Someclearday

Yeah, that would not surprise me! I think many people don't realize just how bad for you it really is. It messes up your adrenals so much, and the thing is, they don't just instantly return to normal if you stop drinking it for a few days. Now that I've been mostly free of it for months I am starting to see a major difference in my adrenals. I used to always get these weird surges of adrenaline and I think always having caffeine in my system had something to do with it. They were almost like mini panic attacks, but they would come on because of random things, not emotional upset. For example, someone would come to my door to deliver something and I would literally get this massive surge of adrenaline as if I had just run for my life, heart pounding, sweating, shaking, can barely stand...and this wasn't a social phobia type of thing, it was the fact that the knock on the door would startle me SO bad that it would trigger this crazy response... any sort of loud noise or startling thing would do it... except the adrenaline would last for like a half hour after I was startled (where as most normal people would probably go back to normal quickly afterward)
I don't know... I always thought I was just a more high-strung person with a tendency toward panic and anxiety, but now that caffeine has been out of my system for months I notice I'm not getting these adrenaline surges as much anymore. I think caffeine really messes up your "fight or flight" response.

Omg that is so crazy you described what happens to me to a T. I haven't been able to kick my habit fully but I've cut back a lot and it makes such a difference with my stress and "panic attacks." I thought maybe I had some panic disorder but I've come to think it may just be my caffeine intake. Especially about it lasting for hours. Once it's set off by driving or some little glitch in my day get ready!

Omg every sentence of that made me cringe and you described those feelings so well that it brought up at few of my own.

I went to school to be an esthetician. Although my skin wasn't as bad then as it is now, it was still awful. The first day of school we walk into this lab, and I think this is where we start watching the demos. Nope, we were the "client" and we'd be getting facials that day. I stammered and tried to incoherently babble my way out of it but no luck. I sat there as this girl removed my makeup with who knows what kind of clogging cleanser. I was on retin a at the time so my face was on fire, plus my anxiety didn't help. So the instructor comes around "oh wow you are RED! Let me get everyone over here so they can see a good example of melasma." As the other students gathered around it was all I could do not to jump off that tale and run. I've had a few more incidences like that in school but none that traumatizing. I swear by the end of my program I wanted to write a letter to the school about the harm of almost every day facials and too frequent skin treatments lol

Day 20: you guys are right, I was def. way over reacting. It's so crazy that my skin can send me into a state of panic, even though I know how ridiculous I'm being in my head. *knock on wood* everything seems to be calming down..I think the Cerave and my simple routine has a lot to do with it. I've also been suspecting my make up changing it formula has been causing the rash like issue. I've switched to Everyday Minerals for its minimal ingredients.

My skin and hair has been a lot less oily overall and the tone seems to be improving

Omg I have never seen a homeless person with acne wtf

I just restarted 100 mg Spiro also after a brief period of being off it trying to get my hormones back to normal.  It's good that you're using retin a and antibiotics also, I just have some leftover retin a and topical antibiotics. I didn't have an IB when I started back on it, if anything it calmed my face down within a couple of days (knock on wood). Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

Thank you for the reply! You are so right. I think the worst part is just thinking about it the days before but once you get there it's always fine and I end up having a good time. I'll def try that!

Saw something in Allure magazine that the acne.org brand bp was on some list of favorite products:)

So I went and it wasn't that awful. Clearly, it would have been way easier with good skin but there are so many distractions to keep your mind off it. I left it uncovered with no makeup and I'm sure it looked awful but the ocean and sun really helped the healing along a lot. It's just a small spot now that won't scar. I noticed pretty much everyone had some sort of skin ailment so it was good to know I wasn't alone

Hello from Florida also! I developed Melasma from birth control pills and I noticed it last Summer when I started going out in the sun alot. It's devestating. Not only do I have to deal with acne related to the pill but now I have this dirty look to my face because of melasma. I actually look like I have sunglass marks on my face. I stopped taking the pill tis month so hopefully it'll start to fade, altought it can take a really long time. I got an rx from my derm for Lustra Ultra 4% hydroquenone so hopefully that'll speed it up. I also try and get regular chemical peels, but it's hard to because I work so much:/