Hey guys,
So, 4 months after accutane my cystic acne is slowly coming back on my jawline, 100% pointing to an excess of male hormones. I'm a 19 yr old girl. My skin is ridiculously oily too.
I really want to lower my androgen levels without going on the pill, BEFORE my skin becomes really bad again. I suffer from quite bad migraines and my biggest fear is having a stroke or developing a blood clot, so the BCP is a definite no-no.
1. The research I've done suggests that Saw Palmetto is totally safe in terms of blood clots/increased risk of stroke, because it doesnt include estrogen like the combined BCP does. Is this correct? I DON'T want to be risking any of that.
2. Saw palmetto definitely won't cause female hair loss, right? I am suffering from bad accutane hair loss and don't want to compromise my recovery or cause more hair issues.
3. People talk about taking SP for breast growth.. if it doesn't increase estrogen or put you at risk of blood clots, then HOW does it do this? What hormone is it altering that would cause breast growth? I really don't want to be taking anything estrogenic.
I just really want to sort out my hormone issues without (hopefully) going on spiro, as the frequent urination side effect isn't something I want to deal with long term.
Thanks guys!
23 minutes ago, Exning said:I would check out the hormonal acne/oily skin groups. Theres tons of threads in there. I took sp but now i havent had a period in months which isnt normal for me so i stopped. Have you gotten allergy tests?
Thanks for replying, I took SP for the first time and have had a severe migraine for 2 days with the worst aura/visuals that I've ever had. Definitely not an option for me lol! I haven't had allergy tests, but I'm certain I have high androgen levels, and am now gonna try spearmint bc it does seem to alleviate/even cure hormonal acne and oily skin in a lot of women. I'm taking 800mg a day in capsule form. Have you tried spearmint?
9 hours ago, chicanery said:10 hours ago, Exning said:I would check out the hormonal acne/oily skin groups. Theres tons of threads in there. I took sp but now i havent had a period in months which isnt normal for me so i stopped. Have you gotten allergy tests?
Thanks for replying, I took SP for the first time and have had a severe migraine for 2 days with the worst aura/visuals that I've ever had. Definitely not an option for me lol! I haven't had allergy tests, but I'm certain I have high androgen levels, and am now gonna try spearmint bc it does seem to alleviate/even cure hormonal acne and oily skin in a lot of women. I'm taking 800mg a day in capsule form. Have you tried spearmint?
Yeah ive tried spearmint, i took the capsules and also drank 2-3 cups of tea per day. During that period, my testosterone went from too high to too low (haha cant win) but always high dhea.
I take saw palmetto. My only complaint with it is that it wasn't strong enough for me so I've ended up back on birth control anyway (but my cystic acne was quite bad so doesn't mean it wouldn't be strong enough for other people). As far as I'm aware it has no effect on estrogen, it just blocks DHT. I did a lot of research on side effects etc. before taking it. Some people get mild stomach upset if they don't take it with food and there was a worry in the case of one individual who had surgery whilst taking it that it might have played a role in his excessive bleeding but I personally think it's an unlikely correlation. There's certainly no evidence of it causing blood clots as that would require thickening of the blood when the only suspicion is that it might thin it slightly. Other than that there are practically no side effects reported and I've personally experienced none. I read about people saying it prompted breast enlargement as well but I think this is probably wishful thinking. I've noticed no such effect myself and the supposed mechanism of action shouldn't cause that in any way so it makes no sense. If you can't tolerate saw palmetto, another one I've tried is stinging nettle root extract (the root not the leaf). Apart from tasting pretty disgusting I've had no problems with that either, but again for me personally it wasn't strong enough. Hope that helps!