u/Realistic_Bell_3923

I'm a 20 y/o female and ive been suffering a lot recently with my stomach. My parents both have a history of GERD and gastritis and they have both tested postive for h. pylori and been treated for it. I've never been to a gastroenterologist and I just made an appointment to one but its in a week, but idk what to do about the symptoms, how to relieve them in the mean time. This sucks because I'm on summer break and ive been like this for a month already and i havent enjoyed my break at all. These are my symptoms:

- acid reflux

- stomach cramps

- lightheaded/floaty/dizzy feeling that comes in waves, but they stay for the whole day.

- anxiety/panic/depression

-acne/ scalp dermatitis

- upper stomach discomfort/pain/burning

- nausea

- burping (sometimes liquid comes up)

- Migraines/tension headaches

- fatigue/weak

- borderline low ferritin

- indigestion (undigested food in my stool sometimes)

- ball in my throat feeling

- extra saliva in my mouth

- burning at the bottom of my throat

Questions:

Can I take a big bag? (My everyday bag is black leather and is not super big but kinda)

Jewelry?

Can I bring water?

EDIT: ALSO I BOUGHT MY TICKET THROUGH TICKPICK IS THAT GONNA GIVE ME TROUBLE?😣 it looks pretty legit

It honestly started becoming noticeable around late 2025 into 2026, but looking back there were hints way before that. I’ve always been an anxious person and I’ve always had moments where my body felt “off,” but this became a whole different cycle. The headaches weren’t just headaches. It became this weird combination of dizziness, pressure, nausea, anxiety, fatigue, ear sensations, jaw pain, eye strain, face pressure, neck and shoulder tension, a weird “ball in my throat” sensation, and feeling disconnected from my own body.

The first thing I started noticing was how connected everything seemed to my menstrual cycle. It wasn’t random. The symptoms would usually creep in days before my period, especially around the luteal phase. Sometimes around ovulation too. It became predictable enough that I started realizing: “Wait… why does this keep happening at the same time every month?”
The headaches themselves weren’t always sharp pain. Sometimes it was more like:

pressure in my temples
heaviness in my forehead
tension behind my eyes
face and sinus-like pressure
a “floaty” feeling in my head
dizziness/lightheadedness
nausea
ear fullness
feeling like there was a lump or tightness in my throat
feeling like my brain was disconnected from my body
intense fatigue
heart palpitations
anxiety so strong I felt like jumping out of my skin

One of the weirdest parts was the dizziness. It didn’t always feel like the room was spinning. Sometimes it felt like I was walking on a boat. Sometimes like my brain was lagging behind my body. Sometimes like my eyes wanted to shut even when I had technically slept enough. Movement made it worse sometimes. Lying on my right side sometimes made it worse too.

I also realized I’ve had motion sensitivity basically my whole life. As a kid I got car sick easily, which later made me wonder if all of this was connected to migraines or vestibular migraines.

Around April 2026 things really escalated. I started having jaw pain near my ear. My jaw clicked. It deviated to the right when opening. My molars hurt. I had ear pressure and this awful temple pressure. I was yawning constantly and felt extremely off balance and floaty for days. It honestly scared me because it felt neurological even though deep down I knew anxiety was amplifying everything.

There were also GI connections sometimes. If my stomach was bad, reflux was acting up, or I wasn’t eating consistently, the headaches seemed worse. Certain foods, dehydration, poor sleep, stress, and anxiety all fed into it too.

My doctor put me on birth control But I don’t know if I wanna take it because that also comes with its own set of problems.

It all started around mid-August 2025 with this painful bump under my right armpit. I’ve never gotten something like this before, and no history of HS in my family (I’m a 20 y/o female). At first I thought it was just irritation, an ingrown hair, or maybe a random pimple from waxing or friction. But then it got BAD. Like genuinely painful. The kind of pain where moving my arm felt horrible and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. At its worst, the pain was probably like an 9/10 and I could barely move my arm normally.

I went to urgent care and they started me on antibiotics and told me to do warm compresses. The bump kept getting bigger and more painful until eventually I had to get it INCISION AND DRAINED. They cut it open and drained more than 10 cc of pus and blood out of it. They washed it with saline and packed it. Honestly traumatic experience. I remember being so scared and uncomfortable. I had to do soaks and wound care after.
After that, it technically “healed,” but the area NEVER fully felt normal again.

Then in November 2025, it flared again in the EXACT SAME SPOT. Same right armpit. Same area. I went through another spiral thinking something was seriously wrong with me. Went to a clinic they mentioned possible hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), but not definitively. Then my doctor later said it looked “super mild HS” and started me on doxycycline. The redness and inflammation improved after the course. But here’s the thing: since then, the spot has had this recurring pattern that has driven me insane mentally.

It tends to flare RIGHT BEFORE MY PERIOD. Like clockwork. Usually anywhere from 3–10 days before my period starts, the area gets sore, inflamed, tender, or feels like there’s a deep little lump/pad under the skin again. Sometimes it’s tiny. Sometimes it feels deeper. Sometimes it’s just discomfort in the crease. It NEVER drains. It just swells, hardens, hurts, then calms down.

January 2026 was another huge flare. Right before my period the pain got bad again and I was freaking out. I used Hibiclens wash, avoided deodorant, did warm compresses, and took ibuprofen. Once my period started the inflammation slowly calmed down again. Which further convinced me hormones are deeply involved somehow.

Then there was another flare in May 2026 before my period. Same story: got inflamed, but it’s still inflamed.
Dermatology later talked about possible deroofing/removal because the same tract or inflamed area keeps recurring, but even THEY weren’t completely certain if it was true HS or recurring inflammation/scar tissue from the original abscess/cyst. They said how the person who drained the original abscess probably didn’t get all of it or left the sac behind. One dermatologist specifically mentioned they see people with cystic acne get recurring bumps in different body areas and that not every bump automatically means severe HS.

And THAT has become the biggest mental battle:
Every single bump on my body now terrifies me.

Under boob pimple? Panic.
Tiny groin bump? Panic.
Painful follicle? Panic.
Anything under the skin? Panic.

Today specifically, the area under my right armpit started hurting again and now I’m hyperfocused on the fact that it feels like it’s “spreading” from the original bump area. There’s redness and tenderness extending from the main spot and when I press on it I feel something under there — like another little ball (but also not really) or inflamed area. It hurts mostly when I press it. I can still fully move my arm normally.

Especially because the uncertainty is what kills me. Nobody has fully confirmed HS. But nobody has fully ruled it out either. So I feel stuck in this horrible gray area where every skin change feels catastrophic.

.