1421 replies to this topic

[Denise2]

Hey Everyone.

It's been quite a very long time since I posted here. Actually, it's been a few years. I've learned some things that I wanted to share through treating my son's acne, who is now 16.

If you search my very old posts, you'll know that I am a proponent of liver flushing, bowel cleansing, candida killing, etc......

I myself did all of the above and now don't have an acne problem, but my son (who inherited my genes unfortunately) seemed incredibly resistant to all of the above.

We were practically on the verge of putting him on Accutane but the potential side effects stopped us.

I'll tell his story from the beginning and tell you all where we all ended up.

First, I'm not going to get into a stupid, silly, debate about any of the methods aforementioned as this isn't the issue we are discussing. Secondly, I'm putting this information here so that you can try a relatively cheap, easy, way to clear your acne. Thirdly, acne is ALWAYS, in every, single, solitary case....a GUT DYSBIOSIS problem. I know that now more than ever.

My son is now 16 and was always raised on a healthy, whole foods, diet. What he did on a few occasions to "trigger" his acne was to dig into my natural sugar and literally consume an entire gallon of the stuff on two occasions. By the time I found out he had done this, the sugar was almost all gone (I don't use it that often). He started breaking out at age 12 or so, just like I did. Obviously, this contributed to a candida problem. Knowing what to do, of course, I had him on the best probiotics and candida-killing agents and had him on a restrictive diet. He got clear a few times over the past 4 years but not for long and seemed to be getting worse and worse. We have spent probably $6-7,000 out of pocket for all of the supplements to get his candida and gut problems under control to no avail.

A few months ago, I was at the end of my rope and decided to look into taking him to a good dermatologist who understood the acne-food connection. All they did was recommend Accutane, stating over and over that it's the "only thing that helps acne scars" (red marks). To be honest, the scarring wasn't that much of a big deal though my poor son does have some sunken scars. I say it's not a big deal because I know how to deal with those. The big issue was stopping the huge cysts that were also on his back and shoulders as well as his face.

Poor kid!!!

Anyway......I was reading up as always and it dawned on me that we were not addressing his leaky gut issues even though we were treating his candida. Also, it seemed as though EVERYTHING he was consuming was breaking him out. It got to be too much. All of this money and effort and NOTHING was helping!

So while reading up on treating leaky gut, I found a few things that seemed to help. We tried several and he did have some success but not much. Then, I found two key things that literally "cured" his acne.

1. Cololstrum
2. *Increased* fish oil supplementation

Bovine colostrum is fantastic for acne (gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, candida, etc.....) because of several factors. It heals the intestines so that leaky gut is eliminated. It kills candida. It is anti-viral, anti-bacterial, so while it heals the intestinal tract, it helps stop any food reactions. It is great for other health-related issues and I suggest you read up on it.

I have tried several different colostrum brands but Symbiotics seems to me to be the best. It is low-temperature treated so that the immune factors are kept intact. Also, they coat it to ensure that it goes into the small intestine to do it's work.

We got the big 21 oz canister because it's more cost effective, from Vitacost. This is the powder version you can mix with juice or water, but you can buy the pills at The Vitamin Shoppe. Be sure to take it on an empty stomach.

My son started at very high doses and I believe he had a healing reaction. He started breaking out on his jawline but now has absolutely NO BREAKOUTS whatsoever. N-O-N-E. I cannot even begin to say how grateful we are. I almost cried when he sat down at Thanksgving and was able to eat any and everything he wanted. It's been so long since he was able to do it. Also, our relationship is much improved now because I don't have to micro-manage or nag him about what he eats. One big conflict with him was that I would constantly remind him of the big $$$ we were shelling out to get him clear and he wasn't doing his part to help with his recovery. We also increased his fish oil intake to 3-4 capsules a day to ensure no allergic responses to anything he ate.

Look....I believe in healthy eating. I juice, eat whole foods as much as possible. My son knows he cannot eat like the average American and retain good health. But it's nice to eat some whole wheat bread or pasta and not worry about 50 huge cysts all over his face a day later.

If you have tried everything to no avail, I strongly recommend you try colostrum. There is plenty of science out there with many clinical studies on the health benefits of it to show that it's a worthwhile supplement. My whole family is taking it. It will keep you healthy as well as heal your gut, stop food reactions, and provide relief from many health concerns.

http://www.naturalnews.com/022851_Colostru...h_benefits.html

It took my son about 2 months of high doses to see NO breakouts whatsoever. He took about 4-5 times the recommended daily dose.

If only I had known this 5 years ago!!!

I honestly hope this helps someone here. It's worth a try if you are tired of restrictive diets and obsessing over what breaks you out.

Good luck everyone.

[Dotty1]

Wow, thank you for your post. I will definitely mull over everything you have mentioned. I found proteins were causing my acne, so I have not investigated the theories of candida.

Your findings appear to be very close to the another successful program, the "green smoothie" program that uses two active ingredients: Yogurt (a probiotic) and huge handfuls of spinach (the #1 food source of chlorophyll).

Chlorophyll sounds like the vegetable version of colostrum: It has the same properties you mentioned above. 100% pure liquid chlorophyll is an anti-oxidant, anti-fungal, antimicrobial and antibacterial. Researchers also suspect it has anti-viral properties. It also promotes the growth of "healthy" bacteria. Longevity is also attributed to its use. Doctors insert it into the stomachs of people who have severely untreatable ulcers and it heals them. They also insert it into wounds to fight infections. It also speeds up the healing process.

I developed inflamed/bleeding gums a few months ago and after swishing it around my mouth for three days, all inflammation was gone. It cures bad breath. Basically, its uses are endless.

I wonder if it might have the same benefits as the colostrum...
I'm sorry if this deviates from your post. THANK YOU for all the information.

Edited by Dotty1, 30 November 2009 - 02:47 PM.

[Denise2]

Wow, thank you for your post. I will definitely mull over everything you have mentioned. I found proteins were causing my acne, so I have not investigated the theories of candida.

Your findings appear to be very close to the another successful program, the "green smoothie" program that uses two active ingredients: Yogurt (a probiotic) and huge handfuls of spinach (the #1 food source of chlorophyll).

Chlorophyll sounds like the vegetable version of colostrum: It has the same properties you mentioned above. 100% pure liquid chlorophyll is an anti-oxidant, anti-fungal, antimicrobial and antibacterial. Researchers also suspect it has anti-viral properties. It also promotes the growth of "healthy" bacteria. Longevity is also attributed to its use. Doctors insert it into the stomachs of people who have severely untreatable ulcers and it heals them. They also insert it into wounds to fight infections. It also speeds up the healing process.

I developed inflamed/bleeding gums a few months ago and after swishing it around my mouth for three days, all inflammation was gone. It cures bad breath. Basically, its uses are endless.

I wonder if it might have the same benefits as the colostrum...
I'm sorry if this deviates from your post. THANK YOU for all the information.

You're welcome, Dotty.

I want to emphasize here though that my son was on every single solitary supplement you can imagine, before he took colostrum. Every anti-bacterial supplement you can think of, he took it...for many months.

He took oregano oil, tea tree oil, Threelac, Fivelac, Primal Defense, olive leave extract, MMS, fish oil, multi-vitamin, multi-mineral supplements, candicleanse, and "kits" from the "gethealthyagain" website that included the following (see the price tag?):

Candida Elimination Stage 1 Combo (Revised)____#571_all
This revised Stage 1 Combo supplies 1 CandiClear5, 2 TotalFlora15, 1 bottle each of ParaCleanse and Colon Booster, 3 bottles of Indigest Free, and 1 O3Right. This is a one-month's supply of all the Stage 1 products to focus on killing parasites and cleaning the colon, along with killing candida. Use for 1-2 months before carrying on with Candida Elimination Stage 2 Combo. If you work into the combo gradually, it should last at least a month and a half. Suggested retail for this combo is $239.95 (If purchased individually, the products would be $344.60.)

* We now have newly updated candida combos, they are all listed under Y Candida and more information can be found at www.candida-yeast-infection-relief.com

$239.95

He ate very restrictively but everything....everything....broke him out. Nothing worked.

The problem is this. If you know foods break you out, you have leaky gut, and you need to repair it.

My son nor I have ever had what would be considered digestive issues, constipation, or that type of thing. But yet we both had leaky gut syndrome, and he had it much more severe than I ever have, even though he was never on antibiotics, and on tons of probiotics his entire life, along with other supplements, healthy fats, etc.....

It's a missing piece of the puzzle people don't think about.

[Drizzler]

Denise,

This is a great post. I think the concepts you presented here are extremely important. I truly believe that gut dysbiosis encompasses so many things related to acne, and overall health as well. People blame various things for their acne, but in reality, what is causing their acne might be causing whatever they are blaming too! That sounds confusing... i.e. people think "eating __ food gives me acne." They don't think that "X is causing me to be sensitive to that food, which cause me to break out".

Also, I think it is interesting to look at different cultures and diet/lifestyle habits across different groups of people and consider how it affects intestinal and digestive health and how that is a predictor or indicator for health issues.


A couple of questions:
So are you saying that with colostrum, none of those other supplements are necessary at all?

And just curious, what was the particular protocol that you followed in terms of colon cleansing/liver flushing etc that helped you?

[Denise2]

Denise,

This is a great post. I think the concepts you presented here are extremely important. I truly believe that gut dysbiosis encompasses so many things related to acne, and overall health as well. People blame various things for their acne, but in reality, what is causing their acne might be causing whatever they are blaming too! That sounds confusing... i.e. people think "eating __ food gives me acne." They don't think that "X is causing me to be sensitive to that food, which cause me to break out".

Also, I think it is interesting to look at different cultures and diet/lifestyle habits across different groups of people and consider how it affects intestinal and digestive health and how that is a predictor or indicator for health issues.


A couple of questions:
So are you saying that with colostrum, none of those other supplements are necessary at all?

And just curious, what was the particular protocol that you followed in terms of colon cleansing/liver flushing etc that helped you?

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.

Here's what I think. I think that because colostrum does many things in one supplement, it would be good to take, no matter what your issue is. Colostrum does treat candida, leaky gut, and adds immune factors into your intestine to treat any food allergy reactions. Because at the end of the day, my son's problems were candida-related at the beginning of his acne issues because he consumed all that sugar. Obviously, he is born with a disposition to go into the "acne direction" because he inherited it from my side of the family (I have cousins with severe acne too). But after I treated the acne and I realized that the candida was under control but his acne kept getting worse and worse, I knew that bacteria, candida, etc...were NOT causing his acne. I knew his liver was pretty clean. He didn't have constipation so I knew that due to all of the probiotics he was taking, bacterial overgrowth wasn't the problem.

When I was knocking my head against the wall and looking at the candida site where I was purchasing very expensive candida "kits" that had helped somewhat in the past, I kept noticing this issue about addressing leaky gut and a lightbulb went off.

I *knew* that my son's skin broke out when he ate carbs...simple, complex, didn't matter. He had severe food allergies to MANY things; almost EVERYthing. Even eating restrictively didn't help at all. Matter of fact, he kept getting worse and worse.

I'm pretty blown away by his results to be honest. Now we have the job of dealing with the red spots and scars but we will do that. He's young and is already having great results with peels and Aveeno and topical Vit C.

So anyway.....bottom line is this.

I personally think that because colostrum is so effective at treating the ROOT CAUSE of these food reactions, gut dysbiosis, and leaky gut, then it should be added to everyone's regimen if they are serious about getting rid of their acne.

One thing I've noticed is that it does make you more regular (noticed this about myself). This will help in detoxing your body if you are constipated and have problems with acne-causing bacteria due to a bad diet. It will NOT detox heavy metals, chemicals, etc....from your body. It will NOT cleanse your liver.

But I think it can help the vast majority of people battling acne.

If you do a google search for "colostrum testimonials", you'll find some amazing stuff. That link I provided shows that it greatly helps people with IBS, colitis, etc....it only makes sense that it can help with ANY KIND of gut dysbiosis. Plus, compared to some things, it's very reasonably priced. That 21 oz size we get is $50 but it has over 600 plus servings. It will last considerably less when you take 3 times the recommended dose at first, but so what? Compared to a special diet and the associated costs with that and tons of other supplements, it's nothing.

I have come to this site a few times over the past few years and I still read where people are genuinely suffering and resticting their food choices and becoming obsessed with food. It's sad....my poor son has lived in this world for 4 years and I cannot tell you what a relief it is. I really posted this just to help people with something that really seems like somewhat of a miracle. We are all blown away by this. About 5 of my son's friends have commented on his skin clearing up.....it's just such a great thing.

He is the only visual arts student in his entire school invited to apply to a Governor's School Internship at a college campus this summer. All I kept worrying about when this process started was...."What will he eat? Can he be trusted to eat well? Can he take his 39 supplements if he is chosen, etc......?"

It has been like living in torment. I'm not kidding. I cannot tell you what a relief this is.

As for me....I did everything. I did liver flushing, bowel cleansing, heavy metal detoxing....all of it. But I had a lifetime of problems. I'm 45 years old. You younger people would not have it as bad as I have. It was like a puzzle for me. I was put on antibiotics for 15 years straight...no, I'm not exaggerating. They just rotated me from one to another and I had SEVERE candida by the end of all of that, and a blown immune system.

I'm very healthy now though with small breakouts every now and then.

Edited by Denise2, 30 November 2009 - 07:28 PM.

[Drizzler]

This honestly couldn't have come at a better time. I am mostly clear, through lots of exercise, healthy eating, good sleep and just trying to live as healthfully as possible. I still get the occasional breakout however, and its always the deeper inflamed variety that takes a while to heal. It is always pretty much in the same spots, on the left side of my forehead and right side of my mouth. It just doesn't make any sense that I could eat so well 95% of the time, exercise a lot, mostly abstain from alcohol and still have these problems if I strayed even the slightest bit.

I also largely link these breakouts to excessive carbohydrate consumption, and a bit of irregularity, as a result of an intestinal imbalance and/or leaky gut. In just the last few days I have been researching colon cleansing and stuff like fiber supplements. I am going to try colostrum though right away.

I am confused with the powder vs. the capsules though. You say you bought the 21oz canister of powder right? How is it that the powder is coated? The descriptions on vitacost for the powders and capsules are the same... both say biolipid coating... I don't get how the powder could be coated though? And if this is the case, whats the point of having the capsule form at all?

[AltaPGT]

Thanks for sharing, interesting stuff. I'm happy for you and your son.

Question - how long did it take to notice that it was helping i.e. noticeable visual improvement?

[ballsoftitanium]

I live on a dairy farm and we have cows that are calving on a weekly basis. We milk the cows as soon as they calve and feed the colostrum to the baby. I was wondering if this type of colostrum is ok for what you are suggesting and how much of it i should be taking.

I assume that it would be better than the powdered stuff and also cheaper (well free for me thank god, i'm sick of spending money trying to get rid of acne) but i would like to hear your opinion on this anyway.

Also, i was taking fish oil for quite a while but it didn't seem to help that much, i am quite sick of it ATM and was wondering if this is necessary or if the colostrum would be enough.

Right now i am taking coconut oil and i just started taking some evening primrose oil as well. I have been taking the coconut oil for about a month now and though my acne is some better i've recently had a fairly bad breakout and i have no idea why, it's really quite frustrating.

My diet is squeaky clean, i avoid sugar, dairy, never drink or smoke and my acne is still not gone. I am sick of restricting my food choices and not having the fun i could be having because "oh no it might cause me to break out". I am sick of worrying about my skin and having it kill my confidence and spoil my otherwise good looks and i'm especially sick of thinking about it and wasting time worrying about it when sooooo many people who eat whatever the hell they want have perfect skin and don't even know how lucky they are.

If this works i will owe you a debt of gratitude that i can never repay.

[jb20]

Im very interested in trying out colostrum but just have a question. Ive been looking at vitamin shoppes website and some of the colostrum says 25% igg and some says 40% igg. Does this mean the 40% is better? Which one did ur son have success with?

[andersoj]

Giving this a shot.

Oh and ballsoftitanium I'm sure fresh colostrum will be just as good if not better, but,

Why Can't I Just Get Raw Colostrum From My Local Dairy Farmer?
You can...it needs to be refrigerated and consumed within a reasonable period of time. Raw colostrum differs from processed colostrum because it contains immune factors from just one parent. Processed colostrum is beneficial because it is pooled from hundreds and sometimes thousands of cows that provide broad based immune factors. There are very few producers of colostrum in the world that have the ability to accomplish this.

http://www.newlifefoods.com/FAQs_colostrum.shtml

Edited by andersoj, 30 November 2009 - 11:31 PM.

[Denise2]

This honestly couldn't have come at a better time. I am mostly clear, through lots of exercise, healthy eating, good sleep and just trying to live as healthfully as possible. I still get the occasional breakout however, and its always the deeper inflamed variety that takes a while to heal. It is always pretty much in the same spots, on the left side of my forehead and right side of my mouth. It just doesn't make any sense that I could eat so well 95% of the time, exercise a lot, mostly abstain from alcohol and still have these problems if I strayed even the slightest bit.

I also largely link these breakouts to excessive carbohydrate consumption, and a bit of irregularity, as a result of an intestinal imbalance and/or leaky gut. In just the last few days I have been researching colon cleansing and stuff like fiber supplements. I am going to try colostrum though right away.

I am confused with the powder vs. the capsules though. You say you bought the 21oz canister of powder right? How is it that the powder is coated? The descriptions on vitacost for the powders and capsules are the same... both say biolipid coating... I don't get how the powder could be coated though? And if this is the case, whats the point of having the capsule form at all?

I tried several brands of Colostrum; 3, I think. There are much more expensive versions of colostrum than Symbiotics brand but if Symbiotics works so well, why go to something more expensive, right?

Now what I mean by coating is that they coat it in the manufacturing/treating process. So the loose powder is coated....not like you can tell or anything, though.

Now it's EASIER to take capsules, so you can get those. We get the 21 oz loose powder version because my entire family takes it, and it's just easier to only have to purchase it every 6 months or so. See what I mean? So that's why that is our choice. We just mix it with water or juice and gulp it down.

[Denise2]

Im very interested in trying out colostrum but just have a question. Ive been looking at vitamin shoppes website and some of the colostrum says 25% igg and some says 40% igg. Does this mean the 40% is better? Which one did ur son have success with?

I mentioned that we use Symbiotics brand. That's worked very well for us. The IGG count is the amount of immune factors present in the Colostrum. Symbiotics guarantees 40 per serving. I ordered 2 other brands first off of Amazon that were cheaper, just to "test" them and got to really researching colostrum and found that a few factors were important; the IGG count and the manufacturing process of low-temp treating so as not to kill the immune factors and other goodies present in colostrum.

Hope that helps!

[Denise2]

Giving this a shot.

Oh and ballsoftitanium I'm sure fresh colostrum will be just as good if not better, but,

Why Can't I Just Get Raw Colostrum From My Local Dairy Farmer?
You can...it needs to be refrigerated and consumed within a reasonable period of time. Raw colostrum differs from processed colostrum because it contains immune factors from just one parent. Processed colostrum is beneficial because it is pooled from hundreds and sometimes thousands of cows that provide broad based immune factors. There are very few producers of colostrum in the world that have the ability to accomplish this.

http://www.newlifefoods.com/FAQs_colostrum.shtml

In all honesty, if I could get the fresh stuff, I would.

I tried this cheap brand off of Amazon and it literally tasted like buttah. Symbiotics doesn't taste like that. I think they de-fat their colostrum before processing. Many manufacturers do.

We even tried this kit that included colostrum, a fish protein product called, "Seagest", and licorice extract to heal his gut, but it didn't seem to help. All of these things are known to help heal leaky gut, but doing high doses of Symbiotics brand seemed to work best.

I think the fact that they coat it to ensure it goes into the small intestine really helps.

[Denise2]

Thanks for sharing, interesting stuff. I'm happy for you and your son.

Question - how long did it take to notice that it was helping i.e. noticeable visual improvement?

Well, keep in mind my son was taking TONS of other supplements and even a coupla things to treat leaky gut before he got onto high doses of Symbiotics brand colostrum.

After reading about colostrum and the health benefits of it, I figured we'd stick with it for a few months to give it a chance. I had a big hunch that his issue was allergic reactions to food based on a leaky gut problem.

I'm making this point because he had dealt with other issues related to breaking out....like candida, restrictive diet, etc....

And colostrum wasn't a "magic bullet". He took several things for leaky gut before Symbiotics brand colostrum. They helped somewhat in a minor way, but definitely NOT in a major way. And even when he started taking high doses of Symbiotics colostrum, his jawline started breaking out when he had never broken out there before. But after about 2 months of high doses of taking the stuff, he just simply doesn't break out AT ALL. He takes fish oil and colostrum, and no other supplements. He is now taking pretty much a "normal" dose of colostrum, and is doing just fine with no breakouts. As I said before, he was taking 4-5 times the listed recommended doseage for about 2 months.

He did take this "leaky gut support pack" for a few months:

http://www.evenbetternow.com/products.asp?cat=154

So maybe he was starting to heal and it didn't show for a while, it's hard to say. I just know that it didn't SEEM to help that much at all.

[kaleidoscope]

Hey Denise!

I might try this. I know I have Candida overgrowth and leaky gut and nothing seems to help significantly. I'm allergic to all but a handful of foods and it's miserable. I know that mercury toxicity is at the root of my problems, but getting the mercury out can be a very, very slow process.

I've tried L-glutamine with no obvious results, but hopefully this will be different. I'm allergic to casein, though, and the only casein-free colostrum supplement I can find is Kirkman's... so hopefully that will be as good as Symbiotics.

Thanks for posting.

[Denise2]

Hey Denise!

I might try this. I know I have Candida overgrowth and leaky gut and nothing seems to help significantly. I'm allergic to all but a handful of foods and it's miserable. I know that mercury toxicity is at the root of my problems, but getting the mercury out can be a very, very slow process.

I've tried L-glutamine with no obvious results, but hopefully this will be different. I'm allergic to casein, though, and the only casein-free colostrum supplement I can find is Kirkman's... so hopefully that will be as good as Symbiotics.

Thanks for posting.

I understand! My son tried L-glutamine, Seagest, and licorice exract too. He had little to no results whatsoever.

Good luck! I think if you google benefits and testimonials of colostrum, you'll read some amazing stories.

[JayQ]

Hey Denise!

I might try this. I know I have Candida overgrowth and leaky gut and nothing seems to help significantly. I'm allergic to all but a handful of foods and it's miserable. I know that mercury toxicity is at the root of my problems, but getting the mercury out can be a very, very slow process.

I've tried L-glutamine with no obvious results, but hopefully this will be different. I'm allergic to casein, though, and the only casein-free colostrum supplement I can find is Kirkman's... so hopefully that will be as good as Symbiotics.

Thanks for posting.

Wow great post! I am going to have to def look into this for myself as well. I am tired of having food phobia and wondering if i am going to break out bad from eating certain things.

Can you post an exact link to the kind of Symbiotic colostrum that you use and order from? Thanks!

[Drizzler]

http://www.vitacost.com/Symbiotics-Colostr...us-Powder-21-oz

[jb20]

Doesn't colostrum contain high amounts of IGF-1 hormone which can actually cause acne?

[Denise2]

Doesn't colostrum contain high amounts of IGF-1 hormone which can actually cause acne?

Doesn't seem to be a problem as far as I can tell. I've read several online testimonials regarding how colostrum helped someone's acne, so I don't think you need to worry about that.