hey all!!

i used to have perfectly clear skin, and then the docs put me on anti depressants.

my life has been chaos, so i haven't even THOUGHT of low carbing for the last two months(i know, shame on me!)...

i had perfect skin before the anti depressants...and while i was on atkins...

do you think that if i go back on atkins(now that i'm settled my start date is tomorrow, Tuesday, we just moved and i have to go get groceries today)my skin will clear up or will i have to go to the doc and talk about the anti depressants?? i'm so tired of this acne. i use really strong medicated face wash and nothing does the trick, and my thyroid levels are normal. not only do i have the last 40 lbs (i've already lost 40) to lose, i also have ACNE on top of it! i wanna crawl in a hole and never come out.

any suggestions or anyone with the same issues and atkins has helped clear things up?

thanks...i'll be checking in!

I can say when I started LCing my acne cleared up. I noticed a difference after the first week.

Acne can be related to inflammation, which can be related to the inflammatory response due to insulin. Perricone wrote a number of books about this. Many people have much clearer skin after they go low carb. I'm one of them.

ease off on the strong stuff as that can aggravate things. Get a good hypogenic lotion with an sp of 15 to use during the day as your skins' probably a bit raw and dry in places. Once you start Atkins you'll notice a big difference in about a month or so. Why? Well I think it's because (1) you'll be drinking lots and lots of water (2) you'll be taking vitamin supplements that your skin and hair needs and it'll take about 6 weeks to notice that improvement (3) you'll be getting the right foods and getting some exercise as well (hopefully outdoors).

Basically you'll be working from the Inside out...the acne is probably from the enormous stress you've been through not anything hormonal like adolescence (although stress does play hell with our hormones).

And a very very CONGRADULATIONS!!! on your weight loss

yep Atkins has cleared my skin up big time. I use to have to take perscription drugs to help control it, now i dont and my skin is great.

Atkins cleared up my skin and I quit taking my antidepressants because I was no longer depressed or moody once I was on Atkins.

My skin too cleared up with Atkins.

My complexion has gotten somewhat better since doing low carb. I don't think its the lack of carbs so much as it is the extra fat and the proper balance in the diet (as opposed to the imbalanced food pyramid version). Although acne is caused by bacteria, I think diet can affect the susceptibility of skin to these bacteria. If you have dry skin, or oily skin, either of these environments provides a nice environment for the bacteria to get in and cause problems.

Here's a link to a site that has what I think is good advice concerning several aspects of acne. Myself, I have decent results with benzoyl peroxide if its in a non-opily base cream. I also had good results with the oral antibiotic Minocin, although I didn't want to take it long term. So I switched to a retinoid gel, called adapalene. It worked wonders for me after several weeks. I'd say 95% fewer zits. It didn't clear up my daughter's acne quite so well though. No one treatment is right for everyone. Anyway, the website has all this and more. Good luck, I know what a pain cance can be. I keep waiting to grow out of it. I'm 42 now, still waiting.

http://www.skincarephysicians.com/acnenet/treatmnt.html

That's the key right there, the doctor's just love to hand out the meds, don't want to bother to tell you to change your diet, "here just take these" is their motto. There is a lot of medicine that is unnecessary if a person just changes their eating habits. Unfortunatly for us, not the pharmaceuticals, it is easier to take a pill than change. (climbing down from soapbox)

I think the idea that diet is the sole cause of acne is wrong. It is a contributing factor, maybe a major one for some people, but not the only factor. I get tired of people blaming every illness on diet. There are illnesses and conditions that have nothing to do with diet. Claiming this way of eating is the cure for all ills, and essentially utrning it into a religion, marginalizes it for the general public. This does more harm than good.

Acne is caused by bacteria in your pores. Your diet may make your skin such that it is more susceptible to these bacteria, and/or give them more food (oils), even have some effect on some peoples' immune response. That is about the extent of diet. Well, there's also the placebo effect.

I agree-I've not changed anything other than diet and have noticed a tremendous difference in my skin. It took awhile, but I rarely have problems with breakouts now.

Acne IS caused by bacteria, and the body's immune system reacts to their invasion by creating an inflammation. The inflammation does not come first in most instances. I already mentioned how diet can affect the skin and create an environment that is more hospitable to these bacteria, so I won't repeat myself. If you cured your acen by a change in your diet, wonderful. Just don't assume that everyone will have the same response.

Myself, my acne cleared up wonderfully when I took an antibiotic for a few months. But who wants to do that long term? Of course, this must PROVE that acne is ONLY about bacteria and NOTHING about diet right? No, it doesn't.

If acne is about an inflammation first, and has nothing to do with skin bacteria, why do we not develop acne over our entire body, and internally?