12 replies to this topic

[junkyard]

Hello. I am new to the community, although I've been using this website as a resource for a long time now.

I started taking B5 (about 6 grams a day) a little over a week ago, and I will be updating my progress on here.

Background info.:

I'm a 26 year old female who has had acne (somewhat off and on) since age 13. I took a full course of Accutane as a teenager which cleared me for a couple years, and I have been jumping around from treatment to treatment ever since.

Recently, my dermatologist suggested I try Accutane one more time. My acne is no longer severe/cystic, but it is definitely not backing off as I get older, and I've tried every treatment imaginable (as I'm sure many of you have). I started Accutane and took it for about a week, but I just got too freaked out. I think it's too strong a drug for me at this point, and risking the side effects just didn't seem like the right choice.

So, I decided to try B5 instead. It's one of the only things I've never tried. No dermatologist has ever even mentioned it to me (go figure).

So far:

My oiliness has decreased very noticeably (at first I thought this may have been a lingering effect of the Accutane I was taking, but I took no more than 100 mg total, so I doubt it at this point). I love not being super oily. It has been a huge relief.

I have been experiencing a mild, somewhat unusual initial breakout. Usually I have some blackheads, a few whiteheads, and a few larger pimples coming or going. This initial breakout has caused a lot of small bumps (comedones I guess) in areas where I don't usually have that kind of acne. It could be a lot worse, so I'm not super alarmed, but I hope this means it is working and that it will go away soon. If anyone has advice/experience on initial breakout, I would love to hear it.

Thanks for reading!

[junkyard]

So this is day 12.

Initial breakout still going on somewhat. It seems like I break out in one area, then it will begin to heal, and I break out in another area. Hopefully once my entire face has broken out it will be over?

One thing I've noticed is that my breakouts, although visible, look less inflamed than usual. Usually if I get a breakout it is a bright red, angry looking thing, whereas now my skin tone still looks more even despite being broken out, and the red spots don't seem to hang out as long.

I may post pictures soon, but not until it looks a bit better. Oil production is still greatly reduced. Pores are smaller. Still at 6 grams a day.

I have experienced no real side effects so far, other than being more thirsty, and thus going pee more frequently.

[junkyard]

Day 15 I believe. I don't think anyone has looked at this, but I will probably keep updating it for my own amusement.

Happy to report that my initial breakout seems to be on its way out. I didn't want to jinx it, but things have been looking much better since my last post.

My skin just looks different. My pores are so much smaller. My skin produces a normal amount of oil. I also think my skin is healing itself more quickly than before.

I hope the good results continue.

I also started taking L-Cysteine a few days ago, so that could be one reason for the improvement.

Also, I don't think I posted this in the right place to begin with, so if anybody ever happens to look at it and would like to tell me how I can move it to the appropriate place, I'd be much obliged.

[junkyard]

Day 17.

Skin still looking very good.

I am going to slowly start decreasing to a maintenance dose because my hair is starting to feel thinner. I honestly don't care that much because my hair has always been very thick and I have always found it to be kind of a nuisance. But, I don't want to actually experience hair loss, so I am going to taper down.

It's strange - I haven't noticed that I've actually been losing more hair than usual (nothing more than my average 5ish per day), and I'm baffled as to why it feels thinner. I'm not entirely ruling out that I might just be paranoid.

Honestly, my skin looks so nice, I would happily live with thinner hair if that is the price to pay.

[KutenaiGirl]

I am reading your post! It's interesting because there has been a lot of people talking about B5 and acne. I guess it just depends on what your body needs...It's great that you are seeing good results. Keep posting, I am interested to see how it goes!

[junkyard]

Thanks for reading!

I guess this is day 19. The last few days I have been taking 4 grams/day (I started at 6 grams). I am still very happy with the way my skin looks.
My initial breakout symptoms have been completely gone for several days now. I have had a few random whiteheads/blackheads crop up in the last week, but my skin still looks much better than it did before. The small amounts of active acne that I do have on my face look much less inflamed, and my skin looks much more even-toned in general.

On an unrelated note, I got my food allergy test results back, and found out that I am super allergic (or hypersensitive...whatever you want to call it) to eggs. So, I am going to stop eating eggs for a while and see if that helps too.

[junkyard]

Day 24

Things are still good. I was a bit concerned because I started my period a few days ago (sorry if that is more info than you wanted) and I wasn't sure if there would be any changes. I didn't notice much of a change at all. I was oilier for a day or 2, but that has subsided.

My skin is not perfect, but it looks and feels so much better. It is so nice to not have to worry that my skin is just going to freak out for some reason.

I am currently using anywhere from 3.5 - 4.5 grams a day. I will probably continue at this dose for another month and then see if I can go down to 2 grams a day or less.

About my hair: I think I may just be hypersensitive to any changes in my hair, just because I am aware of the possible side effects. I do think my hair feels different, but I think it is just because it has been less oily. I haven't really been losing any more hair than usual. Let's hope it's nothing.

[k3tchup]

Day 24

Things are still good. I was a bit concerned because I started my period a few days ago (sorry if that is more info than you wanted) and I wasn't sure if there would be any changes. I didn't notice much of a change at all. I was oilier for a day or 2, but that has subsided.

My skin is not perfect, but it looks and feels so much better. It is so nice to not have to worry that my skin is just going to freak out for some reason.

I am currently using anywhere from 3.5 - 4.5 grams a day. I will probably continue at this dose for another month and then see if I can go down to 2 grams a day or less.

About my hair: I think I may just be hypersensitive to any changes in my hair, just because I am aware of the possible side effects. I do think my hair feels different, but I think it is just because it has been less oily. I haven't really been losing any more hair than usual. Let's hope it's nothing.

too much info? blah rubbish. if ppl dont like they have the option to skip over/dont read.

i hope your progress is going well.

about your hair, how bout supplementing a low dose fish oil err krill oil since is supposed to better. I know its helped my hair alot.. and as a guy i tend not to worry about my hair as like women do but hey blame the genes.

[junkyard]

Thanks for the suggestion about fish oil. I used to take it, but I stopped because I just felt like I had too many supplements and some of them needed to go. But, perhaps I should consider trying it again.

It's been a while since I last posted. As I mentioned, I'm a student, so I've been very busy. I've been trying not to let myself be distracted by whatever is going on with my skin or hair.

I guess this is somewhere around day 37?

I was down do about 2 grams for a while because I was kind of freaked out about my hair. It's not that I can't handle shedding a little extra hair, it's just that I don't know how much worse it might get, and I don't want to be a bald woman. My hair was getting really long (it's bizarre - although I'm losing more hair, it seems to be growing faster), so I got a haircut, and it looks and feels better now. Also, I am under pretty crazy amounts of stress at this point in my life. I am a student and a student teacher, and it's entirely possible that my hair shedding is stress related.

Anyway, I had a super stressful week last week and my skin broke out a little, so I went back up to 3-4 grams a day. It comes down to this: if I have to choose between having semi-crappy hair or semi-crappy skin, that is a very easy choice for me.

The only thing that concerns me is I don't know if it is okay to take 3-4 grams indefinitely, or if it could be dangerous after a while. As far as I can tell, the research is scant, or conflicting.

I figure I'll try to stay at 3-4 grams for about another month, and then try to reduce it again and see how it goes.

[junkyard]

Day 45ish.

I think 3.5 grams might be the operative dosage for me. It seems to be keeping my skin relatively clear, and my hair shedding is not too alarming. I think 6 grams was just too much.

Now I just have to decide how long I should/could keep this up.

[Twixie20]

I'm glad to hear that your skin is improving, but please be careful in regards to the hair shedding. I've read in various posts that the hair shedding is known to continue even after B5 intake is reduced, so that would definitely be something you might want to monitor.

That aside, what have your dreams been like? I remember when I tried B5 for a while that I definitely got the vivid dreams symptom. My dreams on B5 ranged from really pleasant to the most terrifying nightmares I've ever had.

[maedchen]

junkyard, do you still take the cystein? b5 uses up the cystein in the body, so it depleates you of cystein. this could be the reason for the hair-thinning. dry updosing the cystein, and watch your hair.
also, taking 500 mg of l-carnitin with the b5 is supposed to lower the amount of b5 needed to work for the skin.
sorry, english is not my first language, so i am not able to explan in detail, but if you google, you will find out about this.

http://www.healthboa...id-cystine.html

here is some information about this!

[pinky_shushu]

Hi Junkyard,

Just wondering how you've been going with the B5 and cysteine combo? I've recently started taking slow release B5, l-carnetine and reducing refined sugar to almost nil, so I'm really curious how this is going for you.... Please update!