Rachel is a 23 year old girl who came to see me for help in overcoming acne. She had been suffering on and off with acne ever since she was a teenager. In the last 6 months it had become much worse. Rachel attributed this to the increased stress of leaving her current job and searching for a new one.

Rachel had taken antibiotics for acne for several years while a teenager. They reduced the acne but she didn’t want to be taking antibiotics long term anymore because she knew it wasn’t healthy. She also had a sensitive stomach and antibiotics always aggravate it and tend to give her diarrhea.

Rachel’s doctor had prescribed the oral contraceptive pill to control the acne and Rachel had been on it for the past year. The pill did reduce the acne, but Rachel didn’t feel great while taking it. It made her moody and irritable and gave her headaches. She wanted a healthy and permanent solution for acne.

The pimples on Rachel’s face were very large and red, and quite painful. This made her feel very self conscious, as it was difficult to cover them adequately with make up. Acne is not a trivial condition. It can cause a lot of stress and harm to self esteem, particularly for young people.

The only other health problem Rachel had is with her digestion. She felt very bloated most days and the bloating got worse as the day progressed. Her bowel habits were all over the place. Some days she was constipated and other days she suffered with diarrhea. She regularly experienced urgent stools, and had to rush to the nearest bathroom very quickly. This was also a major source of stress, particularly since starting a brand new job.

My recommendations

  • I asked Rachel to make some diet changes. The skin on your outside is a good reflection of the health of the skin on your inside (your gastrointestinal tract). In Rachel’s case, the skin in both places was inflamed. I asked Rachel to remove gluten and dairy products from her diet, as both of these foods can irritate the gut and create leaky gut syndrome. An inflamed gut typically creates an inflamed face.
  • I gave Rachel a glutamine supplement because it is wonderful for soothing and healing the lining of the gut. It would offer her good symptom relief but also calm the inflammation in her gut.  I also asked Rachel to take a Digestive Enzymes capsule with each meal, to improve digestive comfort after meals and also to help her extract more nutrients from her diet.
  • Magnesium is a wonderful mineral for calming the nervous system. It is brilliant for stress and tension, and helps to improve sleep quality. I asked Rachel to take a teaspoon with dinner.
  • Rachel ate a lot of sugar. She knew that’s unhealthy but she didn’t realize the strong relationship between sugar, carbs and acne. Not everyone who eats a lot of sugar gets acne, but if you do suffer with acne, sugar usually makes it much worse because it causes your body to produce a substance called insulin-like growth factor 1, which can trigger acne. In order to help reduce her carb cravings, I asked her to take one Glicemic Balance capsule with each meal.
  • The health of your liver has an enormous bearing on the health of your skin. This is because your liver is the cleanser and filter of your bloodstream. In an ideal world your liver would detoxify your body perfectly, but unfortunately we live in a polluted world and we don’t always eat the healthiest foods. If you suffer with a fatty liver or hepatitis, your liver is struggling even more. Therefore I asked Rachel to take Livatone Plus capsules.

I am due to see Rachel again in 4 weeks. This treatment regime has worked well for my other patients, therefore I’m expecting a good outcome.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.