2 months of Zithromax?Cortisone Injections? Help!

[Guest guest]

April 1, I saw the 3rd dermatologist in less than a year. Have taken

Tetracycline, Doxycycline, Cipro, Bactrim, Keflex,and tried

Minocycline, but it gave me a huge headache. My big concern, as I

once mentioned here, is the acne cea which manifests itself as

big,oil-filled pustules. First visit to this new derm., he said: 1

month of Zithromax. I was doubtful, but I did it. BTW, I use Elimite

cream if I can stand it, because in spite of what many in the medical

field say, I can't help but think it's the Demodex. My face wakes me

up " tickling " at night if I don't have the permethrin on, and a year

ago Derm #1 told me I had an overabundance of Demodex and gave me the

Elimite. Of course this really is harsh on my face. Well, anyway

(this is so complicated!)after a month of Zithromax my face was doing

better...although it took 3 weeks. Saw the derm. last week and he

wanted to give me cortisone injections. I thought: " the stuff they

inject in my foot for inflamation " so I said yes. Then terror struck

as I remembered the warnings of topical cortisones, which I have

sworn off of. I did notice flushing the first 2 nights, but I have to

admit that there has been noticeble improvement where he injected.

Some of the semi-healed pimples that just wouldn't leave, finally

cleared. The derm. commented that he wanted to prevent scarring,since

he knows I squeeze out the oil of these pustules. So, even though I

have felt warm and flushed more than before (that sounds bad, doesn't

it?), my face was looking better. And then, yesterday, they came

back - the awful, deep, large,painful lesions that multiply on my

chin and remind me of the rhinophyma (sp?) that ocurrs on men's noses

when rosacea runs wild. I'm perimenopausal and think a lot of it has

to do with hormones, namely a lack of estrogen, although I previously

took Desogen (prior to Zithro) and still had acne. I mentioned

the idea of Hormonal Replacement Therapy to the derm. He brushed it

off and told me to refill another month of Zithro, this time 5 days

on, 5 days off. Today the oily nodules were worse than yesterday, 2

days after beginning 2nd round of Zithro. Am I wasting a HUGE amount

of money and creating antibiotic resistance taking so much of this

potent antibiotic???(Get this: the nurse assured me that the Z-pack

SALES REP told them that it was perfectly safe to take that much!)

Maybe I should return for more cortisone injections of these new

lesions, or should I avoid those at all costs?? I'm holding out

accutane as a last resort. Derm #2 said he'd prescribe me some. I

also use: Klaron(Plexion a little too stingy) and Noritate at various

times, depending on if face is oily or supersensitive--I fluctuate

between the two. Does anyone else have a huge problem with the fact

that their complexion changes daily and that the one day the doctor

looks at your face may not be a typical day?? They have never seen my

face at its worse, because by the time the appt. arrives, I have

gotten my face to a reasonable stage, only to return to the worse

case scenario after the appt. Sorry, didn't intend on this being so

long. I tried the cea Ltd. discs and they stung the *** out of my

face! For that reason, I won't try Purple Emu. Would have loved for

Sy products to be the answer, but no...they sting. Has anyone

else had cortisone injections for acne or been on Zithro for so

long??? One more question: wouldn't a skin biopsy or something make

sense to find out for sure what's going on? Derm.#3 says " not

necessary. " Derm.#2 never even touches my face, just a brief glance.

Derm. #1 took a skin scraping above eyebrow (unaffected area) and

declared me free of Demodex. As you can tell, it's been a bad day:(