My Battle with Endometriosis and Acne

My battle with acne from endometriosis, PCOS and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hasn’t been easy, but it has been a fairly successful one. I’ve managed to find ways around it and tame it.

If you would like to watch a video version of this post then you can here on my YouTube channel, or, if not, then you can scroll down:

Firstly, I see there’s one question that many ask on endometriosis forums, and that is…

Can Endometriosis Give You Acne?

In my experience of having had severe acne and discussing this with my gynaecologists, yes it can. Endometriosis is linked with hormonal imbalance, which plays a large role in causing and/or aggravating acne.

Also, aside from hormonal issues, when you hit puberty, the body produces excess oil, so it’s very easy for oil, dirt, bacteria to get clogged up in the holes of our skin – also known as ‘pores’. When these pores are troubled like this, many of us get acne – white heads and black heads.

My Battle with Endometriosis and Acne

As an 11 year old, just starting off with my periods and only a couple of years away from turning into a teenager, and the odd pimple (acne) being expected, I didn’t know how bad it could get.

I was already dealing with the pains of endometriosis that I didn’t think life could get any worse.

I soon didn’t just have acne on my face, I had it on my arms and my upper back.

The acne was was big and painful. Wearing my school shirt, with a sweater and a blazer on top every morning was so painful. Leaning against the backrest of the bus and the classroom chair was so uncomfortable.

My gynaecologist in London explained to me that endometriosis is a medical issue driven by hormonal imbalances and it didn’t help that I had PCOS and very sensitive skin.

Relevant Read:

• Endometriosis v PCOS
• Teas that Help My Period Pain
• Why & How I Keep Track of My Periods | Endometriosis | PCOS

Can Endometriosis Acne Affect Your Mental State?

For me, it did. I was wrapped up in a mental muddle.

The next six years I often found myself Googling away about anything I found on acne.

One of which was keeping my skin clean – this almost drove me to silly levels of OCD.

For example, I would have a dedicated face towel which no one was allowed to touch, even the smallest fragment of anything foreign and possibly anything dirty touching my face would mean I would thoroughly wash my hands and arms (upto my elbows!) and then my face.

I soon realised I was mentally going to lose it. I fought the urge and stopped.

Luckily, I did.

Read Here For:

• Endometriosis & Adenomyosis Natural Pain Relief, My Journey
• How Much Does Laparoscopic Endometriosis Excision Surgery Cost?

But when I look back, I can understand this strong desire to be freed from the painful acne.

I read up on the importance of staying away from sugars and oily food, but as a 13 year old, it was a tad tough to have a lot of control on what I could and could not eat.

Plus I was afraid of sounding mad and obsessed.

Other than my mother, no one knew of how painful the acne was on my back. She is one to live by age-old natural remedies and would open up her beauty book to help me out.

There was a time when a friend started a six-week course of antibiotics for her facial acne. I told my mum about it, went to the GP and requested a prescription for it.

I did the six weeks course and thankfully my acne reduced.

But the issue never went away from my back or arms. I mean, how would it if the endometriosis wasn’t being addressed.

What I feel needed to be addressed was my hormonal imbalance, but strangely my gynaecologist and neither did my GP (general practitioner) feel the need to do so.

I felt un-helped. I was low in confidence when it came to my appearance – especially with what I could and could not wear. Psychologically I was beginning to feel quite messed up.

I felt there was no end to this ordeal. My endometriosis was painful, I could hardly stand because of the pain during my period week, my legs were beginning to cause trouble (years later, we discovered I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome – which causes slow healing and skin sensitivity that would worsen my acne), I was getting more and more injury prone, but yet in all this, I worked hard, did well in school, at age 16 I got a weekend job at Accessorize and I kept going.

Yet, feeling confident with my appearance was a long work in progress. What did help was that I was excelling academically – it was something I believed I had some control over so I used that confidence to get me through.

Another real issue that dented my confident was excess facial hair – hirsutism. Another gift from having PCOS. If you would like to know more about my journey with hirsutism and how I manage it not, then you can read here: How to Handle Hirsutism & Acne if You Have PCOS

So eventually…

I Tamed My Endometriosis Induced Acne – But How?

 

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A post shared by Shruti Chopra (@footprintsnoboundaries) on Jan 11, 2019 at 5:41am PST

All those years of applying my mum’s home remedies (read here for more), being more accepting of what I looked like, what I endure because of endometriosis and the confidence of knowing that despite not feeling physically confident, I was confident of being able to hold my own in a conversation, to also be open to educating myself further of my condition all helped me.

None of this was simple.

From the age of 11 to 19 the constant mental and physical battle was huge.

I started to appreciate and admire those who were themselves, those who had personalities rather than just pretty faces.

I decided that I needed to just be me. This shift in thought happened gradually and I am immensely grateful that it happened.

Now for the home remedies I applied. These mainly consisted of sandalwood powder, fullers earth and a few other components.

Reading how long this post has gone, I have created a separate post for – My Acne Skincare Remedies.

If you wish to share your endometriosis and acne journey then please do leave a comment below. If you feel my story can help someone then please do share this post.

If you’re a social media person, then you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or YouTube.

I have a podcast too. You can check them out here along with their transcripts or if you don’t wanna read them then they’re available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts too.

Thank you 🙂

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Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I am a patient and have created this platform to share my experiences. This is all purely informative and in no way am I providing medical advice. Please consult a medical professional.