Hormonal stuff can take 3-6 months to begin to work. Keep in mind that results may ebb and flow too.

Hormonal stuff can take 3-6 months to begin to work. Keep in mind that results may ebb and flow too.

Thank you. I keep telling myself that, its been rough :/

I feel your pain. My acne is deep, superficial and everything in between and I won't wear makeup until its under better control. I feel like crying at times. Stay strong girl. It's a process.

Still having cystic acne and im at the end of Month 3. I keep reading Zarah gives people acne when they have switched over from Yasmin? Do I need to switch? Ahhh halp

Currently starting my period but have been continuously getting cysts just on my chin. I guess it just all moves to there instead? Called the pharmacy and after next month if it doesnt improve ill switch to Yaz, as im on the generic Zarah. Any insight?

Still getting worse 🙁

Your tattoos are amazing! Any significant meaning?

I feel your frustrations. Are you incorporating a topical. It may help with the current acne you have.

haha thank you. Most do yes, but Id have to make a whole separate thread for those stories haha.
Ive tried most topicals. They speed up the process but dont combat with actual acne. Adapalene helps to an extent, i think. I recently incorporated salicylic acid in a bb cream and cleanser. Ive also used tea tree as spot treatment that didnt make it worse, but i dont think it helped any.

Some people don't respond well to generics. I did great on accutane the brand name back in the day. When I used the generic version in recent years, my progress was no where as dramatic and I never stopped breaking out.

Im really on the verge of stopping the birth control and spiro. My face is out ot control, its never been this bad. From this 

to this:

is this NORMAL?! Is this the initial breakout? This is soo terrible. Its been a month on spiro and month 4 on birth control. Im so depressed and hopeless. Please help :/

Realize that if you stop now, you may not know if this could actually work for you. Lets say you stop, what would be the next step? You started meds in the first place because your skin needed help. I feel your frustration hun but don't give up. You could ask your derm for an antibiotic to help with this transition period and then ween off in a few months. An initial breakout from spiro happens to many. Also, the first few months on BC can reek havoc until hormones settle. Give it at least till years end so you would have been on BC for a solid 6 months and spiro for 3 and if that doesn't help, back to the drawing board

Stay strong

Thank you very much. I wont go on antibiotics any longer. Its too terrible for my body. I got on medication because i was hopeless, but id much rather have one pimple a day than 4 or 5 a day like these past months have been. I dont know. I called my derm and left a message asking for her help (she lives 2 hrs away) so I guess Ill see what happens with that. I absolutely hate taking medication.

As a vegan and whole food eater, this breaks me to be on meds but my skin gives me depression so I had to choose. I constantly worry about blood clots, side effects, etc. Just wishing this would work so I could feel its worth it.

Okkk im at the end of Month 4 with the sugar pills. I wrote a blog about it here to go into detail a little bit. Next week i switch to the non generic version and im also suppose to be increasing my dose of spiro up by 25mg (making a total of 100mg). Im also using a high frequency machine at work. And..i dont know if its a coincidence or my cycle or what but I havent had any new cysts since the giant one you will see here. Its been like 4-5 days which is a record for me

This could be the start of progress! Keep us posted

Well.

im on month..5? 6? Of birth control and month..3 on spiro I believe. Its not as bad as it use to be, now it just looks like how I started. I dont know if that necessarily an improvment 

Spoke too soon :/

So its been almost the 6 month mark on yaz and 3 months on spiro. Is it time to give it up? The only difference I noticed in my skin thus far is the initial breakout was terrible, but no improvements. What do you all think?

On December 23, 2015 at 3:15:03 PM, Chloe123 said:

Have you been back to the derm? I know a lot of people change BC from yaz to dianne. I've heard dianne is pretty much the strongest and is the most likely to help with hormonal acne. I'm not sure though. But I do know a lot of people need to switch birth controls to get the best result.

Not yet, she lives 2 hrs away and with my weird school schedule it makes it harder. But ive called her in the past and I know shes just going to say to give the spiro more time. Should I ask about the birth control or wait?

With hormonal stuff you cant switch things up too often. I would give spiro till 6 months and stick to your current BC in the meantime. This will not be a fast process by any means so hang tight. I'm almost 4 months into spiro and breaking out so bad right now....BUT.....trying to give it more time.

Stay encouraged.

Hey, How's the progress on Zarah? I am going to start it today for hormonal acne.

On April 10, 2016 at 8:25 AM, mzsarahd said:

Hey, How's the progress on Zarah? I am going to start it today for hormonal acne.

I got off it a few months ago. 8 months and it just made it much worse. Now that im off it, its back to mild acne, not severe. I hope it works for you though!

Did you stop the spiro as well?? Do you think it waa the birth control or spiro making the acne worse??