11 replies to this topic

[Hollywoodv1]

Hello and thanks for taking time to read my post! (This will probably be lengthy, apologies in advance.)

 

A bit about myself/a prologue:

 

     (The short) My name's Jared, I'm 21 years old from Upstate New York and I've suffered from mild to severe acne for nearly a decade now. I currently go to school full time studying Environmental Science, work at a local vet clinic, and genuinely enjoy the outdoors.

 

     (The Long) Before I ever had a zit I was heavy, very heavy indeed. In about 4th grade I began to gain weight, around the time my parents began to have trouble in their marriage, and continued to up until about 11th grade. This was pretty good to my self esteem (hah) but allowed me to discover some really amazing things as well. My adventure with acne began in 6th grade, I can actually remember the first zit I ever got on vacation in Pennsylvania and has been a non-stop source of fun ever since. My parents split up when I turned 16, my mother left at this point and I haven't seen or talked to her since. Part of my bad skin, I would bet, was the inability for either of my parents to even bring up or teach me about acne when it first hit (or at all, ever), or help me treat it properly. I never went to a single dance, dated, had a kiss, or even had my yearbook picture taken in Highschool. School itself was bittersweet to me, I loved the coursework and learning things, but I absolutely loathed the environment and the people. Kids can be cruel and teachers, condescending. After Highschool I tried to do the go straight to work thing at a local restaurant, which I did for two years before realizing it wasn't worth it and an education was a much better option, which I'll get into later. During this time in 2009 I discovered my father was gay and had lied to my sister and I about it, directly. I confronted him about it and he admitted he was gay but continued to lie about other parts of it, such as leaving every other weekend when I was younger to go to Canada, to see his boyfriend. (Yikes) He also had his new boyfriend, Scott, move in, in 2009 with his 2 year old son. At this point, this combined with the acne caused me to fall into a extremely deep depression for well over a year and a half. I literally fell off the planet to the friends I had, I went to work and came home just to fall into bed. My acne became outrageous during this time and I tried a vast amount of OTC and Prescribed products, which I'll list later, none of which helped and my acne continued to grow. I think the stress of depression had a huge impact on it honestly. I considered suicide a very viable and possibly needed option at the time. I became conscious that something needed to be done or else that was it, so I began to get fit. I lifted weights, rode bikes, did 14+ mile day hikes, started rock climbing, changed my diet, and read more than I had been doing previous. Miraculously my acne began to heal and my self esteem skyrocketed. For a period of about 6 months my acne disappeared. I started dating a really great girl for a while, registered for school, got back in touch with my friends, and for the first time since about third grade I was truly happy. Life was good. At the end of summer just before school started my Grandfather passed away. He was the best influence that was ever in my life and probably will be. He taught me to fish when I was 2, taught me to shoot a .22 when I was 5, bought me my first compound bow at 7, had me bailing hay on his farm at 11, and was the person I lived with for just about two years during my parents divorce. His passing away destroyed me once again. This as well as starting school most likely had an impact on the acne returning that fall, which it did in force. During the time it returned my girlfriend and I broke up, I began to stay away from people again, and probably the only good of it all, I buried my head in school work and realized I liked it. I went to my derm. which prescribed me topicals and a regimen of multiple antibiotics for 6 months which still didn't work. After the antibiotics finished my acne bloomed worse than ever, at this point I needed accutane. Also, as a side effect of this I made the Deans List then the Presidents List while taking Chem, Calc, Bio I & II, Ecology, Geology, Botany, as well as others (so it wasn't all bad, I doubt I would have done so well without acne lol.) My derm. told me I can't take Accutane  because my mother was manic depressive, after spending thousands at her clinic on scripts and chemical peels that never really solved it,(didn't tell her about my episode though :S). So I went to my regular doctor and told him my situation, I had lost my insurance from work because I wasn't full time anymore so I needed help to get this. He was incredibly helpful and gave me scripts that I could mail to pharmacies in Canada to get Accutane for $147 a month rather than the $831 for a months supply here in the US. I still had to pay for blood tests but he worked with me to get them cheaper. Truly a health-care professional if there was one. So after my first course with Accutane ended in November I had near clear skin, with the exception of red marks, (not a single pimple) for almost 3 months. Then I got food poisoning from some bad chicken salad and it came back within 48 hours. UGH. Gone one day back the next. So that was about 2 weeks ago and I haven't stopped breaking out since, I have an appt. with my doc next Friday but I don't know if I can afford Accutane again while I'm in school. So that has brought me back here, now to finally begin.

 

Products/Vitamins/Prescriptions that haven't worked or show only slight help:

 

Proactive (10 Months)

BP

Sacyllic Acid

Every Clean and Clear Product

(Basically name an OTC sold at pharmacies)

 

Tazorac

Differin

Duac

Retin-A Micro

Minocycline

Doxycycline

Tetracycline

Erythromycin

Clindamycin (topical AND oral)

Accutane (worked for 3 months)

 

Vitamin A (just did a week of 100,000IU, x10 the regular dosage to see if it would help)

Vitamin B complex

Biotin

Fish oil (capsule and oil)

Zinc

Niacin

Vitamin C

Vitamin D

Vitamin A

Vitamin E

Fresh Garlic, Ingested (surprisingly had one of the best effects, still use it sporadically)

(I'm still on a few of these vitamins)

 

So after being on topicals for years now I realized something, I've never given my skin a break from something being on it. (Also it's good to note, companies can't make money off of saying it's good to not put anything on skin so this is seeming more and more plausible...)

 

So first thing's first, an apple and water diet for 3 days followed by grape juice and olive oil for a body detox.

I haven't washed my face with chemicals in about 24 hours and don't plan to for at least a month. (Unless I develop incredible amounts of cystic acne.)

 

Then I will be trying a raw food diet to aid it.

 

I plan to be changing out my pillow cases every night to every other night to also help not lay in my own oils, among other things.

 

Some pics!

 

This was in 10th grade, just before giving my Eagle Scout speech during the ceremony. My problem area had always been around my mouth at that point... Keep in mind this was calmer than usual. (Also a bit chunkier lol)

 

Added this (2/12/13) after initially posting but this wasn't too long ago either. Pre-Accutane.

 

This was taken tonight, I have definite red marks still and what not from the newest acne, that's a scar on my bottom lip btw :L

 

I will try to update as much as possible but most likely not every day.

 

If anyone would like to add something that might aid my efforts it would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks again!

Edited by Hollywoodv1, 12 February 2013 - 07:59 AM.

[Hollywoodv1]

Just a quick update for day 2:

 

My skin was incredibly oily on day one and I felt awful not being able to wash it, mainly out of habit, but I woke up this morning and my skin wasn't nearly as oily. I allowed water droplets to hit my face in the shower but haven't washed it other than that.

 

Also, today my skin started to shed TONS and is very flaky. The apple cleanse is coming along nicely as well, one more day left of it! 

 

The weirdest thing though is that I've only developed ONE very small pimple in the past 2 days and it's nearly already gone... For the past two and a half weeks I've gotten 3-4 medium sized ones daily on my cheeks. Hopefully this continues, I may post a pic later today.

Edited by Hollywoodv1, 09 February 2013 - 01:55 PM.

[dog01234567890]

hello!

 

we've both started the caveman regieme at the same time. i started yesterday and today is my second day.

 

i developed acne after giving up smokcing and after being given a huuuge dosage of antibiotics in my hospital (i had a bike/car crash & my handlebar went into my leg !)

 

anyway, i tried everything short of accutane.

i tried garlic, zinc, agnus castus, vitamin a,d, b5 etc

i tried a raw food diet, no carbs diet, mega doses of probitics

 

and those things have helped and the acne is slightly under control

so im attempting the caveman to push my skin into the normal range!

 

i preivously washed my face twice a day with a natural almond scrub and then moisterized with an almond moisteriser.

 

 

before i had acne (age 22) i had perfect clear skin. acne doesn't run in my family so i know it's not genetic. before i had acne i never did anything to my face, i didn't really wash it or anything.

 

i definately believe the link bewteen over-washing and acne! my dad works on dirty building sites all day and he is sweating but he never gets even a single spot!!

 

 

im doing the version of the caveman where no water touches my face for 28 days and then i will splash with cold water, depending on how it goes after that.

i exercise most days, so there will be sweat and oil building up on my face.

 

 

it is very liberating not having to wash my face and panic about quickly getting the sweat off. it is of corse slightly scary not wearing make-up - especially to work, but i have nothing to lose in trying this method. it seems the most intuative

 

i will post some pictures once they are uploaded of my skin before i started.

 

 

so far it just is oily, no new spots or zits or anything. it's kind of itchy around my nose- but for me thats a good sign!

 

looking forward to seeing how we do. i hope there will be some others joining in too :)

[Hollywoodv1]

Nice! It'll be interesting to see how this works for someone else at the same time!

 

Antibiotics made my acne ridiculous when I stopped, even with a probiotic. What were you smoking if you don't mind me asking? I just wonder because I think there is also a connection (in some people) to marijuana and acne. Atleast from my experience.

 

Agreed, there has to be some sort of link between over washing and acne in certain people. For a while after Accutane I didn't bother even washing my face because it was so dry, just sometimes balancing my skin with witch hazel. After I broke out bad from the food poisoning I began doing my BP routine again and then the acne came back hard...

 

I give you props for trying this as a female though, I know a lot won't try this just because of the make-up aspect. Let me know if you experience flakiness at all too. There's a huge amount of dead skin right now for me.

Edited by Hollywoodv1, 09 February 2013 - 04:53 PM.

[whoartthou1]

looks like nonexistant acne>

[dog01234567890]

- yeah it will be definately interesting !

i was smoking just plain cigarettes - i really wished i never had

 

i think it's day 3 now?

how has it been going for you?

 

the oil on my face is going away fast!!

i had one whitehead & it went away the same day-

 

my forehead is very congested though with lots of little bumps-

i'm not sure what this is, but i have faith & am definately keep going

 

my skin isn't flakey at all at the minute

i wish it was! i feel left out with not having the flakey skin everyone talks about ! 

 

antibiotics are evil for acne/skin !

 

[Hollywoodv1]

looks like nonexistant acne>

 

I'll take that as a compliment lol. I guess you may not be able to see it as well in the photo but I had a bunch on either cheek, some inflamed some not.

 

Also @dog, glad to hear! Hopefully we can continue this and see results!

 

Today is day 5 for me and yesterday I noticed a big reduction in oil and the flakiness is slightly receding. (It may have been a hangover from the overdose of Vitamin A I was taking.) I ended up splashing water on my face last night before I went to bed, hopefully this won't be a problem though. Still no new breakouts, at all. I also finished up the 3 day apple cleanse and stuck to it completely through, on the night of the 3rd day I drank 2 tablespoons of Olive oil and went to bed. I woke up yesterday and noticed my skin was extremely smooth, which it still is, and the old bumps from last week have been reducing. It's interesting that if I regulate my diet, washing doesn't seem to matter, or can even aggravate it. Makes me think that my derm was mostly full of crap.

 

Here's a pic, had a classmate tell me yesterday my skin was looking a lot better! Nothing like a self-esteem boost.

Edited by Hollywoodv1, 12 February 2013 - 07:54 AM.

[dog01234567890]

this is so good! that it;s working for both of us!

-

what is the olive oil thing? do you take it everyday or just for the cleanse?

 

my skin has improved A LOT ! i am actually pretty shocked at how little oil there is on my face

i actually have a normal oil production now, i haven't experienced any flakiness yet

 

my boyfriend also noticed my skin was really smooth and my complexion is even with no redness

 

-

i'm also taking pau d'arco tea now & drinking green smoothies with spirulina & wheatgrass everyday

so i hope that will give my body extra strength to repair itself

 

im so amazed at how much acne has taught me about nutrition & health- have you found the same?

 

i can't believe i ever ate sugar! i havent eaten it for 2.5 years nearly now & i dont really miss it

nature has it's own sweet things which when you take away the nasty artificial sweetness of sugar, are delicious!! !

 

 

i hope to upload some pictures of my skin but i only have the phone on my camera so it's not the best

 

also, did you get the idea to do the caveman routine from thelovevitamin blog?

 

hope your skin care is going well!!

 

 

forgot to add

 

what did your dermatolgist say about your skin?

are they just really keen to prescribe drugs or do they have useful suggesitons other than accutane !

 

&& how did the accutane work out for you?

i have only heard terrible things about it, it;s like a temporary cure?

 

 

i remember doing the candida diet & my skin was perfectly recovered BUT i couldnt even eat a banana

which seemed strange to me- & i got very thin too even though i was eating spoonfuls of coconut oil-

 

do you think it's like you get acne, then you eat healthily and your body starts to heal your skin a little bit, but becuase we totally ruined it's acid mantle it cant fully recover until we stop messing with it??

 

a million quesitons for you

[dog01234567890]

day 7 - my skin is looking quite disgusting! there is a lot of deadskin- i dont think i could see it yesterday as it was the evening

 

my pores seems to be pushing out the bad stuff, like they are pushing out the blackheads, it;s disgusting but it's good becuase it;s healing

im not looking forward to going to work though......

 

i got my face slightly wet when i was wahsing my hair and the places where the water hit, there was white patches of dead skin

i just left it though as i know it's part of the healing process

 

i have definite confidence in this method, though the process itself is quite unplesant!

[dog01234567890]

Ok, so I reached 30days of the caveman.

I didn't let any water tocuh my face, I didn't wash it and I didn't scratch it etc

 

It did look HORRIBLE! I definately had a lot of deadskin, especially on my forehead (which was my problem area)

I washed my face with mineral water and a muslin cloth and my skin looked BEAUTIFUL!

 

I complete couldn't believe it! My skin has started to heal itself, it's looking better than anything I have ever tried before.

It requires a lot of faith though, I didn't think it was going to work, & I wanted to wash my face and get back to normal but I;m so glad I didnt!

 

I think I will do this for a few more months, not washing for 30days then gently wash off with mineral water at the end.

 

My complexion is so even and bright. The mineral water didn't dry out my skin or anything.

I will never use products on my face again!

 

I highly recommend this to everyone

however be patient becuase it's not instant, it can take a little while, but you will notice the effects at the end of the month!

my skin isn't even oily anymore. it;s normal again!

 

Please message me if anyone has any questions.

 

x x x x x

[Thehoper]

To the OP your skin looks really good dude, definitely nothing to worry about.  Seem like a real honest and genuine guy too, good for you.  Ive been washing my face to the minimum for a couple years now and it is the best way for my skin as well.  Washing it twice a week.  Sometimes just distilled water, other times hemp oil or raw organic honey, little baking soda and lemon is good once in a while too.  

 

I dont think you should go full raw.  Your going to lose a lot of weight.  Best to still eat cooked chicken, fish, turkey.  Lentils/adzuki beans are easy digestible beans, and start taking a digestive enzyme with a big meal, really helps me.  And also when your taking that many supplements its impossible to know what is doing good and what is not, I would suggest taking 500mg B5 and 10-25mg Zinc, I also take chromium which helps with blood sugar levels along with my digestive enzyme.  Ive also tried many supplements over time and these are the most effective and useful to me.  Good luck though your skin looks great your definitely lucky compared to many other acne sufferers.  

[kelseylee]

Wow your post is so heartfelt and nearly had me in tears at times. I commend you for your honesty, insight and intelligence. Honestly your skin looks great and you look wonderful as well. I think in some six degrees of separation way, acne can be a result of just being too hard on ourselves and intense emotional distress. Anyway, best best of luck to you and when you do go raw, which I dabbled with a little, be careful not to go too hard on yourself. I think a healthy diet in moderation is better than an extreme diet, unless that sort of severe restriction thing really jives w/your personality. You said yourself 6 mo.'s of being really active cleared your skin and brought you to a great place in life. As a lifelong athlete, I would nudge you to focus on that and your school work that you're excelling at and everything else will fall into place. As a 25 yo looking back on my experience in college, excelling in school is so important and the world will be at your fingertips if you keep putting the work in like you're doing. The kids who never had acne--you will be their boss someday . You've had some rocky family experiences, but this can be a source of strength as you build more stable relationships in adulthood. It's really shitty your parents weren't 10x more supportive about your skin troubles, so lame really. I lucked out in this way and when I see teens with bad bad acne now my heart just goes out to them and I hope they have to someone to help them out.

 

 

Also--an elimination diet can be really helpful vs. just going full raw or paleo because then you know exactly what's messing you up. With me it was dairy (not to mention a litany of hormonal crap), but I had the luxury of seeing that on a food allergy test (which if you can afford it I recommend). You could try cutting out dairy first, for up to 4 weeks, then sugar, then gluten, etc., lots of other people who know more have posted about it. And then hey you might be able to stop at just cutting back on that one thing and eating healthy otherwise. You might be amazed at what an unknown food allergy is doing to help blow up your acne. OKay i'm done.

Edited by kelseylee, 10 March 2013 - 12:17 AM.