Scars Are Not Healing, Please Help Me

[ursidae]

I actually considered donating but at my current weight I probably can't, so hopefully menstruation will help flush my system

Another detail that I realized that might be worth mentioning: mother had amalgam fillings for many years, probably while she was pregnant with me or maybe she had them removed a bit before that. I was breastfed. Also had braces for several years and still have a thin permanent wire to hold the teeth together. I'm not entirely sure the material is inert and whether it has leached into my system causing issues. So it's probably not safe to do a liver flush

 

[Nicole W.]

Hello, I just signed up
I've been reading some of the threads on this forum for the past few months. I'm 19 years old and have always been acne prone and struggled with digestion issues. Three years ago I developed hirsutism, insomnia, depression, irregular cycle and was found to have a cyst on one of my ovaries. Blood tests at the time showed high testosterone, low estrogen. I began researching PCOS and adjusted my diet over the years to one that involves eating huge quantities of vegetables, some fruit, legumes, occasionally fish and nuts, spearmint tea to lower androgens. No sugar, dairy, land meat, high GI foods, nothing processed. It worked at keeping the acne at bay but I had digestion issues, sleep issues, low energy, anxiety, kept losing weight, was always cold. I stumbled on this forum and decided to boost my caloric intake, eat lots of potatoes, oranges, dairy, rice, liver. I felt great, had lots of energy, was finally able to sleep and had no intestinal discomfort.

However! it completely ruined my skin. Sebum production was over the roof and every time I ate a high GI food I'd get hot flashes. For the first time ever cysts appeared and it greatly exacerbated my sebborrhoeic dermatitis.I've been fighting the breakout this diet induced for three months and to my horror for the first time in my life it started leaving atrophic scars. They are minor for now but distress me greatly, because every lesion is now a potential scar and I'm facing the possibility of being slowly disfigured by this. I visited a dermatologist- she said the location (chin, jawline, cheeks) indicates it is hormonal, she said to eat lots of greens, parsley, fish and walnuts and referred me to an endocrinologist. The endocrinologist was shocked that I weigh 4kg less than I did three years ago when I first visited her. She said my body is practically degenerating and I could do a three month birth control course or take a PCOS supplement that normalizes blood sugar. I chose the supplement as I feared that the birth control could result in an initial breakout and even worse scarring. I had my blood tests done and they indicated high androstendione, high DHEAs, high prolactin, low vit D (despite me supplementing for months and spending time in the sun), LH to FSH ratio of 3.5 to 1 instead of 1:1!, normal testosterone, low chlorides. TSH was 2, T4was low (11.59), T3 was within range (4.62). Glucose within range.

Currently I eat leafy greens, salmon, some fruit, some nuts, mussels, green and spearmint tea, occasionally rye bread and hummus. A spoon of gellatin every morning and evening. I started taking zinc, vit D, magnesium, B complex, B3, folic acid, selenium, chormium, hyaluronic acid, CO-Q10 in a desperate attempt to get this thing under control. So far it has worked to normalize sebum production and inflammation to some extent. I still get acne, but it's less inflamed. No more oral thrush. I am wondering if that is due to the (inevitabl) caloric restriction. However the scars are not healing and new ones are forming daily. I've also adjusted my lifestyle according to this regimen A Zinc-Less Zinc Regimen For Adults: Draft 5 in order to maximize ZSOD production. I go to sleep at 8:30, still struggle to fall asleep and wake up at 6. Spending almost the entire day outside at 5 deg celsius, that's how desperate I am at this point.

My question is, why am I not healing, is it because I'm hypothyroid? How do I stimulate wound healing while the atrophic scars are still fresh, be it internally or through topical application?

Thank you to whoever read all this, I know its a lot, but I'm really desperate and scared at this point and I don't know what to do.

I’m not sure this would be helpful or not, but I feel like maybe my own experience might lend some insight to yours. First, I am an Olympic-level skin picker. Always have been. It can get so bad that a few pokes at something on my face can quickly turn into a home surgery involving metal implements. I’m sure you get the idea. Bad, bad, bad, I know... but for various reasons I still do it and I’m almost 52.

At any rate, I really do a number on my skin (frequently) and am often left with straight-up wounds and scars. So, the next phase of this terrible habit is dealing with the scars to the best of my ability. I’ve gotten quite good at it actually. Through years of this I have learned that the slowest healing lesions are often the best healing ones. These are the ones that mostly disappear. All that is really required is patience. I know a lot of people might argue with me on this one, but this has been my experience. When my body takes it’s time to heal, and that can be up to a year!, I find it does the best job. When my scars heal quickly, its also usually imperfectly and I’m left with a divot of some sort.

To be honest, if you saw me you would never really know that I pick at my skin. At 52, it looks pretty good to be honest. I’m good at disguising the raw lesions with concealer and such, but also I have a pretty good protocol for healing them. I want to stress though, that anything you put on topically will not make up for bad nutrition or life style. That absolutely has to come first.

Basically, I use three things to heal my skin. Rice flour as a mask or scrub/ cleanser, manuka honey about 3 times a week as a mask, and ghee or washed ghee which I make myself. Washed Ghee takes a lot of time to prepare but it has some great properties. If your don’t want to bother with that, regular ghee is the next best thing. It has a lot of retinol in it as well as vitamin e. I use the ghee/ washed ghee as a moisturizer once a day. I go to bed with a clean face typically because my skin is not dry. I mix a little rice flour with water to make a paste in the morning and use it as a mask or as a scrub. Be gentle with it, it can take a layer of skin off. If you’re not careful. It definitely helps with acne as does the honey. I find that if I’m diligent with these products my scars heal well (although not necessarily quickly) and my skin is left feeling good and healthy. I hope this helps.

 

[perkidan]

How is your saturated fat intake? Fixing that could help with vitamin D absorption and help balance out PUFA ratios.

 

[accelerator]

I second that. This ultra-high zinc approach is absolutely risky.

Atrophic scars don’t heal by themselves.

But micro-needling/derma-Rolling is an effective way to mitigate them over time and regain substance and functional tissue in place of the scars.
That can be assisted with (all topical) Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Limonene, GABA.
The tissue need help with cell energy metabolism because normal cell respiration is defunct in scars. Methylene Blue, Q10, B1, B2 and succinct acid can help there.
You’re very young. If it start needling after getting thoroughly familiar with the procedure you will be without scars in 3 years. It takes sone time for the tissue to regenerate but your skin will be very good.

The quicker but stupider and less sustainable method is to fill up substance defects with fillers. If the scars threats to make you dysmorphic, ask a doctor about it. Which Country you’re located?

Is this something you did yourself?

 

[LeeLemonoil]

yes. And seen patients taht done it. and read the meta-reviews. Best method out availbale to me excluding heavy reconstructive surgery

 

[ursidae]

I bear no illusion that I've ever been even close to healthy, but the deterioration is starting to become more rapid than usual. On top of metabolic syndrome, facial scarring, over the past few months I've been getting weird symptoms- green stool for weeks on end that normallized, dark brown tongue, my teeth have become yellow and I developed rosacea that is also deforming my skin and leaving weird wrinkly scars, tearthroughs are getting deeper and I also got melasma around my eyes, dry patches of skin -dertmatitis I assume-, hot flashes at night and nocturia. Stopped getting a period. Menopausal at 19 with the skin of an aids patient. Only time the multiple inflammatory diseases on my skin calmed down was when I got a bout of sinnusitis so severe I could not move or sleep from the pain

Got a glucose meter and my fasting glucose was 5.8, steadily moving into prediabetic direction and higher than four months ago. Keeping it calm in the midst of all this, honestly it's like watching a car crash in slow motion

 

[Terma]

You might have to consider infections e.g. staphylococcus (skin, sinus), fungal etc. even though your derm should have suspected. Potatoes, oranges, dairy all caused problems for me (ironically do better on limited doses of pure sugar, but not everyone). Liver and sugar should be limited doses and you'll have to try low fructose at some point [in the new regimen]. Birth control unlikely to help. You could try supplements with anti-proliferative action to offset androgens (off the top of my head, emodin, not necessarily appropriate). Not sure I'd suggest antibiotics but something along those lines and acne patients benefit from NAC (avoid daily use and not without sufficient protein) and some safer compounds have antibiotic effects (emodin again - haven't used it). All this affects intestines and you could still miss or poorly absorb some basic vitamins. Maybe someone else will have an idea about rosacea and hot flashes, sounds like RP territory. Top of my head, a lot of sounds familiar but don't have all the answers atm. Try to rule out heavy metals e.g..

 

[baccheion]

Have you had any tests run to check food allergies?

If not allergic to milk, there's the milk diet: 1.5 ounces per pound of body weight, increasing fat percentage depending on how much weight is desired. Use CRON-o-meter to see what handful of additional items would be required (eg, pineapple juice for more manganese and potassium citrate + salt to ensure net alkaline PRAL score). If settling on whole milk, no need to add anything other than vitamin C and iron.

How much magnesium per day? Low magnesium can interfere with vitamin D activation. Cortisol also opposes vitamin D. So do various infections. Maybe you need a megadose strategy (300-500 IU/kg/day, for example, with 1 mg+ MK-4 and 100 mcg+ MK-7 per 10,000 IU).

Any CRON-o-meter screenshot?

Iodine protocol is said to help with PCOS..

 

[redsun]

I bear no illusion that I've ever been even close to healthy, but the deterioration is starting to become more rapid than usual. On top of metabolic syndrome, facial scarring, over the past few months I've been getting weird symptoms- green stool for weeks on end that normallized, dark brown tongue, my teeth have become yellow and I developed rosacea that is also deforming my skin and leaving weird wrinkly scars, tearthroughs are getting deeper and I also got melasma around my eyes, dry patches of skin -dertmatitis I assume-, hot flashes at night and nocturia. Stopped getting a period. Menopausal at 19 with the skin of an aids patient. Only time the multiple inflammatory diseases on my skin calmed down was when I got a bout of sinnusitis so severe I could not move or sleep from the pain

Got a glucose meter and my fasting glucose was 5.8, steadily moving into prediabetic direction and higher than four months ago. Keeping it calm in the midst of all this, honestly it's like watching a car crash in slow motion

I assume you were tested for anemia and iron tests? If not that is something you need to do before anything else. Especially because you are a woman, taking minerals that can disrupt iron absorption such as zinc will only aggravate your problems. Iron is necessary for so many things and even doubly necessary as a woman to get enough.

You have likely messed yourself up with your diet changes from the start and from then on after. Iron tests and anemia tests need to be done if not done already. Supplements may be controlling some issues but they are not doing you much good.

Best thing to do is an elimination diet of sorts. Diet should be primarily red meats (but all meat is allowed), and easy to digest fruits. Dairy and eggs if you can consume them would also be very good. Especially eggs which are packed with cholesterol and nutrients which will help heal your gut. Just to clarify I think your gut is the main problem so minimizing fiber and all irritating substances while providing large amounts of animal proteins/fats, and carbs to heal. Supplements are just patching your issue, not fixing it and could be worsening it.

Also if you are histadelic (undermethylated), taking any folic acid supplements make you way worse and you need to be wary of that avoid it.

 

[Korven]

You might have to consider infections e.g. staphylococcus (skin, sinus), fungal etc. even though your derm should have suspected. Potatoes, oranges, dairy all caused problems for me (ironically do better on limited doses of pure sugar, but not everyone). Liver and sugar should be limited doses and you'll have to try low fructose at some point [in the new regimen]. Birth control unlikely to help. You could try supplements with anti-proliferative action to offset androgens (off the top of my head, emodin, not necessarily appropriate). Not sure I'd suggest antibiotics but something along those lines and acne patients benefit from NAC (avoid daily use and not without sufficient protein) and some safer compounds have antibiotic effects (emodin again - haven't used it). All this affects intestines and you could still miss or poorly absorb some basic vitamins. Maybe someone else will have an idea about rosacea and hot flashes, sounds like RP territory. Top of my head, a lot of sounds familiar but don't have all the answers atm. Try to rule out heavy metals e.g..

Any ideas of how to get rid of a chronic staph infection? Are antibiotics the best option?

I'm pretty sure I've been dealing with staph for many years. I think my nose is heavily colonized as I have had small white pustules in my nose for many years that sometimes creep down in my beard, and recently I have also been having bad boils on my back that look a lot like staph wounds. This is really messing with my self confidence and quality of life.

Not sure if I want to do a round of antibiotics as last time I took doxycycline for pneumonia it set me back quite a bit health-wise... Ugh I'm getting tired of having to deal with this

 

[Terma]

Any ideas of how to get rid of a chronic staph infection? Are antibiotics the best option?

I'm pretty sure I've been dealing with staph for many years. I think my nose is heavily colonized as I have had small white pustules in my nose for many years that sometimes creep down in my beard, and recently I have also been having bad boils on my back that look a lot like staph wounds. This is really messing with my self confidence and quality of life.

Not sure if I want to do a round of antibiotics as last time I took doxycycline for pneumonia it set me back quite a bit health-wise... Ugh I'm getting tired of having to deal with this

Emodin has some activity although I'm not sure the concentrations here :
The effect of emodin on Staphylococcus aureus strains in planktonic form and biofilm formation in vitro. - PubMed - NCBI
Aloe-emodin inhibits Staphylococcus aureus biofilms and extracellular protein production at the initial adhesion stage of biofilm development. - PubMed - NCBI
It seems responsive to NAC (I've done several grams, lower single digits):
N-acetylcysteine and vancomycin alone and in combination against staphylococci biofilm
Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms control by N-acetylcysteine and rifampicin. - PubMed - NCBI
though curiously it relies on glycine/serine to survive (but you need it for GSH and tons of things, I'm just not sure you want to supplement it):
Glycine plays key link in a deadly staph bacteria, Stanford researchers discover
Antibiotics seem like a crapshoot, see wikipedia. Haven't read all these in depth so something better might exist and people on some ME/CFS forums might know more since they spent a lot of time on specific infections in the past.
(I'm not saying this is what the OP has)

 

[Dino D]

did you ever tried carnivore or keto?

 

[Korven]

Emodin has some activity although I'm not sure the concentrations here :
The effect of emodin on Staphylococcus aureus strains in planktonic form and biofilm formation in vitro. - PubMed - NCBI
Aloe-emodin inhibits Staphylococcus aureus biofilms and extracellular protein production at the initial adhesion stage of biofilm development. - PubMed - NCBI
It seems responsive to NAC (I've done several grams, lower single digits):
N-acetylcysteine and vancomycin alone and in combination against staphylococci biofilm
Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms control by N-acetylcysteine and rifampicin. - PubMed - NCBI
though curiously it relies on glycine/serine to survive (but you need it for GSH and tons of things, I'm just not sure you want to supplement it):
Glycine plays key link in a deadly staph bacteria, Stanford researchers discover
Antibiotics seem like a crapshoot, see wikipedia. Haven't read all these in depth so something better might exist and people on some ME/CFS forums might know more since they spent a lot of time on specific infections in the past.
(I'm not saying this is what the OP has)

Thanks a lot man, I might give NAC a shoot. Does it have some unique properties or wouldn't loading up on cysteine from foods achieve the same thing, I guess it's related to glutathione status?

Tried taking he shou wu before, which contains a decent amount of emodin, but sadly didn't really help with this issue. Though maybe the dosage was off.

Yeah I'm not sure antibiotics will help long-term. Over at acne.org there are other people having this same issue with chronic staph and often their doc prescribes antibiotics which keeps things at bay for a few weeks, but then the bacteria returns again or you get some other bacterial overgrowth/fungal overgrowth. Often people just go with accutane as a last resort. Honestly I'm considering it now.

Sorry for derailing the thread but maybe the discussion helps OP as well.

 

[Terma]

Yeah when it works people notice a difference over dietary protein and it logically make cysteine more available for GSH, ignoring other theoretical effects (but sufficient serine/glycine is still required, depends on dietary levels/absorption I guess). Some people have negative side effects but the worst reports seem to be from chronic use. I don't know dosage of emodin atm. I'm sure there are several other things I'm just not thinking about.

 

[ursidae]

I haven't been tested for anything recently, last time (results in OP) iron was normal/on the high end. I reduced the number of supplements I take over the past few months since making the original post. This month it's been down to zinc only once every 6-7 days since I do not have access to quality red meat

I was on my own abroad with no support so it was hard to figure things out. I did a lot of experiments, elimination diets, was getting allergic reactions to everything I ate- dropped to 16.9 bmi at one point-couldnt digest anything. I finally found some relief and my skin started recovering a bit when I went back to low GI, started using ACV and digestive enzymes with every meal, Breuss juice every morning, diet of raw eggs, well boiled non starchy vegetables, boiled leaves, mushrooms, lots of zuccini, raw meat, red split lentils, salt and olive oil. Mood became stable and I've been much calmer since. It's possible that it was a fluke when it came to the acne but I'm sure the reduction in rosacea was due to the digestion aid. Living situation changed though so I had to drop the enzymes and raw meat, went higher in carb, started including some fructose and got worse again

My gut feeling is I poisoned myself eating all that liver in January so it will be a long time till I touch that stuff again. As for dairy and fruit-I know its a sore subject here but after reading all the Gbolduev stuff- conman or not- I do feel some people are simply not built to live on milk and fruit. I've been suffering hyperandrogenism/metabolic syndrome from a young age so there's a chance I was meant for the lower carb/carnivore/IF/slow oxidiser type of thing. I'm heading in that direction while researching betaine hcl as an option as I'm pretty sure I still have extremely low stomach acid (did the baking soda test today)

I considered histadelia and I do feel extensive blood and genetic testing will save a lot of time as opposed to trial and error experiments. For now though, with my limited financial resources I feel the only thing I can do is be more disciplined in systematizing things, tracking everything with the few means I have available. Will be logging food, measuring pulse, temperature, blood sugar, keeping track of sun exposure, etc. I was unusually irritable this morning at the time of the 5.8 measurement and became very emotional an hour later, started succumbing to self pity and becoming unstable which had become rare for me so I decided to measure my sugar again- it had dropped to 4.7 in one hour which I assume is related to the mood swings

As for heavy metals they're always on my mind. I was given fluoride pills as a kid for several years, still got spots on my teeth from the supplementation, then wore braces for a couple years and still have a retainer wire that I'll be getting out first chance I get. Drank lots of tap water last year. And the stuff about copper toxicity rings true for me but I'm getting scam vibes from those guys

I'm still looking for that missing link but the more I read, the more it feels like it is not something glaring and specific weighing me down, rather a general weakness and defficiency of energy or as mrchibbs puts it - inherited frailty

 

[mrchibbs]

I haven't been tested for anything recently, last time (results in OP) iron was normal/on the high end. I reduced the number of supplements I take over the past few months since making the original post. This month it's been down to zinc only once every 6-7 days since I do not have access to quality red meat

I'm still looking for that missing link but the more I read, the more it feels like it is not something glaring and specific weighing me down, rather a general weakness and defficiency of energy or as mrchibbs puts it - inherited frailty

Hey thanks for mentioning me, I'm deeply interesting in PCOS, because it seems to be exactly the same pathology as MPB. Both young men and young women suffer from similar cutaneous symptoms, hirsutism, and hair loss, and recent research strongly suggests that in both sexes the causes as the same: stress, which lowers thyroid function and lets estrogen run unopposed. In this state gonadal (i.e. ovaries/testicular) production of steroid is impaired, and the adrenals overproduce androgens (because the adrenal glands are not good at producing progesterone), and this explains your elevated DHEA and hirsutism.

Here is a quote from Ray's book From PMS to Menopause if you haven't read it let me know I'll send you a pdf copy:

By stimulating the adrenal glands, estrogen can increase the production of the "male" hormones that are associated with whiskers and chest hair. [E. C. Ditkoff, et al., "The impact of estrogen on adrenal androgen sensitivity and secretion in polycystic ovary syndrome," J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 80(2), 603-607, 1995.] This usually happens when a progesterone deficiency is combined with an excess of estrogen, as in the polycystic ovary syndrome and sometimes at menopause in animals, polycystic ovaries are caused by a deficiency of the thyroid hormone, and the same regulatory mechanisms seem to operate in women. The polycystic ovary syndrome is the most common endocrine disorder in women during the reproductive years, and may occur in 10% of them. [A. Dunaif, et al., eds. The Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Scientific; 1992.]​

I think from your background you may be a bit like me and have suffered from lifelong hypothyroidism from a really young age, which might explain your issues. Eating too much liver in January probably was too much retinol, and since your vitamin D is low, your thyroid was probably suppressed even further. Liver requirement increase in summer and with light exposure. You may need some vitamin E (Health Natura has a good one) to prevent vitamin A oxidation, and vitamin E should also help your ovaries work better. Can you find oysters instead of supplemental zinc? Also I would strongly urge you to buy some Progest-E, and apply it topically on your body. Particularly, shaving the areas where you have unwanted body hair, and then applying some MCT oil (or olive oil, coconut) along with several drops of progesterone, and massaging it into the skin, this could help several things.

It would over several months, reduce your body hair (especially in summer), and also act in a systemic way to increase progesterone throughout your body, which helps alleviate the symptoms of PCOS (deficiency of progesterone). Also make sure to eat more protein, as that helps against the stress, and go out everyday and spend much time in bright lights, which will help a lot of things. Bottomline trust your body, you're still so so so young at 19, there is nothing you can't recover from.

 

[ThinPicking]

Try this as an experiment.

Go back to a high caloric intake eating whatever you want but avoid like the plague homogenised dairy products.

For me at least, cheese and butter are fine but milk, ice cream and some yogurts must be unhomogenised to avoid intense acne and heal. Also check your labels, dairy is everywhere.

There's some great information on why this could be somewhere in this forum from Travis and others. I'll try to dig it out.

 

[SOMO]

Apply salt to the wound.

 

[Terma]

As for heavy metals they're always on my mind. I was given fluoride pills as a kid for several years, still got spots on my teeth from the supplementation, then wore braces for a couple years and still have a retainer wire that I'll be getting out first chance I get. Drank lots of tap water last year. And the stuff about copper toxicity rings true for me but I'm getting scam vibes from those guys

All I can say about that is I did temporarily better on smallish doses of iodine and boron after years of tap water plus cutting out fluoride, though the tap water probably had metals/sediment. Copper takes complicated chaperoning/shuttling to be beneficial instead of harmful requiring vitamins and hormones, as does retinoic acid - so when you eat too much liver you might feel too much copper, too much RA or both, maybe iron, maybe other things, and can affect brain/gut/hormones/immunity/joints/liver/skin. They are right it can cause damage as does iron but I'm not sure about their reasons since I know what you're referring to and it's why I prefer to stick to studies so I don't bother. You sound meticulous so I don't see why you wouldn't figure it out eventually.

 

[ursidae]

day 2 of carnivore elimination diet :meat, organs-no liver, raw yolks and coconut oil. supplementing betaine hcl with pepsin and additional digestive enzymes
hot flashes gone
itchiness gone
rosacea gone
rhinitis much better
tongue is cleaner
sense of smell is back after months of not having it
no gas and bloating
feeling sleepy when it gets dark and can finally fall asleep
vivid dreams and good recall probably all the b6

the bad
sharp pains in the stomach today followed by a persistent low grade headache hopefully i didnt give myself an ulcer with the hcl
forehead is inflamed and very reactive
breaking out slightly along the jawline
feeling like death, skating along the edges of insanity, meat is becoming repulsive at this point. Finding it tempting to cling on to normalcy but then I remember it's what got me here in the first place

to be continued