community.
RULE 6- No unsolicited PMs to users nor Moderators or Community Managers.
Do not PM users without consent.
Do not PM Moderators or Community Managers unless asked. Use ModMail for communication with the Mod Team.
Violators will be banned.
RULE 7 - No Claiming Unverified Credentials
Unflaired users can not claim medical expertise.
Professionals/students need verification to claim credentials - Flairs can be assigned through the official process - Visit our WIKI on how to becoming verified.
Note that misuse, harassment, or clearly spreading misinformation will lead to removal of the flair and ban.
RULE #8 - Health and Information Integrity.
r/medical prohibits content that poses risk/harm to self or others, or that spread misinformation.
Harmful practices; self-destructive behaviour; and non-evidence medical advice are strictly against our rules.
We aim for a safe space with accurate, evidence-based information.
Any violation will be met with sanctions.
RULE 9 - Private Area Questions
Posts including pictures/videos of parts of the body considered NSFW (regardless of gender), such as: nipples, breast, vulva, vagina, butt, anus, penis, testicles, or any part of the pubic area are strictly for people above the age of 18 and must include age in the title.
Minors (or parents on behalf of minors) are strictly prohibited from posting such content; any attempt will lead to an immediate and permanent ban to ensure the safety of all users.
RULE 10 - Self-Harm/Sexual-Assault/Cut Injury Related (read before posting)
Allowed with strict criteria—include TW SH/SA in title, and SPOILER tag.
Moderated heavily for safety; Mods or CMs may lock comments or remove posts to prevent trolling.
'What layer is this?' and similar posts will be removed.
SH or SA glorification will result in a permanent ban without warning.
For dedicated SH content, visit r/selfharm or r/selfharmscars.
For dedicated SA content, visit r/RapeCounseling or r/SexualAssult.
If you're suicidal, seek support on r/SuicideWatch.
Rule 11 - Substance/Medicine, and Bug bite/sting, Rash identification, or Cancer diagnosis request
We prohibit substance/medication identification or identifications for bites/stings or rashes, as it’s infeasible to identify based on a picture or description.
Consult Pharmacologist, Physician, or Dermatologist for these.
Posts speculating cancer based on symptoms, lesions, moles etc., will be removed. Cancer cannot be diagnosed or ruled out via Reddit; it's irresponsible to allow this type of speculation.
Rule 12 - No Fundraising; Advertising; Surveys: or Polls
No fundraising, advertising, surveys, or polls allowed on this subreddit.
While we support healthcare personnel and education, we cannot guarantee the confidentiality of personal information in surveys.
We treat everyone equally and have denied previous requests for fundraising, advertising, and surveys.
Rule 13 - Repost Frequency
Posts that are reposted within 24 hours will be removed.
Reposts are permitted once every 24 hours.
Repeatedly violating this rule may lead to a ban.
Rule 14 - Rabies or Amoeba Diagnosis Requests
Posts on rabies or amoeba (Naegleria fowleri, etc.) infection, as it is not possible to diagnose these over the internet.
If you suspect exposure to rabies, contact your local health department to discuss risk factors and determine if vaccination is necessary.
Rule 15 - No politics
Discussion of political matters is strictly prohibited within r/medical's community. This includes but is not limited to debates, opinions, or references to political figures, parties, policies, or ideologies.
Our focus is on providing support and information related to medical topics.
Any posts or comments that are politically charged will be removed, and repeated violations may result in a ban.
/r/medical
There are yellow flakes and my skin looks inflamed. The area feels oily and then gets matted with dry skin after washing it.
It flares up when eating - possible a part of a stitch?
Please help I am so scared.
What exactly is this? How can I fix this
So this started as some dry patches for awhile, I have this mainly on my scalp. My recent visit which was over a year ago to the dermatologist said I had seborrheic dermatitis on my scalp and it affected my forehead.
I was prescribed ketoconazole shampoo which helped my scalp but I needed to keep using it more and daily. They said let some on my forehead and I should be fine.
I continued to do this and I got otc 1% ketoconazole which helped but it’s just getting worse. This started happening not too long ago and started spreading to other areas of my face, by my nose bridge and my beard.
Hello, i am a 16 year old girl and for the past year or so i have been fainting more often. i had never fainted before then, starting with one time last year in may on a hot day in a slave dungeon tour in ghana for my moms work. We were pretty sure it was heat related, and after i layed down and ate i felt better.
but since then i have fainted many more times, maybe 4 times actually all the way out and many more times losing conciousness for a short time or losing all of my senses for a short while.
this seems to happen most when i have not eaten since early that day, but it has happened other times. one, i had eaten normally but eating a nutter butter made it go away. another two times it happened in the pool, once while i was at work teaching a small group of toddlers how to swim and the other at swim practice (that was scary because i didnt want to tell my coach but had to when i lost conciousness after diving in the water. i had a gatorade and felt a bit better but sat out of practice.
does anyone know what this could be? ive talked to my doctor and we havent figured it out yet. we've suspected low blood sugar but my lab results didnt indicate that to be the case. any ideas? I'm a bit nervous about it. Anything helps thanks
Has anyone had a flexible sigmoidoscopy? Or rubber banding? Due to trauma and the amount of pain it causes I cannot and will not have a cannula so if I do it I can only have the gas they offer as pain relief and no anxiety meds (the good news is my panic attack will mean I breath more 😭) Does the gas help? How painful is it? I have chronic pain too so it'll probably be worse for me 😭 What to expect? What prep do they have you do? Any info is so appreciated, thank you 💕
Hello! I hope I've come to the right place because I have a question about my blood type and won't be able to ask my doctor in the near future and cant find somethin in the internet at all. After my first blood donation, a letter came with the information that my antigen A was weakened. It also says on my blood donor card: Bloodgroup Aweak, RhD-positive and there is a special note: Antigen A weakened and underneath there is a genetic code. However, I would like to know what this is all about and I can't find anything about it on the internet. Do I have any disadvantages as a result and why do I have this? The second time I donated blood, the comment was: I've never seen anything like that. I hope someone can enlighten me about what it means physically, and health wise too.
All the other nails are normal This discolouration is past a few months
Hi,
Please can someone interpret these comments as I'm unsure what they mean. "? Unresolved consolidation? Copd features"
Thank you
So my boyfriend woke up the other day with this painful scab on his arm. It first looked a little blue but is now a reddish/yellow colour. He also has two scabs that look a little similar between his thighs that he is also saying are painful. We’re not sure if those are the same as the one on his arm but does anyone have any idea as to what it could be?
The left side of my throat has been in constant pain, and my left ear has felt clogged for the past few days now. I went to the doctor and they said I’m negative for strep, and gave me nasal spray which has moderately helped but my throat pain is strong and Advil doesn’t seem to help. Anyone know what this is? I don’t feel sick other than the throat pain.
so this is a long story but ill try to explain as good as i can. i used to do martial arts semi professionally for years, but after a long time my leg started to feel off.. my leg would randomly and uncontrolably fail under me and cause me to fall. Every time i tried to run or walk fast it would either just straight up give out, or cause me an incredible tightness in my calf to the point where i had to sit down because i could not move anymore. In 2020 i slipped on ice and fell straight onto my leg. I got sent to the ER and got an xray. Lucky me the leg was not broken, however they found something strange, a growth of sorts. They already then without having done any tests, scared the shit out of me and told me it could be bone C. They did an MRI, found out it was not anything dangerous and sent me home without explaining anything. Days later i got a call from the doctor who told me ''we did not find anything of interest and therefore we wont be running any more tests. It could just be a bad inflammation.'' To this day i am bothered by random pains in the leg, random weakness where it feels like it could fail anytime and i have not dared to even try to run since 2020, since i once just fell of the threadmill and could not stand back up. What in the world could this be?
hurts to move my face lol, also sorry for blurry pic
I had a nissen fundoplication in 2007 and had 3 staples placed on my wrap.
I have another health issue that needs an MRI, but I'm afraid the MRI may pull my staples or cause them to heat up causing damage.
I’m a month out from a partial toenail removal and I’m concerned it isn’t healing right. It doesn’t look like any other pictures I’ve seen online.
I just did an epsom salt foot soak with explains the skin peeling, but the nail bed itself hasn’t changed much since the procedure.
And what the heck is the black part on the bottom left? It seems too deep to be part of the nail bed.
Please help!!
Lately (about a week now) I’ve been experiencing itchiness, bumpiness, dryness, and scaly skin around my vagina, anus and inner thigh. I’m a brown woman so the skin around these regions are darker than my skin tone and it’s peeling. Additionally I’ve been experiencing more discharge and general wetness than usual. My discharge is a normal consistency so I don’t think it’s any type of vaginal infection. This “breakout” happened after using this soap with fragrance. I’ve been trying to moisturize down there with shea butter but it hasn’t worked. Does anyone know any at home remedies for stuff like this? I’m kinda embarrassed about going to a health care provider for stuff like this.
18m I a lot of mini white heads, blackheads and ingrown hairs all over penis. They aren’t an std because I’ve had them for most of my life, but just now they are getting worse. I cannot find much online that is similar to mine. It isn’t fordyce spots of pearly penile papuals. The closest I’ve seen is something like folliculitis but that only ranges for around a week or so so I doubt it’s that. Please someone help me I’m in desperate need and DO NOT want to go to a doctor
This is a VERY long one but PLEASE PLEASE READ!! I’m so scared and curious if anyone has been through anything similar!
*I’m a 20 year old female, the only medical issues I’ve had in the past are anxiety(which I talk about) and asthma(probably not related)
For the past week my sleep schedule has been pretty messed up(not rare for me, I’m usually up until 4-5am and sleep until noon or 1pm). I play a few instruments and get lost in playing, singing, or even just reading a book, so I haven’t been going to sleep until around 7am(terrible, I know), but it didn’t have any effect on me(possibly)until a few days ago.
I woke up late, as per usual, somewhere around 3pm. When I woke up, I opened my phone, scrolled through twitter for a little while, and sat up in my bed to get ready to get dressed. When I sat up, I had this really weird feeling in my head, almost as if it was floating, and I felt super dizzy. I thought it was a little strange and even looked it up on google, but I had been getting some weird dizzy spells a couple months before this and felt that it was probably another one of those and thought it would pass. I did decide though, that I probably shouldn’t change and just go upstairs to tell my dad about what I was feeling.
As soon as I got to the top of the stairs(thank god I did), the dizziness got extremely worse to the point where I was positive that I was going to pass out. I walked quickly into my living room and sat on the couch where thankfully my mom was also sitting. I told her I was feeling extremely dizzy, and not to freak out if I pass out, but to get my dad. It was a very VERY scary feeling.
The weird thing was, I didn’t feel anxious at all and I’ve had a very traumatic past dealing with really bad anxiety, to the point where I had to do my senior year twice because it took me 3 months to get to school due to my anxiety making me extremely sick in the morning. Anyway, like I said, I’ve dealt with tons of anxiety attacks/panic attacks in the past, and this did not feel like one whatsoever.
I stayed as calm as I could, leaned back, and my mom gave me half a cookie thinking it could possibly be my blood sugar(I’m not diabetic, but she started freaking out a little at this point and just wanted to fix me). I also took a few sips of water thinking I could be dehydrated but that was also not likely because I’m a water and juice fanatic.
Anytime I moved my head, I felt another wave of feeling as if I was gonna pass out, so I felt stuck to the couch. I was very very scared, but I kept trying to psych myself out saying that it was over with. After a few minutes. I tried to sit up, and another wave hit me so hard that I told my mom to get my dad, because he’s the one that usually calls the ambulance for me if I’m feeling really sick.
My mom left the room, and said something like she was going to get me a wet washcloth, and then I’m pretty sure I passed out after that because there is a gap of time I don’t remember, like hearing her tell my dad that I need him, or hearing the kitchen sink while she wet a rag. The next thing I do remember though, is my dad coming down the hallway and asking me what was wrong. I told him I felt like I was going to pass out( I didn’t realize I already did at this point) and he asked me if he should call the ambulance. I told him yes, so he did, and while waiting for the ambulance he tried asking me what led up to how I was feeling, but it eventually got to the point where I couldn’t even talk without feeling like I was going to pass out. Every little action I made, seemed to make the feeling worse.
(I’d also like to say, I’m the type of person to wait until the very last second to call an ambulance if I need it, and I’ll only want one if it’s a last case scenario situation)
The ambulance eventually came, and two paramedics came inside. One of them came up to me and immediately felt my pulse. When he did, he made a funny face and said “huh, has anyone ever told you that you have an abnormal heart rate?” I said “no, but I definitely know that I have one because I’ve heard it when lying down before and have had weird chest pains.”
(They also did check my blood sugar and it was perfect)
When they put me in the ambulance(they had to carry me because I couldn’t walk and also had to convince me to stand up in the first place for 5 minutes because I resisted since I was so scared to pass out) they hooked me up to the monitor, and both of them were pointing and saying “oh yeah, see that?” At my pulse.
Anywho, since we’ve passed the most important part, I will sum the hospital visit up and just tell you that they stuck me in a waiting room for 8 hours after giving me meclizine for the dizziness, took blood and did an ekg. I ended up checking myself out after hitting the 8 hour mark because the medicine they gave me made me drowsy and I was stuck in a wheelchair with no results coming back to me. My dad did end up calling an hour after I got home and they told me everything came back totally normal.
It’s been 4 days and ever since I’ve had constant dizziness and major MAJOR anxiety. I’ve only gotten 2, 1 hour periods where I feel normal(still a little dizzy though) and then I’m full of the anxiety and dizziness all over again. I also am constantly sleeping, which is very strange to me, I’m only up for 4-6 hours at a time. My appetite is terrible, and when I do eat, I’m immediately nauseous.
The main thing to me though is the dizziness because I am isolated to only laying down besides to use the bathroom, because I simply can sit up or turn my head too fast or look around quickly without feeling so so dizzy.
What frustrates me the most is I don’t have one single answer for how I’m feeling or what caused the initial feeling in the first place. I was hoping it was just low iron or something stupid like that since that’s common in young girls, but they claim my blood work came back normal. I don’t drink, smoke, or even drink caffeine. I haven’t eaten or done anything out of the ordinary.
I have done some research and the most explainable things are heart problems(which probably wasn’t detected in my ekg, I also have a cardiologist appointment in 3 days so we’ll see) or because I have constant anxiety now, I also have constant dizziness as a side effect from the anxiety.
All I want is an answer, and/or someone to tell me that I’m not alone. If you have any idea what this could be, or if you’ve been through anything similar, please please share your experience/thoughts! I am so scared for my health and so sick of feeling this way. As soon as I get an answer I will also update this! Thank you for reading this novel, I’m so sorry it was this long😩
If I have a fungal/yeast/bacteria infection on the skin. What should the towel procedure be? I still use my towel 2-3 times and just realized that might be risky. Can I spread the infection all over my body?
What is happening 2 days ago my stool was long and soft with orange liquid yesterday is was long and soft but no orange liquid today it's small pieces with orange liquid it's normal 1 long piece dark brown with cracks what is happening is it lake of Fibre? Or something else please help. Gender male age 13
My sister said she had a cold or was coming down from one. Now I have a full on cold; fever, chills, headache. But also when I breath in real deeply my chest hurts and I usually cough. Signs? Common? Uncommon?
Maybe this is the wrong forum to ask as I know US doctors are more liberal in the prescription of antibiotics than docs where I'm from but I'm curious as to what determines if a doctor thinks prophylactic antibiotics are necessary after suturing a self harm wound? I've had self harm wounds sutured in the ER and at my doctor's office millions of times but they don't always prescribe antibiotics so I'm just confused as to what makes them prescribe it. The times I've been prescribed antibiotics nothing has been out of the ordinary, clean blade, clean wound, sutured within 12 hours, etc. The time I did it with a questionably clean blade they just gave me a tetanus shot, no antibiotics. The time I got 48+h old wounds sutured, no antibiotics. So I just can't figure out what makes the doctor decide you need antibiotics.
I see no reason for me to take antibiotics if I did the cut with a new clean blade and I got it sutured within a reasonable timeframe so today I refused the antibiotics. I know the signs of infection and I'll seek help if I notice anything strange with my wounds. I just feel like a million courses of Flucloxacillin when there's no actual infection cant be good.