I had cystic acne for 8 years. Did every natural health thing in those 8 years that I could grasp. The last thing I was trying was avoiding fluoride meticulously and it got my skin close to clear but not all the way.
I became pregnant in 2019 and my skin became bulletproof clear. Didn’t matter what I ate, how well I slept, how stressed I was. I nursed my first baby till he was 14 months. At 10 months postpartum we got pregnant again woops. Still nursing that little gem right now.
But about a year postpartum with her, I started noticing a little return of acne. Basically one spot at a time…not terrible, not too inflamed, but still in the chin/jaw area that I used to have constant cysts. It would go away, and few weeks later I’d have another. I realized it was becoming a pattern. I tracked it and saw that my skin was clear from period to ovulation then I broke out around ovulation and didn’t really get clear again till next cycle.
This has been devastating for me…I suffered from terrible acne for so long. It basically went away when I got pregnant and I didn’t know why! Now it’s back.
SURELY I COULD FIGURE OUT what changed between pre pregnancy, during two pregnancies and nursing, and then afterward when it returned. I had acne, it went away, it came back. Why can I not figure out what caused it to go away???! I haven’t solved it yet, so please someone help me see what I’m missing!
My main theories are estrogen/progesterone.
Or emotional stress/relaxation.
Or gut clearing/health.
Or thyroid.
Emotional stress: Once I got pregnant I did feel like nothing else mattered and since then life has become infinitely happier and more meaningful since having children. Life did recently get more stressful when I lost my job last summer. But the acne started a couple months before then. And it’s not like I didn’t have some insanely stressful times during my acne free years too.
Gut theory: about 3 months before I got pregnant I had taken an antibiotic. Then during my first pregnancy I probably puked an average of every other day at least and multiple times daily the first 4 months. Yes it was god awful. Maybe this is stupid but one theory is that I kept my gut cleared? Lol I don’t know. But I did try a low dose tetracycline a few weeks ago and didn’t see the acne go away.
Thyroid: I didn’t start a thyroid prescription (just synthroid) until my first pregnancy. Went off thyroid after the pregnancy and got on again for second pregnancy. Again got off shortly after pregnancy. I have dappled with life giving store ndt since then whenever I feel cold just very sporadically, but never took it seriously until couple months ago started tracking temps and pulse again and taking more thyroid (using idea labs products as well) and feeling like that is going well, I am continuing to monitor and see if I should increase but so far getting good results. But acne is still here.
Progesterone/estrogen: this is the main kicker. When I read Peat’s work I really feel like this is the solution for me. I did take progesterone every day in both pregnancies because I had miscarried before that. Stopped the progesterone once I gave birth both times so none postpartum. BUT I had taken it for a good year or maybe two before I got pregnant and it never touched my acne. Anyway I started progest e again a few weeks ago and my acne is much much worse!! Like every day now. Ugh so this is why I am struggling. I read some people that think an “estrogen detox” is a thing that happens when you take progesterone, and others say no such thing and if the progesterone is making my symptoms worse then I should stop. Does anyone have experience with this? Also with this theory I’ve heard Ray mention estrogen and gallbladder issues going hand in hand which aligns with my first pregnancy, I developed gallbladder issues after pregnancy but I was able to get off of my gallbladder supplement quickly and had no signs of acne at all. But with the second pregnancy I’ve had to keep up the gallbladder supplement for a long time and the acne came back about 10 months postpartum.
Another note is my sleep is garbage. I used to take Benadryl every night due to allergies and to help me sleep so I probably never uncovered this sleep issue before. But about a year ago I changed my diet and my allergies went away, yay no more Benadryl! But then a few months later when I lost my job I stopped being able to fall asleep easily...and that was last July so yeah I’m tired. So that’s why I’ve been re immersing myself in peat’s work, to figure out why the hell I can’t sleep and what’s up with my hormones and now, why my acne has returned.
Oh also I had started intermittent fasting maybe 6 months before the acne returned so maybe I just screwed my thyroid then? I did the IF for over a year before I recently decided not such a good idea and probably need to track my thyroid function better. And have gained about 10 pounds which sucks. Other things I started a couple months before the acne returned was drinking raw milk (I think this was a big part in solving my allergies), getting off the Benadryl, taking desiccated liver supplements and slowly incorporating small amounts of fresh liver, I did take cod liver oil for a while at this point which yes I’m off now…
I became pregnant in 2019 and my skin became bulletproof clear. Didn’t matter what I ate, how well I slept, how stressed I was. I nursed my first baby till he was 14 months. At 10 months postpartum we got pregnant again woops. Still nursing that little gem right now.
But about a year postpartum with her, I started noticing a little return of acne. Basically one spot at a time…not terrible, not too inflamed, but still in the chin/jaw area that I used to have constant cysts. It would go away, and few weeks later I’d have another. I realized it was becoming a pattern. I tracked it and saw that my skin was clear from period to ovulation then I broke out around ovulation and didn’t really get clear again till next cycle.
This has been devastating for me…I suffered from terrible acne for so long. It basically went away when I got pregnant and I didn’t know why! Now it’s back.
SURELY I COULD FIGURE OUT what changed between pre pregnancy, during two pregnancies and nursing, and then afterward when it returned. I had acne, it went away, it came back. Why can I not figure out what caused it to go away???! I haven’t solved it yet, so please someone help me see what I’m missing!
My main theories are estrogen/progesterone.
Or emotional stress/relaxation.
Or gut clearing/health.
Or thyroid.
Emotional stress: Once I got pregnant I did feel like nothing else mattered and since then life has become infinitely happier and more meaningful since having children. Life did recently get more stressful when I lost my job last summer. But the acne started a couple months before then. And it’s not like I didn’t have some insanely stressful times during my acne free years too.
Gut theory: about 3 months before I got pregnant I had taken an antibiotic. Then during my first pregnancy I probably puked an average of every other day at least and multiple times daily the first 4 months. Yes it was god awful. Maybe this is stupid but one theory is that I kept my gut cleared? Lol I don’t know. But I did try a low dose tetracycline a few weeks ago and didn’t see the acne go away.
Thyroid: I didn’t start a thyroid prescription (just synthroid) until my first pregnancy. Went off thyroid after the pregnancy and got on again for second pregnancy. Again got off shortly after pregnancy. I have dappled with life giving store ndt since then whenever I feel cold just very sporadically, but never took it seriously until couple months ago started tracking temps and pulse again and taking more thyroid (using idea labs products as well) and feeling like that is going well, I am continuing to monitor and see if I should increase but so far getting good results. But acne is still here.
Progesterone/estrogen: this is the main kicker. When I read Peat’s work I really feel like this is the solution for me. I did take progesterone every day in both pregnancies because I had miscarried before that. Stopped the progesterone once I gave birth both times so none postpartum. BUT I had taken it for a good year or maybe two before I got pregnant and it never touched my acne. Anyway I started progest e again a few weeks ago and my acne is much much worse!! Like every day now. Ugh so this is why I am struggling. I read some people that think an “estrogen detox” is a thing that happens when you take progesterone, and others say no such thing and if the progesterone is making my symptoms worse then I should stop. Does anyone have experience with this? Also with this theory I’ve heard Ray mention estrogen and gallbladder issues going hand in hand which aligns with my first pregnancy, I developed gallbladder issues after pregnancy but I was able to get off of my gallbladder supplement quickly and had no signs of acne at all. But with the second pregnancy I’ve had to keep up the gallbladder supplement for a long time and the acne came back about 10 months postpartum.
Another note is my sleep is garbage. I used to take Benadryl every night due to allergies and to help me sleep so I probably never uncovered this sleep issue before. But about a year ago I changed my diet and my allergies went away, yay no more Benadryl! But then a few months later when I lost my job I stopped being able to fall asleep easily...and that was last July so yeah I’m tired. So that’s why I’ve been re immersing myself in peat’s work, to figure out why the hell I can’t sleep and what’s up with my hormones and now, why my acne has returned.
Oh also I had started intermittent fasting maybe 6 months before the acne returned so maybe I just screwed my thyroid then? I did the IF for over a year before I recently decided not such a good idea and probably need to track my thyroid function better. And have gained about 10 pounds which sucks. Other things I started a couple months before the acne returned was drinking raw milk (I think this was a big part in solving my allergies), getting off the Benadryl, taking desiccated liver supplements and slowly incorporating small amounts of fresh liver, I did take cod liver oil for a while at this point which yes I’m off now…
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