i think i've mentioned this a few times, but i have severe atopic dermatitis. i've had it for just about as long as i lived, and there hasn't been a day where i've truly felt comfortable. it's constantly itchy and dry and painful, and i'm naturally inclined to scratch my skin whether i'm itchy or not.

of course, i do have medication to combat this. i've used some so often, that i can actually name a few. i've used doxycycline hyclate (arguably the worst in terms of side effects), vitamin c gels and tablets, triamcinolone acetonide in both cream and ointment form, betamethasone, mupiocirin, and i'm also authorized to use dupixent because of how severe it is.

i'm only limited to only three refills per ointment tube and pill bottle, and i can run through them quick, though sometimes i do neglect my medications because of laziness. one of the leftover medications i had was a months old tube of triamcinolone, which had become oily and separated into two layers when squeezed out, because of repeated heat exposure. my skin was dry, and i couldn't find my regular tube of betamethasone, so i had to use some of the old ointment.

for a couple of minutes, it all seemed fine. my skin was moisturized, and that's all that mattered... then the swelling slowly came in. it took me a couple of minutes to realize why my skin felt so itchy all of a sudden, but after checking the moisturized area, i'd seen that the scratched up areas were now swollen and puffy, and hot to the touch. i kept scratching and putting on ointment, but i had stopped after the second time because it caught up to me that the ointment was the problem. so, as logically as possible, i grabbed a few alcohol wipes and sanitized the affected area as much as possible. i had also decided minutes after that perhaps taking antihistamines would aide in stopping the flare up, and luckily, it did. slowly, in waves of heat, the swelling had calmed down, but it still hurt and whatnot.

today, i have learned a valuable lesson: don't use expired medication, even if you really need it. i did some research, and if you put expired ointment on an open wound (which i had foolishly done), there could be adverse effects. mine was swelling skin, and thankfully nothing else, but it could have devolved into something MUCH worse, had i not tried to take care of it. ointments may not do much damage if expired, but expired pills can do a lot of harm. i'm glad i didn't keep my old pills for my ad, or it would've been the end for me (but i know better, but it's better to be safe than sorry).

i'd speak up more about this, but the antihistamines i took are starting to make me drowsy, but i'm glad it had done SOMETHING instead of nothing. not only that, i really need to pack up and hit the hay.