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Last resort...after failed accutane?

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(@laakry)

Posted : 01/05/2019 1:09 am

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knew anything about spironolactone and if I should even try it. I will be going to see a doctor about this but unfortunately wait time to see a dermatologist is several months minimum so I wanted to hear what people have said.

Basically I have tried pretty much everything and am almost a 30 year old lady. I have had between moderate to severe acne since I was 13 years old and no matter what, NOTHING has worked.

I have lost track of all the things I have used but from what I can remember, all the topical products, over the counter, diys, herbal remedies etc

In terms of medication, what I can remember:

Retin-A

Benzaclin

Clindoxyl

Benzoyl peroxide

Salycic acid

Variations and mix of all of the above

Variety of birth control pills

Doxycycline (another form of birth control)

Minocycline

Hibiscrub (not really medicine but it's a type of soap used to kill bacteria that surgeons use to wash up. It's that powerful killing bacteria and fairly effective at treating acne. Again, Worked well for a week. Then stopped)

Accutane (just finished second course)

And probably more medication on top of that, creams and all. Either they have done jack fuck all, or did improve for a few weeks but then the acne always came back full force. When I asked the first dermatologist awhile ago he told me it's because my acne had developed a resistance to all of them. He did say though that it's impossible to develop resistance to accutane but that for some small percentage of people it just doesn't work unfortunately.

I literally don't know what to do. The first course of accutane although it helped still never really got rid of it completely. The nodules and postules were just in remission but never went away. It did however help a bit and I was on 60mg one day and 40 mg the other day back and forth. 3 and a half months later when my course was done, my acne came back with a vengeance

I got on a second course which the doctor was hesitant to give as he said only 1/20 people have to do it again which I was unfortunately a part of, and he said to take it as I need it. Which sounds like a bad advice but given how bad the side effects were for me (insomnia, rashes joint pain etc) he didn't want to dose me something so high. I started with 20mg which worked for about a week literally then stopped working. I then amped it up to 40mg and strangely it didn't really do ANYTHING. I didn't even get the dryness like the first time it's as if my body and acne was prepared for it. I still get greasy hair, my skin nor my lips aren't even that dry it's like I'm not on it. I am not suffering the major side effects like the first course and thus unfortunately this makes me feel that my fucking acne has yet again developed resistance to them all.

I have run out of accutane now and my acne is gradually getting worse. My cheeks are literally disfigured from it, sunken in with severe acne scars and there's nothing stopping it. I'm trying everything I can in the mean time to tie it over but I feel I am slowly losing this battle yet again and developing severe depression. I was going to ask for a third round of accutane which I don't even think I can take right after I just finished my second course. At this point is there even any point when it's clearly not working?

So this is where I heard of spironolactone online and it's the only thing I have not tried. In the UK, spironolactone is illegal to be prescribed for acne. I literally begged for it in tears and the doctor still couldn't do it as it would revoke his liscense.

I am Canadian though so now that I'm back to Canada I am unsure what the laws are like here. If it's illegal here, does anyone have any experience finding spironolactone ordered online from a credible website ?

I had never heard of this drug before but was told it was very effective at treating acne but will it work when I'm resistant to pretty much all of the above ?

Doctors couldn't tell me why my acne was occuring even at this age. They said there's no scientific reason to suggest diet even causes this. I have gone full vegan before, I excercise regularly eat healthy and drank more than 2 L of water every single day. Literally nothing fucking helps and I don't even feel like leaving my house because of this and feel hopeless. I have even had hormonal check up before because I was convinced maybe an imbalance was causing it but I came out healthy and fine every time.

The derm told me most probably my issue is genetics. Acne heavily runs in my family pretty much all of them had it. Some of their faces are literally disfigured from it, quite literally crevices the size of coins all over the face. They too have tried everything and given up.. It's horrifying and kills me to think that will be me...

Every single fking time that I want to fix my scars with laser or dermarolling I can't because I have to wait min six months after accutane but my acne has always come back in between that time...wtff do I do ?

I don't know what I did to deserve this curse.

Would really appreciate some advice and how spironolactone has worked for you, anything you know about it, or just anything else I can try at this point??thank you !

 

 

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(@christinamarie13)

Posted : 01/05/2019 5:33 pm

Wait time to see a derm is several months? Sheesh, thats nuts. Have you tried a parasite cleanse? This blogger Organic Olivia has a website all about it and claims it was the only thing that cleared her severe cystic acne. Its basically cleansing your liver/bowels by drinking a special blend of herbs that kill parasites/candida. I cleared my moderate acne with spearmint capsules - those might be worth a try for you. I think they have a similar effect that spiro does. Spiro is just an androgen blocker, although I took it for almost a year and it did basically nothing for me besides give me muscle cramps.

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(@wildlikebeth)

Posted : 01/29/2019 10:19 pm

Hello Laakry! Just read your story and I can relate to everything you are going through! Except for the acceptane, I have been too afraid to try that. Your situation sound very similar to mine, and I always suspected it was hormone related, though all of my tests came back "normal." Spiro worked for me, but the side effects (for me, tellogen effluvium, aka hair loss, very unique side effect as MOST people on spiro have success without this traumatic side effect) were not worth it for me. (my story is below). Spiro did confirm for me though that my acne was hormonally related and I needed to find another way to block androgens, as nothing else was ever going to work. I would love to hear any updates from you and your story! hopefully you have found something that works for you.

I am a 30 year old female who has been struggling with hormonal acne for the last decade, give or take. I had perfect skin throughout my teens, then in my early 20s everything started changing, for the worse. For the last 2.5 years now I have been on an experimental journey with Spiro. At first, it was AMAZING!! My doc had me on 200mg a day and my skin was FLAWLESS and glowing after the first 4 months. However, along with my new face came EXTREME hair loss. I mean CLUMPS like I had never seen before. It was scary, and sad. I lost half if not more of my hairs volume. What was left became dried out and frail. It lost all of its natural curl and volume, and instead satflat and limp on my head. My hairline also began receding. What a scary time. I told my doc, and she seemed utterly perplexed and was hard to convince that the hair loss was related to Spiro. It seems there is not a lot of official knowledge on this subject. Anyways, together we decided to reduce my spiro intake to 25mg. a day. I did this slowly, incrementally reducing my daily dose until i reached 25mg a day. Sure enough, my hair loss slowed but did not stop, and guess what, my acne came back. As fierce as ever. So now i had no hair AND terrible skin. I hated Spiro! I was so frustrated and discouraged and disappointed and hopless at this point. I finally found something that worked for my skin but it was at the cost of my hair. I wasn't okay with that. SoItook myself completely off it. Six months clear of Spiro and my acne wasas bad as ever.My hair wasstill recovering, but definitely headedin the right direction.I always suspected my acne was hormonal, as they were deep cystic outbreaks that happened on my lower face and jaw line, sometimes symetrical on both sides of my face.Undoubtedly though, thanks to my spiro experiment, myacne was now confirmed hormonal, and I knew for a fact that androgens were the culprit. So began my internet quest to findmore natural remedies for reducing androgens in the body, and eventually came across spearmint. I have been taking two capsules a day, one morning and one at night, for three weeks now. I have yet to see much improvement, but i plan on sticking with it for 2-3 months before making any judgment calls. My greatest fear though, is that it will have the same effect on my hair as Spiro. I can not go through that again! I am hoping and praying that spearmint is the magic key and will help my skin without taking all my hair out with it.

 

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