For the last two months I have been struggling with the worst acne of my life. I never had it this bad as a teenager or during pregnancy with all of those hormonal shifts, and it is driving me absolutely insane! I’ve also been gaining weight instead of losing (and working out like 6 days a week and eating clean), which is frustrating in itself. My husband told me he feels like he’s dating a teenager lately, the turd.
I finally took 5 minutes to talk to one of the providers in my office this week (I work at a medical center), and she is starting me on a couple of different supplements and a topical cream to see if we can flush out the toxins and get my skin back in balance. The severity of the breakouts vacillates a little throughout the month, and the way it is now is about the best it’s been since this all started in June. I honestly don’t have a photo of my face at its worst because I hate how I look right now, and when I do take photos, I tend to (1) have it covered as best I can with make-up, or (2) use a photo app to hide the zits. It’s vain I know, but GAH do I feel supremely uncomfortable with how I look right now. This picture below is from yesterday afternoon WITH makeup on, and it still looks horrible.
SO…here’s the plan for at least the next two weeks if not longer…
- Clindamycin Phosphate 1% – I’ll apply this twice daily after washing my face. So far it BURNS, which is insult to injury, because even with insurance this cost me $65 at the pharmacy. Ugh.
- Metformin – I just started a 250mg daily dosage of metformin at night (for a whopping $4 copay, whohoo!). Ironically enough, I’ve never taken this, because even though I have PCOS, I always used myo-inositol instead of met. I’m hoping as a side effect of this I’ll drop a couple pounds too, ha! If I don’t have side effects at the 250mg dose I’m supposed to up it to 500mg daily.
- Super Multidophilus 24 (probiotic) – 2 per day.
- Grapefruit See Extract – Yeast Fighting Formula (to help fight off infections and viruses in my body) – 2 times per day for 5 days
- No Sugar / No Alcohol – Starting next Monday, I’m going to cut out all sugar (2 servings of fresh fruit per day is okay) and alcohol for 2 weeks to see if this can help reset my body. I don’t eat a ton of sugar anyway, but I’m willing to try anything if it means I can get my face fixed up!
Has anyone else struggled with adult-onset acne? How did you help resolve it? I’m so tired of looking like a teenager!