I got rid of salicylates, amines and glutamates in my diet

[Megan]

For two and a half years I had Acne Rosacea. I stressed, I took all the long term prescriptions I was told to and nothing happened.

Eventually a friend suggested I go to 'Psoriasis and Skin Clinic' in Brisbane (http://www.psoriasis.com.au). Within six months I'm clear!

No drugs.

Food! Salicylates, amines and glutamates in fact. I got rid of them in my diet (all my favourite foods) and it worked. The best bit is that nothings permanent! I know how to manage my rosacea now and eventually my intolerance to trigger foods will reduce and go away. At the moment I can have a little of them once or twice a week and I'm fine.

I'm pretty annoyed that it took so long to find someone who actually knew about the issue and how to fix it! All I heard from doctors, dermatologists and the internet was that there was no cure and that I was going to have to put up with it for the rest of my life. Not true!!

I've started a fb group to share my story with others. Check it out if you want to see how my face was when I started with Jacqui and what it looks like now.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/gr...4809899&ref=mf

I've also cut and past the lists of food to think about:

Actually here is what I remember not to touch: citrus, strawberries, raspberries, gherkins, olives, anything from the deli shop, tomatoes, capsicums, eggplants, mushrooms, all oils except for olive, sesame oil too, all vinegars except for malt vinegar, all processed meats, hard cheeses, all dried fruit, all spreads, jams, Vegemite, honey, chocolate, full strength coffee, high amounts of preservatives, artificial flavouring (chips, noodles, MSG), Chinese sauces, tomato sauces, Indian, fermented things (so no tofu), all nuts except for cashews, seeds, wines, beers, all kinds of juice and they were mostly the things I had anyway. There is more. If you want a detailed list I can pull out the sheet I have at home and send it to you another time.

Things I do eat!! Liquid Zinc, Liquid Zinc, Liquid Zinc (according to Jacqui... the magic piece of the puzzle), broccoli, pumpkin, peas, celery, legumes, pulses, potato, beans, spinach, carrots, squash, garlic, lettuce, cucumber (any vege or salad that isn't on the list above), rice, quinoa, cous cous, pasta (not wheat.. you can get some good ones from Organ ? the Italian style one is great! Could have wheat pasta too though), not too much bread, pears, pears, apples (golden delicious, red delicious, royal gala), mango, banana, and pears, paw paw, plain chips, hot chips, carob, marshmallows, all meats, biscuits (especially the hundreds and thousands ones), rice milk, cottage cheese, eggs, yoghurt, soft cheese, I could have cows milk but don't, peaches, lychees, cherries in moderation when in season, rockmelon, watermelon, salt, pepper, nutalex (like butter), raw sugar, golden syrup and I can't think of any of the rest... ask me later for more.

And don't forget the Zinc! Supposedly Australians are very low in it because our soils, and thus foods, are low. Zinc is great for healing the skin. Australia has more people dealing with skin problems than anywhere else!! Liquid zinc is the best choice.

[Melissa W]

Hi Megan,
Thanks for sharing what has worked for you.
Your skin looks great!

Can you give us a bit more on the specifics of the liquid zinc?

Thanks!

Best wishes,
Melissa

ps I removed the duplicate posts to keep the info all in one place

[Mistica]

Hi Megan,

What a terrific improvement between your first and recent photos! You must feel such a relief!

It is interesting to hear about the zinc. I was diagnosed as being deficient about a month ago and have been taking zinc amino acetate ( 22 mg elemental zinc), twice daily for about one month. In addition to this, there is a little in my multi vitamin/mineral and pmt formula, so in total I have been getting about 66mg per day.

I have severe vascular rosacea, which includes severe flushing, extreme hypersensitivity, terrible inflammation, and burning and of course plenty of redness.

I must moderate the above to say, since I have been using topical sulfacetamide/sulphur I have managed to put a dent in the inflammation, which has in turn reduced the other symptoms.

More noticeably though, is that since I began dosing with the zinc, I have had a further reduction in inflammation. I am almost too scared to say this, but barring two days of mild pressure and a 'sense' of discomfort, I have been pain free for three weeks. I hope I haven't jinxed things by saying this!

I would like to know, what are the benefits of liquid zinc and also, what were you told about the prolongued supplementation of oral zinc? Did you have to take copper?
I have read one study which took part in the middle east, Iran, I think, where rosaceans took 120 gm elemental zinc for three months and benefited tremendously. That is why I have been taking more than the recommended dose ( on my bottle), but I know I can't do this forever.

I would say, by your photos you are a sub type two rosacean and probably didn't experience the horrendous flushing that I and others do.
This type of flushing is supported by excessive blood vessels which usually need to be removed by IPL and or laser.
I can't imagine diet being about to accomplish this.
I would like to know what your practitioner had to say about this aspect of rosacea.

Thanks!

[Megan]

Hi Melissa and Mistica, thanks for the compliments

You both ask about Zinc. The advantage of liquid zinc i think is that it is absorbed into your system quicker. Also there is the advantage of managing your levels through taste test. The rule of thumb is that if you put a capful in half a glass of water and taste it and don't notice anything except a slight furry metallic taste then your deficient. If you sip it and want to spit it out straight away because it's too strong flavoured then your levels are fine. Jacquie also gave me an extra strong amount to support the large amount of healing going on in my skin.

I took a capful in water every day. Mostly in the morning but if I forgot i took it whenever i saw it. When I began, after a couple of months i noticed the stronger taste and slowed down on it. Now i go though phases of taking it when i see the bottle.
I don't think there are any problems with taking it over a long period of time.
Jacquie explained that it is good for anyone, any time, no matter what their sikn type.. remember that australia is pretty deficient too, so our chances of acquiring it through food are reduced. She explained that she keeps a bottle in her own fridge constantly and checks her levels every couple of weeks.

The reason it is an ongoing process is because zinc doesn't store in our body over time. So deficiency happens often. Zinc is great for us becuse it supports skin and wound healing as well as immune function.

here is a web site i just found that may be useful...

http://ods.od.nih.gov/FactSheets/Zinc.asp

In relation to what level my skin was at during my first visit to Jacquie I haven't explained anywhere yet that I had been using acupuncture and chinese herbs for the year previous. I too had experienced extreme flushing, burning. I had to ice my face often. I'm a teacher and remember having to come into the staff room grab an ice pack and lay on the floor in my breaks.. I have very understanding collegues. I had also begun to develope broken blood vessels on my cheeks and the acne was constantly there, even into my hair line (infact I would see them in lines on my face and came to the conclusion that I was scratching them in my sleep).

The acupuncture and herbs focused on heat reduction and liver function. After the first couple of months of this, plus avoiding all the hot foods (according to chinese medicine), I had begun to see a reduction in the heat in my face. The redness and blood vessels reduced, but not enough. I just couldn't budge it. I followed it, religiously brewing up the herbal tea for a year and that's when my friend contacted me. So, I don't know if that is any help.

I personally don't see rosacea as a one way track. I see the skin as an organ that has a huge potential to regenerate and renew itself.

I recently talked to the friend who had recommended Jacquie and she's just as happy at her results. Her case: she had experienced for a number of years extreme psoriasis over her whole body (especially her legs). She also follows a lot of the same process as I do now.

I hope all this is useful for you, keep in touch if you want to know more,
Megan

p.s. sorry, I know I can go on a bit

[Megan]

Somethings that may also be useful... which I forgot to mention in my previous post is that when my skin was flourishing with constant pimples, heat, red lines it was very dry and flacky. I was always scared to touch it with anything. Instead Jacquie advised me to scrub it every day to get rid of the dead skin cells.

I use a cream scrub and foaming cleanser from Natural Instinct (Australian company, http://www.naturalinstinct.com.au/ ). I first thought that it would enhance the redness but instead it settled it down instantly as well. A big factor too was following this twice a day by the special 'R'/spot cream mix made by Jacquie. For sun protection I use Clinique City Block.

The cream made by Jacquie... I don't know it's contents. As you can see from her website she is a part of a much bigger group run by a Dr Triant. So the company must do research and develop the products used by the practitioners. What I especially like is that the products are natural and don't use any drug like chemicals. If you read Jacquie's profile you see that she has specialised in botanical medicine and nutrician. When I smell my cream it definately seems to contain a lot of oils.

[TheMediumDog]

Hi Megan,

Interested to read your story. Its great.

I would be curious to read anything more you might say about how you think your particular case of rosacea started, and also why you (or the doctor who helped you, Jacqui) think the elimination of these particular food-elements works.

I read the bit where you identified a 'general allergic reaction', started off by something (you mention hair dye) and then just kept going and going by the body's own processes. What I'd be interested in is whether all this is just something quite individual and specific to you, or whether (in Jacqui's explanation of it all) salicylates, amines and glutamates are, say, generally inflammatory foodstuffs.

[Megan]

Hi Medium Dog,

As I understand it from the graph drawn by Jacquie there was an initial external element that triggered my immune response. I've spent a while thinking back to what may have been the potential triggers and I can remember: having continuous red cheeks which I thought were from the cold UK weather, I began to treat it with a micro-dermabrasion product which I used more than recommended because I could see it began to be less affective (I put it down to vanity and ignorance, oh well J ); I was continually dying my hair (fashion); I was living in an old home that had it's share of dust and mould; stressed in a tough job; I was 29 (hence near that classic 30, possibly hormonal, never had an allergy of any kind in my life); and I am of German, English and Scottish heritage (and I've seen photos of relatives, there are plenty of red cheeks). Upon returning not much changed, I even moved into another old house equally as mouldy and dusty. So, to be honest I really can't pin it down to anyone one thing/event.

Now the next thing is that once faced with the initial cause, what ever it was, my body went on the defence and began to develop histamine. This is what all bodies do but what makes the case different for rosacea is that my body didn't know when to stop.

Aside: Before it was explained to me by Jacquie I remember reading the following research.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Dermatol...rmatology/6348

quote: "Acne rosacea appears to be caused by an overly zealous innate immune response and not by bacteria, investigators here said"

The histamine continues to be developed in my body and I help it along by continuing to eat all of the salicylate, amine and glutamate foods. From the study above I understand that my body, like other people with rosacea, is 'overly zealous', it doesn't know when to quit. It continues to fight even though the cause is gone.

Then, what happens in the body, when there is chronic inflammation, it switches from histamine to cytokines. These things are persistent and really don't know when to quit. (I saw there is a post on this forum about them too). My body develops a tolerance threshold and as I continue to not know what's going on, I fluctuate above and below the threshold, flaring sometimes and then settling down a bit at other times.

Her solution was to go on the low-reactive diet, the one I explained in the first post and zinc.

Another interesting fact is that when my body eats reactive foods, the sal's, am' and gluta's stay in the system for four days. That’s why now when I know I've over done it I can see how my body reacts and it often takes four/five days to pass. When I didn't have a clue about all of this I can see that I never went a day in the whole two and a half years without having something from the 'no' list.

I hope this is informative for you. I'm not sure that it's just a singular case of solution for me, as I mentioned before I have a friend, very bad psoriasis, follows the same process as me and she's looking excellent now as well.

Hey, on top of all that.. I have a friend who is a chemical engineer who informed me that salicylates are a form of, or related to, asprin. He's the expert not me. But it does make me think... I could never stomach asprin!

[Megan]

Sorry, forgot to add...

Linked to the quote: "Acne rosacea appears to be caused by an overly zealous innate immune response and not by bacteria". Bacteria is what is targeted when you're prescribed oral antibiotics and cream antibiotics.

[J-Mill]

Things I do eat!! Liquid Zinc, Liquid Zinc, Liquid Zinc (according to Jacqui... the magic piece of the puzzle), broccoli, pumpkin, peas, celery, legumes, pulses, potato, beans, spinach, carrots, squash, garlic, lettuce, cucumber (any vege or salad that isn't on the list above), rice, quinoa, cous cous, pasta (not wheat.. you can get some good ones from Organ ? the Italian style one is great! Could have wheat pasta too though), not too much bread, pears, pears, apples (golden delicious, red delicious, royal gala), mango, banana, and pears, paw paw, plain chips, hot chips, carob, marshmallows, all meats, biscuits (especially the hundreds and thousands ones), rice milk, cottage cheese, eggs, yoghurt, soft cheese, I could have cows milk but don't, peaches, lychees, cherries in moderation when in season, rockmelon, watermelon, salt, pepper, nutalex (like butter), raw sugar, golden syrup and I can't think of any of the rest... ask me later for more.

Rosacea is so strange, this is the diet I was more or less eating at the time I got Rosacea. I was running marathons at the time and was on a very strict, set diet.

Such is the mystery of Rosacea, I'm happy you found something that helps control yours. While I have not found that diet helps me at all, a number of people have success using this route, although not necessarily this diet.

The best thing about it, it's free to try!

I did have one question, in your initial post you indicating you tried medications prior and it did not improve at all. What medications did you try and was it literally no improvement from the first picture you posted? Curious due to the bizarre idiosyncratic nature of Rosacea, if yours was unresponsive to things like oral antibiotics it may help other determine whether their Rosacea is similar to yours. I wouldn't rule out bacteria as a possible cause in the pathogenesis of Rosacea in some people. Gallo's article on the immune system response did not note what the immune system was overactive about. Quite possible it could be in response to bacteria, such as the bacteria left by the demodex mite: http://rosacea-support.org/demodex-m...ia-causes.html as recent research has suggested.

[Megan]

J-Mill, so your a marshmallow lover too?

That sucks about the diet. It isn't as much what you do eat but what you don't eat. For me, as soon as I have a little tomato, orange, grape (in juice or as is), even honey I can feel the heat rising. I hope your still running? The best I do is dancing and racing around an indoor soccer court.

It is great that it's free! You actually save money because for the first couple of months it's a little too much hassle going out to dinner.

No I don't discount the idea of bacteria. I mentioned earlier that I noticed the acne would develop in lines on my face. I made the conclusion that I was scratching my face in my sleep and spreading the bacteria (horrible image I know). I just know that if my acne rosacea had been bacterial the antibiotics would have cleared it. Also, I know I refer to Jacqui all the time, if it was a bacterial infection it would continue to get worse and worse and worse. Instead rosacea flares resulting in high inflammation and low inflammation time periods.

I'm not exactly sure what you meant but the first picture was me only six months ago. I've had the rosacea for over two years before that. To start with, it wasn't acne rosacea. That came after about three months of realising there was a problem. In the first photo it was looking ok compared to many times before. I'm not sure about other cases but my rosacea was always present. Some periods where often more intense than others though. I really think in the second year the heat and liver Chinese herbs and acupuncture helped me in the short term get through those periods. Not permanently though.

Sorry, but I can't remember the names of the antibiotics prescribed to me in the first months (I was happy to throw the scripts away). I started with an oral pill I took every day for six months or so. For this there was no success... it just kept getting worse. From there I was prescribed Rosex (?) a topical antibiotic. Here I actually did see a bit of a clearing. My forehead settled down but I couldn't budge the redness on my cheeks (people always thought I had been severly bitten by a mosquito on both ). It cleared for around a month and a half and then gradually came back over three, four months even though I was still using the cream.

At this time the I was beginning to notice that broken blood vessels. My doctor told me the only treatment was laser. But, I know you think I am mistaken, I don't believe the idea that broken blood vessels are broken and can never be fixed. I'll say it again, skin is an amazing organ! It can regenerate itself amazingly. Probably not a precise analogy but think about bruises and cuts. Either way I posted earlier that I found the Chinese herbs and acupuncture affective here.

I looked into getting to a dermatologist... the waiting lists for most here (Australia) are over 12 months. Obviously this was a blow, made me fairly upset and also pee'd off. From there I wasn't feeling right relying on antibiotics that weren't working. I was especially getting concerned about what impact it was having on my own body, my liver especially. There were other drug options I could have taken but I'm not a fan of drugs. The idea of my bodies functions being dictated by an external element doesn't appeal to me. So that was my choice. I looked into acupuncture.

I was beginning to make these decisions when I got a luck appointment with a dermatologist. We had a five minute session where he looked at the computer the whole time. He asked a couple of brief questions and his conclusion was "some people have asthma, others have hay fever, you've got this" then he prescribed me antibiotics. Instructing me to take the pill and use the cream at the same time for as long as it takes. Then I was out the door. Probably not a good example of the profession at all but it kind of confirmed my opinion and decision not to listen to him.

One thing that helped me a lot was counseling. I went regularly to talk and the topics only once or twice delved into my childhood and past. I'm saying this because I still found it very valuable and think it's a smart option. Also, because I know there is no disagreement about the big impact rosacea/acne rosacea has on mental health, self worth, self acceptance etc.

I went frequently to begin with (remember I'd had been living with it for over a year at this stage) and once a month after four months. Our sessions were more like life coaching sessions. We would spend the time talking about interactions I was having with others in my life and myself in my head. It was also about taking responsibility for myself. Thinking back, I think I rarely talked directly about my face at all during the sessions. It was very self empowering and useful. To be honest. I've learnt so much about myself and made so many valuable changes internally and externally that I'm not sure I'd say no if offered to go through rosacea again. Yeah it completely sucked!! It hurt! I couldn't keep my face a secret! I felt completely hopeless and angry often! I had to start looking beyond it! I had to see what my family and friends saw in me! So I guess my message is... don't be scared to see someone, give yourself time to cry (I did in the shower) and don't feel sorry for yourself. Take advantage of the opportunities that come your way.