u/Top-Fox8010

I’ve been dealing with dizziness since around 2019. Back then I would randomly get dizzy while driving and I think I was having panic attacks without even knowing what they were. But the difference is, I was able to live my life**.** I drove everywhere, went out alone, went wherever I wanted. I was the person I wish I could be right now. Then around 2022, life happened, my anxiety and panic attacks got really bad, and everything changed. I stopped driving on highways, stopped driving far, and my world just became smaller and smaller. It’s been 4 years and I’m so tired. I can barely go out without feeling dizzy, lightheaded, panicky or scared. Sometimes I look at old pictures of myself going everywhere alone and I miss that part of my life so much. I see people casually driving somewhere or going out without even thinking about dizziness and I think to myself that’s all I want, that’s my only dream. I’ve done everything. Blood tests, iron, vitamin D, ENT, neurologists, eye doctors, vestibular testing… everything comes back normal. I want my old life back. I want to drive, go out and enjoy myself without constantly thinking what if u get dizzy, what if I faint, what if this time is different and something really happens.

My dad is 59 and I overheard him telling a coworker that he’s been forgetting things lately. I brought it up to him today because it worried me, but instead of answering me he just changed the subject. That scared me even more because normally when I worry about his health, he tells me I’m overthinking and that nothing is wrong. We do have dementia/Alzheimer’s in the family. His mom is around 84 and I think she may be developing dementia, his aunt developed Alzheimer’s around 70, his grandfather had Alzheimer’s, and I believe my grandfather also had dementia. I know forgetting things doesn’t automatically mean Alzheimer’s, especially because my dad is still working and functioning normally, he bas a very high stress job, but hearing him actually acknowledge that he’s been forgetting things and then avoiding the conversation really scared me.
For people who have been through this with a parent, what were the first signs you noticed? Was it just normal forgetfulness at first, or were there specific things that made you realize something wasn’t right? And how quickly did things progress from the first noticeable symptoms? My dad would never go to a doctor, whatever he feels he would NEVER go, I’m just so worried about him I’m losing my mind.

I’ve been an academic advisor for almost four years, and I realllly don’t think I can do this anymore. I’m completely drained. The constant advising, demanding students and parents, rude attitudes and treating you like you work for them, depending on you on every single thing, endless calls and follow-ups, practically begging students to enroll in their classes, ridiculous workloads, management, not being able to take vacations and staying hours past our actual working hours, I’m just done. I hate going to work, I hate talking to students, and I don’t think I have another advising season in me. The only things keeping me there are the good pay, yearly bonuses, and a team I like, my managers are bad too. Everyone keeps telling me I won’t easily find the same pay/bonuses or another good team, and that’s what makes me scared to leave. Did anyone reach this point and actually leave academic advising? Did you regret it?

For the past few months, I’ve been trying to reduce the plastic I use daily. I switched to stainless steel cutting boards, replaced my plastic kettle with a glass one, and I’m slowly replacing other things.
The one thing I haven’t managed to change is bottled water. My family has drunk bottled water for 20+ years, and thinking about how many microplastics I may have consumed scares me so much. I’ve also been reading about microplastics potentially acting as endocrine disruptors and possible links to breast cancer. is there anything I can do now to reduce my exposure or whatever potential effects it may have had? I know I know we’re crazy for drinking bottled water for that long, but I genuinely didn’t know how bad microplastics can be until now.

28f. Ever since I was 21 I would have ultrasounds due to my breasts being very lumpy. The past year I’ve been having this obsession with checking my breasts more than once a day. I’ve had 3 ultrasounds done in less than 5 months, as I have 2 fibroadenomas. All I feel in my breasts are LUMPS, it’s unbelievable. The past month I’ve been feeling like this thickened area in my right breast, it’s where the end up my underarm and breast meet. When I touch it deeply it feels like 2 movable lumps stuck together, when I touch it normally it feels like a water ballon that I can easily move. I want to go have an ultrasound, but I’ve had one not even 2 months ago. Could this be a cyst or lymph node? The radiologist did tell me I have dense breast tissue.

28F. My right breast has almost 5 lumps and I’m going crazy! Last ultrasound I had 1.5 months ago showed that I had a fibroadenoma at 5 o’clock. I’ve been touching my breasts non stop every single day. My period is in a day or two and I’m not sure if these lumps are related to my period or not. I’m sick of going in for an ultrasound every single time I feel a new lump. I feel something at the end of my underarm, it feels like it doesn’t have a shape but is movable and painful. I also feel a lump right above my areola area. I’m losing my mind checking them every hour.

( 28F )I had a breast ultrasound 2 weeks ago. They found 2 fibroadenomas, one in my left breast and one in my right. A couple of days ago I felt a lump in my right breast (upper outer quadrant). I’m not sure if it was there before because that’s not the area I went for the ultrasound for, so I wasn’t really checking that spot.

This would already be my second ultrasound within 2 months and I really don’t want to keep going for an ultrasound every time I feel a lump. Can a new lump actually appear in 2 weeks? Or is it more likely that it was already there during the ultrasound and I just never noticed it?

28F. I had a breast ultrasound 2 weeks ago that showed two small fibroadenomas, and they told me everything looked okay and to just come back in 6 months. Today I felt a different area in my breast that doesn’t feel anything like my fibroadenomas. Those are small and movable, but this one feels much deeper and almost fixed and SOO painful. I actually thought it was a rib at first because I only feel it if I press down pretty hard. I’m also about 5 days away from my period, so I’m wondering if hormones can make breast tissue feel this different, or if anyone has found a “new” lump shortly after having a normal ultrasound. I’m freaking out so much, I’ve had 2 ultrasounds in less than 3 months, I don’t want to keep going back every single time I feel a new lump.

28F. I had a breast ultrasound 2 weeks ago that showed two small fibroadenomas, and they told me everything looked okay and to just come back in 6 months. Today I felt a different area in my breast that doesn’t feel anything like my fibroadenomas. Those are small and movable, but this one feels much deeper and almost fixed and SOO painful. I actually thought it was a rib at first because I only feel it if I press down pretty hard. I’m also about 5 days away from my period, so I’m wondering if hormones can make breast tissue feel this different, or if anyone has found a “new” lump shortly after having a normal ultrasound.

I’ve been hyperfixating on a lump in my breast for weeks. I’ve always had lumpy breasts, and I had an ultrasound 3 months ago. Recently I felt a new lump, so I went back today for another ultrasound.
The doctor compared it to my previous scan and told me everything looked stable. She just wants me to come back in 6 months because it’s BI-RADS 3, and she explained that it has been stable and they’re just monitoring it. I felt so relieved when I left. But then, immediately, my brain moved on to something else.
Now I’m convinced I might have H. pylori, gastritis, or that I’ll end up with stomach or colon C because I’ve had stomach burning on and off. It’s like as soon as one fear is ruled out, my mind grabs onto another.

Does the over thinking on every single symptom get better? Because it’s not normal that anytime I feel something I go get it tested out.

I’ve noticed a pattern with my anxiety-agoraphobia and I’m wondering if anyone else experiences this. The anxiety starts building before I even leave the house. Then during the drive it’s all I can think about. By the time I get to where I’m going, I feel dizzy, nauseous, shaky, lightheaded, and like I’m about to faint or have a panic The anxiety keeps building and building until I arrive and get through the first 10–15 minutes. After that, it usually starts fading and I’m completely fine. Most of the time I end up enjoying myself and wondering why I was so scared to go in the first place. Going out is actually good for my mental health and I usually come home feeling refreshed and in a much better mood. Restaurants are still a huge struggle for me though. I feel much more trapped in restaurants than I do in places like malls and just the thought of going to a restaurant and getting nauseous makes me lose it.

Does anyone else experience this?
It’s like the anticipation is worse than actually being there.

I know I need to leave my job soon. The workload is overwhelming, we’re constantly overworked, and since management changed, the environment has become increasingly toxic. The hardest part is that my colleagues are amazing and they’re one of the main reasons I still go to work, but they’re leaving one by one. I don’t want to look for another job. Money isn’t really the issue because I have a side business, and I’ve never been career-driven. I’m naturally a homebody and enjoy being at home. My concern is that while work gives me a lot of anxiety, it also keeps me occupied. When I’m at home with too much free time, I tend to overthink and my anxiety can get worse. I have hobbies and casually like going out, but realistically I’m not going to be doing that every single day. Has anyone left a job they hated without planning to get another one? Did you regret it, or did you eventually adjust to having a completely different routine?

I know I need to leave my job soon. The workload is overwhelming, we’re constantly overworked, and since management changed, the environment has become increasingly toxic. The hardest part is that my colleagues are amazing and they’re one of the main reasons I still go to work, but they’re leaving one by one. I don’t want to look for another job. Money isn’t really the issue because I have a side business, and I’ve never been career-driven. I’m naturally a homebody and enjoy being at home. My concern is that while work gives me a lot of anxiety, it also keeps me occupied. When I’m at home with too much free time, I tend to overthink and my anxiety can get worse. I have hobbies and casually like going out, but realistically I’m not going to be doing that every single day. Has anyone left a job they hated without planning to get another one? Did you regret it, or did you eventually adjust to having a completely different routine?

Is dense breast tissue really linked to breast cancer? If you have dense breasts, does that mean you’re considered at higher risk, or is it more common than people think? I’m 27 and have lots of cysts and fibroadenomas, when I had an ultrasound I was told I have dense breast tissue. As soon as I heard that I’ve been down a rabbit hole about dense breast tissues.

I’m a 27F and have been dealing with stomach issues for years. My main symptoms are chronic bloating, nausea, gas, occasional burning in my upper stomach, and a sore/uncomfortable feeling around and above my belly button. Some foods seem to make it worse, especially heavy meals, garlic, and sometimes coffee. A gastroenterologist previously suggested IBS especially that I flare up when anxious, but I’ve always wondered if gastritis could be the real cause. I had an H. pylori breath test that came back negative, but during the test some of the solution spilled near the end, so I’ve spent way too much time wondering whether that could have affected the accuracy of the result. Could it be gastritis, functional dyspepsia, IBS, or something else?

I’ve been an academic advisor for a few years now, and lately I’m wondering if this job is becoming unsustainable or if it’s just my institution. Between registration periods that seem to never end, constant emails, appointments, graduation checks, administrative work, reports, meetings, and student issues, it feels like there’s always a new fire to put out. Overtime has become normal during peak periods. What makes it worse is that many students treat advisors like we’re responsible for every policy, deadline, and problem they encounter. Some expect immediate responses, some are rude when they don’t get the answer they want, and some completely ignore what you tell them only to come back angry later. Now management is pushing us to build stronger connections and relationships with students while each advisor is responsible for 350+ of them. I honestly don’t know where we’re supposed to find the time. I used to think the stressful periods would eventually pass, but it feels like the workload just keeps growing while expectations keep increasing. I hate my job with every fiber of my being and I’m so drained.

Okay is it normal that every time I run my hands through my hair like 5-6 strands come out? I’m the morning today it was 5-6, in the evening it got to 1-3 every single time I run my hands through my hair. I’m literally about to cry. I did have a blood work and I do have low ferritin and vitamin d, I’ve been taking supplements for almost a month and it just feels like I’m losing more hair.
Yesterday was wash day and I did shed in the shower + while brushing, but today I keep checking and every few minutes there’s another hair or two. I genuinely can’t tell if this is normal shedding or if I’m starting to lose too much hair lol

Okay is it normal that every time I run my hands through my hair like 5-6 strands come out? I’m the morning today it was 5-6, in the evening it got to 1-3 every single time I run my hands through my hair. I’m literally about to cry.
Yesterday was wash day and I did shed in the shower + while brushing, but today I keep checking and every few minutes there’s another hair or two. I genuinely can’t tell if this is normal shedding or if I’m starting to lose too much hair lol

I’ve been trying to replace every toxic thing in my kitchen lately and I genuinely don’t know how I never thought about our plastic kettle. We’ve had the same one for probably 6+ years and now I’ve gone down a rabbit hole reading about how much toxins plastic kettles release when boiling water and I’m literally losing my mind. I’m certainly getting it replaced, but which one do you recommend me to buy?

I took my cat (5-year-old female Persian) to the vet yesterday because she wasn’t eating and had no appetite. She would go smell the food, but then back away without eating it. The doctor did bloodwork and said her WBC count has been low every time she’s gone in. For now, we’re giving her medication because he thinks she might be constipated and have hairballs stuck. He also did an X-ray and said her heart looked enlarged, but he told me he’s a GP and can’t officially diagnose her from the X-ray alone. I booked an appointment with a very good specialist vet, but the appointment isn’t for another 15 days. The second he mentioned the X-ray, I completely broke down. I’ve been crying nonstop and even got a headache from how much I’ve cried since yesterday. He said he didn’t hear a murmur, but that it would still be better to get everything checked properly just to make sure. I love my cat more than anything in this world. I genuinely cannot imagine losing her or seeing her suffer.

Has anyone had a situation where an X-ray looked concerning, but further testing ended up being normal or much less serious? I’m honestly just looking for a little bit of hope right now 💔