Hello asian5pear,
If you ate all veggies and fruits, that is all carbs, actually worsening the condition. Try a low carb diet, not for weight loss, but for insulin control. Maybe along with those supplements and persistance, it might make a difference for you. Good luck!

wow, i thought bread and crackers and grains were carbs, not fruits..hmm...thanks for that info! i guess i can only eat meat and brown rice type stuff?

This forum is a great place to find out about diet. Try this link. Diet info on Active Low Carber Forum Every person's tolerance for carbs varies. Dr. Atkins' books are very informative, as well as many others. Keep researching!! :wave:

Selsun Blue Anyone??
 

Did anyone else try selsun blue? I know that selenium sulfide (the active ingredient) has been used on patchy skin caused by fungal infections. I'm wondering if the product works on acanthosis nigricans, too. The only thing I could think of is that it irritates the skin (i.e. drying, crusting, etc.) and works like a chemical peel...so when the skin heals its looks better. Just some thoughts. I've had patches since I was 5...I'm looking for a break

Hey everyone. :wave:

I've also had this annoying skin condition for most of my life. (Since puberty.)
I'm not sure if I have PCOS or not, and I have no insurance to find out either... So I figured in any case, a low-carb diet couldn't hurt. :) Thanks to AN I know that I obviously have insulin resistance (or produce too much insulin), so no doctor needed for that.

I've never been "obese", but I have been overweight for most of my life (puberty strikes again). So I'm praying that a loss of just 40 lbs(max) will help, I don't think I can go much lower and be a healthy weight.


I don't get the thick patches anymore (did when I was a teen), but back when I did, I would use Nair on my arm pits to remove hair.... and it would also remove the AN.
Of course this was only temporary, but it did work in a "chemical peel way". It didn't irritate my skin, but then again my skin doesn't get irritated easily.

Also does anyone in here with AN also suffer from Confluent and Reticulated Papillomatosis?

A picture of it: (It's like a patchy version of AN, and is sometimes associated with AN.)
http://162.129.70.33/images/papilomatosus_1_040402.jpg

I was diagnosed with it many years ago (funny they diagnosed this and not the very obvious AN!!), and it went away with a round antibiotics.
However it came back, and has disappeared and reappeared many times since.

What I've noticed with this condition, is that I can easily control it with my diet.... a low-carb one. I've tried it at least 4 times now, and each time it goes away.
So I was just wondering if anyone here also has it?

Diane, wow i actually might have that papilomatosis on my arms and under my arms i have an..which is weird, im going to read abotu it

Hi all, I'm new. :) I've been low-carbing for about 3 months now, and I'm still trying to kick AN. I know it lessens with diet changes; I did Atkins a few years ago and it went away completely except for a faint slight "yellow stain" to my armpits and inner thighs, which I believe would've gone away entirely with time, but I got pregnant 7 months into the diet and my doctor insisted that low carbing would hurt the baby so I stopped.

Well, I'm back on Atkins and before I started (AN is the main reason I went back to the diet) I was at a business conference wearing a short sleeve shirt when I noticed I was getting AN on my inner elbows. It was faint and yellowy, and doubt anyone really noticed, but I was very self-conscious of it the entire time I was there. It was awful.

I cried about it a bit, but realized my health had gotten so far out of whack I was just going to have to be a big girl about it and get back on the horse, so here I am.

Three months ago I had AN on my torso in a butterfly shaped pattern that extended under my breasts and to my solar plexus. It was very thick and very prominent since I'm pale. The heaviest stripe of it went down from my solar plexus almost to my navel. I also had it on my inner elbows, and a narrow stripe of it along the back of my neck. I also have it on my inner thighs.

I've been on Atkins since November and it's completely gone from my inner elbows and my torso - I still have a slight stripe on the back of my neck, although it's much lighter. It's still in the armpit area and inner thigh area too, but it's lighter there as well.

I'm hate it that so many other have this condition too, but I'll admit I'm relieved I'm not alone. I do have PCOS, and started showing signs of AN when I was 9. My mom took me to the doctor about it. It showed up in my armpits first, and we thought it was an allergic reaction to deodorant. My doctor had no idea what it was, just thought it was maybe a fungal infection. He gave me a steroid cream that did nothing. I've been battling it ever since.

Here's hoping another few months and it will be gone from my neck. The rest of it can deal with, although perhaps the decision that a low carb lifestyle is simply a must for me to keep my diabetes and PCOS in control will pay off in the long run concerning my AN. Who knows how far the stuff will fade by a year from now, ya know what I mean?

Best wishes to everyone here, and thanks for letting me vent. ;)

~Kitty

Hi all! :) I just accidently stumbled upon this forum. I have read and re-read every single post in this thread and I wish I could give you all hugs right now!

A small bit about me:

My name is Megan, I'm 15 years old, I'm overweight.

So here we go!

I have Acanthosis Nigricans. The summer of '07, I was at a pool party with my friends, and I was giving my friend a piggy back ride in the pool (yay for playing chicken haha). about a week later, I started noticing some dark spots on the back of my neck. My first thought was that it was a bruise of some sort from my friend.

Over time, it started getting a bit worse. I showed my mom, who wasn't sure what it was. I went to the doctor, who said that it looked like "irritation" of some sort and sent me off to the dermatologist. Well, my dermatologist wasn't a very pleasent person, so I've not been back, but he did tell me that I have AN. and gave me some cream, saything that the only real way to make it go away is to lose weight.

I never really got into the whole "losing weight" thing, and it's since gotten worse. It's under my arms, and on my neck. The arms I can live with, but my neck...I just...GRR. I looked up pictures of it on line and I realized that I don't have it nearly as badly as other people, and for me it's very obvious that it's a rash of some sort, while for others it appears to just be dirt.

My hair is long, I usually wear it down anyway, and it's only on the sides of my neck. But I'm still self concious.

Along with this, I want to be an actor, I go to a high school for Performing arts, I take voice lessons, etc. So far, I've managed to get away without having to put my hair up for anything. a director saw it a few months ago and I explained it away as being an irritation rash. But I can only do this for so long, and a part is going to come along one day where I'm gonna need my hair to be up haha.

I'm darker-skinned (not African American. just darker skiinned) and I've heard that it shows up more with darker skin (for this I curse my genes. =P Just kidding).

Anyway, I've written down every single suggestion from this thread and I intend to try all of them. Make up doesn't cover it - infact it irritates it - which is definitely not fun. So I'm willing to try anything.

Along with that, of course, I'm working on losing weight. It's very hard, my weight is flucuating, but I've dropped some, so I'll continue on that path.

I apologize for the length of this. This is just something that has really affected my life and I'm so greatful that I found you all.

yes i have this thing for nearly 14 years now it never seems to go away i told my doctor but they havent done anything about it they just say its skinpigmentation I relly hate this thing it affects my self steem alot

Fish oil
 

Hey guys,
I've been taking enteric coated fish oil pills that have a heavier dosage of fish oil and omega 3 than normal fish oil pills, and i think its working. My patches are still there but I notice when I'm taking the pills each day and eating a little better it becomes a less visible.
try it! tell me if it works for you guys too...

Does anyone have a link to a photograph of this condition?

What you're describing sounds familiar, but I thought it was due to old age.

I first developed patches like you're discussing after following one of those highly touted diets -- tons of veggies & tons of fruit & multiple servings of beans and legumes and it was that "healthy" diet which got me gaining tons of excess weight.

Anyway.....

I got totally rid of these patches of discoloration.

First, I'd tried a variety of lotions, and suspecting that they might be a type of fungus or yeast, I tried ALL the OTC lotions for any possible form of fungus or yeast.

Anyway.....

I don't even know whether this is SAFE to do, but what I did was to lay immersed in a very very very hot bath for twenty minutes.

WHAT was in the bath water?

One of the LARGE boxes of Arm & Hammar Baking Soda -- the big one, it's at least two times the size of the one used to put in the refrigerator.

I think that MAYBE it was about 3 weeks later that the skin patches started to reappear, and so I re-did the long long long bath of VERY hot water which had the contents of the LARGE box of baking soda in it. I soaked for a LONG time.

It's been at least a year, they haven't returned -- they got to be a nasty irritant, as in the heat the skin became very itchy, but when scratched was super irritated.

I think that I even once tried using OTC cortizone and it did nothing, either.

I can't recall precisely, but MAYBE ... initially I did that long bath two nights in a row, and then 3 weeks later.

The stuff was totally gone within days of the second bath, started to return, and never came back after the third bath.

I'm just astounded that dermatologists say there is "NO" way to get rid of this stuff.

But I never went to a doc for any diagnosis, so maybe mine isn't AN?????

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...ricans%0D%0A%22

The patches that started developing on me after gaining a great deal of weight were either brownish or reddish brown; some of the photographs show very dark coloration nearer to black, but not all of the pics are that dark in color.

They were on my ribcage and my middle to lower back.

Did your skin condition look like this by any chance?
http://images.google.com/images?hl=...F-8&sa=N&tab=wi

It's called Confluent and Reticulated Papillomatosis.
It's another skin condition of mine that will flare up on a high carb diet... and pretty much goes away on it's own on a lower carb diet.
Sometimes it's associated with AN.

No - there's no pattern to the random blotches I had here & there on my trunk and lower back.

There are SO many different diseases that can be associated with skin discolorations and miscellaneous rashes:

http://tinyurl.com/c73dup


One other thing that I just remembered is that in the aftermath of those heavy duty baking soda baths is that all my skin tags also disappeared - they are starting to re-arise, so I'll have to pick up another large box of baking soda.

Here's a well illustrated article from the Mayo Clinic:


http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol...hosis/katz.html

Are you postitive it was AN?

Selsun Blue is an old time cure for tinea versicolor - which I believe is a fungal infection in the outer layer of the skin which is brownish in color.

The reddish brown color is similar to what I had, but I had blotches of it, here & there, separated by healthy normal looking skin. After it had been around for several years, some of the blotches became raised and very itchy.

It I'd use something like monistat or lamisal for a week straight, they'd almost go away for a few days before coming straight back.

My were on my trunk, and the ones at my bra line were very uncomfortable in the summer. If I spread large amounts of monistat, several times a day, it would slowly fade away, but immediately on stopping the application, it would start to come back.

It was similar in color to the reddish-brown color in your pick, but raised,more like a blotchy plaque.

I remembered last night, that a couple years ago, I happened to notice that two of the blotches were developed areas that were black.

I don't have any health insurance, and was worried that it could be some type of skin cancer, the black scared me.

Anyway, since I did know that the anti-fungal monistat DID impact it, I wanted to find something along those lines that might have a permanent effect.

Anyway, years ago at GardenWeb I read lots about using baking soda for a whole variety of molds, mildews, and fungus in the garden, and it is an ingredient in so many bath salts so can't be all that dangerous.

Anyway, I put the contents of a 2 pound box of baking soda in the bath, two nights in a row, and then once again about three weeks later.

The blotches have never returned, but occasional the areas of skin where they were... feel a little sensitive or "itchy."

Anyway, I had NO idea that all those veggies, fruits, and beans I was eating were crating this. I have no idea if I have PCOS, but I've had some of the symptoms for a very long time.

Yesterday morning I took a baking soda bath and rubbed a cup of it into my scalp, too, as it seemed that some type of seborrhea is trying to catch hold. I soaked for about half an hour, keeping the water good & HOT.

About ten hours later, the baking soda soak had a laxative effect, and for hours thereafter alot of gas pains which interrupted my sleep.

Next time, I'll such a bath at bedtime.

I've seen quite a few online postings about a book entitled, It's My Ovaries, Stupid!! which I plan to get ahold of and read.

I'd been trying to deal with that "rash" for almost four years, before the baths, and since then it hasn't rearisen.

drepressed due to AN
 

Hello, I'm so glad to find a place where I don't feel so alone with AN. I have suffered from this since I can remember, probably since around 8 years old. I am 32 years old now. I have heard many saying that its due to carbs, obesity, diebetes, and PCOS related, but I have neither. ..it seems to be more of being hederitary. My Mom has it, and many members of my family have it. I have 2 children who are 12 and 8 and both of them have it and they are both healthy weight and all, even their pediatrician told me she's never seen a healthy child with this skin condition. So all the diet sfuff does not help us. I am in a total depression because I have tried so many things and nothing has worked. For the most part I feel that I'm not a bad looking woman, but when I see my skin, it kills me, but what mostly kills me is seeing my 12 year old daughter starting to become self concious of this. and I hate my self.. I have it in around my neck, armpits, and genital area. its disgusting, it has kept me from being who I want to be, it killed my self-esteem...and I can't bare the thought of my kids going through this. I have tried to accept it, but I can't I feel like a total freak. I am desperate looking for a solution, a real solution. I am tired of trying bogus treatments, wasting money, and more than anything having my dreams killed everytime. God knows that I would give up my house if I had to if that would give us a solution. I beg for a good solution. Thank you!

I was wondering how young can a child be put on the metformin for the dark rings. My daughter Ivy has Crohn's Disease but she is overweight. She is 11 years old and has the dark ruff rings around neck and underarms. She is extremely embarrassed by them and I hate to see her hurt. Diabetes runs on both sides of the family and I know that she is on her way. She has cut back on the carbs but so far the dark spots haven't faded. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.
Becky
Ivy's mom

Acanthosis Nigricans
 

Hi i also have this ive had it for years and was unaware that it was a sign of Pre-Diabetes or Diabetes 2 and Insulin Resistance which can also cause PCOS...I have been on Metformin for 1 week now and ive noticed that its pretty much gone...Hope this helps! :thup:

Hi as far as i know you can be as young as 10...hope this helps!!!

Thanks, I have made an appointment with Ivy's drs. Ivy also deals with Crohn's disease. We have been using a lotion called amblactin and it seems to be lightening the areas that are affected. If a 11 year old is on the low carb how many carbs can she have and still be safe because of growing and things like that?

I was wondering if youve thought about maybe a fungus infection when i was prego i got one on my bikini line that was simply from being pregnant , i haven't herd to much about Acanthosis being between breasts before, although im not a doctor lol...But i though maybe this could be an option to broaden the horizon so to speak lol...

Hmm thats a tuff question, probably best left up to a dietitian, ive also scheduled myself for a dietitian for the same questions...

I had a severe case of Acanthosis Nigricans when I was initially diagnosed - after some significant blood work - and literally enough insulin for two people (per the PCP), I was immediately put on a few different types of medication.

15 years later thanks to prescriptions, dietary changes and weight loss, most of it is significantly gone - I have traces of it on my underarms but not as dark as dirt...

Hey i just wanted to let you know that glucose is for diabetes only , it could be your insulin levels, have them check those!

zamina you may have trimethylaminuria (tmau) along with acanthosis nigricans
 

__________________________________________
my name is sasha and i was born with an, it has bothered me for years and i cant remember the time i wore short sleeves or even a skirt. but i have something worse than an, it is called tmau. THe tmau makes me smell like fecal matter, fish, garbage and its very embarrasing. google tmau to get more info. high school was torture for me b/c i was teased and told that i smell like fecal matter. i smelled so bad, the small i had could fill a whole room. sometimes id smell like rotten eggs. if id eat a banana, id smell like rotten bananas. the insults i got in school was endless. i diagnosed myself with tmau and so far there is no cure for it, but online it says that it can be treated. you dont know how this makes me feel, i feel horrible when ppl talk behind my back and back away from me. and the phrase they mostly use is " omg whats that smell, or "she stinks". i hate it but i have to live with it and it sucks. i stayed home from high school and was home shooled b/c of it, i never went to my prom and i never go out to parties. right now im not in college and im very depressed b/c i feel like no one understands. i smell horrible and to top it off, it sucks that i have to wear sweaters. long sleeve shirts and jeans in the summer. reading this site has helped and let me tell u im determined to fo whatever to change whats been happening to me. i wish u all the best of luck

Please help!!
 

Hello all!

I'm new to this forum and don't know if anyone reads it still since it has been a while since anyone's posted anything, but I thought I'd give it a try.

I also have PCOS and acanthosis nigricans and stretch marks, because of being overweight and having a high carbohydrate intake in my diet. I have been dieting for eight months now and have lost 25 pounds. i also exrcise regularly. My stretch marks obviously will never go away but I had high hopes that my AN patches would. I have them all over, on my neck, armpits, groin, elbows and knees.

Above all, having this has really affected my love life. It takes me a long time to be able to open up to men and date, because when they'll find out what I have, they will be disgusted. I thought about loving myself and helping to improve my condition with a positive attitude, but the last two guys I dated left me when they saw my skin's condition saying that I disgusted them. I guess I'm a monster.

Now, I have very low self confidence and esteem and have actually gone into depression, trying to commit suicide twice. I need help or someone that was in a similar situation and overcame this, so I can have a little hope.

Thank you beforehand.