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I moved states, and am temporarily without health insurance. Between that and being concerned with some health risks associated with Yaz, I decided to use this time to see if I can clear up my (cystic) acne without Yaz. I have been on Yaz for six years, and the last year I was on continuous Yaz with inactive pills only being taken every four months. Yaz cleared up my cysts to the point that I only had 0 to 2 at any given time. I suspect I have an either immune system or hormonal imbalance issue running through my mom's side of the family, but have had no help what so ever from doctors in trying to figure out if any of the issues I have are related. I have had to treat everything separately. Cystic, adult acne has been one of those things.
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My skin was extremely clear for a week after stopping Yaz. I began making homemade whole wheat bread and started eating a lot of it. I began having huge cystic outbreaks with 1 to 3 showing up each day. These cysts have stayed with me for the past month and a half, going through a cycle of dying down into hard, flat lumps, before erupting once more into huge cyst mountains, with new ones showing up in intervals. After some reading, three days ago, I decided to try cutting dairy and wheat out of my diet.
I have known since high school that commercial milk upsets my stomach. It also breaks me out, and seems to worsen other issues for me. I seem to handle (no hormones/no antibiotics) raw milk and goat's milk much better, but if I start eating three yogurts a day with milk in my cereal...I do have a breaking point so to speak. I've known for a long time that beer and coffee break me out, but that liquor does not. I looked it up, and found out that coffee can trigger gluten sensitive people, so decided to try no gluten/wheat for at least two weeks. I want to test my tolerance level for dairy too, so I made that no dairy and no gluten/wheat for at least two weeks.
Day One: All current cysts were still painful and an angry red.
Day Two: No new cysts emerged.
Day Three: Still no new cysts. Current cysts look less inflamed and red. They are not throbbing with pain. No pain even if pushed on.
I'll try to update this daily.
Day five part two: Got a weird cluster of hive type bumps high on my cheekbone (an area I do not get acne on), and old cysts became inflamed. Food today was:
-rice cereal with coconut milk
-bunch of blueberries
-carrots
-chili
-nibbled a bit of the coconut/pumpkin pie with walnut crust I was making for tomorrow. I noticed hive type bumps about two hours later.
Monitor reaction to walnuts as I don't usually eat them and may have reacted to them. May also be environmental instead of diet.
Day11 part 2: I was craving biscuits and made this recipe with some alterations. [Removed] I used a bit of chickpea and millet flour instead of straight rice, added some vinegar instead of straight coconut milk, added a bit of cinamon, and froze some small pieces of non-dairy spread to add at the last minute for better texture. The tapioca starch makes this have an actual crumb to it! I had tried making millet/rice biscuits with an egg to hold them together, and they were so crumbly and bad I couldn't eat them. This new recipe was actually good in flavor and texture. Had one biscuit with a salad for dinner and one biscuit with strawberries on it for a makeshift strawberry shortcake dessert. Even if this restricted diet doesn't help my face, it is quickly dropping my weight. I had shot up 9 pounds immediately after stopping Yaz.
Roomate had chicken fingers though, and I lusted.
Day 16: No new cysts. Two new nodule type things on chin that came to a head by nightfall. Not painful on the level of a cyst at all. very little pain, but some irritation old cyst wise. they are flat but a but red today. some old acne scars ar a bit res too oddly. Ate four pieces of orange chicken tonight that may have had a wheat breading, but it was worth any cysts that may come.
Day 18: Face looks and feels amazing today. All old cysts extremely flat, no pain. Wish I could find reasons why I can either wake up to this or to a cyst convention. Will start recording diet and other details.
Yesterday:
-gluten free brown rice crispies with strawberries and coconut milk
-carrot
-peppermint tea
-strawberries
-apple
-cheated and had a dark chocolate Milky Way bar (unlike with the raw milk cheat, the taste was NOT worth it)
-large salad with egg, almonds, peppers, tomatoes, red lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, basalmic vinegar
-gluten free biscuit with lots of homemade blackberry/bandy jelly.
Went for walk. Got fair ammount of sun exposure. Was unusually hungry (not for me in general, but since starting this diet) today.
Allergies were acting up terribly with burning feeling in eyes and sneezing. Took usual half a sleep aid/antihistamine pill. Fell asleep early for me, got over eight hours. Lots of stress dreams though.
No new cysts, old ones still flat. Noticed TMJ in jaw is less terrible. Jaw joints still crack and jaw can't open smoothly, but the normal squelch caused by tendonitis is gone. Have had tendonitis present for the last few years with no break in it, so that seems very positive.
Yesterday's food:
-hard boiled eggs (2)
-pear
-one marshmallow
-brown rice cereal and raw cow's milk (cheat on the no dairy, but raw milk is sooo good!)
-peppermint tea
-scallops in a wine and tomato sauce over gluten free pasta
Got about 7 hours of sleep, and sleep was deep. Had hives on eyelids again yesterday, and allergy related congestion.
Day 20:
No new cysts, one pustule appeared last night, but already is on its way out. During lunch, and for about two hours, jaw tendon could be heard scraping against sheath, but now squelching is gone again. Will have to test to see if something like the milk yesterday caused it to flare up a bit.
Yesterday's food:
-brown rice cereal in raw milk
-peppermint tea
-pear
-Botun rice candy (mmmmmmmmmmm)
-hard boiled egg
-scallops, gluten free pasta with tomato wine sauce
-one tomato
-two marshmallows
-1/4 cup of coconut milk icecream, mint flavored
-gluten free hot dogs in gluten free baked beans
Early to bed, 8 or more hours of sleep. Allergies were minimal yesterday with no noticeable hives.
Day 21:
No new cysts. Four small zits popped up, and one old cyst is flared back up. Might have been the raw milk, might have been the poor sleep, might have been something else, but I am out of raw milk to test further.
Yesterday's food:
-raw milk with cocoa powder (not the heavily processed stuff with a bunch of additives and such)
-peppermint tea
-pear
-gluten free pasta with a bunch of veggies in it. Tomato and wine sauce.
-carrot
-one tomato
-two marshmallows
-Dark chocolate almond milk
-Some other stuff I'm forgetting. I'm going to start updating current food because I can't always remember what I ate by the next day. X)
Today's food:
-Carrot
-Tomatoes
-Strawberries
-Gluten free pasta with veggie/tomato/wine sauce
-French fries and ketchup
-Peppermint tea
-Indian eggplant dish with brown rice
-A pumpkin chocolate chip cookie
-Handful of flax seeds
Crap sleep last night. Didn't fall asleep til after 5:30am. Probably got about 5 hours. Insomnia is another one of my re-occurring health problems that all seems tied together. Have had issues with insomnia even as a young child. Perniosis is another one that I forgot to mention has been flared up this last week. I spent two nights having my feet and hands bitten by some sort of bug (my best guess is a kissing bug based on the location and pain level of the bites, and the fact that the two night bite fest was curbed by simply washing the bed sheets), which may have triggered the perniosis flare up up in my toes. I have actually not had perniosis issues for about a year. Wearing natural fiber (cotton/wool/etc) socks has largely curbed it. Doctors say pernionsis should flare up in the cold, but the worst I have had it was running around in 100 degree Nevada heat for cross country in high school. Synthetic socks get it flared up like nothing else. I suspect allergic reactions play a larger role in it than medically acknowledged.
Day 21:
No new cysts. 
Two more tiny zits. Same old cyst keeps trying to get re-inflamed. I think I shall call him, "the cat", as in "the cat came back the very next day". All my other old cysts are behaving beautifully. Some I think may be gone completely.
Food today:
-strawberries
-delicious eggplant, chic pea, and brown rice Indian dish
-waaay more pumpkin chocolate chip cookies than I should have had
-tacos (beef, beans, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, cactus)
-a carrot
Went to bed fairly early for me (2am), and slept deeply. Feeling very positive these last few days.
Day 22: My jaw is squelchy today. 
Had a really itchy not-quite-nodule pop up last night and skin is a bit itchy in general, but all else is quiet on the western front. No new cysts. Three days ago, I started drinking from only glass and ceramic cups. Trying to limit plastic exposure.
Food:
-strawberries
-carrot
-tomato
-two eggs scrambled with red pepper, cinnamon, and flax seeds
-pear
-two gluten free pumpkin cookies
-gluten free pasta and beef spaghetti sauce
-glass of goat milk with honey and cocoa powder...obviously breaking the dairy thing again
Found out laptop clock was wrong, so haven't been getting quite as much sleep as I thought. Still, okay-ish sleep last night. Feeling a bit achey and down today despite being productive and enjoying the sun/a run/etc.
Day 21:
Will have to update twice today as I missed last night's update. No new cysts. Skin looks amazing today, and looked great yesterday too. old cysts are either flat or going away, and redness has left my face completely. Itchy might-be-trying-to-be-a-cyst thing is still there and itchy, but remains very flat and small.
I may have found one trigger for my jaw tendon swelling and thus making gross squelching noises. Since my jaw tendons have been un-swollen here lately, any time (the right side..the worst side of the two) starting squelching again became noticeable. I looked back over my food logs, and the only dietary similarity was cocoa powder. I woke up yesterday and it was not squelching, I ate a breakfast of cocoa powder dusted rice cereal with coconut milk, and it later squelched for about three hours. I tested my theory further by eating a small chocolate bar and drinking a small thing of chocolate almond milk after the squelching had resided. Sure enough, my jaw later started squelching again, and is now back to being free of tendinitis sounds. Pretty big deal for me to maybe have a lead on that. My TMJ is at the level that I can not eat an apple off the core, and my jaw will occasionally stick open. Anything that helps or hurts that further is a huge step to uncover. I am not totally convinced that it is cocoa yet, and will keep monitoring and checking. It already is a huge deal to have bouts of no tendinitis after having it continuously for years!!
Yesterday's food:
-Cocoa rice cereal with coconut milk
-pear
-salsa and corn chips
-two taro root mochi balls
-huge salad...I am really finding that something in these...maybe the greens...helps my skin look healthy the next day (water cress, three types of lettuce, spinach, green bell pepper, orange bell pepper, shitake mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, balsamic vinaigrette, and flax seed sprinkled on top)
-gluten free biscuits, one with the salad with blackberry jam, one with honey and strawberries on top for desert