Acne/postules

[Longinthetooth]

Hi all

I am now on 125mcg Eltroxin which seems to suit me. The only downside is that I never have completely clear skin. Some days I'll have spots/zits anywhere, on my chin, cheeks or nose area. Does anyone have the same problem?

[BadHare]

I'm 50 something & still have oily skin which I put down to the vagaries of my pituitary tumour. I found scrubbing my face regularly, ie 2-3 times a week helps avoid outbreaks, though they still occur, mostly on rare occasions when I eat something bad.

I used to buy expensive scrub products, but now make my own with rice flour & bicarbonate of soda (approximately 90:10%) that I add a little water to, to make a paste. I've been experimenting adding 10-20% cornflour & oat flour which makes it a less scrubby as my skin is sensitive. A drop of aromatherapy oil is nice, too. Lavender, or bergamot (but not in summer), for outbreaks & geranium or cammomile for calming. If your skin is otherwise dry, add some moisturiser to the paste.

Witch hazel is also very good, & very cheap.

Try not to get hair conditioner on your skin as this can cause outbreaks of zits.

[Longinthetooth in reply to BadHare]

Hi

thanks for replying.

How can these things help when the spots come from within. I've tried all sorts of different things.

[BadHare in reply to Longinthetooth]

After 45 years of acne outbreaks, I only know what works for me.

When I started injecting B12 I had huge spots for weeks as the streptococcus bacteria that cause spots like it & multiply. It took a month or so to go back to normal. The same with sugar, especially something like fudge or tofee, though I eat a lot of fruit which doesn't affect me.

The stuff sold for oily skin is often full of toxic chemicals, & only aggravates & make my skin very sore whilst doing nothing to prevent spots. I've not had a dermatitis outbreak since I've been taking thyroid hormones, but some skin things I've tried have caused enough discomfort to think I'd have an outbreak of that, too. Dermatitis & acne combined is really unpleasant!

The food grade scrub I make seems to work as does witchhazel. I think the bicarb is effective at killing the streptococcus bacteria that causes spots as I've also been using it instead of deodorant. It'll gets rid of any dead skin build up, which helps stop blocked pores. Witchhazel is a soothing astringent that doesn't aggravate my skin at all & I'm guessing Hamamelidaceae doesn't agree with the strep either.

[Longinthetooth in reply to BadHare]

HI

thanks. I'll give it a try.

[BadHare in reply to Longinthetooth]

£2 for rice flour, 80p for bicarb, & £1.50 for witch-hazel isn't an expensive fix to try.

Hope these work for you!

[Longinthetooth in reply to BadHare]

Hi

thanks.

I'm in my 60's. Apparently my pituitary doesn't make TSH. I'll try this method that you've suggested. I'm sceptical though as to what will work because I can feel eruptions beginning to start under the skin. I was on antibiotics for a few years for acne rosacea & don't really want to start taking that again. It's more acne these days than the redness that rosacea causes.

[BadHare in reply to Longinthetooth]

It's worth a try, & if it doesn't help, you can do some GF baking.

My TSH was supposedly normal, as were my other hormones, but the blood tests lie!

I've had thread veins since my teens, & occasionally what looks like mild rosacea. I took antibiotics for years when I was in my teens, with no beneficial effect, & lilely a lot of harm, but never grew out of having oily skin. Cheap on moisturiser, though.

All my chronic skin issues subsided once I started taking NDT, & reappear when I take T3 only for too long or not enough NDT. There's definitely something in the poor piggy hormones that my skin needs as I no longer have heel cracks that are so deep they bleed, or need lip balm hourly. Endo said I needed to see a dermatologist, I wondered if they'd know more about my errant hormones.

Take a look at Dermanet.NZ you might find something pertinent.

[Longinthetooth in reply to BadHare]

Sounds like we suffer similarly. NDT didn't agree with me. I went GF over 2 years ago. I do try as you do. Thanks again for sharing your advice.

[BadHare in reply to Longinthetooth]

Have you tried different types?

Thyro-Gold was horrific, burning lips & itching all over, even tiny doses. Thyroid S much less so. I prefer RLC's WP, though their NT is ok. I'm currently taking Metavive. My skin likes this a lot (lip balm once a day or not at all) though I've had to take a little more T3.

[Longinthetooth in reply to BadHare]

I tried Thyroid S after reading so many positive results on here but it didn't agree with me. An advisor from this site checked my blood results & said I didn't need T3. T4 keeps me well. I've had to increase it over time when I become tired again, it's just the spots. I know it's caused from within. I follow Tom Brimeyer's diet (Thyroidism Revolution), so no processed food & no flour of any kind. We'll plod on 'ay.

[BadHare in reply to Longinthetooth]

I don't think it's the T3 that makes a difference to my skin, but the other hormones.

It might be worth trying a different type of NDT. If I'd tried the Thai or TG first, I'd've thought it was NDT that disagreed with me rather than the brand/formulation, then I'd stil be hypo with worse than spotty skin.

[Longinthetooth in reply to BadHare]

It's all so confusing. What is Metavive & do you have to buy it privately or get it off the doc?

[BadHare in reply to Longinthetooth]

Metavive is available online in the UK, & produced from "happy" outdoor pigs. It's a glandular rather than NDT though I have no idea how the two differ. There are two strengths available, as well as in a bovine form.

For me, Metavive ii the 30g version seems to be the approximate equivalent of 1/2 a grain of WP. I've been taking it the same way as NDT (first thing, with my T3) rather than with food as directed, but it seems to work the same. I'm going to buy Metavive i, the 15g version for Autumn & Spring when I increase & decrease NDT dosage.

[Longinthetooth in reply to BadHare]

I'm afraid of coming off T4 now I seem to be more balanced but if I thought that a natural remedy would work it might be worth a try. If I try it & become unwell, will it be the Metavive or coming off T4?

[BadHare in reply to Longinthetooth]

Metavive will have T4 in, as with NDT, though there's no advertised dosage as with NDT. Neither stop my skin being oily, it's the winter/stress dermatitis & cracked heels they healed effectively, & I definitely feel better than T3 alone.

[Clarrisa]

I remember my older sister saying her face acne cleared up (when younger) when she cut out (or back?) on dairy. We use to have a dairy truck deliver fresh milk to our house so she may have been consuming a lot.

Calcium is said to decrease our acquiring thyroid medication if we don’t separate it by hours. I wonder if excess calcium intake can even reduce thyroid hormones in younger people without hypothyroidism enough to contribute towards acne outbreaks.

Have you noticed any correlation of acne to dairy consumption as my sister did?

[Longinthetooth in reply to Clarrisa]

Hi

I take my Eltroxin @ about 5am & then go back to sleep so leave a couple of hours before I eat or drink. My diet has been GF for over 2 years so no flour of any kind or processed foods. I eat protein, all dairy, fresh food, etc. These spots have worsened this year. I'm not sure if it's diet related, I feel more hormonal. Thanks for replying.

[BadHare in reply to Clarrisa]

I haven't as I was predominently vegan for several years, thiugh my dairy consumption is back to being high. I drink organic milk (as kefir) as I don't want the antibiotics & additional hormones standard milk contains.

[Longinthetooth]

My diet recommends whole food, nothing half fat. Raw milk if possible which I do buy, but it has to be used within a few days which shows it has no additives. Like food used to be.

[Angel_of_the_North]

Some people say that avoiding vitamin A helps. I'm not advocating zero A diet, but it's worth looking into.

[Longinthetooth in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Thank you.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Longinthetooth]

It's the opposite of what they do with teenage acne where they basically poison your follicles with a vit A overdose, but that is associated with autoimmune illnesses in later life.

[Longinthetooth in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Hi

I'm not sure which food has vit a. I take a tsp of cracked cell wall chlorella (decent one) daily which contains numerous vitamins including vit a & Gopo with vit c for arthritis. I've been GF for over 2 years, so no flour of any kind & no processed food. I eat all dairy, protein, fruit & veg.

There are so many recommendations from you all out there which is very much appreciated. I do like what you are saying though.

Thanks.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Longinthetooth]

Colourful veg (including chlorella), liver and dairy are the main ones (in the UK, low fat dairy is lower in vit A), but is also in a lot of skin care products (retinol, retinoic acid, retinol palmitate etc) and other things

[Longinthetooth in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

The diet I follow is Tom Brimeyer's "Thyroidism Revolution" & he advocates eating whole food, no half fat. I don't think it's my diet as I've been on it for a good while & the postules/spots have only worsened this year.

Maybe, though, I could experiment as I started the diet before the 'good old doc' eventually let me start thyroxine.