I Love My Derm!

Post accutane 4 months now with oil and acne coming back. Decided to give derm a call and he said that I can start my 2nd course and pick up some accutane on Monday!

I was expecting to wait a couple of weeks at least. Although I am going privately to see him, it's definitely worth the money.

Which One Do You Think Is Worse Long Term?

I've been thinking about this question a lot...

Do you think antibiotics would damage you more than taking let's say 10mg of Accutane per day for 20 years?

My High Fat-Eat-Meat Only Regimen

Hi guys, let me fill you in on my story.

I have been suffering with acne from when I was 16 years old. Although very mild at that age, it soon progressed to severe acne spreading to my chest, shoulders and back. From 18-20 years old, I would wake up in the morning from bed to find that my shirt would be covered in blood. I would pray everyday that soon my hormones would balance out and that I would suffer no more.

I tried antibiotics, but they never helped. I made dietary changes, switching from simple carbs to more complex carbs, increasing fruit and veg intake, avoiding soda and chocolates etc, but it just seemed to get worse.

I then bought the book "The Dietary Cure For Acne" written by Dr. Loren Cordain. I loved reading this book. It was very well written, easy to understand and everything seemed to make sense and there was a lot of scientific references to back up his claims.

I decided to try out this diet for about 6 weeks. I avoided all the wheat, dairy, legumes etc and was eating a lot more lean meats, fruit, veg and nuts. The acne was still not showing any sign of surrendering. (I was feeling really low at this point)

So I thought fuck it, I went to see a private derm in London and he was fantastic, he took one look at my body acne and commented that it was the worse case of body acne he had ever seen in a very long time and said that I should have gone on accutane years ago. If only I did, I probably wouldn't have all this extensive keloid scarring everywhere.
Oh well, not much point contemplating about the past, all I could think about was clearing this stupid acne that was causing me so much pain and suffering.

I went on a course of accutane for 6 months taking 40-55mg/day. After 3 months I could see so much improvement. I was not getting cysts anymore on my back or anywhere and my confidence sky-rocketed. The only side effects I experienced were dry lips, dry eyes, a few dry skin rashes, mood swings and lack of concentration.
The day I finished my course I was so excited, yet felt a bit apprehensive about whether the acne would come back.

A few weeks go by and I find that I am breaking out in whiteheads in a few places, but I think nothing of it and assume that it will resolve as accutane still stays in your system for a while post-tane. However it starts to get worse. My skin gets a bit oilier, I am waking up to more and more whiteheads each day and a cyst appears on my forehead.

Every day I would ponder the reason why my acne would not die and just leave me alone. I would spend so much time researching every day on the causes of acne. Was having acne simply my fate? Was it my destiny to turn into one giant pimple? I started to read up on diet again. Forum posts by several people, especially Glenn, forced me to rethink the role of diet on the pathogenesis of acne. Could eating a high-fat, low carb diet be the answer?

Last week, I went on this diet. A typical day would involve eating the following:

Breakfast: 500g Beef Mince (fried) and 4 portions of chicken thighs with skin on (roasted)
Lunch: Nothing
Dinner: same as breakfast.

That was literally it. I used only olive oil to cook and for adding taste. I didn't cheat on this diet, I actually didn't feel the need to. I never got any food cravings throughout the day and felt really satisfied. As the days went on, I was feeling a little bit more tired than usual and my mouth and throat felt so dry that I would have to drink lots more water. I was also still breaking out in places, but only on my face.

A week later and all these symptoms have ceased. My mind feels clearer and I have woken up 2 days without breaking out and staying clear. I don't know if it's a co-incidence or not, so I'll keep you guys informed of any new breakouts, but so far so good!

I just thought I'd share my story.

High Fat Diets, My Experience!

I came across a very interesting article on MyProtein.co.uk and thought I would share .


http://www.myprotein.co.uk/?page=article&id=211

Bulking On A Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet

I finished accutane in January, and although my acne has cleared up a lot I still find out that if I pig out on junk food, I'll break out.

I've been eating low carb for a few weeks now and really do not have a problem eating mostly meat. However, I don't really want to lose weight as I'm slim and preferably would like to bulk up. The only problem is that I still want to continue my intermittent fasting which means ideally, I don't want to eat anything between breakfast and dinner. I therefore need to confine my calorie intake between two meals. Is this possible or am I just asking for too much?


Here's a typical breakdown of my daily diet.

Breakfast - Beef mince with chicken drizzled with olive oil, butter, herbs and spices.
Lunchtime - Nothing
Dinner - Same as morning, but instead of beef mince I have a slice of salmon.

I'm not really a fan of varying my meals day-to-day, so I like it to be consistent. I also don't like eating nuts. I'm aiming for about 3000 calories or more.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.