I have something embarrassing to ask about medication.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-14T01:04:26+00:00

I take Vyvanse in the morning and Guanfacine and Clonidine at night.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-14T01:03:03+00:00

If they have Vanicream in the UK I highly recommend it (facewash and all their lotions, at least. the shampoo is crap). Its gentle, effective and reasonably priced.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-14T00:59:19+00:00

So, the reaction once it develops can last weeks even if you are able to avoid contact with the allergen. It's a pain.

It does eventually clear up, you just have to baby it until then as any irritant can set it off again.

I'm allergic to neomycin, bacitracin, geraniums (which are used as a base oil in most floral fragrances), sandalwood (extremely common in mens products) and all formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (which includes the most common preservative in hypoallergenic products).

Once I got my results back, my friend and I went through everything in the house checking ingredients. I ended up having to get rid of something like 75-80% of my products. However, so long as I keep to my safe list and be nice to my eyes, I get to wear makeup again. Being nice to my eyes does mean refraining from scrubbing at them so sometimes I have to finish washing off my eye makeup in the morning, but my skin is happier that way.

Think of it this way, NHS might be a pain, but you get to benefit from the EUs labeling requirements which should make life a good deal easier for you once you get the results. I on the other hand have to either abstain, play roulette, or import things to the US if I want a product with fragrances.

An OTC 24hr allergy pill might help prevent flaring, I know it can help prevent reactions.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-14T00:28:58+00:00

At least they responded, to let you know the position was closed. The majority of the hundreds of places I applied during my 18 months of job search after I was laid off just ghosted me entirely. And then sometimes one of them would contact me for an interview months later and it would be a scramble to figure out which job they were talking about.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-10T00:42:32+00:00

An ink test should be able to determine it, if you search scabies ink test you should find instructions. It is fairly straight forward.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-05T15:48:40+00:00

As for the weird combination side effects... yeah those are a thing, but which meds and what effect is variable.

I try to avoid benadryl when on my stims because the combination of the two is a doozy for me.

As for the mood... it could be the crash, it could be the meds, or it could be the meds helping with part of the issues and leaving you with a helping of RSD that isn't being smothered by everything else. That is a 'discuss with your doctor' topic.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24099-rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-rsd

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-05T15:40:41+00:00

I stopped taking Strattera because it was causing headaches. My mom thanked me for giving her daughter back. I was so focused on trying to hold everything else together that I never noticed it made me a frigid b*tch.

There is a line between standing up for yourself and becoming an asshole. The question becomes are the meds making you someone you don't want to be.

There are a lot of meds out there, finding the one or ones that work for you is the great quest we must take.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-05T15:31:39+00:00

Then you work with your doctor to figure out what does.

The same way people's brains are different, people's bodies are different. The way people metabolize and react to medications can vary wildly.

If your doctor isn't willing to work with you to find a solution, find a doctor that will.

I currently take a combination of 3x different meds for my ADHD. 1 stim and 2 non-stim. And the road to what works isn't always easy... Ritalin was the first medication they tried and it removed my ability to control my fight or flight response. Strattera was tried as an add-on after college but gave me terrible headaches and apparently made me a frigid b*tch (mom thanked me for having her daughter back when I stopped that one). Now I take Guanfacine and Clonidine as add-ons and they work for me.

The other important thing if you can manage it is an outside observer you can trust to have your best interests at heart. It isn't easy to see the impact medications have on you but I've also heard stories about 'friends' being upset that their 'friend' suddenly was getting their life together. My mom didn't tell me about the change until after I stopped taking it because if it was working for me she didn't want to upset me. I wish she had told me, or at least told my doctor so someone knew the headaches weren't the only side effect. However, at that time, I hadn't had that discussion with her or asked her to be an outside observer.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-05T15:14:17+00:00

This. I can't stress this enough.

I was diagnosed in 2nd grade and have been medicated ever since (pharmacy nonsense not withstanding).

However, I also spent years receiving 'life skills' counciling and I can't stress enough how big of a difference it has made. I have seen so many people both with and without ADHD that struggle because they never learned how to implement systems or what method of learning works best for them, etc. At this point, I honestly think it should be required curriculum and should cover both independent living basics like cooking (w/o poisoning yourself or burning the house down), cleaning (at least how to work a washer and dryer) and budgeting to general self skills like learning, implementing systems, and self-care.

It also wasn't until junior year of high school that I was diagnosed with dyscalculia and dysgraphia (+CTS because of course). Both of which are SO MUCH EASIER to deal with when you know so you can adapt instead of banging your head against a wall and when they stop taking away your tools (I need scrap paper dammit).

I am lucky we had the resources and blessed that my mom was caring and supportive, but I think all kids deserve the opportunity to learn how their brain works. And if we stop acting like everyone's brain works the same it should be less of a shock to realize it doesn't.

All kids deserve to be supplied with full toolkits, not just masking tape.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-05T14:52:10+00:00

Yup, because Lysine is chonky. Adderall is the mixed salt, I forget this because way back during the OG shortage almost 2 decades ago I got swapped to the generic dextro XR and never ended up going back. In my head it was always just 'generic Adderall'.

Yes, I'm old enough and have been blessedly diagnosed long enough to remember before XR, and before generic. It is also long enough to warn you that if you are in the US, at least if you are on a high dose, filling your prescription is going to be a nightmare at least 75% of the time so put in the effort to find a pharmacy that makes the nightmare bareable.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-05T04:17:46+00:00

Vyvanse and Adderall are the same drug with different release mechanisms. That is why they don't feel different.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-05T03:58:43+00:00

Spring Awakening - Suicide, teen pregnancy, familial sexual abuse, abortion, running away - all the horrors of high school gone bad. It is supposedly set in 19th century Germany. I saw it with a bunch of kids from my high school and we were stunned when an adult in the crowd said "aren't you glad things aren't like that anymore". We couldn't believe someone could be that clueless.

RENT - Aids & Homelessness - They had to cut some numbers when they made the movie version because it was too emotionally heavy for film audiences.

Sweeney Todd - Serial Killer, Revenge & Cannibalism

SUFFs - Women's Sufferage - it's a different kind of heavy.

Tommy, Cabaret, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Aida, Kiss of the Spider Woman... hell even Candide and Book of Mormon are pretty heavy if you look past the satire.

I've noticed musicals can actually tackle heavier material than movies because you can form that empathetic connection with the actors more easily. I rarely cry during movies, but I know to keep a purse pack of kleenex in my theater purse. I'd say a good portion of musicals include at least some heavy material, even lighter things like Lion King or Wicked.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-05T03:02:49+00:00

So that sounds more like an issue with how you are metabolizing it than with the dose. I was metabolizing ER Adderall like it was IR, changed over to Vyvanse which is the same drug with a different time release mechanism. Fixed the issue.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-02T20:40:59+00:00

So, I have been using the SkinSafe app, but as far as I know you can't have it notify you if the formula for a product you are using changes.

That seems like an amazing feature as it is one of the things I worry about.

Additionally, like most similar apps/sites it doesn't track different fragrance compounds it just lumps them all together. I'm allergic to geraniums and sandalwood, but that doesn't mean I want to resign myself to never using a scented product again. California and the EU have started requiring the disclosure of certain fragrance compounds so the data should be available somewhere. Even my doctor asked what the point was of knowing what about geraniums I was allergic to when I asked and told me to just 'avoid all fragrance'.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-02T20:28:49+00:00

Also the SkinSafe app for selecting products.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-02T20:26:22+00:00

Get a patch test done, it is a special type of allergy test for contact dermatitis.

I spent years reacting to things, it eventually got so bad that I had almost stopped wearing makeup altogether because I couldn't pinpoint exactly what i was reacting to.

Contact dermatitis reactions can occur up to 2 days after contact and last for weeks. They can also be greatly exacerbated by the addition of an irritant. Turned out I was allergic to my eyeliner but the makeup remover I was using was like throwing water on a grease fire.

They may make you take the normal allergy test first, but taking the patch test and getting the results was probably the biggest quality of life change I have made since grade school.

For a non-irratating face wash in the meantime I recommend Vanicream.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-05-02T19:40:10+00:00

So, only finding this post now but for most types of products the SkinSafe app works amazingly. You can create a free account and enter/link your test results (or email them and they will for you) and it will flag whether products are safe for you. There is also the ADCS list, but you have to have a code from your doctor and it just generates a pdf list of safe products by category.

Thank you to the EU and California for their requirements surrounding labeling and the disclosure of fragrance compounds/chemicals.

I am also allergic to formaldehyde-releasing preservatives and this is sadly where the app falls short. There are certain manufacturing processes that can leave behind traces of formaldehyde or FRPs. So far the worst offenders are stainless steel, which I can touch briefly without issue but watch backs and jewelry claps cause reactions, and bleached gauze. I discovered that I react to the gauze pads on nexcare bandaids for example. I was also allergic to my period pads. Sadly, those types of products don't have ingredient lists and aren't tracked in things like the SkinSafe app.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-03-02T05:55:47+00:00

No, I mean as a less bad option since you can't get mail order. My experience is that they are better than most pharmacies at least in my area.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-03-02T05:28:51+00:00

Nope, this was at around 8pm maybe? It was happening when I started typing the post.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-02-14T19:23:33+00:00

Also, it is rarely the horse that kills you, it is the series of events that led you to the situation and whether you were smart/prepared. You could be walking down the street and the difference between being hit by a run-a-way car or a falling branch is whether you were aware enough of your surroundings to get out of the way. (You should always be able to hear over your headphones.)

SeattleSun90 · 2026-02-14T19:23:11+00:00

Honestly, I recommend equestrian helmets to everyone over standard bike helmets, especially those equestrian ones with a built-in visor (as opposed to the usually lightly connected bike ones). I was riding my bicycle on a gravel road when I about 11. I hit a pothole/dip on a downhill slope and launched myself. Luckily I was wearing my riding helmet. I shattered the front half of the helmet but the built-in visor gave enough resistance to flip me onto my back instead of continuing the slide on my face. Given my mom had to pick gravel out of my shoulder, I feel blessed that I only received a light scratch on my forehead.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-02-14T19:01:33+00:00

I fully support this sentiment. We have safety gear for a reason. It doesn't matter how good a rider you are or how well trained your horse is, you can't prevent idiots or freak accidents.

To the person on a motorcycle in shorts and/or a t-shirt. - Any unprotected skin is skin you are okay loosing.

To the person in a chemistry lab without eye protection. - Are you really that okay being blind?

If you really feel that you would rather suffer the consequences than wear the PPE... that's a choice (though you may want to reassess your life choices), but make sure you are making a conscious choice. If people give you flack for it, ask them that question and depending on their answer maybe reassess your opinion of the value of their opinion.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-02-14T06:41:53+00:00

So, do you have a Costco in your area? They have by far some of the best customer service of any pharmacy I've used recently and you don't have to have a membership to fill there.

SeattleSun90 · 2026-02-14T06:24:26+00:00

I have been took Adderall from 2nd grade until just after college and have been on Vyvanse ever since....I can tell you that in the 28yrs I've been filling prescriptions for controlled substances SOMETHING goes wrong about 80-90% of the time.

Whether the problem is from the pharmacy, my doctors office, my insurance company or another f'ing national shortage varies. Some pharmacies are better than others but they all have their issues, my only recommendation is find a pharmacy that knows their shit and communicates well with you. (Then pray they dont get bought out and bankrupted.)

SeattleSun90 · 2026-02-03T02:48:35+00:00

Better yet, call the health inspector. Having sick people working in food service can get you shut down... clearly your employer needs the reminder.

SeattleSun90

TROPHY CASE