Experiencing random pains in our body is not always normal. There are instances that we sweep them away, thinking it’s just a normal thing. Well, these stories will make you think twice.
Imagine yourself experiencing severe headaches and thinking you just need a painkiller for it. When suddenly, it gets worse. That’s when you’ll decide whether to get checked or not, just like these people who decided to follow their body.
1. Not Hard-work's Result
A guy I used to work with credits me with saving his life in a sort of medical situation. We both did CrossFit at the time. I was a former college athlete, and he was a former Navy, so we both knew hard work and that it can make you sore and our own limits.
He was complaining about his calf muscle and thought it was strained, and he showed me. He had what I could only describe as "a divot and a bump" next to each other.
I told him he should go to the ER because it almost looked like he had torn a muscle. He went, and it turned out he had a massive clot, and the divot was from the fact that all the tissue there was starved of blood, and there was an upstream pooling of blood.
Lereas
2. After A Long Time
I was diagnosed in my 40s. I’ve told this story before and had people freak out as they recognized the symptoms, too. Running in the gym was always very painful for me as a kid.
Especially outdoors on cold days. Razor pains and coughing for days afterward. I was told by my gym teacher, and others told me I was in bad shape.
The same happened to my daughter, and I told her what I had been told, but remembering how painful it was, I asked if there was anything she could do in the meantime so it wouldn’t hurt as much.
And that’s how I learned it could be asthma. I rejected the idea myself several times and kept altering my search terms, but asthma kept popping up.
We went to our doctor, and both were diagnosed. It’s kind of wild as it runs in the family, with some having severe cases. The first time I worked out after using an inhaler, I felt lightheaded from actually having oxygen when I exerted myself.
The_Nice_Marmot
3. Powerful Words
I was told all my life I was fat and lazy, so when I would get asthma spasms from running or going upstairs, I just thought I had bad cardio.
I nearly blacked out from sprinting up a hill in an effort to improve my "bad cardio." Never thought to mention it to a doctor or my parents because I was "fat and lazy."
I started playing rec soccer in my 20s, and the gasping and wheezing started after the first half. One of the players convinced me to try his inhaler.
I still remember the feeling of my lungs inflating completely. My vision cleared, my brain fog left, and I ended up giggling uncontrollably because of how clear I felt.
moderngalatea
4. Better Breathing Pattern
I found out I'd had two massive cysts blocking both lower sinus cavities 95%. I was like, "This has just been my whole life."
Got both cysts removed, a ton of other sinus work, and my tonsils out in the same surgery back in Jan 2022. Worse recovery than my recent shoulder surgery, but holy moly, did it change my life.
I never knew you could still breathe when you were congested. Also, my sleep apnea disappeared completely. I'm very grateful to my wife for making me go to the ENT when we were dating. Doc said I probably would have had a heart attack in my sleep in my 40s-50s.
MAFIAxMaverick
5. Not Picky
I managed to get to age 33 before I was so sick I couldn't stand up straight. Turns out my gallbladder never worked correctly due to it never forming correctly, a birth defect.
I went the majority of my life thinking it was normal to get nauseated when you eat. I absolutely BLAME the medical community bias of me being a female for NEVER doing a simple ultrasound that could have easily diagnosed this.
Being female, the MDs, instead of listening and doing their job, claimed over the years I was a fussy/colic baby and then a picky eater as a teen.
They said I had an "eating disorder," as an adult, I was attention seeking. It was freaking amazing my first meal in memory was actually enjoying consuming hospital food!
azure_winter_skies
6. Empty Moments
My family told me I would randomly “space out,” although I never remembered, and everyone thought it was normal. Turned out I was having “absence seizures.”
We only found that out at a routine doctor’s appointment, just conversing with the doctor.
When I guess I just came to, the doctor said she wanted to get a bunch of tests done.
Been an epileptic for almost 17 years now. Unfortunately, my Epilepsy has evolved into tonic-clonic seizures; I rarely have absences anymore, but I had one focal back in November.
Loves_me_tacos125
7. Healing Pain
General stomach pain that I dismissed as perhaps constipation, but which would - every few years or so - send me to emergency worrying that it was my appendix. I was kicked out of emergency departments at different hospitals multiple times because it was not.
I moved to a new city and was lucky enough to score a decent family doctor who took it seriously. She told me she was rather impressed with the amount of "referred pain" I was having and that I should go straight to emergency.
I replied that there was no hope in hell I would subject myself to that kind of humiliation again. No way. She sent me for a CAT scan, and lo and behold, it WAS my appendix.
She referred me to a surgeon, and on the day of my surgery, no one in the hospital seemed particularly interested in my condition; I think most of the medical staff thought I was having unnecessary surgery, though, curiously, they were MUCH nicer to me afterward.
I recall a lot of people standing over me in the recovery room. The surgeon called me to come in for a meeting a couple of weeks later, and when I walked into his office, he had an odd expression on his face.
He told me my appendix was many times the normal size, probably because it had been infected and healed over the years, building up scar tissue.
He asked me if I minded if he wrote it up in a medical paper or a textbook (I can't remember exactly which - he taught at the university).
I gather at the time, "grumbling appendixes" were a bit of a unicorn, and there had been much debate over whether they were real. So, I guess my appendix settled that argument in the medical community once and for all.
GoOutside62
8. Near Death Experience
I had something similar. For two years, I'd get this pain for 12 hrs about every six months. Half of my family are doctors; they did all the appendix checks, and I had none of the expected symptoms.
No fever, no sensitivity in the abdomen, just constant pain that went away at the end of the day. The last time, it went on for too long, and I went to the ER.
Had blood and urine tests and + an ultrasound that showed absolutely nothing. One doctor felt something was off and had me do a CAT scan. The little jerk of an appendix was inflamed and hiding behind my liver. They got it out as it was starting to burst.
Double_Jeweler7569
9. Severe Twitching
I'd have these really minor facial twitches, like a single small muscle in my upper lip or eyebrow. Nothing even severe enough to be visible by others.
However, they'd last for a few weeks straight, even while I was trying to sleep. I didn't think twice about it. They always went away on their own, after all!
After I suddenly went blind in my left eye and got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I connected the dots. To add, facial twitches are normal! Just because you have twitches often doesn't mean you have a problem.
Like, if you don't have any other reason to believe you have multiple sclerosis or any other disease. My twitches were CONSTANT for WEEKS. And even then, there are other, less serious (and probably more likely!) things that can cause that.
hillbilly-man
10. Weight Loss Journey
Losing weight suddenly got a little easier, and I assumed it was due to my efforts. Happy with my success, I buckled down harder (funny how it's easy to keep "being good" when you're actually seeing results).
I lost more! It actually got to be almost easy. I thought I was doing such a great job! Turns out it was cancer. I guess I should have known something was up, but I honestly thought I was just doing a really great job with my diet and exercise.
Had four surgeries and treatment, and I'm doing well. Now, I'm on meds with all kinds of side effects, including weight gain.
Yay. But I'm alive and so much better off than many others. I've only gained a little bit back despite working really hard not to.
Grilled_Cheese10
11. Sudden Changes
I knew I was a bit overweight and I started to work on it a bit. Suddenly weight started dropping with ease. All that hard work is paying off! I was feeling great and looking good.
Started throwing up at work one day. Oh, well, I must have a stomach bug or something. That's no big deal; I'll just leave work early and rest. The weekend and a holiday break are coming up.
Within the week, a family member stopped me. "Uhh, you need to go to the hospital. Your eyes are yellow, and you look terrible."
Yay for stage 3 liver cancer. A wonderful kind that shows almost no signs until it hits that stage. I lost a good 100lbs and a liver. I've put on some more weight, but I'm still a ghost of my former self.
Other than that, I am doing great, and it looks like nothing has spread. I'll be on meds for life, but I am alive. It is scary that I'm clocking along just fine.
Suddenly, within a week, I'm told that I'm about to die if I don't get a transplant soon. Lucky for me, I was young and in otherwise good shape; it skyrocketed me to the top of the list.
MediocreHope
12. Follow Your Body
I was vomiting to the point of dry heaving and in excruciating pain. Finally, I went to the ER, and after three hours of waiting, the doctor said (without testing me for anything) that I was “just constipated” and to go home.
Embarrassed and too sick to fight him, I do. I was sick for the next two hours. I finally tell my mother I KNOW I’m going to die if I don’t get help.
We rushed back to the ER, and a new doctor scanned my side right away and said I had a bad gallbladder that had to go right away.
They rush me in for emergency surgery. When I awake, they tell me my gallbladder had apparently been dead for at least three months, was gangrene, and was so filled with huge stones there wasn’t an empty millimeter of it - and that by the time I’d gotten back to the ER I would’ve had two hours left to live.
If I had listened to that first doctor, I would’ve been dead 100%. Bad gallbladders run in my family, and we had told the first doctor this, but he blew me off. You really do have to be your own advocate, people!
YeEunah
13. After Surgery
I had this one year ago this week. Just had elbow surgery. Went to make lunch the next day, got a stomach ache, and thought it was the pain meds. Didn't eat.
The next day, I couldn't walk. My neighbor called 911 on me, knowing I never would. Went to ER and got Airlifted to another hospital for 2 am Surgery.
Thankfully, I caught it before I was septic. They said I would have likely died by the next day. Now, every stomach cramp scares me.
I, too, lost about a meter of my colon but was able to get it back together after about four months. Now My stomach has a ton of scars.
myfapaccount_istaken
14. Weird Sight
Not me, but one of my brother's friends in high school. This friend was a goober, always making silly but friendly jokes that made families laugh as a whole.
All in all, I am a genuinely funny person. One day, he took my sister's glasses and was "acting like her," only to pause for a moment and then say, "Wait...is this how things are supposed to look?"
My man needed glasses and found out from messing around. I'm glad the universe leaned towards him in a positive way as far as that went!
innerfatboy3
15. New View
This was me. I had bad eyesight since I was a kid. Though I didn't know, it happens so gradually that you don't realize it. My mum used to never take us to check-ups.
No dental or optical appts at all until I started doing it myself as an adult. 34yo takes my son to his first check-up.
I go in with him, and the optometrist goes, "Oh, looks like your dad is going to need glasses!"
I'm like, "Yo, what the heck, I didn't even make an appointment for me. My eyes are fine."
So, she checks my son over and gives him a perfect 20/20 diagnosis. Awesome. She tells me she's going to test me now. Brings down that tester thing, and within a few flicks, HOLY FREAKING CRAP I've never seen so clear in my life.
I actually started crying. She then told me my eyes weren't aligned either and asked if I could ever see magic eye pictures. I said no. "How about the 3D in a 3DS?" No again.
Well, that's why. So, I end up with a prescription. I got my glasses a few days later, and my eyesight has been so much better ever since.
The-Jesus_Christ
16. Different Pimple
Had what I thought was a pimple on my armpit that I ignored. I wasn’t overly concerned. Thought it was something that would just go away.
A few weeks later, I came down with what I thought was some sort of flu. The flu lasted longer than normal, so I decided to go to the emergency room to get checked out.
Turned out that I had a large tumour in my chest caused by lymphoma, and the ‘pimple’ on my armpit was actually a swollen lymph node.
AffectionateLettuce6
17. Exercise Aftermath
I would literally cough and wheeze for hours or even days after gym class as a kid, especially if we did stuff outside in the colder months.
I would do everything I could to try to hide it because I was so embarrassed. I thought I was just really out of shape and bad at sports.
I was finally diagnosed at 20 in college after having a chronic cough for about four months. I got a bunch of chest infections in college and ended up turning into asthma, not just exercise-induced. Wee!
yourpaljax
18. Out Of Air
It was originally exercise-induced for me. I started soccer in my early elementary school years, and my soccer trainers kept saying I was out of shape.
I was never able to get as good as I wanted to because I would have sharp side stitches constantly and would just not be able to breathe. Sometimes, I would collapse because I would get dizzy.
But I just kept working harder because I thought it would go away when I got into shape. News flash, it only got worse. I always felt like I'd never be good enough on my teams, so I eventually quit.
It wasn’t until I was in my junior year of high school that I had a class in this specific hallway with a specific staircase I had to take, where I would be super winded after walking through it and getting dizzy.
But nowhere else did this happen. Then my heart rate would spike like I just ran down the hallway at full speed (because my lungs were working so hard to get oxygen to my brain and limbs), and after a few weeks, it just became a normal thing for me.
Not even just walking or talking; I could be just sitting down, and suddenly, I can barely breathe. Found out late into my senior year that I had pretty serious asthma, not severe enough for random asthma attacks or for it to randomly kill me.
Still, I have a special inhaler with a weird contraption and face mask I have to use twice a day, and an emergency regular albuterol inhaler is supposed to keep on me at all times. I went almost 10-11 years before finally realizing I wasn’t just out of shape. Weird huh?
gillixnn
19. Strange Voices
I didn’t realize other people didn’t hallucinate. When people would say, “Did you say something? I thought I heard someone say my name.”
I thought it was the same thing as me hearing voices. Apparently, when people think they heard a voice that wasn’t there, that was very different.
It was way too different than me screaming and crying and praying because I heard a scary voice say awful things and didn’t know where it was coming from.
Not-quite-my-tempo-
20. Psychological Factor
I was diagnosed with combined-type ADHD a few years ago at age 40. I was the typical “smart but bored/unmotivated/lazy” kid who had been shuffled off to the Gifted and Talented program at school in the hope that it would fix me.
When it didn’t fix me, my mom decided to pull me out of school and homeschool me. She wasn’t equipped to do this, especially in the late 80s when homeschooling wasn’t very common.
It was rough with no resources, and the internet wasn’t a thing until I was a teenager. She kept me out of school until I “graduated” high school.
Had I just been diagnosed with ADHD and medicated, my life would likely be very different. It didn’t end badly, but I would have probably had a much easier time with things and could have escaped the homeschooling.
NightB4XmasEvel
21. Abnormal Pain
I had terrible and painful periods since high school and asked my mom to take me to a doctor for birth control because I heard that it helps. She refused because "then I would sleep with someone" and never took me.
I finally went when I was 19 and was brushed off by the doctor I had chosen for years. I tried to get pregnant from age 27-31, and the same doctor also brushed off my infertility.
At 31, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's by my PCP, then ended up getting pregnant when my TSH levels were in range. I changed doctors for my pregnancy and found out I had other autoimmune diseases and a blood clotting disorder that made it hard to get pregnant.
THEN, my baby ended up breech, so I had to have a c-section, and the doctor found stage 4 endometriosis while I was cut open. So many people failed me and didn't learn to advocate for myself until I miraculously got pregnant and knew I needed to protect my baby.
HappyGilmoresGrandma
22. Worst Injury
I had a slightly sprained ankle that just blew up in a day and split the skin. It is not a sprain but Pyoderma gangrenosum, a rare skin inflammation condition that acts like gangrene.
Nobody could tell me what it was that made my ankle flesh explode. Within a week, they were talking to me about amputation.
Then Nurse Molly came back from vacation and identified it as she’d seen it once before. Still have both my feet and nearly full mobility. Grateful for teaching hospitals that draw professionals from all over, like Nurse Molly
MonkeyBrain3561
23. Sweets Aside
Suddenly, I get dizzy, my heart racing, my hearing fades out, and I eventually throw up and pass out if I go too long without food.
Didn’t learn till my mid-20s that not everyone had piles of snacks everywhere they went, so they didn’t end up on the floor.
I’ve been tested for diabetes five times, and it’s not that, so who knows? Just can’t get too hungry, or I’m screwed, I guess.
FlightlessFart
24. Ignored Concern
I kept telling my OB I was worried about my legs/ankles swelling in the later part of my pregnancy. They dismissed it—and told me all pregnant people experience it.
At 39 weeks, I was sent to the hospital for extra monitoring of the baby due to an irregular test. She ended up being fine, but my blood pressure was crazy high.
I was induced that night and then given an emergency C-section due to severe preeclampsia. Not a fun start to my baby’s life, but she’s here and healthy, so I can’t be too upset.
acenarteco
25. Never Underestimate Cough
I was diagnosed with a habitual cough, but then I started developing intense pain in my legs when walking even short distances. I had blood work done, and my doctor told me to go to the ER immediately.
I got diagnosed with a blood clot in my heart and blood clots in my legs, with heart failure and kidney failure. I had fluid around my heart, which explains the cough.
I was 21 years old when this happened, and I’m 24 now. I’ll be on medication for the rest of my life that keeps my heart from failing again, and I’ll need a kidney transplant at some point in the future.
My medical goal is to keep my kidneys functioning for as long as possible. It turns out that sometimes a cough isn’t just a harmless tic.
bloggingpenguin
26. Unlucky Bud
I remember when my buddy discovered he was lactose intolerant. He thought it was totally normal to have stomach bubbles and diarrhea if you drink too much milk.
He thought everyone experiences it. I told him that I could drink as much milk as I wanted and not have any cramping or bloating or anything like that.
He didn't believe me, so we asked around, and that's how I found out that most natives are lactose intolerant. He was surprised.
notanotherkrazychik
27. A Warning Sign
My Doctor told me my calcium level was too high. I was like, "So?" It turns out that's a sign of hyperparathyroidism. Oddly enough, this has nothing to do with the thyroid.
Nope, the parathyroid is right behind the thyroid and has four little glands that control your calcium levels. Too high or too low, and you're super messed up.
A benign tumor usually causes primary hyperparathyroidism on one (or more) of your parathyroid glands. The cure is surgery. The good news is after surgery, you should have a laundry list of symptoms resolved.
So, if your doctor says you have too much calcium, it is a thing. And I'm really not taking this lightly. Some people have a really hard time being diagnosed. You need a good endocrinologist, primary care doctor, and orthopedic surgeon.
ZubLor
28. Morning Sickness
Constant nausea in the mornings, even if I've only had water to sip on. Nope, stomach ulcers due to stress and anxiety levels being through the roof for a sustained period of time.
I would be at work 4 - 5 am, start and go, and dry wretch over the loo a few times. People asked what was up, and I'd say, "Eh, I'm just having the morning nausea."
I had it for years at this stage, and no, not preggers, no chance of that! It wasn't until one coworker was like, "That isn't normal, but you seem like it is."
My dumb mind was like, "Wait, you/normal people don't get nausea often in the mornings?" "Nope, go to your doctor." One endoscopy later, and I'm on medication and an altered diet. Rarely get those pesky ulcers now!
Strawberryichi5
29. Cold Sweats
I had the worst stomach pain for a few days but chalked it up to indigestion and gas. It got so bad that I was in court and barely able to stand up to talk to the judge -- breaking out in a cold sweat in the courtroom.
So, on the way back to the office, I went by urgent care... and a few scans later, I had blood clots in my liver and spleen. After a few very painful injections and a hospital stay later, it was all good.
We never figured out why, except that recently, a gastroenterologist asked if I ever got punched in the stomach... and in fact, I was a goalie at the time and routinely took hard shots to the chest and stomach.
SafetyDanceInMyPants
30. Can’t Walk
I had a pain right in the crease where the leg connects to the torso that I thought was some kind of pulled muscle - I had recently been through surgery, sixteen days in the hospital, and had only recently been cleared to sleep on my side again.
I was on a cocktail of meds, one of which made it impossible to keep food down; I was tired, sore, barely walking, and generally miserable. I had mentioned the pain to home health, but I'm still pretty young, so the clot never occurred to anyone.
Anyway, something shook loose when I was trying to stretch the muscle, and twenty minutes later, I was in severe chest pain.
Mimi shoves four Tums down my throat before getting the message that it's not heartburn, and we make for the car. I make it to the sidewalk before I realize I'm definitely going down, and it may as well be on my terms instead of gravity.
Luckily, the heart hospital is in my backyard; they scanned me and sent me straight to the bigger heart hospital to yoink it outta me.
SilverInkblotV2
31. Muscle Pain
I thought I had a pulled muscle in my leg. Clot the entire length of my femoral vein. No PE, fortunately. Well, it turns out I have an inferior vena cava abnormality.
That makes it essentially useless, BUT it makes me pretty much immune from a large PE. I tested for every clotting abnormality, but nothing.
My body has an extreme ability to develop collateral circulation. Wow. The only reason I made it out of the womb apparently.
Most_Sea_4022
32. Simple Cramp No More
We walked the strip in Vegas, and I got the usual leg cramps I get when I walk/run too long. I was struggling to breathe, too, but chalked it up to me gaining weight from my birth control.
Dismissed it as usual, then went to Florida and walked miles on the beach, and the usual leg cramps came. The week after, while working, the cramps were not going away, and the pain kept increasing.
I found a free clinic, and they thought I was calm (I wasn't engaging). Another doctor sent me for a round of tests and found huge clots in my lungs and countless in my legs, and everyone was surprised I wasn't feeling pain in my chest.
BahatiTaita69
33. Immediate Realization
It happened to me at 18. I didn't even think about the fact that I rarely had any dairy outside of extra sharp cheddar for a year beforehand.
Still, I started college and, about three weeks in, figured out I was lactose intolerant. I had three weeks of stomach pains after breakfast.
I kept thinking it was stress from moving into the dorms, meeting new people, and balancing responsibilities.... I cut out any dairy for a week to test it, and boom, no more stomach pains.
ph1shstyx
34. Normal Breath
It took my lungs collapsing at 17 years old before doctors realized I wasn’t breathing in deeply enough to expand the bottom half of my lungs for basically my whole life.
They asked why I never complained about shortness of breath. I never knew breathing was supposed to be easier than what I was experiencing.
They sort of fix it. I’m now taking three different pills a day for the rest of my life and regularly use a puffer. Knowing is the main difference because I made lifestyle changes to help me.
Like reducing exposure to things I’m allergic to, exercising regularly, consciously practicing deep breathing if I ever feel nauseous, etc.
honeybeebzzz
35. Low Oxygen
I got in a bad car accident when I was six and smashed my face on the center console of the car (I was sitting in the middle back seat), and it stayed broken for 18 years.
Broken to where so many polyps built up in my nose that if I attempted to blow my nose, I'd pass out. If you looked at me at a normal level, you could literally see them hanging in my nose.
My nose was literally swollen, and I thought that was just my nose shape. I went to so many different doctors, trying to see what was wrong and why I couldn't breathe or smell from my nose at all. I was snoring so badly, too.
I was 22 when the doctor asked me if I happened to smash my face on something. It took me a second, but I remembered and mentioned the car accident.
He did an x-ray on my nose, and they said it's broken really badly (and has been for literally 16 years) and also said that I had so many polyps in my nose built up that in all his 25 years in this field, I was the second worst case he has ever seen.
He literally brought the other doctors who were looking at other patients into the room I was in just to look at how bad it was. Everyone was talking about how horrible it was.
Anyway, a week later, I got the polyps lasered off, and then they immediately went into breaking my nose to fix it. Now, I don't snore it anymore at all. I could breathe perfectly for my nose and sometimes smell.
But when I first removed the bandage from my nose and got the weird thing that they put in my nose, I was getting so much more air. I literally started getting small panic attacks because I was getting too much air, and I wasn't used to it.
My doctor said that before my surgery, I only got 30% of the air in each breath. So imagine getting 30% of the air in each breath for 16 years straight to getting 100%.
It took a few days for me to be able to handle all that air, but I'm telling you, it's the most relieving feeling ever. I don't feel stuffed up and nasally anymore.
tacosforvatos
36. Too Much Milk
My 5th-grade math teacher thought I hated her because I always got stomach cramps and asked to go to the nurse. I understand her.
No, it was just the period after lunch, where milk was the only option to drink, and it turned out I had developed a lactose intolerance.
I even went to the doctor about it and he told my mom I was making it up. It was the school secretary who figured it out. I avoided drinking milk after that.
ana_berry
37. It’s Real
My mom thought I was faking, feeling sick, and having a sore throat almost every morning from 2nd to 12th grade. It turned out I was allergic to cats, and the cat slept on my pillow while I was at school.
I was 20 before I found this out, and we were on our second cat, who fortunately didn’t sleep in my room. A lot of the things my mom accused me of being a hypochondriac about ended up being real.
I’m also onion intolerant and didn’t realize how much onion is in stuff at restaurants until I was older, so I’d have really bad stomach aches a lot, too.
Ellisiordinary
38. Another Diagnosis
From the age of 5, until I was about 10, my mom took me to several doctors to figure out why I kept getting stomach cramps.
She already suspected it was lactose intolerance, but doctors kept insisting it was not for a series of stupid reasons (usually, it was either a virus or something that required many paid exams, or I was making it up).
That is until we found a doctor who plainly said this was 100% lactose intolerance. Changed my diet to a lactose-free one, and problem solved. She was an awesome doctor.
ArcadianLord
39. Sleepless Nights
When I was about nineteen, I randomly heard on NPR that it takes the average person around 20 minutes to fall asleep, and I went, "Oh crap."
Apparently my bar for having sleep issues was way, way too high. To me, a good night's sleep meant I fell asleep within two hours of going to bed, and it wasn't "trouble" until I hit three hours.
And once I communicated this to my doctor and was finally able to treat my crippling insomnia with medication, my issues went away.
Twodotsknowhy
40. Not Mommy Duties
My PTH was too high. I actually had gone to the doctor because I felt utterly exhausted all the time. I was so exhausted that it was almost physically painful to be tired.
I had been dismissed for almost a year since I was a new mom, and I guess I was saying that I was too tired for the amount of stress. Was it just me being hormonal? Freaking medical misogyny. Despite them implying I was a bit hypochondriac, I insisted on a referral.
It got even twistier as PTH was only secondary elevated. It was all because of abysmally low vitamin D. I had been supplementing vitamin D daily. Still, I needed a much higher dose than the average Jane to actually absorb it.
milky_oolong milky_oolong
41. Travel Discovery
Last September, my girlfriend and I returned from a vacation visiting her family in Istanbul. We’ve been before, and I’m very used to the culture, the people, and especially the food.
But when we returned, I found I was experiencing the absolute worst constipation I had ever had. Over the past 2 or 3 years, I’d noticed my poops were getting smaller but not less regular, which I just attributed to getting older. But this was way different.
Went to a doctor who prescribed laxatives. Nothing. Went to a second dr who sent me to emergency just to be safe, but the ER doc said the same: I just needed to poop. He even took an ultrasound to be sure and showed me it was just gas.
I went home, but after a day, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went back to the ER and exaggerated a bit, saying I hadn’t so much as passed gas in almost ten days. The doctor ordered a CT scan immediately.
Thirty minutes later, I was diagnosed with rectal cancer. That night, Oct 15, 2023, I underwent a 4-hour gastric bypass surgery. They removed the right side of my colon, exposed my small intestine through my abdomen, and gave me a stoma and an ostomy bag.
There was no warning, and I discovered all this when I woke up. Then came the scans. So many scans. CT, MRI, digital, and four months of Chemo, all while trying to maintain my relationship and my career, both of which were suffering madly because I was just so completely miserable.
And then the good news. Last week, March 20, 2024, I underwent a second procedure to remove the tumor. This one took 7 hours. And I’m pleased to say it was a complete success. They reversed the stoma, reconnected my small intestine to what’s left of my colon, and I’m now home fully cured, cancer-free, and expected to make a full recovery.
R3b3l5cum
42. Joint Pain
I thought it was normal to be in pain 24/7 and for your joints to hurt/move out of place. Well, it turns out I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
I was 16 when I was diagnosed, and I cried because I realized I wasn't weak, lazy, stupid, or a baby. I was in legitimate /pain/, and all the adults around me had ignored this all that time.
I only got a diagnosis after my ankles collapsed and I dislocated my knee four times in the space of 3 weeks. I was in constant pain.
Embarrassed-Room5172
43. Not Just A Foodie
Being hungry all the time. Food noise. I have PCOS and a little bit of an insulin resistance issue because of it. I hadn't known about that for ages.
I knew about the facial hair and weight gain and fertility stuff, but not that. I was finally put on medication to manage my blood sugar stuff and knock some weight off.
Within an hour of the first dose, I wasn't hungry, which isn't exactly the right word, I suppose. I would go past an ice cream place or see an ad for some new food and want to try it immediately.
I would snack just because. After taking ice cream for the first time, we drove past my favorite ice cream place, and my only reaction was, "Oh, hey, it's that place we like. Neat." and not, "I could really, really go for some dessert right now." We just kept on driving.
shortdoggo
44. All At Once
Working from home had really done a number on me, so I began some light stretching with an eye on a full exercise routine after I loosened up for a couple of weeks.
Had some soreness develop in my calf and thigh, which I attributed to overdoing my stretches. That was a Tuesday, and by Friday, Halloween, I went into sepsis, and right in front of the EMTs, I died.
It was nearly Thanksgiving when I came out of my coma. Four months of hospitalization followed. I had two open wounds healing, a demitasse-sized hole in my calf and another the size of a New York Strip steak in my thigh.
That was two years ago. I recovered enough after six months to go back to work. Unfortunately, I just couldn't keep up with the complexities of my job as a site engineer for a software development group. I retired and am now working on restoring my health.
panamanRed58
45. Period Cramps
Menstrual pain was so severe I would end up rolling in pain on the floor and bleeding heavily for three weeks a month. Told normal for YEARS by several doctors and was told I just had low pain tolerance.
In my early 20’s, I finally had 28 tumors removed from my body. Two of which were the size of my surgeon's hand. The only reason I found out I had them was I asked the ultrasound tech what she was mapping.
She said, “Your fibroids” have really grown a lot since LAST time. I was never told I had them, not my chart, to see results, and they never printed out the test results and just verbally went over them.
They had always said all was normal. When I got back into the room, the doctor came in and said all was normal. I went off. I said tumors aren’t normal. His response was they are very common.
Not in your 20s, and I had the right to know. By the time I got in with a fertility specialist, they were massive. Growing so fast.
When they operated, they found so much scar tissue, endometriosis, etc, that it took an 8-hour surgery, and I lost my fertility.
NoEstablishment6450