Thank you all for your incredible support and sharing of your journeys in last week’s post. If you didn’t read part #1 of my struggles with adult acne, I highly recommend you take a walk down memory lane HERE.
For those of you who need a refresher, in the last few years I’ve developed a bad case of adult hormonal acne. A lot of factors played into it as explained in part #1, but today’s post is going to focus on the changes I’ve made to try to improve the situation.
We left off where my doctor suggested I try antibiotics to control my acne and attempt to clear it up. Since I was feeling fairly certain that the acne was being caused by my birth control, it just didn’t feel right to combat one medication with another. So instead I decided to remove my IUD.
Here’s where things begin to look up (slightly). Within two weeks of removing it, my skin started to clear up. I saw massive improvement on my chest and back and slight improvements on my jawline, cheeks and side of forehead. It certainly wasn’t back to where I was before this whole debacle began, but I’d take it.
I decided to try healing my skin naturally using all-natural skincare products and diet.
My skincare regimen has been pretty hippie natural for years so it wasn’t as though I was changing anything drastically, just adding in more hydrating and cleansing face masks and eliminating most dairy. I tried following Alissa Vitti’s Woman Code protocol and truthfully didn’t notice anything dramatic.
For about a year my skin pretty much stayed the same. Redness and little bumps throughout the month and large cystic acne around my jawline/mouth around that time of the month. It was disheartening and I began to worry that something deeper was going on.
A friend of mine suggested that I see naturopath to see if there was anything I hadn’t explored yet. This would end up being the best decision I could have made for my skin.
I ended up setting up a session with Dr. Makoto Trotter in Toronto (who I highly recommend) to discuss naturopathic dermatology and how we might be able to improve my skin condition. He was patient and open-minded and I never once felt pressured to do anything dramatic like an elimination diet or restrictive protocol. He suggested we start with blood work to see if anything obvious was going on and take it from there.
After getting blood work done, nothing hugely obvious stood out which was a huge relief to me. I also kept a food diary but then opted not to get a food sensitivities test. I’m confident and comfortable in my diet and would rather not feel like I had to eliminate food groups or ingredients. For me, this type of approach toward food can be dangerous and I’m better off letting my intuition guide my food choices.
We still had some digging to do in terms of the greater issue going on, but it made sense to start incorporating some supplements to help support my body’s natural elimination processes and see if that could help at all.
Simultaneously, I was connected to an awesome local supplement company called Orange Naturals (owned by Can Prev) who reached out about me trying some of their products. Their line of supplements is vast and includes pretty much every supplement, tincture and homeopathic remedy under the sun. Their products are designed by licensed, Canadian naturopathic doctors and are made from the cleanest raw materials from local Canadian suppliers.
If you’re anything like me, purchasing supplements can be an overwhelming and confusing process, but with my list of supplements from my naturopath and confidence in my supplement products, I felt a lot more comfortable starting a daily supplement regimen.
This regimen consists of:
–Zinc
–B-Complex
–Adult Multi (includes 1000mg of Vitamin D for two)
–Omega-3 fish oil
I’ve never been a supplement person because of the caution and confusion I mentioned above, but I have to say, I was BLOWN AWAY by the results. I wouldn’t call it an overnight success, but a definite and very clear improvement in the state of my skin. I started to feel more confident going outside without makeup on (finally!) and was starting to feel more optimistic about tackling this issue.
Stay tuned for next week’s post where I’m sharing my skincare regimen and other helpful tips that have actually helped me clear up my skin.
Are you a supplement person? If so, what supplements do you take?
*note: I was provided free samples of Orange Naturals but was not compensated for this post. The links are not affiliate links. I genuinely just love the product and highly recommend it!
The post My Struggles with Adult Acne {Part 2} appeared first on The Healthy Maven.