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The ABC Homeopathy Forum

Joe De Livera's Acne Treatment

Hello,

I've had acne for about 7 to 8 years. I'm 23 now. As a last resort I've begun to look into homeopathic remedies, despite some skepticism.

I've started taking Arnica 6c in the wet dose, and also applying it directly to my skin.

Will my skepticism alter the effect of the remedy? Suppose it's just the placebo effect and I'm aware of it - will it do nothing? I've taken it for one day and I don't feel any different.

Just so you know a little bit about me in case you think I should try another remedy instead of the typical Arnica remedy for acne.

I have acne on my face, chest, back shoulders. So far it hasn't responded to any treatment. I've never been fully clear in the last 7 years.

My skin can be flaky at times, and I am noticing an increase of lesions on my scalp, too. I don't have dandruff (thankfully), but I can feel the bumpy skin on my head.

I also have noticed in the last couple of years the thinning of my hair. My hairline is not as strong as it used to be, and is much different at the temples than up to 5 years ago. I thought that this could be related to the acne, seeing as I'm only 23 and shouldn't be losing my hair quite yet, if at all. It's also very dry.

About a year and a half ago I developed an excessive sweating problem in my armpits. It's particularly bad in social situations and during spells of anxiety, but can come at anytime, even when I'm seemingly relaxed. I don't sweat, however, at night. It can subside sometimes if I'm eating.

In the last year I've also developed anxiety. Constant thoughts racing at all times. I also have what I think is some variation of pure-o OCD, letting thoughts consume me, and lots of fear.

While all of these could be symptoms of many different things, I believe they all stem from the acne. I'm ashamed of it and therefore withdraw myself from social interactions and can be very lonely at times. I really feel that if my acne were gone, I'd feel absolutely fine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 
  southw on 2012-01-14
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
There has to be someone who can help me. Anyone? Please!

I should also mention that I suffer from insomnia and have for the last few years.
 
southw last decade
I can offer some suggestions for treatment if you like.

However, I do not follow Joe's use of our potentized medicines. I am a traditionally trained homoeopath and so the method I would use to diagnose and prescribe for you would be based on the accepted principles of homoeopathy.

If you are happy to put some work into it, I am happy to work on your case. It will mean filling in my intake form, and answering a number of questions that arise from your first set of answers. If I have some difficulty understanding what is happening to you, there may be quite a few questions lol. But I will reward your committment with my own.

Any mental health condition like OCD can be tricky, but I have a lot of experience in clinical situations around mental health problems including OCD.

I will post my intake form here. You can decide what you want to do.

GUIDELINES FOR GIVING HOMOEOPATHIC CASE INFORMATION

It is important to describe all your problems in as much detail as you are able. One word answers and short sentences are not particularly helpful. Discuss each problem one at a time, providing (as a minimum level of detail) the following information.

1. What exactly happens?
2. Describe all sensations and pains. Each pain or sensation should be described in such a way that allows us to imagine having the same pain.
3. What causes the problem to get worse after it has started occurring?
4. What creates some relief for the problem?
5. What triggers the problem into occuring?
6. What time of the day or night does the problem occur?
7. When did the problem start? What was happening in your life at that time? Did some specific event or treatment take place just before the problem started?

Move from one problem to the next, doing the same thing. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU GIVE A COMPLETE PICTURE OF YOUR HEALTH BY PROVIDING ALL PROBLEMS YOU HAVE, EVEN IF NOT CONNECTED TO THE MAIN ONE, AND EVEN IF YOU CONSIDER IT OF LESS IMPORTANCE.

You should address each problem separately using the above 7 questions as a guide. Do not put all your complaints into each of the 7 questions. Discuss one problem at a time. If you have, for example, a headache with nausea, do each component separately too (what makes the head pain worse or better, what makes the nausea worse or better).

As well as this, please describe any traumatic incidents that have taken place in your life. Discuss anything that has had a lasting impact on you mentally, emotionally or physically.

Discuss the way that you manage or deal with your problems, or any problems that occur in your life.

Discuss any patterns you have noticed in your behavior especially concerning your disease.

Discuss any part of your life where you feel stuck or unable to change and grow, especially where this occurred around the beginning of your disease, or as the disease evolved.

Describe your childhood and the kind of environment you grew up in, with reference to your relationships with your family, your school experiences, and any serious childhood diseases.

If your earlier discussions have not mentioned these already, please describe:

1. The specific foods that you crave (not just like) or hate
2. The specific drinks that you crave or hate
3. What your sleep is like
4. How the weather and the temperature affects you
5. What kinds of things in the environment you are particularly sensitive to
6. What your general level of energy is like
7. What your level of sexual energy or desire is like
8. Describe your menstrual cycle

9. Also give these details

a) Body type and build
b) Skin colour and texture
c) Areas of the body tends to perspire on
d) Odour of sweat, body, stool, flatus, urine
e) Colour of stool, urine, sweat

10. Give any reactions to vaccines or medical drugs.

11. Please give a list of remedies you have taken if any.

David Kempson
Professional Classical Homoeopath
Dip.Hom.Med. 1994
 
brisbanehomoeopath last decade
Acne

I developed acne at about age 15 on my face. Like any teenagers affected by acne, I tried various face washes and topicals such as salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide. I eventually committed to using just Proactiv Solution, which is a benzoyl peroxide acne system. This made my skin somewhat dry and red, but also decreased a little bit of my acne. I did not clear it at all, but at least lessened it to a certain degree.

I later began developing it on my chest and back and shoulders as I go older. I used benzoyl peroxide washes on these areas eventually and while it did not clear, it lessened it much like my face.

Fed up with these washes, as they seemed to do more harm than good, I gave up on benzoyl peroxide and stop dashing my face with a cleanser and began using Head & Shoulders shampoo on my body acne. It contains pyrithione zinc which cleared up my body acne better than benzoyl peroxide, but still didn't clear. It left my skin dry and scaly feeling.

I eventually abandoned all topicals and medicated washes and now only use natural products sparingly. Shampoo once a week and flouride free toothpaste.

The acne itself, without treating it is different on my face than on my body to a degree. My facial acne is all over my face, but different in different areas. My forehead is quite bumpy with what looks like clogged pores and blackheads. I get acne very much in my eyebrows and between my eyes as well. they look like typical acne - red and eventually develop a white spot of pus. Sometimes it's cystic. I also get cystic acne in the same spot over and over on my neck below both ears. The left side is always worse than the right.

The acne on my body is usually scaly feelings, with cysts on my chest and shoulders. Most of my back is bumpy and dry with not as many pimples coming to a head.

I don't know what causes it to get worse or better really. I can't pin down any effects one way or another. The only thing I can safely say affects me is sugar. I've been told since I've had acne that sugar is the problem, so anytime i consume refined sugar (not sugar from fruits) I feel guilty and expect a breakout.

I am quite hairy also - the hair on my face can grow to be quite thick, so I sometimes let it grow for a week or so to 'protect' my skin, and when I trim it back down, the acne is usually not as harsh - it's more hydrated when I don't shave. And when i do, the skin literally flakes off of my face, much like dandruff from one's head.

Sometimes in the mornings, my skin looks better than it does during the day. When I wake up my face is not as oily, but quickly becomes oily after that.


Hair Loss

I noticed about 3 or 4 years ago that my hair was thinning at the hairline. I had lots of thick hair as a child. I somewhat relate the hair loss to acne, as their both follicular. My head has began to develop lesions much like acne on the scalp and my hair is dry and brittle. I don't have dandruff, but it's itchy. My hairline can become quite oily and bumpy and itchy too.


Insomnia

I started to experience insomnia during the last years of highschool. I didn't know what the future would hold and I began working at a grocery store, which i would continue to work at until last year.

When highschool ended and I didn't go to college or university (out of choice), I began working full time at the grocery store. My hours were different day to day and often required I start very early in the morning at 6am, causing my to have to be awake by 5am. I always worried about getting to work on time and set 2 alarms always just to make sure i got up.

Despite having 2 alarms and having worked there for some time, I would still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, see the clock but it wouldn't register that it wasn't yet 5am and I would get up in a half-sleep state and proceed to the shower only to turn it on and realize I could go back to sleep for a couple hours. Sometimes I dreamed of work, but the dreams weren't outrageous or bizarre, they literally just consisted of me doing my typical jobs I would do at work.

Also with my hours being so different day to day, I would sleep in late when I didn't work, and thus my sleep patterns were all messed up. Even though I do not work there anymore, my sleep patterns are still messed up and i stay up later night after night to the point when I don't fall asleep until 4 or 5am.


Anxiety/Sweating

I suffered from stress somewhat while working, but I didn't feel stressed out. It was just obvious based on my sleep cycle. I began to develop anxiety in the last couple of years after not being able to control my skin. I didn't and still don't like being in public and being looked at. I don't make eye contact with people, not because I can't look them in the eyes, but because when I do I can see them scanning my face, and I'd really rather not see them looking at my skin. This has led to some social anxiety, however I'm not uncomfortable around people per say. I like to see people, and if I didn't have acne, I'd be with people all the time. Instead I maintain very little contact with others.

2 years ago I also began to develop a severe sweating problem in my armpits. It would be particularly noticeable when I was in a stressful situation. I remember specifically getting sweaty having blood taken and also when I took a driver's test. I would sweat when I was around people, talking to strangers, doing things I was new at. However, on the flip side, I would sometimes sweat when I was just at home doing typical things when no one was around. As i'm typing this I'm sweating - the chair I'm in is uncomfortable and causing my back to hurt and I know if I went to sit in a comfortable chair and relax it would go away.

The sweating would and continues to happen after I shower as well, which I assumed was just the heat of the shower, but more and more it continued to be clear it wasn't the shower. It's very unpredictable and the odd time i'll go a day without sweating.

When it first became really noticeable, 2 things had happened.
1. I began to consider diet as a means of controlling acne. The diets are very restrictive and I cut out all dairy around the same time. I thought perhaps I was deficient in a vitamin I was getting from the milk that I no longer got.

2. My parents had separated when I was about 11, but maintained a strange relationship, as if they went back to just dating rather than being married. They still saw each other, worked together, and my dad was my mother's landlord. About 2 years ago, they finally got a divorce and my mom began to get very distant from me and my siblings claiming we were too clingy and she wanted to have fun. Up until that point we had lived with both parents, alternating every other day as we lived in the same town. When this happened, my siblings and i moved in permanently with my dad, and for the year for the next year and a bit, i didn't really talk to my mom. I do now, but I also still sweatÂ…

Because I have acne, and now this sweating problem, I don't go out much, and all the time spent alone leaves me a lot of time to think and I can make myself very anxious. I think about fears I have about the future, and what will be, about destiny and fate and I feel like i don't own my life. If I did, I would not have these problems and would have moved out in a heartbeat. My siblings have both moved out and I'm left here alone now.

These are the problems that affect me now.

For the past -

Asthma

As a child and teenager I suffered from exercise induced asthma. When I would run and do a lot of card activity, I would begin to get a sore chest and breathing would hurt. This continued until I was a teenager, and eventually as i got older i didn't participate in as much sports, so whether it has gone away or i just don't make it happen anymore I really don't know. I did take an inhaler for years, but haven't in about 6 years.

Difficulty breathing through nose

I also suffered/sometimes suffer from the inability to breath properly through both nostrils. At any given time I can only breath through one nostril, so when I've been moving a lot and need to breath, I can't do it quick enough through my nose, so I breath through my mouth a lot and always wake up with a dry out because at night I breath with my mouth open. If I'm very calm and my heartrate is lowered I can breath through my nose, as it isn't as demanding. As a result I breath shallow breaths more often than I should.


I sometimes crave sweet foods, but I know I shouldn't eat them as I have bad acne. Chocolate is usually the sweet thing i would crave.

I don't really crave or hate any foods or drinks other than that. I can eat just about anything. I only drink water. I never drank pop or soda or juice much when growing up and so I don't now. Water is healthiest. Rarely I drink coffee, and even more rarely will I drink alcohol.

My energy level is typically up. I try to be positive, but the anxiety can lead my ot feel depressed at times. Sexual energy is typical I would say.

I'm quite slender and thin. I'm about 6'3' and weigh 160lbs. I perspire mostly from my armpits and it can sometimes smell.

No reactions to vaccines or medical drugs. No known allergies.

Like I said in my initial post, I'm currently taking Arnica 6c wet dose.

I really hope this all helps. I'm desperate.
Thank you for reading.
[message edited by southw on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:30:35 GMT]
[message edited by southw on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:33:03 GMT]
 
southw last decade
Ok let me look over this and I will see what questions come up.
 
brisbanehomoeopath last decade
Thank you very much.
 
southw last decade
Dear brisbanehomeopath,

I just wanted to follow up the the series of messages back and forth.
I hope you got a chance to read through my symptoms and problems.

I know you're probably very busy, but I look forward to hearing your response so I can hopefully correct these problems.

Thanks.
 
southw last decade
Logging in to observe progress.
 
Joe De Livera last decade
Joe De Livera -

You never prescribed this dose to me personally. but I read many post and threads about this treatment.

I took Arnica 6c in the wet dose as you suggest to most, but it hasn't done a thing for me. No better and no worse.

So, to those who are searching the internet looking for a cure to their acne, you can try this, as it's not expensive, but it's not a cure for all.

Maybe Arnica 30c would be different, I don't know.

I'm very much looking forward to what brisbanehomeopath, or anyone for that matter, suggests after reading my detailed list of symptoms.
I guess I just need a more tailored approach.

Thanks.
 
southw last decade
I will be working on your case today. As each case can take many hours, and requires a certain amount of research and reflection, I need to do them in an orderly fashion.

I will have a few more questions for you soon.
 
brisbanehomoeopath last decade

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Information given in this forum is given by way of exchange of views only, and those views are not necessarily those of ABC Homeopathy. It is not to be treated as a medical diagnosis or prescription, and should not be used as a substitute for a consultation with a qualified homeopath or physician. It is possible that advice given here may be dangerous, and you should make your own checks that it is safe. If symptoms persist, seek professional medical attention. Bear in mind that even minor symptoms can be a sign of a more serious underlying condition, and a timely diagnosis by your doctor could save your life.