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Saw palmetto experiment (now saw palmetto + stinging nettle, pictures added!)

 
MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 11/10/2015 12:13 am

Hello, new user here although I have been browsing the forums for several years. I'm a 23 year old female with hormonal acne and PCOS-like issues but no formal diagnosis. I have elevated testosterone and irregular periods. My acne is no longer cystic (was in the past, no idea what changed) but stubborn and occurs anywhere on my face with no detectable pattern. I also have very oily skin.

I was prescribed birth control (Minastrin) which I took for about 1.5 years with no impact on my skin positive or negative. I have recently switched to Reclipsen due to side effects and I'm guessing it won't have much if any effect on my acne, but this remains to be seen. I am about to finish my first pack so it's most likely too early to tell if there will be any change in my skin.

I've had varying degrees of success with topicals (BP and Finacea helped a little. Tretinoin was a disaster).  I have highly reactive, sensitive skin and find most products irritating. I've tried some diet changes that had no noticeable effect but I may revisit that in the future if I don't have success with the saw palmetto. I am not a candidate for spiro or accutane right now because of other health issues, so I am trying to find alternative solutions. I will be taking 480mg saw palmetto extract (Nature Made brand) once a day and posting my progress here, mostly for myself, but if it helps anyone else out, that's great too :)

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 11/10/2015 10:42 pm

Day 1: I'm starting out with my skin looking the worst it has looked in a very long time. I'm not sure what caused this most recent breakout that I have, but before then I was playing around with some new products and getting terrible results. Now that I'm back to my normal routine I hope it will calm down. Which reminds me, in case anyone wants to know, my current skincare routine is as follows:

Morning:
Cetaphil daily facial cleanser
Aveeno ultra calming moisturizer (mixed with jojoba oil if skin is dry)

Night:
Cetaphil daily facial cleanser
Acne.org AHA+
Neutrogena on-the-spot, concentrated on problem areas

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MemberMember
30
(@thereisalwayshope)

Posted : 11/11/2015 12:09 pm

I have also started taking saw palmetto extract (320mg BID) about two weeks ago. I have not been diagnosed with PCOS or elevated testosterone either but feel that my acne my be related to my hormones. I hope it works out for us :) 

By the way, the Aveeno ultra calming moisturizer that you are using has comedogenic ingredients (can clog pores causing acne). Watch out for those ingredients in moisturizers!

Jenjen77 liked
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MemberMember
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(@user465288)
MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 11/11/2015 3:18 pm

I have also started taking saw palmetto extract (320mg BID) about two weeks ago. I have not been diagnosed with PCOS or elevated testosterone either but feel that my acne my be related to my hormones. I hope it works out for us :) 

By the way, the Aveeno ultra calming moisturizer that you are using has comedogenic ingredients (can clog pores causing acne). Watch out for those ingredients in moisturizers!

I hope it works out for us too! :)
And thanks for bringing that to my attention, I actually use this moisturizer because my derm recommended it to me
 Maybe I will switch to something else and see what happens

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 11/12/2015 3:54 pm

Day 3: Skin looks considerably better, but I'm not sure what to attribute that to (this isn't turning out to be the world's most controlled experiment, I realize that). Just as a hypothesis, I may have had a sort of initial breakout from switching my birth control which now seems to be healing. I have also bumped up my BP usage to twice a day, as my skin seems to be tolerating it, and I think that has made a big difference. I'm thinking about taking pumpkin seed oil extract in addition to the saw palmetto, but I'm going to give this a little time first.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 11/15/2015 5:19 pm

Day 6:  Nothing much new to report, right now I only have a few pretty small/insignificant looking pimples (the rest of my face is a mess of redness and hyperpigmentation but I'm not bothering worrying about that. That goes away eventually).  I feel like my skin is in a very delicate state of balance right now and will break out again if I do one thing wrong, and it's causing me a lot of anxiety, lol. I was out with friends last night and didn't take my makeup off or put on bp before I went to sleep so fingers crossed that I didn't screw anything up.  Even if it can't be perfect, I just want to get my skin to a level where I feel comfortable without makeup.  I would still wear makeup because I like it, but I hate feeling like I NEED to wear it :(

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MemberMember
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(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 11/18/2015 4:00 pm

Day 9: Yesterday during the day an under the skinred bump formedon my chin and I woke up with 2 more similar ones on my forehead. They're small so I'm not too worried, but it's still frustrating. I would love to not have any bumps on my face for this weekend when I have to do some socializing.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 11/23/2015 5:47 pm

Day 14: The bumps I mentioned last week took a while to go downbut they're mostly gone now and my skin looks pretty smooth. I'm very happy with the recent improvement, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with saw palmetto.. I'venoticed a slight decrease in oil production, but that could be the weather which has just gotten a lot colder. I also changed a couple more things in my skin routine- skin was a little dry so I cut back to only using bp at night again. Also, I have switched my moisturizer to the CeraVe AM, which I use in the morning.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 11/30/2015 7:45 pm

Day 21: I missed a few days of taking the saw palmetto due to traveling around, etc. I'm hoping to get back on track with both that and my regular vitamin regimen tomorrow (I also take 30mg zinc and 5000iu of vitamin D). This weekend I had somewhat of a breakout on my chin, and a couple small ones on my right cheek. I'm not entirely surprised because stress seems to be a trigger for me and I've had several stressful events happenin the last couple weeks. The breakoutsmostly seem to have healed by now andI'm back to using bp in the morning as well, so fingers crossed for more improvement.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 12/05/2015 11:01 pm

Day 26:  I'm not too happy with my face at the moment. There is a deep pimple on my chin trying to come through, and for some reason I keep breaking out on my inner cheeks, the area near my nose, with one little pimple/whitehead at a time, but they take quite a long time to go away. This is one area of my face that I normally don't break out, so I'm finding it weird.  I don't even put BP there usually because the skin is very sensitive, but I've started applying it to try to prevent any more breakouts, which seemed to work but now of course it's bright red:| Frustrated. My skin was also really dry this morning. Overall was not a good skin week

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 12/08/2015 3:39 pm

Day 29: I was out shopping today and looked in a few stores for a new bottle of saw palmetto(I missed a few days but I spilled a few capsules from my bottle of 30 so I just ran out), but they didn't have the same one I've been taking which is the highest dose I could find, so I ordered it online. Not sure when it will get here, so I might have to skip a few more days in the meantime. My skin is looking better from when I posted the other day, but I'm stillnot satisfied with it. My acne is really pretty mild at this point, but my skin still looks god awful without makeup.

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MemberMember
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(@thereisalwayshope)

Posted : 12/09/2015 9:30 pm

I hope you get your shipment soon. Saw palmetto has been doing great things for my skin when I take it consistently!

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 12/11/2015 8:52 pm

On 12/9/2015, 903, thereisalwayshope said:

I hope you get your shipment soon. Saw palmetto has been doing great things for my skin when I take it consistently!

Thanks! My shipment came really fast so I only had to miss one day. And I'm glad to hear that SP has been working foryou!

Day 32: So I've been at this for about a month, and can't tell if I'm seeing any real progress yet. Right now I have two bumps on my chin that are under the skin, the type that seem to flare up and then die down and then flare again in the same place.I wouldn't quite classify them as cysts, at least not as bad as the cystic acne I had in the past. Other than that though, the rest of my skin looks great - I'm afraid to jinx it, but at least for now I seem to have stopped getting the annoying little surface pimples I've been struggling with.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 12/16/2015 8:59 am

Day 37: Those two spots on my chin would not budge for the longest time. One of them is gone now, the other one is now a little whitehead. I have one other pimple on my forehead, but luckily it's in a place where my hair covers it, lol. I haven't had any other real breakouts in about a week, which is amazing, but I'm not sure how long it's going to last. I've been trying to eat a little better by reducing my sugar intake and whatnot which I think might be helping a little, but nowI'm at my parents' house for a couple weeks for the holidays and there is lots of tempting sugary food here.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 12/19/2015 5:13 pm

Day 40: A little whitehead pimple came up on my upper lip a day ago, another place I have not broken out in a very long time. Not sure what's going on, but the rest of my face seems calm at the moment, especially my cheeks which were starting to become a really annoying trouble spot for me for a while so I'm happy about that. I went out to eat a few times and had lots of unhealthy and sugary things the last few days so I'm worried that might affect it. I'm trying to get back on track now but I guess we'll see. Still taking the saw palmetto every day, and this week I startedthe third pack of my new birth control. If I don't see anothersignificant improvement in my acne or oily skin when this month is up, I'm going to try adding in another DHT blocker like stinging nettle or pumpkin seed and see what happens.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 12/21/2015 12:27 am

Day 42: I usually update less frequently butI decided I want to take the leap into adding more herbssooner than I originally said. I ordered stinging nettle and pumpkin seed extracts which should get here pretty soon so I'm planning to start out taking one of them this weekend in addition to the SP(I'm just adding one at a time to make sure there are no adverse effects). Also, here is theupdated skin routine I've been following for last few weeks and intend to stick with for a while as I haven't been experiencing any irritation from it

Morning:

Wash with Cetaphil daily facial cleanser

Apply CeraVe AM moisturizer

Apply thin layer of Finacea under makeup

 

Night:

Remove makeup with Simple cleansing wipes

Wash with Cetaphil daily facial cleanser

Apply acne.org AHA+

Apply generous amount of Neutrogena on-the-spot to whole face

Occasional spot treatment: Clean&Clear persa-gel(10% bp)

 

Right now I have a coupleactives on my chin/jawline area,small but super annoying. My forehead/nose/cheeks are staying clear for the moment, but I have lots of red marks in those areas which I am trying to fade with the Finacea and AHA

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 12/26/2015 9:52 am

Okso I took my first capsule of stinging nettle extract today (the one I'm using is Now brand, 250 mg). I'm not going to keep track of the days anymore by counting because I think it will get confusing if I keepchanging the doses of what I'm taking, so I will just go by the dates on my posts. The serving size on the bottle is 2 capsules, so I'm going to take it once a day for a while and as long as I don't have any side effects I will increase it to twice a day. I also got pumpkin seed extract (LifeExtension brand, 262 mg), which I will also begin taking if I don't see significant results with the saw palmetto+nettle combination after a while. The pillssmell very strongly of pumpkin, lol.

As far as the current status of my skin goes, I'm not thrilled with it, but it's also not too bad. I have a pretty annoying pimple right underneath my lower lip. I also got a few moresmall ones on my jaw and near my hairline this week. Cheeks/nose are still the clearest part of my face, I just wish my hyperpigmentation would fade.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 12/29/2015 11:00 pm

Taking the stinging nettle and saw palmetto together seems fine so far.  I think I will up the dose soon and then update with how that goes.  For a while there I really thought I saw my skin starting to change.  Less oil, very few or no active breakouts, but I always seem to break out again as soon as it seems like things are looking up.  I had a couple of small whiteheads on my chin/jaw area again which are gone now, but currently I have a pimple on my forehead that has potential to be bad :( I'm trying to drown it with bp and do what I can.  On the plus side though, having 1-2 active pimples at a time does seem like a huge difference from what my skin was like just over a month ago when I started this log, so maybe something I'm doing is working.  I did not even expect to see any results this soon.  My diet has been horrendous with the holidays and will probably continue that way for a little while so if that plays into things at all I probably won't be seeing more results any time soon, lol.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 01/03/2016 3:31 pm

Skin seems like it's getting worse.  I'm really stressed out which isn't helping anything.  I hope I just need to give it more time because if this doesn't end up being the solution for me I don't even know what to try next :( 

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 01/11/2016 1:09 pm

My face is doing much better since my last post, but once again I don't know if I can count on that trend to continue...I'm definitely on an emotional rollercoaster with all these ups and downs. I still have hope that things might get better. I have yet to increase the stinging nettle dosage- I feel like I take so many pills with vitamins, prescription meds, etc. and it's been difficult for me to keep track of taking everything consistently, but if DHT is my problem I think it might help.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 01/16/2016 5:46 pm

I had no new breakouts for about a week, then lo and behold, I broke out again :/ I'm beyond frustrated. I'm so jealous of everyone with clear skin and I just want it so badly

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 01/18/2016 9:29 pm

I've been taking the stinging nettle twice a day for a few days in a row now, so I'm going to stick with this dose for a good long while and just wait for it to do what it's going to do (if anything). I will keep updating about the process. My pimples from the other day have healed but added to my huge collection of red marks. Sigh. I have also switched to using Finacea twice per day instead of Finacea once and BP once since a few weeks ago, because I find it just as effective and less irritating than BP and I hope it will help fade my marks a little faster.

Another note: I've been using Manuka honey to spot treat for years, especially if I pop a pimple. Over the summer, I used it as a mask for a few hours daily after I removed my makeup at the end of the day and I remember my skin being a lot better at that time, so I've started doing the masks again. Not sure if it's really going to have an effect, but I'm pretty sure it won't hurt anything. It makes my skin really soft, if nothing else.

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 01/24/2016 10:39 pm

Ughhhhh. My acne is not too bad at the moment but now I have somehow irritated my skin, especially my forehead and inner cheeks and they have raised/red rashy areas and I don't know what I did. The only thing I can think of is maybe from using baking soda to exfoliate (gently! but I guess my skin can't handle it regardless). I put some of the steroid cream I use for my eczema on it, which will hopefully bring it down by tomorrow but it's not labeled non-comedogenic or anything  Even if it doesn't cause me to break out, I will probably break out anyway because of how irritated my face is. Seriously, every time I feel like I'm getting somewhere there has to be some kind of setback.

I don't know if it's the Finacea, the herbs, or something else, but my skin seems like it's getting thinner recently? Like it feels extremely soft and almost paper-like (not dry though, still oily as f***)

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MemberMember
9
(@fiercepenguin)

Posted : 01/25/2016 1:40 pm

Rashy areas are gone thank god. Not too much else to report on, acne seems like it's improving overall, but so slowly that I can't tell if it truly is getting better or not. I'm so impatient, lol

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