Posts by fadedmason

Angela Wright said:You can go through your insurance with a referral, or just pay out-of-pocket privately. If you use the insurance route at a hospital, be prepared to wait—they don't always have the reagents in stock. Going private usually runs about $50. Just so you know, CA-125 is a tumor marker used to screen for ovarian issues, though it can also react to other growths within the abdomen. It isn't a foolproof test—it can occasionally flag something that isn't actually there (or pick up on endometriosis, though based on the symptoms you listed, that seems unlikely)—but it serves as a vital compass. If there is an issue, it gives doctors the green light to start more intensive testing immediately.

Thanks so much!

Angela Wright said:fadedmason, I don't mean to alarm you—I really don't—but if I were in your shoes, I’d definitely get the CA-125 markers checked. It’s just a matter of peace of mind to ensure nothing serious is stemming from the ovaries, especially considering the PCOS diagnosis.

Where can someone actually go to get those tests done? Is it possible to get a referral from a doctor, or should I just book it privately?

I feel like I owe you all an explanation regarding that Pap smear... just to clear things up: In my state of total confusion—basically spinning in circles at the time—one doctor actually suggested I stop bothering with local OB-GYNs and just head to a private specialist in Chicago instead. So, that’s exactly what I did. Here was the situation: back home, getting an appointment with a gynecologist usually involves a months-long waiting list, so I went ahead with a local exam first. But because I managed to snag a private appointment in Chicago just one day later,
everything played out like this: the local Pap came back fine, but the Chicago Pap showed issues.
Now I'm left wondering—how is that even possible?
P.S. I actually begged my regular doctor to perform an ultrasound, but she just kept brushing me off, insisting it wasn't necessary since everything felt "normal" during the manual exam. To her, if the ovaries felt the right shape, we were good to go—which, honestly, made zero sense to me, but I felt too helpless to argue at the time. I ended up staying quiet about seeking a second opinion privately, only for that specialist to discover I have PCOS, CIN 1, and other concerns.
In Chicago, I opted for the full battery of tests rather than just the basics.
I wasn't trying to play games; I was just testing the system, though my primary goal was simply looking out for my own health...

stormyowl2 said:Those lumps you're feeling could very well be enlarged lymph nodes in your abdomen. Seriously—stop taking medical advice from internet forums and go get some thorough, comprehensive testing done at a clinic.

Thanks, stormyowl2, and thanks to everyone else for the help, the empathy, and for sharing what you've been through...
I’m currently mid-treatment, and once I finish this round, I’m heading to an infectious disease specialist. I need them to run detailed cervical and urethral swabs to check for mycoplasma, chlamydia, TV, C. albicans, and standard bacterial cultures...
Hopefully, that finally gets things moving in the right direction. 🙂

electricpanther82 said:fadedmason, for heaven's sake—what kind of ovaries are located in the GROIN😂???? I'm talking basic anatomy here😁 In the groin area, you only have lymph nodes—essentially glands. Seriously, where on earth do you live?

I am certainly not unintelligent, but please accept my apology—it seems I wasn't clear enough, as most of you interpreted my comment as me actually believing ovaries are in the groin. That isn't the case; rather, I had swollen lymph nodes in the groin area, and the lumps that appeared were related to my ovaries... so please, I ask for your understanding because I truly don't feel well right now...

Glad I could brighten your day 🤷😍

Hi ladies,
Please excuse any typos—I’m absolutely exhausted, and my head is pounding along with my entire body.
Today was my first day back at work... yay. I made it through, but man, it was draining. I just walked through the door, and I wanted to quickly say thank you all and wish you a wonderful night!🙂😘

I want to express my gratitude to everyone for the support, the advice, and for sharing your experiences... every bit of guidance truly helps. If anyone has any specific recommendations, please feel free to reach out via DM.

Jamie Newman5 said:It all points toward the kidneys—though it could easily be a combination of issues. You need to check blood sugar, kidney function, and liver enzymes first, and then take it from there....
Find a solid doctor and try to maintain some level of optimism, regardless of how difficult that feels. After every storm, the sun eventually breaks through..🙂

Thanks, but I’m not worried about people dropping dead after a few years—I’m worried about this unbearable pain. It’s something I can't manage even with Zalidar, Advil, or Splasmex... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Angela Wright said:Look—insomnia, muscle spasms, anxiety, rapid weight loss... those are textbook symptoms of a thyroid disorder. My advice? Re-run those blood tests and get a referral for an abdominal ultrasound from an internist. Your thyroid can throw your entire system into such chaos that it’s hard to wrap your head around it. My father was a complete wreck—looking back at how he acted before they finally diagnosed his thyroid issues, he can hardly believe it himself. Are you taking anything for gastritis or a hernia? Or perhaps birth control due to PCOS?
Listen, get moving and go see a decent doctor. Don't let yourself reach a full collapse before you start addressing this properly.

I was already thinking about paying extra for my State Farm coverage just so I could use those private clinics.
Believe me, I had a gastroscopy—the doctor said everything was terribly inflamed. He prescribed Contraloc 40 mg and took a sample to check for Microbe. He told me to come back Monday instead of Friday so we could bypass the line and work something out. When I asked if I needed a referral, he said no. But even when I tried to follow through, despite my pleas, the nurse wouldn't let me see him—and I felt absolutely terrible. It was a shock to see someone exercise that much authority over a patient. Luckily, they didn't find the bacteria; I had been on triple therapy once before, and I honestly didn't think I would survive that battle.

After years of dealing with gynecological issues and constant inflammation—and then having a gynecologist refuse to perform an ultrasound because she claimed "everything looked fine" since she had done a manual exam—a specialist finally recommended that I shouldn't wait and should head straight to New York City.
The most frustrating part is that the results were fine locally, but once I got to New York City, they weren't—and I have to wonder how that's possible, given the results were only a day apart...
It was actually a M. Counterpart who first diagnosed my PCOS when I saw him privately in New York City. That was also when my Pap smear showed CIN 1, for which he provided treatment... but I couldn't afford the financial burden of traveling to see him every four months. The last time he told me to come back in a year, but my Pap results came back again in four months, and the Bacteria returned...
So, effectively, he was putting me on a course of antibiotics every four months on average—and I suspect that's what really did me in😢—plus a string of other doctors I obviously had to pay for and so on.

I also dealt with a severe bout of the flu: ten days of a constant 104°F fever, followed by an infection in my throat and likely my lungs (I spent another 21 days recovering). My primary care physician just left me at home—she actually thought I wouldn't make it through.

Angela Wright said:I truly feel for you and wish I could offer more substantial advice—but honestly, my best suggestion is to fight for a referral for a thorough internal medicine exam. It seems like something was overlooked in your initial screenings. This sudden weight loss and the depression you're battling are classic indicators of thyroid dysfunction. Have you had your hormone levels checked recently? It is also possible that it isn't just the thyroid, but perhaps another gland involved; an endocrinologist might be able to provide some clarity there. Ideally, if you can manage the cost, seeing a private specialist immediately would be the best route. Perhaps some friends could help out with the expenses? This is about your health, not some trivial whim—if you need to take out a small loan to cover the costs, please don't hesitate. People take out loans for all sorts of luxuries, yet they hesitate when it comes to their own well-being.

Thank you for your empathy and support,
The depression is hitting me hard—it really started taking hold right around the time the weight began to drop. My thyroid hormone tests came back normal, though.
I’m not sure if you’ve experienced this, but I sometimes get the feeling that those of us in the workforce are just being processed through a system designed to wear us down...
I won't say where I live, but some private doctors have flat-out refused to even look at my results simply because they come from my county. It leaves me feeling incredibly skeptical—how can I actually trust any of these findings?
My blood work looks perfect, and everything else does too, but perhaps my system hasn't fully cleared the antibiotics, which might be masking underlying inflammation or something similar...
I am dealing with intense lower abdominal pain and stomach issues; I've dealt with inflammation before and suffer from gastritis and H. pylori.
Then there are the constant pains and muscle cramps.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I'm constantly on edge, I can't sleep, and the physical pain is relentless.
I've just given up—people treat me like an idiot and push me just enough to get by...
I simply have no strength left...
It's not just that I feel poorly; people see me and immediately start peppering me with questions or comments about how bad I look. It is exhausting and drains what little energy I have left...
and there is nothing I can do about it...

I honestly don't know how to help myself—I feel like a ping-pong ball being bounced around.
To get straight to the point: I've been struggling with my weight for a few years now. I am incredibly thin, yet every single test result comes back perfectly normal.
I’m at a loss for who to turn to. Lately, even my own doctor has noticed how much weight I'm losing; she keeps sending me for more tests, and to make matters worse, I start work tomorrow... I feel like I'm physically falling apart—it's devastating, both visually and mentally.
What concerns me most over the last few months is that I've started developing lumps in my groin area—swollen lymph nodes, essentially. I have PCOS, and my doctors are trying to convince me that these lumps, which are large enough to be felt like a fist, are actually just my ovaries, and that the pain I'm experiencing is coming from them... (is that even medically possible?)
When I asked an infectious disease specialist if constant pain is possible, she just shook her head. She’s incredibly tight-lipped—I can't get any real information out of her. The last time I asked about getting swabs done, she told me it was impossible because the sheer volume of medications I've taken would mask the results—which isn't news to me. Instead, they just keep passing me from one specialist to another... some of them have even gone as far as saying the previous doctor completely botched my care.
Last year, I was kept on antibiotics for an entire year, which has absolutely wrecked my immune system. Now, I'm just spinning in circles.
Who can I actually talk to?
I didn't want to go before the medical review board, because I simply don't have the nerves to deal with being humiliated—not when they'll likely just clear me to work anyway. It feels like they only take people seriously if they have terminal cancer, basically telling you, "Well, you're going to die soon anyway..." It makes me wonder where the humanity has gone in this system.
I don't have the luxury of choice here; I'm forced to settle for this current situation because I can't afford the private specialists that everyone seems to prefer lately.
I feel like a lost soul on a highway, ignored by every passerby who just walks past—and some even laugh.😢

Michelle Price66 said:I was recently diagnosed—so, here is my question: are fibroadenomas always surgically removed, or only if they cause issues or start growing?
The mere thought of someone approaching my chest with a scalpel makes me sick to my stomach... 😲 And honestly, just thinking about the upcoming biopsy makes me feel nauseous too...

Thanks!

Don't worry, Michelle Price66—I had one in my left breast that was about 4x5 cm.
Here is how it went: I went in for the needle biopsy at MD Anderson Cancer Center (it isn't as scary as you'd think), and they send the sample to pathology to confirm whether it's benign or malignant. In my case, they weren't 100% certain it was benign, so they requested a surgical biopsy—which I declined. Instead, I worked it out with my oncologist, I. Milas (a wonderful person), and we decided on a surgical removal instead.
I feel great now; I go in for checkups every year, and since it turned out to be benign, I didn't need any chemo.
P.S.—if the mass is small, I believe they just monitor it rather than jumping straight to surgery, though I can't say for certain.

GOOD LUCK!

I believe there is a fundamental human tendency to pursue a "beautiful life"—though, of course, beauty is entirely subjective, isn't it? Perhaps happiness is found in the smallest details—if we actually bother to look for them.
It makes me wonder: how many people in this country actually lead happy lives?
How many are truly content?
I honestly can't say. From what I've gathered through conversation, most people seem to be performing—perhaps they’re just too ashamed to admit they aren't happy, or that they haven't reached the milestones they once envisioned... or something along those lines.
Most Americans base their conclusions on arbitrary "norms" to decide whether a life was successful or happy. Some equate happiness with a massive bank account or total financial security—but that's a fallacy. No one actually takes the time to consider an individual's true character or their internal emotional state... frankly, I find it exhausting when people label others as simply "good" or "bad."
Who gave us the authority to pass such judgments? If you were to ask those same people about themselves, they would likely describe their own lives in nothing but superlatives.
People tend to judge a person solely by their worldly achievements and categorize them accordingly—a practice I find fundamentally flawed.

Rebecca Alvarez11 said:Has anyone here had any actual experience with this—or them?😕

What specifically are you looking to find out?😁

Grace Carter80 said:You simply cannot fight depression and anxiety entirely on your own. If you aren't seeing progress, look into switching psychiatrists—though that isn't strictly mandatory—plus strictly adhering to your medication regimen.

😁 I agree that medication was a lifesaver for me too (finding the right therapy and the right prescription is everything)—but as for the rest? Well, "working on oneself" is much harder than people make it sound when you're stuck in that headspace... and frankly, having the willpower to even attempt that is often the very thing you lack when you're struggling...🙂

Sophia Clark2 said:How did you manage that? Did you see a psychologist? What kind of fears were we talking about? Forgive me if I’m interrogating you... it's just important to me that I master this once and for all—because right now, I feel unhappy every single day. :-(

It was everything—phones, people, going out in public, even seeing someone in a police uniform... just various undefined triggers depending on the situation.
Let me give you an example regarding the phone... just looking at it used to make my blood run cold. God forbid it actually rang—the fear, the sweaty palms... to overcome all that, my doctor told me that for my next appointment, I personally had to be the one to call so there wouldn't be any issues (even though she knew exactly what would happen)... and so, I tried calling. The phone rings, and suddenly there's a literal stream running down my palms, my hands, my head—everything is soaked, and I'm shaking so hard I'm worried I'll drop the receiver. When she didn't pick up the first time, I felt such relief. So, I thought, okay, try again, while internally praying to God that she wouldn't answer—and truly, she didn't. After a long while, I finally got through to her, and I couldn't stop stumbling over my words. This was happening while I was in Germany; instead of speaking English, I started speaking American and stuttering... she realized what was happening and just laughed softly, saying "it's okay, just tell me," and that gentle tone really helped me.
-But don't think I completely conquered it overnight; it took immense effort and constant work. You are the most important factor—you have to motivate yourself. A psychologist or a doctor can only provide a roadmap or some insight on how to solve it... essentially, the help can only come from YOU, and no one else.
Good luck!🙂 🙂 🙂

- Perhaps you experienced a shock when you were alone and it's still lingering in your subconscious... try to recall it. There is a cause, we just don't know it yet—something we might uncover through various types of therapy...

-I understand you in a way, because I personally know that state of mind...

-I went to a psychologist because my doctor recommended it, but unfortunately, it didn't help much. In fact, it almost made things worse because through all that talking, I felt like I "lost myself"—my privacy, my personality, my stance...

-In a way, you can be your own psychologist. For instance, take a pen in your hand that doesn't actually write, and ask questions to yourself—to that "other" version of you—and let her write the answers back...

Steven Ross74 said:Depression is simply the byproduct of an inactive lifestyle—one we essentially choose for ourselves.

I have to disagree—your assessment is only partially right. While it's true that a sedentary, stagnant way of life can certainly trigger a depressive state, depression itself often has much deeper "roots." We’re talking about things like trauma, losing loved ones, domestic abuse, or any other form of violence... (and I won't even begin to list them all here)... 😢

Sophia Clark2 said:I’ve been struggling with anxiety and depression for years now... I’m finally seeing a psychologist... but honestly, I'm terrified I won't be able to overcome this. Sometimes I just start crying for no reason at all. It makes no sense—I have my career, my own apartment, I look fine, I have supportive parents and a good circle of friends... yet, my biggest issue is being alone.
When I'm home by myself, the fear hits me—it turns into full-blown panic attacks.
I always feel the need to have someone nearby... and when I'm not in a relationship, the depression becomes almost unbearable.
Has anyone else here dealt with this??
How do you move past it?

Believe me, I know how hard it is—I rely on antidepressants myself. You really have to face it—well, get comfortable with the fear... it isn't easy, but you have to try.

For instance, I developed several different phobias that intensified and multiplied during my depressive episodes—and I managed to conquer them through direct confrontation... and fighting back against them... hm.

Robert Sanders3 said:Honestly, people don't really live for themselves anymore. Most folks are just living for everyone else—especially their kids—and if you ask me, that’s a total mistake...
Because once you start living for someone else, finding any real sense of purpose becomes impossible. They basically become your whole world, and you end up losing who you actually are in the process.

🤔
but that’s precisely the point—for them, the whole reason for being is their children 😍
it all comes down to satisfaction 😁

whereas my view is that meaning comes from when a person finds satisfaction, and once that satisfaction is met, then one is truly happy. 😬