u/Throw_away_9021099

I know, I know, all the comments are going to tell me to ask my doctor. The problem is my doctor is conveniently on vacation until next week. I messaged her explaining the symptoms I’m having, and an RN responded telling me she would “relay the message, and to reach out to my primary care physician.” I don’t have a primary care physician, she is my only doctor at the moment.

So, long story short, I started Spironolactone for hormonal acne/PCOS two and a half weeks ago and was extremely hopeful. I was actually excited to start this medication because I had heard so many great things about it. However, the side effects have been unbearable. I have been staying hydrated (almost too hydrated), but have still been feeling off. Extreme fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, lightheadedness, muscle weakness… essentially every symptom imaginable hit me really hard about 3 days ago. I immediately got independent lab work done because I had fears that there was an electrolyte imbalance happening. Sure enough, my sodium levels have dropped from 141 to 135 in two weeks. This puts me on the verge of suffering from hyponatremia.

So my question: Is it safe to stop my 50mg dose until my doctor gets back from vacation? I have sadly concluded that this medication might not be for me, which is very frustrating. Any advice?

So I just started 50mg of Spironolactone 2 weeks ago and I’ve noticed an increase in urination, mild headaches, slight dizziness and lightheadedness. I’ve been drinking water slowly throughout the day to avoid flushing out all my sodium or getting hyponatremia.

With that said I still feel really drained and malnourished. I’ve been keeping a close eye on my blood pressure (108/79) and my labs I had done two weeks ago showed potassium and sodium levels well within average range, along with good kidney function.

I still feel oddly dehydrated and I’m wondering if there are any electrolyte packets or powder I can take that don’t contain potassium? Moreover, does anyone have any advice or tips on how to deal with this fatigue?

Ok, so long story short, I feel like I have a problem with intimacy and it’s destroying the potential with every man I meet. I’ve never had a problem meeting men, but I have noticed a pattern where I typically ghost them after a short period of time. I enjoy one night stands because they’re easy and simple for me, and because I feel confident in being my most uninhibited self with men I don’t really have feelings for. I get deeply confused when hook-ups start consistently hitting me up and I go on “ignore and block” mode relatively fast.

With that said, I was talking to this man (seriously) for about 3 months and he was the sweetest, kindest man. The problem is we didn’t have sex right away and I just felt like the pressure just kept building and getting overwhelming. He took me on a nice vacation and did everything right, too. Then I just stopped talking to him and ended it before we ever even had sex because all the “what ifs“ came to mind. Like what if he hates it, what if he thinks I’m bad in bed? What if I’m not good enough for him? I would just be too devastated because there’s too much on the line here.

So, I can’t really figure out why I’m like this. I enjoy hooking-up only, and am struggling with men who want to be serious with me. When I don’t have feelings for a man, I’m not struggling to be perfect. When I do have feelings, I have anxiety about being perfect for him and I feel like this is destroying a lot for me. Any helpful advice on this would be great. 

So I just started taking 50mg of spironolactone a week ago and I didn’t really think I was going to get side effects because I typically never do with medications. My labs looked good and showed that I had moderate potassium levels. With that said, I’ve been feeling extremely fatigued these past few days, also extremely dizzy when standing up, and just overall weaker. I’ve wanted the medication for a few months now and was overjoyed when my gynecologist prescribed it to me because I am suffering so severely with high-androgen symptoms. I’m just concerned with these side effects. My question is do these side effects get better over time? What has been your experience with spironolactone?

For starters, I am not saying I agree with Blumenbach's classification of races or other controversial ideology. I’m simply curious to understand why he is so swiftly discredited for his work when he spent his life studying variation in skulls. My anthropology professor essentially just said he’s racist and his views have been discredited. We learned almost nothing else about him, and everything I did learn about him, I had to find independently. My question is ok, but did he see variation in skulls? If he‘s discredited then are anthropologists and the scientific community saying there are no variations in skull morphology? 

A part of me just feels like I don’t know what I can actually trust anymore, and it’s honestly quite discouraging. I’m not curious about his racial ideology, I’m curious about if he actually saw variation and what that means. However, I feel like even that’s controversial to ask. This has led me to want to look into primary source material only and not trust contemporary anthropologists on not only Blumenbach, but other scientists who have been considered controversial. I feel like it shouldn’t be like this. I would like to hear the perspectives of anthropologists on this matter so they can maybe help me understand things a little better. 

Ok, so I have my first OB/GYN appointment tomorrow regarding the PCOS-related symptoms I’ve been having, and I was wondering if it’s appropriate to bring up that I think Spironolactone might be a good option for me. I obviously don’t want to act like I know more than the doctor or that I’m trying to play my own doctor, so I don’t know if I should mention that I think Spironolactone might be a good fit.

However, the symptoms I’m having such as (chin hair, frontal hair thinning, severe back and chest acne, etc.) have all severely impacted my day-to-day life. I don’t want to go to the beach with my friends bc of my body acne, I have no dating life bc I’m so ashamed of how I look, etc.

So the question is, should I mention that I’ve done research and feel that this medication would be a good fit or should I just wait and see what she recommends? Any advice would be great, I’m super nervous but excited to finally have a doctor acknowledge to my symptoms.

The title sounds a little ridiculous but it’s the truth. I’m not necessarily proud of it, more so indifferent. Ask me anything. (:

I’m 75% white, 25% black and have always viewed myself as mixed race. Because I went to a school with almost no diversity, I was always perceived as just black, but as I’ve grown older, people tend to view me as all different things, Hispanic, “tanned white person“, Italian, etc. I have people say things like: “Omg, I can’t believe you’re black! Can you believe it?!“ or “You’re not reeaaally black.” People act surprised and shocked when I tell them I’m mixed race, as if it’s some sort of crime to be black.

I work in the medical field and I remember sitting with one of my patients looking at a wedding magazine with her, and she was fawning over all the dresses and couples, and then she turned the page to a mixed race couple and she said: “Isn’t that just sick!” I told her it wasn’t nice to say things like that. I’m assuming she thought I was white.

Another incident happened where this patient hadn’t been speaking to his previous nurse (who was black) and she said he had been problematic all day, refusing meds, not speaking, etc. I walked into the room to greet him at shift change, and he goes “You’re white, I’ll speak to you. I wasn’t speaking to the other one because she was black.” I was absolutely horrified by what I heard and again, told him it wasn’t nice to say things like that about people. He went on to be extremely kind to me my entire shift. It was really just… sad.

I feel like as someone who is white passing, we have a bizarre perspective because we get a firsthand look at how racist people can be when they don’t think black people are around, if that makes sense. It’s hard to deal with.