I just found this forum and am hoping someone can help.
My acne story is kind of long, I'll try to be brief. I am truly at a breaking point.
I have endometriosis with most of it on my bowel causing severe constipation since I was 24 (2012). Was a long journey to get the diagnosis, was at the point of liver failure from Drs giving me things that didn't work to get my bowels moving. Finally after an ER refused to help after blacking out on the subway, went to a colonic irrigation specialist who said it was systematic Candida. She put me on special fibre and various supplements as well as a restrictive diet (I never ate meat but since 2014 no dairy, gluten, sugar, yeast, soy etc).
Slowly after about a year i got much better and I had had adult acne since about the age of 20 and it had been quite bad but the diet helped a lot.
In 2016 I suffered severe emotional trauma and was hospitalized. I had been on proactive for about 6 years. I had tried a million times to get off but no matter what I tried, if I went off it my skin would get super severe.I hated proactive.
When I was in the hospital , I didn't have my proactive and things were going well the first few weeks so I decided to stay off it. The acne from the trauma, anxiety pills, being less strict on diet and coming off the proactive my skin became the worst it had ever been. I added some pix. It was massive, painful cysts all around my jaw line and nose. They would just randomly start bleeding. They wouldn't go away ether and lasted for months. The ones under my lip on the right side finally popped and left a deep, massive scar. At that point in 2016, when I got back on proactive, off the anxiety pills and improved my diet again, in early 2017 got my diet back on track,it improved. I also started treatments for the scars because they bothered me so much.
My diet has been rocky (although I've been really good with dairy and gluten lately just not great with sugar), my stress levels hard to manage with PTSD but I try my best.
This past January I decided it was time to get off proactive for good and would do it with a round of 8 acne laser treatments (last year i had 6 laser resurfacing treaments). The acne was ok during the treatments but is now super severe and scars are building and accumulating.
I also get regular kenelog injections. Last week I went to a new esthetician who is a specialist and said there was bacteria stuck under the scar tissue and she cut some of it out. I also ordered a hygenie pillowcase and she showed me how to wash my face thoroughly. I was sobbing from frustration. She looked at my chart and said with everything I've done (approx $4000 in the last year), that this doesnt make sense. I am out of money.
Since the scars in 2016 (which I get filled with Juvederm), I don't really post pictures of my face anywhere. In the last few months as it has gotten worse I don't show my face or go out in public.
I am anxious and depressed. Dying of loneliness and terrified about my fertility but have given up on dating and feel completely worthless as a human being.
Last Monday I decided to get a chin implant since I couldn't control how bad the acne was I decided to do something else to try and improve my confidence. The antibiotics helped the acne for a bit until I was done them and now today there are painful cysts starting to form again.I can't really take antibiotics regularly because of the candida in my gut.
If anyone has any suggestions that I have not tried or that will not affect will not cause problems with my endometriosis I will be so so grateful. I really need help. And yes I go to a lot of therapy since trauma.
What are other things that can be causing this?
Hey, you have a very thick and wide history in the cruel world of acne I can tell, it sounds terrible in many ways...
Now I am a 22 year old guy, so I am not able to explain thorougly or to experienceendometriosis and other women related conditions, I have neither had an emotional trauma before. But I really want to help you out on this.
I think that you can find a way of solving the problem, and I know it can be done.
There are many different methods and ways of decreasing the acne formations and to diminish the outbreaks. I can help you out on explaining them to you if you want to.
Just message me if you want some advice, I really want to help you out with this ::
Hey,
That would be great!
I actually went to a new naturopath today. She is doing some tests and thinks she has it figured out. She thinks its SIBO and was misdiagnosed as candida. Im excited that it can be resolved but I am terrified about the process to resolve it and I am angry that I lost a decade of my life, my husband and any career advancement because of a misdiagnosis. Nevermind the thousands of dollars.
I would love any advise you can give.
Not yet, im doing the breath test next weekend because its a 3 day process and i need to stop my supplements a certain amount of time before.
Once confirmed, she is going to use the antibiotics and then potentially the diet but i was looking at it and as a partial vegan I don't know if that diet is possible for me.
Anyone been diagnosed with SIBO and have really great results once cured?
so you're still on medicine now ? Have you researched the particular medicine that you're on and if they cause acne/ spots?
imo a good diet is a good way to limit over production of sebum, which can = spots & cysts.. but if you have been on a restricted diet for four years and it hasnt worked, it's probably a good indication that diet alone is not 100% of your problem.
unfortunately when we are sick or take certain medicines like antibiotics etc, some skin problems can take hold and are hard to cure . i would recommend doing some research into other types conditions that look like acne but are not. there is quite a lot and each need certain types of treatment to cure them .
although you have your eye on SIBO being your main problem, i would keep an open mind as it is possible to suffer from multiple skin conditions at the same time .
also worth noting there has been some research to say SLS and fluoride in toothpaste can cause acne around the mouth area. i personally noticed a reduction in spots and redness around my mouth and chin when switching to a fluoride /sls free toothpaste. - might help you a bit? (i would also say avoid sls in soap)
in regards to loneliness, you might want to join a social fitness club or a running club to meet new people and get fit, i found that helped me a bit, with social anxiety. (But you could equally join any social club or classes, just meeting new people helps )