So, I heard about this athlete who actually died from water intoxication. Basically, she was using performance enhancers and knew a drug test was coming up, so she tried to flush her system by chugging massive amounts of water... osmosis, electrolytes, all that science stuff... and it ended up killing her.
If you're under 18, a gynecologist isn't considered part of primary care, so you actually have to get a referral from your family doctor every single time...
And honestly, you don't even need parental consent. I used to go to Mount Sinai, NYU Langone, and Cedars-Sinai before I turned 18, and nobody ever asked me for a parent's permission or a signature.
But if you look at plenty of hospital websites, university health centers, and cancer support groups, they all say the same thing:
Who Should Receive a Pap Smear?
The American Cancer Society recommends that All Women Begin receiving yearly Pap smears and pelvic exams starting at age 18, or as soon as they become sexually active—whichever comes first.
So, basically, even if you're 18 and haven't been sexually active yet, you should still be getting that Pap smear.
Christian Williams5 said:We have a 9-year-old daughter, and about two weeks ago, we noticed through accidental contact that her right breast is tender. Naturally, we panicked immediately. After feeling around, there's this circular ring-like area near the nipple that hurts when you apply light pressure. I should mention that this ring—or whatever you want to call it—is perfectly round, and I’m fairly convinced it's just part of her breast development rather than anything more serious. When we saw a specialist at the hospital, they told us it really is just due to growth, which her pediatrician also confirmed over the phone. They suggested we just keep an eye on it, and if we stay worried, they'll refer us to a specialist in Chicago. Since this is only happening on the right side—the left side looks totally normal—my wife is pretty anxious and wants to get an ultrasound just to be absolutely sure. I'm just not sure if an ultrasound will actually give us a clear answer on what's going on. If anyone else has dealt with something similar, please reach out. We would be so incredibly grateful for any insight.
I don't really get why everyone is panicking... mine started hurting right around age 9 too (back when I used to call them my "growing pains"), and it didn't all happen at once. It's just puberty.🙂
Maria White97 said:I’ve only ever heard this kind of nonsense from people in the deep South... Don't swim, don't wash your hair, but somehow you can just jump into the ocean?! Are people seriously living in the last century? I get that grandmas and moms used to say this stuff back in the day, but we have the internet, magazines, and TV now. What aren't you guys reading or watching? I don't mean to be rude, but it’s no wonder things are the way they are in those rural southern towns, with all those teen pregnancies... if people still think you shouldn't wash while on your period, who knows what other myths they believe about sex and pregnancy when information is everywhere—on the web, in books...
My grandma used to tell me how her great-grandmother wouldn't even let her go into the garden near the vegetables while she was on her period because she thought it would make the crops fail 😂...that's the kind of stuff you hear in the rural South...(this story is about 70 years old)
But then my friends from the Midwest would try to teach me how washing my hair was dangerous, yet the only two pregnant teenagers I actually met were from the South and the Great Plains...that's how much you can trust those regional stereotypes...(this story is only 5 years old)
The actual treatment involves birth control pills (like Diana-35, though you have to get your hormone levels checked and an ovarian ultrasound first), and nothing else is available by prescription.
Look, just pluck them, curl them, bleach them... hair grows everywhere on some people... for some it’s >, and for others it’s <....
I’m basically living in a tiny 60-square-foot nook, squeezed right between my TV, laptop, vintage record player, printer, scanner, router, smartphone, and landline...
Angela Peterson57 said:I'm on the pill now... so it happens every 28 days. Honestly, things were a total disaster before (that's why I finally started the pill)... I'd skip a month almost every single time. My period would be late by two or three weeks. Sometimes it was even two or three months late... And one time, I went six whole months without it. I was terrified that I was infertile or that something was seriously wrong with my uterus... but that wasn't actually the issue. It turns out my body just overreacts to even the tiniest bit of stress or any change in what I eat... so if I eat poorly for just two days, my period stays away for a month.
That sounds awful 😁
I once missed four months straight because of stress and eating junk.
ruggedjackal4, you should really go see a doctor at the clinic. You might be dealing with PCOS; I’m going through the exact same thing with my cycle, where it swings anywhere from 28 to 60 days.😢
And when it actually shows up, it lasts about 6 or 7 days:- (
I would get these tiny red bumps all over my stomach and thighs—my skin looked like a literal mosaic—and then purple lumps would pop up on my face The itching was absolutely brutal
(One time it actually caused breathing issues, so I ended up in the ER, etc.)
But looking at the posts here, it seems like people aren't dealing with bumps and lumps, just flat red patches... basically just redness without any swelling. My roommate had that. It's harmless, but honestly, I have no clue how to get rid of it😳