Accutane Update: Day 10

Hey guys just a quick Accutane update! Today took my 10th pill out of the original 30 for the first moth. I still haven’t experienced any of the side-effects yet except for maybe a few pimples on my chin and upper lip, and a couple that hurt like crazy on the side of my nose! The only other thing I can say side-effect wise is that my chin is peeling very lightly; like if you look at it close up you can see a bunch of dead skin, but it doesn’t feel dry at all. Other than that my lips get a little bit dry if I don’t put on some chap stick, and my scalp is still a little dry, but none of these things are serious or concerning at all.

I’m still washing with Cetaphil every morning, and sometimes at night, if not just splashing it with some water. In the mornings I apply some SPF 30 called BurnOut (Which I definitely recommend) to my face that does a really good job of keeping my skin moisturized without getting it greasy at all; the only thing though because I’m tan it makes my face look a little pale and weird like I’m sick or dying. At night I’ll just apply some Cetaphil moisturizer or even just more BurnOut because it makes my skin feel good.

So far in these very early stages I can say that I am very pleased with how things are going! My skin definitely looks a lot tighter, firm, and even but in a very good healthy way. Believe me though it still has a long way to go, but my skin definitely looks like it has a lot less texture than it did 10 days ago so I am very happy with that! Also one more thing that I noticed since I started taking the Tane, was that I feel a lot colder in places where I used to feel normal or even warm. Whether it’s the Tane or not it’s nothing serious just a little weird I guess. So I hope you all are having a good one, and I’ll update you in a week or so!

-Jpc

Boozing and Acne

Here’s a good subject for just about anyone who suffers from very light, to mild, to severe acne. Let’s face it people of all ages like to drink! Especially if you’re in your teens growing up and experiencing new things and such dranking is fun! As a matter of fact it’s about what 95% of all teens and college kids I know do it every weekend if not during week as well (Even though it is illegal if under the age 21). Some people booze to relax after a stressful day, or it can open someone up if they’re shy (hence the name liquid confidence) and so on and so forth, but for younger people I think we simply booze because we think it’s fun, and exciting, and so on.

Though whenever I have more than a few drinks one night I wake up in the morning with my face dripping oil, and I’ll breakout throughout the next couple of days. I don’t know why, but I know that staying up to the break of dawn mixed with drinking cannot be good for you skin or any other part of your body for that matter. Do any of you have this happen to you? I have personally been told a couple of time that beer is actually good for your acne because it flushes out your system. Well if this is true is that why I breakout after a night of drinking because my body is detoxifying? Maybe it does indeed detoxify your body somewhat and that is why I break out after drinking, but then again too much beer or any other alcohol can’t be good you know.

I posted a pretty cool article from: http://jrapaport.com/blog/?p=505 check it out if you like the subject!

“Ok ok, we all like to have a drink every now and then. When I found out that frozen margaritas contained close to 1,000 calories I almost hit the treadmill for 6 hours to counteract my Cancun getaway turned cellulite building marathon. Learning that really curbed any future hankering I may have for frozen margaritas and taught me to think before you drink. When I read that beer my one frozen margarita alternative may cause acne I was ready to book a facial and go on a juice detox considering I had three of the evil little bottles last night with friends. Now I did a little bit of research and though I did find that beer can in fact cause acne there is also an ingredient in beer used to treat it as well. Talk about mixed information.

More often than not, many people have complained of breaking out after a night out of heavy drinking and the biggest question that’s been asked is. Does beer cause Acne ?. While studies have shown no direct link between beer and acne it certain Indivisuals have developed pimples a day o two after drinking beer. One line of thought is that certain people may have an allergy to all the yeast in beer. This allergy could lead to a number of things, including your skin drying out and therefore developing acne or some other sort of blemish. The yeast isn’t going to directly cause acne, but the toxicity of it relative to your body will since you are allergic to it and therefore your body views it as a toxin.

Yeast is used in beer to cause fermentation, which produces alcohol as it consumes the sugars from the other ingredients. So how exactly does this make you break out? Well, if your body is allergic to yeast, consuming beer will introduce yeast into your body and it will be viewed as a toxin. This toxicity can cause a number of things to happen depending on the severity of your allergy and acne developing is one of them. The only way to know if beer will cause you to develop acne is by actually drinking beer, but even then it can vary greatly from person to person depending on your body’s sensitivity to yeast.

Oddly enough even though many people claim that beer causes breakouts there is a cure for acne found within Brewer’s yeast. Brewer’s yeast is an inactive yeast, meaning the yeasts have been killed and have no leavening power. It is the yeast grown on foods such as sugar beets, or the yeast that remains after beer making. It is used as a nutrient supplement to increase the intake of amino acids, minerals, B vitamins, and other chemicals beneficial to skin repair. Brewer’s yeast comes powdered (the most potent form), in flakes (best for health shakes), and in tablets. Brewers Yeast is a nonleavening agent that provides the body with vitamin B, proteins, and minerals. Taking it as a food supplement is beneficial to the body as it brings many benefits as it helps people who have sleeping problems, those with chronic fatigue syndrome, and many others. Recent research reveals an added benefit of brewer’s yeast. A leading skin care range in Germany, Dayenne promises to effectively cure acne because of the product’s special ingredient…brewers yeast. Dayenne is available as a day cream, night cream, cover stick, toner, cleanser, soap and sun cream. The new acne product is considered a a cosmeceutical as it contain essential vitamins like B1, B2, B6, nucleic acid, amino acids and biotin and in away serves a skin food and medicine. Dayenne, which was a hit in Germany is now also available in the United Kingdom (UK).After only days of applying Dayenne, one will notice positive improvements on skin. Dayene should be applied everyday for 15 minutes during the first week and before menstruation.”

Also note this every one: Always drink responsibly, Never drink and drive, Never get in a car with someone who has been drinking, and Don’t drink if your under 21 in the States, because it’s illegal and getting busted sucks!

Take it easy guys!

-JPC

The Best Drink for Clearing Your Acne... WATER!

If you have acne one of the biggest things you can do for yourself is to cut out all of the sody-pop, sugary juices, energy drinks, etc. and replace them with water! I can’t believe how many people I’ve seen have their skin get quite better from just cutting most if not all other beverages and just drinking water! These days all I drink is water, sometimes I’ll have a cup of green tea, and very rarely will I have any soda or anything similar; one because they’re actually pretty bad for you, and two because I just simply like water a lot. I started drinking plenty of water as my main beverage of choice a couple of years back and never stopped short of about 8 glasses or more of it. Although not a whole lot changed with my skin, I knew it was an easy step forward in a healthy direction and all I had to give up was soda pop and what not. You never know though if you’re one of the people who rarely or even occasionally drinks water maybe that’s what is causing your acne, because buddies of mine who cut out all the crap and replaced it with water cleared up a lot! Also exercising regularly to the point where you sweat pretty good combined with all of the water you are drinking is a killer way to get a clearer complexion! So check out this article from: ezinearticles.com it’s pretty cool…

“You probably don't know this yet but product wastes and toxic build up in your system is one of the main reasons why you have acne or why your skin breaks out.
You see, your body has 4 channels of elimination...your bowels, kidneys, lungs, and your skin. Your bowels and kidneys are the primary channels that your body expels product wastes and toxics through.
The only time that your body expels product wastes through your lungs and skin is when your bowels and kidneys are overloaded with product wastes and toxics.
This can happen when you're not drinking enough water.
You see, water is the main carrier of nutrients throughout your body and is quite possibly the single most important contributor to healing and preventing acne flare-ups.
Drinking enough water will dissolve waste products in your system so it can be easily remove and flush out. Without enough water, there won't be much to dissolve these product wastes and toxics...causing it to build up in your system and causing your body to expel these product wastes and toxics through your lungs and skin.
And this can and will result in acne breakout.
How much water should you be drinking each day to dissolve product waste and flush out toxins from your body?
Although some would say you drink at least 8 glasses of water a day and some would say 3 liters a day or half of your bodyweight in ounces a day.
I say, you should drink only enough to see that your urine is mostly clear, which is probably much more than what you're drinking now.
But I wouldn't recommend you going overboard because drinking too much water will also flush out electrolyte minerals out of your system (which is not good).
So how do you know how much water you should be drinking each day?
Test!
Start by drinking 7 glasses of water a day for the next 2 to 3 days. If you see that your urine is clear then 7 glasses of water a day is what you should be drinking.
But remember, you don't want to go overboard so you may want to try drinking 6 glasses of water a day. If you see that your urine is kind of yellow drinking 6 glasses of water a day then you should stick to 7 glasses of water a day. If not then you should stick with 6 glasses of water a day.
But if you find that 7 glasses of water a day is not enough. Then you should try drinking more glasses of water a day and see the results.
What you're trying to do here is make sure you're drinking enough water each day. Not too much or too little.
Another important thing you should know...
You can't just drink any type of water. There are certain types of water that's full of toxins (such as tap water). The 2 types of water I recommend you drink is distilled water and purified water. Distilled water has no minerals, which means if you drink it, it will leach out any unwanted non-organic minerals from your system.
But since distilled water has no minerals (it's just dead water), you will need to drink some purified water to oxygenate your system. However, you do need to drink them separately and drink it on an empty stomach for it to be effective.
While water alone will not eliminate your acne it will greatly assist your skin in remaining healthy and that will be one portion of the pie in fighting acne.”

START DRINKING!
-Jpc

Accutane Review: Update Week 1

Thought I’d give a little update on the Tane so far. Today I took my 6th pill and of course no drastic changes yet, but besides several new pimples coming up around my chin my skin is looking a little better. Maybe it’s just the placebo effect, but to me it seems that a lot of the redness and oiliness on my face is decreasing slowly but surely day by day. As for dryness goes I do see a significant difference of dryness in my scalp now, like my hair would be pretty oily in the morning just before taking a shower, but now it’s not at all! As for the face and lips like I said my face is slowly drying up and my pores are getting smaller with each day. My lips do get dry if I don’t put a little chap stick on them in the morning, but all in all nothing serious yet and no major peeling or cracking yet, which is probably because of 2 reasons: 1) I’m on a low dose of 20mg, or 2) It’s only been 5-6 days. I’ve also worked out hard 3 times since starting and I haven’t experienced any joint or back pain. Last but not least is the initial breakout which many people can experience. As for this I have had a couple of new pimples come up just about every other day, but they dry up and go away fast within a day. Now whether this is the start of the initial breakout or not I think it is too early to say, but if it is the initial breakout then I’ll be glad because it’s not anything bad at all!

OH my! I hope that this DOES NOT happen to me! This is just absoulutly nuts!

Accutane Reviw: Accutane Day 1

So I went to see my derm today and all went well and he put me on 20mg Accutane. He said that we'd start out with small doses like 20mg and see how that works, and if it doesn't in a month or two he'll up the dose. I was very surprised at here serious this stuff is though, it is no joke. My derm had to personally tell me about all of dangers of not taking care of my skin and all of the possible side effects. Not only that though, but there is a booklet that he gave me called the iPledge booklet, and there is all of the important info about what and what not to do while on Isotretinoin (Accutane). One of the big things I keep seeing everywhere from the booklet to the actually pills is how important it is to not get pregnant if you’re a girl. I mean just about on every side of the Accutane box and on every page of the booklet it says “Female patients cannot get pregnant.” Also in the booklet there are a few cards, one of which you have to bring to the pharmacy every time you pick up your new prescription, and before that you have to go online and answer some questions before you can do anything.

So I’m to go to the doctor every month and have my blood tested to see if my bodies reacting to the Accutane alright, and then after that I am to see my derm every month as well. So I picked up my prescription, and I was surprised to see that it was called Claravis, which I now know is just a generic brand of Accutane. Still though even if it is exactly the same I still just like to have the actual name brand medicine, but whatever there is nothing I can do about that now. So I have a 30 day supply, and I am to take one pill each day, and after that I have another appointment with my doctor for blood and then my derm.

I took my first pill today at around 5:30pmm and obviously nothing has changed, but I don’t know if I’m tired but I feel a little dazed and confused I guess (I must just be really tired). Anyways I’ll keep you guys updated on anything that changes whether it’s the way I feel or skin wise!

Thanks!

-JPC

Thoughts of Accutane

Well I’ve been thinking for some time about Accutane, but I always wrote it off because of all the bad things I’ve heard about it. One of the biggest reasons why I didn’t want to take it was because I heard it weakens your joints, and that’s not good for someone who does hard weightlifting like me. Although after I researched it enough I was able to find some people in the same boat as me (Like to work out) that took or were taking Accutane and they didn’t notice anything wrong with their joints while they were weightlifting. So after holding it off for so long and realizing that I could’ve even been well on my way to clear skin from the time a started this blog (2 months ago) till now, I’ve decided to give Accutane a try and pray that it works.

I have had a couple of friends who had taken Accutane, and let me tell you it was a brutal process for them. I remember they had to put moisturizer on their faces every 10 minutes because their skin was so dry. Their faces were always super and unbelievably flakey to, it was disgusting, but I’ve thought about it and I’m ready! I had a physical and my blood work done and everything is fine my Doc says! So I have an appointment with my Derm tomorrow, and I’m anxious to see what he’ll say and what strength of The Tane (Accutane) he’ll give me!

Well I know I said this day would never come, but I am just finally fed up with my acne; it hurts physically, it hurts mentally, it sucks waking up in the morning to a face full of acne, and I’m ready for it to be gone once and for all!

So I’ll be sure to keep you updated on everything, and if there is any advice or recommendations for good moisturizers from your experience with Accutane I’d be happy to hear them!

-Jpc

The End of The Caveman Regimen

Well I know I said I was gonna hold out a little longer with it, but my face has just completely lost itself to acne. Just of recently it started to breakout uncontrollably and my face literally looks like a piece of salami. While I was doing this regimen my skin never really got better at least in terms of the way it looked, but the way it felt on this regimen was good. It never felt overly dry and irritated, it never itched and it never got too oily, so these were the reasons I really liked it up until now. I don’t really know what caused my skin to change course so drastically, but my only guess is maybe because I started using some new supplements for weightlifting like creatine and whey protein rather than casein protein (which is what I usually would drink). Other than those two things I have no idea what caused my skin to change like this.


So a few days ago I decided to start washing it with Cetaphil every morning and night, and put on a very light moisturizer on during the day. If any have used Cetaphil then you know just how gentle it is, so I don’t feel so bad about ditching the regimen for it because it is very gentle. I also started shaving twice a week just because my skin was always feeling really gross up until I shaved it when I was only doing it once a week. Also when I when I was doing the caveman regimen I wasn’t washing my face after workouts, but now that I am my skin feels a lot better!

So I just wanted to update you guys on that, I know I hadn’t in a while. I’ll let you know if I find something new to try as soon as I get it. Also if you have any recommendations for things I can try or any feedback it would be greatly appreciated!

-jpc