Hi! I'm new here. SIGH

[gina9978]

I've had "adult acne" for all of my adult life. Well - you all probably know the drill. I had bad acne as a teen - face, back, scalp, shoulders & chest -- and just never cleared up from that.

I've always had an intolerance for anything drying, and that always has made it worse. Should have a CLUE by now as I've probably invested thousands on every cream and miracle cream and potion known to man and woman. Didn't stop me from dropping a bunch on Eucerins "redness" line the other day - despite KNOWING that the sunscreen would sting and make my skin swell . . . and it DID . . .

At any rate - I've been on doxycylcline for a milenium and it seems to have lost any effectiveness. Not too mention the glorious things to does to my digestive tract - HA!

I quit the doxy last week. It wasn't working anyway so what the hay.

My face is a horror show. I feel the stares in my office - me all either red and pussy . . . or with so much coverup on that it is jsut a crying shame that I even try to disguise this thing :( Not too mention that on ME, under the flourescent office lamps the green coverup makeup mixed with my bright red FACE turns me a ghoulish neon PURPLE . . .

So as it is all said and done - as it goes with every flareup . . .

redness
zit
OTC dryup stuff I paid too much for
flakey skin more zits
leads to overmoisturizing
greasy sebum on dry flakey skin that is starting to break and bleed now
more OTC stuff I pay dearly for
finally I relent and do NOTHING
and the skin calms down

will I ever learn?

So I am "do nothing" phase - plus no antibiotics. At least my face feels better without a thing on it!

Sigh.

So how do you all cope? I'm afraid I'm not doing so well.

Oh - more about me. I'm a 38 year-old Mom with two kids in premenopause and I am living the stress of a lifetime in New Orleans aftermath of hurricane katrina. Not like that has helped. I lost my business and my job . . . and I am not altogether happy where I am now -- and I shirk socializing with anyone in the office since I am a freakshow lately :(

Sigh. I hope I haven't offended anyone with my negative comments about ME ;) . . . just not exactly at an all time high with my self-esteem lately.

I have a good dermatologist -- but I don't think what he's offered is effective anymore for me.

What to do?

Oh - so GLAD I found this forum.


:shock:

[Beacon Beak]

Hi gina9978,

I am new to this forum, so I am afraid that I don't have answers for you. I wish I did, but that is what brought me here too. I

hope that somehow things have improved since you posted, yes, with your skin but more importantly with your difficulties in other areas of your life. I wish I could do more, but I wanted to let you know that someone read your post and really wants the best for you.

I hope you find something to help you on this forum. Doctors do the best they can with the knowledge they have, but they can't know everything.

Here's to sharing tricks of the trade.
Good luck and take care.
Beacon Beak in Canada

[redhotoz]

Hi Gina

How's the "do nothing" phase going? I too decided to go off antibiotics and feel so much better for making that decision.

I started the Candida Diet last month, slowly introducing the changes. It has made a HUGE difference to my face and my mental well being too. Would really recommend you consider trying it.

I also started red light therapy at home this month and look forward to further improvement of my skin in 3 to 6 months time.

Jen