I give up

I'm through. Nothing works. This stuff isn't going away. Everyone has crazy regimens that are as phony as snake oil and it's not working for anyone yet people keep at it like those who believe horoscopes and scams of all sorts.

What a stupid life.

Pimples, hard bumps, some large, behind the ears, along the jaw line/neck

I've been getting pimples behind the lower part of my ear and along the neck and jaw line since late October 2008 (I've always had acne but usually not there). It never goes away completely, there's always more. Sometimes it's just some whiteheads, sometimes it becomes a large red spot (behind my ear lobe, not on the ear itself) that is hard, like almost the size of a dime.

It's like, you could draw a line that goes from behind my earlobe down along my jaw line where it connects to the neck. It happens on both sides, it's very consistent.

It sucks, it looks like I don't wash but I do (two showers a day, wash my face with products for it, etc.). So why does this persist? I thought it might be my razor blade since the pimples are where it's difficult to shave, but it doesn't explain why I would have them higher behind my ears and such.

I have quite oily skin, and it seems more oily around that area so that could be it, but I never wear big headphones or sleep on that part of my head or put any pressure there (I actually have the habit of sleeping with the top part of my head on the pillow, and that part where I have these pimples isn't in contact with anything).

Not sure what to do. It sucks cause other than that my acne has gotten less severe. Still there but it's worst at the neck now.

Last attempt to get rid of my acne. After that I'm through.

This is going to be my last attempt at stopping my acne.

I have had acne for 14 years or so, I'm 26, and I want this to be my last year with acne. I want at least those last three years to be acne free before I hit 30.

I tried everything, and I was down to two last potential culprits that I could do something about: masturbation and lack of sleep.

Well I haven't jerked off since last Wednesday, so it will be a week tomorrow. I had gotten good results in the past doing so, but it seems it was unrelated. My acne has always come and gone away every two weeks or so, never leaving me fully, except once around four years ago for almost a full year, like a short-lived miracle. It was never 100% gone, but enough so for me not to consider it an issue, which is saying something in my case.

So over the past week I have still been getting pimples daily. After a week of no masturbation I'm thinking this can effectively rule it out as being a significant culprit. It seems to have made the situation better, but it is not fixing the problem. The problem with masturbation is that it is usually frequent and lasts longer than normal sexual intercourse. So frequency + duration = hormonal freakout. I'm gonna keep that in control, no masturbation in the week, and if I do so it will be without porn which means I'll do that quickly and be done with;)

Anyway what is my last attempt? Getting regular sleep. I have always had trouble sleeping since as far as I can remember in my early teens. Just this Sunday I went to bed at 9:30, fell asleep because I took half a sleeping pill, but woke up at 10:45 and didn't fall asleep again till around 5 or 6 am if at all, and woke up at 8. Last night I must have fallen asleep at 3am and woke up at 8am (no sleeping pills, and I don't recommend them because they seem to make things worst in the long run).

When I cleared up for a year I remember I used to be in bed at 10:30pm or 11pm, and would fall asleep in around 30mins, and wake up at around 7am or 7:15 the next morning. I was getting regular full nights of sleep, and I wasn't jerking off at least during the week because I had no time (I was doing 12h shifts for months)

And I noticed that in the past, I healed the most significantly when on vacation, when I get full long nights of sleep.

Right now my problem is that my sleep schedule has been messed up, so starting now I'm going to be in bed at 10:30 or 11pm at the latest and will make this an habit, and I won't be in bed at later than 1:30 on Fridays or Saturdays.

I'll keep this thread updated. This is my last attempt ever at fixing this situation. If it doesn't work, well too bad, life goes on (or doesn't start:p).

Poll: Did you ever have Chickenpox?

Just curious:) Wondering if there could be a link:p

Going on paleon diet.

I feel that three things cause my acne:

1- I know if I eat a whole bag of tostitos, my skin gets tingly soon after, and then very oily (the tingling is the oil coming out). This leads to a strong breakout, large red spot mainly, almost like a rash, and white heads of course. So this proves to me that some things I eat can trigger or worsen my acne. I also know that for a period I was making myself, every morning and sometimes twice a day, a smoothie that caused the back of my neck to breakout like crazy (something that never happens): two raw eggs, orange juice, two kiwis, a banana, and some yogurt. That probably caused my insulin levels to overload, but I had no concepts of that at the time. Eating raw eggs also has trigged this in the past.

2- Lack of sleep causes my skin, around mid-day the following day, to get tingly and oily, and white heats form on my face. Ever spent a whole night without sleeping? Other than being tired, what else do you feel? My face in such situations always felt like the pores were opened wide, it almost feels like my skin is turning into a sponge, an acidic taste becomes present in my mouth, and my skin starts to get oily.

3- I know people freak out about this but it makes sense: frequent masturbation/sexual activity has always caused my skin to become oily a few hours later, up to around 48 hours, and my nose, chin, cheeks, and jawline will break out, especially my nose.

4- In late 2007 I managed to completely clear my upper back without even thinking about it. I believe this was due to simply two things; wearing and changing tank tops regularly and getting tanned. My body's skin has always been dryer than usual since I've gotten tanned, so I believe it caused my upper back to produce less sebum. My upper back started to breakout a bit again recently because I wasn't wearing tank tops often under my shirts. I've remedied to the situation and continue to get tanned and it has cleared up again.

I was clear of acne for one year back in mid 2004 (around July summer) to mid 2005. What was different during that time? Well I remember that I was eating anything I wanted, no restriction, but I was eating healthy, and never consumed dairy (there would be cheese in some sandwiches from local restaurants sometimes but I'd never outright eat dairy). I was consuming bread tho, I love bread.

But regardless, I've decided that now that my acne came back in full force, especially recently it's gotten worst to the point where I almost gave up on life, I'm going to make some serious changes.

1- Sleep 8 hours a night, go to bed early, try to catch those "I'm so tired I could fall asleep" moments I get at around 9pm and just fall asleep at that time.

2- No more masturbation. I haven't jerked off in 9 days and I know I can keep going anyway. I prefer to have clear skin than get some temporary satisfaction from jerking off; when my skin is clear (it sometimes clears up) I get a lot of nice looks from random girls, smiles, etc., and I remember each and every smile I get because I'm a weakling for a woman's smile! The more the better, so screw masturbation, I prefer nice smiles;)

3- I'm going on the paleo diet. I already eat very healthy, but I've been eating a lot more dairy over the past months because I'm trying to gain weight. But as I keep working out I realize I don't need to do that. I will continue to eat right and work out. If I don't get bigger so be it (I failed at gaining weight actually!), I'm already in much better shape than just a few months ago and lots of people have noticed:) The difficult part will be to stop eating bread/cereals because I LOVE bread and cereals and pastas! I always only eat whole grain bread, but for now I'll avoid it all.

A couple of weeks ago I did some experiments which worked but caused me to lose too much weight: I was eating only pasta three times a day along with an apple each time, also some almonds on the second meal with the pastas, and a salad with the pastas at dinner. I cleared up like never before in just a few days, no oily mid-day shine, etc. But it was difficult to follow and probably not healthy. I think bread/wheat might not be a culprit for me, but we'll see.

Whatever the case I think I can do it!

I'll report as much as I can.

If I suddenly stop reporting, it's because I'm a jerk who managed to clear up and is too busy being happy to post here!;)

But seriously I'll report, even if it is obvious to me by now that diet is related to acne!