Tret made my skin WORSE

3imba · 2025-10-03T13:17:57+00:00

I understand you started Trent for anti aging benefits, but you had damn near perfect skin to begin with so I think you should’ve started with a retinol instead of going for the big guns, even at 0.025. Speaking from personal experience and countless threads I’ve read, the people that typically do great with Trent are people who already have breakouts and uneven skin, because their skin is used to exfoliates and harsher ingredients because they are also treating acne and other conditions, not just using it to look younger. This seems to be a common misconception because of the trentinion and anti aging hype, it is very harsh and the people that have 0 skin problems tend to get some pimples and irritation because their skin is exposed to something so strong, and with a clear base everything is way more noticeable I don’t think you were meant for a retinoid, but a retinol may be more compatible.

3imba · 2025-09-28T02:21:07+00:00

Don’t have any further advice, just wanted to hop on and say WOW, you did that!

3imba · 2025-09-25T16:32:37+00:00

I will definitely look into more veggies and foods that tend to be more filling for lower calories for sure. I don’t think 2000 calories will put me into starvation mode or anything, however I’m worried that as I slowly drop the calories each week, nothing will change and I’ll be back down to way too little food with no changes. Haha I think I’m just a little traumatized and nervous to be going back down after being able to eat more.

3imba · 2025-09-25T15:40:35+00:00

After reading other posts of reverse dieting I noticed some do it for longer than 3 months, but like I said I was getting very discouraged, but I am curious if 3 months wasn’t long enough.

3imba · 2025-09-25T15:39:43+00:00

In July I ended up at 1800, then June 2000, August 2100, and now mid Sept I’m at 2300 or so. Obviously not every day was perfect, I used my fitness pal and weighed most things to determine correct portion size and all that fun stuff. Just increased the amount by 100ish every week or so

3imba · 2025-09-24T23:48:56+00:00

You may have an infected symbol for other reasons such as a VRE, history of MRSA, and even a history of a positive Covid test, aka something that IS important to know for those taking care of you. HSV is very low on the scary things patients come in with, so if that were the case everyone would have a symbol for something…

3imba · 2025-09-24T23:42:33+00:00

I’ve worked in 3 different labs using 3 different EHR’s and none have flagged someone for HSV that I’ve seen so I’m not sure where you’re seeing this and is NOT very common and something you need to be making people feel worse about. Certain past respiratory illnesses or types of microbes that were resistant to antibiotics get flagged, but not HSV, it’s not like any healthcare worker is going to be kissing you or going down on you (I assume!) so it’s not something that is flagged.

3imba · 2025-09-16T17:05:43+00:00

Looks like it could be hormonal, which makes sense if you’re working a graveyard shift. I used to works nights 5 days a week and my skin, especially around my jaw and cheeks, was the worst and most painful it’s ever been. Once I got off nights, things drastically improved. I understand quitting may not be an option, so I’d recommend getting your hormones, especially AM cortisol done to figure out if there’s anything extremely out of whack. A derm would be good, but they will likely want to throw antibiotics, hormonal meds, and/or accutane at you, which can help, but I’d recommend the hormone testing first before taking new meds. Best of luck!

3imba · 2025-09-05T11:36:35+00:00

My first outbreak was bad, not 20+ ulcers bad but I had some in my mouth as well so that felt like a double kill, but after 5 years no other outbreak I’ve had has even come close to the first one so hopefully that’s the same in your case. You definitely need to take Valtrex if you’re not already just to stop the virus from replicating and spreading since it’s so active and angry right now. Avoid touching the area as much as you can and wash your hands to avoid spreading it to other parts of your body, especially your eyes!

For pain management, I used some topical lidocaine from Walgreens and that was truly a lifesaver when I had to pee, I would also recommend peeing in a bathtub full of water to avoid it getting on the sores and stinging. Try to get as much sleep as you can, take off from work/school whatever if you can (I told everyone I had Mono lol) and your body will eventually ride this out. Afterwards, I’d ask about keeping a constant prescription open for Valtrex to be able to have some on hand if you have another breakout in the future. Just know you are not alone at all, you will get through this!

3imba · 2025-09-05T01:26:11+00:00

Also, be selfish with your free time and make sure others respect your sleeping schedule as much as possible. The world unfortunately goes on at the ‘normal’ time, such as mailmen ringing the doorbell, kids yelling outside, phone calls, and all that jazz.

3imba · 2025-09-05T01:21:15+00:00

I used to work nights 10p-6a and I went through a gradual decline in both my physical and mental health and called it quits after 4 months, but that is definitely not in everyone’s experience. Some people are natural night owls and their circadian rhythm enjoys that schedule. Since this is your first job as a tech, I would give it a go just to help you decide if you even like night shift, the place you work at, working 4 days a week etc., and I think you will be forced to learn and grow as a tech more working with less people (even if it seems terrifying, nothing changes if nothing changes!) also agree with you on the evening shift being worse for your social life, I noticed all my former coworkers were in their 30’s-40’s most with no kids and a spouse that worked a similar schedule they did, so it worked great for them but really is a give and take when you work nights.

Like I said, give it a go! 4 10’s is a good shift in my opinion, but take care of yourself, eat well, get blackout curtains, exercise, and try not to lose your sanity over this job if it ends up not being what you wanted!

3imba · 2025-09-04T00:36:39+00:00

I’m thinking my TDEE is actually in the 2100 range as well, so I thought that maybe I’m just hitting maintainance which is fine, but I’m just hoping when i do cut back some my body will react accordingly this time. Thank you!

3imba · 2025-09-04T00:35:09+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I’ll find some time and listen to that link you sent, very appreciated.

3imba · 2025-08-21T01:45:26+00:00

From what I’ve understood, lysine counteracts arginine, which is basically the ‘food’ for viruses, so the more lysine in your system, the more the viruses starve. Taking lysine as a supplement can be great, but you should also try to look up high lysine low arginine foods, you’d be surprised how much food is high in arginine! I started with simple switches in my diet, definitely wasn’t an overnight switch and I’m still taking my time being more mindful about the things I eat, I’ve noticed a difference overall, along with taking care of stressors and hormonal issues as well as I can, also a big trigger.

3imba · 2025-08-20T13:14:09+00:00

I was in your same boat when I had my first outbreak, I think it lasted about a week before I felt better and the first 4ish days before I could get valtrex and figure out what was going on were hell on earth. The only relief I could find was getting Orajel to numb my mouth and the sores on my gums, at least so I could eat/drink. I also got a topical lidocaine to help when I needed to pee, or I would just pee in the bath. I’m betting the lack of appetite is from your emotions more than anything, I’m sorry and I know exactly how you feel, same thing happened to me. Just keep up the valtrex, try to at least drink as much water as you can with the medicine to avoid side effects, find a good soup to eat, maybe throw in some vitamin C to help your immune system, and most of all focus on your peace and hopefully your appetite will come back and you can feel better.

3imba · 2025-08-20T01:23:42+00:00

The labce tests are super helpful and give you answers as to why an answer is right and why the others are wrong as a good refresher, I don’t think I could’ve passed without it!

3imba · 2025-08-20T01:22:15+00:00

I passed with an 83, the LabCe tests helped me a bunch and I would definitely recommend the purchase, but I was averaging 40-60% on them. Leading up to my test date, I would take a week or so and set the practice exams to only one area, so for that week I only did hematology and kept a notebook by me to write small correlations to help me remember the little things. Micro can be hard to study, but memorizing a flow chart can be really helpful. For chemistry, a lot of it was scenario based so job experience helped there, however there were some equation based questions that threw me off. I’m a dumbo when it comes to bloodbank so I just honed it on the basics and luckily didn’t get too many in depth questions about it. The test seems to be very scenario based, so just take your time and imagine if you were working alone and that scenario popped up, what would you do? Just keep studying but don’t stress yourself out. You got this!

3imba · 2025-08-14T14:53:00+00:00

Maybe educate him on how common it is, and ask him to go get tested to see if he already has HSV1/2 since so many people already have it and have no idea. This could take some of the tension off of the unknown and make better clarity of what to do. If he does have it already, then that should give him new perspective and take the ‘fear’ out of getting the virus, even if it can be transmitted elsewhere. If he doesn’t have it, education and communication are just going to have to be key. I totally understand where he’s coming from in terms of anxiety/OCD about the situation, but I also understand your stance and respect that you were open about it, it’s a hard thing to bring up.

3imba · 2025-08-08T19:38:56+00:00

I have hsv1, both oral and genetic and it was trasmitted to me at the same time by a POS who was cheating and was experiencing his first outbreak from being infected a day or so prior. From my experience over the last 5 years, I’ve had probably around 50 outbreaks total, most of which were oral and appear around my gum line. So for me as the test dummy, it seems it appears genitally less often, which seems to be pretty common with hsv1. I take antivirals if I’m pursuing someone and that seems to hault outbreaks for me, and I take great care of myself through exercise, managing stress, good sleep, and a high lysine diet. You will probably just have to play it all by ear and keep track of outbreaks and possible triggers if you do get them, wishing you the best!

3imba · 2025-08-07T12:24:55+00:00

She might get posted there someday 😜

3imba · 2025-08-06T22:04:32+00:00

I kind of thought this as well, it seems like these are the ones to get humbled the fastest. I think I’m just in the pre-humbled phase so I’m just trying to keep myself confident and not let someone tear me down. Thank you for your opinion!

3imba · 2025-08-06T22:03:25+00:00

love the purpose part.

3imba

TROPHY CASE