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Adult Acne Blog - 2003: April 2003
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.
April 8, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
5:00 PM (Pacific)
Okay...something very weird happened today. I felt this bump under my skin...not a huge bump? But not a small bump either. The first thought I had was to go get some Differin and put that on it. But...after a few hours, it had shrunk. How about that?! It's practically gone now.
I would say now that my skin is better than it was even with Stress-B and brewer's yeast. I still want to add in some brewer's yeast, I can't think that it would hurt anything.
I'm pretty pleased with this stuff, I'm going to continue using it...my gut feeling is that my skin will continue to improve (maybe not as dramatically as in the first week).
April 7, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
3:52 PM (Pacific)
Day 6 of the TwinLabs Daily One Caps...hm. My skin is slightly better than it was with Stress-B alone. Maybe not as good as Stress-B with brewer's yeast.
I couldn't find brewer's yeast tablets at my health food store...I'll have to try Berkeley. I still think there is something in brewer's yeast that's not in vitamin pills.
And, it is likely that it's the B vitamin complex that helps the most with acne. I read that vitamin A reduces oiliness (my skin is noticeably less oily), so there is that too.
But is it wise to take only B complex and vitamin A? That I do not know. It probably won't hurt you, but what I still don't know is if acne is caused by some sort of a long-term vitamin deficiency...that's what I'm starting to think.
Anyhow I feel all-around better...just little things that I've suffered for years, are suddenly gone. My legs feel strong and bouncy. I don't get dizzy as easily. I don't feel fatigued, I have better stamina. My hair doesn't seem to be falling out as much. As I say, my skin is hardly oily at all...and I've had very oily skin at times.
My skin's texture is overall improved...it's got that smooth, "creamy" feel to it. Still has some small clogs, but no pimples.
So my conclusion now is that it's worth it to take the multivitamin rather than just the B complex and vitamin A. When I get hold of the brewer's yeast tablets, I'll see if I can't get my "perfect" skin back. :)
April 4, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
12:10 PM (Pacific)
This is the third day I've taken the TwinLab Daily One Caps capsule, so here is my report:
I can say, I'm not getting the fairly instantaneous, creamy results that I got taking the Stress-B/brewer's yeast combo. I am committed to taking this for a full week before judging however because I have noticed that I'm not getting any *new* pimples. The stuff that's on my face--I had a breakout some days ago when I was trying out the Rainbow Light Hair, Nails, & Skin Connection--I don't really want to blame the H, N & S Connection for it, it might work for someone else but I didn't feel it was working for me--has to clear up...but what I'm looking for, as I say, are *new* pimples. As long as there are no new ones, then it's just a matter of time.
The only real difference between the TwinLab and the Stress-B is that Stress-B has more of some of the B vitamins:
thiamin - TL 25 mg, SB 100mg
riboflavin - TL 25 mg, SB 100 mg
B-6 - TL 25 mg, SB 100 mg
B-5 - TL 50 mg, SB 100 mg
Mind you all of the smaller amounts are well in excess of the "Daily Value."
Now here is the interesting part, since I'm not ready yet to make a conclusion about the TwinLab pill re acne.
The interesting part is that I feel stronger now than I have for years. I no longer have that nagging "chronic fatigue" feeling that I've had since...years? I really don't remember.
My skin is also noticeably drier, ie less oily. It's also smoother, the same way it was with Stress-B/brewer's yeast.
How to put it delicately? :) I'm getting less gas. I mean I think this stuff does something to help your digestion.
I feel stronger...my legs feel stronger. It is just really weird because you get used to feeling a certain way... And it seems to me that my hair is falling out less.
The only thing about the TwinLab pill...iodine. I've heard from a few different sources that iodine is not good for acne, and just about all the multi-vitamin pills have it. TL has 100% DV of iodine. I've heard that the Murad Skin Vitamins stuff does not have iodine.
I went to get a brewer's yeast tablet from my local health food store and they didn't have it...that's the only thing I wanted to add on to the TL capsule, at least for now.
April 3, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
5:54 AM (Pacific)
Well, the usual...anything connected with acne tends to be horribly confusing, horribly expensive...and mostly, horribly depressing.
That's just the bad part. :)
I don't know what to tell you. The more I learn about these vitamin supplements, the less I know...I can say that some of it is helping my skin. It is definitely doing that. The stuff works better than any topical, prescription or OTC.
But what I'd like, is a conclusive report on what to take...and I don't have that yet.
It is confusing, that's for sure. I went to the Whole Foods in Berkeley...there were *3 aisles* (it's a supermarket) worth of supplements. They had taken out all the jewelry (*ppppppppppphhhhhht*), decimated the cosmetics (*phhhhhhhhhhhhtttt*), basically destroyed 3 aisles of the store, to stuff those aisles with the lucrative pills.
I've also been reading an old Rodale book...most of what they're saying makes sense, but how practical it is...? The Rodale book says that you shouldn't take "isolated" vitamins, that they're meant to work together. That makes sense. They also say that "artificial" vitamins are bad and natural ones are good. Okay, but...? I understand it but I don't have a million dollars to spend on natural vitamins, and I don't want to pop a hundred pills a day.
Anyhow...I'm currently taking a TwinLab daily capsule called Daily One Caps. There's an iron version and a non-iron version. I started taking it yesterday.
I went a few days taking something called Rainbow Light Hair, Nails, & Skin Connection. It's supposedly "food-based"--and that's a trademark, "food-based"--how can it be trademarked? What the hell does it mean? I went on the Net to find out but of course, the first bazillion results you pull up are just advertising for vitamins. Anyway--I didn't like it. I tried it by itself, two tablets per day, and broke out. I combined one tablet with one of my Stress-B's and got a lovely "niacin flush" or whatever it is...your face turns kind of red for a few hours. I put this one aside.
Back to the Rodale book...the part that makes the most sense to me is about combining vitamins. I'll have to do more research...I can see this is going to be tedious, because I'm sifting through monumental advertising...on what is natural and what isn't and if there is really a difference.
But it does explain why the brewer's yeast works. The Rodale theory is that if you refine the vitamins out of something, you're not getting all the other stuff...possibly microscopic amounts...that came with the vitamins.
The example they gave was...seawater. Someone tried to create seawater in a laboratory. Of course it is easy to duplicate whatever the components of seawater are, right? Well, a fish placed in this lab-created seawater, immediately died.
They repeated this experiment several times, each time creating the seawater more carefully, and each time the fish died.
Someone got the bright idea of putting a small amount of real seawater in with the fake, and, the fish lived. The theory is that the natural product contains substances so small they cannot be measured.
I'm speculating now, if taking a small amount of brewer's yeast on top of the "artificial" vitamin pill I'm taking, would do it. By small amount I mean a brewer's yeast pill.
About the TwinLab pill...my skin (I'm writing this the next day after taking 1 pill), is noticeably less oily. I can say that. It actually looks pretty good. It's way too soon to say. It is so hard doing this. I think it's the vitamin A that reduces oiliness.
I am committed to trying this pill for one week. The next time I go to the store, I'll look for a brewer's yeast tablet, I didn't see one last time I went...but that's the only other variable I want to add right now.
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