68 replies to this topic

[soozicee]

Alright, here we go. Warning: this is going to be extremely long, and, of course, I'm going to forget to mention a thousand things, so bear with me...

After finding this message board a couple of days ago I've decided to start my own log of my adventure on Accutane, the devil, or, the complete opposite, I have yet to decide. Here's a little bit of my history.

I am a 25 year old female who began having horrible breakouts about this time last year. I had always had problems with my skin, here and there, since pueberty. I got my first cyst when I was in 8th grade at the age of 12. The dermatologist injected that sucker once a week for about 3 months until it finally went away. After that I had what I would call mild acne, only in my T-Zone (I'm a super greasy Italian girl) and nothing like that first cyst. Between now and then I was taking Ortho Tri-Cyclen for a couple of years, and although it made me gain weight, I think it did help out with my skin. Then began the saga...

Last year, around this time, I started getting cysts again. Maybe one or two a month, nothing crazy, but you know they can last for a while. My mom suggested I try Proactive, so I figured, hell, I'll give it a whirl. To my surprise, it worked, but only for about a month, and mainly because it just dried the crap out of my face. After my skin got used to it, it was completely worthless although I did press on and use that crap for the next 6 months. Bogus. When last summer came, things started go get bad, mainly around my nose and chin which was odd because I never really dealt with chin acne. It was mostly cysts and a few smaller whiteheads here and there which weren't a big deal (is it absolutely absurd that the whiteheads didn't bother me at all? I guess only someone with cystic acne can sympathize). Finally, I decided it was time to see a dermatologist again. So, mid July I called and made an appointment. Of course, the first available appointment was in October. !!! Seriously. How ridiculous, right? Well, my after my first long awaited appointment, I came out with a perscription for Minocyclen. I had my doubts about this b/c my body usually takes antibiotics and spits them out. Quickly. What I mean by this is that my body tends to reject antibiotics after being on them for more than a month, which, eventually, I'd say by the 4th month or so began to happen with the Minocyclen. It worked like a miracle for the first few months, then, suddenly, no response. I even started to get nauseaus and dizzy on it. So I had to stop. Worst move, EVER. My acne came back like a bat out of hell. At least 5 times worse than before. I knew it was finally time to start the Accutane.

This was in March. My Dermatologist agreed and we started the huge annoying process (Ipledge is like capital punishment). I got my first preg test/blood work at the beginning of May and had my Derm appointment on May 6th. Then, began hell week. Since my doctor wasn't quite sure how the Ipledge system worked yet (I, apparently, was the first to start Accutane under the new system), she said we'd have to wait until it was one month from when I first registered with Ipledge (April 14th) to enter the junk into the computer and answer the questions and finally, FINALLY, get a perscription. So. We waited.

Fast forward to May 15th (May 14th was a Sunday). I called the dermatologist as soon as they opened and spoke to my Dr's assistant who told me she was going to do her part, then call me so that I could do mine. She called me that afternoon and told me that she had messes something up and we would have to wait 24 hours for Ipledge to take care of it. Total bummer, but she's a nice lady, so I forgave her.

Tuesday, May 16th. After calling the derm office about 3 times, they finally were able to get back into the Ipledge system to input my data. She called me, I did my part, and she called in my script. I went to the pharmacy to pick it up and they told me that they didn't have it, and that they ordered it, to come pick it up the next day.

Wednesday, May 17th. I called the pharmacy in the morning to see if my drugs were in. The guy said exactly this "Oh, yes, we got them in this morning, but you know it cost $144.00, right?" WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! Here is where I flip out. Um, no. I'm supposed to have a $15.00 co-pay on generics, and I KNOW that my doc called in a generic b/c we talked about it only about a bazillion times. He said that the 30mg Sotret that she called in wasn't a generic. Ok. Calm down. Call the derm. Of course, my doc and her assistant are both off on Wednesday. How very convienient. So I spoke with other people in the office who were all convinced that Sotret WAS in fact the generic. I called the pharmacy back to tell them that the Sotret IS supposed to be the generic and that's what my derm office is advising me of. The guy was like, um, no, they're wrong. So, on to my insurance company. Called them, and this is what I find out. Sotret in 10mg, 20mg and 40mg are all generic, but Sotret in 30mg is not. WHAT???? Um. ok, breathe. So. My insurance company advises me to call the dr. and ask them to change the script to one 10mg and one 20mg (hence, 30mg) a day, so instead of paying $144.00 a month, I'll only have to pay $30.00 a month. Much better. So, I jumped through a ton of hoops, and finally got the derm office to have another dr. (mine wouldn't be in until Friday!) to call in and change the script. Which they did. Unfortunately, the pharmacy didn't have the 10mg pills, so I had to wait another day to get them.

Thursday, May 18th. My dr's. assistant called me first thing in the morning. Apparently, someone left her a note telling her that there was a big ordeal with this crap and she wanted to appologize. She said she called the pharmacy herself and that it was all ready for me to go pick up. I, being the skeptic that I am (when it comes to dr's, and their competency at least) called the pharmacy myself to make sure that we were all squared away. The lady that answered the phone was extremely nasty and told me that I was still in the computer to pick up 30mg of Sotret which was $144.00. Somehow, SOMEHOW, I stayed calm, phoned my dr's assistant (once again) and told her what I was just told. She said that the lady was a moron and she had just spoken to her about the 10's and 20's. She called her back, then called me back within what seemed like 30 seconds. All set, but I got Amnesteem instead. Don't really know if there's a big difference. Went to the pharmacy after work and picked up my pills. Took my first ones that night with dinner. Here's a slight re-cap of how the first 12 days went...

Day 1. Felt absolutely nothing except extreme hatred for the Amnesteem blister packs and my inability to open them. I don't know how people without nails do it.

Skin - One cyst under my nose that was on it's way out and two on my chin under my lip that were also in the latter phases.

Day 2. My mouth was completely dry when I woke up, and I had a slight problem with my vision (which is perfect, so that was a little freaky), but besides that, nothing.

Skin - Same cysts, going away.

Day 3. Dry mouth, Dry throat, I might have drank a gallon of water this day. My lips started to get irritated, but I've always applied chapstick like my life depended on it, so I wasn't worried about that part. My eyes started to feel dry, so I started carrying eye drops around. Other than that, no noticable drying. My face was still super oily.

Skin - Cysts almost gone, but lovely scarring.

Day 4. Dry mouth, Dry throat (coughing at night makes it hard to sleep), Feeling tired, slight headache, slight body aches, mainly concentrated in my back.

Skin - Looking good.

Day 5. Same side effects of day 4.

Skin - Same.

Day 6. Same side effects.

Skin - I'm noticing a cyst forming on the back of my head, never, EVER, have I had one there.

Day 7. See Day 6.

Day 8. Same side effects. My lips are getting super dry.

Skin - All hell is about to break loose. Those two cysts that I though I had gotten rid of on my chin under my lip have decided to come back, along with another one towards my jawline and one on the right side of my nose (I never get them ON my nose, around, yes, on, no). I guess this is the initial breakout that everyone had me terrified of. !!!! I think i wanted to scream, but instead, went home from work, took a 4 hour nap, then globbed on the make-up and went out. NO DRINKING THOUGH. I started feeling nasty, like dizzy and nauseous, so I went home early.

Day 9. Super dry mouth, super dry lips, skin is only getting dry around my cysts, but not drying them out at all. Grumpy and depressed because...

Skin - AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL! Seriously, I called the Derm, and went in immediately after work. She kept apologizing to me b/c it was that bad. She injected 6 cysts!!!!! Including the one on the back of my head. Now, I'm super good at pain, I have a full back tattoo, but that needle going into the back of my head? Worst feeling ever! After I came home from the Derm I felt another cyst brewing, mind you, this is basically all on my chin and the one on my nose and the one on the back of my head.

Day 10. I woke up with what I felt like 3 more cysts, but I think 2 of them were just very large pimples. My chin is gigantic. It's so swollen and lumpy. I seriously could not have imagined a break-out this bad. I could probably deal with it if it wasn't for the pain and the itching, I'm a champ at the make-up application, but this is just insane. Side effects, all the same.

Day 11. Just when I think that some of them are healing (they were strangly coming to heads very quickly and kind of bursting. ew, i know.) More are popping up. It's very odd. It's totally concentrated on my chin. I had a lot of tiny bumps on my forehead before I started the medication, and now my forehead is basically smooth. I'm knocking on wood left and right here, but what's the deal?

Day 12. Side effects still the same. Skin. Awful. Painful. Gross.

Day 13. Today. I'm at work and I can't wait to go home in a half hour to wash my face. Does anyone else feel this way? I seriously count the minutes from when I get here at 8:30 until when I get to go home and wash my face. I sometimes work through lunch (when they let me) just so I can leave an hour early and wash this make-up off. It's crazy. For the past couple of nights I've been putting aloe on my chin b/c it's super red and I figured that if it works for sunburn, it might work for scars. When I woke up this morning, I was relieved to have no new cysts, but I did have a small pimple on the tip of my nose. I really don't care about that one. Unfortunately, as the day progressed, I feel that I have gotten at least two more cysts on my chin. Seriously, one of them hurts so bad that my right eye is tearing. Not only do they hurt, but they're super itchy. What's that about? I dunno. I can't wait til this inital breakout is over. I can't believe what a gorgeous memorial day weekend we had and I didn't go to the beach once b/c of my skin. It's so sad. Eh.

So, thanks for reading this short novella, if you've gotten all the way through. I promise future posts will be shorter. Playing catch-up is for the birds.

[soozicee]

Yesterday was my day 13.

I rushed home from work and washed my face as soon as I got in. I noticed two new pimples on my chin (not cysts! thank heavens!) and lots of pealing going on around them. They were super itchy and throbbing, yuck. I also noticed I had a whitehead inside my nose. It was super itchy all day, but I just attributed it to my allergies. I'm hoping this initial breakout is almost over. I currently have more than 7 active pimples/cysts on my chin. I really can't understand why my chin was attacked so badly, but I'm happy it's really nowhere else, and I'm super duper skilled at applying make-up, which I did again last night, shortly after I washed my face, because I was going to the movies with my boyfriend.

My boyfriend convienently lives right next to the theater, so I went there afterwards and wound up staying the night. I didn't bring my face wash and I won't go near anything he has to offer in the name of cleanser, so I was bad and slept in my make-up. I think I tossed and turned and fiddled with the idea of getting up and going home (I only live 1.5 miles down the road) until 2am b/c I was so concerned about sleeping in my make-up and clogging my pores. I finally succumbed to the tiredness, and when he woke up at 4:30am (I know, stupid early) I considered getting up and going home, but I just couldn't get up. I tossed and turned and woke up what seemed like every 5 minutes until 7am when I got up and got home and washed my face as soon as I walked in the door. It felt good and, surprisingly, I think it was a good idea to sleep in my make-up. It didn't give me the chance to pick at my new pimples, which I surely would have done if I washed my face last night. I'm crazy. I know.

Anywho. Woke up with two new ones on my chin, but they aren't cysts, so I'm siked. I really wish this IB would end very very soon b/c this weekend is my sister's bachelorette party and we're going to pary like rock stars and I want to not have to be hiding my face all night. Eh. We'll see.

[soozicee]

Hey Firegurl26, thanks for the support. It's so good to hear that other people experienced something similar to this madness. I'm hoping that the IB just stays around my chin and doesn't creep it's way up to my nose, but I'm starting to feel a bit itchy around the corners of my nostrils, and that usually means one thing. ugh. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. It's early, woah, not that early, haha, I just looked at the clock and decided that maybe it's time I got to work. This message board is going to be bad news for my work productivity. haha. Thanks again!

[Jen121]

Hi! And welcome to the accutane club! Your now part of the cool crew with red faces lol. I just read your entire 2 posts, it took a while haha, but thats almost 2 weeks worth of info! I can relate to alot of the feelings you are experiencing. ACNE SUCKS! I am absolutely terrified of that itchy feeling because it means acne of some sort is coming! I used to want to scratch my face off

I am sorry you are breaking out badly. This is definetely your IB and everything is coming to the surface... so its working!!! yayyy On my first course mine lasted for 3 months and then i cleared up wonderfully. I am crossing my fingers yours doesnt last that long, cuz that sucked bigtime for me. I totally feel you on the whole makeup thing and washing your face. When I was breaking out really bad, and wore makeup.. i could not wait to wash it off!! I would go out with friends and just be looking forward to the minute I could get out of my mask. I was convinced that it contributed to the breakouts, the good news is that on accutane... it doesnt matter because this drug has a mind of its own and you wearing makeup is not going to change what accutane wants to do to your skin. So cake it on, whatever it takes to get through the next 5/6 months.

Hang in there! It will be over soon, and youll look back and be so glad!

[soozicee]

haha! Thanks for the welcome Jen! I'm super siked to have found this board! I used to be completely addicted to myspace, but I haven't even checked it once in the past 2 hours. hahahah!

I almost forgot to mention how lucky I am to have a completely understanding and wonderful boyfriend. Not only did he stay in with me on Friday AND Saturday night (I was in bed by 8:30, and 9, respectively), and ditch plans to go to the beach with his friends on Monday (there was no way I was going out in public with no make up on), but last night when we layed down to go to bed he told me that I was beautiful over and over again. Seriously, it really does a lot for a gals spirit. He also constantly makes it known that he hates Accutane more than anything in the world, but who doesn't? haha.

[Jen121]

BTW>> I just found out they discontinued the 10mg pills and its been a hassle for me to find any pharmacy with them left... I think I am going to do 20mg pills every other day to solve this.

IPLEDGE = PAINNNN & ALWAYS PROBLEMS!

[soozicee]

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have to be joking. This is ridonkulous. Seriously. Hopefully she'll bump me up to 40mg next month so I won't have to worry about not being able to get the 10mg. Errrr. haha, that's the first time I ever used one of those faces. Fun.

[Jen121]

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have to be joking. This is ridonkulous. Seriously. Hopefully she'll bump me up to 40mg next month so I won't have to worry about not being able to get the 10mg. Errrr. haha, that's the first time I ever used one of those faces. Fun.

And it wont be the last time you use it. WOW and ditto the my space comment haha!

Your boyfriend sounds AMAZING... hes a KEEPER!

[soozicee]

Took my 14th pill last night.

I was totally bummed at work yesterday afternoon b/c I felt two more pimples forming on my chin. When I got home, washed my face and examined myself in the mirror, sure enough, there they were, along with 3 other bumps that seemed to be the early early stages of some more. There are currently about 7 active pimples on my chin right now, I wouldn't call any of them cysts, but there are 3 cysts that still haven't gone completely down from when my derm injected them almost a week ago. My poor chin. Seriously, prior to last year I don't think I ever in my entire life broke out on my chin. This is so odd. I also have two smaller pimples on my nose that have both come to a head. I'm resisting the urge to pick with all my might. I'm really bad at that though.

I had a strange burst of energy after work and decided to clean my room, like really clean and go through draws and baskets that I usually just pile crap in on a daily basis. I came across a bag of samples that my derm gave to me on my first visit, way back before Accutane was ever in the picture. There was som BP and Retin-A Micro. I did some research and decided that I shouldn't use the Retin-A Micro, so I applied the BP to the active pimples. I ate some dinner (cherrios, decided to branch away from the usual PB & J, Accutane is making me poor), popped my pills and took a nap. That was at 7pm. My boyfriend is performing in a play and they had a show last night so he called me at 10:30 when he got out. Considering I had already gotten 3 and a half hours of sleep, I was ready to get up and conquer the world! I looked in the mirror and was like AHHHHH!!! my chin was so super dry and flaky from the BP. Ew. So I washed up, put a tiny bit of concealer on the super red spots and went over to his place to go back to bed. haha. It's so convienent that he lives 1.5 miles down the road. The same road. haha. I'm lucky.

Anywho. He had to be up at 4:30 again, booo. I tried to stay asleep, but I was way too rested. I got up at 6 and went home. My chin was super dry when I looked in the mirror, but from what I could see I have no newbies!!!! That will probably change as today progresses, but it's so nice to not have any new activity in the morning. I had one hell of a time applying my make-up this morning because me chin and nose where I applied the BP are so super flaky. It looks kinda ridiculous, but whatever, I'm just at work.

I've noticed a few things about my side effects. My cotton mouth has virtually disappeared. I'm not sure if it's because I've been drinking about half a gallon of water a day or if it's because my body has just adjusted to the medication, but I'm siked. It was super annoying. My throat is still a little dry, and I have this stupid dry cough when I lay down to sleep at night, but that might just be allergy related. My lips are disgusting, but that was anticipated. My nose has stopped bleeding and my eyes seem to not be as dry (I do still apply drops every morning and night). My skin seems to be the same, no noticable drying yet except for when I use the BP. My aches have almost gone away, but still a little trouble with my upper back. That's about it.

Boo, the first of the month, time to pay rent. On a brighter note, after today I'll be halfway through my first month! Whoop!!!!!

[soozicee]

My chin is so itchy!!!! Errrrr...

[Tanya826]

Hey there! Just read through your log, and wow, can I ever relate. I'm on day 7 of the wonderful 'tane and like you, my chin's been hit the hardest (never used to break out there) while my forehead is nice and smooth (that's where I'd normally break out). Crazy, crazy drug!

Good luck to you (hopefully the IB is near the end)!

Tanya

[soozicee]

Hey Firegurl26!

Thanks for the info on the IB woes. It's just so damn itchy! I used that Cetaphil mosturizer with SPF 15 throughout the entire thing, and now that I think about it, it might have contributed to the severity. Oh well.


Yesterday was Day 15.



I feel like my IB is finally subsiding. Not quite sure yet though.

Yesterday was a fairly decent day. My chin (where the IB attacked) was super itchy throughout the day, but I only had one newbie when I got home from work, and it was just a little whitehead! WHOOP!

As for side effects, my lips were more chapped than ever yesterday. I think I applied Aquaphor and chapstick about 30 times throughtout the day. NO EXAGGERATION. I also noticed that the sides of my arms, just below my shoulders are starting to get dry and flaky. I've never moisturized in my life b/c I've always been so oily. Does anyone have a body mosturizer they can suggest?

I had a beer last night. Oops. Jeez. I feel like this is confession.

Oh, question for the ladies...

I asked my dr. to switch me from Yasmin BC (which I thought was making me break out horribly) to Ortho Tri-Cyclen (which I've had some success with in the past). When I went to fill the script, the pharmacist gave me the generic Tri-Sprintec. Has anyone ever used this? If so, do you like it? I start on Monday and I'm wondering if I should just go with the name brand.

Time to get to work.

Cheers!!

[Roxy@22]

Hi Soozicee,

I'm glad that the IB is subsiding a bit. I had a glass of wine the other night and two beers last weekend. I think its all good as long as we only do so every once in a while. As far as body moisturizers, I like Aveeno. I use Cetaphil cream if I'm extra dry. I also use Kiehls sunscreen everyday on my arms (I'm very fair) and that seems to be very moisturizing. Bath and Body Works has a lot of yummy smelling and effective moisturizers too. Can you tell I'm a product junkie? Hope you have a great weekend!

[Jen121]

Hey! Cant help ya with the birth control because im actually on yasmin. Are you positive it was the birth control? I hear some people get the IB from it.. who knows right? The itchiness stinks! I always get scared when i feel it. I think its even worse on accutane because our skin is so thin that we feel every little thing thinking its going to be a huge cyst and turns to be a little whitehead like you mentioned... but thats a good thing

Im glad you confessed on that beer... TIME OUT NOW! haha its quite okay to drink here and there. I know i do... if you start turning yellow see your doc

[jenny.]

hey girl,
i wanted to drop by your log since you have been so helpful to me with my cyst problem. you're hilarious!! i love your attitude about all of this shit. that's good news that your ib is subsiding (knock on wood!!!), hopefully mine will soon follow.

i'm on yasmin and actually thought it was HELPING my acne. that is until i started this monster drug. don't know anything about the generic ortho-t, but i'm sure it;s fine. ortho-t is supposed to be really good for skin.

and what a great boyfriend you have!!! that's gotta be such a great feeling to be able to completely be yourself around him.

as for drinking - i have been a very bad girl and went on a total BINGE this week. SHITFACED monday night. but then again, i was about to go to court to finalize my divorce so it's allowed . i haven't noticed that it was a problem unless it is to blame for my awful ib! but i refuse to quit drinking completely. i likes my beer too much. but i'll slow down. so for now, i am saying that drinking a little is ok. so bottoms up! haha just kidding (sort of).

take care!

[soozicee]

Roxy@22 - Thanks for the product recommendations!! I love Aveeno products. I was once engaged to a boy (I call him that b/c of his immaturity, hence the not going through with the marriage) who had the worst excema I had ever seen and we used to glob that crap on him and it seemed to do the trick. I'm gonna go out and get some ASAP.

Jen121 - Yeah, I started the Yasmin a month before I started the Accutane and I started breaking out really badly. I don't know if it's b/c I came off the Minocycline at practically the same time (actually, I think it was 2 weeks into the bc) or if it was the Yasmin, so I figured I'd go with what I knew, and that was OTC. I'm gonna give the generica whirl and see what the outcome is. I'll keep ya posted. I will most definitely keep an eye out for yellow skin. I actually have my roommate on liver failure duty. She'll let me know when my skin starts to match my hair. haha.

jbern - Whoop whoop!!! I really think the IB is subsiding. I'm stoked! Hahahaha!! Thanks for admitting to the binge!! I've been trying so hard, but I've been partying like a rock star for the past few months (I live on Main Street of my town. There are 7 bars in walking distance!! Oh, and we throw parties quite often.) so it's hard to quit cold turkey. We should all get together and get drunk after our course is done!! haha.

Firegurl26 - Chapstick and Aquaphor are competing to be my best friend right now. Aquaphor is winning in the functional category, chapstick is winning in convienence. You're so lucky not to be on BC. I HATE IT.


WHOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!
Ok, so, yesterday I took my 16th pill and I just popped my 17th.

My skin is looking better. Yesterday, I came home from work and had two small whiteheads on my nose. No biggie. They kind of oozed by themselves, and now I'm left with two red marks, but it's nothing my make-up applying skills can't handle.

The actives on my chin seem to be going away, but it's HELLA ITCHY!!! and flaky. OH. Then there's the scarring. Does anybody know what I can do about this?

My lips have been getting worse, and I have a terrible headache today, but I'm not totally sure it's the meds. It's that time lovely time of the month.

I went out sailing today (and if anyone on Long Island is reading this, you're going to think I'm a nut b/c of the weather!!! It was pouring rain and super windy the whole time!!) and it was super fun. It's a little strenuous on the arms and knees (getting the sail tied down and what not, over and over again) so I'm super achy right now. Good news is that I barely wore any make-up out and since it was so wet, most of it came right off anyway (I was drenched the entire time) and I wasn't hiding my face the whole time. Whoop! Really the only thing I'm conscious about now is the scarring, but, eh, whatever, it's better than huge oozing bumps on my face.

We're having a poker party tonight. Everyones invited, but if I don't see you, have a fabulous night!!

[screw_acne]

its good that ur getting the side effects that means accutane is working well right?
so whats ur clearing status? GOOD LUCK ~ dont forget ur chapstick when u go out

[clairesauce]

I had to smile reading your first post, just because I could totally relate - when I used to sleep over at my boyfriend's place (when I had a boyfriend) I would leave my makeup on overnight as well because I hated him seeing me without it. But I would always be so anxious thinking about how it was clogging my pores that I could hardly sleep...then I would usually sneak out early in the morning, go home and wash my face (and pick at my pimples) and then go to sleep. It just makes me so mad that the acne affects my life in all these different ways...like I would always think 'If i had clear skin like a normal person, i would just wash my face with soap and then sleep over and not have to worry about any of this'.

Anyway, hopefully that normalness is on its way for both of us! And we can just live our lives and not have to think about our skin all the time. I started around the same time as you, just a few days after, so we'll be going through a lot of stuff at the same time. Good luck!

[Jen121]

Hey! Yeah I also know the whole makeup feeling. I mean it sucks because we put it on when we go out to look all pretty for our boy toys (i dont have one at this moment) and they see us with perfect complexions that its so hard to reveal the actual imperfections we have... if that made sense.. haha. But Im glad your getting more confident, I feel like its a rollercoaster with me.. like 1 day im happy with my skin and the next im furious about it! its mainly the red marks and scarring im upset about right now and if i get another pimple it depresses me because i just think... uppp thats another scar! Oh well good news is this stuff is going to clear us and when its all over the red marks will go bye bye! Accutane is making them look at their all time worst so hang in there... it sounds like you are!

[jenny.]

what up? long island huh??? my best friend from college lives in the city, but she grew up in dix hills... i visit her about 2-3 times a year. and her parents have an awesome house in the hamptons that i loooove to go to.

awesome that your ib is subsiding! and congrats on the no make-up thing! i'm definitely not there yet.....

have fun at your poker party tonight! it'd better be some hold'em. i am currently addicted to it (as is the rest of the world....) i went to some underground weirdo cardhouse here in houston the other night. very shady. you had to know someone to get in..... i was the only girl. $50 buy-in tourney with about 60-70ppl. i lost of course, but played pretty well! good luck!