age question

[Guest guest]

I am 24 - I started having symptoms around my 23rd birthday, but

wasn't diagnosed correctly until about 6 months later. I always had

pretty good skin, then started breaking out at 18 (period related)

started taking the pill, and was fine again until the rosacea. I

remember flushing though as early as 16, everytime I was in a hot

kitchen or something, or exercising, I would get bright red, and my

chest would get all splotchy. I started breaking out at 23, and tried

AHA's and Benzoyl Peroxide, made it worse, and then one day I was at

my GP and I had a flush, and she was surprised that I had rosacea so

young, but had just diagnosed my mother. I am half italian, so I have

pretty dark skin, so it seems even stranger. I see Dr. Cunningham in

Boston, and she has been great. I was on Metrogel/doxycycline for the

last summer, but it didn't help that much, so she switched me to

Sulfacet, which has cleared most of the bumps pretty well. I only

take half the doxycycline dose now, and am trying to wean off it

further.

I also started having bad digestion problems around the same time I

got rosacea, nausea, intestinal cramping, acid reflux, etc. My mother

has crohn's disease, so I think poor digestion just runs in our

family. Both brothers half bad acid reflux as well. For all of us it

seems stress-related - for me, if I am stressed, it seems as if my

stomach acid stops working, or goes down, or something. I don't do

Mark's diet specifically, but cut out most saturated fat, wheat, and

dairy (except for yogurt, which I eat daily) and take b-vitamins, and

vitamin C. And being italian, I get at least a teaspoon of extra

virgin a day! Plus garlic, and I often add ginger to my meals. I also

recently started taking pycnogenol, since it was recommended to me

since I was getting hives almost daily on my chin, and I was tired of

taking antihistamines all the time. I don't get them anymore (though

I do on my forehead if I lean it against something, its weird)

I get red still, from eating too soon after I run, or from radiant

heat (stove, wood fire, etc) and it can last up to an hour or so. But

how red I get doesn't always seem to give me bumps - the bumps seem

more related to my stomach problems. But the sulfacet helps a lot.

Sorry, this is long, but I see a lot these issues in the mails and

figure it might help someone !