I would highly recommend doing a saliva test for hormones, to see where your true imbalance lies. Then you will be able to treat your imbalance correctly instead of guessing. ZRT labs is where I got mine from, you order it online and spit inside little vials and mail it in, then in about a week they will send you an email with your hormone levels. I would suggest getting the one for Testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, and AM cortisol. Then you could be not so in the dark about what imbalance you're trying to correct. If you have low progesterone and high estrogen+testosterone, vitex and or DIM is recommended. Vitex definitely broke me out so BAD when I first started it, for about 2 months.. but it has cleared my skin completely after being on it for 2.5 months. I too, had extremely high levels of testosterone and estrogen. It's definitely something that takes time to correct (2-4 months with most people), and it will always get worse before it gets better. Same with DIM, most people report having to wait out bad initial breakouts for around 3 months before getting clear skin.

Also, what is your diet like? Do you consume dairy/any animal products? If so, that could be contributing to the severity. You may also have PCOS, or high cortisol/adrenal issues, although I'd be willing to bet its an high testosterone/low progesterone issue.

I know how it feels to look in the mirror and feel disgusted and wanting to cry all the time.. Just know that this is all temporary, and you will find a solution to this problem just as I, and many others have.

19 hours ago, bodysnxtcher said:

I would highly recommend doing a saliva test for hormones, to see where your true imbalance lies. Then you will be able to treat your imbalance correctly instead of guessing. ZRT labs is where I got mine from, you order it online and spit inside little vials and mail it in, then in about a week they will send you an email with your hormone levels. I would suggest getting the one for Testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, and AM cortisol. Then you could be not so in the dark about what imbalance you're trying to correct. If you have low progesterone and high estrogen+testosterone, vitex and or DIM is recommended. Vitex definitely broke me out so BAD when I first started it, for about 2 months.. but it has cleared my skin completely after being on it for 2.5 months. I too, had extremely high levels of testosterone and estrogen. It's definitely something that takes time to correct (2-4 months with most people), and it will always get worse before it gets better. Same with DIM, most people report having to wait out bad initial breakouts for around 3 months before getting clear skin.

Also, what is your diet like? Do you consume dairy/any animal products? If so, that could be contributing to the severity. You may also have PCOS, or high cortisol/adrenal issues, although I'd be willing to bet its an high testosterone/low progesterone issue.

I know how it feels to look in the mirror and feel disgusted and wanting to cry all the time.. Just know that this is all temporary, and you will find a solution to this problem just as I, and many others have.

I second this

Hi, I used to want to do everything natural as well, I changed my diet( cutting g out dairy and real junk like soda is the only noticeable change for me), using herbs and natural remedies...the vitamins you mentioned ste good but saw palmetto, evening primrose oil, cod liver oil all didn't help. I know you said you don't want to mask the problem but I didn't get better until I was either or birth control or spironolactone. I've been on them for less than 3 months and my skin is greatly improved, less oily and I'm not having side effects other than decreased libido. My mom still got break outs into her 50s...and I just " aunt got time for that".
You have to choose the path that's right for you but I decided life is too short to deal with this mess and if taking a pill gets rid of it ( even if I cant take it forever) I'm cool with that.Spiro is generasgeneraslly OK to take long term,birth control till about 35-40. Boidentical hormones are probably the best bet but insurance may not cover it.
I do agree with not taking accutane, I wouldn't go there.
Good luck!

On 7/18/2016 at 6:52 AM, snarkygirl said:

I second this

Hi, I used to want to do everything natural as well, I changed my diet( cutting g out dairy and real junk like soda is the only noticeable change for me), using herbs and natural remedies...the vitamins you mentioned ste good but saw palmetto, evening primrose oil, cod liver oil all didn't help. I know you said you don't want to mask the problem but I didn't get better until I was either or birth control or spironolactone. I've been on them for less than 3 months and my skin is greatly improved, less oily and I'm not having side effects other than decreased libido. My mom still got break outs into her 50s...and I just " aunt got time for that".
You have to choose the path that's right for you but I decided life is too short to deal with this mess and if taking a pill gets rid of it ( even if I cant take it forever) I'm cool with that.Spiro is generasgeneraslly OK to take long term,birth control till about 35-40. Boidentical hormones are probably the best bet but insurance may not cover it.
I do agree with not taking accutane, I wouldn't go there.
Good luck!

I agree with this. When I first developed hormonal acne I was really hell-bent on using only natural methods to clear it and tried all these different supplements and things that only made my skin worse. I had such a pessimistic view of going to the regular doc/derm because I thought they couldn't help me. I was also eating healthy, exercising, drinking lots of water, etc, etc without any improvement. I finally got fed up and decided to go to my regular doc and derm and got prescribed the pill. It's been 2.5 months and my skin has cleared up SO much already. I wanted to go on birth control anyway even before I started breaking out to regulate my periods, and if I eventually get into a long-term relationship I'm gonna want it then too. It's been totally fine - no side effects or anything. Plus almost all of my friends, my roommate AND my two little sisters are taking it without any problems. Idk, I just feel like when I was super into all natural methods I developed this irrational fear that any modern pill or cream was the devil and wouldn't do anything for me.

Like Snarky girl said, I'm fine with this being my solution for the time being rather than spending loads of time and money on all these methods/supplements/washes that I have no idea whether or not they'll work or make it worse. If later down the road I start having problems again perhaps I will try dabbling with that stuff again if I have to. But for now I am good with this! When I was in high school 8 years ago, I spent years of trial and error (so much time and money) on different stuff before finally just taking accutane. It was so amazing, I wish I had taken it sooner because to this day I still have some scars on my cheeks for the horror that was my skin back in the day. That's why this time I didn't want to wait before getting something prescribed because it would have saved me so much suffering before.

I hope I don't sound too pessimistic haha, I just thought I would share my thoughts and experiences. Anyway, it's ultimately up to you what you want to do. Good luck with everything.

5 hours ago, kelbell812 said:

I agree with this. When I first developed hormonal acne I was really hell-bent on using only natural methods to clear it and tried all these different supplements and things that only made my skin worse. I had such a pessimistic view of going to the regular doc/derm because I thought they couldn't help me. I was also eating healthy, exercising, drinking lots of water, etc, etc without any improvement. I finally got fed up and decided to go to my regular doc and derm and got prescribed the pill. It's been 2.5 months and my skin has cleared up SO much already. I wanted to go on birth control anyway even before I started breaking out to regulate my periods, and if I eventually get into a long-term relationship I'm gonna want it then too. It's been totally fine - no side effects or anything. Plus almost all of my friends, my roommate AND my two little sisters are taking it without any problems. Idk, I just feel like when I was super into all natural methods I developed this irrational fear that any modern pill or cream was the devil and wouldn't do anything for me.

Like Snarky girl said, I'm fine with this being my solution for the time being rather than spending loads of time and money on all these methods/supplements/washes that I have no idea whether or not they'll work or make it worse. If later down the road I start having problems again perhaps I will try dabbling with that stuff again if I have to. But for now I am good with this! When I was in high school 8 years ago, I spent years of trial and error (so much time and money) on different stuff before finally just taking accutane. It was so amazing, I wish I had taken it sooner because to this day I still have some scars on my cheeks for the horror that was my skin back in the day. That's why this time I didn't want to wait before getting something prescribed because it would have saved me so much suffering before.

I hope I don't sound too pessimistic haha, I just thought I would share my thoughts and experiences. Anyway, it's ultimately up to you what you want to do. Good luck with everything.

cool I'm glad that something is working for you too.
There are always risks to any drug but as long as you're informed and don't have pre existing conditions like migraines or blood clots, birth control is pretty safe, safer than antibiotics and helps safer than accutane.

Thanks for the comments guys. I definitely don't want to go back on Vitex or DIM again, especially since I don't know for sure how my hormones are. I will definitely check out the zrt labs thing. Vitex and DIM just have caused so much damage to my skin I don't think it's worth it for me, my skin was sooooo much nicer before I started it, maybe a few pimples (that seemed bad then but not now looking back at photos). But my eating is usually pretty clean, I stopped drinking milk about a year ago (I drink only silk or almond) and I really hardly eat other dairy. I do eat meats, mainly because my family is mexican and you know mexicans and their meats.. I wll definitely try to reduce those. I'm also going to try my best to sort out seeing a naturopath instead of doing this on my own.

euugh just looked at the zrt lab tests.. wayy too expensive. I have the money but I'm not sure I really want to drop $125 on a saliva test x_X

I also just found out that Healthnet doesn't have ANY naturopathic doctors and refuse to pay for coverage to go to a naturopathic doctor.. ugh my luck is great. Looks like my last resort is zrt labs.

4 hours ago, nachtshon said:

Thanks for the comments guys. I definitely don't want to go back on Vitex or DIM again, especially since I don't know for sure how my hormones are. I will definitely check out the zrt labs thing. Vitex and DIM just have caused so much damage to my skin I don't think it's worth it for me, my skin was sooooo much nicer before I started it, maybe a few pimples (that seemed bad then but not now looking back at photos). But my eating is usually pretty clean, I stopped drinking milk about a year ago (I drink only silk or almond) and I really hardly eat other dairy. I do eat meats, mainly because my family is mexican and you know mexicans and their meats.. I wll definitely try to reduce those. I'm also going to try my best to sort out seeing a naturopath instead of doing this on my own.

euugh just looked at the zrt lab tests.. wayy too expensive. I have the money but I'm not sure I really want to drop $125 on a saliva test x_X

I also just found out that Healthnet doesn't have ANY naturopathic doctors and refuse to pay for coverage to go to a naturopathic doctor.. ugh my luck is great. Looks like my last resort is zrt labs.

hey just a note, most of the info I've found says meat is fine but grass fed or cage free is best because non antibiotics and grass fed beef is a lot better for you in many ways. And wild caught fish.

12 hours ago, snarkygirl said:

hey just a note, most of the info I've found says meat is fine but grass fed or cage free is best because non antibiotics and grass fed beef is a lot better for you in many ways. And wild caught fish.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. I think I will try to see a endocrinologist doctor soon, I found one near me covered by insurance. For now I am eating as clean as possible (no dairy and no meats because I haven't gone grocery shopping) and sticking to the supplements I mentioned.

8 minutes ago, nachtshon said:

12 hours ago, snarkygirl said:

hey just a note, most of the info I've found says meat is fine but grass fed or cage free is best because non antibiotics and grass fed beef is a lot better for you in many ways. And wild caught fish.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. I think I will try to see a endocrinologist doctor soon, I found one near me covered by insurance. For now I am eating as clean as possible (no dairy and no meats because I haven't gone grocery shopping) and sticking to the supplements I mentioned.

the endocrinologist I saw was the best doctor who helped the most.

Awesome. With my insurance I have to go to my primary and get a referal from them to see a specialist or else the specialist cost will come out of my pocket. Hopefully whoever my primary is won't give me a hard time next week and will give me a referal. An update on my acne; one cheek has started to calm down and they aren't completely covered in cysts like they used to. I cut out sugar and am drinking 3 cups of peppermint tea and 3 bottles of water every day, for the last 3 days and I can already see a small difference in my skin. I don't expect it to help a whole lot but this is the best I can do until I get my hormones treated.

8 hours ago, nachtshon said:

Awesome. With my insurance I have to go to my primary and get a referal from them to see a specialist or else the specialist cost will come out of my pocket. Hopefully whoever my primary is won't give me a hard time next week and will give me a referal. An update on my acne; one cheek has started to calm down and they aren't completely covered in cysts like they used to. I cut out sugar and am drinking 3 cups of peppermint tea and 3 bottles of water every day, for the last 3 days and I can already see a small difference in my skin. I don't expect it to help a whole lot but this is the best I can do until I get my hormones treated.

Just a quick word, i think its the spesrmint tea that works best. But both together are ok. Maybe try topical green tea extract. You can get it at a health store or vitamin shoppe. Its really helped me. It stains though so be careful with clothes and the sink if its white.

B-vitamin supplements made my skin so much worse! If this supplement is new for you, you might want to check that out.

18 hours ago, FloridaMom1977 said:

B-vitamin supplements made my skin so much worse! If this supplement is new for you, you might want to check that out.

yes, for me also

Hey! I'm not sure how your progress is going but I wanted to chime in...

Do some research on anti inflammatory foods.
I use a honey/turmeric mask almost every night and it has really helped. Honey also helps with wound healing and to prevent scarring.
I use organic raw neem honey that I get at Whole Foods. They say to use manuka honey but it's expensive and the neem honey works just as well for me (I've used both).
I drink a cup of "golden milk" every night or twice a day. It's a mixture of coconut oil, turmeric, black pepper (to activate curcumin), ginger, cinnamon, almond milk and honey. (let me know if you want the exact recipe)
I drink 5 cups of green tea in the morning and 5 cups of various herbal teas in the afternoon (spearmint, Yogi's healthy skin, chamomile, tulsi turmeric ginger) depending on what I feel like.
I cut out coffee (since May), dairy, sugar, and wheat for the past two weeks (just until everything completely clears up).
Eat lots and lots and lots of green leafy veggies and fish (salmon).

These things have made an exponential difference in a short amount of time. My acne looks almost identical to your's and also popped up seemingly overnight (I had clear skin up until May). I know it sucks but keep your chin up, all this will go away in time.