Amanda

Today I went to the bathroom. I had diarrhea and I just happened to look down and I noticed these three reddish orange oval balls in my poop. Using a stick I pulled one out. It was almost like a casing, like the outside of a swear pea, but it was reddish orange. I haven't taken any pills or eaten peas in weeks. This is the third time I had went diarrhea in 24 hours. I've always had a bad stomach (bad cramps, painful bowel movements). I'm a 17 year old female. I'm wondering if I was popping out the remains of parasite eggs. Does this sous familiar to anyone??

Just 10 minutes ago my Dad bent down to get something from a lower cabinet when he suddenly gasps and started yelling. He was holding his lower back and wincing and he slowly went to his hands and knees on the floor. He had to slowly crawl to the couch because he couldn't get up. He said he can hardly sit and it's still hurting. He's 45 with arthritis and high blood pressure/cholesterol and stuff like that, but I'm wondering what he could've done to his back to cause that much pain! I think he should definitely go to the doctored but he's stubborn and says no. I have him Advil. He can still hardly move :/

I'm a 16 year old female and I got all 4 of my impacted wisdom teeth out on Wednesday morning. Surprisingly the pain was never too bad (I was on all my meds of course. 2 pain meds, 1 steroids and 1 antibiotics). Then around Thursday afternoon my mom noticed that my left cheek was starting to bruise, and by Thursday night it was completely swollen with a huge black bruise that's the size of a clementine. Now it's Saturday night and the bruise and swelling is still there. Nothing has changed. I've been following all directions- no sucking/spitting, warm salt water rinses, ice on and off, ect. and nothing has changed. I have to return to work Tuesday night and I really want this stupid bruise/swelling to be gone by then. My jaw is also so stiff that I can hardly open my mouth, making it obviously difficult to brush my teeth and tongue, which is just gross. Does anyone know how long the brusing and swelling will last like this, or some ways to make it better??

I had bad period cramps all of Sunday, before my period came. It then came Sunday night, and every since Monday I've had severe cramping, nonstop. It's 24/7, literally from the second I wake up until I go to bed. I've been taking advil and tylonal but it only helps a little bit and only for about 2 hours. Every day I just want to go to the nurse and ask to go home because I can't concentrate in school at all.

Is this normal? And what should I do to help with the pain?

My Bamboo Tablet "Capture" is not working. I've had it for about 4 months now. When I plug it in and open up GIMP all looks well but as soon as I move the pen to the tablet the little blue light on the tablet's left side turns white and it won't let me draw. The cursor wildly spazzes and won't respond to the pen at all.

This has happened once or twice before and all I did to solve it was unplug it and plug it back in. Now that's not working and I can't fix it. Has this happened before to anyone and how did you fix it?

I'm a 16 and a half year old girl. I really want to get a summer job at a local ice cream place. It's close (5 minutes from my house). My mom also knows the lady who works there and she's going to ask if they're hiring.

If they are and I do get a summer job, what is it like working at an ice cream place? How are the hours? The pay? Any and all info is appreciated ^^

I think I pinched a nerve in my neck as I was sleeping. I can hardly move my head at all and it hurts. I've been taking tylonal and using a heating pad for 7 hours now but it doesn't feel any better. What do I do?

I think I pinched a nerve in my neck as I was sleeping. I can hardly move my head at all and it hurts. I've been taking tylonal and using a heating pad for 7 hours now but it doesn't feel any better. What do I do?

On Friday afternoon, 2 days ago, I received a meningitis vaccine.

Now, last night as I was trying to fall asleep I moved and got a pinching pain in my neck. Thinking it was nothing, I went back to sleep, but when I woke up it was worse. I could hardly move my neck at all, any direction. My doctor said I could;t have gotten meningitis from the vaccine, but he told me to go the the ER to get xrays in case I slipped a disk in my neck. That was this morning at around 8am. Now it's 3pm and my neck is no better. If anything it hurts worse. I've been taking Tylenol and using a heating pad all day.

I want to know what I should do, and if this could possibly be meningitis. My mom didn't take me to the ER because we would be there all day waiting and she didn't want them to give me a spinal tap in case they suspected meningitis.

Oh, I'm a 16 year old girl. I've had the flu for the past week but it's finally going away.

While at the doctors today I brought up my stomach problems and after lots of questions my doctor ordered blood work because she suspects I have celiacs disease. All my symptoms fit into that diagnosis. I haven't gotten the blood work done but she wants me to start getting familiar with it...so can anyone tell me about it? Any personal experiences?

My cold started on Thursday of last week. You know, typical cold stuff- fever, chills, aches, sore throat, ect. I lost of voice on Wednesday morning and it is still gone today (not totally). I still have some flu symptoms but I started coughing yesterday. And today when I woke up the first thing I thought was that my chest felt funny and I noticed that it hurt to breathe in a lot- it was like a sharp pain in my upper chest (kinda to the right side of my heart, but a little below that). I'm not coughing and I can feel mucus coming up. I can't stop and I'm kinda afraid I have pneumonia. I also swim and I foolishly swam on Monday and Tuesday and swallowed a bunch of water. I think some went into my lungs because I was coughing and sputtering. My mom had it last year and she was in the hospital for 2 weeks so I'm just nervous. Should I ask my mom to call my doctor? And could swimming have made it worse?

Last night I woke up from sleeping. Out of habit I immediately looked at my alarm clock (it's a big heavy IPod dock) and it said 5:00am, exactly. Strangely instead of going back to sleep I just laid down on my back and kind of spaced off. I don't really remember thinking but I know I reached my right hand out to my nightstand. It wasn't a muscle spasm or anything- I reached over my box of tissues, touched the side of the iPod dock, and just out of nowhere, I literally shoved/threw it off the stand! And then instead of getting up to get it I just laid back down flat on my bed and stared up again. Again I was t thinking much then but now, remembering it, it was scary. My mom came in (because the huge bang woke her up) and she was like "what the heck was that?!" And still just staring up I was like "the docks on the floor". And then the realization kinda hit me and I got up and put it back.

That's NEVER happened to me before, so I'm wondering if I was maybe "sleepwalking" (obviously without actually walking). Does this sound like "sleep walking"?

For maybe almost a year now, my head has been constantly itchy. It's not lice though (my family got that before and we now check each other regularly so I know I don't have lice).

I think it's a dandruff problem, but it's out of control. One minute I'll be fine and then I'll get one little itch. But after a few minutes I'll scratch again and again, and then I can't stop. Once I start scratching I can't stop. I want to say it's an "addiction" but I don't think so. I scratch so hard that I get the skin under my nails and my scalp starts to bleed. The itching started again not 20 minutes ago and my scalp is currently bleeding as I type this (not majorly but enough to see it!!)

I've tried using multiple dandruff shampoos but they don't help at all. The problem is horrible because I'm a 16 year old girl and I hate walking around scratching my head or with huge chunks of dandruff sitting in my hair or flying around. It's nasty and I don't know what to do. Help!!!

I'm going over my friends house later today and we really want to do this art project together, but we don't have the supplies. She said we would walk to the walmart that's right near her development. But to get there, we'd have to cross and walk along a major road with like 6 lanes of traffic going different ways.

I mean, they have crosswalks and she said she's done it before but I have crossing even tiny roads, and I'm just terrified to cross a major one. I'm just afraid of getting hit by a car or my best friend getting hit or getting taken away...

But I'm sure I'll have to cross a road like this some time in my lifetime, and I'm trying to convince myself that I'll have to get over this fear sooner or later.

Oh and we're both 16 year old girls. And I'd be doing this without my mom knowing. She would never let me and she won't drive me to get the supplies. So what should I do? Get over my fear and cross/walk along the road or no?

Ever since I swam my first backstroke in a race (which was about 2 weeks ago) I've had an ache in my right shoulder, right in the joint and on top of the bone.

We had a meet last Tuesday and the pain got worse.

We just had another meet on Friday. I swam backstroke and again the pain increased. Now I can hardly lift my arm to brush my hair. It hurts to touch it and move it. Is there any type of common injury like this for backstrokers?

Oh, and I stretch before and after practice. And I'm a 16 year old girl, 110 pounds.

Let me start off by saying the only reason I'm asking this is becasue my mom will not stop bugging me. She says she has almost nothing to get me for Christmas, and my grandparents keep asking her when they should get me and they have nothing.

Anyway, I'm a 16 year old girl, a sophomore in high school. And as I said, I can't think of much I want for Christmas. I already picked out a few clothes with my mom, some new make up, some cheap art supplies and maybe a movie or store girft card, but I honestly can't think of anything else. I have a great laptop that still works fine from last year and I just got an iPhone 4S less than 2 months ago. I don't have any room for a TV in my room and I know if I asked for that I'd do nothing all day except lay around and watch TV.

SO can anyone think of other ideas? I sound stupid but I have to come up with something because my mom and grandparents are upset that they have nothing to get me.

Oh. Some more info. I also love sports (soccer, tennis and swim). I love to draw and write and hang out with my friends. I love animals a lot.

I'm very new at high school swimming. We've had about 9 practices so far and our first meet is the 11th and I'm really nervous. But I the second day we were all timed for 50 free. I didn't get my exact time but it was in the 40's. that was the 2nd time I had ever swam freestyle. Today we were timed again and I got 38.1. I know it's still very slow, but is it good improvement?

And what are some ways that I am improve before our swim meet? I know I have problems diving- I'm horrible at that. I know what to do but I just end up flopping a lot :( and I also can't hold my breathe long at all. I have to breathe on every 3rd stroke in the beginning and then every 2 coming back. My flip turns aren't the best, but I'm getting better.

So any advice for a brand new swimmer?

I'm a 16 year old girl and I've always had a "bad" stomach (like, very suddenly I get bad pains and have to stay in the bathroom for a while.) I usually get very bad pains within half an hour of eating breakfast. It's not every day but it is a lot. But today, even though I had the morning pains, the pain continued for the entire day. I missed so much of school because I was in the bathroom. I did poop twice and I have a lot of gas. Medicine isn't helping. I don't know if stress has anything to do with it but I've been super stressed this whole week because of swimming and major tests. My dad also has a very bad stomach.

So does anyone know what could be causing these horrible pains and gas? I haven't spoken to my doctor about it yet but I need to.

This is a serious question. I'm writing a novel and one of my main characters jumps through a window hands first (like a dive). I want it to be realistic so he would probably have some scars on his hands, arms and face, right?

I know this may seem like a silly question, but I need advice. About a week ago my mom told me about a job opening in a local animal hospital as a "kennel girl". Working with animals is a dream job of mine- plus I just turned 16, and for a job at my age in my area is incredible.

It sounds perfect, but I have also been swimming and I planned on swimming for my high school team. my mom has already paid over $300 for a suit, cap, goggles and a camp I am currently attending. I wanted to do the camp to see if I even liked swimming, and it turns out I'm not loving it anymore. I'm not good at all and I think I'm allergic to chlorine as it feels like my throat starts closing up every tim eI entire the pool. I'm miserable in swimming.

The problem is, I can't do both. The job I would be taking is Monday nights only, but that would interfere with swimming. I wouldn't be able to take the job if I did swimming.

So what do you think I should do? Should I finish the camp, hoping that I'll start liking swimming again?