349 replies to this topic

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I honestly feel sorry for anyone who does everything that their doctor tells them to without doing their own research first.

I saw a new doctor today who was very nice and helpful. She listened to my concerns and was patient with me. Afterward, she thought I might have gastritis irritated by stress, and gave me a 10 day trial pack of Protonix, a proton pump inhibitor that would cut down my stomach acid. I asked her if I would need to take the drug after my condition improved, and she assured me that I would not.

Skeptical, I did my own research and found this:
http://www.gastro.org/wmspage.cfm?parm1=7371

"Treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for eight weeks induces acid-related symptoms like heartburn, acid regurgitation and dyspepsia once treatment is withdrawn in healthy individuals, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute."

AWESOME. I am not touching those pills, oh no no no no no. And what if my symptoms are actually being caused by too little stomach acid instead of too much? Shutting down production even further would do Bad Things.

Treating symptoms alone seems foolish. If the supposed gastritis is likely caused by anxiety and stress, then it seems to make much more sense to stop being so stressed and anxious and give the gut time to heal on its own. But I guess that's not nearly as easy as popping a pill, is it?

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So much candy and so little sleep this weekend; let's see what happens!

Going to see a nutritionist on Wednesday who is gonna help me get my digestion and acne under control. Yay!

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Well, I reaffirmed my belief in the diet and acne connection. Holy crap, my face.

Off to the nutritionist!

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New goal: STRESS LESS, smile more.

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Went on a paranormal investigation of the U.S.S. Salem on Saturday night! Our team was exploring the boat from 9pm to 4am. Didn't see or hear anything too out of the ordinary, but it was fun nonetheless. There was basically a candy buffet there, and I ate a ton of M&Ms and chocolate covered espresso beans. Whoops! Managed to stay away from the Mountain Dew and Monster, though.

Had an organic beer on Friday night (great!) and a Sam Adams lager last night (free!). Ate four or five home-made choco-chip cookies yesterday.

Skin looks ok right now.

I love, love, LOVE the new face wash I got. It leaves my skin soft, and not dried-out or oily. Score!

Nutritionist told me to try Evening Primrose Oil and probiotics for acne and digestion. Sounds good to me! The challenge is finding a brand of probiotics with a variety of strains that is dairy-free, will survive the trip through my stomach, and doesn't cost so much that I'll have to sell my kidneys to afford it.

Edited by QuirkyPixy, 21 September 2009 - 01:10 PM.

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Just got some fancy-schmancy probiotics and evening primrose oil. Gonna start the pro-bios today and the epo in two weeks so I can tell if the pro-bios are making a difference or not first.

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No difference in my digestive issues or abdominal pains with taking the probiotics yet, but I'm sure those things need time to work.

Got my glasses demolished in a circle pit at a Streetlight Manifesto show last night; duct-taped the pieces back together and am looking mighty fine.

Had a crappy beer and some candy. Skin is ok; no big nodules at the moment, but lots of little red ones.

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Trying some new foods: brown rice pasta and Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancakes. Subbing a sugar-free grain milk drink for the milk in the pancakes and will see what happens.

Face looks pretty good today; might be the chia seeds or the probiotics as those are the only things that I've changed recently.

Want to see a naturopathic doc if abdominal cramping doesn't ease up in the next few weeks.

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Need to eat smaller portions; got some nasty reflux action going on after eating too much Thai food for dinner. Also, stressed out a bit today which didn't help. Fine otherwise; skin is broken out a bit, but currently a non-issue.

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Feeling like Cramps McCrampypants again today. Gonna get some fresh air and try to shake it off.

For the record, I've been eating Kashi Pumpkin Spice Flax and Dark Chocolate Coconut bars everyday; doubt they'll make things worse, but good to note anyway I suppose.

Edited by QuirkyPixy, 26 September 2009 - 11:05 AM.

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Skin looks crap today, probably due to stress. Not gonna let it get to me, though.

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Going to a naturopath tomorrow, wooo~!

Got two big ol' nodules on my jawline, which I am trying to tea-tree-oil into submission.

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The naturopath was very nice and helpful, but I'm kind of confused with the direction that she wants to go with testing me. She wants me to take a $250 IgG food sensitivity test before doing anything else, which from what I read is notoriously inaccurate and has results that don't necessarily mean anything regarding illnesses.

She sold me some more powerful digestive enzymes since the ones I'm taking aren't working very well, and a serum for my skin that has good ingredients and I think will help. She also told me to take Alpha Lipoic Acid again, to add a bit of oat bran to my breakfast and brewer's yeast to another meal for blood sugar balance, to eat some nuts before bed, and to continue taking the Vitamin C and B-complex.

Another suggestion the Dr. had was a month-long liver detox. I will look into this further.

An interesting thing to look into is a possible difficulty with digesting fats, as I told the Dr. that I break out from fish oil and flax and she said that may be due to this. My health and acne got worse when I began incorporating a lot of coconut and scrambled eggs in my diet, and both are pretty fatty. I'm cutting eggs again, and will try to bake things more than stir-fry for a while.

I also am adding 5000 IU of Vitamin D per day of my own accord, as the only time I cleared up recently was when I was in the sun all day for a week and I spend so much time indoors that I'm almost certainly severely Deficient.

New regimen:

Morning-
Cleanser
Vit. C + Quercetin, B-Complex, ALA, Probiotic WITH food
Oat Bran with breakfast

Evening-
Cleanser
Serum
Aloe Gelly
ALA, Vit. D
Brewer's yeast with dinner

Digestive Enzymes with each meal

That should be enough for now. @_@

Edited by QuirkyPixy, 30 September 2009 - 07:29 PM.

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Purging purging purging, AHHHH! I'm sure it's because of the new serum I'm using, as it has salicylic acid in it and that supposedly digs all of the gunk out of the pores.

Drank some beer and ate a lot of rum-filled Jello brains over the weekend, and messed up my sleep schedule considerably. Also had a considerable amount of fun despite my skin's looking the worst it has in months. My friends don't mind my acne, nor does my boyfriend as far as I can tell, and I am blessed to have people in my life who don't judge me based on something that is out of my control.

I need to relax more; I think practising yoga and just letting go will help.

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Acne is still bad, but my skin looks healthier! I think the Vitamin D or ALA might be helping with that, as the rest of my supplements are the same. I have also been eating a slice of bread a day with no negative effect so far.

I forgot my cleanser at my boyfriend's place, so I'm using the Yes to Tomatoes one for a few days, and moisturising with a Vitamin E oil blend so my skin doesn't dry out too much.

I think the serum really helps to dry up existing zits (witch hazel and tea tree oil), but as I'm still in the purging phase I'm not sure if it can prevent them.

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A turmeric and coconut oil paste seems to be an effective spot treatment.

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I drank more during this long weekend than I've drank in the past month, ate two massive soft pretzels and some Reese's and M&Ms, went to bed at ungodly hours, and participated in other assorted debaucheries. Face is OK at the moment.

I'm starting to get too tired to even care about acne any more, scarring included.

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Woke up this morning with dried blood caked all over the left side of my face due to two pimples that had apparently EXPLODED in my sleep . Acne is scary!

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Just noticed that I have weirdly symmetrical acne going on right now. One pimple in the same spot beside each eyebrow, one on the same spot near each temple, one on the same spot on each side of my jaw, and one on the same spot on each outer cheek. All of these pimples are also a similar size and type to their mirror counterpart.

WUT DUZ IT MEEN?!!?

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Randomly got a strong Niacin flush on my arms and ears after taking my B-Complex today. I've taken it every other day with no reaction, so what gives? Could my body be absorbing the niacinamide in the vitamins better now? I ate the same thing as I always do for breakfast, too, and had a wave of nausea before the flushing.

Edited by QuirkyPixy, 15 October 2009 - 09:57 AM.