Posted by KaraS on July 15, 2004, at 16:02:17
In reply to Re: Worse than any other breakout… » KaraS, posted by Larry Hoover on July 15, 2004, at 8:51:55
> > > …by far.
> > >
> > > I stopped and started taking fish oil twice. Then I took it a month straight, two to three capsules a day. By the end of the month, I could only figure that the worst breakout I’d had in many years had to be caused by the fish oil. It took weeks to get over. I tried it one more time to test it; this time I broke out by the second day. I took it two more days to be sure, and was sorry I did. Those two days complicated the breakout. It seems the more times I took it, the faster my breakout response.
> > >
> > > I fight skin problems, anyway, but short of getting something greasy on my face–nothing compares with fish oil. I used Carlson’s and one other brand that I got from the same store and that was recommended.
> > >
> > > Since you had the same problem, if you take two or three capsules a day of that new brand successfully, please post back to tell us. I would try it again because it seems to help a lot of people.
> >
> >
> > Did you also have the cystic variety of breakouts? (I'm in my 40's already so I just don't get acne like that but the fish oil reaction was something else!) All I can figure is that there's some major immune response going on. It's SO GOOD to know that there are other people who have had the same reaction. If I ever get the nerve to increase the fish oil dosage I'm taking now, I'll let you know how i fare. I don't have much hope though. Since I reacted the same way to the flax seed oil, I'm thinking it probably isn't a purity issue (in which case I don't see how brand could matter).
> >
> > Maybe Larry can figure it all out.
>
> Maybe. I'll try. I was trying to copy a segment of text from the following link, but Adobe isn't letting me text-select for some reason. On page 2, there's a letter from Dr. Logan which contains an interesting passage about changes in sebaceous glands.
>
> http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Acne%20Final%20Letter%202.pdf
>
> In that same paragraph, at the top, is a tangential reference to antioxidant intake. I'm thinking that may be the key. Have either of you taken high doses of vitamin E with the omega-3 fatty acids? 1600 IU...something like that?
>My brain isn't processing well yet. I'll have to return to the article later. But I've taken 400 IU and possibly 800 IU of vitamin E with it. (Don't remember if I tried the fish oil once I had increased to 800.)
> If you can't tolerate e.g. three grams a day (flax and/or fish oil), but 1 gram seems okay, I urge you to take what you can. Maybe your body will find a new homeostasis at that intake level, and then you can try raising the intake by another gram.
All that I'm taking now is EPA 400 mg./DHA 200 mg. - enough so that I feel I'm not terribly deficient but not enough so that I could get some wonderful response.>
> Everything I read says omega-3 fatty acids ought to improve skin condition, including acne. The polyunsaturated fatty acids, both omega-6 and omega-3, undergo hundreds of transformations by a host of enzymes, yielding a great variety of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory molecules (e.g prostaglandins), signalling substances (e.g. leukotrienes, interleukins), growth factors, and so on. Maybe you guys have a problem with one or more of those enzymes. Genetic differences like that are not at all uncommon, and this one (if it exists) isn't life-threatening.
>That's the frustrating part - the fact that everything says that this should be good for your skin and yet you know what you're experiencing. An enzyme problem is a possibility. One other thing I can add that might help to solve the mystery is that the sebum itself changes consistency when I'm taking fish oil. It becomes much more solid - not the usual liquid consistency. When the cysts form, there's a large hard solid mass underneath the skin and then there's inflamation around that (as if the mass had formed and then the body attacked it - but I could be misinterpreting it).
> I'll keep thinking about it.
>
> Lar
>OK, thanks.
K
poster:KaraS
thread:365944
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040613/msgs/366574.html