You seem too young for bioidentical hormones. Just look into supplements that help balance hormones, rather than going to extremes. Get off the hormones - synthetic and bioidentical. You don't need them!

20 hours ago, WishClean said:

You seem too young for bioidentical hormones. Just look into supplements that help balance hormones, rather than going to extremes. Get off the hormones - synthetic and bioidentical. You don't need them!

Thanks for your reply! However I don't think it's about age. A lot of people who take bioidentical hormones are older in age because their bodies start slowing down or having problems producing certain hormones. Yet for people who have PCOS or other hormonal imbalance issue because of many reasons such as coming off of birth control, I do think they (we) have special needs. I know a lot of people say herbs can help, like DIM or Vitex or Saw Palmetto etc... And I do believe that they do affect our hormonal levels. But I don't really wanna risk and I do want to have a professional to help me to take care of my hormones. As for whether it's going to the extremes, well I know it's not very common but it's been used by many people to treat their adult acne, such as using natural progesterone cream. 

Anyway have a good day

Have you gotten your hormones checked yet? If you dont want to consider dim/vitex and all those, whats different about bhr?

So yes, testing is absolutely necessary--not only to determine where you stand right now, but also for the purpose of determining which bio-identical hormones would be appropriate and monitoring your therapeutic levels. The gold standard hormone panel would be the DUTCH Hormone Test. It's by and large the most accurate, comprehensive, and patient-friendly model available. This article will tell you everything you need to know about it-- including how it works, what it looks for, how to analyze it, and how to acquire it/pay for it either on your own or through a healthcare provider in your network. Here are some very helpful video tutorials on effective hormone testing and monitoring.

As far as the actual bio-identical hormones go: Dr. Julia T. Hunter is a remarkably brilliant and innovative holistic clinical dermatologist and researcher whose line (in my opinion) has THE best hormone restoration therapiesand solutions currently on the market. She is on my very short list of trusted MD's, which says a lot (not gonna lie, I have a pretty serious brain-crush on the woman).I've tried most of her skin care products and a good number of her supplements and only wish I could afford to use them exclusively, because they are worth their weight in gold.

And for what it's worth, your instincts are spot on about birth control. Temporarily shutting off certain hormones is not "fixing" a hormonal imbalance--it's the equivalent of covering up the blinking "check engine" light in your car with a post-itso you don't have to see it while you continue to drive.

Since unfortunately, I've never heard of anyone who went off BC and didn't see their symptoms return with a vengeance,I can't promise it will be easy at first, but it will be so worth it in the long-run. It's very much like antibiotics--a vicious cycle of short-term symptom suppression with long-term consequences that grow and worsen the longer you stay on them. But if you give yourself six months to a year andreally dedicate yourself to fixing the root cause of your hormone imbalance (PLUS restoring your gut health to where it was prior to the BC pill damage), you will be saving yourself years and years of time lost andmoney spent, not to mentionfurther health risks and complications.

Here's a loving and informative article from the ladies over at Peaceful Dumpling: http://www.peacefuldumpling.com/what-i-wish-i-knew-before-taking-birth-control

On 22 August 2016 at 6:40 AM, SkinDeeply said:

And for what it's worth, your instincts are spot on about birth control. Temporarily shutting off certain hormones is not "fixing" a hormonal imbalance--it's the equivalent of covering up the blinking "check engine" light in your car with a post-itso you don't have to see it while you continue to drive.

Since unfortunately, I've never heard of anyone who went off BC and didn't see their symptoms return with a vengeance,I can't promise it will be easy at first, but it will be so worth it in the long-run. It's very much like antibiotics--a vicious cycle of short-term symptom suppression with long-term consequences that grow and worsen the longer you stay on them. But if you give yourself six months to a year andreally dedicate yourself to fixing the root cause of your hormone imbalance (PLUS restoring your gut health to where it was prior to the BC pill damage), you will be saving yourself years and years of time lost andmoney spent, not to mentionfurther health risks and complications.

Here's a loving and informative article from the ladies over at Peaceful Dumpling: http://www.peacefuldumpling.com/what-i-wish-i-knew-before-taking-birth-control

Thank you so much for your detailed reply!! I really do appreciate it. Everything you said here makes so much sense to me, but honestly I really very scared to go off the pills, even though it gave me tons of side effects so far and also not helping with my breakouts. I know it would have to get worse before it gets better, but I'm so afraid that what if the acne would never heal again... What if I would be left with oily skin for the rest of my life... I just am not sure if I can bare the possible consequences. But I am going to consult a doctor who specialises in HRT soon and I will seriously think about going off the pills!! Thank you so much again

Aw, you're so welcome, sweetie. It's for sure scary, I know .

I actually never went on BC pills with the intent of clearing my skin. I was just on them for, well, birth control--mostly because my jerk ex-boyfriend complained about using condoms and said it ruined sex for him (ugh). I quit taking them before I read any studies about how damaging they were to my body as well--I just had an intuitive feeling that they were altering my hormones in a way that was scary and ultimately consequential.

After quitting them I had a full year of bursting ovarian cysts, internal bleeding, and ovarian torsions. The last time I was in the ICU for a torsian, the doctor told me they wanted to perform an emergency surgery to remove my right ovary. I refused the surgery and left the hospital against doctor's orders. A week later I found the book she talked about in the article called "Womancode" and began using nutritional balancing to address my hormones. Within 4-5 months, all the pain had completely stopped--there were no more cysts, and my periods were short, painless, and like clockwork for the first time in my life. Of course, my skin didn't finally clear until I learned how to properly fix the damage done to my liver and gut from all the years of pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, and through the process, also managed to fully heal my endocrine system and balance my hormones. 

Long story short: I highly recommend using nutritional balancing as an adjunct to the bio-identical hormones (should you decide to go that route) to see the best results.

Cystic acne might be a sign of internal problems and it seems hormonal imbalance may or may not be the caused of it. Though accutane or BC is not a permanent cure sadly, you can try maintain it with healthy diet and proper supplement.

On 26 August 2016 at 4:05 AM, SkinDeeply said:

Aw, you're so welcome, sweetie. It's for sure scary, I know .

I actually never went on BC pills with the intent of clearing my skin. I was just on them for, well, birth control--mostly because my jerk ex-boyfriend complained about using condoms and said it ruined sex for him (ugh). I quit taking them before I read any studies about how damaging they were to my body as well--I just had an intuitive feeling that they were altering my hormones in a way that was scary and ultimately consequential.

After quitting them I had a full year of bursting ovarian cysts, internal bleeding, and ovarian torsions. The last time I was in the ICU for a torsian, the doctor told me they wanted to perform an emergency surgery to remove my right ovary. I refused the surgery and left the hospital against doctor's orders. A week later I found the book she talked about in the article called "Womancode" and began using nutritional balancing to address my hormones. Within 4-5 months, all the pain had completely stopped--there were no more cysts, and my periods were short, painless, and like clockwork for the first time in my life. Of course, my skin didn't finally clear until I learned how to properly fix the damage done to my liver and gut from all the years of pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, and through the process, also managed to fully heal my endocrine system and balance my hormones. 

Long story short: I highly recommend using nutritional balancing as an adjunct to the bio-identical hormones (should you decide to go that route) to see the best results.

But do you think I should resolve to bioidentical hormones to ease my transition of getting off of birth control? I am wondering what hormones supplements they would give me to help me. Is it actually better for me to go from taking synthetic hormones from the oral contraceptive to taking bioidentical estrogen and progesterone, instead of just being off of them at once? (I don't take the pills for birth control, so the risk of pregnancy is not really a concern for me). I know this should be based on the results of my hormones test, but I know a lot of people with hormonal acne still get pretty normal results that don't indicate any specific hormonal "imbalance". And also I wonder how I can ever bring my testosterone level back to normal after quitting birth control. Does taking bioidentical estrogen and progesterone help with that?