stress= acne for acne-prone skin. Try to relax and not fixate on your skin as much.

Also, you have to remember that acne sometimes has an ebb and flow...some days it subsides, and other days it flares up. Until it gets completely under control, it will still flare up occasionally. Not necessarily a bad sign, take it easy. My skin has freaked out in the last week, probably because I went all out and ate whatever I wanted (my stomach also freaked out, so I'm sure it's related) but now it's slowly coming under control again and I'm positive. I haven't had a swollen cyst in months, but I won't get discouraged, just get back on track.

stress= acne for acne-prone skin. Try to relax and not fixate on your skin as much.

Also, you have to remember that acne sometimes has an ebb and flow...some days it subsides, and other days it flares up. Until it gets completely under control, it will still flare up occasionally. Not necessarily a bad sign, take it easy. My skin has freaked out in the last week, probably because I went all out and ate whatever I wanted (my stomach also freaked out, so I'm sure it's related) but now it's slowly coming under control again and I'm positive. I haven't had a swollen cyst in months, but I won't get discouraged, just get back on track.

Hey, thanks. I got another on the back of my ear now, lol... I've just gone such a long way at this point to stop the madness that unleashed on my face almost a year ago, and i only began to see results like a month ago. for it to go back now might be more than i can handle. i still can't go out without makeup cause of all the nasty red marks, but at least i thought the breakouts minimized... i'm just gonna have to wait and see and pray next month is better :S

Have the breakouts correlated with irregularities in your cycle at all? For me, often when things aren't going well for my skin, I get spotting or even a second period within a month and then bam, a new nodule during this wacked out period.

It's also important to take your medication at the same time each day, I have a flare up now because I forgot to do that (although it could be anything, jeeze, it's so hard to pinpoint the route cause sometimes).

brenmc is right, sometimes it's hard to pinpoint exactly what is happening. This week my skin has been freaking out...a lot of stress, lack of good sleep, eating lots of things I'm not used to, stomach problems, that time of the month....so I can't pinpoint the exact cause, but everything has been bothering me.

We have to stay hopeful though...

I don't have any mestrual irregularities now since I've been taking bc for a while... one thing i always notice is that i always always break out around the same time my sex drive is high. i can pretty much predict acne now and it never fails. except last month it was less. i try to stay hopeful, if it gets worse next month i might get on spiro.

I'm in the same boat WishClean! I have my period, but also I was a few hours late in taking (my recently added) inositol and had an ice cream cone (argh, couldn't resist in the hot weather) and now I have a nodule. It could be any of those things or none of them. Did you ever notice a breakout if you were late taking your inositol? Are you sure your breakouts couldn't be related to reducing your inositol or DIM dose, perhaps you need to go back to your original dose?

Lifelongconfusion, sounds like you're still having a testosterone spike despite the bc. Perhaps try consuming foods that lower testosterone, like buckwheat. Hang in there.

I don't have any mestrual irregularities now since I've been taking bc for a while... one thing i always notice is that i always always break out around the same time my sex drive is high. i can pretty much predict acne now and it never fails. except last month it was less. i try to stay hopeful, if it gets worse next month i might get on spiro.

Why not just add the spiro and see if it is what you've been missing? You've been mulling over it for a while now anyway. The fact that you saw improvement, improvement and then a step back signals that at least you're going in the right direction so don't be so hard on yourself.

My skin never got better from that point on birth control. First two months were hell and after that it calmed down but never got completely clear. I stayed on it for almost 2 years since my derm said it can take more than 8 months to really kick in. But for me it never did. I wish I would have quit it sooner but everyone is different and you can never know! It's really a gamble..

I'm still not taking spiro because i believe that even though birth control initially made my skin better it also made me dependent on it, to the point that each time i went off, my acne would get literally 100 worse than it ever was before i ever tried birth control, and never end until i went back on it. I don't want the same thing to happen with spiro. after bc it went from regular whiteheads to nodules, what if this time it goes from nodules to cysts? another reason was that after going through a horrendous breakout for 6 months and having my face covered in red marks, i'd rather take it slow than possibly go through another initial breakout with spiro which would set me back a year because the scars and red marks take forever to heal.

lifelong confusion,

I hear you about the dependence on hormonal treatments. I'm in the same boat. I wish I could go back in time and NEVER take birth control. One thing that helps to reduce the rebound breakout is weaning off of treatment over several months. However, weaning off of birth control the second time I took it did not prevent the return of acne for me, just reduced the horrendous rebound breakout.

lifelong confusion,

I hear you about the dependence on hormonal treatments. I'm in the same boat. I wish I could go back in time and NEVER take birth control. One thing that helps to reduce the rebound breakout is weaning off of treatment over several months. However, weaning off of birth control the second time I took it did not prevent the return of acne for me, just reduced the horrendous rebound breakout.

Yeah, I know what you mean! I wish I just waited out on my teenage acne. I wonder where I would be now if I did that. Have you tried spiro?

Yes, Im on spiro now but the excellent results I had for three years have waned. I would still recommend it or a herbal anti-androgen like inositol or saw palmetto.

Also, I forget to mention this...I do yoga a few days a week, and it really helps the blood flow. It's recommended for people with PCOS/ other imbalances, plus it lowers stress. There are actually some videos on youtube with exercises good for the skin. Worth a try, right ?

Yes I'm pretty sure it's official... it's getting worse again. 2 months of improvement... only to be here once again, breaking out every few days, this is the beginning of another disastrous breakout, i just know it. for the past 3 weeks i've been breaking out every few days and now the first week of my 7th pack, i'm already down to 3 large deep breakouts, whereas last month and the month before it was 0. i don't know what to do anymore. if the pill is doing this to me, doesn't that mean spiro will make it even worse? and this doesn't even make sense. i don't understand how it can get worse then better THEN WORSE AGAIN. it doesn't make any sense. what the hell is going on.

I've read that boat pose is especially good for PCOS.

Also, I forget to mention this...I do yoga a few days a week, and it really helps the blood flow. It's recommended for people with PCOS/ other imbalances, plus it lowers stress. There are actually some videos on youtube with exercises good for the skin. Worth a try, right ?

Yes I'm pretty sure it's official... it's getting worse again. 2 months of improvement... only to be here once again, breaking out every few days, this is the beginning of another disastrous breakout, i just know it. for the past 3 weeks i've been breaking out every few days and now the first week of my 7th pack, i'm already down to 3 large deep breakouts, whereas last month and the month before it was 0. i don't know what to do anymore. if the pill is doing this to me, doesn't that mean spiro will make it even worse? and this doesn't even make sense. i don't understand how it can get worse then better THEN WORSE AGAIN. it doesn't make any sense. what the hell is going on.

Maybe this isn't the right pill for you. It's not "one pill for all", you may need to explore other options because if it's been 6 packs already and no improvements, then idk. Usually, though, hormonal treatments can take up to 6 months to work, so maybe give it another cycle? I'm against birth control pills, so I can't be helpful in this aspect....I truly think they can mess up hormones worse than anything else.

It would help if you perhaps saw a good endocrinologist to figure out if your acne is even hormonal... the pill doesn't work for complex hormonal cases and non-hormonal acne.

I've read that boat pose is especially good for PCOS.

Also, I forget to mention this...I do yoga a few days a week, and it really helps the blood flow. It's recommended for people with PCOS/ other imbalances, plus it lowers stress. There are actually some videos on youtube with exercises good for the skin. Worth a try, right ?

Thanks...I'll have to do the boat pose more often 😉

Yes I'm pretty sure it's official... it's getting worse again. 2 months of improvement... only to be here once again, breaking out every few days, this is the beginning of another disastrous breakout, i just know it. for the past 3 weeks i've been breaking out every few days and now the first week of my 7th pack, i'm already down to 3 large deep breakouts, whereas last month and the month before it was 0. i don't know what to do anymore. if the pill is doing this to me, doesn't that mean spiro will make it even worse? and this doesn't even make sense. i don't understand how it can get worse then better THEN WORSE AGAIN. it doesn't make any sense. what the hell is going on.

Maybe this isn't the right pill for you. It's not "one pill for all", you may need to explore other options because if it's been 6 packs already and no improvements, then idk. Usually, though, hormonal treatments can take up to 6 months to work, so maybe give it another cycle? I'm against birth control pills, so I can't be helpful in this aspect....I truly think they can mess up hormones worse than anything else.

It would help if you perhaps saw a good endocrinologist to figure out if your acne is even hormonal... the pill doesn't work for complex hormonal cases and non-hormonal acne.

>

I've read that boat pose is especially good for PCOS.

Also, I forget to mention this...I do yoga a few days a week, and it really helps the blood flow. It's recommended for people with PCOS/ other imbalances, plus it lowers stress. There are actually some videos on youtube with exercises good for the skin. Worth a try, right ?

Thanks...I'll have to do the boat pose more often

I know my acne is hormonal. It started at 10 and it was horrible until I went on Diane when I was like 15. Diane completely turned my life around. I went from pizza face to crystal clear amazing skin. And the pill has helped me all throughout the years I took it on and off - from 15 to 22. I'd never even had an initial breakout before. It all happened after I restarted only 2 weeks after stopping. Before that, the pill was my miracle cure. That is why I still have faith in it. And there was improvement, only now it took a step back again.

I have been learning a lot about estrogen dominance thanks to the brilliant ladies on this forum, like WishClean, GreenGables and hearts. Perhaps you have an imbalance with your estrogen now from long-term birth control use. DIM and Calcium-d-glucarate are recommended for addressing estrogen dominance-caused acne. Google symptoms of estrogen dominance and see if many of them line-up with you and search out GreenGables post on the subject, she explains how estrogen can cause acne (which I just did not understand until recently myself, since I always heard it helped acne).

I have been learning a lot about estrogen dominance thanks to the brilliant ladies on this forum, like WishClean, GreenGables and hearts. Perhaps you have an imbalance with your estrogen now from long-term birth control use. DIM and Calcium-d-glucarate are recommended for addressing estrogen dominance-caused acne. Google symptoms of estrogen dominance and see if many of them line-up with you and search out GreenGables post on the subject, she explains how estrogen can cause acne (which I just did not understand until recently myself, since I always heard it helped acne).

Hey, thanks! Some of them do. But I notice I mostly breakout around the time my sex drive spikes, so I've always felt like its testosterone. What if I'm not sure? If I don't have estrogen dominance and I still take DIM, would it make it worse? Can you take both DIM and birth control?

I have very recently (like today and yesterday) been learning about DIM, so I would recommend asking WishClean or hearts for more detailed information, but it is my understanding that DIM addresses an imbalance in both estrogen and testosterone: it metabolizes bad estrogens and is an anti-androgen. I have read a couple posts of people taking it with birth control. However, there is the risk that any two hormonal medications could negatively interact. Im planning on taking it with spiro myself, which makes me nervous, but I dont want to risk a severe breakout from dropping spiro cold turkey (I plan to wean off of it when my skin gets under control). I plan to take the DIM 12 hours apart from the spiro in order to reduce negative interaction. I also plan to start with a low dose. I have to wait a week to start DIM though because it has to be mailed to me in Canada.

I have very recently (like today and yesterday) been learning about DIM, so I would recommend asking WishClean or hearts for more detailed information, but it is my understanding that DIM addresses an imbalance in both estrogen and testosterone: it metabolizes bad estrogens and is an anti-androgen. I have read a couple posts of people taking it with birth control. However, there is the risk that any two hormonal medications could negatively interact. Im planning on taking it with spiro myself, which makes me nervous, but I dont want to risk a severe breakout from dropping spiro cold turkey (I plan to wean off of it when my skin gets under control). I plan to take the DIM 12 hours apart from the spiro in order to reduce negative interaction. I also plan to start with a low dose. I have to wait a week to start DIM though because it has to be mailed to me in Canada.

I've been taking inositol with birth control and if anything i think it's made things better.

I'm noticing for the past month the acne is more on my upper neck and under jaw than my face... does that mean anything? I'm down to 4 papules right now, and I'm almost half way through the month... at the same time the breakouts are now scattered all over month again like they were in the beginning, the bad months. the months i got better it was more concentrated during ovulation and i even got a 3 week break a couple months ago... now its back to every few days. do you think that's a bad sign?

How long have you been on the inositol for?

I think 3-4 months. The months after I started taking it my breakouts reduced by half each month all the way down to only 3 papules a month. Though last month i got more again. but it's still better that before i was taking it. though im not sure if its inositol or my pill just building up its effect.

That's good to hear. Sounds like you're making progress. Do you think that the remaining breakouts could be attributed to something external, like your makeup or face lotion?