Tetracycline and my daughter

My daughter has severe acne and was placed on Minocycline along with topicals such as Retin-A and Eurthyamyacin (sp?) solution. She has severe allergies and carries an Epi-pen around with her at all times. She had an allergic reaction to something, we are not sure what but it coincided when she started on the Minocycline - at least we think it was the Mino and not the topicals because she started them all at the same time. So the doctor switched her to Tetracycline. I know with Uc that there might be a genetic component to it and I started thinking that maybe Tetracycline was probably not the best thing for her. I am already afraid she is going to get my Uc or even CD, but add the Tetra to the mix and it frightened me even more.

So I had her stop the Tetra and go back to the Mino because she was off the Mino for 3 days but had the same allergic reaction so maybe it wasn't the Mino afterall - so maybe the topicals? Am I being a paranoid mommy? The Mino and topicals finally got her acne to clear up and I would hate to have her stop these things because she was getting self conscious which is not a good thing for a pretty girl in high school. I would appreciate any advice you can give me.......thanks!

Allergies are a tricky business but I am more concerned about the acne meds and the possible genetic component of Uc.

Her doc is aware of the allergic reactions which is why she was switched from the Mino to Tetra. But I am not sure if she is even allergic to them but something else entirely.

Has she tried Pro-Active?

Sue

Edited to add: After thinking about it....I am going to have her stop the anti's and have her try to maintain it with just the topical. If she is still itchy from the topicals then I know it was that and not the anti's.

In all the meds I mentioned above, do you guys happen to know if they contain sulfa?

Hi Sherry,

I don't think you're paranoid....my opinion on the matter is that antibiotics are highly dangerous and have some kind of role in UC (especially in genetically susceptible folks) and even more so when taken long term like for acne. I think all of us on this forum would trade our UC in for even a bad case of acne, I know I would in a heart beat. Now, asking a bunch of teenagers that question will probably give you a different answer. I guess I am rambling, but my point is that you are NOT paranoid and that you have made the right decision....keep her away from the antibiotics, the risk isn't worth it.

I was put on minocycline when I was a teenager for bad acne it worked great but I often wonder today if it was the cause of my UC or if I picked up something when I went to mexico back in 1988 because I became severly ill there and my bowels were never the same after that.  Its hard to know now what really caused it.  Today I still get the odd pimple and the doctor perscribed me an antibiotic cream called CLINDOXYL its a antibiotic clindamycin and benzoyl peroxide mix.  It dries up the acne great.  Aren't there birth control pills out now that claim to clear up acne i'm not sure how well they work.  Having Acne definately is the pitts-I know that.

Nothing helped me except an antiandrogen. I've always had cystic pimples, ones that scar and are huge. I take birth control pills for them but i hate altering my natural hormones. There is another thing you could try called spironolactone. It has an antiandrogen effect. Even with a low dose like 50mg, it can help significantly. My GYN had absolutely no problem giving me this at my last check up but I stopped it due to my colitis not being 100% (this was a year ago).

Check out this message board:
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Hormonal-treatments-Spir-f51.html&s=516eb2b28e268130c3d2a01959b30327

I am willing to bet a large percent of acne is hormonal, no topical cream or lotion will help reduce excess testerone in the body. I went to so many dermatologists and the only thing that has helped is hormonal treatment. Not retin-a, differen, cleocintea, face washes, toners. I spent a lot of these stupid products, no results.\

oh and depo tends to cause worse acne in people who are prone to hormonal acne.

From one paranoid mom to another, here are my thoughts. 

I had really had acne in high school, and was super self-conscious about it.  I took Retin A, tetracycline, and yes, Accutane.  Nothing cleared up my acne except time, and now accutane is linked to IBD.  So... if I could possibly do it all again, I would much rather avoid any and all unnecessary drugs, have the cursed acne in high school (embarrassing, but then you're never the only one who has it), and not have IBD as an adult.

Just my 2-cents

I think 15 is probably mature enough for the pill. I mean I was remembering to take over 13 pills a day at 15, so I think she can remember one XD
I didn't like Depo and heard bad things about it anyways.

Sherry, I just looked and Depo is norethindrone which is a first generation progestin. If you're prone to acne, you do much better on something else. Ortho-TriCyclen was good for my skin, as is Mircette and Yaz (but I wouldn't recommend Yaz because it can cause other issues I've heard). Don't let her get a pill with levenorgestral either, those are pimple causing, high androgen pills. Those are brands like seasonale, levora, levlin, actually the majority of pills contain levenorgestral as it was one of the first progestins (look before you accept what they give you). I would give some type of Ortho a try or Kariva/Mircette, Desogen if you want higher estrogen but I don't see her needing that... Estro Step is supposed to be good for the skin but it broke me out AWFULLY. I would stay away from that one.

I remember being a teenager with skin problems and it's really horrible, I felt so insecure because of it. When I got to college, I used some AHA products that helped quite a bit (may be worth a try). I used Neostrata cleanser and it helped but it was short lived. When I finally started the pill, the change was incredible. I went from pimply to AMAZING skin. I felt so much better. I wish the dermatologists I went to offered the pill instead of all the topicals. The first pills I got was Ortho TriCyclen. The only negative to a triphasic over a monphasic is that you're not supposed to skip your period. I've done it with OrthoTri and never had any problems.

I am going to try desogen next or cerazette.

this is an interesting site:
http://community.livejournal.com/pillpamphlets

Here is another great site that explains a lot about the androgenic effects of different progestins.

http://www.wdxcyber.com/ncontr13.htm

If you look at the chart, you can see that drospirenone and desogestrel are the least androgenic by far. They are 3rd and 4th generation pills. There is even a 5th generation available in europe but not fda aproved here called diane35. I wouldn't recommend that pill unless you were severely struggling with acne. I've done well on even 2nd gen like ortho-tri-lo so I don't think you need to go crazy, even Yaz is probably overkill.

 

I hope she can gt her skin cleared, you feel like a new person when your skin is not a worry. :)

You may have to experiment but the first thing to figure out is whether her skin problems are hormonal. Mine definitely were but no one ever said it. So frustrating getting lotion after lotion and never having any result.

Retin-A is notorious for causing skin reactions, Sherry. If stopping the abx doesn't help, then I'd try eliminating that next.

Btw, I told my daughter about going on oral b/c's to help control her acne...she refuses. Her words, "Mom, I can barely remember to take my pills in the morning! What if I forget to take these??? I don't and will not end up pregnant!" LOL