Borage Oil Update–Good So Far
For anyone that using Flax oil or Evening Primrose Oil, you want to consider
trying Broage Oil–I tried the other two and saw no results but after four
weeks or so of taking 2000 mgs og Borage oil daily, I have to admit that I
feel like it is really working.
If you read the article below, it will make some sense as to why borage oil
may be more effective than flax or EPO–it makes a lot of sense to me and I
am not really a beleiver in supplements–I have tried dozens of them and
never saw any benefits until I tried the borage oil.
I have also been keeping my face free from water and sweat–I am only
washing my face about once a week with just plain water.
I have only had one real flare os side of nose while starting the borage oil
and it was early on-used the DRL on it and it was gone in two days–other
than that, have not been this clear for this long in about six months.
October 30th, 2003 at 8:49 pm
About the Borage Oil, i read that link you sent. It also helps prevent
dandruff, how so? By ingesting it or by putting it on the hair itself..Have
you tried that..and how do you take it? times a day? how much? any side
effects?
tony
November 1st, 2003 at 7:22 pm
I have not tried putting the borage on my skin or hair–I am taking one
1000mg gelcap in the morning and one 1000mg gelcap in the early evening–the
variety I have from Vitamin Shoppe, this gives me 400mgs of GLA daily which
is a lot but I feel that becasue our bodies may not be converting the LA
into GLA properly, we need to make up for this shortfall.
I have also started taking digestive enzymes to help breakdown my foods
better–no point in eating a high protein diet if most of it just passing
right through you–the digestive enzymes have really helped keep food from
going through me too quickly–I take two after each meal.
Being that GLA has strong anti-inflammatory properties, I think it can only
be good to be taking this much–have not noticed any side effects at all.
November 5th, 2003 at 8:46 am
Hey ralph jackson,
how is the Borage Oil working so far..last you wrote you were 4 weeks into
the treatment with the oil, how are you doing today? Please let us know.
thanks
Tony
November 5th, 2003 at 2:42 pm
Tony-still doing well with the Borage oil. I also started taking propecia
around the same time I started the borage oil but I have had the clearest
four-five weeks in over two years. I can’t tell for certain if it is the
borage or the propecia which is helping or the combo of both, but each on
their own should help becasue of what each does–the borage helps because of
the added GLA (an anti-inflammatory) and the propecia helps by reducing DHT.
I will get very small flares, but they are just a little red and barely any
flaking–nothing compared to what I have been dealing with in the
past–either I leave the redness alone and it disappears the same day or I
hit with a little Cutanix or Desowen and it is gone by the next day with
none of the residual flaking.
I have also been keeping my skin as dry as possible–washing only with water
once or twice a week and not letting the water stay on my face for more than
just a few seconds.
The Borage Oil I take is from Vitamin Shoppe, 1000 mg gel caps–cost about
$12 for 100 gelcaps which will last about two months taking two of these a
day–sometimes I just take one and it does not seem to matter so I may just
switch to one a day.
November 6th, 2003 at 5:04 am
Thank you for your reply
tony
November 6th, 2003 at 3:13 pm
What is propecia, and do you have to take them together?
tony
November 6th, 2003 at 9:09 pm
Propecia (finasteride) is one of two FDA approved drugs for male pattern
baldness (the other one is minoxidil). Not sure if it wise to take Propecia
unless you are starting to lose your hair but there are really no
significant side effects from taking it and is very easy to order off the
web or get a rx from a derm. My skin is a lot less oily since I started
Propecia and borage oil but I think it is the propecia that lessened the oil
production
RJ
November 7th, 2003 at 9:40 pm
Hey Ralph Jackson,
another question for you is why only wash your face with water, and why only
let the water stay on your face for a short while. How have you come to
this conclusion. Please i am interested.
thanks
tony
November 8th, 2003 at 11:54 pm
Tony,
I don’t really know why, but I have come to realize that water or sweat
causes inflammation for me–I think it is because my skin is ultasensitive
so that anything on my skin causes a flare. Whenever, I get water on my
face, my skin always gets red–sometimes it goes down within an hour or so,
and many times, I get a full blown flare with major flake buildup that could
last days or weeks–the water just seems to stirs thing up.
I cannot wash with any type of soap really–I have used the sal3 soap and
various other dandruff shapoos on my face, and though they may have helped
to kill some of the fungus and reduce the flares, I now just find that
keeping my skin as dry as possible is working the best for me.
I just think my skin has been through hell for the past few years and may
now just be so sensitive to everything, including temp changes, humidity
changes, sunlight, sweat, water,dust,etc–I am hoping that my new regime
will keep the major flares in remmission long enough so that my skin will
have a chance to recover to a degree so that it eventually becomes less
senstive.
Let me add also that i have been using Nizoral 1% shampoo on my scalp for
the past two months or so and I feel that this may also be contributing to
my recent clearing of my face–I think that becasue the fungus likes to
inhabit the hair bearing areas of our body, the place where you may have the
most fungus is on the scalp–killing as much fungus on the scalp , in my
case anyway, I beleive has led to a decrease in the amount of fungus that
has travelled to my face. I have tried all of the dandruff shampoos, I
think Nizoral is really the best–it is very mild and not as drying as those
with pyrithione zinc or selenium sulfide and Nizoral has also been shown to
inhibit DHT to a degree. Even though I dont have seb derm on my scalp, I
still plan on including Nizoral in my daily regime for the reasons above.
Hope this helps,
RJ
November 9th, 2003 at 2:15 pm
thanks for your replies
tony
November 9th, 2003 at 8:12 pm
I started with minor flares when I was around 24–would get it only a few
times a year–never knew what it was and did not care too much because it
just went away on its own after a few days. It stayed like that till I hit
about 30 and then it became more of a once a month thing.
At 33, it became a chronic everyday flare and has been that way for the past
two years–I am now 35.
Many of the reports that I have seen however, seem to suggest that seb derm
is worse in the 20’s and 30’s and then seems to taper off in your 40’s most
likely due to your skin producing less and less sebum after you hit 40 or
so–maybe something to look forward to but in the meantime, just keep up
your regimen and don’t be afraid to try new things–sooner or later, you
should find something that at least makes some kind of difference. My
suggestion is give the borage oil a try, it is cheap enough and I have not
noticed any kind of adverse side effects–watch your diet as well concerning
sugars and carbs–try to excersise but don’t sweat or get flushed–find a
topical that works for you as well–the only ones I am using right now are
Cutanix sensitive skin and Desowen but only very sparingly as I have not
really needed any topicals the last 6 weeks or so.
Also, use a dandruff shampoo everyday on your scalp to try to kill as much
as the fungus up there as possible–I tend to touch my hair alot and touch
my face alot so I may be helping spread the fungus from my scalp to my
face–I also wash my hands several times a day with the Nizoral as well and
scrub my whole body with it in the shower every morning–my choice is
Nizoral 1% but you can get Nizoral 2% from your derm–ketocanazole i beleive
is the strongest all purpose antifungal so there is a good chance it can
help you.
RJ
November 15th, 2003 at 10:30 pm
Hey Ralph Jackson,
I have a question in regards to the borage oil. When using it, is there a
period where it flares out first before getting better. Does it get worse
before getting better? Should I worry about this flare up? Or does it just
help without a flare? could you please answer.
thanks
tony
November 16th, 2003 at 4:27 am
If you just started taking the borage oil, you probably will not see
results–it will take a few weeks to a month before you may notice a
difference in amount of flares–you need to slowly build up the GLA
levels–the borage oil does not work like an oral steroid which immediately
stops inflammation
For me, I did not get an inital flare that i couold say was caused by the
borage oil, it was just normal but after a few weeks, I noticed that my
flares were becoming less infrequent and less severe–also, when I was
getting these minor flares, they were in areas where I have only gotten
minor flares in the past–what I mean by that is my two worst areas, which
is the ends of both eyebrows near the nose and bridge of nose, did not flare
at all anymore and still continue to be flare free–in over two years, these
areas were never clear for more than a few days at a time so it seems the
borage has really helped in that respect.
The minor flares I get now are in the out parts of my eyebrows and are
easily treated with the topicals.
I also strongly recommend shampooing your scalp and upper forehead daily
with Nizoral shampoo–this stuff is probably the best fungal killer out
there and will help to reduce the overall amount of fungus on your face
November 16th, 2003 at 6:48 pm
thank you