Acne Problems since Puperty/Sensitive Digestive System

Hi!

I am a 30 year old male, 174 lb, 6’0 tall, who has suffered from acne since I was 16. My hair loss started when I was about 22. I am now probably a NW3 with intense diffuse thinning. While the hair loss bothers me, I am here to seek advice on how to solve my acne problem. There is of course a great chance that both are interrelated.

I would say that I have probably tried anything under the sun to cure my acne problem. I have had success with a lot of treatments, but only for a brief period of time, usually somewhere 2-4 weeks, but then levels off depending on the treatment, but after a while the acne flames up again.

Let me describe the supplements/treatments that were successful for a limited time:
- DIM
- Glutamine
- TMG (still has some effect)
- Acidophilus
- Saccharomyces Boulardii
- Zinc
- High dose Niacinamide
- ALA
- Hemp oil
- NAG

I am also taking multivitamins/minerals and other standard supplements. I have also taken Immortalhair’s 6 supplements for a while, but could not recognize any effects (except for the RALA).

I must say that diet works best. When I avoid sugar, carbs, and especially fried food, I am usually good. The more I eat veggies, the better. I was once on a Avocado/tomato/ cucumber/olive oil diet and my acne basically disappeared within a week. However, I lost so much weight, it was unbearable. I tried a brown rice + veggie diet, but it I still had breakouts from the brown rice. If I don’t eat proteins and carbs, I lose weight very, very quickly to a level where people actually voice concern about my health.

So it appears that my issues are related to my sensitive digestive system, but again, if I only eat veggies, I lose weight to an unhealthy level.

I would also like to note that my puberty started late, my testosterone is usually in the borderline, in the lower end of the range. I have very little facial hair, if any – I hardly require shaving. I do have light gynecomastia. When I was 17/18 doctors prescribed me Tamoxifen. The Tamoxifen worked but I quit it and the gynecomastia returned. not sure if there is a relation.

I don’t have high expectations, but perhaps someone on here has similr symptoms and was successfully to cure himself. I very much appreciate your help on this.

Thank you very much, All,
Saibot

I can sympathize. I've struggled with acne into my thirties too.

Have you tried vitamin a? Frequently eating liver helped me somewhat, but the thing that has had the biggest effect for me has been taking 2.5 ml of Green Pastures' Fermented Cod Liver Oil twice a day. This provides about 20,000 iu of vitamin a in total.

I started taking this January 2nd this year following Chris Kresser's recommendation and my skin gradually became clearer and clearer and is now totally clear. I hope it's going to stay that way. He has said that a number of his patients have had success clearing up acne by just adding this to their diet too.

An interesting thing is that I used to take softgel capsules of vitamin a that were sourced from cod liver oil. They did help somewhat but I had to take a much larger dose and my skin never became totally clear. I'm guessing that the fact that it is a minimally processed whole food makes a big difference. I've tried other brands of cod liver oil and they never did anything for me.

Acne is such a multifaceted condition that what may work for one person might not work for another. I would definitely recommend giving it a try though.

Here's an interesting podcast Chris Kresser recently did on healing the gut to cure acne

You didn't try B5 yet?...It is not on your post.
If not, do try it, it worked for me. But I am the opposite, hairy and lots of testosterone. Don't know if it will work for you, but it won't hurt to try. The best I could find is on the coenzyme-a.com site (but it is expensive). You could buy some cheap B5 from ebay to see if it works for you and if it does, get the best one from the site above.

@smudger
I have tried regular Carlson softgels Vit A, but it appears that not all types are equally effective. I will get me some Green Pastures' Fermented Cod Liver Oil. I will also look a into Chris Kresser.

@mihai
That list actually includes those that I have taken and that have worked (even though very limited in effect and time). However, I have not yet tried Vit 5. Will check it out now.

Otherwise I have been reading LittleFighter's posts on here. I think I also want to give probiotics another chance to heal my gut. It might be that I just never took the right strains.

I have now ordered the following probiotics:
Culturelle Probiotic With Lactobacillus
BioGaia Probiotic Chewable Tablets
Metagenics - LactoFlamX
Jarrow Formulas Sacharomyces

Thank you very much Guys for taking the time to answer!

Can anyone suggest good prebiotics?