Please help! A year and a half ago I sudennly observed that i don’t have smell anymore, it was like a rhinitis… I taught I was allergic (my blood tests show no allergy). Everytime I caught a cold, my smell appeared (for me it doesn’t make sense, is anybody here who was experiencing this?) but after the cold had resolved, smell dissapeared again. From March this year (after a year and a half) I caught a cold again (never tested for Covid) but since than I have my smell back, but other symptoms appeared- night sweats, joints and muscle pain all over the body, hands and feet tingling, muscle twitches, growling stomach, reflux, feeling that is something in my throat (after a laringoscopy doctor said I have sore throat, probably from GERD), flushing skin on chest, do you think it might be long Covid? Is anybody here with similar symptoms? I don’t have brain fog (at least not too much I think) and I don’t feel tired.

Bit of a ramble. Sorry. I have no one to talk to about it. For once, in terms of surgery, I’m scared. I have severe scoliosis. I’m 20f, doctors took forever but I agreed to have the surgery and now I play the waiting game. But man, I’m absolutely terrified. I know I have to have it done, I know it (should, hopefully) improve my life but I can’t help but be so afraid of the what ifs. What if I die, what if I’m paralysed, what if it all goes wrong… doomscrolling! I try to put on a brave face for my father. I know the idea of the surgery scares him too but I can’t let him see me just as worried. My spine causes me a lot of soreness after walking for a while and I can’t stand to see the way my torso looks. On the other hand, I’m excited. Hey! I might get a little taller! That’d be nice. 4’9 at my age is humbling. My groovy spine deformity would look better too. Who could say no to a big scar? That’s kickass. Already got one from a different surgery on my stomach, what’s one more? I don’t really know what I’m typing this all out for. I think I’m just tired of bottling it up for the most part. Thanks for reading

Hi ! I got sleeved earlier today around 1 pm , I know everyone has different experiences but for me the first couple hours were brutal , couldn’t move literally shaking it basically felt like i got did sit ups in the gym for hours & then got jumped and kicked in the stomach right after . I did some walking & it helped some like only time i’m sore now is if im putting strain on my stomach to sit up or stand up , but they’re giving me tylenol and i’m so immune to it at this point . do you think if they’d give me something stronger i’ll feel the pain less ? or i just have to deal with the pain. also how long will i feel like this ? ugh just so much questions . :(

Hey,
I (M) had unprotected oral sex with a girl I met off of reddit (on 26 May).
She told me she got tested a couple months ago and didn't have a digital copy of the results. I believed her.
3 days after the oral sex, I noticed that the tip of my penis was red and swollen, it also burned when I peed.
I went to the clinic the next day (30 May) and got antibiotics for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea. (azithromycin – one dose of 1g pills+ Ceftriaxone. 250 mg injection x 1 dose). I also got a urine PCR test for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea, and blood test for Syphilis and HIV.
All of the tests came back negative.
On the 31 of May, I went to another clinic and they gave me 200 mg of Doxycycline and 200 mg of Nitrofurantoin to take daily for 10 and 7 days respectively. The Doxycycline is to treat Nongonococcal Urethritis (NGU) and the Nitrofurantoin is for a UTI.
I also gave samples on 31 May for urine tests for both NGU and UTI.
As I was experiencing inflammation of the penis tip, pain while urinating and pain in my bladder and my sides, the doctor thought it best to preemptively give me the antibiotics.
Now a few days later and the symptoms are getting a bit better:
-The pain while urinating has decreased but it is still there.
-The inflammation has decreased and flairs up closer to when I'm urinating.
-I still feel pangs in my urethra and bladder area.
-My testicles feel sore and tingly
-I passed a blood clot today. It was dark and hard, but passed without pain.
Given that all of the tests came back negative what is wrong with me? I am still pending the NGU test results.
Is it possible the tests are not accurate since I took them 4 to 5 days after exposure?
I spoke to the clinic and they said the tests are accurate as soon as you get symptoms and accuracy at 5 days is good.
How can I speed up my recovery?
When is it safe to have sex with a new partner? I read some places that 7 days after antibiotics finish so for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea I should be good to have sex again on June 7?

I had a session with my therapist and told her I wanted to drop out of virtual IOP because I thought nothing was wrong with me (my own perception). She said I can discharge if I wanted and if so we can spend the rest of the hour talking about random shit. Eventually I brought up the fact I take different dieting pills. The ones in the morning have to be taken on an empty stomach, and they make me sweaty and shakey. The ones in the afternoon need to be taken with a small meal and they make my muscles sore and ache.
She asked me why since it sounds dangerous, I told her it feels like a competition with myself. Like a game. How low can I get the number on the scale to go. I don't hate what I see in the mirror, I'm not triggered by what I see, I don't dislike my body, I'm not bothered by being weighed. She ultimately talked me into trying another week because she thinks i have a problem and i agreed to try but idk if im actually going to get any better, i think my thought process has gotten too twisted.

Update: stomach feels kinda better today, went to the bathroom felt like I had a wall on the side of my rectum with sharp pain went very small stool and sorry for the tmi but it smelled horrible, besides that my face has been feeling flushed took my temperature and it’s between 100- 99.7 I’ve been highly stressed and my vertigo has been really bad today. Stomach overall as I said feels a bit better but kinda also feels like someone has punched me in my stomach/lower abdomen
Update: Light sharp pain around my belly button that goes down to my uterus (kinda) and light pain around the belly button especially when pushing down around my belly button it feels funny weird light sharp pain and lower stomach pain area. Pressing around the area feels sensitive hurts a bit near my hips down, gassy and feeling slightly better after burping also symptoms could act up more after eating or when feeling more anxious. Took Zantac last night helped me a bit Female/24, Back in January I’m not sure if I had a stomach bug or after years my ibs came back but for like two months I couldn’t really eat and belch burp a lot, after sometime it all kinda went away but my bathroom habits i noticed kinda changed. Recently few weeks ago I came down with a cold and was taking a lot of honey which I think cause me to get a flare up again with ibs and I was also extremely nervous under a lot of stress due to personal reasons, was constipated then started to go more normal once I added more veggies into my diet but I started having to be careful what I ate as I would have to run to the bathroom or start burping like crazy then last Sunday I felt everything kind of calmed down til Monday morning where I woke up feeling fine went to go eat some left over zucchini and within an hour I started to burp like crazy and have really bad cramps and kept going to the bathroom floating stools with watery D. also got a hive. Since Monday I have not been the same I can’t eat can’t even have water just some gatorade everything makes me burp like crazy for hours gives me lots of gas and hurts my stomach. Basically the gas, burping nonstop, and diarrhea/floating stools are back. I did feel like a band wrapped around my tummy whenever I ate something other then rice and some soreness in the right upper side of my stomach there the other day but I also did do a workout that did and haven’t felt anything today, also had some light pain that would go into my back for a bit but that stop as well.. right side has always stick out been bigger then the other side of my upper stomach for years. I know that I’ve been having a lot of stevia in my stuff recently and I just ovulated yesterday lastly I deal with vertigo and back attacks that put my body in fear mode overall I do have a very nervous stomach and all the pains feel like gas pains
I don’t really have any other symptoms I haven’t got hives in years only Monday I got one on my hand when I was feeling sick and besides that I just have the vertigo

My demographics (per the subreddit's requirements):

• Gender: Male
• Age: 44
• Height: 5'10"
• Weight: 200 lbs
• Current medical issues: Type 1 diabetic
• Main healthcare focus: Maintaining healthy blood glucose, continuing to lose fat and gain muscle while avoiding stress injuries
• Particular complaint: Soreness/inflammation of Achilles tendon on both feet
• Duration of complaint: Newly appeared in past 24 hours

More about complaint:
I know this is more typical for runners. I'm more a gym-goer than runner. I do strength/resistance training with a trainer 4 times a week and then do an hour of steady-state cardio 6 days a week since I'm focusing on both losing fat and gaining muscle. This is working well for me. Before I used to run and walk outside, but it's been getting very hot here in Florida and I've been advised to focus more on fast walking on an incline on a treadmill vs. running to continue losing fat.
So, for the first time in my life, I've been using a treadmill. And I think some combination of the way a treadmill causes me to move my feet (+ the incline I add to ensure I get a good 1-hour cardio session) has caused strain on my Achilles tendon. I don't have acute pain when walking/activating the tendon. But, last night, after getting home from a treadmill session, when going to bed, I was surprised to find that the tendon on both feet was painful to rest upon my very comfortable mattress. In fact, even though I'm primarily a back sleeper I had to force myself to sleep on my stomach to avoid that pain.
Today, the best way I can describe the sensation is that the whole back of my foot where the Achilles tendon lies has a tingling sensation and it feels swollen/inflamed. I'm still able to walk and even did my strength training session this morning without issue.
That said, I am worried I've caused some kind of damage. My primary is giving me a referral to a P.T. and a sports-med doc but it will be at least a week before I can see them. Any thoughts on what to do at home until then? I'm going to avoid cardio until the sensation has improved and take ibuprofen. Any at-home actions you would recommend (whether exercises to help heal, topical solutions or even machines/devices/massagers you've purchased which have offered relief)

I kinda already know my answer but I want confirmation too I had unprotected sex multiple times with this guy it only started when he gave me oral I had liquid filled blisters that turned into scabs I had them on my butt cheeks lower butt cheeks my groin armpits and in my stomach but not a lot on my stomach I had a very itchy and uncomfortable area down there and I still do months later I’m a minor and I can’t talk to my parents about it so I’ve just been using cream to help with the itch I just wanna know if this is herpes I also get a lot of pimples in my armpits now their like little blisters tiny ones but mainly on my armpits not on my groin and a few months before the blisters happened on my genitals I had cold sores which I’ve never had in my life the guy told me his mom had herpes when she was pregnant with him so is it possible he gave it to me? He didn’t know that until he asked her after I was questioning if I had herpes because I don’t know how else I couldve gotten it I never got sex Ed. Thank you

I have been accustomed to caffeine for 10 years-ish, never drank coffee, I was more the soda, energy drink and pre workout type.
My maximum daily has reached around 400mg of caffeine.
I tapered down during in a course of 4 weeks to 80 mg a day - which was a shitfest.
I then quit cold turkey 4,5 week ago. Which I'm happy to have done.
My body has been utterly stressed from work, but I hadn't noticed before i quit caffeine. In the weeks following up to the quitting, I lost 14 kg solely to stress.
I then decided to stop caffeine as a first step. The 4 weeks tapering down, was the worst part of my life. 3 times i almost passed out (all in the first week)
My anxiety has gone through the roof. This has only begone to decrease a week ago (finally).
I have vomitted multiple times during tapering down process and first two weeks of 0 caffeine.
I have had headaches like i was having brain rupture. My motivation has been 0. I have looked like a wrecked train most of the time.
Now, the last couple of days, I have finally began to feel more "normal". I'm still a bit jittery, and i get urges for caffeine here and there. And at worst had a headache.
Every symptom now is becoming more and more mild each day. My body has finally rehydrated.
I've began to breath normally during sleep, causing my sore throat to heal. The acid refluxes are gone. My bowel is becoming more normal from all the stress (it has been bleeding because of heavy stress) I'm finally recovering lost weight, my appetite is becoming more normal. My energy is becoming more consistent and natural. My anxiety is less now than what it was during caffeine usage.
For the love of god....I'll never return to that drug. I never realized how potent it was, until I quit caffeine.
Stop drinking caffeine, drink water❤️
My tips? 1. Before quitting - realize that it won't be a walk in the park.

1. Eat lean meat and salads (no tomatoes!) - this will save your stomach.
   
2. Drink water
   
3. Rest your body plenty, it will be fighting against the caffeine withdrawal for you!
   
4. Don't back down
   

I starting becoming active frequently with my boyfriend a bit over a month ago for two or three weeks, starting the pill and waiting 7 days before starting. We haven’t done anything in 3 weeks though cause he is out of town. It’s been a month and I haven’t gotten my period but my stomach has been hurting and my boobs feel a bit sore. I also am feeling very emotional. I figure maybe this may just be pms? I normally have very irregular periods and due to this I started the birth control pill not on my period. Today I have experience some brown spotting and some brown stringy stuff. I’ve taken 5 pregnancy tests throughout this month and 4 days ago. All negative and done properly. I’m wondering if my body is just getting used to the pill? I’m going to take another test as soon as I can but i’m a bit worried. Please help I’m very scared.

Hello, M24, 6’5”, 350LBS. Early May had chest pain like a respiratory infection. Took ibuprofen 1200 MG every other ish day for about a week to week and half. Started to experience chest pain, arm pain, ears ringing, and vertigo like symptoms. Did not have really any stomach pain besides discomfort and diarrhea. I went to Urgent care for the chest pain and arm pain did EKG and blood pressure, stuff like that and everything was normal besides a little higher blood pressure, but that runs in family. After I stopped taking it everything has kinda went back to normal. Chest pain, arm pain, stomach issues have gone away, but the “vertigo” and ear ringing has not completely gone away comes and goes. Still feel more tired than usual and slight lightheadedness. Went on a canoeing on Sunday, arms super sore and sunburnt. Took two 325 aspirin to help with the soreness when I got home Sunday. Monday, got home from work had an intense headache on the back left side of head took one 325 aspirin, that did nothing. Wake up today and “vertigo” is back to the point where it’s hard to focus on work. Looking for advise, if I need to go to ER, talk with primary care, or if there is at home mitigation I can take. Trying to avoid ER because do not have money for it. Thank you for the help

I'm exactly 2 weeks post op for a mini tummy tuck. I am still pretty sore and completely numb in my lower stomach. The thing is, my husband and I are both feeling frisky and wondering if others who went through tummy tucks or mini tummy tucks and how soon after did you start having sex?

In keeping with the reddit dynamics, perhaps this post should be titled "I have 3 years to train for an Ironman, is it possible?". Reports from some of my previous races, including the first race 3 years ago can be found by tracing back the links.

Sign up

As the previous race in September I left with a good feeling. Having now done a fast (~BQ) Marathon, a >300km bike event and a well executed middle distance triathlon, I figured doing a full Ironman was within reach. The ideal race would be before the summer holidays - when kids are at home and regular training gets trickier, within driving distance, preferably flat (don't want to make it harder than necessary) and maybe with a small preference for an Ironman organized race. This quickly whittled the candidates down to Ironman Hamburg, and I signed up about 10 days after the previous race report. The race sold out quickly, so not dabbling was probably a good move. I found out later a friend from the tri club had done pretty much the same maths, and signed up for the same race, so at least I wouldn't be going solo.

Preparation

I followed the TrainerRoad Long Distance - Low Volume plan, with the swimming workouts replaced by those from my tri club or a group session with a swim coach, and the initial running training replaced by a marathon plan targeting a race end of March. My swimming CSS improved by a few seconds compared to last year, but after the lessons I mostly started focusing on longer, slower workouts, and it wouldn't surprise me if I lost a lot of that speed already. In any case, a fast swim was not really the main goal this year. I did several workouts >=3.5km, neither of which felt hard at the leisurely pace I was maintaining. Open water swimming restarted about 3 weeks before the race, and I was able to get 3 long OWS in as well.
The running buildup had a hitch when a sequence of a kid getting sick, myself getting sick, and a week of exceptionally bad weather meant a 3 week gap in the training. I was never able to recover from this and my training paces never reached those of last near. But same thing, running a faster marathon was not really the main goal and I got enough long sessions in.
The biking buildup went as before, hammering out TR sessions in the gaps in my schedule, but also with a hitch: normally I'd do long endurance rides on Sunday with the tri club, exactly what the plan asked for anyway, but my kids started doing sports on Sunday, so often those would be replaced by shorter indoor sessions. This did worry me a bit, because a long bike session - 180km to be precise - was a main goal this year. Around new year, I swapped the tri bike onto the trainer and did pretty much every workout that was sufficiently below FTP in the TT position.
Nearing the race, I did get some longer 120-130km rides in, including on the TT bike. Experience from the 300km event last year also said that as long as overall bike fitness was good, going longer wasn't really an issue as long as wattage was lowered appropriately. So I figured it should be fine going in with most fitness coming from 1.5h TR workouts, but I didn't exactly feel super confident either.
I never really had problems running after biking, so I skipped the brick workouts favoring recovery, doing just a single one, which went just fine.

Tune up events

The week of the marathon I got sick with the flu or a cold, but recovered enough by Saturday that I decided to run the event anyway. This was not a good idea. Already at the first gel I could feel that my digestion system was still seriously fubar, and that the on pace part wasn't going to go over 25-30km. Things got worse as it turned into a walk between all the porta-pottys in the race. I finished in over 4h. One of the worst feelings was being passed first by the 3h30 pacer, followed by the 3h45 pacer, the 4h pacer, and then having people behind that encourage me "you can do it". I was thinking "I know, I can do it an hour faster than you even!" but that didn't get me across the line any faster.
The opportunity to do a 32km/1000m vertical trail race showed up end of April, far enough from Hamburg to not impact that. According to trail runners, that's equivalent to a marathon, and looking at my finish time I largely have to agree with that. I took it easy, basically substituting a long run in the schedule. Funnily enough, the person toeing the starting line next to me looked awfully familiar. I have to say that the fitness of good trail runners is quite something, and it's kind of interesting to even see more heavily built people pulling away from you on the uphills. I might do more of these in the future.
The third tune-up event was a 120km gravel ride. Due to the extremely consistent rainfall this year (another thing that didn't help a good biking buildup), it was more of a cross-country cyclocross race, and the people who brought MTB to that race had good fun. The ones on actual gravel bikes, less so. People with the bike skills of a triathlete whose idea of a gravel bike was to mount 32mm tires with knobs on their road bike...mostly spent their time tumbling over in the mud. At least I didn't break anything. The ordeal ended up taking over 5h30, but finess-wise it wasn't an issue: 232W NP over the duration, partly from VO2max efforts after each fall to make it back to the groups.
You know what else was expected to take around 5h30?

Mechanicals and nerves

So far all my races have been on the assumption that a flat might as well be a DNF, but with the time and money invested in this one, I practiced changing tubes on the TT bike. I noticed the front tire had a long valve, and the back one a valve extender (this was a second hand bike so likely not the factory default by Canyon), which meant that I would need to pack 2 different spares, or get valve core removal tool, or something. Instead I put the same valve extender on front as in the back. I initially bought a Topeaks thing, which sucked - as all the reviews that I neglected to read were saying - so I ended up buying a Vittoria one that matched the back tire. It's still a bit fiddly to inflate, but works and came with a core removal tool.
The second ride, I went over a cobblestone street and before the end my saddle had dropped to the lowest position. As far as I knew, I'd tightened my saddle to spec when I did the setup on this bike a year ago, so I was baffled as to what went wrong, and seriously worried this would happen in Hamburg leading to a DNF. At some point it turned into paranoia as I imagined (or not) that my saddle dropped again after a workout. I ended up putting a sticker so at the very least I could quickly readjust it back if needed, and detect when it did drop.
As you gathered by now, the build-up was less than perfect and not according to the ideal plan, but I'm an Age Grouper with a job and kids, so how could it ever be? Yet some things were really starting to make me nervous, particularly the lack of outdoor TT rides. When I finally got one in, I noticed that my neck hurt like hell. It turns out that while training indoors I specifically used TT position and even put stuff on the TV to force me to hold my head up, riding in traffic requires just a bit more look-ahead and I wasn't ready for that.
Sleep is one of the most important things for a triathlete, and the 2 weeks before the race I didn't get much. I can't explain why, but despite understanding the importance I couldn't get myself to bed. One night in the final week when I did get in reasonably on time, I jumped awake at 3am with the realization I should add my wife's baking scale to the list of things to pack, and then lay awake for a few more hours pondering over whether I'd remember that in the morning. Brains suck.
After the last outdoor practice session, I put my bike back on the trainer for the last taper workouts, and my Di2 gearing rattled and jumped all over. WTF? I was able to adjust it through Shimano's app, but to this day I have no idea how that suddenly went wrong. My best guess is I tapped the derailleur when mounting or dismounting the wheel.

Arrival

Travel to Hamburg was fairly smooth over the Autobahns and I arrived Friday evening, unfortunately just too late for early registration. I met up with my buddy and we signed in Saturday morning. In the shop, we were considering whether to buy some Ironman swag before we'd actually finished the race. My friend formed a plan to instruct his companions to go and get the gear when he started round 3. I decided to tempt fate and bought a hat and an IM Hamburg t-shirt with all the participants' names on it. There was another IM Hamburg shirt in a nicer color, without the names...and it said "IM70.3" on the back. Nice try, Ironman, but I doubt they sold a lot.
The venue is in the middle of the city center and there's tons of eating places and food courts nearby. I looked for a place serving the most average looking pasta possible. The city itself looked very cool to visit, and if it hadn't been such a long drive I'd have told my family to come over.
I wanted to do the test swim to alleviate my nerves a bit and get a feel for the water conditions. My buddy didn't want to as he argued it would make the wetsuit harder to get in the next day. Tests swim went fine - if very short - and I noticed the water had zero visibility - just as I'm used to in my home pond.
Upon bike check-in I noticed a service tent in transition that had a toolbox with large Canyon stickers over it, and a tech with a Canyon t-shirt. Normally I wouldn't want anyone fiddling with my bike the day before the race, but the saddle paranoia still hadn't abated and I figured that if anyone would know how to properly deal with it, it'd be a Canyon tech. He explained that the saddle needed paste inside for friction (people in the tri club had told me this in the mean time, but it's not like I had it lying around), and also that the screw itself should be lubricated else a torque wrench will give a false reading. Aha?Whatever it be, my saddle mounting got a complete overhaul and I felt at least the 700 EUR I paid to Ironman was good for something. The sticker from earlier came in handy, though the tech did point out the Canyon saddlepost has a measurement scale on it.
I brought my own torque wrench on race morning to check that the screw had indeed been tightened to max spec. That's paranoia for you.

Final prep

My nutrition plan for this race was starting out with a set of 3 bottles, each with 100g sugar, 1 tbps citric acid, 10g maltodextrose and 10g of Isostar for taste, with extra caffeine in the first few bottles. This is super cheap, works well for me, and easily gets a ton of calories in with no digestive issues. I filled another set of 3 to put in the special needs bag. I figured I really only needed 4 total, but why not 2 sets of 3 just in case you lose a bottle somewhere. For the run it was Maurten. I brought my own even though it was actually the on-course nutrition, mostly don't like to rely on external factors.
Weather prediction was overcast, windy, 19-20C with perhaps the sun breaking through in the afternoon. The latter did not end up happening, which probably nobody minded as it'd have made the run harder.
Went to bed at 18h, expecting to wake up at 4am and do a final attempt at recovering sleep. At 21h30, my wife called me (as an emergency contact she can call through mute...) to wish me good luck.

Racing

After pumping up my (latex) tubes on race morning and managing to offload my pump to my friend's friends, I put on my wetsuit, which was a bit more resistant than normal (remember what my buddy said?) and put my feet straight through the ankle rubber. Fantastic.
We went to the starting zone for the 1:15-1:25 swim group and mostly stood around sipping some nutrition and waiting for quite a while as most of the ~2300 participants went into the water in groups of 3. We saw a few people yell for the kayaks after a few hundred meters.
Hit the water and got into my stroke very quickly. Despite the water being 19.5C I felt a bit cold and upped to pace a little to warm up. The swim course in Hamburg is very cool as you swim out of the smaller lake, under the bridge, onto the large lake, around the buoys, back through the other side of the bridge, back on the other side of the small lake, then past the start until one of the interior canals where you get out.
Despite swimming quite wide off the buoys I got elbowed a few times, and gave a shove back for the most blatant case. Guess not everyone is used to swimming in zero visibility. Swim was otherwise uneventful. I got passed by someone backstroking, but also passed a ton of breaststrokers (being a bit optimistic about our starting corral are we?). Exited the water with a satisfied feeling in about 1h25. The swim appears to have been long at ~3950m.

Bike

I took the time for a bathroom break in transition, wiggling like a contortionist out of my aerosuit (maybe next time keep it down for the swim to save time?). Got the socks on, even put on gloves which I don't normally do while racing, but as I didn't care for the time, why not. Walked to the bike very leisurely through a transition that was measured by my Garmin as 800m long (!).
To my pleasure, and despite the huge field, there was very little crowding on the bike course, and for the most part even as a MOP Age Grouper it was possible to pass according to the rules. No bike packs that I saw. This being Germany I expected perfect asphalt but that was a bit too optimistic, and some zones did need to be taken out of the bars. I planned to roughly hold around ~205W NP (70% FTP), in the end I was a bit low - as in previous races - at around 195W. I did not feel any soreness from holding TT position and was able to spend very long periods in aero. Given that I was pretty far back after my swim, I started rapidly passing people.
There was one notable section, that started with a feeling as if you were full on in the wind, and then turned what felt no more than 30-35 degrees, after which I was able to average >42km/h with ~200W. Maybe the initial feeling was deceptive and this was really wind in the back, or some other aero effect was going on, but in any case flying like this was a lot of fun.
I saw a lot, and I do really mean A LOT of people on tri bikes that were on their bullhorns. On a pancake flat course. In reasonably strong winds. Don't do this. For the love of god. Raise your bars, whatever, but don't do this. The speed differential here was very large and it wasn't as much passing as flying by people.
At some point a referee on the motorbike came next to me, and whistled so hard I almost fell off of my bike, wondering what I'd done. Drafting? Unlikely. Blocking? Also unlikely. Littering? I have all my bottles. (Virtual) centerline violation? That's possible, but that'd be a DQ. Just as I was about to ask, I noticed the referees' eyes were not on me, but just slightly off to the side. I turned around and found a rather embarrassed person sitting right behind my wheel. So, kudos to the organization for even enforcing the rules for random age groupers!
I mostly felt great during the bike, superman on wheels, passing about 300 people. After 160km of biking, I did start to get a bit sore, and had to go out of aero more often, and the legs didn't feel as fresh anymore, so at this point speed dropped just a little bit.
Taking in carbs went really well, but 4 x 750ml bottles and not a lot of sweating meant 2 extra pee stops, which did hurt the overall bike split a bit. And no, I'm not going to do the obvious to save time here just yet.

Run

Swapped the bike out for the racing shoes, and off we go. I set my pace for the marathon between 5:20 and 5:40 ish based on a random VDOT table I found on Slowtwitch, forcing myself to keep it easy. Out of transition everyone immediately ran way from me, I checked my watch, and I was already at 5:10 pace. Running at 5:20 felt kind of boring, but that wouldn't last very long.
The run felt really good as well, though unfortunately this was the least attractive part of the course. You basically run through the city park (picking up some small rocks in your shoes on the way), halfway into a residential streets, through a 180, and back again to the next street. The finish section is nicely placed in front of the church square but the rest is nothing special. I guess they didn't want to close down major parts of a huge German city for an entire day just for us, but sob. It makes it easy on the spectators though. You can also see the people from the other direction, and I saw that my buddy was reduced to walking, which encouraged me to try to catch him. When I did, I only then noticed he had an extra bracelet and was a lap ahead, and I'd only just unlapped myself. Small mental hit there. Still, just by still running you pass tons and tons of people and I still felt great.
After a bit more than 2h and after 2 gels, I noticed that they weren't going down very well any more and needed to make a choice whether to force down another one and maybe throw up, or stop eating and inevitably bonk. I guessed than bonking would be the least unpleasant choice, and also less likely to draw unwanted attention from medical staff (lest they pull me from the course), so I stopped eating. After about 30km pace went down to about 6:30 with small sections of walking, and I no longer felt like superman. Kilometers sure feel even longer when you take them at 6:30 instead of 5:20.
I rang the bell, heard my name called out (though I think I didn't hear the "You are an Ironman"), and crossed the line, satisfied. Said hello to my friend who finished earlier. Ran back to the medical tent for a barf bag, that turned out to be unnecessary because my stomach was empty (another "benefit" of bonking?). They offered me to lie down a bit in a bed, and it was an attractive offer that I took up. Everyone was shaking of cold and they were handing out blankets, I'm not sure if that's because of the wind, if it's a normal thing after a full, or it's the combination of both.
Finish time was around 11:30, smack in the middle of the field. My marathon time at 4h was faster than the standalone marathon earlier this year, but that isn't saying much. It was the best leg split compared to the rest of the field, so it's definitely about who keeps running the longest.

Closing thoughts

• I'm an Ironman(R)(TM), hell yeah.
• 3 years is enough time to train for one even if you miss a workout or two.
  • The thing that experience also gets you is learning to bring a pair of old shoes/slippers to the start, to cut the Ironman wristband so it doesn't hang over your powermeter, to tighten all your bolts, and so on.
• I still think setting a <<5h time in a 70.3 is harder than just finishing a 140.6, fight me.
  • The main difference is that if things go bad, they go much worse because the badness will last twice as long.
• I have a few nutrition issues to work out like reducing the amount of liquids in colder weather to avoid excessive pee stops. I have no idea what to do for the run as both my best and worst performances were with the exact same nutrition.
• Racing at times feels like being a project and logistics manager: playing Tetris with schedules to make workouts fit with work and family life (definitely much worse for full distance!), planning to get all the right equipment at the right time in the right place, and dealing with contingencies.
• IM Hamburg is a nice city, nice venue and nice and fair race, and I recommend it.
• I guess I can keep my hat.

I promise I am not frantically doctor-hopping but I have somehow found myself in this predicament and I am confused. So I am here seeking the advice of folks who are much wiser than I. I'm hoping that based on hearing their approaches, you may be able to give me your opinion on which doctor seems more aligned with my case.
3 years ago food poisoning + UTI antibiotics led to gut issues. Severe burping and gas, especially in the upper GI. It's bubbling up and down all day and night, sometimes triggering extra bathroom trips. Burning stomach, sore intestines. Diarrhea prone during severe flare ups. Large yellow BMs. Right torso pain. Upper back pain. Hypersensitive to herbs and supplements even with microdoses. Chronic dysuria. 33F. Tongue pic
Doctor A
Remote consult
Diagnosis: Rebellious qi, some dampness, mixed hot/cold pattern
Prescription: Huang qin, zhi shi, ban xie hou po tang, dong quai, and bao he wan. All raw herbs that I will grind into a powder myself.
~
Excited that I found a potential long-term doc, I hopped and skipped over to a store to buy the herbs to make my own powder. The owner turned out to be a TCM doctor who wanted to diagnose me before selling me herbs. He said the words I really didn't want to hear: "Your doctor was wrong."
Enter confusion.
Doctor B
In-person consult
Diagnosis: phlegm and qi intertwined, spleen not transforming, stomach qi doesn't move down
Prescription: Tea - xuan fu dai zhe tang, xiao xian xiong tang
~
I was happy to get started with Doc A until Doc B got into my head about how Doc A was wrong. Which doctor is right? I was told to test the decoction for 3 days. It made my mouth and stomach burn and made me sweat. I have had severe burping/gas. I haven't been able to eat or sleep properly because of how much burping/bubbling/gas there is, though I can't confirm this is due to the herbs as it is a pre-existing symptom, it's just 100x worse right now so I could just be in a flare. I've also developed vaginal itching. Doc B said, "These are signs of the herbs killing the disease." Is this tea working like an antimicrobial and causing intense die-off/yeast overgrowth?
I believe both prescriptions have similar actions but obviously, I want to be under the care of one doctor. But who will be the chosen one? Doc B is in my city so I can go for in-person consults, but I'm not sure I agree with the approach of the herbs "killing the disease" as that mindset of "kill kill kill" is what got me in this gut mess in the first place. Doc A is in another city so there's obviously no pulse diagnosis which is important.
But then again I had another TCM doc last year in-person and I saw no improvement with her, so in-person does not mean accurate. Both Doc A and B agreed that her prescription of mu xiang shun qi wan was not right for me.
Penny for your thoughts, please?
Q1) Which doctor's assessment do you lean towards? Or are they both missing the mark?
Q2) And is the decoction too strong/antimicrobial and not suited to me? I don't want to undo all the progress I've made with improving my microbiome/gastritis.
Thanks in advance!

I graduated from my diploma of nursing last year at the end of October and started working at a large regional base hospital in November on a very busy ward. Prior to this, I spent 2 years working permanent night shifts as a wardsperson to make ends meet while I study. As much as I hated it, I pushed through and thought I'd come out to greener pastures. Instead I find myself at a complete dead end.
I've come to regret going into nursing. The last 6 months has worn me down both physically and mentally. I find myself dreading work, feeling angry and resentful all the time, and I honestly just hate the work that's involved in nursing. I hate cleaning people, its become repulsive. On top of this, I've come to realise that I really don't like working with old people. Some are nice and sweet, but the confusion, delirium, dementia, and all the other things are just awful. I thought I'd at least get some variety, but it's just 90% old people. The ONLY time I have enjoyed nursing so far has been a prac I did at a children's hospital in an adolescent ward. Was a mix of mental health and medical, mainly eating disorder teenagers. I worked so much better with them, and I got along really well and could connect with them. By the end of that placement the majority of them didn't want me to leave, staff included. The NUM even encouraged me to apply for that ward, however the cost of living in that area is just far too high, and I had to move away because I just couldn't afford a capital city anymore.
So now I'm here, stuck regretting the decision I spent 2 years trying to work towards. I initially was gunning for ED, however I picked up a shift down there and realised it was just the same shit, just a bit more fast paced. Not what I had thought it would be. ICU and other critical care areas are also the same shit just with a higher acuity. I've lost any kind of interest going into those areas. And the night shifts, I am so done with night shift. Two years straight I did it while studying and I am so sick of it. I don't have a normal sleep pattern, I'm always feeling sick or run down, I haven't had a decent sleep in literal years. Less said about the pay the better.
I'm currently studying my bachelor of nursing, but I really don't think I can do this for the rest of my life. I don't think I could stomach doing it for another 6 months. I don't know if I'm just angry and burnt out or if I've truly made a critical error in my life planning. I'm 30 now, is it too late to try again at something new? I know that there's 9-5 nursing positions but they simply don't pay enough, and I'd have to walk through mountains of literal shit to get into a CNE or management role. I am just so completely lost. The only time I've found fulfilment and happiness in my work was on the adolescent ward, and I'll never find that again as that hospital was in a major metro area and I will not be moving back to a capital city I can't justify it. Any advice as to where to go from here is sorely requested, because for the first time in my life I truly don't know what to do.

I don't understand how to cope with my GERD. I can eat whatever throughout the day - just had coffee and pizza and layed down for a sweet nap, no reflux, feeling just fine. But deep in the night, every night, I wake up with sore throat.
Tried taking Pantoprazol (20mg) before dinner, seemed to have helped, but yesterday's stress test did not pass - took the pill at 7:30 pm, had plenty of trigger food right after that, and woke up at 5-6 AM with sore throat again. The only difference was it used to be 2-4 AM without the pill.
I'm starting to think it's the empty stomach after having a large meal that's causing the worst of GERD for me. Could it be so? Anyone with similar symptoms?
Also, bonus question: how do I get rid of anxiety taking Pantoprazol long term? Everyone says it's not safe to, you need to try and make the lifestyle changes to cure GERD but it's unrealistic to live eating just buckwheat and sleep sitting and still get occasional reflux at night. Is taking Pantoprazol long term really that bad? Especially as minimal dose as 20 mg. I'm only 26 y.o. so I'm thinking about lifetime ahead of me taking it and it kinda scares me what might go wrong after many years on it.

Hello everyone, this is going to be a long one so please bare with me as I need some help and I feel as if I am going crazy. This has all been depressing for me and I am scared that I am not going to get better, I am so young and I hate being in pain. Although, I know i should not put this into the universe, the thought of this being life long makes me sad.**
In December of 2023, I began having very bad pain while urinating, discharge....I suspected a UTI. However, I tested positive for Chlamydia(even though my partner at the time said he was negative.). I got treated, retested and everything came back negative. However, I was still experiencing burning while peeing, vaginal discharge, and etc. I went to the gyno for the first time, around the middle of January and explained my symptoms to her. She said that she saw some yeast while doing the exam and treated me for such. I got tested for the regular STI's and did a vaginal swab. The medicine she gave me did not help much and all my results came back negative. Going into February, my friend passed and I went into a dark place. I stopped caring for my health and I didn't revisit the gyno(although experiencing pain while urinating, itching, discharge; etc) up until March. March comes around, I am still struggling with everything and I visit the Gyno again with the same symptoms. She tested me for Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma and gave me cream to deal with the itching. My results come back and I was in fact positive for Mycoplasma. I am not sure what medicine she put me on, but I remember it was a 7 day antibiotic.
I took it, felt a little better, but a week later the same symptoms started to return. At the end of March/beginning of April, I had a burning sensation while peeing, I began having sharp pain in my pelvis, hip/leg pain, on and off discharge(somedays it would be brownish, next it would be a very clear heavy discharge), and lower back pain. I returned to same gyno and she thought it was a UTI. She took a urine sample and did a swab(however, i don't believe she retested me for mycoplasma). She gave me a three day antibiotic and it worked. The pain while peeing went away and the cramping subsided. However, the results came back and everything came back negative. But, in my urine my white and red blood cells were high. She told me to go to my PCP because she believed it wasn't a gyno related issue anymore. By that time I was experiencing very bad pain in my chest and back. I ended up going to the ER because I believed I had a kidney issue. I did a CAT Scan, but everything came back fine. The doctor told me it was a muscoskeltal issue and prescribed naproxen to me. Also, it came back that I had a yeast infection. I explained the cramping and such to the doctor and she said I did have a UTI, the test just didn't detect it. I asked her if the cramping was due to the muscoskeltal issue and she said it could be... I went home, took Fluconazole(singular) and began using the Naproxen.
I am a college student and I dorm, so I constantly have to travel back and forth to attend these doctor appointments. I return back to school and my pain subsides in my chest area, but the naproxen did not help the cramping. I still was having pain while peeing. I return back home to see my PCP, and she did a vaginal exam and said she saw yeast again. She told me the cramping was just due to my period(just no). She prescribed Fluconazole and a insertion for the yeast infection. I told her to run every test she can and the only thing that came up was a little bacteria in my urine(she told me this 7 days after I went to her). I told her I am still having pain while urinating and so she gave me a 7 day medication(take two a day), I forget the name. I was taking both that medicine she gave me and the naproxen, but, I ended up stop taking the naproxen because I experienced really bad stomach problems one day and I believed that it cause my period to be almost late(6 days, my period is usually on time and comes between the 14th and 16th).
At this point I stop going to my PCP because of her response to what I am telling her. I make an appointment with a different gyno to address it. BY THIS TIME, I am having pain in my pelvis, abdomen, and lower back(moreso on my left side), and my hip. I am not peeing frequently, there is no discharge or very little, BUT when I PEE IT BURNS. I make an appointment. Before seeing my gyno, I do an ultrasound( my belly and vaginal) and everything is fine. I tell her all these symptoms, she swabs me for everything(including mycoplasma but those results were inconclusive because I was on my period, so i have to retake it), I ask her if it's possible if I have PID, she says I would be in more pain. She refers me to a urologist and gastroenterologist(my abdominal pain was concerning to her). I go to my urologist first(May 29th), she tells me that she believes that due to all the antibiotics I have been taking since December my urethra and stomach have not had time to heal(which I totally agree). She does a vaginal exam(looks fine). She brings up pelvic floor issues and does a fast exam on me, but it doesn't seem abnormal. However, she said its still a possibility. She basically tells me that she thinks I need to stay off antibiotics, use cranberry pills, and visiting the GI is a good idea. She also gave me a lubricant to apply down there just to see if it eases the pain. I have an call with her in two weeks to update her.
Two days after, I visit my GI. I do have constipation, burping, and such. He basically said I don't know what it is but, he prescribed me Pantoprazole to take before breakfast and suggested I use miralax. I also have a follow up call with him.
My results came back from my gyno that I have BV, she told me that it usually goes away on its own, but she will send an antibiotic just in case. Which worries me because of what the urologist said. I am still experiencing pain when I pee, pelvic pain, abdominal pain, pain on my left side, buttotcks pain, and lower back pain as of right now, the pain isn't excruciating, but its there. Sometimes it feels like stabbing in my back or my pelvic like just hurts. I do have some pain in my actual vaginal hole and sometimes it just hurts, kinda like I’m in my period, but I’m not. Also, when I sneeze my pelvic area hurtsss. It feels sore. I’m assuming it’s a pelvic floor issue but I’m not sure. I am going to ask my gyno to refer me to a urogynecologist to look into pelvic floor issues, but I am tired. I need some help, please. Also, how do you test for PID?

Hi there, I’m a 23 year old female who has always had a regular period. I honestly don’t remember the last time my period was ever late. My period was due on may 31st, I figure it was coming as I was having sore boobs. Now we are at the 4th and it hasn’t came but I’ve had really stomach pain cramp over the past 3 days. On top of this, I’ve been lightly spotting for the past 3 days but no period. Im only concerned because this has never happened to me and my stomach pain is so bad.
I haven’t had sex in over a year.

On one hand I fucking love it, it keeps me too busy to be depressed and I have a sense of purpose when I'm working, not to mention feeling like I achieved something afterwards but on the other hand I hate it because I'm always sore in places I didn't know i had at the end of the day and I have to wake up early in the morning, slam a can of monster down and get to work even before breakfast sometimes and always feel sick from working on an empty stomach but feeling that burn in my limbs and the soreness after is kinda a nice feeling
But if working myself into the ground is what it takes to stop me from putting myself in the ground then it's worth it