Saturday, January 21, 2012

Fish Oil Spoil

As always, rosacea is an adventure. The ride has its ups and downs, and I've been going downhill for the past two weeks. . . I thought I'd find some success applying my theory that an anti-inflammatory diet and topical treatment would be the ticket. However, the "trigger" factor of some seemingly benign substances continue to confound me. This time the culprit appears to be glycerin or d tocopherol (Vit E). Who knew that fish oil supplements, boasting their 1300mg of anti-inflammatory Omega-3s contain such vexing vehicles of menace? Since discontinuing use of the fish oil supplements, the inflammation has subsided and the skin is beginning to heal. I have included salmon in my diet daily and hypothesize that the Vitamin B-12 must be the key component that has been keeping the inflammation down. We shall see . . .

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Sebamed Cleanser

I purchased Sebamed Cleanser online through Costco. It was a substantial investment as the warehouse sells it packaged as two 32-ounce pumps for around $40. Surprisingly, a little goes a long way! The idea behind Sebamed is the natural pH of skin is 5.5 and all the products we use on our skin throws the pH off balance. I have been using the cleanser for about 3 days now and like the feel of it. I haven't had any negative reactions thus far and no new rosacea symptoms. The p&ps (2) are healing. So right now I will continue the cleanser, the morning application of sea buckthorn seed oil, fish oil, curcumin, and probiotic supplements and the anti-inflammatory diet.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Sea Buckthorn Seed Oil

Today I bought a 10 ml bottle of sea buckthorn seed oil. I read that it can effectively treat inflammatory skin conditions and that it is also a natural sunblock. I purchased it because of course I want to treat my inflammatory skin (rosacea) but also because I have not yet found a sunscreen that doesn't irritate my skin. I have finally resigned that the sunlight probably does irritate the rosacea and that I should wear sunscreen and a hat when I go out. So what did I do with my sea buckthorn seed oil? I applied 4 drops to my freshly washed face, working it in gently. I felt immediate relief but time will tell if there will be visible changes to the p & ps.

Is Rosacea an Inflammatory Disease? AID (Anti-Inflammatory Diet) - Let's Try It!

If you've done any extensive research on the rosacea question, I'm sure you've come across the demodex mites, the trigger foods, the sun exposure, hormones, temperature changes, vascular, genetic, and inflammation theories. My question is always "Why can't anybody figure this thing out!!!!" Yeah, the frustration level is pretty high. I've thought to myself and have heard others say, "Count your blessings. It could be worse. All you're dealing with is red skin." And I truly believe that. But when your skin is inflamed, you do experience chronic pain due to the inflammation. You become self-conscious because if you can feel it, surely everyone around you can SEE it. I totally get the psychological implications of what to us seems to be a very visible disease. I even find myself searching for other rosaceans in public. Does she have rosacea? Look at his skin, hmmm. I wonder if they can eat chocolate and drink coffee without worrying about how it will make them look or feel?

So I decided several months ago to follow the inflammatory condition angle of the disease and began an inflammation free diet (see The Inflammation Free Diet Plan by Monica Reinagel and visit http://inflammationfactor.com/). I have modified my diet extensively to remove "trigger foods." The whole idea of trigger foods is an anomaly to me so I'll get to that later. So what am I doing to try to control the inflammation of rosacea by diet? I'll start with the supplements: acidophilus, curcumin, and fish oil daily. As far as food goes, Monica Reinagel recommends a combined IF rating of 200 or above for the therapeutic inflammation free diet. If you want to check the IF (Inflammation Factor) of the foods you are eating, you can refer to Monica's book, or check out Self's Nutrition Database at http://nutritiondata.self.com/.

When I first began eating a low inflammatory diet, I thought I would die from malnutrition. No joke! I scheduled an appointment with a dietician because I was already borderline underweight and sure that I would be missing key nutrients and calories by limiting my food choices. As I cut out processed foods however, I realized that cooking from scratch was a lot easier than I ever thought it would be and the food actually tasted pretty good. Also, when I cut sugar out of my diet, I suddenly didn't crave sweets anymore. Has the low inflammatory diet cured my rosacea? No. But I have noticed that when I reach a higher IF rating on a regular basis my rosacea is less inflamed.

Erythromycin

I visited my dermatologist two weeks ago - annual trip due to family history of melanoma. Of course, we talked briefly about the rosacea. He suggested I try erythromycin and I finally caved in to the ANTIBIOTIC route. I had previously tried Oracea for about a week and my rosacea was worse for the wear, so trying another antibiotic was a BIG DEAL for me. I was somewhat surprised that it worked at clearing up a couple papules/pustules right away. (For anyone who doesn't have rosacea, I apologize for the graphic content. For us rosaceans, papules and pustules are just our way of life!) However, after two weeks - voila! - p & ps are back again. So if rosacea is an inflammatory condition, the erythromycin is a short-lived solution . . .

New Year's Rosacealution

In order to try to maintain my sanity, I've decided to go public with my rosacea cure quest. It really can easily consume me given my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, so the blog is really my self-prescribed therapy this year. I've tried several different strategies and researched many theories of what causes rosacea, so I'm really just going to debrief here and self-reflect. If anyone else reads it - great! Maybe you have some suggestions you can add. If no one reads it - great! I just need to do this for myself. So here goes . . .