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Adult Acne Blog - 2002: May 2002
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nurse, nutritionist, herbalist, or otherwise medically trained person.
I am an ordinary person who has suffered from adult acne since 1995 and have found no solution to my acne through conventional medicine.
May 22, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
5:24 PM (Pacific)
Well, I started on Yasmin last Sunday, making it 3 pills thus far.
I'll have to say, there is a lot of improvement...much, much fewer clogged pores, and smaller clogs. Not 100% clear, but hey, I'd given up hope of that a long time ago.
I had some menstrual-like cramps yesterday pretty badly...which I'm guessing is from this pill. But nothing today. I'd still choose Ortho Tricyclen over this...O.T. made me gain only 3 lbs. It's hard to say but I feel more bloated with this pill than with O.T. ...as I say, it's hard to say. When you go through so many different pills, it's hard to say anymore which is doing what.
No PMS feelings...not much nausea either (less than with O.T.--I can go without breakfast without feeling sick). I'm not sure about the weight gain though.
Well...it's hard to keep jumping up and down with excitement...so many things...even birth control pills, from what I've read...start out working fine, then stop working, re acne.
Oh yeah, I heard back from the progesterone cream people...they said that using progesterone cream should *not* interfere with birth control pills. Makes sense. I'm waiting though...the cream is close to $20 a pop, and I'm just starting out using this pill. If the pill, Differin, and clindamycin phosphate work out fine, then I won't need the cream...I'm already fed up, using so many different things.
*whew* The thing with using Differin alone (without the right birth control pill), it doesn't work. Since it works only on the surface, you still need to do something to reduce the number of clogged pores to begin with. Half of the disfiguring aspect of acne, are the clogs *before* they come to the surface.
I was using more and more Differin...which, again, does not work. It merely destroys your skin, it can't reduce the number of clogged pores.
Well that's all for now.
May 10, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
6:39 PM (Pacific)
All righty...I get to try "Yasmin" birth control pills, starting the Sunday after next Sunday. As it turns out, "Yasmin" (by Berlex Laboratories) was introduced last year and hyped as a treatment for acne. Whoopee!
The progestin in Yasmin is not one of the three named on the Oprah Winfrey site, it's yet another...patented by Berlex Laboratories, I take it...well anything has got to be better than this Tri Levelen stuff.
Bleh...they made me finish out the month of Tri Levelen first. I'm starting to truly loathe this stuff, it's made me put on weight like crazy and also made me lethargic...which I hate, hate, hate. I need energy...I need to be always doing something. And yes my acne has come back...it's similar to say, the first five weeks of Differin under Ortho Tricyclen, before the Differin actually kicked in...lots and lots of clogged pores and pimples, but not as bad as with nothing at all.
*sigh*
I actually feel more positive about this new pill, because it finally makes some sense. You have to do something hormonal, to correct something hormonal. Otherwise all you're doing is treating on the surface...and there's nothing that perfectly treats on the surface, that is not possible. Combining a good Pill (like Ortho Tricyclen) with a good surface treatment (like Differin) is as close to perfection, I believe, as anything you'll find.
Bleh! the derm's office kept trying to push an internal antibiotic as the next treatment (they didn't suggest about the birth control pill...then, they might not be aware that the HMO has axed Ortho...but shouldn't they know? it seems to me the birth control pill is the first place to check). I don't want to take it. I mean, I've had this stupid acne since the last half of 1995, that's almost 7 years already, with no sign of quitting in sight. How long can you keep taking antibiotics? Plus, all the side effects. As I say, I don't want to do it.
After that it would be Accutane...that great last-ditch effort treatment. The only few things I've read about Accutane...it permanently shrinks your oil glands. You can't get pregnant while on the treatment (which is 3 months I think) because the fetus would be deformed. Yipe! Reviews of Accutane have been mixed; some love it, some are eh about it, some felt it caused them other problems like depression...a permanent problem with depression. I'm not jumping up and down to try Accutane.
Heh heh...my friend said that it would stop, suddenly...as suddenly as it appeared...and then I would get super dry skin. Like I care. Dry skin, all you do is get a good moisturizer and mix jojoba oil into it and slap it on.
Well anyway, nothing new to report until I start on Yasmin...so...signing off.
May 4, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
3:07 PM (Pacific)
You know what, it's great to be back. I still love blogger. :)
Anyhow, my skin is going back to crap...but I don't think it's the Differin/clindamycin phosphate, I strongly suspect it's the Tri Levelen. I called my HMO...pfffffft...someone (not my regular doctor, unfortunately) is supposed to call me on Monday about switching to a different Pill.
I read on the Internet, on, I believe, an Oprah Winfrey site of all things (I'm starting to feel an enormous respect for Oprah Winfrey, imo she kicks ass), that there are 3 "newer" progestins--norgestimate (this is the Ortho-patented one iirc), desogestrel, and gestedene, that are supposed to help acne. The "older" progestins (including the one in Tri Levelen/Tri Phasal) are supposed to *not* help acne and in fact can worsen it.
My HMO ended their contract with Ortho, so I am hoping, hoping, hoping that the other 2 progestins are not Ortho progestins. If they are however, then I'm going to make my case that I need to take Ortho birth control pills...my skin is killing me.
On the positive side, at least this venture has made me think about hormone regulation in general...how it is the only logical way to prevent acne. Isn't acne caused by hormonal imbalance to begin with? How else are you going to prevent it?
I also found out that there is some theory that progesterone can help acne...there are 2 herbal ways to increase your progesterone. One is an herb called "agnus castus," the other is a progesterone cream...Emerita makes the best-known one, Zand also produces one.
The thing is this--you *can't* use either of these treatments if you take birth control pills. I mean, I'm desperate, but even I won't touch either product...I'm afraid I'd get pregnant.
I've felt really depressed the past week over this...I feel we are hypocritical as a society. We're quick to judge, say, Iran, where the religious police have been known to throw acid in the face of a woman wearing makeup...we consider that ridiculous (and it is ridiculous)...but we are so quick to accept that a woman here in the U.S. should have permanent acne? for the rest of her life? In the greater sense, what's the difference?
It's obvious that something environmental is causing all this adult acne. I've said it before, we are crapping ourselves up. I heard on the news, very briefly, that it's not at all unusual now for 8-year-old girls in the U.S. to develop breasts and pubic hair. Eight years old!!!!! They mentioned...again briefly...that 3 causes could be, obesity, residues of hormones from milk and meat, and elevated estrogen levels from, say, heating your foods in plastic.
I now meticulously do *not* use plastic in the microwave. I honestly did not know about the estrogen thing. I'm already pretty meticulous about the milk and meat stuff, and I don't let myself put on weight...although, again, this stupid Pill has made me put on more weight than the Ortho Tricyclen did.
I will continue posting about the birth control pill thing.
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