Rosacea is ruining my life :'(

[Titsalinabumsquash]

I have really bad rosacea, it's currently flared up and it's so sore, my nose is a mass of bleeding pustules and I can't leave the house, I'm so embarrassed and no makeup will cover it. I also have bad acne around my mouth/chin.

The GP basically said I can't take anything until I've stopped bfing, I was going to stop in 3 months when DS is a year old.

I want to try and do what I can in the meantime to try and make it bearable.

My current diet is shocking, I live off coffee, chocolate, ice cream and bread

I've read so much conflicting advice about what is best to try in regards to a rosacea diet. Should I do one thing at a time or try and aim for an all round healthier diet?
My caffeine intake is huge, I drink a lot of coffee and Pepsi Max and eat chocolate a lot.
Or could it be sugar/carbs?

I need Tory something so I feel like I'm doing all I can because my face is ruining my life at the moment, plus the rosacea I
Has started googling ocular so driving is becoming unsafe and my eyes are red raw and sting.

I'm having a flare at the moment too, though not as bad as yours.

My triggers are caffeine, alcohol, refined carbs, spicy foods, chocolate and carbonated drinks - and warm weather and exercise. I also find that hormones are playing a part.

I need to gt more antibiotics from the doctor for it, but they are pretty strong and I dislike taking them unless I have to.

I can mostly keep it under control by cutting out the triggers, but then I feel like I have no life!

So I will be making an appointment this week for meds.

It may be worth your time trying to identify and cut out your triggers if you really can't take meds yet. Also, have you seen a dermatologist, or just the GP?

You poor thing! I had mild rosacea and my dermatologist told me when people don't treat it it can get bad enough to be untreatable so please see someone.

I agree some treatments can't be used while breast feeding but some can. Yours sounds like it's upsetting you and sounds quite severe, I hope you can get something sorted.

I would start by cutting out something fairly achievable, such as caffeine - at least you can still have decaf as you come off it. Maybe also try cutting out white bread, if that's do-able? Eat as much fruit and veg, and drink as much water as you can.

All I can say is that it's not really feasible that doing this would make it any worse, so at least it's steps in the right direction!

I would also definitely ask for a referral to a dermatologist. What products do you usually use on your skin!

Don't waste your time at the gp.

I've taken to just using a supermarket brand moisturiser and washing with warm water, everything else makes it worse from the £££ I spent on Dermalogica to the high street branded skin products.

I will go back to the GP and ask to see a dermatologist, usually the GP gives me anti depressants for my low mood and last time he came me financea cream which did nothing.

I tried explaining that my low mood is due to the last 2 years my skin going from perfect to this c

No advice on the rosacea but wondering very gently why so much caffeine? Why such a poor diet? Is it because you are knackered with a fretful, hard to settle baby? If so, the caffeine is probably causing this so you are in a cycle of tiredness, caffeine , grumpy baby.

As a midwife I'm all for breastfeeding but sometimes it's just not best for baby or mum. Sounds like you might be a bit happier giving your baby formula, hopefully getting less knackered, improving your diet (a lot!) and then assessing the situation. May all settle but if not you can start treatment .

Nobody should be suffering like this. Your baby will still be gorgeous and still love you and even do well at school!! Cut yourself some slack. It's you who needs some tlc right now.

Hope you feel better soon.x

www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-buckthorn-oil-30mls-FORMULATION/dp/B001JT63JS

Have you tried sea buckthorn oil? Lots of positive feedback. Might be worth a try? I use it and really like it.

Bad diet and caffeine is due to tiredness, DS feeds all night and feeds to sleep. I can easily change my diet it's just a bad habit I've slipped back into.

DS feeds to sleep now he's randomly ditched his dummy so if I stop feeding him he'll never sleep! Although I know my caffeine level isn't helping his sleep either.

I'll look at the Amazon link too.

Today I've had no caffeine or processed food at all. Egg salad for lunch and fruit for breakfast, I'm surviving (apart from the killer headache) I'm drinking caffeine free herbal teas.

Well done on your diet today. I found the only thing to help my rosacea is to wash with just water and moisturise with coconut oil, it isn't as greasy as you think it would be.

Well done! Suggest you speak to your HV re getting baby to sleep.

Hope things I prove.

The headache will be from the caffeine withdrawal if you usually drink a lot. It goes with time. Good luck!

OP how are you doing? Hope you are keeping the good work up.

Wishing you sleep...

Just an update.

Still not a lot of sleep, goodness knows what's going on with this baby!

However, for the past 4 days I've not consumed 1 drop of caffeine or any overly processed foods. No bread, just fruit, veg and meat and some whole wheat pasta.
My skin is improving! :) it's still red but a not sore, my eyes have cleared up too.

I'm planning on dropping the breast feeding during the day (DS has had formula Ian bottle before) and just feed him first thing in the morning and last thing at night and then slowly wean him off the breast before seeing the GP again for a dermatologist referral.

Thank you for thinking of me, I actually think I might be brave enough to leave the house today.

Last year my rosacea was awful, and I realised I was eating an awful lot of chocolate which is one of the worst things to devour eat with this condition, so I stopped .....that was the first thing that helped.I also realised that drinking coffee caused me to have severe hot flushes resulting in my face looking horribly red and swollen.

Nothing the GP gave me had ever worked, so I decided to try adding one drop of lavender oil to my morning and evening application of moisturiser. Several months down the line the angry redness has faded to a pinkness. No more soreness, pustules or anything else.

I do occasionally have a piece of choccy which I'm fine with, but if I dare to have a coffee the hot flushes are back immediately.

HTH

It sounds awful OP and I remember it well. After having my son I took terrible rosacea for 8 years. I couldn’t smile without my cheeks splitting and bleeding, my face was covered in it, I was so miserable. I tried everything with no success. Then I read an article on rosehip oil, so gave that a go. Within a few weeks my skin was wonderful, I’ve never looked back. I also had very bad acne for 30 years and tried everything for that as well. I now only get the odd tiny spot, every few months . Rosehip oil has changed my life. I just wish I had discovered it sooner as I now have scarred skin from the spots and the splitting skin from rosacea.