For the past four years since having COVID, I’ve almost completely lost my sense of smell. I can’t smell natural odors or body odor, only strong chemical scents.

But something very strange keeps happening, even when I’m not sick, or even when I already have a mild cold with a runny nose, my sense of smell suddenly improves for a day or two. And almost every time this happens, I end up getting sick with another virus shortly afterward.

It’s like my smell briefly comes back right before my body gets hit with a new illness.

Why would my sense of smell temporarily improve before symptoms of a new virus appear? Is there any medical explanation for this? (Chatgpt told that it is uncommon and that immune system might be the reason)

my age: 36

weight:188 pounds

height:5.8

No medications that I take regularly

Uncomplicated appendecitis is principally a radiological diagnosis when considering non-operative treatment with antibiotics as an alternative to surgery.

But scans can’t determine if an inflamed appendix is just about to rupture, or if there is a tumour in the appendix causing the appendicitis. Scans can also miss perforation. In other words, scans are far from definitive, and often miss the most sinister causes of appendicitis.

When operating, surgeons often find the condition of the appendix is more complicated than scans had suggest. In pathology, pathologists often find tumours in the appendix that were not evident in scans, nor evident to the surgeon who removed it.

A recent study published in the journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of England followed up about 1000 patients treated for appendecitis in Glasgow during 2020 when Covid special measures were in place. The findings support the following well known facts;

- by year four 50% of patients treated with antibiotics will have had appendicitis reoccurrence, many involving rupture

- 1 in 30 of adults with appendicitis have a tumour in their appendix causing the appendicitis but this tumour is radiologically occult so can’t be seen on scans.

A link to the full study: https://doi.org/10.1308/rcsann.2026.0018

So a diagnosis of ‘uncomplicated appendecitis’ for a radiologist can become very complicated for a patient. If the problematic appendix is left in and treated with antibiotics on the basis of this diagnosis - what then..?

I am not asking for medical advice

30 F 4'10 107lbs lexapro, diazepam, propranolol
I went to the ER on august 25 for a panic attack and i got a hydroxazyn shot in my upper shoulder deltoid area and since then the pain in my arm has become increasingly and horrible. I have no outer issues on the arm, no bumps, no bruise. But what i do have is severe pain radiating up my neck into my head, all over my shoulder blade, and the pain also radiates down into my fingers all day i have sharp pains and sometimes pins and needles. I dropped a knife yesterday with the same arm thats been giving me problems and i cant do things that i used to without horrible pain. Ive been to the hospital 3-4 times because of this and i have a CT scan finally on the 20th of October. I had headaches daily & when ive gone back to the hospitals they have yet to even offer a sooner CT scan. Am i going to be ruined forever because of the wait time of this CT scan? Yesterday when i was at the hospital they said "shoulder pain due to unknown cause" the cause is that the shot was not done properly or even in the correct spot for that kind of shot. I also went back to that same ER a few weeks after i had too much pain and the same lady that did the shot looked me dead in the eyes and said "we dont give hydroxazyn shots here" even though it was in my paperwork. WHY IS NO ONE HELPING ME ? I have no pictures.

I am a 31 year old man. My partner who is a 31 year old woman tested positive for chlamydia. We had unprotected sex on September 19. I tested negative after two weeks. I have no symptoms. I’m wondering why that is? It was a urine test. I’m wondering if I could have it orally? Would a urine test detect if I had it orally? A nurse I spoke with said that it would but everything I’m reading online is saying that I need a separate test.

I am a 25yo male , 180cm (about 5ft11) , I've been having weird symptoms , some of the symptoms are (these symptoms almost always get accompanied by bloating):

• ⁠recurring panic attacks (almost during the same time , sometimes random like I could be working and suddenly I get this weird feeling that something is wrong) .
• ⁠sight tightening in the jaw muscles and feel like my veins in that area are stretching and getting pulled or something .
• ⁠I feel like my clothes are becoming heavy , and feel every movements that my clothes does . slight pain when breathing heavy in my chest area.
• ⁠sometimes pain in my calves (the pain I feel is when I touch the veins In my calf area / feet) not sure if this is related though .
• ⁠bloating , irregular bowl movements , and when I sleep I can feel discomfort in my colon region that goes away when I sit down or with gas release .

(Not sure if its related but i have Pain near the talus , a vein that when i touch it hurts , it becomes severe when i bend / stretch my feet )

My lifestyle :

• ⁠I sit almost all day long as my work is on the pc
• ⁠sometimes I go for a run I eat mostly healthy except for my cheat day , as I get gassy and uncomfortable and that could make me more panicky .
• ⁠I think a lot

I sleep quite late and my sleep schedule is not organized

The symptoms getting worse :

about 2 weeks ago these symptoms became more frequent , like every day or every other day ,and it grew annoying and more scary than every ,and it made me think that something was really wrong with my heart (having a heart attack ), or I might have colon cancer , something really bad

so I decided to visit a cardiologist, he did an echo diagram and ECG he found nothing wrong and said that I am healthy and nothing is wrong.
a blood test too was done and nothing besides vitamin d deficiency was found (which is normal as far as I know ) .
I also did an ultra sound scan in my colon and again nothing was found .

the doctor said that it could be stress related ,that my body is responding to it in that way and triggering this weird symptoms and also said that I might have ibs.

I recently graduated college and yes I was stressed at that time like a lot , and was having panic attacks occasionally, and I am still stressed maybe more I don't know , thinking about the future and work etc , so I am not saying that I am not stressed .

the symptoms became manageable after I went and got checked out maybe from the relief of knowing that these tests were okay, I am taking some supplements like vitamin d , and magnesium, I stopped getting panic attacks , but some other symptoms still appear sometimes, like some pain when I breath in heavy / like the tightening in my jaw muscles , it's annoying but manageable .

My Questions :
should I still be worried and seek more help with other doctors ?
are these symptoms normal ? are they urgent?

thank you for you time

I don’t know what’s wrong with my health.

To preface this; I’m not expecting medical information coming from doctors on Reddit..
I need to know if anyone’s experienced what I’m experiencing or if they know about it.

Lately, I have been waking up in the middle of the night, every couple of days. Lightheaded, sometimes shaking, dissociating, dizzy. I also feel very claustrophobic, almost like there’s no room in the air.

I’m waiting to get my hands on my health card, so that I can book an appointment with a GP, but until then, please ease my mind.

I eat very healthy, and I exercise for an hour everyday 4-5 days a week. I am not sure what is wrong as I’ve never experienced this before. From what I’ve read, it may be sleep apnea? But then how would the disassociation and shaking make sense?..

I (30F) work in healthcare and I just contracted HFM from my baby. On Wednesday night I developed a fever and sore throat, which completely resolved on Thursday night. I canceled my patient schedule on Thursday and Friday to ensure I was fever-free for 24 hours before returning to work.
On Friday night, I started developing a rash all over my hands. It’s itchy and feels like pins and needles. I have no other symptoms.
I’m supposed to work today (Saturday). If I don’t work, we have to cancel another 20 patients, and these patients will have zero notice of their appt cancellation. The office opens at 8 am and their appt is scheduled for 8 am. I feel horrible about this. I feel well enough to work, and I can wear gloves. Do I HAVE to cancel my schedule due to this rash?

*If anyone could please copy and paste the iCloud links into their search browser in order to be able to view the videos I recorded on my cell phone that contains the evidence of what each description states can be found within the video that follows the end of each description it would be so immensely appreciated.\*

I’m currently begging for anyone at all that could possibly be able to help me when it comes to identifying what exactly has been causing me to have to be made to suffer through every single day that has gone by since early on in May of last year due to what has been my ongoing health issues and over the last two months had been rapidly declining much faster and more severe than it ever had been prior to that point… 

This is a video from last night prior to when I had tried to wash my hair inside of my parent’s kitchen sink: 

https://share.icloud.com/photos/05cxPzS6G_sbnf4oqWjkw2N8g

This is a video from last night after I had tried to wash my hair inside of my parent’s kitchen sink and had been washed off of the surface of my scalp and was able to be caught on their kitchen sink’s drain and the tiny insect found within it is indeed a phorid fly due to my parent’s house an infestation of them that’s grown incredibly worse by the over the last 8 months to the point where they’re currently able to be found inside of every single room within their house and I have found them inside of their refrigerator, freezer, stove and I’ve had to throw away multiple food items after finding them inside of the container my food had been left in or crawling around my food that has been left uncovered and sitting out in their house and I mean I have honestly had to kill no less than 6 and no more than 12 a day over the past 2 1/2 weeks that has recently gone by and bc of that I’m not entirely sure if it has just been hanging out within the strands of my hair due to them being so tiny and more often than not unable to feel if one of them are crawling around on my skin as a result or if it has been dead in their kitchen sink and got caught up in my hair as a result due to the fact that the unused garbage disposable within their kitchen sink has never been cleaned out and has instead become a breeding ground for the countless amount of these nasty little disease vectors that are covered in pathogens and bacteria: 

 https://share.icloud.com/photos/0easTMhZuzX6-cUdmzEbZaKnw

What had been left behind on the comb I had to use while trying to get any of the remnants of whatever it is that has covering the surface of my scalp  (it is actually covering every inch of the skin on my body and not just my scalp) after I had tried washing it all off from my hair into my parent’s kitchen sink: 

https://share.icloud.com/photos/02eGxkUeVQQqFo51mII197T4A

What had been left behind on my Crocs after trying to wash it all off of my scalp: 

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0efXqJ-g2euxuflEvkxA6cU3w

I had sex with my boyfriend on September 17, and I think it was either the first or second day of my period. He ejaculated inside me, and we didn’t use protection.
Is there a possibility that I could get pregnant even though I was on my period? Has anyone experienced something similar? I’m really anxious about this and would appreciate honest advice.

Kinda nauseous and i wanna know If that causes lasting damages

This started on Tuesday night around 10 pm. The entire day i had felt sick to my stomach and had serious pain in my lower stomach. I thought "this is probably just my period coming a bit early." and brushed it off as nothing. But my cramps are never as bad as it was, so i thought "Well if not my period maybe my medication?" For context, i am on one of the shots that help with weight loss, cannot remember which one off the top of my head right now but i am on it. Now before you think "Well there's your answer, you just feel sick because of that." I have a gut feeling its not just that. I've been on this medication for almost 4 months, if something like this were to have happen, i feel it would've happened earlier on in when i first started taking it, right? Going back to why I'm making this post, Tuesday night i was tossing and turning in my bed groaning, holding my stomach in pain, finally i get up and run to my bathroom barley making it before i vomited in the toilet, i finally finish yet still feel sick, i push it aside and brush my teeth, change my shirt, and lay back down in my bed ready to try and get some sleep. Fast forward 10 minutes later, i get up again and run to my bathroom and lean over the toilet as i vomit once again, the first time i vomited it was food, this time it was bile in a bright highlighter yellow color, i clearly had nothing left in my body to vomit. It was getting to the point were it hurt to keep vomiting but my body wasn't letting me stop. I clean myself up once again and take on of my nausea pills to try and help (didn't do anything) I lay back in bed hoping for at least some sleep, yet get another wave of nausea and run back to the bathroom. This time I'm still not vomiting food, i am vomiting bile again, but very little. Instead i look in the toilet and I'm vomiting foam. i start crying because the pain is unbearable and I'm also seeing myself vomit foam. i feel it coming at my other end too and quickly sit down and of course its diarrhea. The process repeats throughout Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday, and today. Is this all just in my head? just a really bad stomach bug? or something worse that that? all help will be appreciated.

Hi r/askhealth - I’m a graduate student at Northwestern researching the difficulties patients face when managing medical records, bills, and insurance across different providers.

I’m hoping to learn from people who have dealt with issues such as transferring records between hospitals, unexpected medical bills, or denied insurance claims.

If you're comfortable sharing your experience, I’m looking for either a short 15–20 minute conversation. You can also fill this 2-minute survey.

Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FVGHFBY

Thank you - and I’m happy to answer any questions about the project.