I am posting this here because I have noticed some interesting emotional reactions recently.
I have had acne since I was a young teen so that's about 20 years (32 now).
I've tried BP, oral antibiotics, topical antibiotics, azelaic acid as well as a bunch of dietary stuff and more oddball treatments like using head and shoulders to wash my body etc.
Either the treatments didn't work, I couldn't tolerate the side effects or the treatments eventually stopped working.
I kept waiting for the acne to go away in my 20's, when I hit 30 and still had acne I just started to accept that I had acne for life and resigned myself to it. (Face, jawline, neck, chest, entire back and top of arms ).
Recently I read a book all about sugar and I decided to give up sugar to reduce my visceral fat for my overall health. A few weeks in and my skin improved. A month in and I am almost clear... I am sort of in shock to be honest.
It's so liberating to not have to apply burning treatments etc twice a day
I keep crying, I can't believe my relationship ship with acne... my war with my skin is finally over.
I tried to hard to be "OK" with my acne and there were times when I managed to feel alright and focus on other things but I guess I kind of feel ashamed that I never truly made peace with it. I feel guilty for feeling so relieved.. that there are so many people still suffering and I don't see why I deserve for it to be over any more than anyone else does.
I feel like I am weak/shallow because of how much this means to me.
I don't know, it's hard to admit all these negative emotions surrounding something so good... I know it sounds ungrateful :(.
I realise that there is so much psychological trauma that must go with being covered in acne for decades... its probably going to take a while for me to process it. (and to accept that it won't come back.. I'm so worried that it will).
Thanks for listening x x x
Its weird how when I was young the cliche was that people had acne because they ate too much chocolate or drank too many fizzy drinks (both high in sugar). Then they decided that it was a myth. Now were seeing that, for some people at least, sugarseems to be the main culprit.
52 minutes ago, jwalk said:Its weird how when I was young the cliche was that people had acne because they ate too much chocolate or drank too many fizzy drinks (both high in sugar). Then they decided that it was a myth. Now were seeing that, for some people at least, sugarseems to be the main culprit.
I think the mistake that I made before was to simply "reduce" sugar. For me that wasn't enough apparently. I have cut it out pretty much completely and this includes all added sugars as well (you'd be surprised how many foods have added sugar and how much). So it's more than just reducing how often I have cake or chocolate.
My diet is pretty much 3/4 veg (including some starchy veg) and 1/4 protein (with healthy fats and calcium rich foods squeezed in). I allow myself 2 pieces of whole fruit (never juice or smoothie) per day.
That's what it took for me to get this clear.
It's hard but every time I think about having something with sugar I look at y skin and I know it's not worth ruining my skin.
I think the science on the subject is at best patchy and under researched and at worse diliberately neglected.
The sugar lobby are pretty powerful.