Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Saying adios to gluten? or dairy? Or both?? Hmm...

Last night I had an appt with my facialist, Sarah Elizabeth, aka "the miracle worker." Sometimes I feel guilty for getting these monthly facials, but then I remember that the 30 -60 minutes I spend w/ her each month is probably my most relaxing 30-60 minutes of each month. Seriously, she is so good at what she does.

Unfortunately, I seem to have inherited some seriously bad genes when it comes to my complexion. If there was a 'face transplant' surgery out there, I'd sign up in a heart beat. I absolutely hate my complexion, I feel like people look at me and think, "What? Doesn't she wash her face?" I know it is so vain to care so much about one's appearance, but the first thing people usually judge you on is your appearance... so looking like you are going through puberty at the age of 28 isn't helping me out very much...

I've tried going to a Dermatologist, but I kind of hate the man after this last fall. I saw him in October and asked him to put me back on an antibiotic that I had been on previously. He suggested trying something different and put me on Sprironolactone. Yah, it's actually a drug that is used to treat people w/ congestive heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, or kidney disorders. When he told me that I was like - 'hold the phone, why am I taking this?' He went onto explain that it does something with the hormonal balance in your body so he thought it might be the solution for me. So I tried it, and my complexion went from not so great to freaking ridiculously horrible. I called the doctor and spoke to his nurse who was completely unsympathetic and basically said to just 'deal with it' and give it more time... even though I'd been on the stuff for 7 weeks and he said it's work after 6.

So I gave up and I don't think I will ever go back to that Dermatologist. I don't know if his nurse was hating life that day or what, but she was so rude to me. Maybe I need to find another Dermatologist but after that whole fiasco, I have no desire to give someone else another try...

So last night Sarah mentioned that other clients have eliminated gluten from their diet and have seen great results - I don't really understand how gluten could impact my complexion, but am pretty much willing to try anything. While I was researching gluten's impact on your complexion (couldn't find anything, I suck at research, by the way), I read a few articles that speculate that dairy might be the culprit... apparently they load the cows up with hormones, so when you consume dairy products, it messes with your hormonal balance as well.

So now I am debating whether I should eliminate one or both of these from my diet... I looked up a list of foods that do/don't have gluten - ay yi yi. Eliminating it wouldn't exactly be easy. But I know it can be done - my cousin has celiac sprue and blogs about gluten-free cooking, so she'd be a great resource....

So we'll see what I end up doing. If eliminating one of both of these alleged culprits results in a clearer complexion, it'll be worth it, so it's probably worth trying.

What pisses me off the most about this whole thing is that my older sister often doesn't even freaking wash her face! Seriously! And I don't think I've ever seen her with a single blemish. I obviously got the short end of the stick when it comes to 'complexion genes.'

Oh, and I googled "Face Transplants" - apparently such a procedure exists, but I'm probably not a good candidate...

* Update *

Google is a dangerous thing. It allows people like me with no medical knowledge to self-diagnose. After all this research about gluten, etc, etc, I have practically convinced myself that I have some sort of ailment. So now I am probably going to be 'that girl' that goes to her doctor and says, 'um, so I was googling, and I think I have ____ (fill in the blank). I bet doctors hate the internet and the resulting self-diagnosis that goes on... Do they, Suzanne?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lisa,

I found this blog and it might be helpful w/gluten free foods...
http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/

Good luch!

Yulia

aimee said...

i love my dermatologist right now, but all the others i had seen before her have been so rude and not helpful at all. i was on antibiotics for a long time and they never seemed to help. now i use prescribed washcloths for my face (they are called plexion something or other) and i love them! i feel like they have made a big improvement. i don't think i'll ever be happy with my complexion though. i always find something wrong with it!

you'll have to keep me updated on the gluten/dairy thing. i'd be very interested in knowing if it actually helps.

also, i have heard that drinking green tea if very good for your skin. i don't like it personally but i know a lot of people that do!

Kelli said...

So I have no idea if this would be a solution, but what about switching to organic milk/dairy products. We have Mariah drinking Horizon organic milk because the cows are not given any of those growth hormones that are in regular milk. Just a thought that might be worth a try prior to cutting out dairy all together.

qwerkyqook said...

hey lisa! I just got home and now i'm doing my blog catchups! Actually, there is a skin reaction to gluten called dermatitis herpetiformis. If you google it you could see some pictures. Going gluten free is tough, but if it helps it is worth it. I would say to consider if you want to be tested for it though, you would want to go into the doctor before you try going gluten free. there are blood tests and the biopsy that will turn negative if you go on the diet. But you could also try the diet for a while and see if it helps. In that case you would start eating wheat again for a few weeks, like at least 4 pieces of bread a day or something and get tested. http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/
http://gluten-freerecipes.blogspot.com/

I have some good lentil recipes too!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/everyday-italian/italian-lentil-salad-recipe/index.html

http://www.101cookbooks.com/ingredient/lentil

keep me posted!

Charbelle said...

OK so I answered my own question. I looked for the Gluten Free tag and found this post. I'm curious if you have found this has helped you feel better physically, not just your skin? Have you lost any weight with this diet or no?
I know this has got to be tough to stick to so how do you do it?