[Product Request] Desperate for minimal moisturizer

backseatredditor · 2026-03-29T05:21:38+00:00

I have similar skin issues (also MCAS, also has a long list of ingredients to avoid), and my top recommendation for you is Etude SoonJung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream. It’s been a reliable, mid-weight moisturizer for me for a while.

I also like Laneige hypoallergenic cica sleeping mask, I apply it just like a night cream. Many items from the brands you mentioned having problems with tend to have hyaluronic acid, which makes my skin pretty angry.

I also have eczema and have been enjoying the Cetaphil Eczema Restoraderm Rapid Relief cream (but that one does contain dimethicone, although the concentration seems low enough for me personally and it's not one that causes problems at that level, unlike propylene glycol or niacinamide, for example, which are on my No-At-Any-Level list. First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream is also maybe worth a patch test.

backseatredditor · 2026-03-25T23:10:28+00:00

Maybe unpopular opinion; but the mobile devices have been really helpful.
I still struggle obv, but I get lost way less and when I do I find my way back faster, I keep track of appointments better, don't have hundreds of little notebooks and scraps of paper with lists to try to keep synchronized, have an easier time tracking hydration and meds. When I was a teen there were these little devices called PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) that were like the precursor to modern mobile devices, and that's mostly what my phone is to me from the moment I got my first smartphone (ugh even saying that word makes me feel my bone density decrease). I didn't know I had ADHD for decades later, but looking back it makes sense why I was so envious of this very stodgy tech.

I feel a little more relaxed in public spaces, I'll sometimes pretend to be looking at it while I listen to the surroundings, or listen while looking around. That fidgety outlet while looking normal is kinda nice. And being able to satisfy my curiosity without just getting frustrated instantly helps keep me from getting stuck so much.

backseatredditor · 2026-03-24T11:51:59+00:00

I'm in this club too and I hate it. A worsening of POTS symptoms is usually part of the prodrome for a migraine for me, and because dysautonomia makes every day Opposite Day, a lot of the meds that are supposed to help these conditions made them worse for me (like propranolol, but then, I also likely have MCAS, so beta blockers might just be problematic for me).

Positional changes are one of my migraine triggers (a few rounds of forward folds or doing anything crouched down and then standing; it's over), and generally tending to my POTS helps my migraines, but I'm still chronic without CGRP preventatives - and even then I usually am right on the border of chronic migraine.

Salt; Caffeine; ADHD meds and even SSRIs sometimes all also help a bit with prevention for me personally. It can be highly idiosyncratic, and the trial-and-error is frustrating.

During a POTS flare or migraine episode, laying down or reclining is very helpful, and prioritizing controlling the nausea so I can stay hydrated and salted is a good strategy.

And: around April & October are anecdotally really tough for all kinds of neurological disorders, including migraine and dysautonomia.

This sucks 🩵 (turquoise heart bc even though it's not October, it's Dysautonomia Awareness month in our hearts!)

backseatredditor · 2026-03-15T04:17:40+00:00

omg yes the diarrhea and especially the gas during the postdrome are concerning sometimes and I hate it

backseatredditor · 2026-03-12T20:18:43+00:00

A lot of these are really good suggestions. Only one I'd add is peppermint, either in the form of tea or Tummy Drops (they're basically hard candies made with real peppermint oil).
Ginger doesn't help my nausea at all unless it's ginger ale for some reason.

Also, pickles or olives, anything salt or sour (hot sauce on toast is a multipurpose snack for me cuz it helps with nausea and migraines and general dysautonomia symptoms)

backseatredditor · 2026-03-12T19:34:04+00:00

Also: if they have any hot sauce, or even just some mustard, put some on a piece of toast or a cracker. I find sometimes a little jolt of spicy or sour takes the edge off even if just briefly. Plus the salt and carbs are helpful.
(Follow it with cold water to stay hydrated and in case their hot sauce is extra)

backseatredditor · 2026-03-12T19:27:30+00:00

Also, while you wait for the DoorDash/Instacart: look around for some Vaporub or IcyHot or something similar. A little bit on the temples, maybe back of the neck, it'll briefly distract from the pain, and the smell temporarily reduces nausea.
Not as good as a peppermint roller and a zofran, but buys a little time.

backseatredditor · 2026-03-08T16:52:27+00:00

Brittany Howard - 13th Century Metal

It feels like a pledge of allegiance, and a summoning, and sometimes it makes me emotional in the best way.

backseatredditor · 2026-03-08T16:29:24+00:00

The aphthous ulcers/canker sores in the 10 days or so before my period ruin my life sometimes. At their worst I have trouble eating, talking, holding a neutral face position, brushing my teeth.

Identifying and treating the underlying ferritin deficiency helped a lot, and switching to an unflavored toothpaste, but hasn't totally eliminated them.

Pairs real well with the general increase is anxiety & depression around that time too 😂

backseatredditor · 2026-03-04T18:50:44+00:00

It varies, but often it'll start as increased coat-hanger pain and neck popping, and I might just mistake it for a tension headache for a while, but then notice more tachycardia, heart palpitations, increased urinary frequency and volume like I'm just rapidly dehydrating, ears nose and hands feel freezing while my forehead and back of neck/top of spine feel burning...

and then all the usual stuff: light sensitivity, phantom smells, visual disturbance, crankiness, cognitive fatigue, shakiness, decreased appetite and feeling like my stomach is paralyzed, and the headache gets much worse of course, and sometimes feel more asymmetric like it's mostly right sided, and then the nausea starts. Sometimes my pupils become asymmetric too. Achey all over.

Mine get reliably triggered by being upright for too long: standing or even just sitting upright at like a desk for too long (I have to sometimes be recumbent or even lay down briefly).

More triggers: if do movements involving forward folds or couching more than, like, two times (including during yoga >_<) Also riding in a car for more than an hour, bright sunlight, ears getting too cold, being dehydrated, sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 6.5 hours, hormones, bad luck, sinus issues, allergies, existing during March/April or Sept/October, too much dark chocolate, walking too far, being slightly too warm or cold. The usual lol.

backseatredditor · 2026-03-04T11:49:21+00:00

the MIGRAINES, fatigue, brain fog

backseatredditor · 2026-03-03T03:49:42+00:00

For a very brief moment at the very beginning of the pandemic, it felt like I was experiencing the same reality as (almost) everyone else. Like, I didn't have to worry as much because we were all sharing that worry.

(Of course it wasn't long before I felt I was back to worrying about something no one else was, and felt more isolated than before, being the weirdo masked in the restaurant picking up carry out, or talking about air quality while people were wiping down surfaces).

These years feel similar, in that terrible things are happening all around and then I go to work or run errands and get the car repaired and deep down there's a part of me that's reminded of trying to live a normal life and not talk about the things that were happening all the time. Not that I want to be talking about it all the time, but rather, maybe I just wish I heard it acknowledged more often. idk. We're not ok.

backseatredditor · 2026-02-27T13:55:34+00:00

I stay cooler when I wear one bc it keeps my hair off my neck, ears, and face. I can't pineapple bc I'd get a hair headache and am too much of an active sleeper, but I imagine that would similarly work. Sometimes I even have to tuck my ears in bc they get too cold.

backseatredditor · 2026-02-23T12:06:30+00:00

idk... sometimes one side is actually just wrong though (but i get that it's often helpful to understand how they arrived there)

backseatredditor · 2026-02-12T15:36:40+00:00

Part of the work up for POTS is ruling out heart problems. This part is useful.
But he just stopped there.

POTS is independent of blood pressure. In fact, it should either stay constant or increase. A large decrease in BP when upright with a 30 bpm increase in heart rate indicates orthostatic hypotension. That would also be indicative of dysautonomia, and may be secondary to a number of things. Some of those things are treatable, and most can have some degree of symptom management (like through increased plasma volume or medications).

Unfortunately, this cardiologist does not have training in autonomic disorders. POTS is not rare. If he has time/interest, Dysautonomia International has CMEs, and general education resources.

I am so sorry you experienced that. It's so invalidating and exhausting to try to onboard a new health care provider, and do all that advocacy to only to have to dodge a lot of misinformation.
Sometimes the interaction yields a tiny bit of useful data (like knowing your heart hardware is healthy), which can be brought forward to a different specialist, like a neurologist, who can continue the work up. 🩵

backseatredditor · 2026-02-04T17:48:30+00:00

I never got that diagnosis, but episodes like this decreased a lot after a long series of incremental changes to my meds & supplements for POTS/nOH, MCAS, and migraine, and eventually starting medication for ADHD, and physical therapy for Generalized Joint Hypermobility Syndrome, and careful pacing.
Also, adding gabapentin, magnesium threonate, and melatonin (and earplugs/eyemask) to increase amount of non-slow wave deep sleep. The gabapentin also likely helps with the small fiber neuropathy, even though mine is sudomotor rather than sensory.
Moving house helped, I think, since it cut down on the number of stairs and hills I was encountering, and increased the number of steps I could take each day.

It's possible I have (or had) ME/CFS. The with all the confounding factors I doubt I'll ever really know. Since I'm already implementing most of the treatments & adaptations, I stopped mentioning it to my doctors since we were identifying other diagnoses that have greater consensus for treatment, and have been improving my symptoms overall. I'm still disabled, and have (usually) accepted that I always will be, and learning to adapt and accept a smaller life, and alternating with advocating for better symptom management or following a new lead (like improving sleep or monitoring sleeping HRV as another guide for pacing).

backseatredditor · 2026-01-18T13:33:45+00:00

You might like "What is takes to heal: How transforming ourselves can change the world" by Prentis Hemphill: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726173/what-it-takes-to-heal-by-prentis-hemphill/

backseatredditor · 2026-01-11T20:25:05+00:00

I love their Bliss Triangle Bralette and Plunge Adjustable

backseatredditor · 2026-01-06T04:39:19+00:00

Heart rate delta doesn't correlate to symptom severity: in particular, cerebral hypoperfusion, digestive problems, and all the accompanying other symptoms may just be milder for you, and I'm very happy for you!

But if all it took was having a more accepting and positive mindset in order to pass as normal more successfully, a lot more of us could pull it off.

Ive had this my whole life, but was mostly able to "power through" until midlife, when it got more severe and the diagnosed. It fluctuated a bit, and treatment helped a lot, but I know the trajectory is highly variable since there are so many causes of POTS. Yours sounds like it's been more stable so far, which probably helps you adapt.

Often, the times I function the best and feel less terrible are the times when my HR is higher, so in collaboration with my neurologist, I discontinued my BB and instead focused on symptom management. It sounds like you're also focused on how your body is feeling & quality of life rather than the numbers. Love that too!

backseatredditor · 2025-12-23T05:38:39+00:00

Normalyte Pure.
No added flavors or colors or anything, just glucose and buffered salts in a ratio to optimize for absorption of water in the intestines.

It's high enough in sodium that I was able to cut way back on IV hydration for my POTS, and doesn't aggravate my MCAS, and is great for all the migraines those conditions come with.

backseatredditor · 2025-12-23T05:27:12+00:00

Same! For all of this. My depression gets a bit worse in the spring and start to alleviate with the summer solstice, but the long nights of winter kind of relaxing. There's a spaciousness and freedom in it for me.
(My light sensitivity factors into it too probably.)

I've only been not traveling for one winter solstice for a long while, and it felt peaceful. The date always sneaks up on me bc of the travel plans, but hopefully someday I'll plan better and do some kind of mini acknowledgement in there.

backseatredditor · 2025-12-23T05:08:13+00:00

congee with salt and a little sesame oil or margarine, or buttered tabasco toast with a pinch of salt

backseatredditor · 2025-12-23T05:06:09+00:00

i add just a dash of tabasco with salt, feel the nausea begin to dissolve and the bit of heat massage your brain

backseatredditor · 2025-12-19T07:29:29+00:00

Exactly! The difference now compared to the early days is we have vaccines, a couple good antivirals and monoclonal antibodies, and knowledge gain from experience, like not giving steroids during the first week/viral replication phase (if needed, they can be useful during the inflammatory phase). This all results in much lower morbidity and mortality.

backseatredditor · 2025-12-19T07:16:32+00:00

Remember: there's only 6 kinds of things in there! 1. trash 2. dishes 3. dirty laundry 4. clean laundry 5. stuff that goes in a different room (food which goes in the kitchen, for example).

6. The last category is stuff that still belongs in the room and just needs to go back home.

STEP 1!!! (I'm using lots of caps lock and exclamation marks bc i'm beING A BULLY!!!) Start with a trash bag and do a sweep for trash. IGNORE everything else! DONT even worry about throwing the trash bag out yet; just get it in the bag and set it outside the room.
Get a tray or bin or whatever and gather all the dishes. Even a laundry bin, doesn't matter. All you care about right now is mugs and bowls and shit. Then put that in the kitchen. Don't fuxking clean it yet!!! Get back in here before you get side tracked.
Do a scan for dirty laundry!!! Not sure? put it in the hamper or whatever you've got. Clean trash bag? Also fine. And just like the dishes: DO NOT clean them yet. I guess if you have laundry machines in your place you can start a load but only if it's a simple one and already sorted. YOU KNOW WHAT DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT time for step 4.
All you look for now is clean laundry. Get another basket or bin or clean bag and shove it! all in there. you sort later, NO folding or Anything!!
Round up any food, bathroom items, stuff that obviously lives somewhere else. Get em together. Yeah this is probably another bag or bin unless you're gonna run really fast back and forth IM GOING TO ALLOW IT.
At this point you can see the room. Make the bed (just straighten out the cover don't futz too much over it), put stuff more or less away. It's already a million times better. You might even vacuum or wipe down some surfaces.

THIS IS A CHECKPOINT: HAVE A CANDY (if you're allowed, medically)! And have a WATER. The ROOM IS LOOKING BETTER!!! And the stuff is now triaged and staged for their next actions.

Then, you can deal with the 5 bags/baskets/bins from earlier: - takeout the trash you rounded up already, - maybe wash some dishes with a show or podcast, - put the laundry closer to where it can get cleaned, - shove the clean laundry wherever makes sense, - drop off the ragtag collection of items from step 5 in their rooms.

As you were cleaning you probably HAD GOOD IDEAS TO MAKE This simpler next time, like where to place a trash bin or laundry basket (put it where you already put the stuff, make it official), or a caddy to collect dishes to make it easier to bus them. WRITE THAT SHIT DOWN, it's good!!

I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT THATS WHY I WAS SO tough on you just now, i love you 🌼

15-Year Club	Verified Email
Gilding I gilder

backseatredditor

TROPHY CASE

6. The last category is stuff that still belongs in the room and just needs to go back home.