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Antihistamine and electrolysis
Hello all
I trust/hope Amanda will add the usual medical disclaimer to this. Please don’t just take my word for it and jump to my dose etc without talking to a GP and trying lower doses first, especially of you’ve not taken Antihistamines before.I’ve been struggling along with electrolysis for well over 12 months now – getting there slowly I think. I read somewhere that Antihistamines are useful. For a while I have been taking one Polaramine tablet before each session with maybe some improvement. Recently I switched to 2 tablets. I have noticed the hairs seem to come out far easier – we are really cooking now actually! I’m also getting far less reaction after the treatment as well.
After 12 months on HRT and my hormone levels in the general female range since around Xmas time, it could be that my hormone levels are a (or the) factor. I am not going to submit to a control test to find out though!
It seems to work for me anyway. One draw back though is it wipes me out for the next 24 hours.
Cheers
Sarah -
5 Replies
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Hi Sarah
You mentioned in your post about the after affects of electrolosys. I would like to start on it for my face but am s!*t scared of the lingering affects after treatment. Could you tell me what the after affects you experients are.Thanks
Bree
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Hi Sarah….
I’ve been full time for three years now but I havent started electrolisis.
I had eighteen months of ILP treatment but most of my hairs are grey and dont respond to that.
Did the anti-histomines help with the pain discomfort at all? I am afraid I’m a bit of a sook I think !
I used to take Polaramines since high school for hay-fever so Im quite used to them. I never felt drowsy at all though….. we are all different.
BTW…how do you find the pain discomfort level?Cheers
Monique
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Hi Bree & Monique
After effects I have encountered are looking like a pimply teenager for up to more than a week after a treatment. I usually have an hour and a half treatment each week so I ALWAYS look like a pimply teenager (without the youth…). Sometimes there is some swelling but that doesn’t last long.I do have some scarring though from when we used to focus on clearing one area. Since we started to spread the load about, I seem to have very little scarring. It’s hard to tell as I don’t get too many breaks long enough to see how things will heal up over time. See the feedback I got on this here:
As for the pain, I have used some anaesthetic cream I got through chance which helps but only does so much as it only effects the surface – the worst of the pain is deeper than that! So I wouldn’t really rate it as worth it if I had to pay for it. Different parts of the face hurt more than others and in new and fascinating ways! The top lip is the worst. What makes it so bad for me is, in addition to hurting, it sets off an allergy reaction which is discomforting (and gross!) but I also find very energy draining. This is why I started with the antihistamines in the first place. I have had advice from my GP that getting local anaesthetic injections before treatments is not advisable. Again, seek your own advice!
Monique- you are full time so be aware you have to grow some stubble so the hairs can be seen and plucked. Even with my HRT slowed growth, three days is sufficient.
OK, so it hurts and costs a bomb over time but what other options are there?… so I go back every week for more becuase another after effect is less and less facial hair! It’s slow, insidious really, and easy to get despondent but I am getting there. Each that’s pulled is another step closer to a ‘male’ hair free face and there are only so many hairs. I will get there!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Start hair removal YESTERDAY! Even if you only think you might be TS, start anyway! It’s terribly slow, frightfully expensive but (IMO) essential. Even if you never transition, would you miss your facial hair?
Hope that answers your questions
Cheers
Sarah -
“BTW…how do you find the pain discomfort level?
Cheers
Monique”Everyone is different but these are my experiences…
I had IPL, SIPL, ELOS over a period of a year – some 14 sessions. On a pain level of 0~10 where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain you have ever experienced, mine were as follows…
For me all the light pulse procedures were a pain level of 2 and electrolysis was a 7. I found topical anesthetic products helpful in reducing the pain levels for electrolysis especially after I had stated hormones which made my skin more sensitive to pain. I found EMLA brand products expensive and quite noneffective and I ended up importing a product from Florida USA as it was not a cream that required covering with plastic film (like EMLA) but is a gel.
The electrolysis for me, each individual ‘zapping’ is not particularly painful but with over 2 hour sessions, like I had, the pain tends to build up and that’s where any small amount of pain reduction, like the topical gel did help me.
The gel I imported can be purchased here…
one 120gm bottle would last me about 20 sessions.
The financial pain from electrolysis- I think there is no cure from apart from buying your own machine and paying for the training an assistant, then giving them a machine when completed. Actually am not joking – this would have been a much cheaper option for me. It all depends on how much hair and how stubborn it is… In my case…[Electrolysis blend machine about AU$2,000) vs $2/min at 280 hours (16,800 min) do the math!!! eek!]
~byes~
bambi -
Hi Sarah and Bambi,
Thank you so much for your advice. Bambi I have been following your journey for some time and I would just like to say thankyou from not just myself but I think a lot of girls here have benefitted in one way or another from your writing of trials and tribulations and advise. And for mine you are looking wonderful.Thanks again
Hugz
Bree
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