Did Invitro Cause My Rosacea? I Finally Have My Answer
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Fairface Podcast transcript / show notes
Intro:
Hello my friends! Welcome back to another episode of the Fairface Podcast! It's so nice to be with you again today.
Just to let you know, today's episode is not going to be part 2 of our Tween & Teen Skin Care 101 with Patti Robinson like I originally planned, we've had a delay recording that, but it will be coming soon. So I'll be sure to let you know when that will be coming out.
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Today, I want to talk to you about something that is pretty personal and I hope by me sharing it, it can help you or someone you know, as well.
On Instagram I recently posted asking if you are a "why" person?
Meaning someone who wants to know WHY something happened or WHAT CAUSED IT instead of just accepting it and letting it be. Are you the kind of person who wants to get to the bottom of things and it festers a bit until you do?
I am a why person.
For a long time I've wondered what caused me to develop Rosacea.
- Is it genetics?
- If so, who did I get it from?
- Could I have prevented it?
- Was it something I did?
- Something I didn't do?
But the real nagging question in the back of my mind has been whether the timing of my rosacea onset was related to going through infertility treatments and Invitro?
What Causes Rosacea?
When I asked my dermatologist what caused my rosacea, she answered with what the studies have indicated:
- Rosacea can run in families (so it's possible to inherit genes for rosacea.)
- It may involve the immune system
- A bug in the intestines
- UV radiation
- Your sensory nervous system
- A mite that lives on the skin
- And even how the body processes a certain protein on the skin
(sources National Rosacea Society and AAD)
I can accept those answers, but for me, there is also this undeniable question in my mind about
the connection between going through invitro and the onset of my rosacea
because that's when my rosacea first appeared.
I have always wondered if the onset of my rosacea was related to all the drugs and hormones and stress of going through fertility treatments and invitro. Was it all related?
I have shared briefly on another episode or episodes, about what it's like having rosacea, and that my major skin challenges and rosacea started when we were going through invitro.
There are so many unanswered questions about our experience going through invitro. And I'm not surprised that attached to those questions, I've also never been able to shake this nagging question in the back of my mind, wondering if all the hormones and stress of those years is what triggered my Rosacea to start?
Did Invitro Hormones and Stress Cause My Rosacea?
According to her website, Dr. O'Desky has developed a holistic program for chronic skin conditions after healing her own rosacea, and now she helps others heal from rosacea, gut problems and food sensitivities.
Part of her Instagram post said this:
"Rosacea took YEARS to develop. When it finally appears on your skin, it's because it was the final straw in a series of accumulating factors." - Dr. Tara O’Desky
Something about the way she worded that felt like she was speaking to me, so I commented on her post and asked,
me: "Rosacea made its debut when I was going through invitro. I always wondered if all the stress & hormones triggered it. Do you think that could have been “the last straw” for my skin?"
her response: "Yes hormonal changes can always be a trigger because hormones must get processed through your liver, and if your liver is already compromised, it will show up on your skin. And of course, stress. 😢"
You know that feeling when something you hear or read just sits right with you?
I felt like she really heard me and I felt the rightness of what she said about how it relates to me and my experience with invitro and rosacea being so interconnected.
It finally made sense, after 13 years. All of the drugs and all of the stress of going through infertility treatments and invitro was kind of my skin's "last straw".
And on top of that, the more I read, the more it verified that all of this was right for me.
The Liver - Rosacea Connection
On her website she talks about the role of the liver and how it is connected to your skin, and in particular, inflammation and rosacea. This was another very important part of my ah ah moment.
Dr. O'Desky's website says,
As you can imagine, going through fertility treatments and invitro, there are a lot of drugs involved. Our story, which I am actually in the process of writing and I'll be sharing with you in the coming months, went on from the end of 2006 to the beginning of 2010. So that was a lot of years of a lot of drugs and a bunch of them kind of all at once, when we did invitro.
Our Invitro Experience
Our experience with infertility and invitro was one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through and unfortunately, for us, it ended in heartache.
After all we had done, I had what they defined as an ectopic pregnancy. It was a pregnancy that wasn't viable and couldn't be verified, meaning the embryo or embryos that were growing inside my body had attached somewhere else, other than my uterus.
Often times ectopic pregnancies end up attaching in the fallopian tubes, which can pose an immediate threat to a mother's life. And as it most likely was in my case, it had to be treated with a drug called Methotrexate.
Methotrexate for Ectopic Pregnancies
Methotrexate is an immunosuppressive drug that is used to treat cancer as well as ectopic pregnancies. If left to grow, ectopic pregnancies can rupture fallopian tubes and lead to hemorrhaging, basically bleeding out internally, and cause death.
I remember having to sign something that said I understood the laundry list of possible side effects from taking methotrexate, which scared me, but the alternative scared me too, so I felt like I didn't really have any other choice.
Before our nurse could administer the methotrexate, I had to have a blood test to test my liver function. And I remember feeling a little scared about that. What was this medication going to do to my liver?
When the blood test came back normal, they could then administer the shot.
And after the first methotrexate shot, the HCG levels in my blood were supposed to go down. HCG is a hormone produced when an embryo implants and begins developing. This drop in HCG should show my ectopic pregnancy was ending so it would no longer be a threat to my life.
When my HCG numbers did not drop like they should have, they had to administer another blood test to check my liver function and then administered a 2nd dose of Methotrexate.
I honestly felt like I was being poisoned a little bit. This felt like a scary drug with a lot of side effects, and now I had not just one dose, but 2.
Just recently I learned that:
"Although the half-life of MTX is 8 to 15 hours, its presence in the liver has been reported to last up to 116 days after exposure." - Source - Journal of Canadian Family Physician
So after all this time, wondering if my rosacea onset was related to invitro, and learning about the connection between an overburdened liver causing an inflammatory response on the skin, I feel very strongly that, for me, these two things are connected.
I had been injected with so many medications for so many months, I wonder how my liver dealt with all of that? And then on top of it, to be given 2 doses of a medication that can remain in your liver for up to 116 days...I can see why this accumulation of drugs in my liver (that may not have been processed in and out very quickly), came out as an inflammatory response on my skin, as my rosacea.
My "Series of Accumulating Factors" (signals for Rosacea)
Across my lifetime:
- I have always had sensitive skin.
- I have allergies and some food sensitivities.
- I flush and blush easily.
- I have fair skin.
- I don't have the best diet (I could do much better).
- I've had sun damage.
- My skin responds very easily to emotional stress and temperature changes.
- I have dealt with infertility and hormone irregularities due to certain conditions throughout my life.
(Referencing Dr. O'Desky's Instagram post), these things happened or "accumulated" so to speak, up until the time I was officially diagnosed with Rosacea, when all the stress and infertility and invitro drugs were my "last straw".
Determining the Cause of Your Rosacea
Now I know it technically doesn't really matter what brought on my rosacea, because I can't go back to a time where I don't have it.
But for some reason for me, maybe it's because it was so closely connected with our time going through invitro, that this has been just one of the many unanswered question during that period of my life, that I have been trying to find some clarity around and I feel like I've finally found it.
Many people who have rosacea may not ever know really what their last straw was that lead to the onset of their rosacea. Or maybe after listening to this, something in their mind will fall into place and maybe they'll be able to find some clarity themselves.
Some things we may never have answers to, and if you can't go back and change it, you can only focus on moving forward.
I can't go back and change my experience with infertility and going through Invitro. I will never have some of those painful questions answered.
I can't go back to a time I don't have Rosacea either, but I feel so much more at peace, finding an answer to my WHY, seeing how the pieces all fit together. And it finally makes so much sense to me.
It's kind of that feeling when you know something is right, but you can't verify why you feel that way because you don't have anything to back it up. And when you DO find that missing piece that verifies what you've thought all along, you want to just yell, "I knew it! I knew it!" That's how I feel right now and I feel so much more at peace about it. It just feels good to finally be able to make sense of it.
Do You Know Your Why?
If you have Rosacea, do you have any idea what may have brought it on? What may have been your skin's "last straw", so to speak?
Have you gone through fertility treatments or invitro, did it affect your skin?
Going through infertility and invitro can be a very lonely experience, but it is also shared by so many people, and I am one of them.
If you need to connect with someone who gets it, please reach out to me. I'm happy to be a friend and resource for you.
I am excited to share my story about our journey through infertility and invitro with the hope it can help someone.
It is hard to share something so deeply personal. Even last night I was laying in bed thinking, what am I thinking? I can't do this!
It makes me feel so vulnerable, but at the same time, it's been something I have felt compelled to share for a long time. And I don't really know what I'm afraid of, other than, it's just uncomfortable to put myself out there, to this degree. But if someone can feel less alone or more understood, by me sharing my experience, I have nothing to hide and I welcome that with open arms.
Writing about my experience with infertility and invitro is still a major work in progress, so I'm not sure when I will be finished writing it, but it's coming.
Reach out to me and let me know if this is something you're interested in reading about or if I can help you.
I hope this episode has helped you and if it has, I'd love to hear from you!
Please reach out to me - you can find me on Instagram @FairfaceWashcloths or you can always email me Shannon @ FairfaceWashcloths . com.
Thank you as always for being here! You are always on my mind when I'm sharing these episodes and it really means a lot to me to have you here.
Take care and I will see you next time!
DISCLOSURE: This post/podcast is is purely my own personal experience and what works for me. The information contained here is not meant to substitute professional medical advice. If you have medical questions please seek guidance from a licensed dermatologist or certified medical professional.
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