DAY 3

Skin hasn't improved. Three new cysts are showing up, one in between my eyebrows (soooo attractive) one on my jaw, and one on my left cheek.

Noticed NO reduction in oil or anything.

No crazy needing to pee, just a bit more dry mouthed and thirsty.

Started spotting verrrrry lightly (I think I was due to start my period anyways, not sure, since my cycle has been irregular for as long as I can remember)

Umm...what else?

Noticed yesterday in the afternoon I got really anxious. Err...not like fidgety, more like, tense, and easily annoyed, and the feeling of you needing to, explode? Like not actually BLOW UP but just, RRRRGH! I could've just been cranky, idk.

Face wash: Dr. bronners citric soap stuff

Toner: Thayers Witch hazel toner

Moisturizer: between Mary Kay's Velocity moisturizer and MRM's MSM skin cream

Been kinda lazy with when and how often I was my face, it usually happens twice or three times a day, depending if I'm at home or at work or caught up in stuff. Skin gets oily like, 20 mins after I wash. I swear, this is SO FUN. Right? Right.

If anyone's reading this, what's a good skin regimen for fading scars? I plan on doing some microdermabrasion once my 'active' pimples to away, since the esthetician was smart enough to deny me getting one until they were calmed down (since I guess it can make it a lot worse if you have active acne!)

DAY 5

My back and chest have gotten worse. Got two new cysts on my back (NEVER has that happened to me!) and a few new bumps around my cleavage. my face hasn't gotten better or worse, although the cysts have calmed down some.

Being thirsty/dry mouthed isn't as intense today, and haven't felt lightheaded since day 3.

Today was the first day my boobs felt a little sore.

Still spotting veeeeeeery lightly.

Also starting the paleo diet! (After pigging out on nachos and waaaay too much cheese sauce)

DAY 7

Wow, a full week on spiro! The cysts have flattened out, but other than that, no change. Still oily. Got a few new monsters around my mouth and one under my jaw and two on my left cheekbone.

No dizziness/lightheadedness, or headaches or anything; I'm really just a TAD bit more thirsty, and taking a leak maybe, two times more than normal? WAY nothing I can't handle.

3rd day of my period, pretty consistent and heavy flow.

Unmmm...what else....nails seem to be growing faster. (:

DAY 10

Figured logging on here every single day will be a bit pointless to do, so that's why it's every other day or so, mainly when I notice a difference in my skin, be it +/-

First day I woke up and noticed that my skin isn't CRAZY inflamed and CRAZY oily. And when I say crazy, I mean the horrific results you see when you google 'severe acne' crazy. Yeah. So fun.

But, oil has gone down like....2%....and I only have a few little new whiteheads whereas all the 'old' blemishes I got a few days ago are starting to simmer down.

Period has tapered off to spotting.

Again, same side effects I've experienced all through: slightly more thirsty, slightly dizzy today (but that could be bc I had a way late night last night and stayed up till 3am and have yet to eat today.)

OH.

And I've been taking the spironolactone with food, anywhere from 9am-11am in the morning, depending on when I can spare a moment to eat.

Lets hope my skin improvement keeps, well, improving!!

DAY 12

Started a new regimen for nighttime.

Bought some Kirkland signature Vitamin E gel pills, cut two open, and smeared the inside goo all over my face as well as some benzoyl peroxide, and went to bed.

Woke up and my skin feels smoother, flatter, and brighter!

Still have active pimples tho, and three new ones on my left cheek bone :T here's some pictures to start visually tracking my progress. They look a lot worse in person, TRUST ME.

DAY 17

Been feeling slightly lightheaded as of late, and I've noticed my heart rate will spike randomly. Nothing alarming though. Skin is slightly less oily (very slightly)

Three new small cysts. Two on one cheek, one on the other. Two underground pimples between my eyebrows, very painful. And then of course the slew of random pimples mixed in with a gazillion hyperpigmentation scars....yep, life is good!

Just found out CVS gave me mylan manufactured spiro instead of anmeal, which I had requested. Will follow up with that later today.

Still pimply. But there is slight improvement.

DAY 19

A few new small cysts, a couple very large new ones on my back

Oh spiro. Please work.

Skin as of today: see pictures

Good Luck with the Spiro. From what I hear, it takes a while for it to kick in. Be carefully not to up your dose too fast tho because my theory is, if you have very hormonal acne, your face will break out bad from the rapid change. My skin is really sensitive so just 50mg made my face get progressively worse within 2 months with huge cysts and I'm dealing with a problem that 10x worse now. However, if you've been at this dose for 20 days and have not gotten too much worse, then you should be doing fine.

Good Luck with the Spiro. From what I hear, it takes a while for it to kick in. Be carefully not to up your dose too fast tho because my theory is, if you have very hormonal acne, your face will break out bad from the rapid change. My skin is really sensitive so just 50mg made my face get progressively worse within 2 months with huge cysts and I'm dealing with a problem that 10x worse now. 🙁 However, if you've been at this dose for 20 days and have not gotten too much worse, then you should be doing fine.

Thanks for the good luck 🙂 Out of curiosity, what brand of Spiro are you using? Are you still on it, and how long have you been on it? Also, what is the problem you're dealing with now, if you don't mind me asking? Trying to get as much info on this as I can so I can be prepared to spot if spiro is hurting or helping ^_^ Thanks!

Hey there! Reading through your log and just wanted to send some positive thoughts your way. You are nearing a month soon and that's progress. I've been on Spiro a little over 3 months now. The first 3 months 50mg and Yasmin, now 75mg and Yasmin. It took a few months of breakouts off and on to finally have more of a clearing phase at 3 months. The first month was inflammed, started doxy in addition to Spiro and then it was small little comedones all on my cheeks/jawline/chin. Slowly cleared and just have a few clogged pores on my whole face which is a slight miracle after the first month. Exfoliation and good cleansing routine helped the process along and keep my PIH down a bit. I did have headaches from the increase in dose, but other than that. I don't think you will become any "worse" than you are now. My first month was definitely a shocking one as it got way worse than I've ever broken out before. Keep your head up and keep on your spiro journey, it does work but it takes a whole hell of a lot of patience. Mine was tested continuously and this board and these women really helped me through it.

I've been on the generic Spiro (it doesn't have a brand name). I started with 50mg but now I dropped down to 25mg about 2 weeks ago. I'm a little over 10 weeks now (2.5 months) taking it and got a terrible initial breakout. Once I started taking doxy and bcp's, my face started to calm down a bit but I'm stuck with a lot of ugly red marks. I posted pictures in my gallery of the change my skin went through over the first 2 months. I think I'm kind of a rare exception that my face broke out so bad from starting spiro. I'm contemplating giving into accutane.

How's your progress going so far?

 

Good Luck with the Spiro. From what I hear, it takes a while for it to kick in. Be carefully not to up your dose too fast tho because my theory is, if you have very hormonal acne, your face will break out bad from the rapid change. My skin is really sensitive so just 50mg made my face get progressively worse within 2 months with huge cysts and I'm dealing with a problem that 10x worse now. However, if you've been at this dose for 20 days and have not gotten too much worse, then you should be doing fine.

Thanks for the good luck Out of curiosity, what brand of Spiro are you using? Are you still on it, and how long have you been on it? Also, what is the problem you're dealing with now, if you don't mind me asking? Trying to get as much info on this as I can so I can be prepared to spot if spiro is hurting or helping Thanks!

2 MONTHS & 1 WEEK

So, haven't been on here in awhile. Figured tracking my zits each day would just drive me crazy--which it was. So, opted to just take spiro and report back here whenever I saw any changes.

Just passed the 2 month mark a week ago, and, well, no change. I keep thinking I'm 'getting less oily' slowly but surely, as I can now go two whole days w/o washing my hair before it becomes a greaseball. Still breaking out regularily, still just taking MYLAN 50mg ONCE a day, still no symptoms/side effects. So, keeping my fingers crossed all I need is time.

You will get there!!! Especially if you are noticing a reduction in oil. I really saw all of my changes 3 1/2 months and now have been clear consistently for almost 3-4 weeks now. All of this will be worth it in the end. Spiro has been a godsend. Stay encouraged and head up, you will be clear before you know it.

2 MONTHS & 1 WEEK

So, haven't been on here in awhile. Figured tracking my zits each day would just drive me crazy--which it was. So, opted to just take spiro and report back here whenever I saw any changes.

Just passed the 2 month mark a week ago, and, well, no change. I keep thinking I'm 'getting less oily' slowly but surely, as I can now go two whole days w/o washing my hair before it becomes a greaseball. Still breaking out regularily, still just taking MYLAN 50mg ONCE a day, still no symptoms/side effects. So, keeping my fingers crossed all I need is time.

Sept 13th, 2014

One day shy of 6 months on spironolactone @ 50mgs, once a day.

Wow.

I gotta say, I had my doubts after the 5th month marker. The oiliness of my skin had gone down, but I was still getting bad breakouts; even my back was still getting them. And then, a few days into August, I started to notice something.

My skin.

It was.../smoother./

My back didn't ache with the constant pain of raw swollen nubs of pus.

I hadn't even thought to hide my pimply cleavage in, I couldn't remember how long.

August is when it started to hint that it was working.

And now, here I am reporting in, humbled to finally have found a medication that is allowing my body to balance back out.

Spironolactone WORKS.

My skin as of today:

- 4 'active' pimples (just started my cycle, which btw has /never/ been regular in my life until about 4 months on spiro)

- that's it

- THAT

- IS

- IT!!!

My back? CLEAR. Seriously. Smooth as a baby's butt. Nothing. The hyperpigmentation is barely even noticeable.

My cleavage? That cleared up almost immediatey around month 3.

My face? It's not.../clear/ in the sense that my skin is smooth and perfect, ohhh no this face was in a war, there's battle scars still to be healed; but the /damage/ is finally starting to heal up. FINALLY!! No more aching spots on my face, no more slathering on makeup to just look like some bumpy-faced caked on gobby paste person, I slap on foundation and it goes on soooo so so smooth and perfect, I actually started to cry after I put my makeup on in less than 15 minutes and it was flawless (thus ruining my makeup, oh my --and this was in comparison to when it used to take me 3 HOURS /MINIMUM/ to try and be satisfied with my makeup)

My products:

- RAW organic cold pressed hemp seed oil. Use it to take off your makeup (seriously, it is amazing.) Use it to heal scars and smooth skin (it is literally the closest substance to our own skin's 'good' oil, I forget the term forgive my ignorance; but it is a MIRACLE how quickly it fades discoloration and re-dewifies/brings the glow back to your skin!!) Also fantastic for razor burn, sun burns, and hell, it's even a great thing to throw into a smoothie or just take a shot of in the morning with breakfast soooo so good for you. I can provide a breakdown of the regimen if anyone wants it

- MSM/MRM cream (for whenI didn't feel like dealing with the oil, the ONE bad thing about it is that it is messy if you aren't careful!)

and that's it.

Had you told me in march that by this time this year my skin would look the way it does right now, I would've fallen to my knees in disbelief and bought whatever product was trying to be sold. I am amazed and grateful each new day I wake up and see that my scars are just that much softer, my skin is that much better, and even though I'm not nearly close to being fully healed, the journey is certainly going in the right direction