Birth Control Woes and Spiro

Hey everyone... I've been a member on Acne.org for a few years now and like many of you, I've tried EVERYTHING. From Proactive to Acne Free to the DK Regimen, and then there are also all of those OTC creams, washes, scrubs and gels... all to no avail. As a last resort, coming to the conclusion that my acne was hormonal, and the fact that I kept missing my period, I went on birth control back October 07. I was on Yaz, and it took a few months, but after those few months my skin was flawless. I mean, my skin literally glowed. I didn't even have to wash my face! It was amazing! However, the side effects of the BC... weight gain, and anxiety (which spawned many visits to my psyhcologist) and feeling not so healthy ultimately lead me to go off birth control in April of 2008. So I was on BC for a good 7 months. The cool thing was, was that after I stopped BC my skin remained clear, and of course I dropped the weight that I had gained (almost 10 pounds).

The scary part comes next, in August/September 08 I started noticing pimples again... of course I freaked out... and decided to go back on BC, but then for whatever reason, before I started taking the BC, those pimples went away, so I didn't bother. The school year went by and my skin was fine... maybe a pimple or two, but none of those red under the skin bumps, all up until now! October 2009 and my skin is atrocious once again! I am contemplating Birth Control again, but I am so nervous. I want to try Yasmin instead of YAZ this time, but I am cautious because of the anxiety again, and the weight gain, and the possible long term side effects. When acne is hormonal, I've been told that there are only so many things one can do to rid themselves from it!

Which leads me to my next point... I have been hearing so much about Spiro and the amazing outcome of it, and I want to try it so bad! I made an appointment to see a new dermatologist (I've never been to a derm before) and I want to ask her about it... my question for you guys reading this (if you've gotten this far without Xing out the page because of my rambling back story hehe)... do you know if a derm can proscribe Spiro? Or does it have to be proscribed by an Endo? I really want to try it instead of birth control... Has anyone here done Spiro instead of BC? What is it like?

Thanks so much for reading this! I appreciate it guys!!

Blemish fighter?

I've been on the regimen for about two weeks, and i was wondering if there is any type of blemish fighter i can use along along with the regimen, or to replace a part of the regimen, like a blemish fighting cleanser, or blemish fighting lotion? I cant seem to get rid of the redish scarring that is left behind by my acne i know its only been two weeks, but sometimes blemishes and scars look worse than acne itself.

New... and running out of options :(

Hey everyone, I've been browsing this site for a few weeks now, reading up on different regimens and customer ratings and such... I'm a 20 YO female, living in NYC... and I've never had bad acne before the end of this summer. I've had a pimple or two... but nothing horribly major that would make me so depressed about myself. I have issues with my monthly cycle as well... I pretty much never get my period, and my doctor figured that was causing my acne issue. So I've been on YAZ for two weeks... and I haven't noticed a difference in my skin, it almost seems as if it's gotten worse. Also, I am on Proactive... which hasn't helped me either, and I've been using it for 2 1/2 weeks as well... I just feel like I keep seeing red spots, popping up, mainly along my chin and around the bottom of my mouth. and then i have these painfull ones in my t-zone, and it's making me so depressed... I've tried Zapzyt, Murad Acne Complex (which made my skin worse) Proactive, Acne Free... many over the counter products... and nothing. I really want to try the Daniel Kern method... it's almost like my last hope. I hope to order it by the end of next week... I never realized how bad acne could make me feel, it's the worst feeling ever.

(sorry this was very a very depressing "introduction" to me)