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Day29: forgot my day-time allergy pill, and jaw is again terribly painful on both sides (usually only right side has tendonitis). Folliculitis is almost completely cleared, but more very painful and itchy cysts have appeared. Apparently can either have folliculitis or cysts, my choice. Gee, what great choices.
Went to a neighbor's drum circle/fire dancing party last night and had a lot of fun despite having to bring all my cyst buddies along with me. Cysts just never take the hint that they aren't welcome. The fact that it was a drum circle probably is a tip off that it was easy to find gluten-free, vegetable-heavy foods to eat. I drank a good ammount of liquor, but no beer. Their version of rum and coke was rum with a tiny drop of Coke, which suited me fine as I dislike commercial sodas these days. I'm pretty shocked that I woke up to no new cysts, as while I knew liquor does not give me cysts like beer, I just kind of assumed I'd at least have one cyst after drinking freely and eating lots of salty corn chips.
I am starting to suspect the large amounts of strawberries I have been eating lately may be behind my recent cystic outbreak. I am starting to come to terms that I can't just cut out gluten or just eat healthy foods to clear up my cysts. Even healthy foods have the potential to break me out, while unhealthy things like drinking liquor leave me with free and clear skin. When I am able, I would like to go on a strict hypoallergenic diet, then slowly introduce foods back in and keep a spreadsheet on what gives me cysts. If my cysts are indeed purely diet related, that is the only way I can really see finding a pattern to and establishing food triggers.
I am extremely pleased to see that I have slowly lost 15 pounds over the last two months, and continue to lose weight at a healthy rate. I have been eating almost entirely healthy foods and am excercising daily and slowly upping the level of activity. Ten more pounds, and I'll be back to my fit and trim college days, and my ideal weight. I do not fiercely crave and visualize food anymore since going off Yaz, nor do I eat pounds and pounds of food daily, nor crave lots of sugar. I was starting to believe the modern US notion that it is normal to pack on the pounds rapidly as you age.
Had explosion after explosion of cysts yesterday. Very, very large and painful. Hopefully the strawberries will be the culprit. I'm working on looking into histamines and also upping omega threes while lowering omega 6.
Today there are no new cysts, and my jaw tendon is not swollen and squelching. I had corn and molasses cereal today with rice milk, carrots, broccoli, and cucumber, all with no inflamation of the jaw. I just ate a tomato and will be having vegetarian Indian food dishes tonight. We will see if the lowered inflamation continues.
Jaw squelched all last night and this morning, but has stopped now at 1pm. At noon, I ate corn and molasses cereal with rice milk and a mango. May try Zantac to see if histamine is involved (threads on this forum that explain possible relation), and eventually want to try a hypoallergenic, extremely limited diet that slowly adds foods back in to see if food is even a factor. I have family visiting, and will probably be eating very unhealthily while they are here...but having fun at least!
Still working on looking at what is going on with my body. Insulin resistance has been coming up in searches a lot, and ties to things like food allergies, so looking at that especially after having lumps form on my thighs and not having a period in the last six months (oh, and UTIs like to visit frequently since getting off Yaz). The lumps are getting looked at tomorrow to make sure they aren't anything cancerous, but I am somewhat suspicious that they are benign lipomas that seem to be getting linked to blood sugar and diabetes issues. I hope they are benign regardless!
I have not been able to tie down exactly what foods cause my jaw tendon and acne to flair up, but it started to become clear that it is not a simple case of just needing to cut out gluten or any one thing.
My jaw stopped squelching last evening, and was great for most of today. Then, I ate two carrots and some raw broccoli (not organic...slim pickings on the road). Healthy, right? Not long after, my jaw started squelching again. My lips began to itch, then burn a bit. I was not pleased. I get frustrated when even healthy foods seem to cause inflamation everywhere. But...then my husband said, "weird, my lips are numb and itchy". He had also only had carrots and broccoli for lunch. Wondering if pesticides may play a role in all of this. There seem to be links to pesticides and insulin resistance/hormone issues.
I have no idea. Just muddling through this.
Some of the foods that seem to have bugged me (strawberries, potatoes, wheat, etc) are high in pesticides, including natural pesticides in the case of wheat. If everything goes through okay, my husband and I will own two acres in a week's time and can start growing our own food. We hope to very carefully manage for contamination. Need an RO system as the rural water has runoff and pesticide issues (including a violation for radioactive materials...yum!) I am very eager to see what changes this makes in my health.
The thigh lumps are not cancerous. 
They are however, a reminder that I need to figure out all these weird symptoms and health issues.
Starting to figure this crap out. Blueberries (commercial, non-organic) again flared up my jaw this morning. Freaking synthetic chemicals man!
This would be huge if I can better control my health by cutting pesticides and plastics out. I had already found that using things like vinegar instead of cleaning chemicals helped tremendously, and that eating processed foods increase my negative symptoms. I hope my husband and I can get this two acres and can grow our own food.
Still searching for my answer. I have two doc appointments set up this month and will be asking about possible issues with blood sugar, hormones, and sensitivities. Two nights ago, I went to someone else's house and used their bathroom. When I got home, everywhere the toilet paper touched was itching and burning. Dammit, I knew then that it was a brand such as Charmin. I always react that way to the 'extra soft and padded' toilet papers. Today, I have actual pimples as well as blisters in areas that I would really rather not have them in! Where else do I get pimples, blisters, intense itching and burning? Oh right, my face. That led me to look up ingredients in Charmin TP. After doing a bit of reading, I will be looking into getting a patch test done to test for allergies to chemicals such as propelene glycol, or PG. PG is in everything...and it is in many products that I am finding I am sensitive too. It is also in my make up and was in face products I used to use before starting to just wash my face with plain water. It is also used in pesticides, processed foods, and on non-organic fruit and veggies which I have found can break me out. I do not think that a PG allergy would explain all my symptoms even if it ends up explaining the acne. I believe I have an under lying condition regardless that leads to such sensitivities and allergies. We'll see where this path leads though.
Saw a very helpful doc who is doing a bunch of blood work since I have a lot of auto-immune type issues going on. He says the derm I am seeing soon is one of the best in this area, so I am hopeful. The Charmin outbreak is dying down and I hope to keep my face makeup off no matter how embarrassing it is to see if that is indeed also an allergic reaction. Because my "acne" has always itched and burned so badly, I am thinking it might be just that.
I just read this and am wondering if you've tried going sugar free. Although your reactions seem more complicated. I just started a food journal and am attempting to cut WAY down on sugar, gluten and dairy. I hope it solves my problems. I have read good things though so consider looking into it too!
Thanks cocoloraine, I am finding a low carb/low sugar diet is helping some things. Good luck to you!
Lab tests show I likely have PCOS. I am trying to manage it naturally at this point, and feel gut health ties in. I'll update as I try things. I have the following coming in the mail to try:
-L-glutamine
-berberine
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.
I'm so sorry to hear that you went through that! I have the same problem myself, you see I'm gluten intolerant. And it sounds to me with all of your digestive issues, particularly wheat and beer.. that you're in the same boat as me. Stay away from dairy (yogurt can be OKAY in small doses) and gluten. I can tell you one thing.. if you're gluten intolerant it's safe to say you're lactose intolerant. Most people are anyway, we aren't baby cows.. Plus almond milk is a million times tastier and contains 50% more calcium.
Caffeine and sugar can also trigger acne. I know, limiting all of these things is going to be tough at first but you're going to feel so much better. I promise. Hell.. caffeine is technically a drug. I've been dairy and caffeine free for a month (with a few slips here and there) and gluten free for about a year. I have no stomach pain anymore (after ten years of torture) and my skin is OKAY. Nothing to stop me from going out or keeping me up at night.