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Okay, so I've been surfing through this forum for a few months now (oftentimes daily) to mainly read up on what different members have to say about the correlation between diet and acne, particularly concerning Candida overgrowth, and their personal experiences with tackling this issue. But first, I guess I need to give a little background information about my own struggle with acne:
Okay, so I first started breaking out in fifth grade around the tender age of 11 (sad, no?). Now at 21, I have officially been suffering with constant breakouts for the past decade. Shortly after my breakouts began, my mother starting taking my older brother and me to see a dermatologist who ended up prescribing me with topical medications, pills, etc, etc, all of which never gave me any sort of real relief. At sixteen I stopped going to the dermatologist after my mother and I decided that I should go on birth control (Yasmin), obviously for acne-related problems but to help with other lady issues as well... Now, the best my skin has ever looked was during the three years that I was on Yasmin, but even saying that I can only remember a handful of times when my skin was ever completely clear. I would always have at least one or two spots on my chin at any given time, which now looking back I wonder why I ever complained about such a minor problem.
Well, back in August I decided to go off birth control because I was tired of subjecting my body to the artificial hormones and the adverse side effects that came along with this. The first few months weren't so bad; however, I began to watch as my acne grew progressively worse, with new spots popping up on my forehead and my cheeks - two areas which I never had trouble with while on birth control. Right around last Christmas, my acne situation hit its all-time worst, and it got to the point where I didn't even want to leave my house because I was so embarrassed by my skin. I immediately decided to do some research on the problem to see if there was anything out there that could help me. I soon came across the anti-Candida diet, and everything I read made perfect sense. You see, I've always been a major carbs addict. Since childhood I've strictly followed a diet of cereal, bread, lots of milk, and yummy baked treats (sugar!), and little else to be honest. On top of this, as a child I was very sickly until I was around 9, and so I was constantly switching between antibiotics to fight off my frequent colds. So all in all, I was guilty of three huge Candida triggers: diet, antibiotics, and birth control. 'This is it!' I thought to myself, and so on New Years Day, I set about restricting my diet, obtaining my needed anti-fungals, probiotics, and other supplements, and began imagining myself three months from then, perhaps not acne-free, but with noticeably clearer skin.
Since starting my diet on January 1st, I've been extremely strict about the foods I've put into my body. I've only strayed from my diet of meat, yogurt, seeds, veggies, and nuts twice in the past three months - once on my 21st birthday and once for a piece of cheesecake that I somehow just couldn't resist. Other than this I've been completely diligent, pushing myself forward with this feeling that my skin will clear up if I just wait one more week. Well, needless to say, my skin hasn't cleared up significantly at all (otherwise I wouldn't be posting this right now). Granted, it isn't as bad as it was during Christmas time when I was living off of sugary, fudgey goodness, but I can no longer see the end in sight. I was totally prepared to stick out my diet for 6, 10, 12 months, as all the reading that I've been doing on the issue says that it takes around one month of recovery from Candida for every year that you've had the suspected overgrowth (which would be at least very least 10 for me), but I've been following several posters who have been strictly following the diet for several months with no relief. Although I'm not doubting that acne and diet have some link (pure common sense makes this point obvious), I'm just wondering if all this time spent drastically restricting my diet and paying loads of money for supplement after supplement, Candigone after Candigone, and so on is going to actually pay off in the end.
My confidence in the past few months has taken a such a drastic nosedive - I went from being a highly confident and happy person to being confined to my dorm room and walking to and from classes with my eyes glued to the sidewalk in front of me, all because I'm ashamed of my face. This is all growing to be almost unbearable. While I don't want to manipulate my body and subject it to anymore unnecessary toxins, I'm really considering going back on birth control to finally get my confidence back, regardless of whether this compromises the progress I've made thus far battling Candida.
So, basically what I'm wanting to know is what actual results have you all who have strictly been abiding to the anti-Candida diet for an extended period of time had with the regimen? How much of an effect has it had on your acne problem? Has it done away with major breakouts, leaving only the occasional spot, or is acne still a daily problem now several months later?
Thanks so much for your help you guys, and I really apologize for the length of this post! I know that I can be quite a wordy person, and it doesn't help that I've had all this pent up in me for the past few months now. I'm hoping that your feedback will help point me in the right direction of where I need to go next in my seemingly never-ending quest to get rid of my acne once and for all...
Edited by florablythe, 30 March 2010 - 11:41 PM.
