Curio-Box
Life of a deadbeat. Surprise!Archive for March, 2008
Quick update
My mom wants me to get some tests done to see what’s causing my symptoms and why they’re progressing so quickly. Usually Rosacea cases start out as very mild and progress over a number of years, not a number of weeks, like mine has been. I’m going to a Endocrinologist to see if it’s related to my hormones or not. I will also get a blood workup and see if things are normal or not. I hope something comes up that might lead to a solution.
Bleh
I’ve been feeling really bad lately… loss of appetite, nausea, shakiness, etc. My face looks awful, it’s flaring so bad. Whenever I start burning up, I rush into the bathroom and dunk my head in some cold water, lol… probably isn’t the healthiest solution but it feels nice for a while. I slept nearly 12 hours last night, I don’t know what the heck happened. I wasn’t paying attention to the time, and I felt so tired. I don’t think I’ve slept that long since I was a baby, lol. I’m praying I don’t have these symptoms when we go to Florida, arg! I can’t imagine getting a flushing attack and turning deep red at the airport, I’d be so embarrassed. I think its just hormones making every thing worse.
Florida
I think Michael and I are visiting our mom in Florida April 3-11, if all goes well. If I remember, I’ll bring the digital camera and post photos on here, since it’s so scenic there. =] My mom asked my to look up clinics that offer that Photodynamic Therapy in Florida so I can try it there. If there’s too much downtime from it, my mom said that I can stay in Florida longer and just hang out, kind of. Michael has to fly back on the 11th because he has gym, but I’ll see how things go.
I love love love air plane take offs and landings, but being in flight is so boring. Michael usually plays his DS or reads, but I can’t, I don’t know why. I just lean against the window and try to fall asleep, lol. Reading on an airplane is like reading in the car, I just can’t focus! And you can’t hear music over the turbulence. Last time on our flight back, this one guy behind us kept tuning his radio for light 20 minutes straight while we were in the air (of course there was no signal). The flight attendant came up and said, “Sir, no electronics, please, it causes interference,” so he turned it off. But when the attendant left, he snuck the radio back onto his lap and started tuning it again, ahaha…
And once, when we were boarding the plane, the flight attendant was like, “This is a full flight, so expect to sit next to a stranger…. I see you all avoiding eye contact! Like I said, you WILL get a seating buddy. Make eye contact with the good-looking individuals while you still can!” Lol.
Arg, my chin is so broken out, it hurts to touch it. I’m glad I’m going to be able to get the Levulan treatments though, a few of those treatments should really help, if all goes well. My dad’s going to buy me a baseball cap so my face won’t burn so easily in Florida. I would probably need a hat like >this< to really keep the sun off, though.
Photodynamic Therapy
I woke up today with really watery, sore, red eyes. Lol, yay! I had blackberries last night which made me really hot and red (note to self: avoid blackberries!), so I think this is just some residual inflammation. Anyway, I’m officially off Doxycycline and have started Minocycline. I’ve also heard that a prescription eyedrop, Restasis, would probably help my eyes if they continue to bug me, so I’ll keep that in mind.
I’m excited because I’ve discovered that Photodynamic Therapy (which is basically an acidic spread called Levulan paired with some type of pulse light treatment) has been used successfully for acne, redness, and constant facial “heat” like I’ve been getting. Usually the Levulan spread is left on 30-60 minutes, after which time a light (for just acne, it’s usually just a blue light, but for Rosacea, an Intense Pulse Light is used) is activated for around 15 minutes. After a few treatments, it’s supposed to help diminish these symptoms, so that’s always an option if antibiotics don’t work for me. I hope they do, though!
I’ve been feeling really weak and shaky lately. My vision gets spotty and I can’t stand up for too long at a time. I been drinking quite a lot of water, so it’s probably my diet. I *have* been eating healthier than usual, though, so I’m proud of myself there! I had a yuuuummy cinnabun last night, but since then, only veggies, a bit of pasta, and one of those “wheat and grains” type cereals (I usually don’t know half the things they put in them, but it tastes yummy!). I’m going to try to eat healthy, but chocolate is so tempting!!
The sunscreen I ordered came in yesterday. It’s tinted, so it should hopefully cover some of the redness & spots so that I can wear less concealer over them. However, the color is sooo tan! I haven’t tried it on my face yet, but when I blended it on my arm, it looked okay, just a little golden glow, which would probably look good on normal skin. However, pink/red + tan = ??? Lol!
Okay, I just had a bit of chocolate. I couldn’t help it. Mwuahaha!
Possible causes?
There are a lot of theories that, for some, Rosacea is caused by the body’s pH being too acidic or not acidic enough. When it’s too acidic, diet can be changed and supplements can be added to regulate the body’s pH back to where it needs to be. When it’s not acidic enough, this can lead to Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), which then leads to vascular damage (ie Rosacea). Here’s a study I found really neat-o:
“In a clinical study, it was found that SIBO was much more prevalent in those with Rosacea than in those without (40/60 vs 3/60, respectively). When patients with Rosacea were treated for SIBO, 85% experienced complete recovery, with 10% seeing marked improvement (95% positive results). In those treated with the placebo, 14/16 remained unchanged, while 2/16 worsened. These patients were then treated for SIBO and saw a complete resolution of Rosacea in 14/16 and significant improvement in the remaining two cases.”
The theory is that SIBO must thus lead to Rosacea symptoms in many patients. Of course, Rosacea can be caused by multiple things, like steroid overuse, slow gut transit time (which might, too, be caused by SIBO), etc. Yet I’m pretty positive my Rosacea is caused by something internal, as I’ve never put topical steroids on my skin. So basically:
Low stomach acid –> SIBO –> Rosacea
and
High acid –> vascular damage –> Rosacea
This is all just theorizing, but it’s easy to check whether the body’s pH is around normal levels (I think these testers are store-bought). I’m thinking of giving it a shot, just to make sure. I won’t get my hopes up, but who knows?
