weid(wo)man

My journey with acne and Spironolactone is a very long one. I apologize in advance for the extreme length of this review.

First off, I am a 34 year old female and have 4 sons. I started getting mild acne at the age of 13. Very minimal, normal hormonal breakouts that were easily controlled by topicals. In high school I went on a few different antibiotics and also birth control (Ortho-Tri-Cyclin) to help clear it up and those things combined worked for me. My skin generally was clear in my late teens. I went to 1 year of college and during that time I went back on birth control (Ortho-Tri-Cyclin-Lo) and was on that during my engagement and first year of marriage. (Along with topicals; benzoyl peroxide, tretinoin, salicylic acid etc). I used proactive on and off as well. I NEVER had cystic acne. Only surface type; white heads, black heads etc. I went off the pill and at age 21 and I got pregnant and through that first pregnancy my skin was flawless and also while breastfeeding it was beautiful. My second pregnancy (age 24) the same thing; mainly clear while pregnant and throughout breastfeeding. After I was done nursing my second boy my skin started getting gradually worse. (Aug/Sept 2011) I finally went to a dermatologist and he put me on an antibiotic called Cephadroxyl. It worked awesome and my skin cleared up within a few months. I was on that for about 8 months. This takes me to Spring 2012. I wanted to get pregnant again so I weaned off of it. Throughout these years I used cetaphil for face wash and some type of Rx topical benzoyl peroxide. I think I used proactive again too. I got pregnant in May of 2012, had absolutely FLAWLESS skin through that pregnancy, gave birth in February of 2013 and again, while nursing my 3rd son had beautiful skin. (I would occasionally get a zit here or there - I'm talking maybe one a week) Once I was done breastfeeding my 3rd son in Feb. 2014, my skin was great over that spring/summer. Then something happened that fall and once again my acne came back. At this point my husband and I were at peace and knew we didn't want to have any more kids. I had heard about Spiro from my mom (she has also suffered with adult acne and had been on it for a few years and it worked great for her) I was hesitant and afraid to take it because of some reviews I had read. But my skin was getting bad enough I was starting to scar so I decided to go for it. I went on birth control (November 2014) because as we all know Spiro is NOT proven totally safe to take while pregnant and neither my husband or I were sterile yet because we weren't even 30 years old. So I started taking the Spiro in January of 2015 at 50 mg. within 4 weeks I felt like I could see a huge difference in my skin. I was SO SO happy. I had some minor side affects; my period was a bit erratic and I had to pee more. Well............ low and behold in mid-February I find out I am pregnant. (the real reason I had skipped my period!) Birth control did not work for me obviously; despite the fact that I religiously took it, did not skip it or anything. You can imagine my horror because of the fear I had for my precious baby possibly having birth defects from the Spiro etc. I immediately stopped taking it. Fast forward again.... 4th pregnancy was completely normal, and my 4th baby boy (born Nov. 2015) was 100% healthy and whole. Thank you Jesus. It was a VERY emotional pregnancy to say the least. What is odd though is that my skin through that pregnancy was NOT good. I had acne and I had eczema at the same time. After I gave birth and was breastfeeding my skin never cleared up. It wasn't awful but it was not clear like all my previous experiences of pregnancy and while breastfeeding. I was also dealing with the eczema which was very very hard. Understand... I was trying to treat eczema which is dry itchy skin, while treating acne which is caused by greasy oil/dead skin cells. It was a very frustrating time for me. (sorry this review is SOOOO freaking long) Fast forward again to April of 2017. I breastfed my fourth boy for almost 18 months. That summer my skin magically was clear. I was using a brand called Carly's which I heard of on this website and it worked for like 3/4 months. Then...... you can guess. The fall of 2017 all hell broke loose and my skin got horrible again; the worst it has EVER been. I was EXTRA stressed because I was homeschooling my 3 older boys. I do believe this had a huge part to play in my skin. So once again I decided to revisit taking the Spiro. (This time around was a completely different story though because I had my tubes tied when my 4th boy was 8 months old -July 2016-) I didn't have to worry about getting pregnant so I went for it. My doctor was very close to putting my on Accutane because my skin was so bad and he was worried of scaring. I begged him to let me have a chance to take the Spiro and he reluctantly agreed. I started taking it in October 2017 and was on a very low does initially of 25 mg, then gradually worked my way up to 100 mg by January of 2018. My skin took FOREVER to start clearing up. It was absolutely awful. I was so ashamed. Here I am a mom of 4 boys in my mid 30's and I'm still getting acne. Finally, by the spring of 2018 my skin was 80% clear. I still had zits here and there but it was way better then when I started. As time went on I would have weeks where it was totally clear and beautiful; and then I would have weeks where I had a handful of zits. My skin has NEVER been "healed" or consistently clear at all. I always have something going on somewhere on my face. I have messed with the dosage many times, going up to 150 and back down to 125 to see if I just need to find and tweak the "perfect" dosage and it doesn't make a difference. And here I am now, August 2019 and my skin is still not 100% clear. Even today I woke up with 3 new ones and I am taking 125 mg. I am wondering if now being on it for almost 2 years, I am becoming immune to it. I feel very defeated and I am ready to seriously consider Accutane. Thats why I got back on this website; to read (again) the reviews of Accutane because I am afraid of the side affects) BUT I am so sick of having to think about my skin every day. I don't have time to be worrying about my skin and who I am going to see and if I need to wear make up. I want to enjoy just raising my boys and being their mom. If anyone has made it this far in reading my review I thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I don't have any special advice other then just go for it and try it. (oh I forgot to mention that during my 2 years of taking it I have definitely had some crazy issues with my period. I went almost 8 months with no period. Then this past summer I was getting it every 2 weeks! Now it is almost back to normal, every 28 days. Other than that I've not had any serious side affects. Maybe some hair loss/thickness but that is it) If anyone has any advice for me, Id appreciate. Thank you and God bless.