My Acne System that Works Wonders

Erika & I at Jr & Sarah's Wedding

I haven’t seen too much information regarding acne and Fibromyalgia but when my symptoms became intense, so did my acne.  Grossness.

Here I was 28, single, in some pretty serious pain with the skin of a 14 year old.  There were days I seriously wanted to stay home because my skin was so bad.  I’ve always been pretty self-conscious of my skin, having suffered breakouts as a teen.  Luckily, when I was in college I went on birth control and my skin cleared up.  I had no idea that it was the pill that cleared my skin, I thought I had grown out of it.

Imagine my surprise and chagrin when my skin went berserk.  I tried everything sans acutane (and I even considered that for a second).  Proactiv was no longer working.

The Elisa / Act Test – 1 month later

My Puppies

It’s been a little over a month since I took the Elisa / Act Delayed allergy test and I’m feeling ok.

If you’re new to my blog, check out my previous posts where I give you the entire scoop about the Elisa / Act Allergy test and my results etc.

I’m not gonna lie, it’s been a struggle.  Excluding black pepper and corn from your diet / life is extremely difficult.  Corn is literally in almost everything.  There have been days where I’ve eaten nothing but fruit and eggs because I simply didn’t want to interpret any more labels. Mannitol.  Glycerin.  Citric acid.  Unbelievably these are generally derived from corn.

Has it been worth it?  Yes.  In the beginning, I was feeling really good.  No more headaches, improved muscle tension etc. but then I started to feel crappy again.  Of course I started to wonder if the improvement was psychological but after determining that it wasn’t I started eliminating food and medicines again.  I found a few more offenders that I also eliminated. Cheese, I miss you.  Sigh.   So a few more pounds shed later (I’ve lost over 10 pounds since eliminating corn), I began to feel better again, but never as good as I did for the first two weeks.

Then last night I made a discovery.

Low Dose Naltrexone – LDN for Fibromyalgia. A Patient’s Experiences

Gerber Daisy

I recently sent out a blog post Low Dose Naltrexone ( LDN ) for Fibromyalgia prompted by a tip from a fellow Warrior, Vicki.  She commented on that post and I wanted to share it with everyone in case you missed her comments.  Beneath her post, I am going to relist the websites from my previous post and add the Yahoo Group as well.  One of the reasons I started this blog was to reach others and exchange tips about what is actually working.  I am so excited to see that happening.  Thanks again Vicki!

Margo and others,
That’s great that you chose to share the information. As I posted earlier, I’ve been using LDN for about 15 months and have had quite a bit of improvement in my symptoms. However, I agree with you that everyone needs to read up on it before trying it. You’ve listed great websites, the first site being the most informative.

Low Dose Naltrexone ( LDN ) for Fibromyalgia

Buttercup as the Tooth Fairy for Halloween

I recently received a tip from a fellow Warrior named Vicki.  I hope she doesn’t mind that I’m posting this.  I think knowledge is our greatest weapon and I am extremely grateful to her for telling me about this.

Vicki told me about people with Fibromyalgia using Naltrexone in a low dose to help symptoms.  Since her tip, I did some research.  Naltrexone is a drug that is FDA approved to help people who have stopped using alcohol and drugs.  However there has been testing using Naltrexone for patients with autoimmune diseases (like MS and lupus), cancer, HIV, CFS and Fibromyalgia.

It works by blocking certain receptors to the brain and from what I can tell it basically makes your immune system work properly.  I am going to follow this post with links to different pages that discuss this drug and it’s treatment of Fibromyalgia.

Abnormal Test Results with Fibromyalgia

John & I at a Wedding in Rhode Island

So I finally had a test come back abnormal. It’s exciting and terrifying all at the same time.  The funny part is that of all the doctors I’ve seen, the doctor who ordered these was an allergist.  Odd.

If you’ve looked at my symptoms page, you’ve probably heard me talk about my dermographism or uticaria.   In case you haven’t, look to your right and check out the scariness that our bodies can produce.  More specifically, the scariness that my body can produce.

I’m currently taking a double dose of 24 hour claritin (one in the morning & one at bedtime) which controls it to a degree.  (And costs a crapload of money)  Basically I’m not crawling out of my skin all the time.  Great.

So I finally went to an allergist and she told me two interesting things.  1.  It is not caused by your typical allergy like pollen or cats (which I already assumed but never had verified) and 2. They usually have no idea what causes it and it will eventually go away on it’s own.  Just to be sure, she wanted to run some more tests.

Elisa / Act delayed food allergy Test – two weeks later

It’s been 16 days since I’ve tried eliminating the foods that I have sensitivities towards and it’s been a bit of an up and down battle.  In my last post, I wrote about which foods I was sensitive towards and how it might be impossible to get corn out of my diet short of eating only fruits, veges and homemade bread for the next three months.

Initially I was feeling great – better than I have in years but then I started to revert back to the typical feeling like crap all the time. I believe that I was still getting corn in my diet but wasn’t sure how.  I’ve been keeping a detailed list of everything I eat and went back over it and picked out some suspects which I’ve now cut out of my diet.  I’m feeling better again but I’m kinda waiting for the crappy to come back again.  Both John and my mother voiced their concerns that it might simply be Fibromyalgia rearing it’s ugly head and has nothing to do with the food at all.

I really hope they’re wrong.

Elisa / Act Test – 1 week later – Feeling better than I have in years!

It’s been two weeks since I cut all of my delayed onset allergies out of my diet and I feel better than I have in years!   In the last two weeks I’ve also had two different doctors tell me that delayed allergies are a load of crap and not to bother avoiding corn – since it’s such a hassle.

Do you know what I find a hassle?  Being in too much pain to cook dinner.  Having a muscle spasm in your back that hinders your breathing.  Having a constant headache.  Feeling like you have the flu every single night of your life.  I think these things are a hassle.  So if someone says to me, “Margo it’s going to be a pain in the ass but you if you cut corn out of your life you’re going to get better,” I’m going to try it.