MissSac17

I don't know what happend but it has fixed! I literally just searched for something there just now and it actually worked. Thankyou

Day 60 - week 8 - 50mg -- Holy Bajeesus

Brace yourselves...

 

my skin looks good today. I am overwhelmed about it, mostly underneath my eye area on both sides is CLEAR and my cheeks are looking good. Even though I can still feel bumps on my cheeks, like maybe 6/7 on the right and 12/13 on left it looooks good. I have a redness/rosy tinge actually, maybe Im flustered? Maybe its the fact I have my period? I don't know. All I know my skin doesn't look bad at all, I guess its a good day with it today, I mean its faaar from perfect but it doesn't look as inflamed or anything you know?

Although I do have a bit more SMALL underskin bumps around my jaw area than I normally do. I also have a cyst at the corner of my mouth which is taking agessss to heal.

Just a quick update there to say that really AND also let you know that my date last night went well. He was a nice guy, we chatted and got on really well, made each other laugh etc...but I can't see us being anything more than friends. So Im still on the hunt for a man, and one that would accept all my flaws, especially my skin

Day 49 (week7) - FIRST DAY on 50mg

 

Hello guys!

I just wanted to take a minute and thank everyone for their kind words and support throughout this log, seriously, without this log I would be so lost and just...I don't even wanna think about it. I don't what it is about writing or typing even about your thoughts and feeling, it just feels like a release, like a PURGE.

Righty, I decided to up my dosage, so that is me now at 50mg. My doctor actually wanted me to wait until I got the results of my kidneys back but I just want to try it and see if 50mg might be the answer and work for me more. What dosages is everyone else on atm anyway again??

Side-effects I have noticed currently is literally just the less greasy/oily hair. This is very noticeable though. Also my hair is a bit thinner, BUT it is long, so if it was shorter it might be thicker, I don't know.

I also have noticed a bit of a more womanly shape to my body. I am generally bottom heavy (Booooty!) but I have broad shoulders - I kinda have the body of a gymnast, that figure aside from the lean-ness of them, at the moment. I am aiming to lose some weight, or inches and have been exercising a little more, Im probably between 117-120lbs at 5'1- however this easter I did eat alot of chocolate, OOPS. I have actually ate a bit of chocolate everyday for the past week tbh, so maybe this is why it seems more inflammed?? Yea proabably.

 

My skin state right now is hell. Seriously. My. Skin. Is. Shit. I have acne almost everywhere, with a rough texture to it. I had been using ABS (african black soap) once per day for a week and a half but took a break from it yesterday, it is very drying and I think it has made me purge like crazy.

Also I have been taking 1000mg of EPO (evening primrose oil) for 5 days, and I wonder if these have something to do with the inflammed spots? They actually have nuts as an allergy. Its probably the amount of sugar Ive consumed though, so lets just wait and see howI am in a week of healthier eating.


 

Experiences would be much appreciated right now. I seem to be losing all hope at the moment and HATE my skin. My skin is so bad and a bit sore AND itchy.

I seem to have broken out around my mouth and my forehead at the eyebrows and my cheeks...to be honest there is not one bit of skin that is free of spots, wether that be bumps, cysts, papules..whatever..it truly is a fucking mess.

I just keep freaking out that maybe Spiro isn't working for me? Im on 25mg and have been on this for 7 weeks tomorrow (49 days)
My period is very irregularand actually I have not had one since being on it, right now my period is over 4 weeks late. I keep looking into estrogen dominance too and low progesterone, and I did alot of reading about how when you are estrogen dominant sometimes your period can become inrregular and progesterone needs to surpass the estrogen levels in order to have a period? I was looking into naturally increasing my progesterone levels therefore, however I have been reading conflicting views about things like Vitex (a herb which can boost progesterone) can infact disrupt or ihibit anti-androgens...awcht I don't know. Im just at a fucking loss right now and feel a bit down about it, I am trying to be patient with it but keep thinking that maybe it isn't for me you know.

Personally I believe that we are all born into this world beautiful little babies, and Im pretty sure our mothers and other family members would certainly agree to that. We would also grow up doing cute little things and making seemingly silly mistakes when we are young, you know, like drawing on the walls or eating something that isn't food...silly things. And we learn from them, totally. Life is all about learning. But we were still beautiful.

But if we are in a situation when growing up and we get called names from a young age then I think this makes us question ourselves; bodies, mind, work ethics even. These names that we get called tend to stick with us, heck I remember getting called "IRON FACE" because my nose is like a button, it is sooo tiny, and I got slagged rotten for it, I wanted a nose job it was that bad, I was so close to getting my nose made bigger all because of what people called me. "Stacey-Ann the frying pan" Lol I still remember this. Jesus.

 

Anyway, when we get called "ugly" or some form of it, then we are gonna believe these fucking rumours aren't we? I mean what do WE know right? These people in our class are calling us this and everyone else in the class is laughing apart from a few, maybe they are "ugly" as well - who knows. So throughout school and even high school we remember this embarasment, it is lodged in our brain and it is a belief about ourselves, it actually develops into low self esteem since its all we think about and believe about ourselves...we believe we are ugly therefore we are going to ATTRACT these SPECIFIC experiences to our everyday lives which PROVE our ugliness...whether that be a high-class beautician in a shop looking down upon us, or us getting paraniod about people talking behind us - since they MUST be talking about us right?... Just normal situations like these. 

 

I think that is how we believe ourselves to be UGLY. Its not because we thought we were when we were young...I doubt very much that everyone of us called ourselves ugly in the mirror growing up, no way..this word probably wasn't even part of our vocabulary until someone heard it one day and called someone it or something. I personally believe that our self esteem and self image is reflected from our experiences from when we are younger. Like if we were called names then instead of having our own values and beliefs about ourselves, we steal theirs, the idiots that branded us THIS UGLY title.

I don't think I am ugly though, not anymore, and I don't think you are either. I don't actually think anyone is UGLY - its such a horrible word, I mean would you call someone this? If not, then why call yourself this?

Im going to try MY best to tell MYSELF that I am gorgeous, both inside and out, and one day ONE DAY I will find a lovely man/husband/whatever who will also find me equally attractive. I have MY own believes and Im not going to steal anybody elses about what THEY think of me...heck they can think what the fuck they like. I hope one day you do the same, and realise how strong you actually are. Beauty and ugliness I guess are subjective.

 

Let the haters hate.

 

Day 23 (week 3) Spiro 25mg

 

Morning guys! How is everyone today then? The weather is absolutely rubbish over here today, I was going to go for a lovely jog but it has unfortunately been postponed.

So today I'm feeling not too bad but not too great either. I actually had a night out the other day to celebrate a friends 21st birthday, I drank a bit much more alcohol than planned (why do I always do that??) and was extremely hungover yesterday. I tend to make bad food choices when I feel like that (thankfully I only feel like that probably once or twice a month) but I ate bread man, BREAD. God.

 

So I am taking this as a new day and trying to forget about it, fair enough it happend, back to reality. The coming weekend I have made the conscious decision of re-newing my gym membership and starting that up again - I had to take time off with an injury I had suffered. Im excited about starting swimming again though, it has literally been months since I swam! I do work-out almost everyday, well Im active anyway. I try to walk almost everywhere, do work-out dvd's like yoga /pilates, this cardio thing called Turbo Jam - its actually American - which involves alot of kickboxing moves. I tend to make up my own type of workouts since I have equipment at home like my weights and things (I favour weights over everything since they are EXTREMELY beneficial to women). I try to do something everyday anyway.

I actually straightened my hair the other day and have noticed that my hair is fine, totally fine and have not noticed any less hair falling out like what I was at the beginning of taking Spiro. I must have just been paraniod. My thirst isn't even as bad and my urinating os not too drastic either - am I becoming like used to it or something? Is that even possible? Does your boddy accustom to it?

The large spots I had about a week ago are still there but not nearly as bad as when they had appeared, mostly just papule type marks, they are also alot smaller. My period still has NOT appeared it is now 5 days LATE. I hate it when it is late. They are so frigging irregular.

Another good thing I have noticed is I had aalot of small, folliculitis type spots on my back, mostly the upper back and on my chest however the ones on my back have SIGNIFICANTLY cleared, like they aint there at all...it is smooth skin now and I only have about 5-6 tiny tiny spots (skin-couloured). My chest has improved alot too.


http://www.youtube.c...h?v=0OHX_PA25Ok

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=_est5zPL6eo


I just wanted you guys to have a listen at how good this song is. I absolutely love this guy, and I only heard him yesterday for the first time!

 

Hi Stacey!

 

I'm happy to see someone else is just starting spironolactone.  I've been on it for five weeks now at 200 mg per day.  I'm finally starting to see a little bit of a shift in my skin, but it's slow, I mean REALLY slow going. 

 

The good news is I've been here before.  A few years ago I went on spiro and I remember it took 3-4 months to really work.  I know it can be much faster for some people, but for me it took some time and it got worse before it got better.  But I KNOW it works.  Patience is the toughest part, but I really encourage you to keep hanging out here on acne.org.  Support is crucial.

 

I am personally too embarassed to tell my friends.  Even my boyfriend hates me right now because he doesn't know why I'm avoiding him.  So it's nice to have people to talk to here.

 

Keep us updated with your progress.  Just a note.  I've heard about many ladies who started on low doses of Spiro and when it didn't work for them their doctors upped the dose and it made all the difference in their skin.  Starting small is always a great idea though.  Just know that you have that option.

 

Sierra

skindeepstory.wordpress.com

Hey Sierra  (what a beautiful name btw) thankyou for your encouragement. I was just wondering, why did you originally come off Spiro? And did you notice any side effects the first time around?

Patience is hard to come by, it certainly is a talent we must learn. I have been patient before befor and I'm certainly sure I can do it again, I have wanted to try Spiro for so long now and now that I have finally got it I am pretty chuffed.

Hey, don't feel like you need to avoid people, I think by doing things like that it just creates unwanted tension and negativity. I bet your friends AND your boyfriend would be happy if you opened up to them about it. As people we like to "know" things and learn things, not be left in the dark
 

Thanks for the compliment.  I know I should stop avoiding people.  I'm slowly but surely getting out more.  It's crazy how much acne takes over your life!  But, I know ultimately I should just open up to everyone.  The only people that know are my parents and they have been really supportive. 

 

Anyway, I originally stopped taking it just because I had been studying nutrition and holistic health.  I didn't know at the time that I had PCOS and thought that because I was taking such good care of my health as far as exercising, yoga, sleeping, meditiation, and diet, that my acne would not be a problem.  It took a few weeks before my skin became gradually worse and worse.  No matter what I did.  I changed my diet, tried eliminating all possible causes of the problem, but nothing worked.  After 7 months, when it was undeniable that my severe cystic acne was not getting better, I finally got the courage to be tested and got my PCOS diagnosis. 

 

Now I'm using both medication (spironolactone, birth control (Generess Fe), and topicals (HQRA and Acanya)) along with my holistic approach to resolve my skin. 

 

Probably more info than you wanted but like I said, I haven't been telling anyone about my acne so it's all sorta spilling out

 

As for the sleeping thing, I never noticed a problem but I generally take my second dose of spiro early (like 5:00pm-ish) and try to exercise every day so my body is tired. 

 

Look forward to your next update!

 

Sierra

skindeepstory.wordpress.com

Honestly I can totally attest to the fact that it takes over your life Sierra, it does, it really does. And it's sad actually, I mean we are in our 20's and should be "having the times of our lives". I can't even count the number of oppertunities I've missed to go out with my friends because of my skin and to someone without this they must think "what??!" That's good your family is supportive, I actually have more friends that are supported as opposed to my mum to be honest - it seems since I "don't believe her" when she says my skin is fine, I need to get a grip. Yea.

I have read about alot of women having PCOS and Spiro being like a lifesaver basically. I got tested for it too, but my test were in the "normal" range however a year later my doctor actually told me that I have just slightly elevated androgens...why the fuck do they not tell you the figures??
I hope this works for, I actually have no doubts that it will

Before trying this I have spent ALOT of money on holistic remedies for my skin. I still eat pretty well though and exercise too and I'm hoping that this helps aswell. As for a face regime though, I only wash my face once a day at the moment with water and spot treat with tea tree oil, if I can that is...its hard because I have all these clogged pores and bumps everywhere but just a few larger cyst type papule things.

Don't worry about "spilling" stuff out because it seems this is a good community for that

Thankyou very much I had no idea that you had to wait around 15minutes, so thank's for that

Hi Stacey!

 

I'm happy to see someone else is just starting spironolactone.  I've been on it for five weeks now at 200 mg per day.  I'm finally starting to see a little bit of a shift in my skin, but it's slow, I mean REALLY slow going. 

 

The good news is I've been here before.  A few years ago I went on spiro and I remember it took 3-4 months to really work.  I know it can be much faster for some people, but for me it took some time and it got worse before it got better.  But I KNOW it works.  Patience is the toughest part, but I really encourage you to keep hanging out here on acne.org.  Support is crucial.

 

I am personally too embarassed to tell my friends.  Even my boyfriend hates me right now because he doesn't know why I'm avoiding him.  So it's nice to have people to talk to here.

 

Keep us updated with your progress.  Just a note.  I've heard about many ladies who started on low doses of Spiro and when it didn't work for them their doctors upped the dose and it made all the difference in their skin.  Starting small is always a great idea though.  Just know that you have that option.

 

Sierra

skindeepstory.wordpress.com

Hey Sierra  (what a beautiful name btw) thankyou for your encouragement. I was just wondering, why did you originally come off Spiro? And did you notice any side effects the first time around?

Patience is hard to come by, it certainly is a talent we must learn. I have been patient before befor and I'm certainly sure I can do it again, I have wanted to try Spiro for so long now and now that I have finally got it I am pretty chuffed.

Hey, don't feel like you need to avoid people, I think by doing things like that it just creates unwanted tension and negativity. I bet your friends AND your boyfriend would be happy if you opened up to them about it. As people we like to "know" things and learn things, not be left in the dark
 

 

Good morning, I'm just sitting with a hot water and lemon and thought I'd update this wee thing.

So this is day 2 of taking 25mg of Spiro, however I had some trouble last night. It could just be me being paraniod but I struggled to sleep, like really struggled to sleep last night. I went to bed around half past 11 and did not fall asleep until 3.30am. It could be Valentines nerves? Or maybe because I previously read about someone having sleep problems when starting spiro and I got that drilled into my head? I don't know.

The thing about not getting to sleep though is the fact it really worsens my anxiety which effectively worsens my depression. I was on Citalopram 20mg (AD) previously for 2 months but decided to stop taking them - probably not theee best idea, it sounded good in my head though - I just did not want to be tied to a pill anymore for happiness you know? Citalopram did somewaht help my sleeping though, maybe the act of stopping it coupled with taking Spiro is making my sleep worse again and maybe I should take the Citalopram again? I don't know, I guess I will just wait until the Spiro actually gets into my system.

My plan is to take 25mg for a few weeks and then see how I feel, then hopefully pregress onto 50mg.

Happy Valentines day everyone!

I just wanted to chime in here, thankyou CherrySoda08 for posting this log, I have enjoyed reading it. I am actually considering taking spiro, since I think it may actually help me. My ONLY concern with it is that I have researched endlessley about it and alot of women report "hair loss" or "hair shedding" with this. Have you experienced anything like this? I love my hair and, as a person with acne and a tendancy to feel bad about my body, it is the only thing that I feel makes me feel beautiful I guess...so I would hate to lose it. But anyway keep us updated! Im looking forward to hearing how the 50mg is treating ya

Im pretty darn annoyed deep down but weirdly enough am able to put these feelings behind me (maybe the Anti-depressants?) A huge whitehead on my chin burst this morning! I hate it when that happens! I also ate a bit too much last night (dairy actually - yummy yummy organic coconut yoghurt) so I kinda feel a bit shitty cos of this too...decided to just have my morning coffee, go for a long walk later (my usual Monday morning routine) fasting until about 12 and have some soup then.

I seem to have alot of these UNDER SKIN bumps on my forehead, they are colourless however I do still have alot of marks (HIP? or HPI? Im not sure) on my foreahd too and my cheeks. My most activ acne is actually around my chin, the bottom of it mainly, a few on each cheek near the hair line and next to my nose/middle of cheek, also some well a couple big ones on my forehead.

My period is actually MEANT to be due like this week so it could very well be because of this, this is probably why I am craving and binging too...who knows.

I am pretty excited for tomorrow though since I have ordered a food processor!! And Ive decided to start juicing and making ALL meals from scratch...so hopefully this new way of eating will help me too!

 

 

I stayed at my friend's house over the weekend. Barely any sleep, forgot to take my skincare, walked everywhere in the freezing weather, lived off cake and junk food. Came home and my skin is the best it's been in forever and I've lost five pounds. This is confusing, in a good way.

 

 

I always get soo nervous about staying at friends houses, I actually shy away from it..I think its because Im worried about how my skin will react to new bed covers and the awkwardness of doing my facial routines and stuff. Also the idea of eating different foods for breakfast since I don't know what they will have in their house. Im meant to be staying at a friends on the 12th of Feb for a night out in Glasgow but I am actually bricking it. :/

Sometimes I think though letting go for a bit is actually helpful to our skin, and metabolism funnily enough, after eating very well for a while a different way of eating seems to shock our bodies into burning more to get rid of the toxins..I think anyway, I have read alot about "firing-up" our metabolism by having a "cheat-day" or whatever...so maybe thats what happened

I do too and I try not too. There are days at college when Im sitting with the people in my class and we are having a conversation il think about it, it's like what I really want to do is express how Im feeling to them, I think thats why it keeps coming up. Maybe I feel that if I talk about my acne openly to them I would feel more confident, just even something like "Im having such a bad skin today and just want to stay in bed".

I remember recently all I wanted to do, infact I still do, is stand up high..so high and shout to the world (or my town) that "I have acne, and if you don't like that or think that its disgusting or whatever then fuck you, I am who I am" -- it just sounds so dramatic and empowering.  I know if I spoke more to the people in my life about my skin issues I think they would appreciate it more, instead of me bottling it up and hating my skin inside and withdrawing...

Just want to rant and say that I FUCKING HATE having this. Im actually sick of trying so hard not to touch my face and when I do feeling bumps mostly everywhere. Im sick and tired of avoiding mirrors all the time and looking down whenever I pass someone, cos Im ashamed?? Embarassed?? Depressed?? Fearful of being judged. I want this to end.

maybe for you it does, but everyone is different. I can personally eat dairy and not break out.