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15 daughter with multiple symptoms

My daughter, 15 has severe back & upper arm acne (covers entire back), milder acne on face, chest, lower arms & thighs & very rough skin everywhere.  She has hyperhydrosis(armpits) that is under control with Maxim deod.  She is usually very cold (esp. feet) even during summer months.  She has difficulty falling asleep-in bed by 10:30 during school but often doesn't fall asleep until 1-2am & up at 6-6:15am...obviously then fatigued by late afternoon & has mild headaches 2-3 times a week at that time, also. She is mostly a straight A honors student who is pretty calm & laid back.  Because of her severe skin problems she is unable to wear short-sleeved tops let alone a swimsuit so I know she misses out on alot with friends-considering this she seem to have very good self-esteem. Her menstrual periods began 3+ yrs ago...after the first year they became regular at 35-40 days.  In the past year she has skipped 1 period & to date hasn't had a period since the end of Aug.  She has fairly light periods that last approx. 4-5 days.  She is hungry in the am but feels that if she ate "too much" she knows she would become nauseas.  She normally has yogurt with granola, orange juice & fruit(melon, berries, banana, etc.)  She eats a much healthier diet than 90% of most teenagers. Could this be an endocrine problem?  Her twin brother has fairly severe acne on his face.  Topical solutions have had little long-term effect.  They have been taking Derma Cleanse capsules for a year(liver cleansing herbs). Don't know if they would be worse without them or not. Will not use Acutane. Please help.
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158939 tn?1274915197
My $.02 worth:  Discuss with a good MD - I'd have her blood sugar levels checked, thyroid levels, and for a candida overgrowth.  I'm 40 and have had acne since I was 14.  I went on Accutane for a year and WILL NEVER touch that stuff again or recommend it to anyone.  Keeping my blood sugar under control (I'm type a II diabetic) has helped the acne and has eliminated my candida problems (recurring yeast infections, etc.).  Thyroid problems could also cause many of these symptoms.  Try an endocrinologist who works with teenagers and encourage her to drink lots of water and avoid sugars and excess carbs.
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127512 tn?1193742216
My daughter had extremely bad acne on her face. Hers became an infection. We tried everything. Spent hundreds of dollars at stores then went to several dermotologist. They tried everything they had along with an antibiotic because we did not want to use accutane. We ended up using it after 2 years of fighting the problem and in three months all infections and acne was gone. She looks great. She does have some scaring which they are hoping will disappear with time. If not they will do chemical peel. Acne can scare terribly. My family did allot of reasearch on the drug and at first did not want to use it on my daughter. I truly believe that those suicides were from people that were depressed before they went on the drug. I would also have her see an endocrinologist.
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Avatar universal
I think treatment depends on what type of acne it is. Do you know the name of the type she has? that would be helpful in findingo info on treatments for it. If it was me I'd take her to a specialist like my sister in law did with my nephew. His is now controlled and they didnt use Accutane at all. Good luck finding a solution. As PlateletG points out, the sweat issue can be caused by infection, which acne is I think. Some of the treatments sited here are antibiotics.

http://www.skincarephysicians.com/acnenet/severeacne4types.html#1
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Avatar universal

I would definitely seek the help & advice from an Endocrinologist and have all of her hormone levels checked. You say she is pretty laid back, so that would probably rule out anxiety as a cause for her symptoms.

Did her physician say whether she had secondary or primary hyperhidrosis? The reason why I'm asking is because secondary hyperhidrosis is caused due to chronic infections, hyperthyroidism,  autoimmune disorders, malignancy, the thyroid or pituitary gland, diabetes mellitus, tumors, gout, menopause, and with the use of certain drugs.
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