Acne Psychology

Off Topic
1

I know this comes up every once and a while, but i suffer from mild acne, and I know tons of tricks to keep it under control. This thread isn’t about that. I’m 22 and i still have it. i know it will go away eventually but in the meantime i was wondering how some other people who have it deal with it daily. how do you keep yourself from being self conscious? how do you look people in the face when you talk to them etc, not think about it. what kind of psychological tricks can you do to ignore it?

I've started to enter the realm of an intermediate lifter, and i have some mass to me, with the acne I don't want people to think I'm juicing in everyday life
2

I think you have high and unrealistic hopes if at 22 you still have acne and think it will go away.

I was in the same place, started at 16 and went through till 22, where I did 4 months of low dose accutane. Get some accutane and get rid of it.

I still get occasional spots, but the self-concious thing is gone and I never worry about it anymore.

3

[quote]schultzie wrote:

I've started to enter the realm of an intermediate lifter, and i have some mass to me, with the acne I don't want people to think I'm juicing in everyday life[/quote]

Once you get big enough people are going to think you’re on steroids anyway, might as well go all the way with it.

4

[quote]rsg wrote:
I think you have high and unrealistic hopes if at 22 you still have acne and think it will go away.

I was in the same place, started at 16 and went through till 22, where I did 4 months of low dose accutane. Get some accutane and get rid of it.

I still get occasional spots, but the self-concious thing is gone and I never worry about it anymore.[/quote]

So i need to find a derm, and either pay for it, or somehow get it covered (canadian). I have no experience with doctors, in fact, my family doctor retired 4 years ago and i havn’t seen one since. i really need a physical i think.

The T makes it worse. Milk is brutal breakouts. ZMA breaks me out. fuck… sweating and not washing my face right away break me out.

its weird though because none of my family or extended family have it.

5

[quote]schultzie wrote:
So i need to find a derm, and either pay for it, or somehow get it covered (canadian). I have no experience with doctors, in fact, my family doctor retired 4 years ago and i havn’t seen one since. i really need a physical i think.

The T makes it worse. Milk is brutal breakouts. ZMA breaks me out. fuck… sweating and not washing my face right away break me out.

its weird though because none of my family or extended family have it.
[/quote]

Trust me I was in the same position - none of my family had it and the ones that did got a spot every now and then.

I got Isotretinoin from chemone (I don’t think they sell it anymore), but you could probably find it from a research lab somewhere for next to nothing compared to what a prescription costs.

To be safe, I went a low dose route (10-20mg a day), while the average doctor prescribes 40-80mg per day. I had minimal sides, and think it’s the most effective remedy there is.

If anything, it may be an idea to get your blood work done before and after if you do consider taking this. I still have a bottle left, but it’s now over 1.5 years old so I don’t know how long it’s shelf life is.

6

[quote]rsg wrote:
schultzie wrote:
So i need to find a derm, and either pay for it, or somehow get it covered (canadian). I have no experience with doctors, in fact, my family doctor retired 4 years ago and i havn’t seen one since. i really need a physical i think.

The T makes it worse. Milk is brutal breakouts. ZMA breaks me out. fuck… sweating and not washing my face right away break me out.

its weird though because none of my family or extended family have it.

Trust me I was in the same position - none of my family had it and the ones that did got a spot every now and then.

I got Isotretinoin from chemone (I don’t think they sell it anymore), but you could probably find it from a research lab somewhere for next to nothing compared to what a prescription costs.

To be safe, I went a low dose route (10-20mg a day), while the average doctor prescribes 40-80mg per day. I had minimal sides, and think it’s the most effective remedy there is.

If anything, it may be an idea to get your blood work done before and after if you do consider taking this. I still have a bottle left, but it’s now over 1.5 years old so I don’t know how long it’s shelf life is.[/quote]

I’m not saying this is bad advice, because it obviously worked for RSG, but don’t play pharmacist without A LOT of research. And I mean A LOT. Seeing as how I took accutane, and it worked wonders with little side effects for me, don’t be a cowboy with this medication.

If it really bothers you that much, make a change in your life, and be done with it. Don’t want to go to a doctor? Don’t complain about the acne then. But don’t just start taking medication without consulting a physician or dermatologist first. If this truly bothers you this much to make a thread about it, you should be willing to see a doctor. Acne is fairly “curable” so theres no reason that you shouldn’t be able to rid yourself of it.

Be willing to pay the price. Good luck.

7

I’m a lifelong acne sufferer (currently 34 year old) and have tried virtually every treatment.

  • During my teens I was put on about 4-5 different antibiotics (my prescription changed as each stopped working).

  • Accutane on 3 different occasions (each time it cleared my skin but months later it returned)

  • Mega high doses of certain vitamins (surprisingly it helped quite a bit, but living on such high doses wasn’t something I wanted to do for any extended period of time)
    ,

  • Many of the “hippy” solutions - although they never seemed to make a difference.

Currently I’m not taking anything (past 6 months) and have gotten control over my acne by following Dr Alan Logan’s recommendations:

He does recommend a few vitamins, but it’s very conservative and I opted to skip them and still got amazing results.

Essentially:

Avoid all dairy (and related products)
Eat low GI foods
Eat high protein (low saturated fats)
Supplement with fish oil

T-Nation also has an interview with him,
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1739961
,although it made it seem like certain “dairy products” were OK. They aren’t if you are prone to acne. Opt for non-dairy versions of these products - like egg.

Trust me I know you’re pain. Give it an honest try for a month or two and you will see a difference.

If you have any questions you can PM me.

8

Sorry I just CANT do low carb. I started out super skinny and I’m still relatively lean, i have a high carb tolerance and I LOAD UP on them, like 500 - 600g a day. I’ve tried lower carb diets in the past and they just made me feel weak and small.

Accutane at a low dose seems like the logical answer, except I read one of the side effects was loss of energy. I’d rather have acne than not be able to train super heavy for a few months.

Im going to call one of my friends doctors today and see if I can become a patient. Get a full physical, fucking STD test (a few questionable fucks, no sign of anything though) and ask about accutane.

I want to know if i have thyroid problems as its hereditary on my dads side as well. My eyes are a bit bulgy so i think i might have hyperthyroidism

9

[quote]schultzie wrote:
Sorry I just CANT do low carb. I started out super skinny and I’m still relatively lean, i have a high carb tolerance and I LOAD UP on them, like 500 - 600g a day. I’ve tried lower carb diets in the past and they just made me feel weak and small.

Accutane at a low dose seems like the logical answer, except I read one of the side effects was loss of energy. I’d rather have acne than not be able to train super heavy for a few months.

Im going to call one of my friends doctors today and see if I can become a patient. Get a full physical, fucking STD test (a few questionable fucks, no sign of anything though) and ask about accutane.

I want to know if i have thyroid problems as its hereditary on my dads side as well. My eyes are a bit bulgy so i think i might have hyperthyroidism[/quote]

I made some of my best gains while I was on accutane. I know for a fact it was during that period, because I took the medication very seriously (got all my blood tests done on time, watched my skin carefully and didnt drink the WHOLE time I was on it for 5 months.)

Good man on getting the appointment, though. Honestly, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the listed side effects before you knock it, because I was scared to death of all of them, and I had almost none. I certainly don’t remember being lethargic. But, then again, I was willing to do whatever it takes and use as directed.

10

[quote]Sewerhooker wrote:
I’m a lifelong acne sufferer (currently 34 year old) and have tried virtually every treatment.

  • During my teens I was put on about 4-5 different antibiotics (my prescription changed as each stopped working).

  • Accutane on 3 different occasions (each time it cleared my skin but months later it returned)

  • Mega high doses of certain vitamins (surprisingly it helped quite a bit, but living on such high doses wasn’t something I wanted to do for any extended period of time)
    ,

  • Many of the “hippy” solutions - although they never seemed to make a difference.

Currently I’m not taking anything (past 6 months) and have gotten control over my acne by following Dr Alan Logan’s recommendations:

He does recommend a few vitamins, but it’s very conservative and I opted to skip them and still got amazing results.

Essentially:

Avoid all dairy (and related products)
Eat low GI foods
Eat high protein (low saturated fats)
Supplement with fish oil

T-Nation also has an interview with him,
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1739961
,although it made it seem like certain “dairy products” were OK. They aren’t if you are prone to acne. Opt for non-dairy versions of these products - like egg.

Trust me I know you’re pain. Give it an honest try for a month or two and you will see a difference.

If you have any questions you can PM me.[/quote]

Wow, I feel for you, and I’m glad things worked out. This is a great example of how putting the effort is certainly arduous, but worth it.

11

[quote]schultzie wrote:
Sorry I just CANT do low carb. I started out super skinny and I’m still relatively lean, i have a high carb tolerance and I LOAD UP on them, like 500 - 600g a day. I’ve tried lower carb diets in the past and they just made me feel weak and small.

[/quote]

Do you eat a lot of potatoes? I know someone who breaks out after eating them. They can eat more than anyone I know and stay lean.

12

[quote]schultzie wrote:
Sorry I just CANT do low carb. I started out super skinny and I’m still relatively lean, i have a high carb tolerance and I LOAD UP on them, like 500 - 600g a day. I’ve tried lower carb diets in the past and they just made me feel weak and small.

Accutane at a low dose seems like the logical answer, except I read one of the side effects was loss of energy. I’d rather have acne than not be able to train super heavy for a few months.

Im going to call one of my friends doctors today and see if I can become a patient. Get a full physical, fucking STD test (a few questionable fucks, no sign of anything though) and ask about accutane.

I want to know if i have thyroid problems as its hereditary on my dads side as well. My eyes are a bit bulgy so i think i might have hyperthyroidism[/quote]

When I started eating meat again, most of my calories still came from carbs, like 60-70%. I decided to try the low carb thing 2 or 3 years ago, just as a goof, but after getting past the first few weeks of feeling like shit, it’s been great and I’m only sorry I didn’t try this years ago.

My acne also cleared up significantly. I never had it bad, and I still get the occaisional pimple, usually when I’m not eating the way I should.

13

I’m 17 and have mild acne also… I dont let it bother me…most people dont care at all anyway…it happens to 90% of people… just use w\e and try to keep it under control