anyone..?

DIM is a bit risky if you don't have estrogen dominance. Estroblock can boost your testosterone, and that could create another imbalance with most likely an increase in facial hair too. Are your periods regular? I have the same symptoms you mentioned but my issue is that I have low progesterone. If you can afford it, you should get your hormones checked to see if there is an imbalance. In my case, the main issue was progesterone, not the other hormones usually associated with acne (estrogen, testosterone, etc). I have had success with vitex/ agnus castus and evening primrose in the past (lasted 2 years then acne came back), saw palmetto (short term results, acne came back), but I never actually targeted progesterone because I didn't know that symptoms of estrogen dominance are very similar to symptoms of low progesterone. It's best to at least get your hormones tested before experimenting because you might make things worse. Even though hormonal tests are not 100% reliable (saliva testing is thought to be more accurate than blood tests), you might be able to pinpoint the main hormone(s) causing your acne.

Yes. Search for the lengthy threads we've had in te past. There is a link to at least one in the pined Good things threAd in the hormone section.

How is the progesterone cream working for you? I also considered using the progesterone cream but I was a little hesitant because I haven't gotten a proper hormone test done yet..and my periods are a little off, I've had months were all i've had is spotting on/off for a weeks, but they've been regular for a couple of months now. I've tried vitex in the past and it reacted negatively to my dopamine levels, made my depression worse and i just felt very wacky. and saw palmetto and evening primrose oil didn't have lasting effects after 3 months of usage..and now i'm wondering if I should continue with the DIM, it's been three weeks now and I havent had any bad side effects yet.. everything is normal. Bah, all this self medicating is a total shot in the dark.

Hi, I've been using Estroblock for about two weeks now and have had no side effects so far. I first learned of this supplement from The Love Vitamin website; is this where you heard of it too?

Like you said, it's all a shot in the dark. If you feel that your body is responding positively to estroblock and/or dim, then go for it but try not to take any supplement for longer than you need it (this is where tests can be useful in determining whether you still have a serious hormonal imbalace or not, even if they are not fully accurate). In my case, the first time I tried vitex with evening primrose it helped regulate my hormones and heal my cystic acne, but I took it for too long and eventually started getting more facial & body hair. The second time I took vitex I noticed some improvement in my acne, but not as much as the first time, which suggested that my hormonal imbalance was different the second time around.

I am still undecided about the progesterone cream...it was sort of my last resort to avoid birth control and more severe treatments. I'm using it because I only want my progesterone boosted, and do not want to mess with any other hormones. Healthy levels of progesterone are needed to regulate all other hormones in the endocrine system (but again, what is "healthy" is questionable - no doctor has given me a definite response). Creams are also risky, though, that's why I plan on rechecking my hormones after 3 months to see if I'm on the right track with this treatment. So far, my mood has stabilized and I feel much better emotionally. It can take up to 3 months for the cream to affect my progesterone, so I'm being patient at the moment. The other new thing I added is a b-complex stress formula with vitamin c because it helps with energy and is also supposed to help with hormonal stress. My breakouts this month have been healing faster and are less severe, so hopefully I'm on the right track.

Hi, I've been using Estroblock for about two weeks now and have had no side effects so far. I first learned of this supplement from The Love Vitamin website; is this where you heard of it too?

Yes, the love vitamin and also highonhealth really raved about it, and called it "the best hormonal supplement for acne".I've been taking it for a little over three weeks with no side effects either, but I've read on here and other websites that this is typically normal, I plan on taking it for at least two months before giving up because I really believe it has the chance to help my hormones. What dosage are you taking?

WishClean-

Please let me know in the future if the creams work, I'd definitely been interested in trying it out if this doesn't work. But I think I've read somewhere that sometimes progesterone can actually lead to more breakouts? Dont know if thats true or not.. But zinc has been proven to up the levels of P on people who need it, and I actually got really great results for the first couple weeks of taking 30 mg of zinc.Hmm..

I have a question for you, as you seem to be knowledgeable on hormones and whatnot.

I'm also curious to know if my hormone imbalance has anything to do with the fact that I started getting acne as soon as I started recovering from an eating disorder and anorexia athletica. Once I started eating adequate amounts of food for a week, my face broke out in a bunch of cysts and whiteheads all over my cheeks. Granted, its gotten tons better as recovery went on, prior to my eating disorder I never really had a problem with acne at all.. it makes me wonder if is something else wrong with me? I've never been to the doctor for it because I couldnt afford it so this is why I have no idea.

So far, the cream hasn't caused new breakouts - in fact, my mid-cycle flare ups seem to be less severe. I added the zinc back into my regimen recently but I'm not sure if it's helping that much. Why did you quit taking zinc? Did you stop seeing an improvement after the first few weeks?

The eating disorder theory is interesting, I'm wondering the same thing too. I had anorexia nervosa and athletica when I was 14 (then compulsive eating, then bulimia - you name it, I had it!), and when I started recovering I had my first acne breakout. There are theories that claim excessive exercise and restrictive eating can worsen acne and upset hormonal balance, and I think that makes sense. In my case, I was diagnosed with PCOS a few years after my eating disorder, and the doctors tended to blame my acne on that instead. Many of them don't believe that diet has anything to do with acne, but diet can affect hormones in so many ways.

Since we can't undo our eating disorders, all we can do is try to repair the damage by eating healthy, exercising in moderation, and avoiding stress. I also discovered that liver health is very important in regulating hormones, so I did a mild liver detox along with acupuncture treatments to cleanse the liver and gall bladder. When doctors prescribe antibiotics, they are basically trying to get to the acne via the liver, but that's a damaging way of getting to the acne via the liver. The reasoning behind prescribing antibiotics makes sense (but not the method), which is why I tried to cleanse my liver as naturally as possible. As a result, my inflammation has reduced drastically, and only returns when I eat too much sugar and salty foods. If you can figure out your triggers, then you can avoid them as much as you can to help the acne heal faster.

Let me know how the estroblock and DIM work for you.... if my cream doesn't work I might research DIM some more to see if it would work for me. So far, I'm pleased with the cream and my current supplements, but usually things stop working for me after a year or so. My hormones are naturally off balance, so they just revert back to their usual state if I'm not regulating them through nutrition and supplements.

Actually I am still taking zinc, it just seemed to lose its magical power rather quickly. And yes I have a theory that since we both developed eating disorders at a young age, perhaps our hormones were kept dormant and barely producing enough hormones to even cause acne, then as soon as we started recovery, bam, hormones gone wild.i wonder if i never had an eating disorder, would i have still had acne.. severe acne definitely runs in the family for me. i try to keep a gluten free diet with low GI foods and lots of vegetables, I've definitely seen significant improvement through change of diet, but it isnt enough i'm afraid.

Another question- when you had your hormones tested, what day of your cycle did they choose to test you on/or was it multiple days of testing? I was thinking of just ordering a kit online from http://www.johnleemd.com/store/prod_stest.html . and i was wondering if i should test on a day i know i will break out alot(like ovulation) or something.and I've actually read a ton of DIM reviews in amazon with women suffering from PCOS and they said DIM alleviated their acne and other symptoms, so you could always give it a try if the creams dont work.

Well I'm currently taking three pills a day which is the the same dosage that Tracy from love vitamin was taking; she mentions that it's fairly safe to take, I'm hoping that this is true. Like I said, I've not had any side effects so far, and I've noticed that my latest breakout is healing much more quickly. The reason why I felt DIM might help me was because I my acne seemed to be very hormonal (I break out around the time of my period and the spots appear on my jaw area and around my mouth). I also plan on taking it for about 2-3 months to see if it helps me. Lets hope for the best!

Oh, I'm also taking the Green Pastures cod liver oil and am planning on taking milk thistle as well. Hopefully that will be a winning combination!

Actually I am still taking zinc, it just seemed to lose its magical power rather quickly. And yes I have a theory that since we both developed eating disorders at a young age, perhaps our hormones were kept dormant and barely producing enough hormones to even cause acne, then as soon as we started recovery, bam, hormones gone wild.i wonder if i never had an eating disorder, would i have still had acne.. severe acne definitely runs in the family for me. i try to keep a gluten free diet with low GI foods and lots of vegetables, I've definitely seen significant improvement through change of diet, but it isnt enough i'm afraid.

Another question- when you had your hormones tested, what day of your cycle did they choose to test you on/or was it multiple days of testing? I was thinking of just ordering a kit online from http://www.johnleemd.com/store/prod_stest.html . and i was wondering if i should test on a day i know i will break out alot(like ovulation) or something.and I've actually read a ton of DIM reviews in amazon with women suffering from PCOS and they said DIM alleviated their acne and other symptoms, so you could always give it a try if the creams dont work.

Yes, unfortunately if some hormones are out of whack, diet can only do so much. I see improvement with diet and avoiding certain triggers, but this time around my acne has been more aggressive so I had to also use progesterone cream as a last resort because I didn't want to try antibiotics/ accutane/ birth control.

My hormones were only tested right after ovulation, so my skin was relatively calm but still my progesterone was low. So I figured, if it was this low during the "calm stage" of my cycle, then it must get even lower during ovulation. I wish I could afford to saliva testing, which is supposed to be more accurate. Ideally, you should get your hormones tested every week of your cycle, for 4 weeks (so 4 times total) to capture the full range of the fluctuations. If you can only do it once, then I'm not sure what the optimal time of the month would be....the doctor who tested me was clueless about PCOS and hormonal acne so she said the day didn't matter.

I'm just going to throw my 2 cents in here. First, progesterone deficiency IS estrogen dominance. In other words, if you are low in progesterone, your estrogen is unopposed and therefore you are estrogen dominant. Many of us are In this day and age, with xenoestrogens in just about everything. You can still be estrogen dominant, even if your estrogen is low normal (that's me) with next to zero progesterone - yeah, so fun!!! And YES, let me be the first to tell you how much of a mess bioidentical progesterone has made on my face. I have tried it several times (because I need my progesterone levels to move up) and this last go around (against my pleading) has created a nice big pizza mess all over my face, scalp, neck and I even have a zit inside my ear - so fun and such a confidence booster at 42! I literally took the lowest dosage possible (6.5mg orally) for two weeks and my face exploded. All it does is wake up my sleepy estrogen receptors and make me MORE estrogen overloaded. So yes, it can make matters MUCH worse in some of us. I'm not bashing it, because it is wonderful for so many women, unfortunately, I'm not one of them. Right now, I have been popping DIM to help counterbalance my estrogen mess, but haven't seen a significant reduction of anything after two weeks, but I will also take it for two months before I throw in the towel. I also take vitex, which has helped bring up my progesterone from a none existent .3 to 2.3 (hey, I'll take what I can get). I also have hashimotos (autoimmune thyroid disease) which has gone completely wonky on me and probably created the mild acne issues I have been battling (the past 10 months) and off and on for 20 years, but the progesterone is what makes a small molehill into a flipping mountain on my face - good lord! For me, I know low dose birth control pills in my teen and early 20's nipped mild acne in the bud and I had beautifully, perfect skin until I stopped it. Because I am more knowledgable today about synthetic hormones and their negative effects on hormone balance, I won't take them, but boy have I played with the idea on my darkest days while dealing with this face of zits.

DIM has completely cleared up my acne - I have been taking it for approx 4 months now. I had tried it before and my skin had gotten better but because I was taking so many different supplements I couldn't be sure what had worked and I stopped taking it (mainly because my skin was so good) only for my acne to flare up again. I have waited a long time to write this on a DIM thread to ensure that what I wrote was true to me and had not changed over time.

A bit of background is that I had acne when I was younger. I went on Yasmin which cleared it up. After approx 5 years on Yaz I started to get headaches and some acne on my forehead, I was taken off the pill by my doc due to this and migraine aura (high risk of blood clot)

I stayed off the pill for at least a year in a bid to let my hormones regulate and my acne clear up by itself - this never happened. I tried a variety of supplements - zinc, vit D, vit A, agnus castus, saw palmetto, omega 3, no dairy, no sugar, acupuncture etc, etc. all reasonably helpful but nothing really worked. I eventually went on to the mini pill - started with Cerazette but am now on Norgeston which I think is better for acne. Norgeston helped after a long time but only provides progestron hormone, I feel I was lacking estrogen and this is what DIM has regulated for me. I even have nearly regulated periods and they are heavier from taking DIM (I see this as a good sign as my natural cycle before any pill was irregular and heavy)

I now take 4 DIM capsules per day (2 twice daily with food - one lunch time and one evening) I also use Clean and Clear 2 in 1 moisturiser morning and night as well as bio oil (for scarring) which I have found very beneficial. I wash my face in the morning with just warm water and at night with Dermalogica microfoliant daily scrub. The bio oil is definitely helping the scarring and overall even skintone. I also drink lots of water, green tea and eat healthy. I don't eat much dairy but if I do my acne doesn't flare up. I haven't eaten meat in a month which may have also contributed but I was clearing up before that.

I really think DIM is worth a go, its cheap and natural and I would say give it a month to notice a change and 6 for clear skin (if it works for you as it has worked for me)

DIM has completely cleared up my acne - I have been taking it for approx 4 months now. I had tried it before and my skin had gotten better but because I was taking so many different supplements I couldn't be sure what had worked and I stopped taking it (mainly because my skin was so good) only for my acne to flare up again. I have waited a long time to write this on a DIM thread to ensure that what I wrote was true to me and had not changed over time.

A bit of background is that I had acne when I was younger. I went on Yasmin which cleared it up. After approx 5 years on Yaz I started to get headaches and some acne on my forehead, I was taken off the pill by my doc due to this and migraine aura (high risk of blood clot)

I stayed off the pill for at least a year in a bid to let my hormones regulate and my acne clear up by itself - this never happened. I tried a variety of supplements - zinc, vit D, vit A, agnus castus, saw palmetto, omega 3, no dairy, no sugar, acupuncture etc, etc. all reasonably helpful but nothing really worked. I eventually went on to the mini pill - started with Cerazette but am now on Norgeston which I think is better for acne. Norgeston helped after a long time but only provides progestron hormone, I feel I was lacking estrogen and this is what DIM has regulated for me. I even have nearly regulated periods and they are heavier from taking DIM (I see this as a good sign as my natural cycle before any pill was irregular and heavy)

I now take 4 DIM capsules per day (2 twice daily with food - one lunch time and one evening) I also use Clean and Clear 2 in 1 moisturiser morning and night as well as bio oil (for scarring) which I have found very beneficial. I wash my face in the morning with just warm water and at night with Dermalogica microfoliant daily scrub. The bio oil is definitely helping the scarring and overall even skintone. I also drink lots of water, green tea and eat healthy. I don't eat much dairy but if I do my acne doesn't flare up. I haven't eaten meat in a month which may have also contributed but I was clearing up before that.

I really think DIM is worth a go, its cheap and natural and I would say give it a month to notice a change and 6 for clear skin (if it works for you as it has worked for me)

I second this. I was skeptical to try DIM, but I finally did, and now 3 months into it I am very happy with the results (in combination with inositol).

How many mgs total are you taking per day? I am currently taking around 100-150mg, but I think I need to cut down after being on this dose for 3 months.

can I ask, what brand of DIM everyone takes? I am currently on DIM Plus (natures way) and have been for about 5 weeks, I havn't noticed much of a huge improvement in my skin and I am still breaking out (although to be fair my breakouts are less cystic and more isolated if that makes sense). A lot of people seem to be on Estroblock ...how is this different? and should I switch - i have around two weeks worth left of DIM Plus before I order more so maybe i should order estroblock instead? I want to give it at least three months before i throw it in the can.

What brand of DIM do you use? I use Nature's Way and am not getting acne clearing. Though other ED symptoms have improved.

DIM has completely cleared up my acne - I have been taking it for approx 4 months now. I had tried it before and my skin had gotten better but because I was taking so many different supplements I couldn't be sure what had worked and I stopped taking it (mainly because my skin was so good) only for my acne to flare up again. I have waited a long time to write this on a DIM thread to ensure that what I wrote was true to me and had not changed over time.

A bit of background is that I had acne when I was younger. I went on Yasmin which cleared it up. After approx 5 years on Yaz I started to get headaches and some acne on my forehead, I was taken off the pill by my doc due to this and migraine aura (high risk of blood clot)

I stayed off the pill for at least a year in a bid to let my hormones regulate and my acne clear up by itself - this never happened. I tried a variety of supplements - zinc, vit D, vit A, agnus castus, saw palmetto, omega 3, no dairy, no sugar, acupuncture etc, etc. all reasonably helpful but nothing really worked. I eventually went on to the mini pill - started with Cerazette but am now on Norgeston which I think is better for acne. Norgeston helped after a long time but only provides progestron hormone, I feel I was lacking estrogen and this is what DIM has regulated for me. I even have nearly regulated periods and they are heavier from taking DIM (I see this as a good sign as my natural cycle before any pill was irregular and heavy)

I now take 4 DIM capsules per day (2 twice daily with food - one lunch time and one evening) I also use Clean and Clear 2 in 1 moisturiser morning and night as well as bio oil (for scarring) which I have found very beneficial. I wash my face in the morning with just warm water and at night with Dermalogica microfoliant daily scrub. The bio oil is definitely helping the scarring and overall even skintone. I also drink lots of water, green tea and eat healthy. I don't eat much dairy but if I do my acne doesn't flare up. I haven't eaten meat in a month which may have also contributed but I was clearing up before that.

I really think DIM is worth a go, its cheap and natural and I would say give it a month to notice a change and 6 for clear skin (if it works for you as it has worked for me)

Hi

I am still using DIM plus by natures way. I am currently taking 4 a day (2 at a time with food) and have been for a long time. The only other thing I take daily is a vitamin d capsule 5000 iu. I would definitely give it 3 months and consider upping the amount. I am still clear but know I wouldn't be without DIM. Good luck