Good for you Green Gables. Your internal health is definitely more important than clear skin. Good luck on your journey. I am also supplementing under the guide of a naturopath to avoid having to take the medical oral route but I've discovered it's a long process with many ups and downs downs downs.

Keep us posted!

HI greengables,

I've been MIA from the boards recently too....I appreciate your update, and the fact that you put your overall health first instead of just the acne.

Have you looked into SOD (superoxide dismutase) enzymes? I've been taking them for months now with large meals and have not had any swollen cysts since. I also recently had a dermoid cyst removed...I believed it was due to and/or worsened by estrogen dominance. I'm waiting to see if the rest of my hormonal symptoms calm down.

HI greengables,

 

I've been MIA from the boards recently too....I appreciate your update, and the fact that you put your overall health first instead of just the acne.

Have you looked into SOD (superoxide dismutase) enzymes? I've been taking them for months now with large meals and have not had any swollen cysts since. I also recently had a dermoid cyst removed...I believed it was due to and/or worsened by estrogen dominance. I'm waiting to see if the rest of my hormonal symptoms calm down.

That's interesting. What brand of SOD enzymes do you use?

I see that SOD had a moment in the spotlight in 2006 but not a lot of research since. I hadn't heard of it.

 

HI greengables,

 

I've been MIA from the boards recently too....I appreciate your update, and the fact that you put your overall health first instead of just the acne.

Have you looked into SOD (superoxide dismutase) enzymes? I've been taking them for months now with large meals and have not had any swollen cysts since. I also recently had a dermoid cyst removed...I believed it was due to and/or worsened by estrogen dominance. I'm waiting to see if the rest of my hormonal symptoms calm down.

 

That's interesting. What brand of SOD enzymes do you use?

 

I see that SOD had a moment in the spotlight in 2006 but not a lot of research since. I hadn't heard of it.

Hey! I use the Good'N Natural Brand...that was the only brand I could find at the store, but it works so far. Check out the low histamine chef's website, she really did a lot of research on histamines & diet & lifestyle, and has some good recipes too!

What regimen are you on right now?

I'm thinking about quitting but my vanity is grasping on to Spiro by the fingernails. My skin is so soft and so smooth. Knowing I can go outside without having to paint my face and back in a pathetic attempt to hide the giant cysts was a relief.

Unfortunately, I've had to cover up other areas indefinitely- I have gained about 20 pounds on this medication. Immediately before starting was the pinnacle of my physical condition. I'd been working out 6 days a week and eating so clean that my body looked and felt fit and skinny. Now, I struggle to complete full workouts, I am hungry ALL THE TIME if I don't take adderall, have cellulite build up on my legs and now my stomach (what the?!) and have developed serious stomach issues which I'm 99% is the result of this bizarre drug. I cannot build muscle.

You'd think this would be an easy decision but I'm terrified of the effort it will not only take to work my way down the scale but how badly the acne will come back with a vengeance.

Green Gables - considering how you've educated yourself on the topic of hormonal acne, I'm curious about your thoughts on a relation between Spiro and increased cortisol. I've read that it does in fact increase it, but if I were to take a supplement that could control cortisol, do you think it might aid in reducing weight?

I read many times that spiro does increase cortisol.. I'm not sure why. I assume it has something to do with the progesterone action spiro has.. Progesterone and cortisol have an interesting relationship.

Usually if your cortisol is elevated you will feel very anxious , have insomnia, feel In "fight or flight" mode all the time...... If you feel like this I highly recommend to take some magnesium.. High cortisol = anxiety = magnesium depletion. And yes high cortisol can lead to weight gain if high cortisol is the problem. The fact that spiro is lowering T gives room for estrogen to rise and more estrogen is usually associated with weight gain. So that could also be the reason for the weight gain. The fact that you're hungry all the time I think means you have a lot of estrogen in your body. Estrogen dominance usually encourages estrogen dominance and estrogen is stored in body fat.

I got weird stomach issues from spiro too and I only took it for 3 weeks. Yuck.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/1652437/

Found this article which talks about ATCH secretion and relationship Btwn that, cortisol, and adrenal androgens. I guess this better explains why spiro can increase cortisol?

PeanutsTheGuineaPig,

I also gained a lot of weight while on Spironolactone. Actually, I gained 25 lbs over the course of 8 months. I, like you, was at my thinnest before starting Spiro.

I was doing (and still am) high intensity workouts and running 5 days a week and looked great. I also have a great diet, avoiding sugars and high glycemic foods as much as possible. I weighed 130lbs and looked pretty.

Suddenly, I started noticing that my tummy was getting bigger, as well as my thighs. I thought I just had to amp up the workouts and cut out more carbs. And so I did. But I just kept gaining. It actually took a few months for me to realize it was the Spiro... I don't understand why I didn't make the connection earlier. I was on 200mg daily. Also, like many girls, my periods turned into a spotting that came every 2 weeks.

I finally realized that this wasn't normal when I looked at my face in the mirror and didn't recognize myself. It is so round and swollen

I just thought it was impossible to me working out so much, eating so well and gaining 25 lbs in such a short time.

I stopped the Spiro 2 months ago but have not yet been able to lose weight. I am so desperate because I keep working out 5-6 days per week, have an even stricter diet than before, and just can't seem to make it go away. I am on DIM for the likely extraordinary estrogen dominance and have only seen results skin-wise -- my face is clearer than it's been in years.

I would really like to know if other girls have been able to lose the weight after being on Spiro... this weight is so stubborn!!

 

So that's it so far. I'm a really busy person and keeping this regimen along with a healthy diet is already pretty difficult. I will update if I change the regimen or experience any significant progress.
Comments welcome, would love to hear if anyone else is going off spiro or trying similar methods.

I quit spiro after six months. The most I had taken was 125 mg but even at 100 mg I was having biweekly periods, trouble sleeping, awful PMS, constant breast pain and severe fatigue. I know it affected cortisol production. I felt wired and yet exhausted simultaneously. My doctor advised me to quit so I did.

I'm now on beta-sitosterol "Best Prostate" brand. Almost immediately I noted a reduction in oil production on my face. It's too soon to tell about the acne though but I've been off spiro a week and nothing major has happened. I am also taking magnesium now too as that has been helping calm me down and sleep better.

Spiro did help my skin but the side effects seriously messed me up. I don't know if it had the ability to encourage fatty tissue growth in the body but I had a small lipoma on my elbow for years and never bothered me....yet it trippled in size especially toward the end of being on spiro! I don't know if there is a connection but it was when my symptoms were the most severe. This was alarming. I had to get it removed last week.

Lovenaturalways, I never took spiro, but I had taken its European "equivalent" androcur many years ago.

I do think that anything that can raise your estrogen levels has the capacity to increase fat storage in your cells, so perhaps the fatty tissue growth you experienced was due to the excess estrogen triggered by spiro. I'm glad you had the lipoma removed, that's scary and definitely not worth risking your health by taking something that doesn't agree with you. Side effects are our body's way of telling us that something doesn't sit well with us.

 

HI greengables,

I've been MIA from the boards recently too....I appreciate your update, and the fact that you put your overall health first instead of just the acne.
Have you looked into SOD (superoxide dismutase) enzymes? I've been taking them for months now with large meals and have not had any swollen cysts since. I also recently had a dermoid cyst removed...I believed it was due to and/or worsened by estrogen dominance. I'm waiting to see if the rest of my hormonal symptoms calm down.

That's interesting. What brand of SOD enzymes do you use?

I see that SOD had a moment in the spotlight in 2006 but not a lot of research since. I hadn't heard of it.

Greengables, check out this article on the rosacea- histamine- mast cell connection, you might find it helpful. http://thelowhistaminechef.com/the-rosacea-histamine-mast-cell-connection/

am I really the only person whos skin has thinned dramatically from spiro? Do other people just not notice so much and I'm just very observant ? I just don't see that many people saying thinning skin from spiro except for me . My skin is SO thin compared to what it was before spiro

Actually, a quick search online shows that lipoma could develop or increase in size due to excess estrogen. I had a benign tumor removed too (dermoid/ teratoma) and, from reading up on estrogen dominance, it can cause tumors to grow if there's too much of it floating in the body. This is very dangerous for women taking birth control pills, since the estrogen in them is synthetic and bad for the body - hence all the warnings in the leaflet that comes with bcp.
But there should be warnings about anti-androgens too, especially since they can indirectly influence estrogen levels.

When you say adrenal PCOS, do you mean that your ovaries do not have multiple cysts, but your hormones are at PCOS levels? If so, then I'm not sure whether inositol can help as much, as it targets the ovaries and the hormones secreted from there (e.g. ovulation, etc). At least that's what studies show...I doubt it has been studied as much for adrenal issues, although it could definitely have other hormonal effects that haven't been discovered yet. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15206484

Chiralbalance, a company that sells chiro-inositol (I use myo-inositol, haven't had much success with their brand), has done A LOT of research on inositol, and they say it does lower DHEA-S but again, I'm not sure if it does so by targeting the ovaries. You can ask them a question on their forum - they usually respond quickly.
[Edited link out]
You can check out my thread here:

On 7/21/2015 at 5:16 AM, Circadia said:

WishClean, I completely agree. I am glad I got the lipoma removed too. My breasts were so sore and swelling and maybe the estrogen causing that did also impact the lipoma.

I see you are on inositol? I wonder if that reduces DHEA-S levels. I myself have "adrenal" PCOS but it is questionable in studies I have read if insulin resistance is the cause of it, like it is for ovarian PCOS. It is more considered to be genetic and a stress-related problem.

In general though how is your experience with inositol? Who do you take it and do you find it helps your acne? Thanks
 

 

On 7/22/2015 at 12:42 AM, Circadia said:

On 7/21/2015 at 6:01 PM, WishClean said:

On 7/21/2015 at 5:16 AM, Circadia said:

 

That is so helpful! Thank you. The following link discussed adrenal PCOS. But yes, I do not have a problem with my ovaries and multiple cysts since I do ovulate every single month (or I used to before the last couple months I was on spiro when I was having biweekly periods - no ovulation then.)

http://www.whitelotusclinic.ca/blog/dr-fiona-nd/pcos-treating-adrenal-androgen-excess

"Current evidence suggests that in women with (adrenal) PCOS, the adrenals produce androgens through an exaggerated response to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation from the pituitary gland.⁴ Obesity, insulin resistance, and ovarian secretions seem to play a limited role in adrenal androgen excess.^"

So it's basically not the same mechanisms at work, although women who have ovarian PCOS and high testosterone can also have high DHEA-S level. However DHEA-S is exclusively produced in the adrenal gland. It's been causing me problems! DHEA-S coverts to DHT in peripheral tissues, hence acne, hirsutism and all that fun stuff.

^{I see also your tag says DIM. I wonder if I should be taking that. I feel like my estrogen got way elevated from spiro. However I am concerned if there are any side effects to DIM or if women who actually have LOW estrogen levels should avoid it. However, for my purposes, it might be just what I need. I am trying to block DHT in my follicles and I read studies that DIM is an actual DHT blocker.  [Edited link out]}

I am also taking a large dose of beta-sitosterol (which I have noticed has reduced my oily skin drastically - even within the first week). So between a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor like that and DIM which is a DHT blocker at the actual receptor site level, I am wondering if that might be the winning combo. Plus, I read Rhodiola is really helpful for calming down the adrenal and balancing it out as an adaptogen hence targeting the problem to begin with. It's a multifactorial approach but wondering if I can do it without any pharmaceuticals.

I suggest you ask the chiralbalance people whether inositol can work for adrenal pcos, that is an interesting question, and they might provide some research on this. If so, feel free to share, I would like to know.

Well, noone knows exactly how DIM (or other herbs for that matter) works in the long run. In my experience, I think DIM reduced the bad estrogens, but also raised the good estrogens in my body because it made my melasma a bit darker. So, if you already have low estrogen levels overall (including the good metabolites), then it could be what you need. However, there is conflicting evidence on its anti-androgenic properties...some body builders,for example, take DIM to increase free testosterone and thus increase lean mass.

I haven't tried Rhodiola but let me know if it works if you try it. It's also used in herbal teas for its calming effect.

Hello... looking into starting spironolactone after i have my baby. I have hasimotos and hypothyroidism and was on armour thyroid but recently switched to wp thyroid... green gables would you say the armour has increased your acne??? I think it was causing me to breakout.... and im wondering if spiro can counteract tht side effect of the thyroid meds!!!

Hi! I've loved your posts cause you seem extremely well informed and really tenacious. I am similar, I'm taking yaz but I was thinking of taking Spiro. But I don't want to take birth control forever! I just had thyroid tests too BTW no results yet.
Ive decided to take fish flax and borage oil, evening g primrose oil, zinc, and turmeric. Im also making bone broth. Maybe cod liver oil( yuck).
I wish you good luck!

HI all, I just started spironolactone a little over 3 weeks ago. I started at 50 mg with no side effects, and was bumped to 100 mg after a week. After a couple of weeks of being at 100 mg I had completely clear skin but my jeans were a little tight and my face looked swollen.

I came on this forum and dropped back down to 50 mg once I realized the weight gain wasn't in my head. I'm 5'2 and normally around 105. I'm mainly taking this pill to stop cysts--which I get about one/two per month around my period. I'm already on loryna, which I understand has some spiro or something similar in it. I'm wondering if folks have experienced weight gain with 25 mg of spiro? I don't think I need more than 25 mg and will drop down (slowly) after another week on the 50 mg. I'd really like this to just prevent cysts, I don't need perfect skin if it means 10-15 pounds.

Has anyone read anything about 25 mg and weight gain?

Any and all input would be greatly appreciated as I want to make a decision about whether to simply stop this medication in the next few days or whether it is worth dropping down to 25 mg. I've heard that the weight is hard to come off...which is scary.