Hi There,
I am new to acne.org but have done a lot of reading on here over the last few years. I am 36 years old and have been suffering with hormonal acne for 5 years..since I stopped birth control pills and had my first child. I had taken various birth control pills from the time I was 16 and when I went off of them to conceive my first it was okay. I had the odd break out with my cycle, but nothing horrible. Once I got pregnant it got very bad, I assume from all those hormones. After he was born and weaned, I went back on the pill for 2 years and off again to conceive my second baby. It took nearly a year without B/C and again, my skin was okay...just the odd breakout with my cycle. Now nearly a year after my baby girl was born, I am still trying to find something that works for these painful cysts. During pregnancy, my Doctor prescribed Clyndimycin topically and it did help a bit I think. I feel like I have tried everything available over the counter and have spent hundreds (thousands maybe?) on systems, cleansers, make-up etc I am still breastfeeding and am trying to wean her, but it is taking longer than I thought. I am praying that once she is weaned and my hormones settle down again that things will improve. But in the mean time, I have started 250 mg of tetracycline per day and differin everyother day. I am in my first week of both, so have nothing to report, no side effects and no improvement either. I should also mention that I am a healthy weight, excercise serveral times per week, drink 8-10 glasses of water a day, I eat zero dairy, zero sugar, no things with white flour (I have been following the clear-skin diet book for a while now) and try to maximize eating of anti-inflamatory foods...but have seen no improvement. Anyhow, if you are with me so far in this long winded post, I was just looking for any other advice or suggestions, or for women with similar experiences (ie. children=acne It is a lucky thing my kids are so stinkin' cute because my face has paid a heavy price. Thanks for listening!
I didn't think tetracycline was safe while breast feeding? I would double check on that. My acne also got very bad during pregnancy, cleared dramatically in the third trimester and came back two weeks post pregnancy. As soon as I weened I went minocycline and Spiro which is the go to drug I would recommend trying for adult women. Good luck!
Michi31 - I only BF twice a day at this point (7 am and pm), for less than 3 minutes. The American academy of pediatrics says it is generally compatible with breastfeeding and Hale classifies it as an L2. So maybe not ideal, but better than some other choices. I also make sure to give her lots of food and a sippy cup milk before I feed her, since tetracycline is not effective if taken with food and milk. So any tiny amount she might be getting would be immobilized by the food and dairy. I am in the process of weaning completely and expect to be done in a few more weeks. I am praying that once the hormones stabilize a bit things will improve even further. Once I am done breastfeeding I will ask to switch to minocycline. For some reason on drugs.ca it says that tetracycline is preferable over minocycline while breastfeeding. My Dr. was originally going to give me mino until she read that. I found it less than reassuring that a Dr. goes to google to find out the safety of drugs for breastfeeding mothers! I have read everything that is available and I guess this is the best choice for now. I am not familiar with Spiro. Maybe I will look into that as well for when I am done.
Ha I know its crazy when docs Google stuff! I think many times we know more than them. You might want to wait a few months post stopping breastfeeding. Your estrogen should go back up and your cycle should regulate (mine didn't but that's another story). Google Spiro and check out all the other threads on here about it..there are a ton. Interesting about the tetracycline.. I'm sure your baby is absolutely fine:)