Super quick update!

   So I am just going to give a super quick update. My face has been really great. I haven't had a mite pustule in forever thank god, I do occasionally get a pimple, like a real pimple but that is just life. I do still have some mild redness on my face but the only thing that will help that will be lasers, I had my face zapped a few years ago and it helped and I need to do it again but it's not super bad so I am not really worrying about it yet. If I get hot or sick my face turns REALLY red, but other than that it's just a little flushed all the time. I got a job working at a doggy daycare which I love, I am still working on being a midwife. Other than that things are the same. I do plan on starting to work on other areas of myself like my weight. I'm not miserable with my body, I don't hate it, but I would like to be healthier and live a healthier life (I say this as I plan to stop at the store and grab a coke on my way to work -_-) I just really need to be healthier and losing weight wouldn't be a bad thing. I am FAR from skinny, but I'm okay with being fat, yes I said it I'm fat. So I would like to lost around 50 lbs even though according to BMI I need to lose like 70 to be on the high end. I am thinking about starting a blog to help me be accountable but we will see. Anyways back to the face, here are some pictures I just took. Still doing argan and tea tree oil, and occasionally if I get a zit a friend had some proactive stuff she didn't use anymore and I will use it as a spot treatment and it helps clear it up faster. It's still wierd to run my hands across my face and for it to be smooth. Especially since my nervous tick use to be picking (gross, I know). Okay off to the pictures! And yes I know for some reason I am giving major duck face, I have no excuse for it, I didn't even realize I was doing it. You can see I had a pimple right below the corner of my mouth but it's gone and healing now. At this moment I don't have a single pimple or bump, just healing remains. It blows my mind still.

Long over due update.

   Sorry for anyone that has been waiting for an update, life has been super busy with school and trying to find steady work and apprenticeship and well....just life. So I have just been using the tea tree soap to bathe with and the tea tree oil/argan oil mixture once a day before bed. My redness has DRASTICALLY reduced, I don't really get pustules anymore, I actually can't think of the last time I got one. I do get pimples now and then and actually just had two right next to each other on my lip so it looked like one GIGANTIC zit. Just in time for the holidays! So that is basically been it, my face has been such a none issue lately it's amazing, especially since it had been a battle for YEARS and was ruining my life. It still blows my mind that a bottle of oil I bought for 10 dollars months ago was the answer all along. Okay on to the pictures. You will see that I have the large double decker pimple healing on my lip, it's going away now, but other than that no blemishes.

Finally an update!

So sorry I haven't done an update in a while. Life has been insane to say the least. I got laid off from work, and been trying to get money for school and life has just been crazy stressful. The one thing that hasn't been stressful is my face. It hasn't been perfect but it is soooo much better than it once was. I still get a pimple  or two and every once and a while I can feel a mite crawling around but my face looks just as good now as it ever did on prescription meds. It's a lot less red but if you look close at my face the red is little spider veins that need to be zapped again. I tried to take a picture up close so you can see. So I am still not "washing" my face, just rinsing with water and putting the Argan oil/Tea Tree Oil on before bed at night. My face isn't dry at all anymore it feels soft and it's not dry or flaky at all and it's not oily either. No more lizard skin. I know it sounds crazy to NOT wash your face but I think the oils are strong enough to cleanse it and my pores have shrunk a lot on my nose. If I am wearing makeup I will use Clinique makeup remover for heavy makeup (I have been doing trial runs for Halloween) or just those little disposable wipes you can get and I just use those on my eyes, the oil takes of the rest of my makeup. I'm really surprised that my face has stayed so happy because I have been being kind of harsh to it the last week. I have been practicing Halloween makeup and doing trial runs to see what will work. With all of that make up on and off I thought for sure I was going to have a face freak out, especially with all the stress, but nope. So I am going to load a bunch of pictures on here. My face today, a kind of journey collage and a side by side of what I think is my lowest point and now and just for fun some of the makeup stuff I have been doing so you can see how I am putting my skin to the test. I have not given up my coke or gone gluten free but I have been eating MUCH healthier and a mostly plant based diet, I have meat here and there, mostly seafood. Anyways on to the pictures

Day....I lost count, since June 2013.

Worst and now side by side

Day 20...and I'm feeling good.

   So it is now day 20 on my journey. I feel like it has been so much longer than that, it has been such an up and down 20 days. I haven't done the nu-stock in a few days, I think it is so harsh it isn't something I can do daily, maybe a once a week thing. I mean it REALLY does a big kill when you use it so it is worth it but it really is drying. Last night my face was so dry I just felt like I had this layer of dry dead skin that nothing was penetrating so I did an exfoliate with honey. So much better now, my face feels soft and smooth, such a nice change.

   Last night I did another borax bath, I soaked for about 20 minutes. My whole body loves it, even my dry feet are softer, it's pretty amazing stuff. I didn't want to mention this until I was sure I was going to stick with it but the last two days I have been doing the internal borax also. You can read more about it here. I don't recommend anyone doing anything that I am doing, I am just telling you what I do and documenting MY results. Also just because I have a particular result doesn't mean you will have the same results.

  Basically I have mixing 1/8th teaspoon of borax with a liter of water and sipping it throughout the day/night. It seems like such a little amount that it wouldn't do anything but I haven't been wanting to scratch my skin off so that is good. I can't taste it and I haven't had any other issues with it so far so I am sticking with it. I swear I am throwing everything I can find at these mites. Tea tree oil, nu-stock, honey, borax, everything lol. And just so people don't think I see something and just do it I do a LOT of reading, research and contemplating before trying any of these things and I suggest you do the same. Okay now on to the pictures.

These pictures are pretty accurate to color and everything. I am making horrible faces because the sun is shining right on face and in my eyes. But with all that natural light comes the most accurate pictures. I have one pimple under my nose that is healing and everything else that you see is drying up and healing. Nothing new and active, I just wish my texture would improve but I am sure it will over time and after everything heals completely.

Day 20

Day 13...I knew this would happen.

   So I didn't come to the demodex conclusion or treatment out of the blue, I did a lot of read and a lot of research most of it here on a rosacea forum. While reading and researching I pretty much self diagnosed demodex mites as being my main culprit. I had all of the signs, the pustules, the redness, the itching, acne medicine not working a lot of different things. So when I figured out that was my problem next was to see what treatment options I had and see how they worked for different people. Some people had used borax, some had used sulfur, some had used a cream you order from over seas called ZZ cream or Zhongzhou Zinc Oxide and last some had used tea tree oil.

   While trying to chose which treatment to follow I read a couple of threads that people wrote chronicling their treatments and their ups and downs, (like I am doing here but without many pictures) to help decided which treatment I would follow. On one of the threads someone posted this from I believe the ZZ cream website called demodex solutions which tells you what you can expect week to week with treatment which I will put at the end of this post. Actually they have a lot of good info on their site so check it out here.

   So the reason I went with tea tree oil is simple really. First, I already had some, second I didn't have to order it from overseas and it kinda creeped me out that they won't tell you ALL the ingredients in the ZZ cream, they say ancient Chinese secret or some crap like that. (but the ZZ cream has good reviews!) I didn't want to do the borax because it just seemed so harsh, like using ajax on my face or something. And I did order the sulfur in the form of nu-stock. It is really hard to find a product that has a high enough sulfur content that it would actually be beneficial. My nu-stock comes today but I didn't want to wait that long to get it to start treatment so I went ahead with the tea tree oil and here we are today. I might bust out the nu-stock for the next two weeks....maybe.

  So with that being said, I KNEW that there would be setbacks, I knew I would break out again, I knew it was coming. That doesn't mean I have to like it! Yesterday my skin almost looked pretty! Almost. It was the best it had looked since I got back from California. And then I woke up today. Now don't get me wrong, it still looks way better, but it's a step back from yesterday. I am trying to think if I ate something, or was around something that might have triggered it but I can't think of anything. I really need to start keeping a food/face journal. But even so usually if I eat something my face doesn't agree with, it lets me know right away.

  Anyways, today I woke up and it really isn't bad, just not as good as yesterday so it made me blah. But my face was a little more red, and I had two BIG pustules and I have a big pimple under my lip on the right and another on the left half way between my lip and chin that are just being persistent for some reason. (that is one of the ways I can tell the difference in pustule and pimple, pimple is deeper under the skin and stays around a lot longer). I am not calling it a set back, but my face would react like this on a day where I have to go meet a bunch of new people. BTW I just had sushi and I don't think my face likes soy sauce, I can feel the flush coming! At least I don't eat it often. Okay so here is the week by week that I saw posted for the ZZ cream that I am guessing will apply to my face also and after that I will post today's pictures.

Week 1:

Itching begins to subside and your skin becomes calmer. In addition, preexisting pimples and bumps begin to shrink and dry.

Week 2-3:During this period, you’ll experience the most severe breakout of the entire treatment. Your skin will become more dry and clusters of bumps similar to a mosquito bite might surface in affected areas. Don’t become alarmed or disgruntled during this difficult time. If you experience a breakout, it’s due to the dead demodex mites under your skin. As their bodies decay, the demodex produces bacteria inside the follicles of your skin. Once the bacteria is gone, the bumps will disappear and healthy skin will be revealed.

Week 4:Noticeable improvements to your skin will become apparent.

Week 5-7:You’ll experience a series of light rashes and breakouts during this period. It won’t be nearly as bad as the initial “die-off” stage during weeks 2 and 3, but it might seem like a setback (it’s not). These breakouts are caused by the decaying demodex mites that recently hatched from the eggs of the demodex parents killed weeks prior. After this group of offspring are eliminated, you’ll begin enjoying clear and healthy skin.

Week 8:A treatment of 90 days is recommended for total elimination of the demodex mites, but after 60 days, you’ll begin reaping the rewards of your treatment. You’ll start receiving compliments from family and friends on account of your bright and healthy new skin. This is when you know you’re rounding the final stretch.

Week 9-12:Even though your skin looks and feels completely cured, continue the treatment for 12 weeks.

Week 13 & Beyond:Although a 90 day course is recommended, it’s important to complete maintenance by applying the demodex treatment 2 times per month. This ensures no new overgrowth of demodex mites and it keeps your skin in optimal condition so you can continue enjoying bright and healthy skin.

Day 12

   Well it is day 12 and everything is still going good. When I woke up today I had about 6 tiny new p&ps. They will be gone by tomorrow. I am not really stressing about them or freaking out about them like I use to because it is just one less mite on my face and these come and go so quick now. Also they are really small and easy to cover.

   My face is noticeably less red and my skin is really healing now and my skin is starting to smooth out and the texture is really improving. The only thing is my face is really dry and flaky so I am going to cut back the tto to just at night since they are not active during the day anyways and I have put some shea butter on it more frequently. If I start to regress I will just add back the morning treatment too. Okay so on to the pictures! Oh and these are pretty spot on the the color of my skin now. Just a slight pink.

Day 12

It's update time.

   So yesterday I actually left my house and went out into public and only one person commented on my face, which is normal. So yesterday I did the 8:1 in the morning, shea butter once when I got home, put on the 1:1 before bed and that was it.

   I haven't been having the creepy crawly feeling as much although when I was at the movies yesterday and all the lights where out there was once or twice when I did. Today when I work up I only had 1 p&p which is amazing! I don't know if I ever had that even on the oracea. My face is more pink and still healing. The texture is still rough and bumpy from the p&ps healing and it's still dry so I will keep up with the shea butter since it seems to be helping with the flaky spots.

   Oh before I forget, one thing if you are using the tto make sure you overlap it on your lips a little bit. I noticed I had gotten a lot of p&p on the edge of my lips where I had never gotten them before and I think it's because I wasn't putting the tto that close to my mouth and they ran for cover. I also take it down to my neck. I am telling you if you miss a spot these little fuckers will find it and hide out. I had NEVER had a p&p on my forehead till I started doing this and as first I just treated my problem areas and they migrated, now I do my whole body. Shampoo and conditioner, body soap and oils on my entire face and neck. Okay on to the pictures!

Day 10

So I must confess I have an addiction....

   So when I was on the oracea I could eat and drink anything basically and not have an issue, this has now changed. I have an addiction to coke, not the white powdery stuff but the liquid sugar kind that comes in a red can. I KNOW its bad for me in so many ways but I love it. LOVE IT. I have tried to cut back to a can a day and most days I follow that but I have been breaking that rule a lot lately. If I don't drink a can I can get a headache and I become a bit of a bitch. It's an addiction.

   I know that certain foods or drink can cause flushing but I have been in denial of this well known fact wanting to believe that it didn't apply to me. Well it does, and I am now coming to terms with that and starting to acknowledge this fact. It sucks, but for the last few days I have been noticing my face flushing when I drink a coke and the other day when I ate a slice of pizza. I didn't want to believe it (deny, deny, deny) but my face wasn't hurting at all today when I woke up then I popped open a coke had a swig and almost immediately my face started to get hot, burn and itch. There is no denying it, I have to give up the coke.

   I have been wanting to eat better and live healthier for other reason like to lose weight (the double chin in my pictures is also helping me with my denial of being overweight) and just to be healthier in general. My father died at 46 and I don't want that to be me. So it looks like my rosacea will help me get into gear with that and make sure I will stay on track. I am going to start keeping a log of what I eat and what makes me flush. I know I should have been doing this but again, I like to live in denial.

    I have been told buy countless people that I should try gluten free, that it will help with my rosacea and my PCOS but I am not sure I want to jump on that bandwagon yet. I'm stubborn, I'm a Taurus, I have to try every other way I think might help before I take the path I am told will help but I don't want to follow. So for now I will be cutting out beef, poultry and pork, I did this for a while and I felt better, looked better, and lost weight without even trying. Plus it is easier to follow I don't have to read a bunch of labels and ask a billion questions at restaurants, either something has meat in it or doesn't. If this doesn't work I guess I will give in and go gluten free. GRRR. I have one coke left, I know I shouldn't drink it but I know I will. I will savor every last drop slowly and enjoy my last coke.