u/hypernoble

I’m so confused and frustrated at this point. I switched to 365 unscented powder, dirty labs booster, and downy rinse as my previous routine of liquid tide free and gentle wasn’t getting clothes clean enough. Ever since switching to the new routine, almost every single piece of clothing I wash has a massive about of pilling and fuzz. Nice brands, super expensive cotton, it doesn’t matter. And these are all mostly years old pieces. I use the recommended amount of detergent, I even tried pre-dissolving it. I always wash and dry on low heat. I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m panicking because my expensive stuff feels like it’s getting destroyed.

Am I using too many enzymes? Is the powder too alkaline? No cellulase? Help!

I wanna hear y’all gush about your supportive partners! I wanted to make this post because I have been chronically ill for almost my entire life and always thought I deserved to be treated badly or abandoned because I was a burden, etc. It’s how my parents treated me— with disdain and sometimes disgust. It took me til I was almost 30, having gone through a series of awful-to-mediocre partners who did the bare minimum or worse, to find someone who treats me amazingly, and always reminds me I DESERVE that because I am an amazing person and chronic illness has nothing to do with my soul. We all deserve this, and I really didn’t believe that most of my life. It was only when I saw people online talking about how well their partners treated them that I started to realize…it could be possible to have a better experience.

I’ll start: my partner and I are engaged, have been together 4 years, and they’ve seen some SHIT in those 4 years. My MCAS came back full force, I lost my job, became housebound, they had to almost quit their job to watch over my every day, I got cancer (gone now!), I had severe long covid that almost killed me, and more. Not once did they waver. They never left my side and never, ever made me feel like a burden. They watch over me and take care of me no matter how tired they are. They never hesitate to help me with something or make sure I’m comfortable. Sometimes I find them passed out sitting up in bed with their phone in their hand because they were staying up way past their bedtime with me so I don’t feel alone when I’m scared at night 🥺 and they never, ever get upset if I have to wake them up for something illness related. And somehow, they still manage to effortlessly shift out of “caretaker” mode and always want me and tell me how hot I am every day 😂 even when I feel like a bridge troll, haven’t showered, am wearing all my ugly ass medical gear. We ofc make sure to care for their burnout, we discuss that and how things can be hard, but they absolutely never make it my problem and make sure to tell me none of it is my fault, and they’re in therapy and support groups to help. Just this morning I woke up to a cute note from them with my meds wrapped up in a little origami paper, my electrolyte water filled, and some snacks to take my meds with in a cooler next to my bed. I firmly believe they are an angel walking this earth and one of the most beautiful people to ever exist. Life is so hard but they made it so much less awful to get through 💗 they always see the “me” through the cloud of all my physical issues.

I don’t know wth is going on, but welcome all advice. For the past year, I’ve been successfully treating my lifelong MCAS for the first time. I got on Cromolyn and high dose Zyrtec, adopted a strict low histamine diet, (usually) wear an N95 outside for pollen, and over many months finally got to the point where I felt actually GOOD and stopped having constant throat tightness and anaphylactic events. For a month I was feeling almost normal.

Then about a month ago, I just woke up one day with air hunger and it’s never gone away. I thought it was maybe a POTS or anxiety issue, as it seemed to get better with exercise or distraction. However, recently exercise has been making it worse. I went for a brisk walk up and down hills yesterday and I was DYING. I felt like I was suffocating in my lungs and my nose, couldn’t breath enough air into my lungs and they hurt like hell still this morning.

My oxygen dipped to 94% in the middle of the walk but usually is always 97-99% even during my air hunger. I don’t wheeze or cough. I tested all major nutrients I could think of and have good levels on all of them, including iron and B12. I have no idea what’s going on and have terrible health anxiety so I’m convinced I have something horribly wrong with me.

Could this be another manifestation of MCAS? Allergic asthma, even though it only just started feeling worse with exertion? Would love to hear from anyone else who has had these symptoms. I’m 30F never smoked and praying it’s not something structural.

Fellow laundry scientists, I approach you humbled. I am stumped on this one! I’ve been trying to fix this issue for a year now to no avail, researching this sub and elsewhere, even getting a new dryer thinking that was the problem. It was not!

No matter what I try, my clothes come out of the washer feeling oddly tacky, like there is a film on them, and I can feel it on my fingers. Then when I dry them, they become rough and stiff even before they’re fully dry. I notice some smells are being retained as well.

I try to cover all my bases. I use an appropriate amount of Tide Free&Clear liquid, citric acid in the rinse, warm or hot water, and I dry my clothes on the lowest setting til just dry.

My latest scientific rabbit hole is that I possibly have extremely hard water (well water), but we have a whole house water softener.

Any ideas or next steps to try? I realize I’m missing lipase and need to get a booster, but I don’t think that could be causing this issue...

Just reminiscing on when I came out to my parents as trans...I drove an hour to their house just to sit down and tell them in person (ugh) and prepped for days beforehand. I was sitting with my mom one-on-one and started explaining my situation. She interrupted me like 5 minutes in to angrily (?!) tell me that she knew exactly what I was going through because she was adopted, and it’s just like how life was for her because she was adopted. She launched into an entire diatribe about it IN THE MIDDLE OF MY COMING OUT TO HER AS TRANS. And she sounded intensely angry for absolutely no reason while doing it! Pretty sure I stared at her in open disbelief and at one point just burst out laughing because I couldn’t deal with how insane it was. Why do they sometimes act like aliens who just crash landed on earth and have never spoken to another human lol

I’ve been on a strict low histamine diet for 3 months, and along with Cromolyn + H1s it has been a godsend for my attacks. I make all my own food and freeze instantly, since I can’t have any leftovers or takeout. I have a pretty restricted food list atm, but I try really hard to hit all my macros and nutrients. I even make my own damn pumpkin seed butter.

As a result, I’m eating by FAR the healthiest I’ve ever been in my life. I feel superhuman in the digestion department. I’ve had lifelong severe constipation, early fullness, reflux, and bloating. I have zero of those things now. I didn’t even know it was possible for my body to be this regular without laxatives! I’m never bloated! It’s insane! I feel like a freaking god of fiber and minerals.

And that’s where the silver lining stops, lol. I almost cry when the rest of my family eats delicious food around me. But it’s an unexpected cool side effect of this godforsaken nightmare!

Bit of a tongue in cheek title, but my mom, a prestigious psychiatrist, never has anything helpful or good to say when I’m dealing with any kind of issue. She always says the most unhelpful, plausible deniability type bullshit and then immediately acts offended if I’m like “huh, that was an odd thing to say”. I usually find it funny, but right now I’m fuming…

For background, I have an allergic disease that has caused me hundreds of episodes of anaphylaxis, I lost my job, on disability, barely getting through the day etc. I had to temporarily move back in with my parents. They are well aware of my disease and have made it 100x worse in almost every way.

Today, I’m in a flare. I had 2 moderate anaphylactoid episodes last night that were scary and awful. I went downstairs, and my dad mentioned he wanted to mow the lawn. I hesitantly (because i’m used to getting pushback) asked if he could please hold off for a couple days, because my attacks were really bad last night, and lawn mowing really sets off my flares. My mom immediately, not looking at me, said to my dad “well if you hold off you’ll have to wait a while because it’s going to rain…” aka trying to convince him not to? At no point did she ask me how I was doing, acknowledge my attacks, or offer any form of comfort/kindness. She then looked at me placidly and said “So pollen sets you off? Have you considered moving to the city?” And then went back to looking at her phone.

I came from the city to move back in with them because of losing my job due to my illness.

That was her entire response to what I said. What kind of weird ass response is it to ask me about moving to the city in the middle of me asking very politely if we could hold off on the lawn for a couple days?

I responded in my most neutral grey rock tone “uh…I’m not sure. That’s a bit of a strange thing to say at this moment“ and she INSTANTLY, like she was waiting for it, went off— “I’M NOT TRYING TO ATTACK YOU! I’M JUST ASKING QUESTIONS, GOD!” acting like I’m a complete asshole. This pattern has been going on for my entire life.

It’s hard because she’s very intelligent, educated, and cunning and she knows exactly how to be cruel in the most minuscule, hard to pin down ways.

Can’t wait for Mother’s Day, am I right folks? 🫠