Are headrushes bad?

Chrome, I'm no doctor, but what you describe seem like a problem with blood circulation; it can be caused by simple things like too little exercise or more serious ones.  If symptoms persist even after periods of regular exercise, I think you should go see your doctor.

Does she have any skin allergies, and spefically any type of fabric or metal that frequently touches that spot?  My skin breaks open when exposed to nickel.  My skin also develops nasty rash like thingies when theres a combo of dry skin and sweat to be found.  D:

chrisb wrote:

For the past few days I've been feeling very weak and achey between the hours of 2 and 6/7 PM. I take a Tylenol and it goes away and I feel great. I even wake up with no problems. Not running a fever or anything. I've been sleeping about 7 hours a night. I did have some severe stress over finals last week and it made me a bit sleep deprived, but would it still be effecting me?

Absolutely, yes. YES. Sleep deprivation and stress can last out months after the aggravating events. And even if you feel like there was some other event that was more stressful and should have been worse, the mind doesn't work that way.

Chrome Homura wrote:

Are headrushes bad? I'm noticing that since I've been doing an exceptional amount of sitting down/staying still for extended periods of time lately, it's become a fairly regular occurrence that I get that sort of sensation from suddenly standing up. Being the weirdo I am, I kind of revel in it and draw out the experience as much as possible. I'm fairly certain I don't need to explain why, but anyway... is there any reason I shouldn't do that? Just curious.

Sounds like good old postural hypotension. The blood pooled in your legs isn't immediately available when you stand up initially. It's not exactly dangerous except as a fall risk right now. But in the long term, that is a situation that can result in DVTs, or clots in the legs. The silent killer of computer chair bound nerds. You should be getting up and down more often than that!

Riri-kins wrote:

Sorry to be gross Nurse Spadaro, but my Mom has had an itchy red spot about the size of a quarter on her pantyline for about a month. Lamisil is the only thing that helps. Today she tried epsom salt and Neosporin for the first time but nothing changed. She thinks it might be a bite or have come from shaving. Anyway, she begged me to consult you, so what do you think?

If Lamisil works, it's fungal, and that's not at all unusual. It might have been caused by shaving in that it made the area a risk for catching the little beasties, but Lamisil generally is only going to do anything to fungus. So she needs to stick with the Lamisil for a while more. If it's incredibly itchy an occasional bit of hydrocortisone will provide relief, but do not rely on it to cure a fungus. It'll just turn off the body's reaction to it.

Chrome Homura wrote:

Giovanna wrote:

Sounds like good old postural hypotension. The blood pooled in your legs isn't immediately available when you stand up initially. It's not exactly dangerous except as a fall risk right now. But in the long term, that is a situation that can result in DVTs, or clots in the legs. The silent killer of computer chair bound nerds. You should be getting up and down more often than that!

That's disappointing to hear actually... I really do enjoy it (and know how to do so without risking a fall) but it rather frustrates me to learn that a little something I discovered such seemingly harmless pleasure from will inevitably harm my body overall. Seriously, that is so lame.

In my head, I am imagining the moment when research scientists discovered that smoking causes cancer and heart disease.  "Seriously," I bet they said; "that is so lame." 

Speaking of getting out of one's computer chair, is it really true that one should consult a health professional before beginning an exercise regimen, or is that just something they print on the treadmills to avoid liability?  Is my doctor going to tell me anything other than "well, you're a young person with no serious health problems, so go for it?"

Question: Should I be worried about a condition I <might> have had in the past/as a child? I may have been misdiagnosed....

Reason (This might be a bit intense, but please be patient with me)

When I was younger (in 1st grade, I am now 23) I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I had seizures at any given time, and was not triggered from outside influences such as changes in light patterns. I was given a medicine, but the it did not slow down the frequency at which I had seizures. When they first started my mom called them 'phase-outs'. I would be doing one thing, like pulling a book from the shelf, and in the next moment I'd be three feet in the opposite direction without my book and not knowing how I got there. When I was in this state, people would call my name or shake me, but I would not respond. I had no recollection of what happened during these times, only that I felt spatially disoriented afterword, as if my brain was trying to figure out if time had passed or not. In fourth grade my mother took me off the medicine (which looking back was a dangerous idea), and put me on some nutritional supplements instead. That was the last year that I experienced seizures though, so kudos to her...kind of.

Two days ago I experienced several instances of Deja Vu within an hour of so of each other. I thought it was weird, and went online to find out more about it. While learning how deja vu works, I came across something called Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, or TLE. It's known to be misdiagnosed usually as schizophrenia or bipolar because of the varied symptoms. That stood out to me for one VERY major reason. A few years before I was put into foster care, my mom showed signs of hearing voices. She would accuse me of saying something I hadn't, and usually about things I wouldn't know about anyway. Several times there were other people there who could vouch that I said nothing. One thing that came up regularly was the subject of her mother. Out of nowhere, she might say 'My mother wasn't crazy, you don't know what you're talking about' and I'd be very confused and suddenly in a lot of trouble. After hearing the things she said I became afraid that my natural grandmother was crazy, my mom was crazy, and that one day I'd be crazy too. After learning a bit more about TLE, I'm nearly convinced that I had that.

The problem is, should I be worried about it? I don't remember my mother ever saying she had epilepsy of any sort, and I know even less about the rest of the family. It was something that I 'grew' out of, and don't even think about it very often. I wonder if maybe it is possible to have TLE spread to other parts of the brain while physical seizures have stopped.

After contracting the cold from hell (again) from the office martyr (again) which tore through the entire site (again) I'm mercifully nearing the end of it. I'm still on antibiotics and will stay on them until they're done. The doctor told me that I was in serious risk of developing a very nasty secondary infection, if I hadn't already got one. So I intend to follow his advice.

So in general I'm feeling a lot better. Ears are still blocked, nose is is still gunky. Am no longer swaying, sleeping twenty hours a day or sneezing like a Zyrtec commercial. One lingering symptom: a persistent strong cough. Given that I'm still coughing up gunk I'm well aware that I'm going to keep coughing until it's all gone, and that it's actually a good thing.

Unfortunately, it's also somewhat alarming: I've been bringing up yellow phlegm. The colour is not what alarms me. During a massive two month bout with a severe chest infection during my teens, I was regularly coughing up entire mouthfuls of neon green. Yellow is not an issue. The issue is that it's extremely lumpy. It's gone from liquid to viscous, firm clumps of material. It hurts like hell and to my best of my knowledge a semi solid substance is not what belongs in any lung, regardless of prior infection. Should I be going back to my doctor or is it a normal by product of my fourth nasty lung infection (all, bar the first one, genuine clinical influenza, gifted to me by the aforementioned office martyr) in the past eight months?

Melancholic_Soul wrote:

The problem is, should I be worried about it? I don't remember my mother ever saying she had epilepsy of any sort, and I know even less about the rest of the family. It was something that I 'grew' out of, and don't even think about it very often. I wonder if maybe it is possible to have TLE spread to other parts of the brain while physical seizures have stopped.

Epilepsy is similar to early onset asthma in that most people grow out of it or find the frequency so reduced that medication isn't used anymore. That may be the case with you, but your episodes sound like what I've heard as 'absence seizure', as opposed to the more familiar 'grand mal' that we all see in TV shows. Having actually had a run in with a patient who experienced such a seizure for almost the full duration of a shift, I can say they're maddening because you really have no clue what's going on with the patient, except they're unresponsive and have totally normal vitals.

At any rate, I don't think you should worry about it now on the basis of a couple episodes of deja vu. Certainly, if this happens again, and friends or family notice you acting different, you should give it more focused attention. But for now, just keep a careful eye on things. You don't want to start a wild goose chase until you are pretty sure there's a goose. Because doctors will really, really want to find one, possibly even if it's not there.

Ashnod wrote:

Here's an easy one for you.

I got a paper cut on a finger while cleaning the home today, and area is a bit tender and swollen. I'm worried that some funk or cleaning agent might have gotten in the cut. When does this become an issue to take to a physician? I know that paper cuts aren't generally deep and there was no visible blood when it happened, and yet I'm still nervous about having toxic crud in my system now.

This is probably a non-issue by now. When it comes to skin, unless it's oozing pus, it's not a big deal.

crystalwren wrote:

The issue is that it's extremely lumpy. It's gone from liquid to viscous, firm clumps of material. It hurts like hell and to my best of my knowledge a semi solid substance is not what belongs in any lung, regardless of prior infection. Should I be going back to my doctor or is it a normal by product of my fourth nasty lung infection (all, bar the first one, genuine clinical influenza, gifted to me by the aforementioned office martyr) in the past eight months?

Alas, this is not unheard of. You are less hydrated than usual, probably, or the air is dry? Chunky phlegm isn't something we get alarmed by. We just hate it because it sticks to everything.

Melancholic_Soul wrote:

Okay, I've got one more question. I'm not a big drinker, two or three times a year at best. I've noticed that a few minutes after drinking, and occasionally during, my body will start to ache. It ALWAYS starts in my right shoulder and spreads across my back and into my neck. This is actually the reason I shy away from casual drinking, the pain is unbearable. I wonder how common this is. I've heard of people's body aches 24 hours later, but this occurs almost immediately after consumption. I always trick myself into believing it's not going to happen, and because the length between each drink is so great, I underestimate how the pains might effect me anyway.

Alcohol has a strange way of removing the mental blocks we have in place for things we're trying to ignore. Pains you don't notice when you don't drink arise when you do, because you've had a couple drinks and that easily convinced part of your brain is like 'fuck this I'm tired of pretending it doesn't hurt.'

It may be that an injury you've had all along is noticeably worse when you drink. Alcohol is actually for most people going to relax muscles, so the pain is from you no longer subconsciously bracing against it. Pay close attention to how much this soreness resolves as you sober up. If you're pretty sure it happens only when you drink, then I can only say to avoid alcohol, but right shoulder is nothing suggestive of anything else--my first thought is muscle injury. (If you said left, I'd be talking a different story.)

Take care with massages. They're incredibly effective, but only if you sustain the treatment. A single massage is likely to make you worse in the long run. It's like an antibiotic, it needs a full course of treatment to be optimally effective. By all means look into it, but realize that you're looking at an investment of probably 20 sessions over several months.

Uhm... does this mean that I shouldn't be getting the occasional massage because they feel so awesome...? Like I usually go for one hour sessions maybe twice a year. I just got one the other day because I sat in a car for 16 hours...

Nurse Spadaro, I've had this nasty bitter aftertaste in my mouth for a day and a half.  It's still there even after I brush my teeth. What gives?

EDIT: Never mind. It's gone and now I have a cold.

Last edited by Riri-kins (09-10-2012 05:16:11 PM)

I'm back.

Do you have any tips for a sore throat? Last night I couldn't sleep because I had trouble swallowing and by the next morning it felt like my throat was throbbing painfully.  Two days before I had coughed something nasty up. I have to swallow drainage constantly and it when I take a lozenge it goes away but it's still tender and there's the tiniest hint of a tickle. I don't have a fever and am not coughing.

Sore Throat:
TOF's advice is solid. I'd add to that a black tea with honey and lemon. Both soothing and antiseptic.
Also, make some salt water and snort it as nose spray. A lot of the time a sore throat is a mild infection reaching back into the sinuses and you have to fight it on both fronts. Bitter aftertastes, BTW, can be caused by the same sinus infections. Also by cavities.

Knee Pain:
Not unusual for even a casual runner. Sharp pain is extremely bad. Dull or 'sore' pain is not great but probably not dangerous. Consider what Trench Kamen said, replace your routine for a couple weeks with the elliptical and if the pain lessens, you need to consider the long term impact on the joint that running causes. A lot of people run because they love it, and most don't realize that it's not an ideal workout strictly from the 'don't hurt yourself ever' sense. You may need to correct some minor flaw in your stride, or the padding, while comfortable, may be doing you more harm than good. If you really want to iron it out and figure out what's hurting you, I'd actually suggest a professional evaluates your stride.

Occasional Massage:
Is fine, unless you're getting messages for the goal of treating ongoing tissue injury, which isn't the case for you Syora. You're fine.