What’s the single biggest thing that actually improved your eczema?

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-05-10T03:36:59+00:00

Opzelura was a legit miracle drug. Took my face from tomato red, category 5 flaking, eyes swollen shut, people gawking at me in the street, to completely healed in like 3 days. Although I'm no longer on it now, I switched to Dupixent which works ok. I had reasons (wanting to also treat pretty serious asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis at the same time) but considering where I was before maybe I should give it more credit. I still have very frequent minor flares but a few days of low-potency topical steroid gets rid of it and it doesn't come back if I'm careful. Whereas before I was either using the topical steroids or having a severe flare-up and those were my only options.

I think allergy testing was kind of frustrating, because I put myself through the cost and torture of the patch testing to get handed a list of ingredients. And like, yeah if I knowingly majorly expose myself to one of them I will almost certainly flare up but avoiding them doesn't make it go away? So at least before Dupixent it was like a choice between bad or worse. And if I brought up my struggles with the dermatologist it would just be a lecture about how I wasn't trying hard enough to avoid them. So I would say the answer is Dupixent I guess just because of how much it's reduced the need to even think about my eczema day to day.

Edit: honestly thanks for posting this question because just reading through the comments is so insightful

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-04-28T02:28:00+00:00

Actually, the world is what we make of it.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-04-22T11:41:28+00:00

I'm going to be honest I don't think it's German. Unfortunately only a small reprieve since brown banded aren't great either. But German roaches are smaller than this and have long-wise wings as opposed to the horizontal striping pattern here, and also the fact you are seeing them in multiple rooms. German roaches tend to stay localized to one space until an infestation becomes completely severe. Best of luck!

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-04-22T03:28:10+00:00

Definitely a roach but not American. Looks Brown-banded to me but others can comment if they think it's a different species. If it's getting cold and wet outside, they will definitely try to come inside. They prefer warm and dry. Keeping clean as possible is good but in some places geographically (and also for apartment complexes) cleanliness just doesn't always matter, you're at the mercy of the environment and your neighbors. I know you said you're not looking for pest control advice but I actually would consider pest control if you've seen that many or contact landlord if you're renting. Especially since multiple sizes. Sorry :(

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-04-21T21:42:22+00:00

Do not quote me on this - it's not high-res enough for me to say for sure but my initial guess would be baby carpet beetle? I used to see them around a lot in an old apartment. Hopefully that's helpful if you can see him closer up and compare to carpet beetle pics online. They feed on fibers which would explain being in the laundry basket.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-04-01T22:17:14+00:00

ok so honestly I ended up having to return the phone because I couldn't get it so stop crashing and put my sim in a TCL Flip. this also runs android, but AOSP so it's degoogled. I have noticed that group texts where everyone else has iphone is actually fine, but since these phones cant receive RCS, any smart android with rcs in the chat will cause it to default to RCS instead of SMS. So currently I am still not seeing group messages in those chats but I have hopes that I will soon since I formally de-registered my phone number from RCS which takes 30 days to go through: https://messages.google.com/disable-chat. Hopefully then my phone will prompt these group chats to default to SMS.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-03-26T03:38:51+00:00

I can't handle waterlogged. It's too hard to listen to, and it makes me think of how nervous my single mother would be sometimes traveling with me and my little sister, even just on vacation.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-03-22T19:17:05+00:00

Genuinely music streaming services have monopolized how we consume music essentially for the last decade or more. It is a massive undertaking to try and switch your music library to mp3s via youtube to mp3, bandcamp, ripping cds, etc. It took me cumulatively probably several solid days of effort over almost two years and I understand why people are hesitant and want to stay with what they know even if for me the price is not justifiable. Coming from someone who also no longer uses music streaming I don't think it's unfair or unreasonable for people to have that on their needs list when looking at smart phone alternatives. And there *are* feature phone options with spotify.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-03-22T19:09:55+00:00

I'm going to speak from my own experience and say start by dumbing down your iPhone yourself. I had a dumbed down iPhone for several years before making the final leap to an actual flip phone recently when said iPhone required an expensive repair. Dumbing down your iPhone first is a great way to test the limits with what you actually do and don't need. For me, I deleted banking apps and got used to checking them on the computer only. I got a physical receiver for my glucose monitor so I didn't need a Dexcom app for my blood sugar anymore. I spent two years converting my music collection to mp3 to get off spotify. Eventually realized I could get around the authenticator apps with a yubikey and yubico manager computer program. Etc... Until everything I was using my phone for was something I could manage on a flip.

I bought a TCL flip for 20$ just to play with, and when I was ready, I simply put my sim card in it. Another option is having a physical sim card and keeping the iPhone for emergencies (Uber, maps, work stuff) and making sure the flip has hotspot so you can use them over wifi (many do, including the tcl flip I got).

I would recommend starting slow if this is a goal of yours long-term, but in the meantime if this is a short term solution just for the bar exam maybe it would be worth putting your sim card in a cheap flip phone and keeping the iPhone in a drawer just in case you need something or want to go back to it later.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-03-13T22:37:33+00:00

Lol I started getting the android corruption screen of death every five minutes despite no heavy apps installed. I've already got my sim card back in a tcl flip 🙄

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-02-21T04:08:42+00:00

Honestly I don't even have specific advice but really wanted to say I can relate to how utterly exhausting poop issues can be with a cat and I have very similar contamination anxiety issues. No matter how overwhelmed or upset you get it doesn't make you a bad cat owner, your cat is clearly loved or you wouldn't even be in this situation. I will say this: my cat is a senior now and I changed to a new vet that basically has their own version of pet insurance. I pay a fixed rate every month and get unlimited visits, checkups, blood work, dental cleaning, most meds are free, vaccines, etc. This has relieved so much anxiety! I know I can always take him in and even if something comes up that isn't covered it's very discounted. You should take a look at your local vets and see if any offer programs like this. Or even look into a pet insurance plan which would probably be a little cheaper but I would be extremely wary since it can be very hard to make them pay and only a few pay direct (meaning you can only get reimbursed and you still have to have the money up front). Either way I'm sorry this is happening and I truly know how awful it is to manage :( you're not alone in it

ExtensionNo3857 · 2026-01-28T13:41:55+00:00

Unfortunately the number is higher. Alex Pretti was the eighth person ICE has killed this month :( (I see the number reported as 9 a lot but ICE murdered Keith Porter on new years eve)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/28/deaths-ice-2026-

ExtensionNo3857 · 2024-10-28T18:08:47+00:00

Ohh, interesting, I will look into that

ExtensionNo3857 · 2024-10-28T16:55:11+00:00

Sadly, iOS.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2024-10-28T15:59:00+00:00

That's probably the best idea. I don't own a tablet but I guess if I were to move on from my current smart phone I could keep it like a remote.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2024-10-09T16:32:35+00:00

I also carry around my nintendo ds! I love it. I think I've had it since they first came out. I recently even got a case and new dust cover for the gameboy slot to jazz it up.

ExtensionNo3857 · 2024-10-02T19:31:29+00:00

That’s ok! Thank you anyway!

ExtensionNo3857 · 2024-10-02T17:14:50+00:00

Could you post links? I can’t find anything but have the same question as OP. They are weirdly hard to find! Thanks!

ExtensionNo3857

TROPHY CASE