Hello. I've been part of acne.org for the longest time, I've tried pretty much everything over the course of many years, 20 years. Too long if you ask me.
A year ago, I had an "aha" moment. I asked my gyno if I could try Yasmin/Yaz but I didn't think about it for acne, I thinking about it because of my weight, I'll get into more later.
Something remarkable happened that year. My acne vanished. My hair and skin were no longer crazy oily. At the time I didn't even think it was the BCP because my GP also gave me a script for Retin A, which I never tried, I really liked it, I thought that perhaps it was that, that was treating my acne effectively. Until I think back now that, I skipped the retin a many times, and even went off it, and my acne still was 95% gone. I'd get maybe 2 pimples a month. (verus several a week)
So my year went up on my BCP, so I had to see my Gyno. Well she wanted take me off Yasmin. She was never a fan of it. I had to really push to get it the first time. She told me she thought it was too expensive, and caused too many side effects. The only side effect I had was really dry hair, and I just had to say that. Remember, at the time, I didn't think about it was because the anti-androgen effect. She insisted she wanted to change my BCP to Mononessa, and at the time I didn't have any reason to say no. I mean she is my dr, she is supposed to know best right? (......) sigh. Wrong.
About 2 months on the new pill, my acne was back, kinda of slow at first, then suddenly horrible. Then I knew it was the pill. I know I shouldn't have waited, but life happened, and another year passed, and when it was time to see my gyno, I asked to be put back on yasmin and she refused. I told her how it helped my acne tremdeously and what did she say? "I want you to try something else" Its Ovcon 35. Well it not doing anything for me!
So what do I do? I want to see someone for spiro. Its the only thing I have not tried. Should I see my gyno (personally I'm thinking about changing gynos) a derm, or an endocrinologist? How should I go about explaining myself? What about my GP? Where the heck do I start?
Also since its obviously hormonal, could it be that I have PCOS? Pretty much ever since I hit pubertiy, I felt like my life ended! lol
My peroids were insanely heavy, long and painful. I have trouble maintaining and losing weight. Diagnosed with major depression disorder in 2009. Well then there is the acne.
Well this is already a long post. Any advice from those with experience would be very helpful.
Sincerely.
LL
Spiro is fantastic with hormonal acne. I'm not a expert on PCOS though. Do you have missed periods? Or thick dark hair in abnormomal places? I know most women are overweight with PCOS but there are ladies on here diagnosed with it that are thin. So I suppose the weight isn't a dead give away.
As far as who should you see to get spiro. I get mine from my OBGYN. My dermatoglogist never considered treating my acne hormonally. Little did she know that my acne is clear because of spiro. I think most girls get theirs from derms and endos. It's not always that easy to get a endo. I only have one because I need to test my hormones due to my thyroid. He wasn't interested in any other hormones besides my thyroid though, so I didn't talk to him about my acne or anything. I take 100mg and am having good luck with this drug.
Sounds like the spiro in Yaz is what helped you, so I would definitely try out Spiro.
As for getting a prescription...it can be difficult, since a lot of doctors don't typically prescribe Spiro for acne. I went to an OBGYN requesting for Spiro, but she said she couldn't prescribe it because she didn't typically prescribe Spiro. So I called a few derms and asked if they had specific experience with spiro for acne. I found one that did, so I'm going to see her in a week.
Either an OBGYN or a derm would be your best bet. But ask on the phone if they have experience with spiro first so you don't waste your time. If the desk receptionist doesn't know, ask to speak to the derm themselves or have the receptionist ask and get back to you.
Sounds like the spiro in Yaz is what helped you, so I would definitely try out Spiro.
As for getting a prescription...it can be difficult, since a lot of doctors don't typically prescribe Spiro for acne. I went to an OBGYN requesting for Spiro, but she said she couldn't prescribe it because she didn't typically prescribe Spiro. So I called a few derms and asked if they had specific experience with spiro for acne. I found one that did, so I'm going to see her in a week.
Either an OBGYN or a derm would be your best bet. But ask on the phone if they have experience with spiro first so you don't waste your time. If the desk receptionist doesn't know, ask to speak to the derm themselves or have the receptionist ask and get back to you.
Hmm. Good advice... I'm nixing my OBGYNO though... cos she seems to act like she doesn't care about helping me with my acne, and it takes a month+ to get an appt with her. Meh, I guess I'll try a derm. (again, I've been through a handfull of them) I just don't want creams and crap first, becauseeeee I they don't help me much at all. They'll treat existing acne, but I'll just keep getting erruptions. :/
