Acne, Depression, Uni

I've made threads before about acne but as like many other people, I do feel incredibly depressed. It has calmed down but since the doctor took me off the medication to test how it goes, it has come back slowly but not as bad.

Last week I had a assignment due in at university and I was feeling too depressed to do it. In fact I feel too depressed to do anything. Sometimes I'm on the train and my eyes start feeling watery. It may sound ridiculous but I did have good skin before. And now to have to go through this, it makes it hard and it's been a few years.

I ended up getting to university late and it was only 5 minutes but I'm going to have a significant percentage knocked off. Will I be able to fill out a mitigating circumstances form because of this? I feel too embarassed about it and they probably won't take it, but I do feel awful and it just made me feel worse, and more depressed.

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Reply 1

OceanInTheSky

You could go to the doctor about the depression and see what they think. If they agree with you and maybe put you on some meds, then it's possible.

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

OceanInTheSky

You could go to the doctor about the depression and see what they think. If they agree with you and maybe put you on some meds, then it's possible.

I wouldn't want to be put on anti-depressants as I wouldn't want to become dependant on them, already having taken acne medication.

Reply 3

Touched With Fire

Anonymous

If you are depressed and feel it has affected your work what you need to do is this: go to your university's counselling service. They'll make an appointment for you to talk over what's been happening and also about this essay you think was affected. They might refer you to the campus doctor to talk about the depression. But both the doctor and the counsellors will be able to write to your department about this essay and try to negotiate.

Reply 4

OceanInTheSky

Anonymous

I wouldn't want to be put on anti-depressants as I wouldn't want to become dependant on them, already having taken acne medication.

I've taken pretty much every acne/spot medication known to man and anti-depressants. It's not very likely you'd become dependant on them, unless you have a history of that sort of thing.

Reply 5

Touched With Fire

Anonymous

I wouldn't want to be put on anti-depressants as I wouldn't want to become dependant on them, already having taken acne medication.

A massive portion of anti-depressants are non-addictive.

Reply 6

Reems

Isotretenoin for the acne
Sunshine and exercise for the depression

Reply 7

gooner88

Reems

Isotretenoin for the acne
Sunshine and exercise for the depression

not sure what Isotretenoin is, but the latter definately works :smile:

Reply 8

Anonymous #1

Touched With Fire

OceanInTheSky

I've taken pretty much every acne/spot medication known to man and anti-depressants. It's not very likely you'd become dependant on them, unless you have a history of that sort of thing.

Touched With Fire

A massive portion of anti-depressants are non-addictive.

That sounds okay then, but I don't want to be put on more medication, for an issue like this. I know it's because I have acne. And without the acne I'll be fine.

Reems

Isotretenoin for the acne
Sunshine and exercise for the depression

I've been on medication and am in the process of being possibly being out on roaccutane. Sunshine doesn't help me because I feel I can't look so good on it, the sun highlights all the bad points on my face. I excercice already.

And by the way thank you all for your replies, I'm not trying to be negative about everything, I'm just posting my situation and trying to highlight how difficult I find to do even the simplest of things.

Reply 9

Touched With Fire

Look, you want this sorted, right?
Well, the only way you are going to do that is with intervention from a medical professional that can verify to your department that you are depressed. BUT, and I personally know this to be true, your department WILL NOT grant you consideration unless you are getting treatment from a psychiatrrist and/or counsellors. Otherwise it will look like you are not trying.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but if you want it sorted, you need to get past this fear of talking to somebody otherwise you will lose a percentage of your mark afterall.

Reply 10

Abara

Try applying lemon solution on you skin before going to bed and in the morning. In the evening you can apply green tea and then wash it. Drink 1 bottle ( 500 ml) of lemon and water. This may help. Im having the exact same problem, however Im not even able to contact the GP for a possible dermatologist...
Use a moisturizer after applying your skin stuff. I use a whole bunch (sighs, that sound so sad : D )

oh yeah, exfoliate - i do it everyday using some garnier stuff - the thing with the brush on top of it : ]

Eat healthy and maybe, just maybe you may feel better.

Oh yeah, I ws having a horrible cough so I was stuck with coughing my ungs out for 4 weeks and an acne : D Cheer up ^_^

Sunshine - where is it....thats UK xD I mean theres no real sunshine

What type is your acne? Is it more of an underskin? Or black head thing?

The talk with a psychiatrist or whatever is total crap in my opinion! You are not that bad! So stop thinking about it!! Dont freak out that you've reached that level that you need anti depressants : ] Everythings going to be just fine ^_^
You had a proper skin before, right? Then you just need to fix it : ] How long have you been with the "bad acne"

Reply 11

MancBoy

Anonymous

Are you me about 3 years ago? Haha. I was in EXACTLY the same position as you. I did really bad at uni because of acne. I know people say dont let it get to you but I understand how embarrassing, depressing and low it makes you feel. I used to stay in my room for days until my skin was bearable to me. I had TERRIBLE skin. If you think your skin was bad my skin was horrendous. HOWEVER what them people say is right. DO NOT under any circumstances let acne stop you from doing anything. I found out later that there was a few girls that used to fancy me even when I had acne...yes WITH acne. I was also depressed, I used to avoid people, I never used to smile and I never looked anyone in the eye. And the best thing ever was when I found out my flatmate fancied me...she was like hoooot aswell. But i regret everything now because I let acne get the better of me. Please don't make the same mistake. Work on your acne. I went to acne.org and found out so much stuff that has got rid of my acne now. You will surely find out what you're doing wrong, whether it be dietary, cleansers you use, how much exercise you do etc. PM me if you need more advice :smile:

Reply 12

DannyBoy123

gooner88

not sure what Isotretenoin is, but the latter definitely works :smile:

Roaccutane, I like to call it the 'nuclear option.'

Reply 13

AsAllTheWay

I went through the same thing. I was on Roaccutane 2 years ago and after 6 months - smooth, clear skin again. It's a rough course of antibiotics (and your liver might pack up lol) but it worked for me. Just make sure you go for blood tests each month to test your liver function. :smile:

Reply 14

Reems

Anonymous

I really don't feel comfortable talking about it with anyone other than my doctor anymore, i just can't do it.

There are a few doctors at my doctors surgery and I like sticking to the skin specialist, who I have seen only a couple of times because before I had someone else but she seems great. I had to go to the doctors for a review last week with another doctor and she started asking me about my acne and I just didn't want to talk to her about it, so I told her another doctor is already dealing with this as I have another appointment the following week. I can't imagine talking to a university counselling service, I'd find it too difficult.

That sounds okay then, but I don't want to be put on more medication, for an issue like this. I know it's because I have acne. And without the acne I'll be fine.

I've been on medication and am in the process of being possibly being out on roaccutane. Sunshine doesn't help me because I feel I can't look so good on it, the sun highlights all the bad points on my face. I excercice already.

And by the way thank you all for your replies, I'm not trying to be negative about everything, I'm just posting my situation and trying to highlight how difficult I find to do even the simplest of things.

Roaccutane = Isotretenoin. It's amazing, 4 months of that and I haven't has a spot since.

Reply 15

Good1m8

Do your research before deciding on roaccutane.

Reply 16

desi_jatt

Why were you too depressed to do your work, because of the acne or something else?

Reply 17

ThinkingIsAbadHabit

You don't necessarily need medications for acne.

Avoid dairy products (and that means avoiding yogurts, too, unless they are made from Raw, UNpasteurised dairy - which is an extremely rare thing in the UK. If you can find Raw, UNpasteurised yogurt, then you can go ahead and consume this, if you enjoy yogurt).

Avoid excessive sugar intake (this doesn't just mean refined sugar, it also means foods that contain excessive levels of sugars, even natural unrefined ones).

Take a decent quality probiotic for a couple of months and you may get fantastic results.

Be aware that, in spite of claims to the contrary, there are an enormous number of near-useless probiotic products on sale. If you can afford it, go for a decent one like:

Udo Erasmus's 'Hi-Potency Bowel Blend' or 'Super 8 High Potency' (these can be found in the refrigerated section of your local specialist healthfood store).

If you don't mind ordering from the USA (I often order from 'iHerb' in the USA), you can find a fairly good product at a reasonable price by obtaining Jarrow Formulas' 'Jarrodophilus'.

A higher quality alternative to the Jarrodophilus product would be Garden of Life's 'Primal Defense' (don't go for the 'Ultra' version), which is also available through iHerb (and possibly in the UK but you'll probably get ripped-off in the UK). Even in the USA, it's a costly product.

Finally, the best of the best is Dr. Ohhira's 'Probiotics 12 Plus', but this is expensive, too.

Probiotics are not a cure-all / panacea, but, in certain health conditions can help bring about startlingly good results - some (admittedly not all) cases of acne respond extremely well to probiotic supplementation. When one first considers probiotic supplementation, the cost can be somewhat off-putting, but that is missing the point - the point is, in spite of their monetary cost, do they offer good value in terms of positively influencing your health? Well, that will vary from person to person, depending on the underlying health of their digestive tract, but I strongly encourage you to at least give probiotics a try - unless you do, you will never find out if they are beneficial for your particular body; "Nothing ventured Nothing gained..." as the saying goes.

Please bear in mind that all probiotics are initially used in larger quantities, which is commonly known as a 'loading dose', after which you can reduce the number of capsules taken per day. (to give you some idea, Ohhira's is 60 capsules per box but you take 5 capsules twice daily for the first box (6 days), after which you can drop down to 2 capsules twice a day for a couple of weeks, and then 1 capsule twice a day thereafter).

If you don't want to order from the USA, then Udo's probiotics is about the best choice in terms of quality without costing £50 a time, but it'll set you back a fair few quid, nonetheless. The question here is how seriously you want to sort out your acne. I had teenage acne and my GP prescribed me the worst possible remedy (although I didn't know it at the time). He prescribed antibiotics (oxytetracycline). These destroyed many of the GOOD bacteria in my digestive system and these have a massive impact on the health of the rest of the body. If someone offers you antibiotics for acne, you may do as you please but, personally, I'd never again take them for acne. What you need to be doing is improving the balance of bacteria in your digestive system - by feeding it billions of viable cells of healthy bacteria, you will allow nature to rebalance the numbers of 'bad' bacteria; antibiotics attack both the good and the bad, which compromises your immune system and allows bad bacteria to run rampant once you finish the course of antibiotics.

If you have a bacterial imbalance in your digestive system (very common in people who have a history of antibiotic use, even if it was many years ago), you may find that taking a high-potency probiotic will help not only your acne but also improve many other aspects of your health (more sound sleep, better digestion, better hair growth, better resistance to infection - the list goes on). Don't believe the marketing hype that the likes of Yakult or Actimel are as good as a proper high-potency probiotic - they may be helpful, but they're not even close to the same league as a proper probiotic product.

Also ensure you regularly eat foods that are high in zinc (good for the skin and for the immune system, as well as hundreds of different enzymatic functions within the body). Pumpkin seeds, oysters, pecan nuts, sunflower seeds etc.

and regularly eat foods that are high in vitamin A (cod liver oil, the flesh from the head of fish (actually, the highest concentration of Vitamin A is located within the eyes and in the flesh behind the eyes of fish, but I doubt you'll wish to go that far!), yellow butter from animals that have been grass-fed, not grain-fed. In the UK, this means you have only 2 choices for butter that has any appreciable levels of vitamin A and it's important fat-soluble co-factors: Anchor or Kerrygold. (Also note that many of the topically-applied pharmaceutical remedies for acne are variations on synthetic vitamin A preparations - e.g. 'Retinol').

Vitamin C helps the body to manufacture collagen and to protect body tissues, including the skin, from damage. Sweet peppers are an easy-to-eat source of vitamin C - much higher than oranges. If you wish to actually supplement vitamin C then don't buy the rubbish in supermarkets/chemists - the highest potency for the money, in a 100% natural form can be found in Amla powder, which is an extremely bitter fruit that is dried and powdered. You can get it from your local eastern foods shop - it tends to be an Indian product rather than a Chinese one.

Eat plenty of leafy dark greens DAILY. You cannot imagine how important this is to skin health, and to health in general. The general population are woefully ignorant of how nutritious proper mineral-rich greens can be. This means regularly eating greens such as Kale, Broccoli, cabbage, Spring Greens etc. Light-green salad greens don't count - they're healthy to eat, but they're not especially nutritious.

Dark leafy greens contain lots of Vitamin E (as do Zinc-rich pumpkin and sunflower seeds). Vitamin E is excellent for skin health.

Ensure you get plenty of fibre in your diet - that does not mean simply stuffing yer face with branflakes! :wink:

(these are a refined food, and many cereal products are also processed at high temperatures, leading to rancidity of the oils contained within the grain, which potentialy increases the toxic load on the liver). As much as possible, avoid refined man-influenced foods. Whenever possible, eat fresh Wholefoods of the sort that will naturally 'go-off'. The point is that such foods have not had their natural shelflife artifically extended by removal of vital nutrients and/or addition of toxic preservatives. If you're ever uncertain about whether or not a food is healthy to consume, ask yourself 'would I be likely to ever encounter this, if I was fending for myself in nature?'; 'would this food have existed 500 years ago, before the industrial revolution?'

If you follow the above advice about eating plenty of fresh leafy greens, then you'll already have a good headstart in terms of healthy fibre. Your liver disposes of toxins through the bile ducts; this bile then enters the digestive tract and is swept out of the body by fibre in the bowel. Insufficient dietary fibre leads to toxin-laden bile being reabsorbed back into the bloodstream, which is bad news on so many levels, including poor skin complexion.

Onions and Jerusalem artichokes contain something called 'inulin' which helps support the growth of healthy bacteria within the intestinal tract, so it's good to consume these quite frequently.

By happy coincidence, dark leafy greens are generally rich in sulphur (and so are onions/garlic). Sulphur is very supportive of skin health.

You might also try bathing your face with cool green tea before bedtime (it's considered an astringent and is also powerfully antioxidant), although this is just a secondary consideration; the probiotics are by far the most important thing for you to focus on. It's also good to drink green tea occasionally, for a dose of the antioxidant polyphenol content. Antioxidants such as those contained in grape seeds, red peanut skins, and grapefruit pith are powerful supporters of blood capilary integrity (they help the microscopic blood vessels beneath the skin to remain strong and healthy and this helps to ensure a good blood supply to the skin, and this means a good supply of nutrients from the blood to nourish the skin tissue. Another consideration, is that because acne tends to involve inflammation (involving the blood, of course) and damage to the skin, it is good to do whatever one can to keep microscopic blood vessels strong and less likely to rupture or generally be damaged.

Incidentally, good foods to eat that help reduce inflammation (even arthritis sufferers use them) include ginger and turmeric.

Lastly, although it has already been mentioned by others for helping depression, sunlight (Ultraviolet light) is extremely beneficial for acne - it works wonders. I'm not recommending regular sunbed sessions, but at least try to get regular exposure to sunlight on your face (wish we had a better climate here in the UK, but at least summer is on the way!)

Re' the depression, some part of your mind is clinging onto a particular concept, and that concept is that, in some way, there is something 'wrong' about having acne, and/or that you cannot be happy until your acne has gone. Now, having experienced the unpleasantness of acne (both physical and social) I know what you are going through, so don't think I'm belittling it because, I assure you, I am not.

Nonetheless, somewhere in your mind, you are clinging onto such a concept/'judgment', and then mentally pitting this against the fact that, like it or not, you do have acne. Pitting these two things against one another is a classic way to experience depression. It's not 'wrong' or 'right', it's just something humans do mostly subconsciously, and then end up feeling crappy because of it. The truth is, there are some people who resist having acne, and there are others who do not resist it - by simply accepting it, and not applying negative associations/concepts/judgments to acne, in their minds, they manage to live happily in spite of their acne. This is a clue that acne is not causing your depression. When you gradually begin to gain insight into how you have been subconsciously resisting something in the manner I have described, you can begin to deconstruct it and reduce the amount of psychological suffering you experience in relation to a physical situation such as acne.

I wrote more on these psychological aspects in the following thread:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=24224906#post24224906

All the best, I wish you happiness (and you will find it, given time and a willingness to learn and grow - that's pretty much what life is for all of us, wouldn't you agree; an opportunity to learn and grow from our experiences, both pleasant & unpleasant?)