Let’s talk about ACNE…

ahhhhhhhh (picture scary movie noises in the back) hahaha. Oh yes we will be talking about the dreaded zit’s on our faces! YUCK. No one likes these little suckers! From the wave of emotions we go through and lack of self-esteem when we have them. Let me tell you something I’ve been there. Now, I was never one to have a lot of pimples on my face but that drastically changed about 2 years ago. My whole world crumbled. There I was 23 years old with ADULT ACNE . Moment of silence please 😦  …. okay I am back. LOL

Let’s me start with I feel your pain sistah or brotha. The amount of burden they bring on and low self-esteem is terrible! I am so grateful we have an AWESOME GOD that alway helps us in difficult times.

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’”

-Jeremiah 33:3

How great is our God?! (PRAISE BREAK) WOOOHHH.

Okay okay ill try to stay focused. Okay, as I was saying. There I was with cheeks full of acne and I did not know how or why this happened. I first attributed the “break out” to a new BB cream I had started using from the pharmacy. It happened a few days after I started using this. So I assumed if I stopped using it I would be just dandy. Well, I was wrong. VERY WRONG. Weeks went by and my face was getting worse instead of clearing up. Zit after zit they would not clear. I was previously using proactive that seemed to have kept my face beautiful, smooth and clear. So I decided to start that up again to see if it would clear the acne. WRONG AGAIN. I religiously used proactive and still was not helping with my acne at all. I tried multiple over the counter products and still no effect. 😦 This was getting out of hand. I have never felt so uncomfortable with myself and skin. I literally did not want to leave my house. I didn’t want to hang out with friend because I couldn’t look them in the eyes because I was embarrassed of my acne. It was getting worse a and worse over time. I had small pustules all over my cheeks. 😦 I couldn’t stand to look at the mirror. Let’s not even get into how terrible the makeup was setting on my face because I was desperate to try to cover up these zits. My face was bumpy and lumpy and rough textured and just looked terrible.

I finally had enough and decided to visit my general practioner. My Doctor took a look at my skin and said perhaps I had an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients in the BB cream. She recommended I stick to organic based makeup so It would not cause another allergic reaction in the future. She prescribed clindamycin topical antibiotic and Retin A. I finally thought things were headed in the right direction after that appointment. I went home and started using the clindamycin and retin A religiously. Just when I thought I was in the clear….. I WAS WRONG!! The clindamycin did nothing and the retin A scared me. My face started to peel very bad and it looked terrible so I abandoned ship on that real quick. Now I was left with pimples, redness, acne marks and I was distraught. Clearly, nothing was working. But I had 2 things on cheering me on in my corner. (1) God (2) pinterest.

Oh yea. Can’t ask for anything better. I was determined to clear this face. So I did research and more research and even more research. I think I got like a google and pinterest PhD. LOL. I tried many things. I was more drawn to the homeopathic remedies for acne. I came across the “Apple cider vinegar” remedy and decided to give it a shot. Well, IT WORKED! (and the crowd goes wild!!!!!!!) It really did clear my face and got rid of the redness. There was only one bad side effect….. DRUM ROLL PLEASE…. THE SMELL!! Even though it was diluted the smell was still very strong and I was using it every night. Okay, so now I was happy. Face was cleaner everything was going in the right direction. I eventually stopped using the apple cider vinegar. My face was still okay I would get occasional zits but nothing out of control. I moved on to Witch Hazel which seemed to keep things in order as well. Time went by and my face was better than it had been.

However, I was still annoyed that I was still getting zits on my face more frequent than I was a few years back before the mayor breakout phase I went through. So I started researching again. After much research I decided to give Retin A another shot. This is a retinoid product that helps with white heads, blackheads and pimples. It works by accelerating the turn over time in your skin cells. (I can do a post about this another time if you want to know in-depth of how my experience was) I went through all the crazy side effects and was able to complete the full 12 weeks. My skin was better. I was no longer getting breakouts, my skin was very smooth. Soon, enough I stopped using this product as I thought my skin was on its way to recovery and didn’t need such harsh medication on my face anymore. About a few weeks to a month after I stopped the Retin-A I noticed I was now getting a few pimples on my cheeks again. 😦 BUMMER! I started beating myself up about stopping the Retin A. I tried to start it back up again but now It was making me breakout even more because it seemed like I needed to restart the whole 12 week journey again, which I was not comfortable doing. (It’s a long process with many side effects)

Around the same time I couldn’t figure out why I was breaking out yet again, I was also dealing with a lot of GI issues for years. In the last 2 years things were progressively worse. I had seen my Doctor to run tests for Celiac disease, etc. Everything came back normal aside from a vitamin D deficiency, which I am taking supplementation for now. I was also experience exhaustion beyond belief in the last 2 years. I didn’t understand why. But to the point driving at certain times became challenging because I literally could not keep my eyes opened. I couldn’t function I would fall asleep at church sometimes (FATHER I REPENT!! LOL) but I just couldn’t control my eyes from shutting down. When they told me about my vitamin D deficiency I attributed my exhaustion to that. However, even after I started supplementation I was still tired, sleepy and exhausted. Not as bad as before but I still was having trouble with it. My gut told me there had to be something else going on.

OKAY…on to the most important part of this blog post…

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. “
-2 Corinthians 6:19-20

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship”
-Romans 12:1

I finally decided to restart the gluten-free diet I had tried last summer. I had been eating gluten-free foods for about a month. My GI issues were exponentially better. I was not experiencing any of the symptoms I had (GI wise). I was no longer exhausted!!!! (can you believe that?) I now have energy to do everything! I wake up energized and when I get home I am able to cook and take care of things around the house. I was not able to do this before because I was so exhausted. I would just go home and sleep on my couch then migrate to my bed for the night. To the point where this was seriously affecting my spiritual life because I would always be tired and I didn’t have the energy to get on my knees and pray!

Wait for it…..wait for it…..

MY FACE CLEARED UP!!!! I didn’t need to use any acne medicine or harsh chemicals on my face. I noticed about a week ago! I saw myself in the mirror and noticed I hadn’t really had any zits on my face for the past week or so. If one showed up it would literally be gone the next day. My acne marks were disappearing and I noticed no redness. (ANGEL’S SINGING) I FINALLY FOUND THE ACNE CULPRIT AFTER 2 YEARS OF DEALING WITH ADULT ACNE. What a relief. Of course, by now you know me….. I went on google and starting reading papers and research on the effects of Gluten-intolerance/allergies on the skin. Before my eyes I read that Gluten allergies can affect the skin. Causing terrible acne. Ever heard the saying you are what you eat? I was literally poisoning my GI tract with gluten and the acne was my GI’s reaction to it. Now many of you are like what? What is gluten?

“Gluten is a protein in wheat and other grains (oat, barley, rye, spelt) that makes bread dough sticky. It’s also in a number of places you wouldn’t expect: imitation meats, soy sauce, ketchup and ice cream, among others. Because of its gumminess, it’s also added to cosmetics, toothpaste and shampoo. It’s all but unavoidable. Some people respond to gluten with symptoms like diarrhea, intense abdominal pain, fatigue and bloating — all of which are severe and occur immediately after consuming a food containing gluten. This is often diagnosed as celiac disease, which is an autoimmune, inherited disorder in which the protein portion of gluten incurs an inflammatory response in the small intestine. It’s diagnosed by a blood test or intestinal biopsy.”

Now, Celiac disease and Gluten intolerance are 2 different things. They can have similar symptoms, but one is immune mediated and the other is just an allergy/ intolerance. I have attached the link below on the article/blog post I read.

Gluten: The greatest enemy of clear skin

If you are questioning what you can eat and not eat, I found this awesome website where you can look up ingredients and food and it tells you if it is gluten-free or not. It also has yummy recipes.

http://www.glutenfreeliving.com/

So friends, the mystery has been cracked. I have never felt better in my life. I encourage you live a healthy lifestyle. The Lord wants us to take care of the bodies He has given us. So we can be healthy and ready to share the gospel to his people. A lot of times we blame God for our sickness but in reality we did not follow what His word told us to do… and that is to Glorify God with our bodies, and present them as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable. Living a healthy lifestyle is part of this as well. The Holy Spirit wants to dwell in a healthy and clean home.

I hope this helps someone out there struggling with this! Please give me some feedback and if you want me to follow-up with any blogs more specific on things I mentioned on this blog post. Thank you 🙂

Be blessed,

Eli ❤