u/space_entity

I have a clearly infected socket on the lower right side. Thick yellowish-white pus and green discharge and what looks like an empty socket. It’s moderately painful and somewhat swollen. I called the on-call surgeon and he prescribed antibiotics to pick up tomorrow. I’ll see my surgeon two days from now on Monday.

I’m afraid if I wait until Monday I might get a worse infection or sepsis. I have horrible health anxiety. There’s a chance I can see a doctor today in person but it’s a pain to get to the office. Should I go anyway if they can fit me in? I don’t know if it’s overkill or not. I’m just scared.

It’s the morning of day nine after removal (all four impacted) and one site is still quite painful. It’s an ache that never goes away, painkillers help a bit but don’t get rid of it. I have trouble sleeping because of it and can’t sleep on that side at all. I think I might have had a coronectomy on that site because the original oral surgeon I saw recommended it, but I went with a different surgeon in the end and he did not tell me if it was a coronectomy. I’m not sure if this pain is normal either way?

The other sites feel completely fine except they hurt a bit if I try to chew. I’m just concerned it could be something wrong on the one side. I’m thinking of calling the surgeon’s office when they open this morning but I don’t know if they could fit me in to check today and tomorrow is the weekend. Idk, I’m an anxious person so it could just be overthinking. It does hurt less than when I first got the surgery, mostly because it doesn’t hurt as bad when I open my mouth, but it’s still quite painful.

I am in contact with doctors about this and will continue to consult them. I am not asking for medical advice here, just suggestions from people with experience with mobility aids.

I have been dealing with extreme dizziness, lightheadedness and feeling like I’m going to faint, positional headaches, and fatigue when standing and walking for two and a half months now. I can walk for a few minutes or longer if I really have to but I end up feeling very sick and exhausted and close to passing out afterwards. I lean on walls, sit, or lie down as much as possible at the moment. At the doctor’s office I have been using wheelchairs more often lately because it feels so much less awful than walking. But sometimes I feel guilty about that because I feel like I somehow don’t “deserve” to use a wheelchair when I can walk a bit. (I would never ever judge someone else for using a wheelchair but for some reason I have trouble extending kindness and understanding to myself.)

My doctor is aware of the issue and had me do a couple tests for POTS but my blood pressure didn’t drop consistently. My heart rate is consistently over 90 and often in the 120s or 130s but my EKGs are normal otherwise. My doctor hasn’t responded since I did the tests and it’s been a couple weeks. She said she is checking with neurology and radiology but I am still waiting to hear back. I have a neurological condition that mimics the symptoms of a brain tumor, without the physical tumor, and I suspect it is the cause of my dizziness and lightheadedness but my previous neurologist told me this wasn’t possible. I see a new one soon and am hoping they may be able to help. It really seems like this is a neurological problem but I can’t tell without a doctor actually listening to me and doing testing.

In the meantime, I have been trying to think of ways to help me be more mobile. I asked a family member who used a cane during chemo treatments if they thought one would help me, but they said no. Wheelchairs seem expensive and permanent and my home is not set up for one. I have been thinking of trying a walker but I don’t know about pricing and whether it is worth it to get one if I might be able to solve the issue through medical means (that is seeming less and less likely but I am still hoping it’s possible). I wanted to ask here if anyone has ideas for what could help me. I will of course continue to consult my doctor as well. Would compression socks be something worth trying? Thanks for any suggestions.

CW: mentions of suicidal thoughts

I’ve been feeling worse and worse lately. I was diagnosed in late December of 2025 and put on Diamox (which I am now marked as allergic to) and Lasix which caused hearing loss. I can’t take Topamax due to an allergy so I am unmedicated for the IIH. The last two to three months I’ve been dealing with 24/7 dizziness, lightheadedness, and worsening head pain with intermittent extreme nausea. I’m exhausted all the time. I can’t stand for more than a few minutes without being on the brink of passing out. I can’t bend down without the world spinning. I had a lumbar puncture in late May and everything got worse afterwards with the addition of positional headaches. I may have also had two absence seizures in the past week.

I was sent to the ER for symptoms of a spinal CSF leak last week but was sent home when a brain MRI found no indications of a leak. The doctors told me to lay down as much as possible at home and not strain or bend down. They offered no other help or advice and no explanation as to how I’m meant to live life like this. Everything has been getting even worse since then.

I had surgery for my wisdom teeth and a biopsy last Wednesday and the dizziness and lightheadedness have been extreme since Friday. It is still getting worse. I don’t know if it’s the painkillers or something else but I can’t even stand long enough to cook anything for myself anymore.

I’m dealing with a lot of suicidal thoughts at the moment. I informed my therapist, my psychiatrist, and my family and am being watched by my family just in case I attempt anything (I’m not going to hurt myself at the moment) but I still feel awful. My doctors keep shifting me off to other doctors who send me back to the first ones or tell me they can’t help. Even telling them about the suicidal thoughts hasn’t made them take me more seriously. My neurosurgery referral was rejected because I don’t have papilledema. My current neurologist told me flat out that she doesn’t have any more ways to treat me.

I see a new neurologist on the 8th of July and am clinging to hope that they might be able to help me. I don’t know what to do if they can’t. I feel like I can’t live like this anymore. I’m in college and struggling to complete my coursework. I am supposed to go away to university in the spring but I don’t know if I can anymore. I can’t function like this.

I’m really just crying out into the void for help right now. Does anyone have any encouragement or advice? I want my life back. I want to enjoy living again. I want to see a future where I exist. I’m so tired and scared all the time right now. I can’t be the only one who feels like this. There has to be a way to get through it.

I think I might have had an absence seizure just now. I’ve never had one before. I’m a bit freaked out.

I was refilling my pill container for the week and holding a pill. I dropped it right onto the bed I was sitting on. Then I went to pick it up and it was gone. As in, absolutely nowhere to be found. Not on the bed, not on the floor around it. There’s nowhere else it could have gone. I didn’t put it back into the bottle, because the bottle didn’t move positions at all. I had someone else come into the room to confirm the pill was gone.

I guess it is theoretically possible that it is still in the room somewhere and like magically bounced off the bed into a corner? But I suspect I may have just taken the pill without realizing. It didn’t feel like any time passed. Just, one second the pill was there, the next second it was gone.

Has anyone got any experience with absence seizures? If I had one, I definitely think it would have been caused by the IIH. I’m not currently on medication for it for a couple reasons, and my pressure has gone up by two since diagnosis. My symptoms have also been getting worse and I have significant symptoms of a CSF leak but no signs of it on an MRI. I see a new neurologist in early July, and I’ll mention this occurrence to her then (not saying the word seizure, just describing the event.) I wanted to see if anyone here has had something similar happen to them.

I had a lumbar puncture about one month ago and the doctor had significant difficulty getting the right spot. She dug around for at least twenty minutes before calling in an anesthesiologist who got it after another ten. My headache did not improve at all after the LP and neither did my other symptoms.

The day afterwards I noticed numbness in one spot on my lower body. This is still present. I also still have a burning pain in my lower back which is normally not too bad but flares up when I bend over. I have significant positional headaches that worsen instantly when I sit up or stand and get better when laying down. I have dizziness and lightheadedness when I am vertical as well and that also gets better when laying down. I have intermittent nausea too. I also have worsened hearing since the LP.

I am concerned I may have an ongoing CSF leak due to these symptoms. I did message a doctor about this but I will not hear back until Monday at the earliest. On Wednesday I will be going under general anesthesia for an unrelated surgery. I am worried that if I have a CSF leak it may cause issues with the anesthesia and/or delay my surgery. I don’t know what to do here.

I can call the advice nurse but they’ll probably either say to go to the ER or to wait until the doctor responds. I can’t take myself to the ER and I don’t know that my caretakers would be willing to do it as they hate sitting in the ER. I feel stuck and scared. Does anyone have any experience with CSF leaks? What did you do?

I’m a bit embarrassed about this so I haven’t mentioned it to my doctor yet but I’m wondering if I should. I had a spinal tap on the 27th of May (last month) and afterwards I began to notice a loss of sensation on my genital area. Specifically the >!clitoral area!<. I am a trans man/nonbinary person so discussion of genitalia can be very difficult for me, but I can bring it up to the doctor if it seems like it might actually be due to the spinal tap.

I can confirm that there was no loss of sensation the day before the tap, and I noticed it one day afterwards. During the tap, they had significant trouble getting the right spot and dug around a lot for at least twenty minutes before calling in an anesthesiologist who got it after another ten. They hit at least one nerve for certain during the tap (my whole leg went completely numb and tingly instantly twice and I mentioned it and the doctor moved the needle so it stopped).

I am concerned that there may be permanent damage from the tap in the form of this numbness. I wanted to ask if anyone else has had something similar occur, and what you did if so. Any advice is welcome.

My neuro-surgery referral for a shunt was rejected due to me not showing papilledema, depsite my pressure of 30, my MRI results showing kinked optic nerves and dilated optic nerve sheaths, and my symptoms which are making daily life very difficult. It was stated by the department that if an MRI shows tranverse sinus stenosis then I could be referred for an angiogram/stenting evaluation. My neurologist told me my MRI in January did not show tranverse sinus stenosis. I checked and it shows “small lateral ventricles and attenuation of the flow within the lateral transverse sinuses.” From my research, this seems like it can show up with tranverse sinus stenosis, but maybe doesn’t mean it is present. If anyone here can give me more information on this, I would really appreciate it.

I didn’t even know up until now that Kaiser (my healthcare provider) considers stenting as an option for IIH. This may give me a new option for treatment if I can actually get a referral to that department, but my neurologist seems like she won’t give me that. I don’t know what to do now. I’m debating asking her to refer me anyway, or asking for a new MRI since my pressure and symptoms have increased since my last one, or asking for a second neurologist, or pushing harder to actually see a neurosurgeon before being rejected, or trying to appeal the rejection somehow.

I feel stuck and hopeless again. I’m posting here to ask if anyone else has had something similar happen, and what you did in that case. This is just for reference for what I am considering, I am not asking for medical advice as per the rules of the sub. Support would also be appreciated. I’m losing my hope for any future for myself without the constant pain, fatigue, and depression. It’s a bad time mentally. (I am in therapy and not a danger to myself.) This community has been a huge support throughout my journey with IIH so far, so I thought I should post this to see what people here say.

After half a year of fighting with my neurologist (by which I mean her ignoring me and my experiences to the point of me having to flat out prove a side effect existed, among other things) she finally listened to me today at our video appointment. I recently had a spinal tap that showed my opening pressure is 30, 2 higher than when I was diagnosed. The neurologist agreed that this, along with my MRI, MRV, and symptoms, confirmed IIH. She had told me at our last appointment that she thought I was just having migraines.

She asked if I would go back on Diamox or Lasix, which caused me hearing loss (thankfully it did recover after stopping the meds). I said no, because Diamox also caused me constant severe vomiting for months to the point where I tore my esophagus and threw up blood. I also pointed out that I have lost at least thirty pounds since diagnosis, with some minor improvement, but that my symptoms are worsening again and even at their best I am still struggling significantly. She actually acknowledged this for the first time today, even though I’ve mentioned it twice before.

She told me she didn’t know what to do for treatment anymore since I am also allergic to Topamax. There aren’t any other medications offered for this condition by my healthcare provider. I have been mentioning surgery for a couple appointments now, pretty much just as a question of at what point does it become a consideration. This time I just flat out asked, does this healthcare provider do surgery for IIH.

She said, “I can send a referral to the neuro-surgery department.” I was so surprised. She did say that they might refuse the consultation (in that case I will try to appeal the decision so I can actually meet with a doctor) but if they accept then I will get a call to schedule it. I finally feel like I have hope for feeling better after half a year of this.

I know surgery has complications, risks, side effects, impact on daily life, etc. But this condition is already impacting my daily life constantly. I’m tired of being in pain and there isn’t really another option besides trying to lose more weight (which I am on Ozempic now for). I will continue the weight loss, but it’s not a guarantee that it will fix anything. I’m just hoping that I can get some more help with this condition.

If they make me do it before agreeing to surgery, I am willing to try Lasix again, but only for a set period of time and with monitoring of my hearing. If my hearing starts to get worse again, I’ll be done with Lasix as well. Hopefully I don’t need to do that though, because the hearing loss can be permanent. Also, if the vomiting returns, I will be done too.

The neurologist also let me switch back to Quilipta (she had switched me to Ajovy despite me stating that Quilipta was working for me) after I said that I was getting more migraines with Ajovy than I had in months with Quilipta. So that’s positive news too. Overall, I’m glad this appointment went well. Today feels a little brighter than the past months.

I have a chronic health condition that was discovered last December, and it causes me constant headaches, as well as dizziness, nausea, and various other symptoms. Recently, I have been unable to walk or move for long periods without extreme dizziness and lightheadedness, which I believe is also due to this condition. Bending down causes the same issues. I mention all this because it has meant that I cannot do the same practices I was previously doing.

I don’t do any spell work or actual rituals at the moment due to the fact that doing so would cause me to lose my housing. That will hopefully change next year, but until then my practices are generally things like walking in nature, melting candles and wax (I have a candle melter because I can’t light candles in my rental), researching various witchy topics and religious information, and cleaning my space to keep my mind clear. I can’t do most of those things at the moment, at least not for very long. Walks have to be very short, research is difficult due to the pain of focusing on screens or text for extended periods, and I can’t physically clean my room for more than a few minutes because I feel like I’m about to pass out with bending down and moving around. (I am seeing a doctor for this btw.)

I’m curious what ideas people here have for practices I can do at the moment. Meditation is one that I am working on. I’m not great at it, but I spend a lot of time in bed these days and that’s time I can spend practicing. I am currently mostly engaged with building a pantheon for myself from various pantheons, established and from popular culture, but that means a lot of research, so I’m doing it in small sections. I would love any witchy podcast or audiobook suggestions if anyone has some, since I can listen to those without pain from eye strain. Any other ideas are appreciated too! If anyone has spell or ritual ideas that would work for someone with limited mobility and time constraints due to head and eye strain, that would also be helpful, since I would try them in the future.

Simplified TLDR: I view gods as faces given to concepts that feel too big for humans to deal with on their own. I feel connected to deities from fictional works such as DnD and the Elder Scrolls, but I worry that to “worship” them would be offensive somehow to those who practice established religions. I’m curious to hear the thoughts of people in this community on the topic.

This is a long post, because I have a lot of thoughts on this subject. I’ve been ruminating on it for a while. Ever since I began to call myself a witch five years ago, I’ve tried to find a god I felt connected to. I think of them as concepts that humans gave a face and personality to in order to make them easier to understand and cope with. Like a god of death is really a way to deal with mortality and grief, etc. That’s an oversimplification, of course, but it’s a simple way to explain it.

I’ve done research on different pantheons, religions, and fictional deities as well. Out of all of them, I’ve felt the most “connection” to the gods from the world of Dungeons and Dragons. I think this is because there aren’t really rules for interacting with them like there are in many religions. A fictional deity feels safer, like I can’t mess up with “working” with them. I believe this fear of making mistakes comes from my past religious OCD, which has persisted in a strange middle dimension since I stopped believing in Christianity. I still feel the pressure of needing to be perfect and giving the necessary respect to the deities I think of working with. As well as this, with fictional gods I feel less guilt about following a deity who has been said to do bad things, like how the Christian God killed people in the Bible for things I don’t believe warrant death, but let others live who did terrible acts.

I can also pick and choose more easily with the DnD gods than with other religions. I feel particularly connected with Eilistraee, for many reasons. Lathander and Selune also appeal to me, and many of the other gods do as well. The Nine Divines from the Elder Scrolls series are another example of deities I feel connected with as concepts.

The connection I’m speaking about is really a feeling of comfort, peace, moral alignment, joy, and/or importance that I associate with the concepts the deities represent. Eilistraee, to me, represents a desire for peace, a voice for the oppressed and misrepresented, and art, song, and beauty, among other things.

Now, I again want to point out that I don’t actually believe in deities existing beyond how they exist as concepts and characters in the minds of many people. Yet, I have been hesitant to “worship” or work with the DnD gods or the Elder Scrolls Divines because it almost feels that it would be disrespectful somehow to those people who follow organized/established religions. I can’t really verbalize how, seeing as I view all deities as fictional concepts anyway, but the guilt of being a “follower” of a strictly fictional god is present whenever I think about it.

I guess I’m just curious how any of you feel about the concept of working with or worshipping strictly fictional deities, from books or games, etc. I know that logically there should not really be a difference for me between, say, the Greek pantheon and the Faerunian pantheon (from DnD). But I don’t want to make anyone who follows the Greek gods feel like I am not respecting their beliefs because I look at their gods similarly to ones from a roleplaying game. Does that make sense?

I am still coming to terms with leaving the sense of belonging I found in Christianity behind, and I think that manifests in this desire to feel “legitimate” and not disrespectful. Even as I was pushed out of my faith and community as I found the other members increasingly hostile to me (being queer and trans as I am), I still missed their companionship and approval deep down. Being a witch can feel very lonely for me at times, especially right now when I am unable to practice at my home due to a very Christian family member not allowing me to do so.

I’m very curious to hear what others in this community have to say on this topic of quote-on-quote fictional gods.

TLDR: my latest lumbar puncture shows a pressure of 30, higher than when I was diagnosed. I feel vindicated now because, despite me still having an IIH diagnosis, my neurologist has been attempting to convince me I am just experiencing migraines. Also, if anyone has experience with coming close to fainting while standing or walking with IIH, please let me know!

If you’ve read my past posts, you know my issues with my neurologist, who from the start has been dismissive, almost outright rude, and unwilling to listen to me. I had to prove that Diamox and Lasix can cause hearing loss with screenshots of the side effects pages of the meds from our healthcare provider. Only then did she begrudgingly let me stop the medication, once I’d proved that and provided her with additional proof of my hearing loss. (I am happy to say my hearing recovered over several months, and while it is not back to where it was before Diamox and Lasix, it is above the hearing loss threshold.)

I want to note that I still have an IIH diagnosis as of today. Well, after I stopped the medication, my neurologist suddenly told me that I was only dealing with migraines (ignoring the differences between the migraines I’ve been experiencing for over a decade and the new headaches that started last December). She gave no evidence for this other than that I don’t have papilledema, though I do have kinking of the optic nerve. She also said I never met the criteria for intracranial hypertension in the first place. She was the one who diagnosed me!! She dismissed the kinking of the optic nerve, the MRI results, and the high opening pressure from my lumbar puncture.

I insisted on getting another lumbar puncture then, to either prove she was right or wrong (I didn’t phrase it like that though.) She actually agreed, and I just had the puncture a couple hours ago. (It was a whole ordeal, they couldn’t get the right spot after four attempts and had to call in an anesthesiologist who used a smaller needle and finally got it.) Folks, my pressure is now at 30. It went up! I discussed this with the doctor who did the lumbar puncture and they said this would likely confirm IIH.

I’m not sure what my neurologist will say next, but I’m going to switch to a new one as soon as possible anyway because I no longer trust my current one. Still, I feel vindicated that I do, in fact, have a high opening pressure and other tests that show proof of IIH. I was feeling like I was going crazy with the neurologist insisting on just migraines. I just wanted to throw this out into the void because I’ve been posting about my experiences with this for months now and it’s been helping.

Also, I have a question. A month and a half ago I started suddenly getting dizzy and lightheaded like I was going to pass out when moving or standing. It’s slightly better now but I cannot stand for long periods or walk far. My PCP told me she believed it was the IIH and not a medication or other issue. I contacted my neurologist, who only noted the upcoming lumbar puncture and ignored the issue I had brought up.

Has anyone else had issues with nearly passing out while standing or walking? If so, did your neurologist think it was related to the IIH? I also have a mass in my jaw which needs a biopsy done to ensure it is not malignant. I am wondering if it is malignant, whether that could be causing some of my symptoms. Just mentioning that, though it is very likely unrelated.

(TW: cancer)

My anxiety is really getting to me right now. I went to the dentist a week ago and he found a shadow under one of my wisdom teeth on an xray. He thought it might be an infection. I then went to an oral surgeon for consultation about the removal of my wisdom teeth, since they need to come out anyway. He did a CT scan for unrelated reasons to the shadow and found it was in fact a mass/cyst/lesion. He was clearly concerned (I have confirmation from the other person in the room that he appeared concerned, so it’s not just my anxiety emphasizing it.) He asked questions about jaw pain, swelling, and any other symptoms, and felt around the area and around my lymph nodes and neck. He told me that while it may just be a benign cyst, a biopsy is necessary.

I have an appointment with my healthcare provider next week to see a surgeon in the maxillofacial surgery department about this issue because it might be cancer, making this a healthcare issue and not just a dental issue. My appointment is still a week away.

I’m feeling like I’m going crazy waiting. I don’t have any friends to talk to about this, and my family is already stressed about it as my sibling recently went through cancer (they are recovered now thankfully) so I’m trying not to freak them out more. But I feel like I’m going to explode with anxiety as I wait for the initial appointment, and then the eventual biopsy, and then the results.

It’s probably fine. There’s a decent chance that it’s benign even if it is a tumor, and removal should fix it. But I’m scared that it’s something malignant. I already talked to my therapist about this but I’m still struggling. Does anyone have any tips? I’ve been trying to distract myself with calming familiar youtube videos, podcasts, and games and books that I enjoy, but it all feels hollow right now. I can’t leave the house much or do much physical activity because I’ve been dealing with lightheadedness and dizzy spells for over a month now. My coping mechanisms are therefore limited. Regardless, I’ve been going out as much as I can, with trips to the grocery store or getting lunch or errands.

Any suggestions for calming myself down and coping with the waiting period would be helpful. Thank you for reading this.

This is not a request for medical advice because I already know what needs to be done. I am just asking if anyone has had a similar procedure done with Kaiser.

An oral surgeon found a mass under one of my wisdom teeth this week. He is concerned it may be cancerous and wants to biopsy it. I want Kaiser to do the biopsy so that they are in on this from the start if it turns out to be cancer. However, the surgeon told me that he is unsure the mass can be biopsied without first removing the wisdom tooth it is under. Ideally the mass would be biopsied at the same time. I do know where to go within Kaiser to have the mass biopsied, but I don’t know if they can also remove the tooth.

Google says Kaiser does tooth removals, sometimes in hospital or in clinic and sometimes through outside surgeons. I just don’t know how true that is since it comes from the AI summary. Kaiser’s own website seems to be unclear on the topic.

Does anyone have experience with having a tooth removed through Kaiser? Did you have the tooth removed by a Kaiser surgeon or an outside surgeon? If it was an outside surgeon, how was your experience with Kaiser being informed on and involved in the situation?