Feeling very depressed - have acne and now gp says to give up breastfeeding...

[Enid]

which I am not going to do as can you imagine how shite I would feel if I gave up AND the spots didnt go

have not had spots like this EVER - along hairline and most horribly, on my neck

they are really getting me down and I am losing loads of confidence. Coupled with the stress of coping with 3 kids (one 10 week old baby) I am beginning to feel quite depressed.

Any tips? Have tried prescription antibiotic and it didn't really make any difference (plus it smelled HORRIBLE )

why does the gp say to give up breastfeeding?

Is the acne hormone related ? How long have you had it ?
Presumably it will settle down as your body recovers from pregnancy.

how odd

poor you.

what kidna spots?

he suspects it is hormone related (as I have never had it before) and thinks giving up breastfeeding will a) stop it or b) let me try more hardcore medicine for it

red pimples with white heads

horrible

oh god poor you. i've never had fabbo skin - ok now but has been bad with hormonal changes (pg, pg losses etc). esp bad after an ectopic pg. i didn't find anything from the docs helped, but it did improve with time. if you have a 10wk old your hormones are prob still wild - am sure things will settle over the coming weeks - i will keep fingers crossed. in the meantime lots of (yawn) water, unperfumed products and no touching your face/neck.

It will be hormone related and it will go away but I can see how horrible you must feel. I don't think there is really an answer other than to treat yourself to something nice to make yourself feel better (lame I know). Does he think giving up breastfeeding will get rid of it because of hormones?

Enid - I got a small patch on one cheek when just had ds3 - hate to tell you this but it's spread over a wider area and onto the other cheek as well now. Ds3 is nearly 2. I've not had anything from GP that has worked yet - had horrible smelly topical thing and then oral oxytetracyline which did nowt, in fact made it worse.

It's not too bumpy and can be covered with make up so I'm just ignoring it now.

It's true it could be pg or stress related though so could settle down for you. My Dad got acne in his 30s so I reckon for me it's just one of those things I'll have to live with. Oh - it's got tons better the last month or so as I've been sat in the sun.

Have no idea why you would have to give up breastfeeding! I wouldn't if I were you!

Enid
No experience but is the GP positive this is true acne and not stress/tiredness related breakout stuff?
Were these stinky pills or stinky cream?

I have had this problem since having dd a year ago. Had quite good skin before, not perfect but passable with good make up. Since having dd my face has been awful some really big spots over my forehead and down the sides of my nose, also like you along my hairline. really big lumps rather than just pimples too. Totally uncoverable. Also my ckin scars really easily and goes flaky over the top of the spt if I so much as touch it.

Only things that make a difference (have tried the pill and antib's) is too drink loads of water and wash thoroughly morning and night. But that certainly hasn't cleared them.

I know this is isn't helping you at all but I can only hold on to the thought that in a little while more once the hormones etc have really come to a stop that they might improve. I know what you mean about the confidence etc though to, I can't realy see the point in looking really funky etc as I realise that people can see them and will note the spots rather than a general impression that I look good iyswim. Have topped doing my hair so much now and have procrastinated about toning up the last bit of my tum etc.

Try drinking loads and loads and let me know if anything works for you.

oh so not just a rash then
hats shite

Have been told that going on a sunbed a couple of times a week will help but not sure about that.

stinky lotion

well obviously I am not about to give up breastfeeding so am going out to spend some moeny on Clinique stuff to make me feel a bit better

am drinking tones of water and eating very healthily as on a diet, i used to eat crap and had marvellous skin!

am hoping Mumsnet will improve it - I always seem to start threads on things that then get hugely better

Def recommend going in the sun - Dad said this was how he got his cleared - he said it disappeared the first time he got a proper tan in the South of France . Have to say, it's doing mine good too.

oh go on a sunbed fgs

Get yourself some Eve Lom with the child benefit missus

yes hadnt thought of that

will try it

although sun last week didnt seem to help

Marina I have Eve Lom and have been using it - it really helps in fact I hadnt been using it for the last few days and its got much worse

am about to run out though and it costs £45

oh enid
poor you

am SOoooooo gaggin to make a gag but hin it may make oyu kill me so will stor e them all up

I think I will become known as "the-one-who-suggests-homoeopathy-constantly-and-for-everything".... but, it's fantastic. A classical homoeopath who takes your case in detail (this can take over an hour), and then gives you only one dose of one single remedy is ideal. The results are startlingly good. I can recommend some excellent homoeopaths, depending on whereabouts you are.
What an awful GP to suggest giving up bf! and
Let me know if you would like to know more.

no suggestions I'm afraid, but lots of sympathy enid!

Tea tree oil? Comes in an "anti blemish cream" by Thursday Plantation. No idea where I got it but was bog standard chemist/supermarket/health store

bum

I really feel for you as my skin was quite horrible as a teenager and took a long while to sort itself out.

I found the antib tablets utterly rubbish, also the topical antib lotion.
The only thing that actually had an effect was over-the-counter 10% benzoyl peroxide ie Oxy 10 - beat prescription drugs hollow. It's worth getting back into the Oxy / Clearasil type skincare ranges as well - I still use a scrub or wash with salicylic acid to keep the clogging to a minimum.

Unsurprisingly, Kellymom has a lot of suggestions for bf-compatible acne treatments, some of which your GP may not have considered.

Meanwhile if you need a snigger, try Cod's 'maddest moments with a newborn' thread...

Jurlique...Dr Hauschka? Although I expect they sell these in the village stores in your neck of the woods I am doing a Space NK run tomorrow morning for end-of-year cadeaux if you want me to get you anything. The rose oil is supposed to be excellent for stressed skin (but then so is Eve Lom )

I had the exact same problem. In was just looking at pictures of myself when I was b feeding the chap and cringing!
I'm sure the GP didnt mean that giving up breast feeding would be the answer to your problems.
Gving up breastfeeding should be considdered if it is affecting the health of the mother. (I'm not talking about your skin)
HAve you had a post natal depression assessment done?
I found that the thing that wourked best for my skin was vitmin suplament and a strict skin care regime. This in itself was hard considdering I used to be able to leave my make up on for 4 days and never got a spot.
I used body shop vitamin C exfoliator (3 x per day) followed by vitamin E toner.
Followed by clinique moisturiser.
I also had some UV therapy (which mad a fabulous difference)
And resisted the urge to squeeze or apply foundation.
It took a week to break the cycle of bad skin.
Oh and it did go away before I stopped breast feeding round about 20 weeks it seemed to settle.

I've had hormonal spots all my adult life and the only face wash I've found that helps is the skinfresh facial wash from molton brown. It's only £17 for a bottle so might be worth a try...I do sympathise though, I get really low when my skin is bad.