Adult Acne

[Tici]

I am 30 and have been having the worst bout of acne I have ever had in my life.

Big , red and very sore pimples just around my chin area and my neck.

I have a few suspisions on what's causing it but I'm just not sure.

I have a bit of nervous stress going on and while my diest is 80% good it could be better ( if I cut out the chips and chocloate :unsure: not that i eat that much of them though)
I really don't think that's the sole cause because I have previously in my life had a terrible diet and the acne was never this bad.

Ive even thought it may be DD's hair (oils and such from it?) as that is where I always rest my head when we are hugging or when she is on my lap etc.

Any other ideas on what could be causing it ? .. I 'm just treating it with a scarless healer cream (calendular) .. Ive tried tea tree but find it too drying and makes the area redder. Ive tried everything.

I'm more just wondering what could be the actual cause but if anyone has suggestions on getting rid of it too I'd love any thoughts.

It batters my self confidence and makes me not want to engage in conversations with anyone. it's just awful and will not go away.

:tear: <--- big,red sore pimple.

[justine]

I think I read somewhere that people who suffer from Acne may have low Zinc levels.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

What are your suspicions?

[Tici]

I've heard about the zinc just recently and I am trying that too. Thanks Justine ( oh and justine ! I sent you a pm about that book , check your pm's :) )

My suspicions are - what I mentioned.... bit of stress = low vit c , DD's hair... bit of my diet.

Also, picking doesn't help (even if you use tissue) , but who wants to go out of the house will big yellow pussy (sp?) mountains on their face ? :(


I mentioned it to my doc this afternoon, I saw him about something unrelated ... he told me that vit C wouldn't work !!! I know, I know, not surprising .. and to come in and get a script for Clindamycin (an AB).

I'm going to see how high doses of SA go first. Ive put post it notes everywhere to remind me to have it more.

Has anybody had and successfully treated bad acne ?

[Tici]

Do you have any thoughts on what causes acne MT ?

[Paper Cut]

For topical (and internal) treatment to ease the pain of them... Virgin food grade Coconut oil :) ... have you heard of the "oil cleansing method"? if not google... I use olive oil and coconut oil for the cleansing and coconut oil as my moisturizer... My hubby gets those sort of pimples on his back quite regularly... if they are particularly bad I spend a good half an hour massaging in lots of coconut oil... it also works for the blind ones (u know the ones that hurt like hell) that come up on occasion on my face... I spend a good few mins before bed after my shower massaging in some CO to the area - the redness and pain is significantly reduced by the next day.... I find if I dont CO my hubbys back at least once a week his come back... I rarely get them on my face now as I use CO oil as an every day face moisturizer.

[Sarah]

Not sure if my experience with acne will have any relevance to your situation as I have not had any sort of acne since I was in my twenties when I suffered from them terribly. After going to a naturopath at the age of 22, after years of suffering from painful, red, hard pimples over my face. I was advised to stop eating dairy and wheat products. I have had great skin ever since, and hardly ever get a pimple. I believe you can become sensitive to foods as you get older that may not have affected you before. There is one thing though that I have noticed, which may seem a little odd, my doctor almost laughed at me when I asked her about it, but on the very few occasion that I have noticed a small lump like pimple on my face, I will always find a white spot on my tonsils, which I then remove. My doctor said that this is just food getting stuck in my tonsils, which it probably is, but I feel that there definately seems a link between throat/tonsil health and pimples. The only other scenario I know of is a friends daughter who also suffers from severe acne, face, neck and shoulders. Apparently so painful it hurts for her to roll over in bed at night. She dyed her hair recently, and being keen to keep the new colour in as long as possible, had not washed her hair for over 2 weeks. My friends comment - her hair has never been in such good condition, and her acne has completely disappeared! Not sure if any of my waffling is of any help, but I do know how confidence zapping it can be. There will be a solution, but antibiotics are not the way to go. My doctor put me on tetraclycline for acne for a year - I am 39 now and I believe I am still living with the terrible effects it had on my immune system.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

sugar dairy and wheat can be triggers for some people.

My neighbour drinks the juice of a lemon in hot water, every morning, through a straw so as not to touch her teeth. She reckons that that has been the best thing she's ever done.

Lemon is an alkaliniser. That may be part of the answer. making sure that your food sources are primarily alkalinising.

So some ph strips might be useful to see if that's an issue as per here: http://www.alkaline-alkaline.com/acid_akaline_and_mineral.pdf

[cartersmom]

I, too have terrible acne. The oil cleansing method did not work for me. Nothing natural topically helped me. I am now gluten free and rarely have dairy (when I do it is goat dairy), my skin has improved. It is not where I'd like it to be, but it's better. Problem is now I have soooooo many of the ugly red scars that take months to years to fade. Some only get brown and never seem to go away. One thing topically that did help for a bit was African Black Soap.

I agree it is more about the internal terrein that it is about the outside. Look at diet, try eliminating dairy, coffee and gluten for a while. Also acne can be hormonal. Maybe your hormones need balancing??

[Sarah]

I read the other day that there is a belief that teenage acne is caused by the consumption of too much dairy at a time when hormone levels are very high, and the combination of the high levels of estrogeon (spelling??) in milk can cause acne. As our hormone levels can fluctuate also - maybe another reason to cut out the milk?

[Tici]

Ive never had to think about eliminating anything before , never been on any diets ever ... sounds challenging but I'm willing to give it a go to clear my face up.

My body is telling me something isnt right.

I am about 3 - 4 kilos underweight , feeling a bit high strung (so could be hormonal) , and have this bad acne .. and although I am not getting any other sicknesses eg. colds or flu's or anything (I haven't had either of those for a few years now - *touch wood* ) I just know something isn't right. We want to try for another baby soon but my body certainly doesn't feel healthy enough right now. I think it's expressing that in this acne.
So interesting these bodies of ours.

I'm not a huge milk drinker though .. only in tea and porridge and I only have those once a day in the morning. I only drink organic , unhomogenised milk. The thought of cutting milk out scares me !?
I supplement with magnesium everyday and take Cod liver oil every second day.

Thanks for the link Hilary that is a very interesting read.

let you all know how I go with the pH test .. we should all do it :)

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts I certainly have more to work with.

[Serephina]

Tici how are your bowels? I know it seems like a funny question, but in naturopath medicine the health of the bowels and liver are strongly linked to acne. If you are not having a good bowel movement at least once, preferably twice a day then that's something you might want to look into. I know I've said it a hundred times before but gut health is so important.

Like Sarah and MT mentioned sugar, wheat and dairy are common triggers for a lot of people. Increasing your consumption of good fats (like fish oil), leafy green and water can only help too.

[Tici]

No nut a funny question at all, Serephina. My bowels are good, all normal and regular 99% of the time. According to those charts where you can look at stools I'm in the norm there. And I have no trouble at all :)

I know if I have been constipated in the past my skin definetely starts to act up .. but it's a very different acne to this.

When my bowels havent been right in the past I get little bits of acne on my forehead or the odd tiny red spots. Nothing in comparison to this.