see i personally think pro biotics can cause breakouts, least thats what i feel happened to me. saying that when i purchased some ages ago (from a store after i had enduced a long term corse of anti bitoics, the woman said to me that it probably will get worse before it gets better)

all i know is when i was on them, i got strong stomach pains in the mornings. i knew this was my body telling me to stop..

Interesting, will be buying probiotics soon. Although I already consume sauerkraut regularly and occasional kefir, and I take rice bran and oatbran, for their prebiotic fibers and b vits. I guess it's not enough though... Zinc I already take every day 50mg.

Also may I suggest to those of you who suffer from irregular BM's or bloating after meals and overall digestion issues, bitters. Angostura bitters are fine (as are the grape bitters and chinese bitters, swedish bitters being least favorable due to laxative herbs in them that could cause dependance) and a dash before or after a meal helps me immensely. They are supposed to help with acne a bit as well because when the bitter receptors on the back of the tongue are stimulated, they in turn stimulate the vagus nerve which stimulates the organs and particularly the liver to flush/secrete bile which supposedly helps to breakdown the hormonal/androgen compounds that pass through the liver. I have been using them on and off for about a year and can honestly say that they have helped reduce the overall severity and frequency of the inflammatory aspect of my acne. Though I mostly suffer from the comedonal type... and it hasn't done all that much for it. I would definately recommend it though at least as a digestive aid. Make sure to drink alot of water when using them.

Also, hoping OP will return to his thread, would you be willing to post some close up pictures of your skin to show us? I believe you, it's just that a before and after type thing would definitely confirm it for alot of people and would be motivating to see. I forget everything from the OP but, did you have any body acne? if so is that gone as well?

either way I'll follow this thread and post my results eventually as well.

edit: forgot to say congratulations on your clearness... it must be the greatest feeling in the world for someone who has been suffering for more than a few years with anything more than mild acne.

Hello All,

I joined after browsing here for about a week and actually starting this regimen on Saturday.

Since Saturday I have been seeing some results...hopefully it's not just some placebo effect. I guess I would call it mild acne. Whiteheads in small clusters, occassional bigger zit but no cysts really. My skin is normally pretty oily, which I hate.

Here is what i've been taking:

NOW Fiber 3

NOW 8 Billion Acidophillus and Bifidus

NOW zinc 50mg

Kirkland Signature Multi

Nature Made B Complex

Kirkland signature Fish Oil

Here is how i've been taking it:

Morning empty stomach: NOW Fiber, Probiotic and B Vitamin

Evening with food: Multi, B Complex, Fish oil, Zinc

1-2hours after dinner: Fiber and Probiotic

My results so far have been ok. I know it's only been about 4 days. My skin seems less oily, I only have a few whiteheads and a couple new bigger zits (i think they were actually starting to come up on the weekend). The previous breakouts have all but healed so far. My pores seem a bit tighter as well...I'm still not sure about my dosing and if I am taking them at the right time, but it seems to be working so far. I wash my face once in the evenings in the shower with a 5% BP Clean and Clear also started on Saturday. I was previously using a 10% BP wash. Looking forward to hearing what else you all find out and if the different probiotics are causing issues.

see i personally think pro biotics can cause breakouts, least thats what i feel happened to me. saying that when i purchased some ages ago (from a store after i had enduced a long term corse of anti bitoics, the woman said to me that it probably will get worse before it gets better)

 

all i know is when i was on them, i got strong stomach pains in the mornings. i knew this was my body telling me to stop..

Try a dairy free probiotic. I went through the same thing. Same thing goes for daily multivitamins as well.

So I've stopped the fiber and probiotic, but I am still taking the supplements and doing a strict diet of no sugars, carbs, or any food that can feed the yeast in my body. I've had a few more new whiteheads, but it could be due to the probiotic left in my system and/or toxins being released from dying yeast. I determined that I have oral thrush (yeast infection on tongue that looks like a white coating) by going to the doc. I have an appointment tomorrow with a dermatologist as I suspect that my "acne" is actually a fungus infection on my face, neck, back of my head and small areas on my back and chest. It can take the form of acne but actually is inflammation and rash caused by the infection. The derm is going to take a skin culture so we'll see. I'll post how it goes.

so to sum up, find a pro biotic and some sort of fibre.

question, what is a pre-biotic. I have found one with both pro and pre?

I've tried probiotics, and it just made my skin worse. I was taking a probiotic that was gluten and dairy free. It contained Lactobacilicus acidophilus 7.5 billion, Bifidobacterium lactis 6 billion, and Bifidobacterium longum 1.5 billion. So 15 billion live cultures per capusule, and nada as far as improvement. I'm going to start on fiber capsules, and maybe work the probiotic back in (?)

Although I haven't been following BigPhils instructions completely, or really at all, I thought I'd chime in here with an update.

Im suffering from the dreaded post-birth control breakout, it's been going on for about 4 months now. At one point it was REALLY bad, but by cutting out junk food, red meat, and refined carbs, and most dairy (I allow myself a bit of cheese and a yogurt a day) I was able to clear it to about 80-85%. I was eating fast food once a week and once I started keeping a food/pimple diary (lol) I noticed I broke out after eating that EVERY time.

Since reading this post and doing lots of other research, I decided to try and up my fibre, probiotics and water intake. Being a poor fresh out of university person, I can't exactly run out and spend $50 on suppliments. Instead I bought some all bran, fiber 1 bars, and activia. I started this about 4 days ago.

I try and get 7-8 solid hours of sleep. I'm a napper, and much perfer having a post work nap and then sleeping for a shorter amount of time through the night, but to give my liver/digestion a break I decided to cut the naps and make sure to get minimum 7-8 hours. I wake up, and go to work before eating anything (again more liver detox time) and then have an apple. About 45 minutes later I'll have my activia with some all bran buds mixed in, and then finish off my all bran buds (I call it my rabbit food) so I'm sure to eat 1/3 cup of all bran buds. Not the tastiest thing in the world, but really not that bad.

I then try and eat healthy through the rest of the day, keeping my whole wheat pasta to smaller portions, lots of hummus, fish, veggies, fiber 1 bar for a snack, and I take a zinc and omega 3 vitamin after my lunch. I've also gone from drinking 1 lite of water per day to 3 litres per day, and nothing else to drink (save a cup of tea here or there, and a beer or glass of wine maybe 3 times a week).

In terms of cleansing I have very dry sensitive acne prone skin (a winner combination) so I use the cetaphil gentle cleanser (no water) and moisturizer once a day, and origins vita zing with spf 15 in the morning. For pimples I spot treat with clinique's pink toner (step 3 of the system I used to use), polysporin, and calamine lotion. I also ice the little buggers, which really helps.

It's only been 4 days, so I know it's still super early but WOW. I've had no new bumps, the ones I did have have gone down considerably. I had these skin coloured bumps (clogged pores?) ALL over my forehead and nothing worked on them for the last 4 months and they are about 70% gone already. My skin is just glowing and looks SUPER healthy and it even has a bit of colour (I have pale Irish skin)

I really think the water and fiber (all bran buds) and activia are the key players here as I took the omega 3 and zinc since I started eating healthy. I pee a lot now, and have gone from pooping once every 1.5-2 days to 2 times a day (tmi, but important), and I just feel so much better.

Im sure there are things I can be doing to make my skin EVEN better, but easter weekend is coming up and staying away from nanny's desert will be hard enough, so Im going to follow this for a month before making anymore changes. Digestion is the key here! Even though my acne was partly hormonal (I THINK because of the birth control and all), you can poop those toxins and hormonal imbalances right out! Im hoping this gets me 100% clear, but even if it doesnt I can already tell it's helping heaps and heaps.

Slightly late on my official 2 week update. I am still using Renew Life FLORASmart twice a day with the Sunsweet Naturals Supra fiber. I ate crap on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday but noticably, I was snowbaording and driving a lot, so I only ate small volumes. It included greasy rest area food and sugary snacks. Yet my skin continued to improve.

However, on Monday, I ate Mexican for lunch and a Subway CBR for dinner with all the worst things possible (ranch, spicy pickled chilis, bacon, cheese etc). The next day, I broke out without surprise right on my jawline and the old acne which was starting to go away over the weekend flared back up. I also had a very irritiated gut. This, to me, is a definitive proof of the link between digestion and skin.

I went back on my normal diet of chicken, whole grain rices, green smoothies (these things are miracle for your skin) fresh fruits and veggies with limited amounts of red meat and almost no sweets. I take whey protein also and eat some stuff with soy in it, though I try to minimize the latter. I drink a lot of water. My skin is starting to go back normal. I also am eating a smaller dinner as an experiment this week with very low amounts of carbs (even from whole grain rice) and mostly the green smoothie with a little bit of chicken.

I think flushing out your gut quickly and keeping yourself regular really does work. Lots of water is KEY, but more importantly, water to food ratio should be maintained. I didn't drink much water on the weekend, but I ate even less food. Also, the volumes of food and when you eat them seem to play a part, but I will need another two weeks with the small dinner experiment to know for sure. If nothing else, it is good for your general health (which really people, that's more important than acne).

Peace

so basically get some kind of fibre going on and flush the waste out. seems to be key here. seems like probiotics is an individual thing - works for some, breaks others out.

im looking for some fibre powder right now. might order the NOW fibre 3 as mentioned.

Fiber is not going to flush your digestive system, at least not with the efficacy of colonics or other colon cleansing methods. Over time the effectiveness might be comprarable, but only with regular consumption of fiber, avoiding certain types of foods and long periods of time.

uble?

Only 3 days in and WOW, this fiber tastes TERRIBLE!!! Can I get this in a pill form or something?!

I have done this, and I think your talking about Cleansing Your Colon?

Well I have done that, and I saw so much Improvement!

Then I started washing my face regularly on after, and I see my face clearing up!

I just started though like a week now, and im so happy with the results.

I havent seen my face clear in about 3 years now :/

Only 3 days in and WOW, this fiber tastes TERRIBLE!!! Can I get this in a pill form or something?!

Haha it reall does! but not enough to make me gag. I do it twice a day: before bed, and right after I wake up. And I just ordered my second bottle.

By the way I recently added Fish Oil to my supplementation and I think I am breaking out again. I will do some research about it. I read some thing about contaminants and etc..

I was pretty intrigued with this thread after reading BigPhil's initial post. Like BigPhil, I'm male, in my late 20's and have followed a dairy-free, gluten-free and low glycemic diet for the past couple years. While diet has helped improve my acne, it just didn't go away (mostly mild acne and occasional cysts for me).

I've been following BigPhil's fiber/probiotics regimen (NOW Fiber 3 and GR8-dophillous) for a week now (with a few modifications) - so far results have been good (haven't seen any inflamed acne, but still have some blackheads). I'll try posting another update in a week or two.

I've been doing the fiber, zinc, and probiotics for a week and just got my Dermify a few days ago. So far so good. I only have had a couple of new small zits and everything I had has gone into healing mode. I just ran out of my original probiotic so I'm going to get the one recommended in the OP today. I am also dealing with a mild traumatic brain injury from accidentally smacking heads with my daughter 5 weeks ago, so I think my body doesn't really have the resources to fight my acne right now while it's concentrating on healing my brain. I notice that whenever I have any kind of sickness or injury; my acne gets worse temporarily.

Ok, I am on Day 16 of this regimine. Identical brands and products of OP. This SUCKS - my skin is worse! I am breaking out in places I never break out...like my upper lip and cheeks. I am going to wait it out for a bit more in the hopes that it will get better.

Did anyone else have similar results? Did it improve?

Strange how this works for some but not others.

For the people that it worked on, did you have digestive problems before?

Maybe it only works if thats a cause?

brit; maybe you're taking too much/too little? Are you following the directions on the bottles etc to the letter?

I may give this a go myself.

Just thought I'd add my thoughts here.

I was on a diet with minimal to no sugar, no dairy and as little gluten as I could manage. I also had green smoothies every day (these having a lot of fibre if you put the right things in I understand).

I went on this regimen about... I guess two weeks ago. I will say I didn't include the vitamin B because Holland and Barrett have been messing me around with my order. Even so, I haven't noticed any particular changes so far.

I had similar trouble with this regimen.

I did this regimen for three weeks (everything but the vitamin B)--plus I was eating a very healthy, vegetable-based diet, avoiding dairy and gluten, getting lots of sleep, etc.--and I broke out worse than ever. It didn't work for me. I stopped following it, went to a dermatologist, and one week later, my skin is much improved. Gentle cleansing, prescription-strength topicals and antibiotics have really helped my skin--but I'll probably start Accutane soon.

Just a note to some of the replies:

If you're going to cure your acne holisitcally, dont give up because you haven't seen changes or it's gotten worse in a matter of weeks. YEARS of damaging your body cannot be cured within weeks, and topicals and perscriptions aren't really cures at all- rather just manipulating and further damaging your body just to stop acne.

Visit thelovevitamin.com for more info! I think it's worth it. It's helping me and I've been on birth control, retinoids, accutane, benzamycin, and every over the counter product out there. Nothing has worked perminantly, but this!

Yes, I am taking everything as directed. I am giving it one more week before I quit because I a

miserable. My face is broken out everywhere, but now specifically around the outside edges and neck. There are tons of pimples. They are smaller and heal slightly faster...but seriously there are so many. My skin hasn't looked this bad in a long time (

I hope others are getting better results.

Giving this regimen a go as well. Couldn't find the exact same fiber that the OP uses here in the UK, so have settled for Acacia Fiber which is made by the same company. Have been taking the fiber for about a week, and started the probiotic pills today. Will add the other supplements in the next few days.

This is mainly for my bacne as i'm using dan's regimen to control my face acne. If it works for the bacne then I'll slowly wean myself off the BP to see if it has had the same effect on the face as well.

Just thought I'd add my thoughts here.

 

I was on a diet with minimal to no sugar, no dairy and as little gluten as I could manage. I also had green smoothies every day (these having a lot of fibre if you put the right things in I understand).

 

I went on this regimen about... I guess two weeks ago. I will say I didn't include the vitamin B because Holland and Barrett have been messing me around with my order. Even so, I haven't noticed any particular changes so far.

have you read about the signs of healing crisis? maybe that's just your body's initial reaction as it gets rid of all the accumulated toxins you have.

i'm in a holistic program to cure my acne as well and it's really going to get worse before it gets better.. first two weeks in the program, i broke out like mad then it immediately cleared up on the 3rd week.. i'm on week 5 and my skin is so far so good.