r/AskDoctorSmeeee

Backstory: Friday night I was at a campfire and bats were flying overhead when I felt something liquidy land in my eye. Didn’t really think much of it at the time, plus I’d had a few drinks so I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. Fast forward to Sunday morning, my anxiety got the better of me and I called my local health department and explained the situation, they just took my info down and said someone would reach out to me 8:30 Monday morning. Well it’s currently 6am Monday morning and I’ve been freaking out since Sunday 3pm when I developed a slight sore throat. I’ve been googling and researching and loosing my ever loving mind despite all evidence that the incubation period lasts at least 5 days before symptoms start. Am I going to be ok?

Lately, I've even been waking up from sleep worrying that my chest will get bigger. I'm 16, so I'm scared that it might still change as I get older. I'm currently a B cup, but even now it feels huge to me.

I really don't want it to get any bigger. I hate having to wear bras, and I don't like feeling like I constantly have to think about how my body looks. I don't understand why some people want a larger chest when, for me, it mostly causes discomfort and makes me feel self-conscious.

I don't want to have children, so I don't personally feel like there's any benefit to having a larger chest. It genuinely feels like there's something on my body that shouldn't be there. I wish I could be completely flat.

I'm 168 cm and around 49–50 kg, so losing weight isn't really an option and probably wouldn't make much difference anyway.

I think about this constantly, and it's starting to affect my sleep and everyday life. I also really dislike the feeling that my body might make other people perceive me in a sexualized way. I just want to feel comfortable in my own body without feeling like I'm being looked at as an object. Which could happen, if it got bigger.

Is there anything that can safely reduce the size of the chest or prevent further growth at my age? I know surgery isn't something possible at my age, but I'm really struggling with how strongly I feel about this.

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Hi,

I'm 16(F) and for the past 3+ years, I've had chronic daily mouth ulcers. 8 months earlier, I lost my ability to play my clarinet and saxophone because anytime I ate or put anything in my mouth in general, I'd bleed - I had to decide between playing and eating. I was in two bands and was living off of smoothies for about 3 months.

It's gotten bad enough I've been going to Shands off and on; I've bounced between 2 different specialists and am off to another pair, and here locally, I only see a dermatologist. My dentist even recognizes me as an extreme oddity. That aside, I feel no doctor I've met with takes me seriously other than my dermatologist; I really need some help. I'm stressing over so many different possibilities and I'm so scared that this might end up so much worse.

It started out when I was younger; I remember at least having canker sores when I was about 8; it was the first time I had ever gotten strep and now I'm super prone to it; after every bout my flares get worse. They popped up every once in a while back then, but over the years, they've gotten persistently worse. I really couldn't tell you when exactly I started having them daily; it's all a huge blur and I never documented it, but I even think it's been closer to 5 years. I wish I could've documented them back then, but my doctors all told me it was normal for a hormonal girl to have canker sores and wrote it off. I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus, but I know my history is longer than 3 years. I also experience all 3 types of Apothe Ulcers -herpetiform, minor, major. They also appear in my throat and have permanently altered my voice to sound more raspy (I got a scope done though and they said they didn't see any scarring, but my throat looked irritated; I've seen them in the back of my throat before though and have had that same sensation further down.)

I want to take a moment to talk about some other symptoms of mine, other than the extreme mouth ulcers I can get.

I've been experiencing joint pain in the shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, wrists and fingers for YEARS. I started having issues when I was about 9. For some context (not sure if it means anything, as I would've likely been over it by now), I was a competitive swimmer (6-8) as well as a musician (12-present [play flute & etc.]), so maybe that could explain some of it in the wrists and fingers, but my wrists started way before I ever got into music. My shoulders are the worst in comparison to the others. I remember taking a state standardized writing test when I was 11 and crying because there was such a BAD pain in my shoulder out of no where and I was panicking. My shoulders always hurt a little and hurt more with movement since I was 9, and I remember seeing an Orthopedist when I was about 12 for it once. They saw nothing wrong with my shoulder and referred me to rheumatology at Shands, but we never went.

I've had some GI issues for a while now - not necessarily stomach pain, but in my intestines. I have diarrhea about 1-2x days a week, sometimes more and similar with being constipated. Sometimes I feel something "drop" in my intestine and it's painful- it doesn't matter if I have diarrhea or am constipated, it'll happen for both although it's not as common as it was. Not sure if this would fit the category here either, but I also wake up nearly daily with an extreme sore throat - it doesn't matter if I have postnasal drip or not, I will usually have a sore throat (like I have right now). Sometimes it's mild, but right now and often, it's very sore.

I also have been having a dry tongue; I mentioned this to my dentist I saw Tuesday and she immediately downplayed it saying the rest of my mouth looks wet - that's not the point. It's only my tongue that's dry and it's super irritating. Anything I eat/drink leaves a BAD aftertaste in my mouth and I think it started about 6 months ago. Ontop of that, I don't think my tastebuds are growing back properly; I've lost a lot of my taste over the past few years.

Another weird thing related to "dryness" - I have issues crying out of my left eye and have for years. I remember back when I was 9, I had a hard time crying from it unless I was bawling my eyes out. Sometimes, after blinking, my vision also goes blurry, and this can be in either eye or both; it can last from 30s-20min. I also don't sweat unless I'm on my period.

My symptoms cross over multiple areas and I'm an oddity due to my normal bloodwork - everything has come back normal, including the Ig family, vitamins, viral; everything is normal. I feel like no doctor I've been seeing is taking this matter seriously, even though it's clearly affecting my quality of life. The only thing my ulcers have been responsive to is colchicine and I just started about 3-4 weeks ago. I noticed they're smaller than normal and I had a day where I didn't have any - that was the best day I've had in my life.

I'd also like to briefly skim over family history - my paternal uncle died when I was about 9, so I can't ask him personally, but according to everyone, his story is the only one that matches mine. Growing up, he was on a lot of antibiotics for strep and other things. I just question what really was going on - my grandpa has psychosis and told me that before he died he was diagnosed with some kind of disease, but I can't really tell you if that's true or not. His death was very traumatic (he was hit by a train around christmas) and my family cannot decide between murder, suicide or accident because all evidence points in either direction. That aside though, he did have a very similar history to me.

My parents both have had a history of canker sores - my dad gets them all the time (not as much as I do though). His can range between herpetiform and minor ulcers typically, although sometimes he has a major ulcer. His other siblings all have a history with them as well, but the extent, I'm not so sure. My paternal grandfather also has a history of them (he told me to put rubbing alcohol on them multiple times, but I don't take his advice for obvious reasons). He gets minor ones, and his wife also can get them (rarely).

My dad, on an unrelated note, has an occasional episode where he feels like he's going to pass out or have a stroke (it's really scary). Doctors can't do anything for him because he's a stickler about going to the doctor. He's a 42 y/o mechanic though, so maybe that could cause something weird. I just know I should mention that.

My question is, what does this sound the most like? Please, if you have a moment to give a potential answer, I'd really like to know. I'm tired of going to doctors offices (specifically Shands) just to be introduced and be let down. What are the next steps? I'm scheduled for oral medicine and rheumatology but I have no idea when there appointments are. I'm open to more questions if those are needed, I'm just in dire need of help. I'm losing the ability to like my life.

Thank you so much for taking time into reading this and I hope you all have an amazing day!

okay so this is gonna be pretty long but please share opinions and experiences.

starting off i am extremely new to sebderm. like a couple of days new. but here is my story:

early june i developed a red rash that kinda looked like eczema on my forehead. i thought it was a broken skin barrier because of dryness and flakes so i started using cerave hydrating facial cleanser and aquaphor as an occlusive at night. ( i had been already using cerave daily facial moisturizer and aquaphor on my eyebrows everyday for years.) some days it was bad and some days it looked way better. until it started to spread to my cheeks and it got supppper infected ( honey colored crust and weeping) it was bad so i went to the ER and got prescribed doxycycline (1 week course) and prednisone (5day course). after my course was up ofc the redness came back but very minor to my forehead as this was the start of it coming back but i went to a dermatologist and she thought it was contact dermatitis (after showing her pictures and videos over the course of weeks) so she prescribed me hydrocortisone ( not the 1% otc but the dermatologist %, sorry i dont exactly remember lol) but i used that for a week and my skin was FLAWLESS. i applied that to my forehead twice a day for a week. so once that was up it took a total of 4 days for redness to come back. but this time it came back on my forehead AND eyebrows so she told me it was okay to use the hydrocortisone where needed for an additional week. so i did just that and my face was FLAWLESS once again so im thinking yay my contact dermatitis is gone. but wow was i in for a ride. okay so a few days later i was all in the clear and then over night i started to have some minor redness to my eyebrows and small patches on my forehead. BUT i also started developing these bumps and redness all around my mouth and inner cheeks. then came the (now diagnosed by johns hopkins derm) perioral bumps on my inner cheeks/ around mouth so i went back to see her and she diagnosed me with ONLY sebderm , but i felt so rushed in her office and felt as though it wasn’t what i had because it just didn’t make sense to me at the time bc it didn’t look as close to what seb derm looked like. but she prescribed me ketoconazole cream for my face , ketoconazole shampoo for my scalp. and the romuliflast (zoryve) foam. so i go home and i start the ketoconazole cream which was once a day and i used that for about 3 days. but i still just felt like i didn’t have sebderm so i got a new dermatologist with johns hopkins (yay bc they’re top rated in my state). i seen my derm and he was very patient and listened to my whole story and even checked my body and scalp and i got to show him pictures / vids of my progression. well there he diagnosed me with sebderm and periorfiscial dermatitis ( perioral dermatitis that spread a little) so he prescribed me the tacrolimus ointment and clindamycin : tacrolimus for my forehead , outer cheeks and eyebrows and then clindamycin for around my mouth and inner cheeks. i also switched my moisturizer to vanicream facial moisturizer (and wow. it is so hydrating. cerave has never felt like this lol) and i also have just started using there cleanser. today is my first day using vanicream and also applying the tacrolimus to my forehead and eyebrows and a little on my outer cheeks. my clindamycin has not been verified yet and is still pending but the sebderm is what is really being shown on my face the most since it is directly on my forehead and eyebrows. so i started that early , but ive also been doing some research because i am a hypochondriac and let me just say this here. i have crohn’s disease and i am on humira. and the drug interaction between humira and tacrolimus is NOT GOOD. so i’ve messaged my derm just to see where to go with that. also i did not experience any burning / tingling sensation when applying the ointment lol. but i just wanted to ask about anyone’s experience with this ointment in general and if anyone else is using this while also being on humira (adalimumab).

Thanks to whoever read all of this im so sorry it was a lot. just a hypochondriac looking for anyone in my similar boat lol. this is all new to me as i’ve always had clear skin all my life but i am so lucky to have found a group on here with sebderm :)

Hi all! This is my first time engaging on an online community like this. I want to explain my situation and hopefully receive some advice or thoughts. About 5 years ago I noticed that it felt like my inguinal nodes were swollen and got an ultrasound on them. They came back reassuring and diagnosed as lipomas. Right after I had a horrible ear piercing infection that caused a node on the back of my scalp to swell and stay that way. I had a doctor feel it and they had no concerns. About 1.5 years ago I found a node under my hairline on the back of my neck, I had it looked at and they weren’t concerned. About six months later a new doctor recommended an ultrasound for peace of mind. I got a bunch of blood tests done (all came back great). That doctor left so the new doctor reviewed my ultrasound and felt my nodes and said nothing was concerning. It’s kind of hard and doesn’t move around but to be fair it’s kind of embedded in a weird spot. There was another node found deeper in my neck. All not concerning sized. Starting in March I began to work at a daycare and got ill multiple times within a month or two. I then about three months ago noticed that I had two new nodes. One on the back of my neck (in the middle) and one on the side of my neck. One is pea sized the other a bit long but not big. Both move around. I had a new doctor feel these and the older ones and she was not concerned. About two weeks ago I noticed another node a bit above my collarbone on the right. This one feels like two little peas that move around (together kinda) a lot. All of my nodes are painless. I’m going to schedule an appointment tomorrow for this new one I’ve felt, since I know this area can be of concern sometimes. I’ve had no other strange symptoms. I understand that this seems like a lot, I recognize I have an issue and will be seeking therapy! I’m moving across the country in two weeks so I’m a bit scared that this will be a concern to my doctor and I won’t be able to get an ultrasound. Has anyone had anything similar? Anyone know what to think about that? Please be kind!