shihtzulover
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Messages
- 717
Hi, everyone! Here's the short version of my question:
I posted about doxycycline because I had some questions about the Oracea that I was prescribed about a month or so ago, and some of you mentioned that you take it, or that you had taken it in the past. I'm hoping that maybe you guys can help me figure this out. Is it typical for Oracea to make the problem worse before it gets better?
I was able to start Oracea about a week ago, but now I'm waking up every day with more pustules (not even just pimples - they're all pustules now) on my chest and back, which is were my problem is (not my face). I had less than 10 when I started the medication, but now I have more than 50, and at this point, the number is probably reaching closer to 100. They started at the top of my breasts (like always - usually my breakouts start in the same area on each side above my breasts, and then spread), and are now spreading upward to almost my neck. It's really upsetting, especially since I'm going to a tropical resort to get married this summer, and I'll be wearing a strapless wedding dress - not to mention bikinis, etc.
What would you do in this situation? Do you think that it's possible for this to get better on the Oracea? I called and asked a nurse at the dermatology office, and she suggested waiting a week or two longer. When I was there, the dermatologist had mentioned doing a biopsy if the medications that he prescribed don't work, and I really want answers. I don't understand what their hesitation is, and why I have to wait. I would rather know what it is and then know what to fight, rather than throwing all sorts of different medications at it, and then hoping that one will work.
Ironically, I rarely get face pimples at all (touch wood) - but I have noticed a couple since I started the medication. I'm not sure if that's coincidence or not.
Here is the back story, if anyone's interested:
My problem is not actually rosacea. Instead, it's this weird, acne-like rash on my chest. If I don't treat it, it can turn into hundreds of little red pimples that spread from the top of my breasts to almost my neck. They can be individual, but they tend to show up in clusters, and then spread. They never turn into those deep pimples - just the red pimples and pustules that don't scar.
I've had this since I was seventeen years old, and I'm twenty-five now. At first, using a benzoyl peroxide mask on it every night worked really well. As long as I did that, the pimples stayed away. Then, when I was twenty-two, I got a new job and moved to a new city, and within a month, the breakouts started getting much worse and wouldn't go away no matter how much benzoyl peroxide I used. I just lived with it even though it was constant and very depressing. When I eventually left and went to live back at my parents' house, it cleared up within a week and stayed away as long as I used the benzoyl peroxide mask every few days or so.
I moved to another city several months ago, and the same thing is happening again - and I've noticed that it's on my back, too. I've now tried sulfur creams as well, which worked a little bit better (but not really well), but then I started developing a bad allergic reaction to them. Salycylic acid doesn't touch them at all.
I'm really thinking that it's city water that aggravates this condition, because my parents have well water. I have tried several different kinds of shower filters, including the best-rated ones on Amazon and the Vitamin C ones that are supposed to break down chloramines, but they didn't help at all.
Coincidentally, a doctor prescribed Flagyl oral to me for something totally different, and the pimples went away for a few days! I decided to see a dermatologist after that, who prescribed a clindamycin (antibiotic) topical solution. Within a week of starting that , the pimples and pustules were completely out of control, and I stopped using the clindamycin, because I couldn't stand to look at myself.
I went to a different dermatologist because I had read about a type of fungal folliculitis that looks just like what I have in pictures. It's called pityrosporum folliculitis, and it's caused by an organism called malassezia. It usually shows up on the upper trunk - chest and back - and it tends to cluster and spread. The only symptom that I don't have is the itching, which usually does accompany it.
The new dermatologist agreed to let me try the gold standard oral medication for that type of folliculitis, which was a two week course of ketoconazole. However, he told me that he believes that this is more likely not a fungal condition, but an inflammatory process that my own body is creating, so he also gave me the Oracea to try if the ketoconazole didn't work.
Within a few days of taking the ketoconazole, my pimples got much better. But after those first few days, they never truly healed all the way. I still got a few, and I had many that were still there, but they were not nearly as prominent and never became really raised or red. When the course was up, I still had them because I hadn't seen improvement beyond the first few days of the ketoconazole course, and after several days, my pimples slowly started coming back.
A week ago, I started the Oracea as instructed (I even called and told them about my initial results with the ketoconazole, and they said to move on to the Oracea). Within a couple of days, I could tell that the pimples were definitely getting worse, and now they're really bad again. I don't know if it's just the ketoconazole wearing off, or if the Oracea is making them worse. I called back and told them this, but the nurse suggested waiting another week or two, because she said that sometimes the acne can get worse before it gets better.
I am so confused. The thinking is that maybe the ketoconazole's anti-inflammatory properties are what caused my 'pimples' to diminish, and not the antifungal medication itself. My dermatologist seemed to think that if it were a fungal infection, the ketoconazole would have knocked it right out, and then it would have stayed away for weeks or a month - but that didn't exactly happen, which is why we moved on to the Oracea.
It also doesn't make sense, because the Flagyl seemed to make it better, too. Is it really true that the Oracea can make it worse, even if it will go on to start working in a few weeks? Did anyone get worse at first on Oracea? I can understand traditional antibiotics making acne worse at first, because they are drawing everything up to the surface, but if Oracea supposedly does not kill bacteria and only inhibits inflammation, why would this happen? Also, why would the Flagyl and the ketoconazole make me show improvement immediately, without a big breakout to start with?
I posted about doxycycline because I had some questions about the Oracea that I was prescribed about a month or so ago, and some of you mentioned that you take it, or that you had taken it in the past. I'm hoping that maybe you guys can help me figure this out. Is it typical for Oracea to make the problem worse before it gets better?
I was able to start Oracea about a week ago, but now I'm waking up every day with more pustules (not even just pimples - they're all pustules now) on my chest and back, which is were my problem is (not my face). I had less than 10 when I started the medication, but now I have more than 50, and at this point, the number is probably reaching closer to 100. They started at the top of my breasts (like always - usually my breakouts start in the same area on each side above my breasts, and then spread), and are now spreading upward to almost my neck. It's really upsetting, especially since I'm going to a tropical resort to get married this summer, and I'll be wearing a strapless wedding dress - not to mention bikinis, etc.
What would you do in this situation? Do you think that it's possible for this to get better on the Oracea? I called and asked a nurse at the dermatology office, and she suggested waiting a week or two longer. When I was there, the dermatologist had mentioned doing a biopsy if the medications that he prescribed don't work, and I really want answers. I don't understand what their hesitation is, and why I have to wait. I would rather know what it is and then know what to fight, rather than throwing all sorts of different medications at it, and then hoping that one will work.
Ironically, I rarely get face pimples at all (touch wood) - but I have noticed a couple since I started the medication. I'm not sure if that's coincidence or not.
Here is the back story, if anyone's interested:
My problem is not actually rosacea. Instead, it's this weird, acne-like rash on my chest. If I don't treat it, it can turn into hundreds of little red pimples that spread from the top of my breasts to almost my neck. They can be individual, but they tend to show up in clusters, and then spread. They never turn into those deep pimples - just the red pimples and pustules that don't scar.
I've had this since I was seventeen years old, and I'm twenty-five now. At first, using a benzoyl peroxide mask on it every night worked really well. As long as I did that, the pimples stayed away. Then, when I was twenty-two, I got a new job and moved to a new city, and within a month, the breakouts started getting much worse and wouldn't go away no matter how much benzoyl peroxide I used. I just lived with it even though it was constant and very depressing. When I eventually left and went to live back at my parents' house, it cleared up within a week and stayed away as long as I used the benzoyl peroxide mask every few days or so.
I moved to another city several months ago, and the same thing is happening again - and I've noticed that it's on my back, too. I've now tried sulfur creams as well, which worked a little bit better (but not really well), but then I started developing a bad allergic reaction to them. Salycylic acid doesn't touch them at all.
I'm really thinking that it's city water that aggravates this condition, because my parents have well water. I have tried several different kinds of shower filters, including the best-rated ones on Amazon and the Vitamin C ones that are supposed to break down chloramines, but they didn't help at all.
Coincidentally, a doctor prescribed Flagyl oral to me for something totally different, and the pimples went away for a few days! I decided to see a dermatologist after that, who prescribed a clindamycin (antibiotic) topical solution. Within a week of starting that , the pimples and pustules were completely out of control, and I stopped using the clindamycin, because I couldn't stand to look at myself.
I went to a different dermatologist because I had read about a type of fungal folliculitis that looks just like what I have in pictures. It's called pityrosporum folliculitis, and it's caused by an organism called malassezia. It usually shows up on the upper trunk - chest and back - and it tends to cluster and spread. The only symptom that I don't have is the itching, which usually does accompany it.
The new dermatologist agreed to let me try the gold standard oral medication for that type of folliculitis, which was a two week course of ketoconazole. However, he told me that he believes that this is more likely not a fungal condition, but an inflammatory process that my own body is creating, so he also gave me the Oracea to try if the ketoconazole didn't work.
Within a few days of taking the ketoconazole, my pimples got much better. But after those first few days, they never truly healed all the way. I still got a few, and I had many that were still there, but they were not nearly as prominent and never became really raised or red. When the course was up, I still had them because I hadn't seen improvement beyond the first few days of the ketoconazole course, and after several days, my pimples slowly started coming back.
A week ago, I started the Oracea as instructed (I even called and told them about my initial results with the ketoconazole, and they said to move on to the Oracea). Within a couple of days, I could tell that the pimples were definitely getting worse, and now they're really bad again. I don't know if it's just the ketoconazole wearing off, or if the Oracea is making them worse. I called back and told them this, but the nurse suggested waiting another week or two, because she said that sometimes the acne can get worse before it gets better.
I am so confused. The thinking is that maybe the ketoconazole's anti-inflammatory properties are what caused my 'pimples' to diminish, and not the antifungal medication itself. My dermatologist seemed to think that if it were a fungal infection, the ketoconazole would have knocked it right out, and then it would have stayed away for weeks or a month - but that didn't exactly happen, which is why we moved on to the Oracea.
It also doesn't make sense, because the Flagyl seemed to make it better, too. Is it really true that the Oracea can make it worse, even if it will go on to start working in a few weeks? Did anyone get worse at first on Oracea? I can understand traditional antibiotics making acne worse at first, because they are drawing everything up to the surface, but if Oracea supposedly does not kill bacteria and only inhibits inflammation, why would this happen? Also, why would the Flagyl and the ketoconazole make me show improvement immediately, without a big breakout to start with?
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