Hello again! Cystic acne with Lyme or coinfections?

Hey, y’all! Long time, no see. I’ve come with both good and bad to share.

I’ve had some worthwhile years since leaving you. I went to school. Lived and worked in San Francisco, traveled for work to Utah, Arizona, and more.

I’ve been overseas a few times for fun. And a lot more in between that. But not to brag, really.

All of that is to say, disulfiram is a drug that helped me to achieve remission with Lyme disease, and I think, for a time, my immune system was able to tolerate Bartonella.

Though, lately I have been starting to question whether those days are over. For the last year and a half, I’ve been struggling with a worsening of cystic acne.

For years, since contracting Lyme in 2008, I’ve had a few bumps here and there. Maybe one or two a month, and always on my cheeks.

Well, fast forward to 2022, I started to get cysts on my neck, beneath my ears, tucked under the jawbone, and more of them… bigger cysts… angrier. Large, inflamed nodules and cysts.

It’s strange, though, because 2020-2021… barely any cysts. 2022 was kinda bad. 2023, probably the best my skin has been. 2024, the worst.

I say that, because it’s throwing me for a curveball how whatever was causing them, seemed to go away during those periods.

Anyway, I also haven’t really been taking disulfiram for the last couple months, as I was worried about my liver and had also read that acne is a potential side effect.

Still not the best at detoxing. Never have been. There came a point where I got healthy enough to get up and go, so that’s what I did.

I’m 32 now, and I think my mileage is starting to show, in more ways than one. I think my Bartonella infection is ramping up something serious.

Lyme too, but I feel I have always been very Bart-heavy, and I feel others would agree that Lyme honestly isn’t crap compared to it… or mold sensitivity, for that matter.

That’s about the gist of it. Curious if many others here have experienced this sort of acne, from Bart, or whatever else?

Seriously been contemplating Accutane, and I have a telehealth provider, labwork done, everything setup to go, but… I kinda started thinking about how this might just be Bart finally freaking out inside of me.

So very tempted though, because, if anything, I’ve always had my good looks. “Oh, you’re sick? But you LOOK GREAT!” Yeah, well, not anymore. These cysts are hideous.

Su*cide is never an option, but gee, I still think about it, and I don’t know how I’m going to function in life when I look like this.

I practice stoicism. I’m pretty good at it. Lots of practice throughout the years. But… dude… I have so much burden, I can’t deal with this too.

And I’m honestly so ready to take antibiotics for the rest of my life (sarcasm). I avoided them years ago for fear of my stomach, but who really cares anymore?

Anyway, thanks. Love y’all. Idk if any of the OGs will see this. Glad everyone is staying strong and still fighting. Hate to talk so much every time, but that is my specialty.

Talk soon.

Post Edited (NotQuiteAntonio) : 11/12/2024 3:01:02 AM (GMT-5)

Hi Antonio!
It HAS been a long time!

It’s always good to hear from members and see how they are doing!

Wow, Antonio! It’s been years since I’ve seen you on here. Glad to hear you were helped by DSF. I don’t know much about cystic acne, but one thought that occurred to me was hormones. I know females can experience acne related to hormones and wondered if men’s acne also is affected by hormones, especially since acne typically occurs during puberty.

During the periods that it went away, were you living in a different place or was there another factor that was different during those times?

I also have been dealing with a flare up of acne lately. I've tried topical stuff and it doesn't work. It's very uncomfortable and distracting, because I never know when I will have a huge red mark on my nose and it itches during the night sometimes. The acne in itself is one thing, but it concerns me more because I feel like it points to a general decline in my health in the last few months.

I'm so glad you've been feeling better and able to travel. I wouldn't worry to much about your appearance. A few of my acquaintances had extremely severe acne and I never thought less of them.

My son had terrible acne in high school. The dermatologist kept throwing every possible topical at it and none of them worked. He finally asked for accutane. They reluctantly gave it to him. After maybe 9 months, the acne was essentially gone and has never come back.

Same experience for his roommate. His dermatologist finally gave it to him, it got rid of it and it has never come back.

All I remember about his treatment was very dry, peeling skin - especially lips. So it was a challenge in the winter.

They had to do monthly blood work.

Thanks for responding, guys! Happy to see some familiar faces, and one or two new to me, but I appreciate you all the same.

So, yes, Girlie, I have tried everything as far as diet. I ate nothing but grilled chicken, green vegetables, and olive oil for a month and a half. The cysts just kept coming.

Before that, I’d given up dairy, seed oils, eggs, nightshades, everything. Though, what may have started the whole imbalance in 2023 was, yes, I was eating a ton of ice cream and fried foods.

For years, living in mold in Iowa, California, and southern Utah, I wasn’t able to eat anything with sugars, starches, high carbs, etc. Not without risking severe “fungal” reactions.

The symptoms from the reactions are too long to list, but it was hell, and I eventually became so sensitive that I’d react to even smells, mildly, and more severely, dusts and powders from food in the air.

I suspect that I am someone that can actually be colonized with the molds and a combination of barebones, ketogenic diet, LOW HUMIDITY, and a clean dwelling allow me heal from the fungal colonization.

As evidenced by the fact that I ate whatever foods I wanted for 8 months before having these reactions again, and I believe I only started having them again, because I moved back to Iowa…

As I was very ill after my 5th round of COVID. I had terrible Long COVID. But I now suspect that COVID made Bart flare/exacerbated the blood vessels along with Bart, and that’s what made it so bad.

I felt like I was dying, about to stroke out, tachycardic so easily, over nothing, for like 4 or 5 months. It was terrifying. I had a full workup of everything and they couldn’t find anything.

Anyway, this is already getting very long, but this is my story so far. Though, yes, I have tried diet for the acne.

Another mention my hormonal balance. My SHBG is high and my free / bioavailable testosterone is low normal, which can cause symptoms.

But the hormones panel I paid for out of pocket didn’t include quite everything, so I’m wanting to see an endo for further F/U, but I am out of work and need to get rehired somewhere before I can do that.

Though, like female hormonal problems, PCOS or something, males can’t necessarily take anything to fix them, like birth control or spironalactone.

Accutane is the only thing. A hormonal problem could be caused by a lot of things, though. Genetic, I could have a liver issue, I’ve read that Bart and Babs can impact your liver, so what if that’s making my hormones go out of whack? Your liver plays a role in hormone production.

Varicoceles in my testicles < Bart < Babs < Lyme < Aging < Inflammation from all of them < Poor detoxing for years

I’ve tried all sorts of topicals for it. Someone said Hibiclens cleared their cystic acne, tried it for a week, nothing seemed to be happening. Have not tried DMSO for it.

I don’t want to take Accutane either, but then I think of posts I’ve seen on reddit where men in my age group had acne just like mine, they’re otherwise healthy, and Accutane was the only thing to make it go away.

But I do find it suspicious that I’ve had cysts in the areas of major lymph pathways for years. In my groin and armpits, for years. One or two on my face every month…

It was only last year that I started getting tons of my face, head, and neck. And I have pains in my neck all the time that are either deeper cysts hitting nerve pathways, or my lymph vessels being overloaded and inflamed. I need some red root, dude.

And this Bart is something I’ve never felt before. I’ve felt on fire in my whole body for the last week and my fingers, toes, and private area all have neuropathy.

I wondered why I started getting red/pino spider veins everywhere and more noticeable blue veins.

I thought it was just Long COVID, but Bart might have been ramping up for a year to get here…

And because of the obvious impact on my vascular system, weird pains and vertigo sensations in my head, I am really worried about those fibrin masses Bart causes

I’m worried about stroking out from Bart in my mid 30s. Maybe right now, at 32. I feel so weird, guys.

I don’t want to do antibiotics, but I am kinda scared for my life. It’s probably just the infections, but I feel like I have death on me.

Anyway, thanks, y’all! I’ll be around until I feel better.

bart does cause small vessel disease and that in turn drives a lot of its symptoms

curious why you are avoiding antibiotics but not other pharma drugs -

antibiotics are generally the best treatment we have for tick born infections - most people who get to remission use them

that said i have found some of buhner's herbs helpful - but only able to make small and gradual improvements on them despite using everything in his books long term at max doses

other options

oil of oregano - both lab data and clinical data support its use for bart now - can be difficult to get a proper strength product - most on the market is diluted - users cannot tell as the smell is so strong even diluted.
seems v effective though - seems to help me more than most other things i have tried. i would be using it more if it weren't for a heart condition that seems to flare when i use it ( probably microcirculation in the heart tissue getting messed up by inflammation from herx )

methylene blue - is a pharma drug and high doses are needed for bart - along with other agents ( not a solo treatment) - but is quite effective

fibrinolytics - bart makes both biofilm and causes the body to overproduce fibrin - which in part causes the microcirculation issues - therefore think something that helps to break that up is useful/ probably necessary - i used bromelain a lot as it was affordable and more tolerable than lumbrokinase - tho lumbro is stronger. in my microscopy thread you can see before and after slides showing dramatic reduction of amyloid and fibrin deposits after 6 weeks use

i hope its of some help

Are the Marty Ross protocols still fairly accurate then? I’m guessing so, I see a lot of cohesion there with what I’ve read here and on Facebook.

The lumbrokinase is on there for that purpose. I saw a thread somewhere, maybe on reddit, that the most expensive brands are overkill for Bart?

Which brand of lumbro would you recommend?

Thank you for helping me. I remember seeing your posts about battling Bartonella, yes. I will take a look at that fibrin post for the knowledge and encouragement.

Man, reading about vasculitis, strokes, and stuff, I might as well take antibiotics.

I honestly do feel like something is wrong inside of my brain. I have strange aches and sensations.

I’m probably working on a big one. The recent worsening of the cystic acne is probably just an outward manifestation of the Bartonella raging to life.

It’s rare, but I just read about a 12 year old that had a cerebral infarction secondary to Bart.

My infection is much older. The way it is hitting me, I hope that I have a little more time…

Hey Wisco here....its been a while since I've been on here as well. I can't say what's going on with you 100% as I feel none of us quite know what precise storm is within us. But you mentioned disulfiram and for me, that was a skin mutilator. I got horrible nodular acne on my neck and back from disulfiram. Yes, I felt better a few months into taking disulfiram but I had to stop because it was destroying my skin. For me, I still got better after stopping it (I think the house I moved from at this time had mold) But I will say, I stopped disulfiram in May of 2022 and it took me over a year for the back and neck acne to stop and another year for the weird purple scars it left, to heal. It's over two years from stopping disulfiram and I get a little but of neck acne still but it's smaller and mild. I wanted my body to try to level out and "normalize" so I'm off pharmaceuticals. I do ozone and some herbs now. My skin has been on a journey through the last 7 years off illness but I feel it's starting to calm down and find it's "symbiosis" as is the rest of my body.