My Introduction

[Guest guest]

Hello ~

I have been a member of this group for about 10 days and I'd like to

introduce myself.

I am a female, late 30s, and I live in Southern California (LA

County). I had acne as a teenager and have used various antibiotics

over the years. In my early 20s I was prescribed Accutane to finally

get rid of the acne, which worked wonderfully but left me with dry

eyes (ocular rosacea?).

I began to have symptoms of rosacea when I turned 30. Primarily I

have moderate redness on my cheeks and nose, but I also get

occasional flakes and bumps. I have been prescribed the ususal

Metrogel, Metrocream, and later Noritate when they didn't work. Also

tried Westcort cortisone cream for the redness, which didn't do much,

and until recently used low-dose oral Tetracycline when I had flare-

ups. Stress has always been a trigger for me, as well as heat.

My rosacea was at its worst during my 2 pregnancies and the time

afterward breastfeeding when I could not use any medications. I have

some permanent blood vessel damage from those periods of time and

will look into some of the treatments mentioned here. I also started

the cea diet 8 days ago and am interested in non-prescription

treatments.

I belong to a number of other support groups on Yahoo! devoted to

autism (both my kids are autistic) and the many treatments and

education issues that are associated with autism. cea has not

been at the top of my list of worries for the past few years, and I

did not expect to find a " link " between my rosacea and my kids'

autism when I joined this group, but I was interested to read in the

archives that some people on this list also have immune issues,

Celiac disease, etc. My kids are both on gluten-free and dairy free

diets for their leaky gut problems, and we all take probiotics, flax

seed oil, etc to try to repair the damage.

I worry that I have ruined my gut and damaged my immune system by

frequent use of antibiotics in the past, and that this is a reason

for my kids' issues (recent research showing autism has a neuroimmune

basis). I would be interested in hearing from anyone who also has

kids on the autism spectrum; you may email me privately if you wish.

Thank you to the people who post frequently for sharing your

experiences, and to Pascoe for creating the incredible

resources here.

Vicki