10 replies to this topic

[KutenaiGirl]

Alright. I have decided I have had enough. I have struggled with mild-mod persistent acne for almost 5 years now and I decided today that I am done. DONE DONE DONE.

I always had clear skin. I would get hormonal breakouts but overall my skin was healthy and beautiful. Then I stopped taking birth control when I was 23 and it has been downhill ever since. I hate the way my acne makes me feel. It makes me feel like I am no longer in control of my life. I have done well not letting it get to me but I must say it is starting to make me insane.

I have currently been undergoing photodynamic therapy treatments and I have been documenting my experience on this sight. Check it out if interested...http://www.acne.org/...__fromsearch__1
So far, no real results yet. Still breaking out but less now and I feel optimistic. But nonetheless, I know this is not a cure. It is a treatment. I will continue to get these done in hope for results but I have decided that it's time to fine a CURE. And I have a few ideas.

I stumbled upon the site thelovevitamin.com and I found this great book that the founder Tracey wrote. Please check out the site because she is amazing and I believe in everything she says. The book details her experience getting clear from severe acne by changing her lifestyle. I am hooked and have decided that I will follow the book to the t and document it on this site. I hope by documenting this I can help others obtain useful information. Also I believe that writing about my experience will help me stick to it in addition to helping me get my thoughts out in the open. I love writing on this sight cause it reminds me that I am not alone.

So she has two progams, a basic and an advanced. I will go straight to the advanced as I live a very healthy lifestyle. I eat whole foods, exercise daily, spend lots of time outdoors and operate at a very low stress level. Overall I am happy and live my life in the present. Basically I need to start paying attention digestion, hormones and emotional distress. I can cancel out the third, although I fully believe that I need to pay attention my emotions. Try to nuture myself in every way and not let my acne get me down in the dumps, because seriously sometimes it makes me cry.

So firstly I will get on the digestion train and start to pursue that direction. Also I am looking into getting my hormones tested.

I am going to fully commit to a strictly healthy lifestyle for the next 4 months and then if I am clear, I will find a balance that works for me. I can do this and I will do this. And it WILL work.

I will keep you guys posted! And you know what?! I am even going to post pictures, which scares me to death but I know I always love checking out others progress so there. I said it and I am going to do it.

Also make sure to check out thelovevitamin.com Tracey is an outstanding human being and her story is inspirational.

Cheers!!!

[Samsamsamsamsam]

I really like Tracy's youtube videos I use a lot of the similar products, and i prefer them to medicated topicals. I haven't quite begun eating healthy though, haha. I should probably get on that!

Good luck

[KutenaiGirl]

Alright. Confession. This is not the first time I have tried the natural approach to treating my acne. I have tried a few times before. The difference was I was following a different manual. And although the guy is intelligent and a lot of what he says is similar to Tracey, the problem was his system was incredibly complicated. It involved taking a large number of supplements which I could neither afford or stick with. I just couldnt see myself carting around bags of supplements, especially when a lot of them need to be refridgerated. I am a very active person. I spend a lot of my life camping, for days, often in places where there is no running water. I need something that fits into my busy lifestyle. This is why I am stoked on Tracey's program. Its basic and I know I can stick with it.

Alright so first order of business....DIGESTION!

1. I am told this can take 3-4 weeks to get in order. So for the next 4 weeks, no gluten, no dairy, no soy. I haven't eaten dairy for years, no problem there. I eat little gluten, except for beer!!! So that will be the hardest part hahaa. I spend my winter skiing and skiing and beer go oh so good together. But it's ok. Wine and gin will do the trick in the mean time! I also don't eat much soy...so I think this should all be fine.

2. Probiotics!! I got a real good one with 10 billion bacterias! The only thing is it says to take it 2 hours after food...which is kinda lame. I wish I had read that before bought it. But I will do my best to make it work!

3. HCL Betaine. This is stomach acid. So apparently you start with one, and if you feel fine, then next meal you later 2...until you feel your gut burning. This means you have taken too many and need to take one less...And it's great cause it stimulates your gut to produce its own acid. So when you get that burning feeling again, you reduce it...until you no longer need any! Love this. I love when you can get the feedback!

4. L-Glutamine. This is for leaky gut syndrome. So I am gonna take some in case this is something I have.

So that's that. This is me for the next 4 weeks. And below are the pics I promised. I look them right after showering in bright daylight so I feel like it actually looks worse then I feel it is. But anyway. Whatever. Here they are.

Ok. I absolutely cannot figure out how to post a photo. Any tips here? I must slightly challenged or something...haha

[KutenaiGirl]

Okay. So here's the skin care regimen I am going to stick with for the next 4 months. I made a Maruka honey concoction that I plan to apply to my face day and night. Maruka Honey is amazing! It's definitely not cheap, but it's worth it! It come from New Zealand from Bees that pollinate the maruka bushes. It has great antibacterial properties and can be used to treat a wide range of ailments.

So the concoction I made is 1 part Maruka Honey, 1 part Jojoba oil and about a teaspoon is natural sea salt.

In the morning I put this on my face first thing and leave it there for about 30 minutes. Then I wash it off. My skin feels soft and hydrated. I love it.

At night I use this the wash, but I do not leave it on. I follow with Dan's AHA lotion since I just love this stuff so much and don't want to give it up for now.

So it's pretty simple. I think when you have acne, it's good to keep things simple. I am doing my best to not pick at my face, which we all know can be challenging at times. So far so good.

So that's that for skincare. Easy!

I am wondering if anyone else out there has used a similar skin care regimen? Let me know. I would love to hear others feedback. Alright. That's all for now.

Oh check out this link to the common used of Maruka Honey!

http://www.manukahoneycures.com/

[chunkylard]

KutenaiGirl, on 28 December 2011 - 05:52 PM, said:

1. I am told this can take 3-4 weeks to get in order. So for the next 4 weeks, no gluten, no dairy, no soy. I haven't eaten dairy for years, no problem there. I eat little gluten, except for beer!!! So that will be the hardest part hahaa. I spend my winter skiing and skiing and beer go oh so good together. But it's ok. Wine and gin will do the trick in the mean time! I also don't eat much soy...so I think this should all be fine.

I think you should do 5 weeks to allow you to see results after the general time in which people say your gut might start to heal itself. Consider taking a high quality Omega-3 fish or krill oil supplement.

[Ukulala]

BEST OF LUCK. I like Tracey, too. And I've begun using Manuka honey - it's pretty awesome. Tastes great, too!

Can't wait to see how it goes; we're here to support!

[dejaclairevoyant]

It seems that you are already on the right path with the stuff you're avoiding. All the supplements and stuff are just extra. Good luck!

[KutenaiGirl]

Thanks for the support! We will see how it goes. So far all is good and I am sticking with it! I will keep you guys posted for sure. Too soon to see results but it I am not having many new breakouts. One side of my face is free of any new pimples, but I still have a lot of red marks. This I can deal with though.

[KutenaiGirl]

So about 10 days in to the digestive cleanse right now and things are going well. I have been sticking with the diet and the supplements and I am starting to feel really good. I am having less indigestion and better bowel movements. Life is good.

And, my face is looking really good. I have almost no new breakouts. I couple on my temples but I am pretty sure this is from sweating under a helmet all day at the ski hill. So I am not too worried about that.

Also, I have to say that I am loving the Manuka honey as a cleanser. It feels really nice and my skin is looking shiny and new. I highly recomment this to all you guys!

I also made some sauerkraut!! This stuff is fermented and has all kinds of good bacteria in it that helps with digestion. The stuff you buy in stores has been pasteurized which means there is no goodness left in it. So you got to make your own. Mine is still fermenting in the cupboard but its starting to taste tangy and almost ready for eating!! It was pretty fun to make.

Hmmmmm other than that....I made an appointment with the local naturopath for hormone testing. I really think hormones is the issue for me. All my problems involved going on and off birth control. So I am pretty excited to see what the results say.

That's all for now!

[KutenaiGirl]

A little over 2 weeks in now. And I must stay things are going well. My digestion feels good. Normally I have quite a lot of indigestion, heart burn and bad bowel movements. But everything is feeling good. I have been sticking with it 100% and to be honest, I could probably stick to the diet permanently. It does make eating on the go a little more difficult but to be honest my diet before this cleanse was not a whole lot different. The one difference is that I am eating meat almost daily. I dont know why, but I have always felt that a vegetarian diet was the healthiest. I would eat meat occassionally but always feel guilty afterwards. I did some research and realised that many nutrients are fat soluable, and therefore are hard to extract from plant sources. Since doing this cleanse, I realised that I could not just eat vegies so I decided to get back on the meat. The meat I am eating is local and organic, and grass fed where possible. I just put in an order for local grass fed beef. Honestly, I feel awesome. I have tons of energy and I feel strong. This may have been the missing link in my energy. I am very active. I ski everyday, climb mountains etc. So I think protein in my diet is very effective.

The only thing I am wondering about. I am still taking 3 HCL Betain capsules with each meal. I kind of thought I would be reducing the dose by now. I have not been getting any burning so I guess my stomach is still not producing acid naturally. Will see how that goes.

[KutenaiGirl]

So I guess I am about a little over 3 weeks into the digestive cleanse now,. Things are feeling pretty good. I am still taking the 3 HCL Betain per big meal. I guess this means I am still not producing my own stomach acid.
Skin is looking pretty sub par at the moment. I had a big breakout but that's ok. It could be my system detoxing but its hard to say.

I had a naturopath appointment the other day. It went well. I definitely gained some super useful information. My naturopath is all the blood type diet. It's definitely an interesting theory, but I am still not sure how I feel about it. I eat very healthy, and I definitely feel good from the foods I eat. I haven't been able to find a ton of research to back up this diet. I definitely agree with parts of it. The thing I dont like about it is how exclusive it is. I dont' like diets that are high maintenance and don't fit into my lifestyle. A lot of what I believe to be healthy foods are blacklisted. And mostly, I believe that stress plays a huge part in acne and I don't think stressing over some restrictive diet is healthy, especially when my blood type is sensitive to stress. Anyway, so I need to do some more research on it but I might give it a try for a couple of months and see hwo that goes.
Anyway, so I also had a vega test done. The vega test measures deficiencies and organ weakness. It was interesting how it was done and I am still not sure how it works but the information I got was super helpful!. I have a magnesium deficiency and chromium deficiency, my liver is stressed and I have some candida. What's super interesting is that my skin cleared up when I was living in Australia and I was taking magnesium supplements at the time to help me sleep. Interesting.
So I am planning to do a candida cleanse next week after I get my knee surgery. I am excited to see if this helps.
So I left with a bunch of supplements are I am stoked. I have alwaysd experimented with supplements but trial and error is time consuming. I love that the guess work is gone and I can just get straight to giving my body what it needs.
Next week I will get my food allergy test and I am so excited! I love getting this sort of feedback. I am very interested to see if I am allergic to anything.

I definitely recommend seeing a naturopath if you can afford it. It's expensive for sure but I think it's worth it. It's a great way to find out exactly what your body needs. If you body is getting everything it needs then you will not have acne. Period. I believe it.

Oh and if anyone reading this thread has anything to say about the blood type diet, please share. I am intested in knowing more about this!