Hello. I have not been on the forums in a long time. In the past i had a lot of success with a paleo diet and zinc suplements. These are the only things that have worked for me with acne. 4 weeks ago i went to whole foods and bought chromium picolinate, chelated magnesium, and coq10. I bought these because they are good suplements for people with high blood sugar. I think that acne is caused by high glycemic foods and sugar. I started chromium first and i noticed within 4 days that i was getting no acne while following the paleo diet and taking zinc/ chromium. Before i had about 1 pimple a day. I started getting confident in the chromium picolinate suplement so i started upping my sugar intake. I started having starbucks, gatorade, frozen yogurt full of crap like sugar worms, cookies, white bread, cheese its, pita chips, pop corn, white rice, and lots of other foods i could not eat while on my paleo diet with lots of sugar or high glycemic. I also started eating dairy foods again like cheese and sour cream. I am extremely happy to report that i have not had one pimple on my back in the last 4 weeks and only some small unnoticeable pimples on my my forehead. I eat 1 starbucks a day and a gatorade. That is like at least 70g of sugar. So, I finally posted this and now i have not had acne in the last month since i started taking the chromium suplements. I didn't even open the magnesium or co q 10. so here is what i take everyday:
30 mg zinc
750mcg chromium
Results: 100% clear happily.
I think it works because it stops my blood sugar from spiking after i eat all that sugar and as a result my insulin does not spike. That's just what i think. All that matters is that it works though and it has worked for the last month. I thought it would stop but it didn't. I hope this helps some of you.
edit: My acne was whiteheads and small underground pimples before. no cysts or nodules. That might be important for some of you who want to try this.
i've only been using it for 4 weeks but no i have not had any hair loss. that is pretty scary. i said 750mcg because i alternate between 500 and 1000 per day. but from now on i think i will only take 500 mcg since i found websites that corroborated the fact that chromium in excess can cause hair loss because it can cause an defeciency of zinc and iron. I am taking a zinc suplement for the last year of 30mg a day. I have had hair loss in the past caused by trauma and that has finally cleared up but i did notice that the hair in the front of my crown was feeling a little tender like it did when i had hair loss last time. however, none of my hair is falling out when i run my fingers through it like it did in the past. I am surprised at how well it works. Still I am clear.
this scares me and i think chromium works even if you only use small amounts of it. i think if i think if i only took 250 mcg so next time i go to the store i will buy 250mcg pills because i do not want hair loss
I've been taking 250 for about a year and a half now along with zinc and magnesium helped reduce my severe acne to mild/moderate but caused alot of hairless for me it's depressing. I actually just ran out and not sure if I want to buy another bottle maby I can regulate with cinnamon or some other shit. Might try this cologen powder for the skin,hair,nails. I also noticed I don't have to cut my nails cause they don't grow anymore that can't be right.
Some other things to try for regulating blood sugar are berberine, cinnamon, gymnema sylvestre, bitter melon, alpha lipoic acid, and magnesium. I have been considering trying berberine instead of metformin, but I am afraid that my PCOS will become bad. The hairloss is not something I can deal with forever though. Here's an article on berberine which you guys might find interesting:
http://www.stopacne.com/herbal-remedies/barberry-acne-treatment.htm
and another
http://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/article_content.asp?edition=1§ion=3&article=387
Hello. I have not been on the forums in a long time. In the past i had a lot of success with a paleo diet and zinc suplements. These are the only things that have worked for me with acne. 4 weeks ago i went to whole foods and bought chromium picolinate, chelated magnesium, and coq10. I bought these because they are good suplements for people with high blood sugar. I think that acne is caused by high glycemic foods and sugar. I started chromium first and i noticed within 4 days that i was getting no acne while following the paleo diet and taking zinc/ chromium. Before i had about 1 pimple a day. I started getting confident in the chromium picolinate suplement so i started upping my sugar intake. I started having starbucks, gatorade, frozen yogurt full of crap like sugar worms, cookies, white bread, cheese its, pita chips, pop corn, white rice, and lots of other foods i could not eat while on my paleo diet with lots of sugar or high glycemic. I also started eating dairy foods again like cheese and sour cream. I am extremely happy to report that i have not had one pimple on my back in the last 4 weeks and only some small unnoticeable pimples on my my forehead. I eat 1 starbucks a day and a gatorade. That is like at least 70g of sugar. So, I finally posted this and now i have not had acne in the last month since i started taking the chromium suplements. I didn't even open the magnesium or co q 10. so here is what i take everyday:
30 mg zinc
750mcg chromium
Results: 100% clear happily.
I think it works because it stops my blood sugar from spiking after i eat all that sugar and as a result my insulin does not spike. That's just what i think. All that matters is that it works though and it has worked for the last month. I thought it would stop but it didn't. I hope this helps some of you.
edit: My acne was whiteheads and small underground pimples before. no cysts or nodules. That might be important for some of you who want to try this.
I want to add in chromium but others have mentioned that they started having hair loss, which I am ALREADY experiencing. Have you noticed if this has caused any similar issues for you?
Do you think I could add this in with all my other supplements (see signature)? I don't think there would be any contradictions or problems, but I am actually combatting hair loss from Lithium. I had to chop all my long, beautiful hair off 
It's just now growing back... Is there only hair loss at higher dosages? Or it's a risk at any dose?
Some other things to try for regulating blood sugar are berberine, cinnamon, gymnema sylvestre, bitter melon, alpha lipoic acid, and magnesium. I have been considering trying berberine instead of metformin, but I am afraid that my PCOS will become bad. The hairloss is not something I can deal with forever though. Here's an article on berberine which you guys might find interesting:
http://www.stopacne.com/herbal-remedies/barberry-acne-treatment.htm
and another
http://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/article_content.asp?edition=1§ion=3&article=387
other things to do for blood sugar/insulin sensitivity:
Exercise. Sleep. Vitamin d. daylight. Eating right. Avoiding high glycemic load meals, drinks snacks. Taking a fiber supplement before eating refined crap.
And all for reasons far more important than acne.
Also, mega dosing metals is usually a bad thing. http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/chromium
Get all the chromium you need from real foods like nuts, seeds, oats, meats or supplement with brewers yeast.
Lithium causes hair loss ? , this is new to me , I surely hope you are taking lithium orotate and not the synthetic version ie poison .
Do you think I could add this in with all my other supplements (see signature)? I don't think there would be any contradictions or problems, but I am actually combatting hair loss from Lithium. I had to chop all my long, beautiful hair off
It's just now growing back... Is there only hair loss at higher dosages? Or it's a risk at any dose?
Lithium causes hair loss ? , this is new to me , I surely hope you are taking lithium orotate and not the synthetic version ie poison .
Do you think I could add this in with all my other supplements (see signature)? I don't think there would be any contradictions or problems, but I am actually combatting hair loss from Lithium. I had to chop all my long, beautiful hair off
It's just now growing back... Is there only hair loss at higher dosages? Or it's a risk at any dose?
No Lithium Carbonate 300mg capsules/tablets. I'm not on it anymore, but i basically lost 3/4 of my hair because of the drug. I also suffered kidney damage and drug induced diabetes from it... Was greatly helpful to mentally stabilize me, but it wreaked havoc on my body unfortunately.
Lithium causes hair loss ? , this is new to me , I surely hope you are taking lithium orotate and not the synthetic version ie poison .
Do you think I could add this in with all my other supplements (see signature)? I don't think there would be any contradictions or problems, but I am actually combatting hair loss from Lithium. I had to chop all my long, beautiful hair off
No Lithium Carbonate 300mg capsules/tablets. I'm not on it anymore, but i basically lost 3/4 of my hair because of the drug. I also suffered kidney damage and drug induced diabetes from it... Was greatly helpful to mentally stabilize me, but it wreaked havoc on my body unfortunately.
WOW that's horrible , the side effects you suffered from this drug , I was taking lithium orotate the natural form I had a feeling that the synthetic version was bad but I had no idea ..... the lithium orotate is really quite good haven't taken it in a while but I found no negative sides whatsoever only positve ones. Lithium orotate is good for the mood without the obvious nasty side effects .
why were you on lithium? 3/4 of your hair.. thats crazy
Lithium is a mood stabilizer. I have Borderline Personality Disorder, among other issues, so Lithium helped keep my moods stable in order to function normally.
Yeah, it really sucked losing all my hair. It's growing back just as thick as before though, so I'm happy about that!
I haven't read everyone's comments but I would like to second your experience with Chromium Picolinate! I started taking it THREE days ago and am seeing unbelievable results! I had previously been taking a Zinc supplement as well as a multi, A, E and Borage Oil for my acne. I saw NO improvement until adding the Chromium. I think that anyone who has high blood glucose related acne should try this method, it's literally incredible!
Thank you for your post!
Hello. I have not been on the forums in a long time. In the past i had a lot of success with a paleo diet and zinc suplements. These are the only things that have worked for me with acne. 4 weeks ago i went to whole foods and bought chromium picolinate, chelated magnesium, and coq10. I bought these because they are good suplements for people with high blood sugar. I think that acne is caused by high glycemic foods and sugar. I started chromium first and i noticed within 4 days that i was getting no acne while following the paleo diet and taking zinc/ chromium. Before i had about 1 pimple a day. I started getting confident in the chromium picolinate suplement so i started upping my sugar intake. I started having starbucks, gatorade, frozen yogurt full of crap like sugar worms, cookies, white bread, cheese its, pita chips, pop corn, white rice, and lots of other foods i could not eat while on my paleo diet with lots of sugar or high glycemic. I also started eating dairy foods again like cheese and sour cream. I am extremely happy to report that i have not had one pimple on my back in the last 4 weeks and only some small unnoticeable pimples on my my forehead. I eat 1 starbucks a day and a gatorade. That is like at least 70g of sugar. So, I finally posted this and now i have not had acne in the last month since i started taking the chromium suplements. I didn't even open the magnesium or co q 10. so here is what i take everyday:
30 mg zinc
750mcg chromium
Results: 100% clear happily.
I think it works because it stops my blood sugar from spiking after i eat all that sugar and as a result my insulin does not spike. That's just what i think. All that matters is that it works though and it has worked for the last month. I thought it would stop but it didn't. I hope this helps some of you.
edit: My acne was whiteheads and small underground pimples before. no cysts or nodules. That might be important for some of you who want to try this.
I want to add in chromium but others have mentioned that they started having hair loss, which I am ALREADY experiencing. Have you noticed if this has caused any similar issues for you?
ive been on it for 3 months and i also had hair loss in the past but it has completely cleared and shows no signs of coming back.
interesting thread. read something similar to this a while ago (years ago) seemed to work for some people..
so, if you take CP do you need to supplement zinc and magnesium? or supplements that CP may deplete?
i dont know. i think its more preventative, but if you only take 200mcg of chromium a day which i now take and still works then you shouldnt worry as much about depletion