I have trouble following spoken speech. It's always made school difficult for me and now it's one of the reasons why I think I'll have to quit college (I'm on leave right now). I would listen to lectures or go to instructors for extra help, but my brain just wouldn't absorb anything it heard. This put a huge burden of self-instruction on me and it made it impossible for me to participate in class discussions.

I think this tendency affects me in other ways too. For example, I don't and never have been able to sit through movies or watch TV — I never know what's going on in them. In daily interactions I manage OK with processing short exchanges of information or instructions, but I don't have "conversations" at all unless it's absolutely necessary, and when I do it's exhausting and unpleasant (I speak VERY little and have never had a friend, so it's no exaggeration to say that I don't have conversations).

Until college, I was always able to compensate for this difficulty by just studying hard and teaching myself. I got high grades and was going to a reputedly good college. Can you suggest any explanation for a problem of this sort and how to deal with it so that I might be able to graduate from college?

1) Many people are buying Swarovski crystal beads to make crafts. I understand that they have 32 percent lead. People are making jewelry and figurines with the crystal beads. Is this a danger to our health?

2) We received a 24 percent leaded crystal decanter from Poland as a gift. We would like to use it for a liquor decanter. Is it safe? Are we in danger of lead poisoning?

I relocated to a new area within the past six months. Since then, I have been experiencing congestion in the morning and pressure in my sinus area, such as stuffed nose and difficulty breathing, at night when I lay on my back and in the morning. Although I do not have a cold, I seem to always have a small amount of drainage on a daily basis. Within the past week, I am sneezing quite a bit in the mornings and at night, my eyes are so itchy I can't help but rub them to a nice shade of red. I have never had allergies before, just for your info. Thanks for any tips.

I've been hearing a lot on the news about the new virus [novel coronavirus, COVID-19] and I'm seeing students on campus wearing masks. The news seems to have conflicting information and I'm not sure what to do. Should I be worried? Do I need to wear a mask too? Thank you.

The Internet has lots of false facts on it. I want to know if I should consider all the health/drug/sex/emotional stuff as fact in science/doctor advice, and what areas are not so qualified in knowing. The reason being is I want to be more informed, and I don't like to be mistaken in passing along knowledge that I don't know to be credible or not.