[markraine]

This is a remedy I tried years ago that completely ended up curing a problematic acne case that had been plaguing me for a few years. I was just wondering if anyone else has tried this? I saw a couple dermatologists for acne that was getting worse and worse, I started getting mild acne as a freshman in high school and it progressed up until my junior year to where I started getting the real bad crater acne on my face, shoulders and back.

I had tried antibiotics, Retin-A......ultimately a new dermatologist suggested Accutane. I had heard a lot of bad stuff about it and refused, which I am glad, because the list of side-effects for this drug only gets worse and worse. Working in a pharmacy I can't tell you how many complaints I get about accutane. Dermatologists seem to eager to prescribe such a destructive and dangerous drug.

What ended up working for me was a chance meeting with a Chinese lady who works mainly in acupuncture. She asked me about my acne, which kind of embarassed me, but she says in China it is extremely common and along with rosacea, is something doctors have been working on for years to defeat. She mentioned several off-the-wall treatments, but surprisingly enough, they were all powerful acne remedies, much better than any medication I received and mostly without any side effects. By far the best one was the addition of pantothenic acid to my diet.


I began to supplement at 5 grams a day, after 2 weeks, I went up to 10 grams a day and after a month, 12 grams a day. Within 2 months my acne was completely cleared, not a blemish on my skin, at all. My dermatologist was mystified, my family and friends were amazed. I continued around 10 grams a day for 4 months, and then reduced to about 5 grams a day for another 2 months. For a long time I was down to about 1 gram a day, which is basically two pills of Vitamin B5, but then the acne began to popup, so I went up to 2.5 grams a day and it disappeared again.

For a year while in Iraq, I didn't use any pantothenic acid, and my skin seemed fine, lately though, little acne pimples have popped up, so I've started taking the pantothenic acid again and once more....clear skin. The exact mechanism for this isn't understood, but the Vitamin B5 helps to metabolize fats better, it helps prevent the sebum from reaching the pores and assists the body in digesting fats more efficiently. This effect is increased many times over it seems, from my own experience and from hearing from others, if the Vitamin B5 is combined with a daily dose of EFA's like flaxseed oil, zinc(which you ought to supplement anyways) and Vitamin's A and E. Oregon Grape Root and Goldenseal has also been recognized to have powerful effects on cleansing the body and ultimately the skin as well.


I've recommended to several people and have never been surprised when they came back all excited, happy that it was working so well. I really want to take the time to do a study on this, before I enter into pharmacy school. In China this is a very accepted and highly recommended cure for acne, in the US, unsurprisingly, chemical drugs are still the cure of choice, though they have massive side-effects, such as Accutane for example. There are very few side effects associated with Vitamin B5, slightly upset stomach(if you take more than 5 grams at a time) and increased frequency of urination. Otherwise studies have not been able to detect any long term side effects or contraindications.

I'd like to hear from people on their experiences with acne, what has worked, what hasn't, what methods have you tried? Kind of interested in knowing what other people are using and going through.




One more thing that REALLY WORKS well to kill off acne, especially on your face, is perhaps the most powerful cleaner that you can get. WARNING-The smell is absolutely horrible, its not so bad if its just you by yourself, but beware if you have a sig. other.


The mixture
1 Bottle Desert Essences Tea Tree Oil Facewash(Easiest product, otherwise you have to experiment with different levels of tea tree oil to determine the precise amount for your skin)
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Bottle of Nivea Skin Toner
2 Teaspoon's Apricot Juice(From Whole Apricot's)


Now you take this and combine it all in an empty pump-type container.....make sure to crush the garlic really well and mix the solution extremely well.

Put a little bit of this on your face at night, maybe once or twice a week, and leave it on all night.


Be sure to keep your windows open and buy Air Freshener by the bundle A fragrant non-comedogenic moisturizer would also be a good idea for the mornings.

Now smell and everything else aside, this is a POWERFUL cleaner, it isn't very harsh on the skin, but it absolutely destroys bacteria on your face and helps reduce the appearance of your pores. It usually takes a few applications but this gets results.....period. It clears up your skin beautifully, restores a youthful looking face and
also does wonders for rosacea(kills demodex????) As long as no more garlic than the 2 cloves is used, it won't irritate the skin, although I recommend that people do test their skin first for irritation. This is something else the Chinese lady showed me that literally shocked me at how simple yet extremely powerful it is, much better than anything you can buy in the store, blows all that Stridex/Clearasil/Neutrogena stuff away........................if you're willing to deal with the smell, this is an awesome way to get rid of acne

[loony]

Do you mean mg or g? I'm really not sure if people should take vitamins amounts in the g range... Also I doubt that most vitamin pills will contain that much that you only have to swallow two pills to take up 1 g of the vitamin.

[Craig]

To the best of my knowledge pantothenic acid (vitamin B6) has no known toxicity and the short term side effects are diarrhea and/or nausea in some people when higher doses (multiple grams--not milligrams) are taken. I don't have any idea what the side effects of large doses over a long term are.

As a precaution pregnant women probably shouldn't use higher doses of pantothenic acid without their doctors supervision. "Both clinical reports and recent experimental evidence indicate, however, that large doses of vitamin B6 can have adverse affects on proprioceptive neuron function, and these deficits may be permanent if caused during development." from Nutritional Neuroscience, Volume 5, Number 4 / 2002, Pages: 241 - 242.

[Outcast]

I would not put my faith in anything I read on 'Jo-Bob's Amazing Acne Cures' on the Internet. Unless you are reading information from an acknowledged health source, you run the risk of doing yourself serious harm. Go see a dermatologist and get proper treatment.

[Rosalind]

Hey markraine

So looking at my bottle of multi-vitamins, it says Pantothenic Acid 10 mg. I don't have acne, but get an occasional flare-up on my chin .....

Is this a good dosage or would taking additional supplements be helpful?

Originally posted by Craig
To the best of my knowledge pantothenic acid (vitamin B6) has no known toxicity and the short term side effects are diarrhea and/or nausea in some people when higher doses (multiple grams--not milligrams) are taken. I don't have any idea what the side effects of large doses over a long term are.

Craig...B6 is pyridoxine hydrochloride

Originally posted by Outcast
I would not put my faith in anything I read on 'Jo-Bob's Amazing Acne Cures' on the Internet. Unless you are reading information from an acknowledged health source, you run the risk of doing yourself serious harm. Go see a dermatologist and get proper treatment.

There has been several, previous threads on zits. Some members swear applying toothpaste does the trick

[markraine]

Craig-Vitamin B5=Pantothenic Acid

Vitamin B6=Niacin

They are easy to confuse, but you sound like you may have mixed them up. Those pregnancy reports I've heard related to Niacin and not panthothenic acid.
Although anyone who is supplementing ANYTHING in their diet should have it checked out by a medical professional ASAP before or during pregnancy.



Actually the Pantothenic Acid cure is very proven, even the dermatologists really can't explain why it works, but they're even now starting to admit the benefits of pantothenic acid treatment. Especially with the rumors that accutane is being looked at by the FDA as a possibility for being taken off the market. Not sure what you know about dermatology, but basically when it comes to acne, the cupboard is empty. There are very few traditional medical solutions, and most are pretty harsh. The Retin-A I took was so harsh on my skin, caused damage that took years in itself to fix. Accutane is even worse, it can lead to liver failure, high cholestrol, elevated blood pressure, and has even been seen as a cause of several suicides because it sends peoples emotional levels through the roof.

I prefer the vitamin/herbal treatment much better. You can actually attack the root of the problem. Acne in itself is not a medical condition, but symptoms of something off-balance in the body. When you are young, hormone levels are naturally responsible for a lot of acne, but the beauty of the pantothenic acid is that it can sidestep this and help the body maintain better control of the excess sebum.

Think of it this way.....all around the world, they use a variety of combined medical/herbal treatments, in countries such as Germany, China, Japan and Russia. They have far greater success at treating acne than we do here in the US. The American Medical System is overdependent on chemical drugs, most medical schools are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, thus a doctor's first option is always to prescribe medicine to treat the symptoms of the problem, rather than TREAT THE PROBLEM, which takes much more effort.

Taking Accutane for acne, or harsh antibiotics like tetracycline that weaken your immune system is the wrong answer. If Acne is your bodies alarm system, that something is wrong inside your body, when you take these drugs, all you do is cut off the alarm.

I'll see if I can scan some pictures of me in high-school and me now. You wouldn't recognize the same person. By eating right, taking the flaxseed oil/EFA combo, plus drinking LOTS of distilled water and taking the pantothenic acid, I've taken care of an acne problem that others in my condition usually wind up with scars, destroyed self-esteem and severe side-effects from medication that eventually WILL take its toll.

I work in a hospital pharmacy, I've spoken to enough dermatologists to know that most of them are quite frusturated. They only have a few options at their fingertips and most are now allowed to recommend certain vitamin therapies. They are encouraged to prescribe drugs and that is all they are ever taught in medical school, but they do admit that the future of curing chronic conditions like acne and rosacea is in herbal treatments and living a healthy lifestyle. Gene therapy is still years off and the drugs have pretty much run their course. For every successful case they get with Accutane, they get 2 or 3 where it works so-so, but the person ends up losing their hair, suffering permanent liver damage. Once they stop using the Accutane, the acne comes back, stronger than ever.

I honestly ask everyone I see taking the Retin-A treatments and see how they are doing, and I'm always curious to find out what people have tried.
So far to date, I have yet to find anything better than the pantothenic acid treatment, which is seemingly bulletproof. I'm saving up some money and an instructor at the University of Arizona Medical School has agreed to sponsor me when I have time to do the study. It will look good when I get into pharmacy school, but I think it is something that needs to be done, to perhaps get some more attention on these therapies in the US that are being constantly overlooked,
so people end up suffering more, even though precious aid is available, they just never receive the correct information to help them.


As far as the person referring to pantothenic acid......12 grams is a proven safe amount. Studies have shown that it is not toxic and leaves no long-term side effects. Its like with Vitamin A, you can take MANY times the recommended amount and still not suffer from Vitamin A toxicity. I believe its around 75000 U you can safetly ingest, but I'd have to look up that up.

For the pantothenic acid I always bought the pills in 1 g(1000mg) dosage and currently take 1, 3 times a day. You can also get the powder form which is pretty useful if you get tired of constantly taking pills. I've been doing this for 4 years, especially the 1st year, intensely, and have yet to experience a single side-effect. Going through all the military physicals, I had my liver and kidney's checked out and both results came out great. German, Chinese and British scientists and doctors have yet to find any longterm side-effects of this, unlike most drugs doctors give you. Even in the US, a study was revealed by John Hopkins School of Medicine which bedgrudgingly admitted that the supplementation was effective and safe up to 25 grams a day in theory. I'm just amazed that this hasn't caught on more in the US as it has in many other countries. People here spend more money on dermatologists than ANY other country in the world and yet we have so many more skin-related disorders, most of it is diet, but a big part of it is knowledge. I think people need to take time to investigate for themselves, to find the answers they need.

[markraine]

Rosalind, the 10mg is pretty much what is included in most typical Centrum-type supplements. You need to purchase an individual pantothenic acid supplement....a quality one at a good health food store or over the internet. Nature's Life makes a very good Pantothenic Acid supplement in 500mg and 1000mg doses.
It has been proven safe to take up to 25 grams through lab tests......but I would never recommend taking more than 12, that is all you need to saturate your system and help metabolize the fats. I would assess your tolerance by starting out on a VERY low scale. Like 500mg x2 a day. Things to look for is irritated stomach, which is a symptom of people overloading their system. This goes with any vitamin supplement. Overload on Vitamin C and you will get similar symptoms.

Start out low, the treatment works well, but takes approximately 4 weeks to really start working. After 4 weeks(especially if you are every prone) you will notice a dramatic decrease in blackheads and whiteheads, as well as tighter pores. In 8 weeks, your face should be pretty much blemish free. My recommendation, and this is what I went by, is to not take more than 60mg of pantothenic acid per pound of body weight. This is what a "natural doctor." recommended to me a year or two ago. "Natural doctor" refers to an individual who has gone through medical school, has full credentials, but runs a homeopathic clinic, thus he isn't restrained by typical pharmaceutical company prescription requirements and thus he is free to offer a variety of natural treatments that a normal doctor can't recommend, other than eating well.


I weigh 190 pounds, thus at my highest intake level, I would go 60 X 190=11,400 mg a day of panthothenic acid. That is your saturation period and should only last about 2 weeks, at that point you can reduce to approx. 50% of that dose, use that as a continuation dose, then drop that to 50% after 2 months.

Buildup Phase-4 weeks-I started at 1000 mg x a day
at max level=11,400 mg a day
After 2 week5,700 mg a day
After 2 month2850 mg a day maintenance dose

If you are skeptical, look up the data on pantothenic acid yourself, consult a doctor, whatever else you need for peace of mind, but I have yet to hear of a solution were pantothenic acid did not work.

I would DEFINITELY CONSULT WITH A DOCTOR though, especially if you PLAN on having a baby, there is pretty much NO data on the effects of pantothenic acid supplementation during pregnancy, it is probably similar to the effects of Vitamin C or Vitamin A supplementation, but it is a definite to check up on for women. Too much Vitamin A during pregnancy has resulted in toxicity that was transferred to the baby, it has never resulted in any defects that I know of, but its best to check that out with a doctor.

[markraine]

d/p

[markraine]

Correction, I'm losing my mind today. Craig, Vitamin B5 is Pantothenic Acid.

I misspoke though. VitaminB6 is actually Pyridoxine. Not sure why I labeled it as Niacin, which is Vitamin B3, which I've heard some pregnancy risks associated with its overuse, along with SEVERE blushing

[loony]

Originally posted by markraine
plus drinking LOTS of distilled water

You're not talking of deionized water, are you?

[markraine]

distilled/deionized. I prefer the term distilled, deionized was a big army term. In anycase, water that is free of minerals. That is completely pure. You know that rainwater, without pollutants, is a close to completely pure as any water and was used for drinking water for thousands of years? In the South Pacific there are still tribes that use acquifers to catch the rainwater as it falls. This is their drinking water and medically speaking, they are among the healthiest in the world. Their 50 year old men are in better physical health than most 25 year olds in our society. There are lots of negative connotations with drinking distilled water, but there is no proof, even the WHO went out and said it had no adverse side effects. Their one complaint was that it "lacks taste." Personally through juices and other water, people get enough minerals in their system, what the distilled water does is leach potential waste products and pull them out of the system. Distilled water has been proven in aiding to remove pesticides such as DDT as well as the residue of toxic drugs left in the system. Most water is filled with many inorganic chemicals that your body cannot handle. Fluoride is good in your mouth for protecting your teeth, but wreaks havoc inside your digestive system. This goes for several other inorganic minerals that your body has a difficult time handling. Why do you think you get thirsty when you overload on salt??? Your body is having problems processing it, because salt comes from inorganic sodium chloride that is created in a lab, as opposed to natural sodium chloride which was found in the soil, but is pretty much gone. Thus your body requires the water to help filter the salt out and allow it to resume normal function. Distilled water has been used as a treatment for edema due to high-salt retention.

Most of the hub-bub around distilled water revolves around its use in third world countries, where people are malnourished, and lack in essential minerals, thus giving them distilled water is NOT the best solution, as they require basic minerals like zinc, potassium and others just to survive. Distilled water has worked in concert with other acne remedies. Personally Aquafina is the best commercial water I feel, but just drinking lots of water period is often a good method to control acne, anything that flushes your system out and gets rid of harmful substances that inhabit your body and over time, become entrenched and near-impossible to remove.

[loony]

I'm not really sure if I'm just not well informed enough or if we are not talking about the same things...

As far as I remember drinking distilled/deionized water will cause your red blood cells to burst. You have a concentration gradient between the inside of your blood cells and the blood plasma (?) because of the lack of salts in the water causing the blood cells to take up water to even out the imbalance.

[markraine]

I'd be dead by now then if that was the case sweetie That and many many other people who have been drinking distilled water. I've been drinking a gallon of distilled water a day for the past 6 years. Except for my one year in Iraq where they gave us nasty chlorine-filled purified water that was similar to you sticking your head in a swimming pool and just drinking it straightup =P I was never so happy to have Kool-Aid mix in my life before. But no distilled water is not harmful in any way shape or form, it is just clean water that helps pull impurities out of your system. As long as you eat a balanced diet, get enough vegetables and fruit, you will never have any problem getting all the minerals you need. The occasional steak for iron is also great, and tasty too! I'm not big on red meat, but I think just about every guy has a special spot for a big juicy steak, I can't help it.

[markraine]

As far as lacking in salt, the average American takes in about 3-4 times more salt than the daily recommended amount, which is on the high-side to begin with, so I don't think anyone has to worry about that occurring. However, depending on how athletic you maybe, especially if you run marathons, hyponatremia or electrolyte depletion is something that has become more common in recent years. I've only heard of it being involved with ENDURANCE(marathon, triathlon, long distance bike-race) athletics, but I suppose its possible for anyone, even then though you have to intake almost ridiculous quantities of water for this state to occur. It can easily be avoided if you find yourself participating in such events by intaking an electrolyte-rich drink such as Gatorade to restore the electrolyte balance in your body.

[loony]

Honestly, I'm not sure what to say. I've learned at school that you should better not drink distilled water and I've never ever seen anybody tell me that it would was to be recommended in any way. Or maybe it's just one of these half-truths that have become really popular.