Why does everything "good" make my acne worse?

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Everything that has purported benefits for acne seems to make me breakout and it is so frustrating! Obviously, my acne is being driven by issues I have yet to resolve such as low thyroid function & estrogen dominance... but things that are meant to be therapeutic when you are in that state just make my skin worse. It is definitely the supplements- I have done several experiments (e.g., not taking anything else and waiting for a few days to see effect) and the following always cause a huge breakout:

Beef liver (raw and dessicated)
Vitamin E
Dessicated oysters (raw never seemed to do anything)
Milk - any kind, a2/raw
Vitamin A (retinyl palmitate)

I have tried to address everything else I can think of- eating raw carrot salad every day, taking digestive enzymes/hcl, cascara, eating more & every 3 hours, cutting out dairy & sugar except fruit, sleeping more....I know there are other long time acne sufferers on here so can anyone share thoughts or advice? I am not under the impression that these are magical cures but WHY would they make things worse when all everyone talks about is that they should help?!
 
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curious_anthro
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Dec 3, 2020
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202
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UK
My experience is similar
I have done some further digging and wonder if perhaps it is a 'purge' occurring.

I listened to an interesting podcast with someone called Robyn Johnson who is a 'hormone/skin dietitian' and, while I don't agree with some of her approaches, she discusses noticing this 'purge' happen in her clients when they introduce such supplements and start mobilizing estrogen and iron. She suggests removing certain foods temporarily that may be making it worse (i.e., dairy) and riding out the purge which can take quite a long time in some people. I have to admit I have never tried taking any of those supplements for more than a month as the breakouts freaked me out... she also says some people are dealing with undetected localized and systemic infections.

Any thoughts about any of that based on your experience?
 

ursidae

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I have done some further digging and wonder if perhaps it is a 'purge' occurring.

I listened to an interesting podcast with someone called Robyn Johnson who is a 'hormone/skin dietitian' and, while I don't agree with some of her approaches, she discusses noticing this 'purge' happen in her clients when they introduce such supplements and start mobilizing estrogen and iron. She suggests removing certain foods temporarily that may be making it worse (i.e., dairy) and riding out the purge which can take quite a long time in some people. I have to admit I have never tried taking any of those supplements for more than a month as the breakouts freaked me out... she also says some people are dealing with undetected localized and systemic infections.

Any thoughts about any of that based on your experience?

when it comes to liver and vitamin A supplements, I can see a “purge” happening as isotretinoin does cause an initial worsening of acne. I think that’s related to the increase in desquamation which will lead to a large breakout if you have a lot of closed comedones

I think the most relevant tests for acne are

2 hour OGTT - along with blood glucose, insulin being tested at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes
DHEAS if there is an inverse relationship between your BMI and waist circumference and acne severity
IGF-1, SHBG


I agree about the undetected infections. I believe that mold exposure is an underestimated factor for anyone with skin issues. Infections, heavy metal toxicity, mineral imbalances, digestion/malabsorption/stomach acidity in my opinion are the most worthwhile things to focus on as they support general health and get closer to the root cause. On the other hand zeroing in on the specific hormones I mentioned should be secondary as they are more peripheral/ an end product in the chain of dysfunction.

If I had to assemble these actions stepwise, it would be logical that the first thing to do is ensure digestion is efficient is ( Gastric pH, pancreatic elastase, SIBO can be tested) and transit time/gut motility are good
 
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