hey cvd

well im 40 & i fell your pain, tired of it is a under statement fed up is more like it

acne has really been a problem for me for over 23 years like yourself i've done & tryed everything im kind of losing hope here but refuse to give up

well just want to say hey & wish you the best of luck there has to be something out there that works

I am 50 and still deal with this crap! I am so sick and tired of looking at my skin and the skin of friends and people I associate with. Most of them have great skin, hardley any wrinkles, lines or puffiness even the kids i work with and I call them kids cause they are my kids age have better skin than I do! You would think at our age we wouldn't still be dealing with this, that we could be a little more flexible with our diets. But its seems like I spend most of my waking hours worried about how my skin looks, if my make up covers, what others think of my skin and then there is the pity looks, (better you than me) that I get. I feel llike I look like the Joker off of the Batman movie!!!! Right now I have about 4-5 on my face and 6-8 on my neck and the only thing that I have eaten differently is I hit the cream cheese for bagels a little too hard last week! DAMN! and I love cream cheese. I hate it because I do take good care of my self, eat well, drink lots of water and my skin still looks like crap! I wish I had more to tell you but I don't. Elf

Thanks onelittleone and elfgirl --- it feels good to vent and to know there are others out there my age! I keep trying to be okay with this and not obsess about it but it's so hard in our culture. And especially hard now that I see people even my kids ages outgrowing it...much the same feelings I had when all my friends outgrew it and I was still struggling. I guess it continues to be giving up the idea that I will outgrow it too. Oh well...

I'm trying to get some routine in my life to think about something else...and then I sabatoge myself. Like this morning...woke up - looked in the mirror (bad idea when half asleep) and there was a thing. Sadly I picked at it a bit without thinking. Geez - you'd think I'd learn after decades of this. I try so hard not to do that. So then spent the next half hour trying to get it to calm down...cool water, etc. STUPID-STUPID-STUPID.

Oh well...guess I'll go try and "restart" my day. Do some yoga, meditation, etc. And then off to work. Hopefully by then it'll look better.

Thanks again for listening to my woes...

Hi guys,

I know you've tried diet but have you tried to investigate what might be going on on your bodies that's causing this?

I only ask cos that's wot I'm doing at the mo and generally looking at it from an holistic perspective rather than just taking wot the GP/Derm doles out, cos ultimately it won't work/will stop working as it's only treating the symptom and not the cause.

Our bodies are trying to tell us something. Something is def out of sync if we're suffering well into adulthood. Have you had your hormones checked ( saliva as blood tests aren't accurate )? How about your liver, digestive tract, any food sensitivities?

I've battled this on and off for 20 yrs and the most depressing thing is that I've gone full circle and my skin is now just like when I was 14yrs but now with the added bonus of lines!! No progress has been made whatsoever and I believe it's cos acne is only the symptom and we need to look at the bigger picture.

I steadfastly REFUSE to let this shit win the fight. It's like a "Who Done It?" and I'm the detective trying to get to the bottom of this mystery. I'll be like the frigging Blood Hound too cos I WILL NOT give in!

Please guys, do not accept your current situation. Remain pro - active cos acne is not a sign of good internal health. Never surrender!

kaz x

Yes, I've looked into the internal issues...trying to find the cause for the acne. Have been doing this now for 30+ years. Each time I discover a new idea I think "This is it - now my acne will go away!"...only to have it pop up again despite what I do. My discoveries have included hormone issues - that's why I'm on Spironolactone to blunt the androgens. I'm sensitive to wheat and dairy. I think I know more now about food insensitivities, glucose intolerance, and liver problems than most docs.

Currently I follow a gluten intolerance diet and avoid dairy and sugary foods, along with caffiene and alcohol. My derm thought I might have rosacea (since ruled out) so I was on a rosacea diet. Actually that diet feels pretty good so I continue it. I also avoid really high phytoestrogen foods like soy and flax. Most recently I stopped drinking soy milk when I read about the connection of soy to acne. I discovered that after eating ground flax seed (supposedly so good for you) I immediately break out. I've always felt that wheat caused a problem and more recently dairy. I used to love yogurt but found it didn't digest well and made me break out. I'm extremely sensitive to sugars.

The only thing I haven't done is the whole colonics thing because it grosses me out and I don't seem to have any problems in that department. I've been eating very very healthy now for 30 years and although diet definately helps I'm still not clear. Granted I don't break out like I used to but I still break out before anticipated events like the one I'm going to this weekend. What I get is several red bumps with whiteheads but they're on my chin or nose and very visible. Makeup doesn't cover them well and just looks like I'm trying to cover acne.

I've come a long way in managing this acne but I wish I didn't fret and worry about what my skin is going to look like!!!! Maybe that's the worst part...the worrying about how bad it could get. This is the PTSD part...any bump takes me right back to when I had a chin and nose full of angry red cysts and was totally mortified by how I looked. I literally feel like I'm back in that situation. It takes everything I have and trick I know to keep my mind and spirit from sinking. I so wish I could look forward to an event without worrying if I'll have pimples!

Where I work I see all kinds of people. And I see some adults who still struggle with acne...my heart goes out to them because I can see how it has crippled them emotionally. I rarely see an adult with acne who is confident. That said all the adults with clear skin are not confident...which is interesting. If I had clear skin like them I'd be so happy. (...boy, I'm really venting here...rather neurotic but it feels good to get it out...)

One thing I've noticed is that at the rare times my skin is totally clear that other anxieties start to surface. So sometimes I think that perhaps I stuff all my anxieties into my skin problem to avoid thinking about them. I'm so used to obsessing about my skin --- it is like a bad habit. Just not sure how to break the habit...not that my skin would necessarily get better but just that the way I think about it would. Even that would be a godsend.

Do you think it's linked to stress if you break out before events? Possibly adrenal fatigue related? It could even be Demodex mites? Just guessing and I'm sure you're now an expert on every possibility.

I just won't accept that I'm destined to age with acne. I don't appear to have any trigger foods but I won't rule out doing a food allergy test.

Have you found any particular supplements/topical skin care products helpful? Lots of people rave about niacin and B5.

Do you think it's linked to stress if you break out before events? Possibly adrenal fatigue related? It could even be Demodex mites? Just guessing and I'm sure you're now an expert on every possibility.

 

I just won't accept that I'm destined to age with acne. I don't appear to have any trigger foods but I won't rule out doing a food allergy test.

 

Have you found any particular supplements/topical skin care products helpful? Lots of people rave about niacin and B5.

Good post Kazza.... and I completely agree with you about acne being a warning sign that something isn't working right internally.

CVD: Have you looked into Leaky Gut Syndrome? Usually those people who have several food sensitivities are actually suffering from leaky gut, where the partial food particles are being released into the blood stream from a permeable intestine; this in turn causes the body to attack these particles as toxins and then releases them through the skin = acne.

What kind of acne are you suffering from? If its cystic I really think you should look into Leaky Gut. It might be the answering your looking for...

There's a great thread in the Holistic Section talking about how a mom cured her son's severe cystic acne with Bovine Colostrum. The thread is by a gal named Denise2. Its on the first page and its like a 60-70 page marathon thread. Just read the first post by Denise and hit me up if you have any questions. Several members have completely cured their acne by simply adding Colostrum to the mix.

PANIC

Hi, I'm 50, and I deal with a trilogy of skin issues ... acne, rosacea and hives. I had the food allergy testing done mid-January through my Internist's office, got my results early-February, and was really surprised by what the results show I'm sensitive to. Not what I expected at all. So I've been real disciplined about not eating the foods that the lab says I have problems with, and I think I'm a little better! So preliminarily, at least, I think food allergy testing may be a step in the right direction for nice folks like us.

It's good to have someone to talk to about all this stuff. It's tough. Best, Deb

Hi, I am glad to find some older people here. I am 57, developed acne (not rosacea) in the past year. I never had acne as a young adult or teen and here I am sharing retin-A with my two teenagers. Well, I was til I tried the regimen here. Danged if the regimen hasn't cleared up my skin and made it really soft and it feels great. I think stress in my case was the trigger. I had a hell of a year at work and with the economy and it just about stressed me to death. I finally got a grip on myself and decided to start taking care of myself again. In stepped the regimen on a google search. I was taking out my stress and frustration on my skin thinking I could scrub my face with a washcloth and strong soap, get chemical peels and used Retin-A regularly, nothing happened but more zits. Gentle is important, I think the gentle movement of the product on your skin also stimulates blood flow which in turn helps in healing. Also, relaxation techniques and keeping my damned hands off my damned face. Anyway, glad to find some people in my age range that are having trouble too, I thought my development of acne at 57 made me some kind of freak.

I am 52 years old and have been struggling with acne for a few years now. It is so painful and every time I think its starting to clear up, there comes another one or two, or multiple ones that form right underneath the scar tissue that was starting to heal and peel. It's so frustrating, as I never had severe acne when I was young. Not only am I fighting this very painful and hideous acne, but I'm also fighting sagging skin, larger pores, and now I am getting that not so nice, menopausal facial hair that seems to flare it up even more. I'm allergic to fragrance, my skin is extremely sensitive and it burns when I start to perspire. I'm at my wits end and am so tired of fighting this never winning battle. I take Vitamin E, Biotin, Collagen, a multi-vitamin, Zinc & B-12. I have tried everything that I can possibly think of. Now I am having a hard time covering it with make-up. My healing is horrible, as my skin will crack and bleed where my acne is scabbing up. It just gets thicker and thicker, making it so difficult to deal with. I just can't seem to heal. I hate going out anymore, as I feel like the world is looking at me in disgust.

Does anyone have any tips on what I may be doing wrong and also what is the best type of foundation to use when trying to cover and heal that isn't so thick that it just makes me look like a cracked doll? I would appreciate any helpful hints.