{"id":5501,"date":"2009-11-17T21:44:32","date_gmt":"2009-11-18T04:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/?p=5501"},"modified":"2009-11-17T21:47:44","modified_gmt":"2009-11-18T04:47:44","slug":"changes-more-than-skin-deep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2009\/11\/17\/changes-more-than-skin-deep\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes more than skin deep"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took 20 years but I am finally out of puberty.<\/p>\n

What I mean is that I have literally had acne, non-stop, for 20 years.\u00c2\u00a0 And babies, those babies, only made it worse.\u00c2\u00a0 More than 20 years of dermatologists, creams, lotions, soaps, and medicines.\u00c2\u00a0 The problem is that my acne is an inside-out thing.\u00c2\u00a0 No cream or lotion could impact the painful, embarrassing cysts.\u00c2\u00a0 It has to be treated from the inside.\u00c2\u00a0 So I took antibiotics off and on for a decade — for so long, that I have blue-tinged scars on my face from the overuse.<\/p>\n

Then this summer, with the impending insurance changes looming, I got fed up.\u00c2\u00a0 In my 30s and still worrying about breakouts?\u00c2\u00a0 Freaking out when the kids touched my face?\u00c2\u00a0 Grimacing at every picture of me looking back with shiny skin?\u00c2\u00a0 ENOUGH.<\/p>\n

I found a new dermatologist and agreed, finally, to Accutane.\u00c2\u00a0 Isotretinoin<\/a> (Accutane is the well-known brand name) a controversial, highly controlled drug, largely because it causes incredibly severe birth defects.\u00c2\u00a0 To take it, you must register with a government system and demonstrate use of TWO forms of birth control.\u00c2\u00a0 Then you take pregnancy tests monthly via blood work in a lab, and within a 7 day window after that negative pregnancy test, see your doctor, get the 3o day prescription and fill it.\u00c2\u00a0 If you miss that 7 day window, you’re out for 30 days.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve been on the medicine since August and I can honestly say that it has completely changed my life.<\/p>\n

My skin is unrecognizable from what it was before.\u00c2\u00a0 I feel like I finally have the skin of\u00c2\u00a0 “normal” person.\u00c2\u00a0 The changes are everywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 The small bumps that were always present on my face and chest are gone.\u00c2\u00a0 My cysts, which were non-stop prior to the medicine, have slowed and disappeared.\u00c2\u00a0 Small breakouts have become more and more isolated.\u00c2\u00a0 Over my entire body, my skin is smooth and soft.\u00c2\u00a0 The oily shine that I always had, that shows up in every picture, is greatly reduced.\u00c2\u00a0 I still have the bluish scars, but compared to what I’ve had in the past, this is an absolute dream.<\/p>\n

And then, a surprise.<\/p>\n

Something about the medicine has changed my attraction to mosquitoes.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve talked about this before — how mosquitoes swarm me, how I can’t be outside at all after 5pm with dozens of bites even while wearing DEET, how getting 20-30 bites during 5 minutes of weed pulling while no one else is bothered is completely normal.\u00c2\u00a0 In the last few weeks, we’ve done several evening picnics in the park with mosquitoes all around — and Paul and I have been shocked to find that I’ve walked away over and over again without bites.\u00c2\u00a0 Even more surprising, this last time, Will, Paul, and Kate all got bit.\u00c2\u00a0 We are convinced that the medicine, which changes how the body makes and releases oils, has changed whatever mosquitoes found so irresistible about me.<\/p>\n

So I write this as a message to anyone with moderate acne and particularly with cysts.\u00c2\u00a0 My experience has been fantastic.\u00c2\u00a0 While it’s not an easy drug to take, the results have been more than worth it.<\/p>\n

—-<\/p>\n

Also.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 On a related note.\u00c2\u00a0 Does anyone have recommendations for a good overnight moisturizer?\u00c2\u00a0 And maybe a daytime tinted one?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It took 20 years but I am finally out of puberty. What I mean is that I have literally had acne, non-stop, for 20 years.\u00c2\u00a0 And babies, those babies, only made it worse.\u00c2\u00a0 More than 20 years of dermatologists, creams, lotions, soaps, and medicines.\u00c2\u00a0 The problem is that my acne is an inside-out thing.\u00c2\u00a0 No […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[90],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5501"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5501"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5503,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5501\/revisions\/5503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}