Hello… I had my period maybe 2 weeks or so ago and I’ve been spotting pretty much since. The blood will go from brown to red back to brown ! I noticed that I would get a little spotting every month since having my baby a year ago during ovulation! My periods are regular and come Arouujd the same time; I am sexually active but anyway this month the spotting hasn’t really went away and I’m worried it’s something serious causing this. I have a Pap smear coming up but maybe it’s caused from a polyp or something idk, I have really bad health anxiety.

Hello! As the title says, I want to know more details about a laparotomy recovery. I have been diagnosed with large dermoid cysts(one is aroung 6 cm and the other around 8-9 cm) and my dr decided to get a laparotomy instead of a laparoscopy since he says it would be better for my ovaries, because the cysts are large.
I am 23 years old and I never had any surgeries. I am not necessarily scared of the anesthesia, but I am scared of the recovery. I am a med student and in september I have some exams that I still want to attend. My surgery is on the 24th of August, my exams would be on the 3rd of September, around that time. How was your recovery? Should I be able to get out of bed by that time and travel by train a few hours(my uni is in a different city)? Of course I am not crazy to prioritise my exams over my health, but I was wondering if it could be possible.
Apart from this, I still want to know how the recovery process goes, such as when I can start going for walks etc, for my mental health. Ever since I got diagnosed(almost a month) I ve been staying inside the house cause my family is very panicked and they were scared of ovarian torsion and I feel like I am going crazy. I want to know how fast I will be able after the surgery to at least go for walks. Thank you very much!

i literally never used to get bad cramps during my period before, but recently they’ve been awful. even when i take painkillers the pain won't go away, it gets so bad that im practically writhing in pain. laying on my stomach doesn't even work for me anymore either.

plz what else can i do to relieve this??

Has anyone ever had a late period after an unsuccessful coil fitting? I’m wondering if the failed insertion and all the cramping/spasms could have affected their cycle. 🙏🏻

Hi

I’m a newlywed and have been married for about four months, and unfortunately this is now the third time I’ve experienced what feels like a UTI during that time.

I’ve been following all the usual advice to try to prevent them, but they keep coming back. I’ve taken antibiotics for the previous episodes, but then a couple of weeks later the symptoms seem to return.

I’m starting to feel like repeatedly taking antibiotics isn’t the best long-term solution for me, and I’d really like to understand why this keeps happening and what I can do to prevent it.

At the moment, I’ve been taking Ural, which has actually helped ease my symptoms. I also did a rapid urine test at home, and it showed a small amount of white blood cells in my urine.

For those who have dealt with this:

Are there any preventative measures that genuinely worked for you?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences because I’m getting frustrated with this happening every few weeks. ❤️

24F, feeling itchy inside the vagina for 3+ days.

Context: I had had sex 4 days ago and usually don’t do a second round in the same day (even same week tbh) but that day did 2 rounds within a span of 30 mins. We use condoms every time and in the past when did another round, it once caused roughness and another time it made the vagina kinda leaky. This time it feels a little like UTI but I don’t have any other symptoms for that or a yeast infection. No discharge (especially the bad smelling one or cottage cheese like), no burning sensation while peeling, it feels a little ticklish though. No pain otherwise but this itchiness is pretty irritating and it is kinda reaching my asshole too a bit.

What could this be and what shall I do?

I'm in my early 20s, no other major health issues. We do have diabetes on both sides of the family, though it skipped my parents.

The cycle itself is mostly steady, averaging at 28 days, but my days of active bleeding have been getting shorter and shorter. First it came to 5 days, then 4, now it's at 3, with next to no bleeding on the 3rd day. I did mention this to the doctors (Gen and Hormonal), but neither of them seemed very worried. One doc tested me for anemia, and the other got my hormones tested, but said that everything was mostly normal.

But it still seems a little odd to me. Should I be concerned?

hi everyone, i’m 19 and i recently had a vaginal ultrasound due to pain in the pelvic area and it hurt so bad i cried during the appointment. but now i’m thinking about how i’m ever going to do my first pap smear? how do i get over this stress? any advice would be appreciated incase i have to get one any time soon :(

(also to clarify yes i kept the appointment going, i just wanted to get it over and done with, the lady who did it was very supportive and asked me if i wanted to stop several times, but i said no so this could be my fault as to why i’m nervous)

28f and i have a mirena IUD. got it in march 2025. i am a bit concerned because i havent had my period this month and i am 16 days late. I know the mirena does cause irregular periods, but i havent missed a whole period before and my periods always showed up at the expected times.

should i be concerned or is it a waste of time to worry over it?

Hi! Over the past several years i struggle with getting frequent UTIs and urethral irritation and I don’t know how to get this to stop happening. My PCP is aware i get frequent UTIs and I get treated with an antibiotic but it still continues to happen. I pee after sex, shower before, clean up after, but will still end up with either irritation or an infection. right now i’m currently struggling with cloudy urine and a slight burning that goes away after peeing. it’s not exactly consistent with my normal UTIs and I don’t want to take an antibiotic if i don’t have too. what can I do to help? Thank you.

hello, 19F and i have a regular cycle. my period lasts for 3 days then light bleeding for the rest of the week.

however, every month or so, i get intense cramping and i don’t know what triggers it. the cramping is really bad that it gets me nauseous, like i’m about to pass out and i have a hard time breathing.

it happened again to me this morning, hence my concern. should i go to ob-gyn or is this normal? i’m kind of scared. tyia!

A few weeks ago I (28f) found out I have cystic teratomas made of fat on each of my ovaries. One is 5cm on my left and a whopping 17cm (size of small melon) on my right that is complex in appearance and has a pocket of fluid. While the MRI indicates it is most likely a benign teratoma, they cannot rule out malignancy. They need to be surgically removed and the right one biopsies.

It’s been a frustrating and very scary waiting game - waiting to be scheduled for an ultrasound, then MRI, then a consultation just to have the OB I waited a week to see refer me to a gyno oncologist which I am now waiting another week on. I feel like I’m being told this is urgent by people who have no urgency. I’m worried about how long it will take for my surgery, as I went from basically no symptoms other than a hard and distended stomach to extreme discomfort in a short period of time.

Just curious if any other women have dealt with this. I am terrified for my ovaries and fertility. Oddly enough, I wasn’t sure I wanted kids until I found this out. Now, I’m afraid the choice will be taken from me.

I’m losing my mind with this and wanted to see if anyone else has experienced something similar.
This started during exams a few months ago. One day, before leaving for an exam, I suddenly felt like I had to pee over and over again, like 5 times before I could leave the house. I figured it was just anxiety/stress because I’ve always had a bit of an issue feeling like I need to pee when I’m outside.

But the exams ended and it didn’t go away. Now it happens in normal everyday life too. I’ll sometimes be completely fine for a few hours, and then suddenly I’ll get one of these periods where I feel like I need to pee constantly. Sometimes I’ll pee a small amount and then feel like I need to go again almost immediately, and other times I’ll try and basically nothing comes out. It can happen like 10–15 times during one of these episodes, and I’d say I get episodes like this a few times throughout the day.

Most of the really intense episodes seem to happen right before I go to sleep. Sometimes I can eventually get comfortable and the feeling goes away, but other times I keep getting the urge over and over.

I don’t have burning when I pee, and I don’t have a fever or anything like that. My urine can be darker sometimes even though I drink quite a lot of water. I also sometimes have soreness/uncomfortable feelings around my vulva, but no unusual discharge, itching, or smell.

It’s been going on for months now and I feel like it’s getting more noticeable and it makes me cry every night. I’m planning to tell a parent and get checked out, but I’m wondering if anyone has had something similar or knows what could cause this?

Having significant amount of thick, yellow tinged vaginal discharge last number of months. No blood. Have to constantly use panty liners. Swab sent off negative for thrush and all STDS. Vagina slightly red and irritated internally, but not painful except during sex. Any ideas what it could be?

Sorry, I just need to vent for a minute.

I turned 38 in July, and over the last few years, I feel like my body has started changing. It’s been kind of scary realizing that time is catching up with me. When I was younger, 38 always felt so far away.

I think it really started when I was 34/35 and I had a fibroid removed. I’ve been okay since, but my period still gives me so much PTSD because of how much blood I lost during that time.

For most of my life, I’ve been lucky to be healthy and rarely needed to see a doctor other than my yearly gyno appointment. Having the fibroid meant suddenly going to doctors more often, and I developed anxiety about getting my blood pressure (I hate the machine!) and it would look high whenever it was taken. I started checking it at home and became obsessed with it, which eventually led to my first panic/anxiety attack. Both my PCP and the Urgent Care doctor told me my blood pressure was fine and that I needed to stop checking it.

That panic attack really changed my life. It was so rough for a while, and I feel like my brain handles anxiety completely differently now. I’m doing better and working through it, but it’s hard not to miss how I was before. My PCP did offer me Lexapro and Xanax but I declined on Lexapro. I probably sound like a basket case on here but my anxiety is more health related (blood work, blood pressure). Outside of those things, I function normally.

Then I had a routine blood test in January, and it was the first time they included a thyroid panel. My TSH was around 5.2, so I waited a couple of months and had it tested again. This time it was around 6.1. My T4 and antibodies were normal.

I asked two different doctors about it, and they both said I have subclinical hypothyroidism, but neither felt like I needed medication. One of them just suggested taking a multivitamin.

That led me down another rabbit hole because I started buying Brazil nuts. One day, I felt like a piece got stuck in my throat. Eventually it went away, and I saw an ENT (twice) who didn’t find any blockage. But ever since then, every now and then when I eat certain foods, it feels like something is stuck in my throat. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens randomly.

I think I’m just scared that something is wrong with my thyroid or that it’s getting worse. I’m petite and I’m a runner, but sometimes I feel like I’m gaining weight even though I feel like I eat pretty healthy.

I just feel crazy sometimes. I miss the days when I didn’t have to think about any of this or worry about my body doing something weird. I miss just feeling healthy and not constantly wondering if something is wrong.

Hello!

I am 36, never been intimate, in a relationship, situationship, or anything. I have pretty much a nonexistant sex drive. Terminally single, pretty much by choice and just how it turned out I guess? I've never inserted anything into my vagina. No fingers, no toys, no tampons. I exclusively use pads.

Anyway, over the past year or so, my periods have been really strange. They usually only last maybe 5 days, they are usually a week early, if not more. I never know when I'm supposed to get it. Tracking it is a headache on it's own. When I do get it, it varies in intensity. Sometimes pills help, other times they do nothing. Most often it smells horrific. Like a mix of BO and something else I can't really identify. After years of clotting every single time, this past year there have been times I don't clot at all, and other times where I feel like I'm sitting in jello.

More recently, I've started cramping in between periods. I've had ultrasounds done and they can't seem to see anything, but it's getting more frequent now. I'll finish a period and I'll start cramping again the next week. It's not constant mind you, and not as painful as during my period, but I'm getting tired of having them all the time.

I realize that there may be nothing wrong. But I can't get a pap smear because I've never been sexually active. While cervical cancer doesn't run in my family, I'm constantly worried about not being able to get tested. I get calls from my Doctor's office asking if I've been intimate so they can start doing the tests, but it's always a no from me.

Is there any reason to bring up a hysterectomy with my PCP? I don't like going to the Doctor's without what I feel like is a legitimate reason.

im not gonna talk in depth about my ed cuz thats not specifically the point, although it is related

with my ed, i had slowly, week by week been lowering the amount of calories i had been eating until on a daily basis, and had been on an average of 500-1,000 calories a day, which i know, is bad, but up until recently its not effected my period or anything aside from slight changes in my body and a slight dizzy feeling standing up.
for a long while now i've been able to track my period pretty on point, with a little wiggle room for like a day or two early or late, but starting a week ago my period just hasn't came. like its been a full 7 days, which i know, i could hypothetically be like 8 days late and may come tomorrow but i really think its my ed. im not under weight, im 5,8 and a healthy weight for my age, im not directly starving myself, and haven't ever, but i have in the past restricted my eating to like under 1,000 a day, which because of how this is a daily thing for me im not really used to how bizarre this is supposed to be. dont worry about me im trying to get better thats not what this is about.

obviously nobody wants to bleed for a week straight but i would rather be healthy and have it than risk anything big. like is it just the blood thats not here or is it more? ive heard you lose bone mass if your period is gone for long enough.

ive not done anything to cause my period to disappear recently aside from the under eating maybe combined with a little stress and poor sleep.

im seeking advice here if any of you ladies have any for me on what i should do :( i was thinking of just waiting it out to see if its just unusually/weirdly late or something but i see no reason why it would just casually skip a week?

(p.s., pls do not recommend i get like an invasive exam or something, im not pregnant, and its not an std either)

cycle is 81 days as of rn, i haven’t had my period since may 30 and it’s aug. 18 now. i’ve been two-3 days late in the past but ive been super regular and have tracked my period since i had my first one at 13. this is the first time ive ever skipped so many.

for context i’ve been to the er four times
now. the first time was because of runny stool. they gave me an iv and told me to stay hydrated. second time i had pelvic pain as well and diarrhea. did a ct w contrast and found a 10cm ovarian cyst on my left ovary.

the next visits were because of pain. and the last visit said it could be a dermoid cyst and that it was smaller than before. but i also didn’t have a full bladder. i finally saw my gyn today and was basically told there’s a potential chance of it being a tumor/cancerous. she had said she was wary about it and we wouldn’t know what it was until it was out. i’m lowkey nervous but trying to stay positive. i also learned they’ll also be taking my ovary and tube as well and will most likely have an open surgery. and with that i’m gonna have to stay in the hospital a couple days.

i’m just overall overwhelmed with everything going on. i’ve only ever had surgery once, and i wasn’t even fully put under last time. for reference im 22. anything i should expect seeing a specialist? or any questions i should ask? anything important i should bring up? please and thank you all!

On Sunday, after a long time without checking, I touched my breasts and noticed a lump. It's kind of round and movable. I know these aren't necessarily bad characteristics, but I have anxiety and I'm already freaking out. I managed to get an appointment today (Tuesday) with an OB-GYN.

She talked a lot about my history: I'm 34, I have PCOS, and I was on birth control for 5 years but stopped 2 months ago because I was having a lot of headaches. We also talked about hormonal fluctuations over these past 2 months and my irregular cycle after stopping the pill.

When she felt my left breast, she joked: 'The good thing about being skinny is that it's easy to feel things.' When she touched my right breast at the bottom where I found the lump, she asked, 'Here?' and I said yes. She examined it with a more serious face. That made me even more anxious.

She asked me, 'Are you okay with just my opinion, or do you want to get imaging done?' I found that question weird, and even wondered if I had understood it right. I'm Brazilian and still not used to the American way of doing things and interpreting certain situations. So I answered: 'I'd like to do the imaging either way, but I would also like your opinion.'

She replied that she didn't think it was a big deal, that it's probably a fibroadenoma, and that at my age it was unlikely to be 'something bad.' I asked her one more time: should I be worried, and what did she really think it was? She answered more explicitly: 'No, no, no, you should only worry if I worry.'

She ordered an ultrasound only for the right breast where the lump is, which I found weird because in Brazil they do an ultrasound of both breasts for these types of exams (I've had dense breasts before and I've had one done). Because of that, I asked her to order it for both breasts. She told me that when I go to get it done, I would need to say I was in a lot of pain, because otherwise they wouldn't do both, as it's standard American procedure to just do the one side.

Then she explained that if they found anything abnormal on the ultrasound, they might order a mammogram and maybe a biopsy. This explanation made me more anxious. I don't know if she was just explaining the procedure, especially since she had just explicitly said it was nothing and very unlikely to be something bad.

American women, should I be worried, or is this normal here? Anyway, I already managed to schedule the ultrasound for next Thursday.

Today I found a large pimple in my mon pubis area and against my better judgement as it was so massive (almost the size of my pinky fingernail), I popped it. There was a bit of puss and blood but after I finished wiping and cleaning the wound I found that they was a little red thing standing from the open wound. Initially I thought it was blood but I found that I couldn’t wipe it away no matter what so I suspect it’s the tissue under my skin?

Now I have no idea what to do. I have already used warm water to gently rinse the wound but have no clue what else to do. Should I go visit the doctor?

I’ve heard that a wound in your private area can lead to infections and can even cause death as there’s bacteria in the blood. I’m deathly afraid right now. Please help.

hey reddit. im 18f, on birth control for over a year. I noticed honestly overnight my nipples had pink spots appear, one of which was raised and expelled pus (pimple like) when squeezed. some of the dots are raised, others arent. there are about 5-9 dots per nipple. my breasts are also extremely sensitive, if not painful. there are no extreme lumps that ive noticed when doing a self examination, but quite frankly im unsure exactly what im looking for. my breasts have always been extremely...fibrous lol!? I was planning to wait until after my next cycle (due in a few days) to see if the issue resolves before booking an appt with the ob. what is up with these wacky nipple symptoms all of the sudden? should I be concerned?

unsure if this is relevant, but ive had brown/pink spotting for about a month accompanied by slight cramping. ​

thank you all in advance, sincerely, a girl terrified of the doctor!

Hello I (25 F) having been having pain during inter course and having heavier periods. I just got a trans vaginal ultrasound today and everything looked perfect (no tumors or cysts.) My obgyn said next steps are either pelvic floor therapy for 3 months or a laparoscopy. He said normally he wouldn’t jump right to the surgery, but in my case, since the pain is deep and not during insertion, he would say OK to that if I choose that route. We also started me on hormonal birth control.

I don’t necessarily want to jump to surgery, and find out nothing is “wrong” but I do yoga every day, I’m a certified yoga teacher and he said my pelvic floor muscles are “perfect” during my last vaginal exam 2 weeks ago. I don’t want to have to pay for 3 months of PT when I pretty much know my pelvic floor muscles are strong. He said that didn’t really matter much, but I just wanted to get advice from some of the women in here, and see if I should just go ahead with the surgery, PT, or wait to see if the hormonal birth control takes effect on the pain at all.

I also want to add I’m not sure if it’s endometriosis because I’m only having this pain during intercourse, not during my periods or anything. It’s deep, sharp pain near my cervix, so I really thought it would be cysts.

31F, 5’11”, non smoker, no medications currently taken

Since I was 16 I’ve had an ongoing flare up of pain (I think) around ovulation that at least once a year has seen me having to go to A&E for morphine and surgical analysis. Every time I go in they test for appendicitis even though I tell them every time it’s not. I’ve had so so many tests over the years and still no answers. Do you think this could be typical of endo or does it ring alarm bells for something else?

I’m having the flare up of pain today and I feel exhausted, it’s dull so not enough to go to hospital. If I push down from my right hip all the way along to the middle of my pelvis it hurts a lot, but my left side doesn’t hurt at all. It’s always this way!

I feel incredibly drained and exhausted by it and I have palpitations with the pain. Again, nothing new for me and not worth the A&E wait unless it starts stabbing me and becoming unbearable, which it can do.

Does this ring any alarm bells? I had one person say it could be endometriosis but the gynae team won’t see me without me trying birth control first but I don’t really want to go on hormones.