Sorry this will be a rambling post but I don't want to drip feed. This is for DD, late-teens. She has lots of little symptoms that don't go away and have some impact on her quality of life. She's seen the GP over the years for separate symptoms and had some blood tests. All these started around puberty. Spots, rapid stubborn weight gain, some slight fluid retention, very dry coarse hair, occasional tingling or stiffness in fingers/hands, cold intolerance, dry cracked skin at the corners of her mouth, fatigue that is more like a constant lethargy but with frequent days of her saying she feels tire - when she ought not to for her age and level of energy spent, heavy periods, lactose intolerant. Craves sweet food and carbs but most weeks keeps to nutrient rich, non-processed foods.
We've moved through most of the topical treatments for acne and in recent months it has got bad not better. She's tried the combined oral contraceptive pill and it made no difference to her skin or periods. She's had an internal scan. She's had her thyroid tested and had other blood tests. Bloods came back okay but certain forums would say her iron, vitamin D and TSH were not optimal. She takes magnesium, iron and vitamin D3/K2 supplements.
She can go back to the GP for her acne, obviously, but I assume they will want to prescribe oral antibiotics next. At the same time, her other symptoms remain. I can never shake the feeling that some of this is connected. Doing a search of recent articles on acne and causes, there is a lot of connection between acne and insulin resistance and acne cleared up when the research participant took metformin. I'm guessing the NHS aren't going to be testing insulin resistance and handing out metformin for acne! At this point, I'd just like someone to look at all her symptoms holistically.
Has anyone had success paying to see a functional medicine doctor (some of the are GPs) or specialist for acne or anything hormone related?
Please be nice. I know these threads don't go well. I assure you I am someone who understand evidence based practice but want to be able to help my DD. We know realistically females live with a lot of things until they get much worse and qualify for actual treatment.