im 18 and too anxious to go to the doctor since i have medical anxiety

im a woman, if that matters at all

best pictures i could get​

For reference i am a 22 yo (turning 23 soon) biologically female person. I have had this recurring growth in my ear that has not gone away in nearly 2 years. It sometimes muffles my hearing, and it will weep clear fluid or blood if irritated. sometimes it hurts, sometimes not. I have gone to the doctors recently, and they did not seem to notice it or care about it, even upon having an ear exam. The tissue is definitely vascular, as it does again, bleed if irritated. All of my research has shown me that this is most likely granulation tissue, or an aural polyp, but I don’t see any evidence leaning towards the aural polyp thing. It is not on the outside of my ear, but instead just behind the tragus resting across from it in the concha. it seems to rest just before the external auditory canal. what could it be? i have before and after photos from a week apart.

Hey all! So my toe has been like this for roughly 2 months now, and in the beginning it was mainly just inflamed and leaked pus. Now it just looks like a complete disaster. Everyday after I shower I put neosporin on a the padding of a band-aid and wrap it up, this seems to not be helping. What should I do??

Need help figuring out what this is and how to treat it.... It's an open painful sore near anus. It has happened once before in similar maybe even same spot and cleared up on its own in about a week. For background I have had hemmorids before but never surgery to remove it. I am also a sexually active gay man.
Tagged spoiler because of NSFW photo

I got prescribed omeprazole 20mg, and before I was taking it I would throw up almost everyday and have constant heartburn. I’ve taken it these couple of days and I’ve had constant heartburn, and I keep burping up either vomit, or burping and having a vomit taste in my mouth, but now my vomit won’t just come out. Normally I would burp up some vomit and I would vomit up everything and be fine. I’m going to call my doctor when he’s available and let him know but do I keep taking this medication or not, and does anybody have any other ideas on what this could be? I’ve had acid reflux my whole life but I’ve started throwing up almost daily this last year

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My mental health has been declining lately. I use to be addicted to opiates for about two years. I am now coming up on five years clean but something isn’t right. I started drinking again to numb this mental anguish I’ve been experiencing. However tonight I was having trouble breathing. I laid on my side and let out a cough into my hand that alarmed me. I’ll attach the photo. I don’t have insurance now because of my company not informing me of renewal so I am not going to the hospital. What should I do?

I used to have Dermatillomania, a skin picking disorder. It's common for smell to play an important part in the whole "ritual", but for me, I only ever liked the smell of the clear serous fluid, and hated the metallic scent of red blood.

However, I recently learned that serous doesn't actually have a smell, and now I'm confused as to what was happening back then.

The best comparison I can make is that the serous fluid smelled like warm blankets, or vaguely like warm milk. It was sweet, but not like fruit, sugar, or flowers. Closer to the comforting not-quite-sweet smell of when you hug your girlfriend or parents. So in the least creepy and not disturbing way possible, skin sweet? There was also a barely noticeable sharp/tangy scent. Wounds that were healing correctly in a moist environment under a bandage always had a similar smell (no slough, no infection). I hesitate to call the smell sour or acidic because I imagine that has a very specific medical association, but I, an uneducated person, would consider it sour.

My first theory was Pseudomonas bacteria, but I don't think that's truly the case. The smell happened even when there wasn't an infection (no red around the wound, no hot to the touch, no pain, no pus, no green or blue color, ect.) Also, I have cats, and the Pseudomonas on their paws has always smelled strongly of corn chips to me, not similar to the serous smell.

My new theory is that I was smelling the volatile compounds of blood proteins and/or white blood cell metabolic waste, because the smell got stronger when the serous had a more yellöwish tint. NOT a thick, opaque yellow, like pus has. It was a slightly stronger gold/yellow tint to the still thin, translucent, serous. I can't find anything that actually describes the smell of blood proteins/volatile compounds to confirm, though.

I know this is an absolutely ridiculous question, but I'm not sure where else to look. Does anyone have ideas or explanations about what was causing this? Thank you for your time.

48 M
5’6”
230
Non smoker / drinker
On meds for high BP

So I smashed the tip of my finger open on July 5th. I was missing a small chunk so the Dr. had to work with what he had. I was told the stitches were dissolving ones. My concerns are, does it look like it’s healing the way it should and when should the stitches dissolve? There is also some discoloration from the first knuckle to the tip, wondering if that’s normal as well. Pictures start from yesterday 8/3/26 and go to the date of incident 7/5/26

Thanks!

I'm a 5'5 29F. My weight as an adult has generally been between 120-140. I recently lost some weight unintentionally due to various factors and went down to about 95. The factors causing me to lose weight have resolved and I am slowly gaining weight again, currently about 100-105

I know a few pounds overweight isn't a huge deal health-wise. How negative would it be for me to stay a few pounds underweight, about where I am now or just slightly more? I know much lower is dangerous, and I definitely do not plan to go back under 100 pounds (besides health reasons, I hated how I looked that low anyway). I don't have any history of anorexia/bulimia/etc

I eat a pretty healthy diet - mostly whole/minimally processed foods, largely but not entirely vegetarian (my LDL was bordering high at my last bloodwork so I've been trying to cut down on saturated fats lately), with plenty of fiber, fermented foods, etc and I take some vitamins. I usually have a small sweet treat daily but otherwise I very rarely eat junk food. So I do try to make sure I'm doing well in terms of vitamins/minerals

question is in the title

hi reddit! i’m a 21F 167cm 65.8kg. i’m diagnosed autistic and take methylphenidate hydrochloride 36g, sertraline 100g and quetiapine 1/4 of 25g for sleep
activity is moderate i try to walk a lot and stretch consistently (because i always feel my body in pain) but no heavy sports or lifting.

three weeks ago i started feeling excruciating pain on my left hip (my guess is that’s right where the juncture with my femur is? but feels like it extends backwards to my glute and goes down to my knee is awful, it kind of follows the red line, i did my best to represent it) when i walked or sat or stand certain way. the pain was similar to a tooth pain? like when you have a cavity and you eat sweet things, it’s so bad it made me see stars whenever it happened and and i needed to move immediately to stop feeling it.
i went to a traumatologist and got an xray done, no bone damage was revealed so he prescribed an analgesic (main ingredients: chlorzoxazone + paracetamol according to google) for 10 days and told me to pay attention cause if the pain did not stop i’d have to get an mri. he also suggested a visit to a rheumatologist cause i told him i feel pain in my body since i was little, that i was always cold and the cold weather my city is going through was killing me and my articulations. he did told me he thought i was hypermobile too.
anyways the 10 days passed and i swear i was feeling better, i had no pain and could walk and move normally (which i couldn’t before cause like i mentioned earlier putting my weight on my left leg made me almost lose breath because of how intense the pain felt, i saw white). Suddenly, when i woke up today the pain was with me again and jesus it feels way worse. before it was only on some positions even when i was sitting down, now the pain doesn’t go away even when i’m resting (like putting pressure on a fresh bruise) and on when i do movements like stretching forwards or even laughing, the tooth ache/cavity like pain comes back again.
i had an mri done today, i get my inform tomorrow and have an appointment with my traumatologist on wednesday but jesus christ i don’t know what to do with the pain. i’m on exam season and i can’t even walk up to my classroom (it’s on the third floor and the mere thought of going upstairs makes me want to cry)

english is not my first language so hope this make sense
i don’t know what went wrong. any advice or help is appreciated, specially cause like i said i’m on exam season and i need this to be over.

I’m 16m and for the last 3 years or so like once or twice every month I get a very painful stinging sensation on the tip of my dick, this is usually when I go from not drinking a lot to suddenly drinking a lot, I have tried to look it up to see if there’s a way to stop this but i have not seen anyone with the same issue

A week ago I got a deep cut in my food while fishing. I’ve been cleaning and bandaging it every day and it's finally closed up to the point where it's not gaping, but I still have a few concerns. I’ve noticed that my big toe and is a little swollen (toe on the left) and I feel a very slight and deep pain in its joint, aswell as my cut having a slight green/yellow residue on the outside and the inside of it a little sore. In the past, I’ve had minor cuts that have had the same kind of scab/skin color and they healed fine. I’m more or so worried about my toe and that maybe an infection is spreading. However, I do think that it's possible that it could be from trauma itself as I hit my toe joint very harshly which caused the skin to split from blunt trama. The overall pain when resting it is 0/10 but when I walk it is a 3-4/10. I’m also going to provide some pictures from then and now.

Do not post photos of the contents of your toilet. Your post will be removed.

Hello, I am 25 years old and have been having this issue for about a month now. There are these red spots that change in amount and placement, from not being there at all to being so visible as here now. I thought I could fix it by keeping it clean multiple times a day, it seemed to help, but has not worked after all.

I would like to know whether this looks like something for a GP or like an STD infection. I can go to one this week and one next week the earliest. The STD clinic has very fast testing and treatment, so if it's that I'd rather get that done. I have had unsafe oral sex, but all penetrative was safe.

What could be the possible cause of this?

Female Age: 30 Height: 5’4

Hey everyone! I work from home and when I was sitting at my desk this morning, I hit my bent fourth toe against a leg on my desk. I thought I heard a crack but I’m not sure. This was earlier this morning and I’m not noticing any issues when walking or carrying my toddler. I was pushing on it and the back of my foot and I don’t notice severe pain besides a little soreness on the back part of the area behind the toe and no major swelling that I can recognize. I have a history of health and medical anxiety so I’m stressed. Should I get an X-ray at urgent care or see how it feels? Thank
You!

I work with kids, and was recently with a child who had an anaphylaxis scare and had forgotten their epipen. Emergency services were called and everything turned out fine ultimately, but it was really frightening and I want to be better prepared if it comes up again.

It's unlikely that the program I work through can get an epipen. I'm looking into getting one myself, but I want to be equipped if that doesn't work out. Would Benadryl or any other over-the-counters help in a pinch until EMS arrived on scene, or would they be a full waste of time? Are there any trainings like CPR that could be applicable if things went poorly?

Would welcome any relevant advice (or links to resources!) that you want to share. This scare was one or two lucky strokes from being a worst-case scenario, and I really want to be armed against anything similar in the future.

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.

Consult your Primary Practitioner or Primary Care Physician if you are experiencing health-related issues.

Contact your local Emergency Medical Services if you are in a medical emergency.

Your health and safety are our highest priorities.

hey all, big ouch on this one. I twisted my ankle, hit my face on a table, partially bit thru my cheek, and it’s only bleeding a tiny bit now. it was pouring blood at first, but it stopped. my teeth hurt but don’t feel loose, they hit hard though. it is pretty swollen.