Hey Rosalie - just stumbled across some of your posts & I am concerned about you. You need to eat healthy while taking any supplements otherwise your body can't cope. And by healthy I mean getting enough protein and vegetables & fruit (go for the less sugary fruit where possible). Stay away from dairy if you can - dairy is full of hormones so take calcium supplements for your bones & vitamin D is great for acne too. If you want to take supplements for your skin, vitamin C 1000mg a day is great, zinc 50mg a day & Selenium is good too - but never exceed more than 50-70 mcg a day. I WOULD try a 3 mth course of antibiotics to get the bacteria under control, but no longer than that & if you do take antibiotics make sure you take a probiotic every day, otherwise you will end up with Candida which is not good for pimples. I have been reading up on the chromium....I'm not sure about it, so many mixed reviews & the hair loss thing is a concern. ALSO vitamin A is great. I'm not talking roaccutane - but you can take up to 50,000 I.U for 3 mths (you need a prescription for this in Australia - don't know about USA) - stop for 1mth & then back on again. etc. This is what my dermatologist had me on - it worked. Please contact me if you need any more info.
Regards, David.
Hey Alternativista - you are absolutely right, I'm not disagreeing with you - antibiotics are bad news, that's why I said not to exceed more than 3 mths & to definitely take probiotics while on them - BUT definitely stay away from them if possible. Natural antibiotics like garlic & colloidal silver are good options. I don't know if anyone else has tried this, but lately I have been taking psyllium husk - not because I wanted to treat the occasional pimple I still get, but for cleansing purposes. It's very important to have a good bowel movement everyday (sorry, hate talking about things like that) but I have noticed that my skin is nicer looking i.e more translucent & healthier looking (note I also have 8 glasses of water a day - this is vital). Also having a home made vegetable/low sugar fruit juice a day is really great (I usually use carrot, celery & an apple, but anything green & especially carrot is great - good for cleansing the liver). Rosalie - please be careful with chromium - it definitely looks promising from all the posts I have read, but maybe try brewer's yeast (loaded with chromium) first & then move to the actual supplement - natural is always better as I am sure you know.
David.