Hi everyone,

This is clearly a hefty post, so thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and comment. I'm pretty lost and don't know where else to turn.

The start of this week marks my 4th week on the regimen, and my skin has never looked worse. I've never had so much active acne at once. I've been going through weird cycles where I break out like crazy, heal, break out, heal. At first I thought I was going through initial "purging", but everything has been so inconsistent and unpredictable that I don't know what to think anymore. The first break out happened and healed in week 2, but by the end of week 3 my acne came back with a vengeance. It was so bad that yesterday I nearly had a panic attack and refused to leave my house. I even ended up scrubbing my face with cleanser and roughly drying because of the frustration  (stupid, I know.)

I'm not sure if purges come in waves, but there are other symptoms I've experienced that have me thinking I may be allergic. Throughout the month my eyes would often burn randomly on any given day. I have never added BP near my eyes, nor would I rub them. They would just suddenly burn to the point of tears, which no longer happens, but they still burn a bit every time I add the treatment. Then some mornings I would wake up and my eyes would be swollen. That has also stopped, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Also, I remember my cheekbones looked burnt every time I would up the dosage. And, unsurprisingly, my skin is insanely dry, no matter how much moisturizer or jojoba oil I slather on. OH, and my neck has become super itchy after I started adding BP to my jawline (bc the acne has now spread there).

I should also mention things I have been doing that probably haven't helped. One, I don't think I started as slowly as I should have. I was using 2 pumps by week 2 because on the instructions sheet that comes with the regimen, Dan states: "Slowly increase dose during 2nd week to 2 full pumps, twice a day". (I'm not sure if I misunderstood.) All the aforementioned symptoms intensified after doing this, so I went back to 1 pump and a half during week three. Again, they haven't returned, so I started 2 pumps again this week. And two, my diet hasn't been the best lately. Lots of dairy and other junk. I've been feeling so depressed bc of this that I don't have the energy and have lost all enthusiasm to prepare healthy meals or drink nearly as much water as I used to.

I want to continue the regimen for another month, but I'm worried I may cause some irreversible damage. I've always had mild acne, but what I have now is painful and appears moderate-severe. I have deep smiles lines because of the dehydration and the flakiness is only getting worse. I don't know if what I'm experiencing is a normal, an allergic reaction, a result of poor decisions, or a combo of all three. I have already stopped eating crap, have been drinking a lot more water, and vow to never abuse my skin the way I did yesterday. Idk, I still have a feeling it isn't going to change anything...

Any advice?