41 replies to this topic

[AcneMonster]

Sorry to inform you guys but I gave up on this experiment. In the course of taking the pantethine and the carnitine, I developed 5 painful cysts. 2 on my face and 3 on my back and a few regular pimples. I believe it to be the B5 finally wearing off. To make matters worse I developed a nasty weird body odor that I had to use a ton of body deoderant after I shower to mask (side effect of the carnitine but who knew it would happen this fast). Seems like because I discontinued this regimen my face is starting to calm down a bit and the body odor is going away. Just ordered some more B5 and going back to something that works before I get more scars but because of the cysts I might already be too late.

I am going to try some new things but from now on it will be centered around B5 as I finally got it in my head that pantethine just does not work for me. I ordered some vitamin D3 and magnesium with my B5 to see if this balances the effects of too much calcium from the calcium-D-pantothenate from which B5 is made. If that works or enhances the B5 then I will let you guys know in a new thread. Otherwise whoever else tried this I hope that it is working for you as things work differently for everyone.

[{DC}]

AcneMonster,

Why dont you just reduce your B5 intake once you get clear from it?

That should help stop any side effects.

I have been on B5 for about 7 days now at 10 grams per day. I also take 5000mcg of biotin, a mega B complex, zinc, multi-vitamin and retinol(natural vit A) with Vitamin D.

I have yet to experience any diareah or negative side effects.

I tried B5 when it first came out, but never @ 10g per day. I took about 4 grams per day and I dont think it did enough to warrant me conituning. It was too expensive for me back then to stay or start on a 10g per day regimen.

But it seems to be helping. I will only give a definite after 2-3 months of use at 10g per day.

[AcneMonster]

AcneMonster,

Why dont you just reduce your B5 intake once you get clear from it?

That should help stop any side effects.

I have been on B5 for about 7 days now at 10 grams per day. I also take 5000mcg of biotin, a mega B complex, zinc, multi-vitamin and retinol(natural vit A) with Vitamin D.

I have yet to experience any diareah or negative side effects.

I tried B5 when it first came out, but never @ 10g per day. I took about 4 grams per day and I dont think it did enough to warrant me conituning. It was too expensive for me back then to stay or start on a 10g per day regimen.

But it seems to be helping. I will only give a definite after 2-3 months of use at 10g per day.

Yeah I know. Now that I am older, it takes less B5 now to clear me up. Started at 12G then went down to 9G and I am staying clear but the oil has returned a little which I don't mind now as it looks healthy. I've been taking the vitamin D3 for 2 days and already a few cysts that I had have shrunk and the B5 alone couldn't do that so I am taking 600IU of D3 with every dose of B5 with some magnesium at night to balance out all of this calcium I'm getting from the B5. The magnesium is also helping with some muscle cramps I've been having lately and also helps me sleep better.

I'm keeping a log offline to see if the D3 and magnesium support the B5. Read somewhere that D3 deficientcy that almost most people have can cause acne too. But it is my theory that the D3 can help absorb and retain the B5 which is actually calcium-D-pantothenate so that it is more effective and to benifit from the additional calcium. If this works good maybe I would start another thead or just let this be the last post.

[{DC}]

Whats the difference between Vitamin D and Vitamin D3?

How long did it take for your skin to stop producing excess amounts of oil when your taking B5?

[AcneMonster]

Whats the difference between Vitamin D and Vitamin D3?

How long did it take for your skin to stop producing excess amounts of oil when your taking B5?

Vitamin D3 is what your skin makes naturally and is the most absorbable in supplement form and it usally takes about a week to see a reduction is sebum production from the B5. Also depends on stress levels and diet for that week.

[AltaPGT]

Just to clarify, is there a reason you stopped the Carnitine? If it supposedly helps with pantethine, it should logically help while on good old pantothenic acid too. Or did you think it was breaking you out more, or was it the possible odor issues?

[AcneMonster]

Just to clarify, is there a reason you stopped the Carnitine? If it supposedly helps with pantethine, it should logically help while on good old pantothenic acid too. Or did you think it was breaking you out more, or was it the possible odor issues?

I have used pantethine before in the past and it did not work very well. In combination with the carnitine, my face seemed to clear up a little temporarily but the next day and then on my skin was oily then ever and started breaking out. Then came the fishy smell at the end of the day that I read somewhere was only treatable by antibiotics because of a certain bacteria in your gut that releases a enzyme when it digests the carnitine. I am happy to report that after stopping the carnitine, I no longer have that smell and my skin started to clear too even without taking anything. Like I said before, Just because it did not work well for me does not mean that it wont work for anyone else. I realize now that Pantothenic acid works great for me but didn't work for some.

[{DC}]

thanks acnemonster.

So regular Vitamin D is what you get from the sun right?

And did you continue to see your oil reduce the longer you took B5? Did your skin ever become not oily at all?

[AcneMonster]

thanks acnemonster.

So regular Vitamin D is what you get from the sun right?

And did you continue to see your oil reduce the longer you took B5? Did your skin ever become not oily at all?

There are only 2 types of Vitamin D that I know of and D2 and D3.
Go to this link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D

I mention D3 because it is the most absorbable and your body creates it when you skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation. I am darker skinned and stay indoors most of the time so my body is deficient of this vitamin. I actually found out that a lot of people are deficient and need to either supplement or the best way get into a tanning bed. From what I read, vitamin D3 causes your skin to produce antibiotic compounds that no bacteria can become resistant to including P. Acnes. Once again my use of D3 is theoretical.

As for the B5 and my oil, because of my genes, my skin never became completely dry all of the time but this stuff effects people differently. My mom has extremely oily skin but did not ever get acne even when she was a teenager. I am not looking for less oily skin, just less acne.

[{DC}]

thanks again acnemonster.

These last couple years I have hardly got any sun either. Im not sure if my vitamin D is D3 or not, it doesnt say...all it says is "All Natural Vitamin A & D from fish oil".

My skin oil has reduced somewhat. My forehead and nose are all that really gets oily. My nose is definitely producing less sebum. But my forehead is still pretty shiny about 12 hrs after washing my face.

I hope to get my sebum production back to normal(pre-acne days). I used to never get oily or dry skin. I didn't even have to wash my face all day if wanted. Just used to let the water in the shower hit my face and I was gone.

My mum also has oily skin on her t-zone area but she doesn't get pimples either. Less/no acne is most important, I agree...but I don't like the feeling or look of oily skin.

When you took B5, how long did it take your face to start getting oily after you washed it?

[AcneMonster]

thanks again acnemonster.

These last couple years I have hardly got any sun either. Im not sure if my vitamin D is D3 or not, it doesnt say...all it says is "All Natural Vitamin A & D from fish oil".

My skin oil has reduced somewhat. My forehead and nose are all that really gets oily. My nose is definitely producing less sebum. But my forehead is still pretty shiny about 12 hrs after washing my face.

I hope to get my sebum production back to normal(pre-acne days). I used to never get oily or dry skin. I didn't even have to wash my face all day if wanted. Just used to let the water in the shower hit my face and I was gone.

My mum also has oily skin on her t-zone area but she doesn't get pimples either. Less/no acne is most important, I agree...but I don't like the feeling or look of oily skin.

When you took B5, how long did it take your face to start getting oily after you washed it?

When ever I took B5, it only delayed the oil be never stopped it. It took about maybe 4 to 8 hour for my skin to get oily but then again that depended on what I ate for that day and my stress levels.

[AltaPGT]

AcneMonster - any update to this/whatever you are trying now... is it working for u?

[AcneMonster]

AcneMonster - any update to this/whatever you are trying now... is it working for u?

I realized now that B5 is the way to go. In theory the pantethine with the carnitine should have worked but it did not work the same as the B5. I started with 12G and lowered down to now 8G and my face is clear exept for 2 small pimples on my temple which are barely noticeable. All I got to say is that I am satisfied with the results so far. I will now center my experiments around B5 as it seems to work best from now on.

[edc]

Hi, do you think it's possible for pantethine to cause acne? My skin has got worse during both periods I've taken this - maybe due to it drying my skin too much? There could definitely be other factors involved though..

[Drainer15]

has anyone else tried this with success. I'm currently taking 900mg pantethine with 250 mg of l-carnitine 3X a day, and it hasn't really done much.

I've been doing this for about 2 weeks now, and my oil production is still the same.

Maybe i should increase the dose?

[Ncz0612]

Im not even reading the former post, just posting some information about my discoveries.

Ive been on accutane- Face cleared up: Side effects- Dry hair, Capped lips.

10 g B5- Face cleared up just as good: Side effects- Hair thinning.

100,000 mg Vit A- Face started to improve: Side effects- Kiddnies started to hurt very bad.

900-1200mg Pantethine- Face is slowly improving. Side effects- Increased about of sebum seems to be being produced? More then normal, yet face is clear.

Vitamins i am also taking.
4-6g Fish oil
Zinc 15g
Magniesuim 999g
Calcium 990g
Vit A 10,000ui
Hair, Skin, Nails pill
Vit C 1000g
Burdock Root 3-4 pills i think like 1500-2000mg
Vit D

[AcAnthology]

I'm curious about this thread. Here is where I'm confused: so you take 250mg of l-carnitine and 750mg of Pantethine 3 times a day, correct? For the first two days of that regimine, improvement was noticed, correct? Then, after the regimen was changed, with increased l-carnitine, the acne got worse? Why is there an assumption that increasing a dose or changing the ratio of l-carnitine to Pantethine will increase the effectiveness of the initial dosages? Couldn't that change how it works in your body? I want to avoid speculating without asking a question, because that will further misinform even more naive readers than myself, but does l-carnitine affect androgen receptors in a way that could affect acne, if taken at a high dose? That affect also seen if a ratio is off balance of something that could make it behave differently?http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12930169


I think there need to be some standards when experimenting with supplementation, so that we know what is significant and what isn't. First you need a good length of time, say, 3 months, and keep a regimen constant without changing it.

I think I might try to experiment with the doses suggested but give it more time. If more people were to be more strict with giving supplements good trials, all of the readers might be able to take more information as to what could be working, or not. I don't think you can tell after two days, or constanty changing what you're doing, as that makes extricating causal relationships useless and confusing.

Any additional suggestions, please? Feedback?

[whoartthou1]

bump

[nakedsmurf]

B5 has worked wonders for me
I been 3months and 1 or 2 weeks not sure ...but I'm basically acne free
My acne was cause by oily skin so I knew this would work . By month 2 I was seen results I haven't had a single zit for 3 weeks now I been taking 9g I think of lowering it down to 5g next month.
I haven't notice any hair thinning...I would recommend b5 only to ppl that think their acne is cause by the oils it produces.

[TreatAcne]

I have a link in my signature that explains this "breakthrough" as well, but one of the sources he listed WAS the medicine you were taking. the website states that diet and lifestyle has no effect on our acne, but that's major BS since one of them or BOTH at once directly effects everything about us, INCLUDING our skin... which MAY or may NOT develop acne. I have no idea why someone thought the medicine was a good idea because there are tons of other things in there as well other than the B5 and L-Carnitine. I personally took 500mg of B5 and 500mg L-Carnitine myself for over 3 months and had no effects at all. In fact, I had a few cysts show up too, but they gradually subsided in their severity. The vegetable juice has helped me more than anything else I've ever done before.

 

I would definitely try 1000 to 2000iu of D3. I've seen a lot of D3 talks going on here, but just remember that Vitamins (or hormones, whatever) in their synthetic form taken over time actually causes more HARm than good, but D3 was the less aggressive harmer of them all. Source for my claim here:

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=tBGoDjiNRJQ