Acne: My Story

I used to be the girl with the perfect skin. I think I had a total of about 5 pimples until 8 months ago.


Last February/March, 3 months before my wedding I decided to stop taking my birth control (Yaz) because lets face it, I was getting married and thought that Z and I would be starting a family in the next year or so and I wanted to flush out all the hormones (Yes, I realize that this is "unnecessary"). So I stopped the pill , my period returned to the normal 28-30 day cycle and life went on. The hubs and I married May 7th, and by the grace of God, my face was clear!

Two weeks later, the acne came on full force. Within 2 weeks, my chin/neck area almost looked like I was developing some sort of rash. I honestly thought that I was having some sort of allergic reaction to the masks that we have to wear at work (I'm a nurse). I almost wish I would have taken pictures of my face to document the tragic time, but I was seriously, VERY upset about it. I immediately went out and bought every face wash, acne treatment, face mask and makeup I could get my hands on hoping that something would cure me. Two months later, my chin/neck area looked the same (terrible!) despite all the creams and treatments so I made an appointment with a Dermatologist. I only wish I would have done it earlier, saving me stress and mucho $$$$ on stuff that didn't help at all. She looked and me, touched my face and then said "you have the classic case of HORMONAL acne."

She put me on two oral medications and two topical creams and within 2 weeks my face had improved dramatically. Because My face was so irritated, she suggested I take an oral antibiotic, Solodyn for the first month in addition to resuming my previous birth control pill Yaz. In my opinion, these were the 2 key treatments. The two creams she suggested were Acanya for the morning (applied to affected areas) and Atralin for the evenings. Because this can be very irriating to the skin, she suggest I put a pea size amount on my finger and spread evening on my face. When I went back to see her a month later, my face looked significantly better so she said to discontinue the antibiotic and stick with everything else.......until 1-2 months before I plan on TTC.

My face is looking pretty good these days, now that I have been using the creams and Yaz for 2 months, but I'm terrified to stop them at any point!!!

Feeling a bit lost

In more ways then one.

The "least" important being my wardrobe. I have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. While packing for our weekend trip to Tucson to visit the in-laws this evening, I came to the conclusion that I kind of hate all of my clothes. I can't seem to pair anything together that I feel comfortable wearing.  Every few months the hubs and I go through our clothes and pull together a few bags for the Goodwill, but this time I'm tempted to just pack up 50% of my wardrobe and say good-bye! So tempting, but then what if I miss those clothes in a few month. uhhhhhhh.......

The "most" important reason being, I feel lost in my career. I'm a nurse. I work for a good company and make a decent living, but is this what I want to do for the rest of my life. 40-50 more years. Some days I think, sure....every day is a little different, I have job security, I like working with people, blah, blah, blah. Then other days I think, what can be my way out of here? Do I just need to switch departments? Switch hospitals? Should I go back to graduate school for my nurse practitioner, in hopes that I will find something I'm a bit more passionate about? I'm just lost. Part of the problem is, I feel like Zack and I should start the process of TTC, but if I go back to school, how I will juggle baby, work and graduate school. I need to make a decision.....like now.

uhhhhhhhhhhh