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Anyone Happen To Know What's Wrong With Me...?

MemberMember
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(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 03/18/2015 4:15 pm

Well, this is my first time ever posting on any kind of forum... so I hope i'm doing this right. So I first started getting acne when i was around 13, and it progressively got worse and worse throughout high school. It started just on my face, rather tamely, but quickly jumped up a notch becoming severe cystic acne, that spread to my back, neck and finally my chest. I've tried countless different products to counteract it (Doxycycline was without a doubt the most effective prescription for me).

During my senior year of high school (early 18), Is when i started Doxycylcine, and went the extra mile, completely reformed my unhealthy lifestyle, cutting out fast food, most carbs, deep fried foods, and washing my face two times a day. I started to eat almost entirely meat, vegetables, fruit, soup, began consuming 9 cups of water a day, and began to exercise every day. I lost 20 pounds in 2 months, and by the half a year mark was down to around 155 from 200. This made my skin visibly loose, (and even now that it's had time to heal for at least a year and a half, it still looks like i got liposuction... although it certainly looks better). This made my face look massively better, but had no effect on my back. My confidence skyrocketed, I was actually skinny for the first time in my life, had no visible acne, had energy, and a full head of hair. This lasted almost all the way through the school year, until I started to get acne on my neck and chest for the first time in my life. This was shortly before graduating, and put me in a downward spiral. I felt like I had acne covering every inch of me, and on top of that noticed that my hair was thinning. I started using Benzoyl Peroxide topically along with Doxycycline, but it didn't help at all. I desperately tried to find out what was causing my hair loss, and stopped taking Doxycycline, having heard other users complaining about the same thing.

This marked the worst period of time in my life. My acne had become so bad that I couldn't go anywhere without seeing viable disgust in people's faces, and having strangers express how sickened they were by me. Even my family and friends would tell me the same thing. And I became a complete hermit, breaking all communication with all of my friends, only leaving the house when absolutely necessary, and when I would I would wear a tilted down hat, high collared long sleeve shirts, and sun glasses to try and cover every inch of skin I could, making sure to never make eye contact. My skin stopped healing like it used to, my skin became constantly dry, and I felt like I reverted to a child emotionally, being constantly depressed, and unable to find any sliver of hope or happiness in anything. During this time I experimented constantly on myself with food, exercise, prescriptions, home remedies, and have found a way to almost completely prevent more acne from appearing... but have to give up almost everything.

I now exercise 1 to 2 hours a day, eat absolutely nothing but meat, vegetables, and fruit (when I eat fruit it must be before exercise in the mornings, I can't eat beans, lentils, chili, any carbs, any oils, dairy, or nuts, without my scars inflating back up into cystic acne), wash off my sweat immediately following exercise, limit my sun, wash my face twice a day with water, only with soap once a week (or my skin get's dry and acne prone) moisturize daily, take supplements every day (B complex, a daily vitamin, vitamin D, burdock root, milk thistle, and just stared Zinc last week), and try to stay positive. I currently have almost no acne on my face, back and neck (still have quite a bit on my chest for some reason.) but i'm still covered in scars that take months to heal and just one slip in my diet causes months worth of damage.

So to recap everything I currently have, I have loose skin, dry skin, very thin hair, that for some reason thinned evenly (no bald spots), acne, very slow / poor healing abilities, severe depression. And I recently came into some information that makes things worse. I researched Thyroid problems for a few weeks and thought that it sounded exactly like what I was dealing with, so I got a blood test done, and to my dismay, It was fine... (TSH 3.30, Free T3 2.97, and T4 1.10) but my Testosterone was and is unbelievably low ( Testosterone, Total 185.3, Testosterone, Free 2.92, Testosterone, Bioavailable 68, Tesosterone, Percentage Free 1.6.) Testosterone is the number one thing I hear is related to both acne and hair loss in males, and I feel like this test tells me if I correct it it'll only get worse... so If anyone has been through this, or has any ideas that could help me with this, i would be forever thankful... Because I'm starting to feel like I can never find happiness in life... Thank you...

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MemberMember
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(@kay24)

Posted : 03/18/2015 7:32 pm

What did your doctor have to say about your testosterone levels? If you're getting all these tests I hope your doctor is actively trying to solve this so you can feel better. Did the dr say your symptoms make sense with low testosterone, did they give you a treatment plan?

KitP liked
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MemberMember
4
(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 03/30/2015 5:32 pm

He just said I should use some testosterone cream... but I've heard that that causes acne... so I'm a little skeptical...

And sorry it took so long to respond, I thought I'd get an email or something.

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MemberMember
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(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 03/30/2015 5:59 pm

Don't know what to do anymore...

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MemberMember
129
(@kay24)

Posted : 03/30/2015 6:22 pm

YES! Okay I got kind of excited. Your hormone levels are a huge red flag. Like, massive, and I'm damn surprised the doctor didn't say much about it. Some doctors are pricks. Anyway, low testosterone levels can cause high DHT levels. DHT is pretty much the most connected hormone to acne.

Google gave me this: In general, (for testosterone) the normal range in males is about 270 to 1070 ng/dL with an average level of 679 ng/dL. You're young, your levels should be much higher. Your testosterone levels are in bad shape, your DHT levels are likely in bad shape too, DHT causes hair loss and acne. Low testosterone causes depression. It's all linked.

When it comes to acne and hormones, it's all about finding the correct balance. Like for me, my condition makes my testosterone too high for a women. My free testosterone is 3xs as high as yours. So my acne solution is estrogen. Other women, they have too much estrogen, so an estrogen blocker helps their acne. Yes, testosterone is linked to acne, for someone like me. But you need your levels up, it'll make you healthier all around.

But I'm not a doctor, I have no idea how they would treat you. I just hope you find a doctor that helps. I don't know if a topical cream would be enough, but I have no idea in the end.

Here's a thread about DHT:

He listed some things that he's done to help.

Lauryn7 liked
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MemberMember
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(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 03/30/2015 7:15 pm

Thank you for taking the time to post all this!

If I get my testosterone up though, won't it make my hair and acne worse?

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MemberMember
129
(@kay24)

Posted : 03/30/2015 9:49 pm

Thank you for taking the time to post all this!

 

 

If I get my testosterone up though, won't it make my hair and acne worse?

No, because you need that testosterone. It'll even out the DHT in your system, which is probably far too high. When it comes to hormones and acne, it's all about that balancing act. Testosterone is not going to equal acne for a man that is drastically low in it.

Here's an article about balancing: https://www.bodylogicmd.com/for-men/testosterone-levels

Here's a site about low testosterone and some fixes: http://www.totalityofbeing.com/FramelessPages/Articles/real_reason_men_lose_hair.htm

Here's some info on testosterone/dht and acne: http://supernaturalacnetreatment.com/do-androgens-cause-acne/

I think getting your testosterone in order will have a huge impact on your entire life. You're far too young to have such low testosterone. Getting my hormones in check affected my entire bodies' health. Lol do you want to switch? You can have my extra androgens. But seriously, you seem like someone who is doing everything you can to get healthy, and rightfully so. The testosterone levels are likely impacting your mood, it'd be nice to get it sorted out just to help with your depression. You can either look up diet/holistic ways to get your testosterone up or go to a doctor, for confirmation and actual professional advice which would be nice.

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MemberMember
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(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 03/31/2015 7:40 am

Oh! I didn't know DHT had that relationship with Testosterone!

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MemberMember
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(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 03/31/2015 9:31 am

I'm definitely gonna look into all this, I'll update on any changes.

KitP and Kay24 liked
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MemberMember
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(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 04/04/2015 9:43 pm

I have an upcoming appointment with an endocrinologist on the twenty third of this month. I hope he's able to figure this out.

Kay24 liked
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MemberMember
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(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 06/23/2015 11:02 am

Well... my doctor was in a car accident a few weeks ago. And I'm still waiting for him to recover.

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MemberMember
15
(@daileeh)

Posted : 06/23/2015 9:26 pm

Well... my doctor was in a car accident a few weeks ago. And I'm still waiting for him to recover.

Well that sucks... although I hope he recovers fast.

 

It's always in the time we need help the most, something happens and prolongs our needs :/

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MemberMember
4
(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 06/23/2015 11:11 pm

Heheh, yeah... his recovery's certainly more important, though.

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MemberMember
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(@nycskinproblems92)

Posted : 06/27/2015 2:13 am

It seems like the testosterone level is the problem from other people's responses, but I would get another opinion on the thyroid problem if you could. My sister has thyroid disease. She lost a lot of weight, her hair was falling out, and she had really big bags under her eyes. The doctors my parents took her to never diagnosed her with a thyroid problem. My grandpa was the one who suggested that my parents take her back to another doctor and ask about her thyroid. She was very young when this all happened so she didn't experience any acne, but later in high school she did because of it.

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MemberMember
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(@scooobidoobidooo)

Posted : 08/23/2015 2:34 pm

It seems like the testosterone level is the problem from other people's responses, but I would get another opinion on the thyroid problem if you could. My sister has thyroid disease. She lost a lot of weight, her hair was falling out, and she had really big bags under her eyes. The doctors my parents took her to never diagnosed her with a thyroid problem. My grandpa was the one who suggested that my parents take her back to another doctor and ask about her thyroid. She was very young when this all happened so she didn't experience any acne, but later in high school she did because of it.

Sorry, I never got notified about this comment on gmail! I did get a test back that said that my thyroid is apparently perfectly normal, and my Testosterone has gone up drastically, to almost a normal level. Still haven't been able to see my doctor yet, but I researched "Leaky Gut" and began to take L Glutamine and Probiotics to try and regulate my digestion and I think I'm starting to actually see some serious improvements in my skin.

 

 

I'm feeling quite a bit more satisfied with how I look... so I figured I'd post a current picture... I still have really bad body acne, but at least my face is looking okayish... right?

 

I'll definitely keep everyone updated.

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