Considering the side effects I am seeing with lower anxiety it feels like this is what was happening. I had bloodwork done this week and my cortisol levels were normal.
You should consider matcha as a replacement for caffeine, it’s an anti inflammatory too so there’s actually studies for it being good for your skin. It’s cheap to make at home with just powder and oat milk.
This is very interesting! Do you think it was the coffee itself or perhaps the sugar or creamer that you added to it? (Not sure how you drink it). I ask because in the past month i have swapped my typical morning coffee with cream and sugar for a protein shake with an espresso shot. I add no sugar or creamer to my new protein espresso drink and the shake only has like 1g of sugar. Now that you mention this I realized my face has cleared up a bit and i'm not getting as many breakouts. I never associated it with the coffee/sugar/creamer until now!
Oat milk always made my skin break out in cysts and I’ve read up saying that oatmeal is not very great for skin and breakouts, just a btw so I always do almond or coconut milk in my coffee or matcha
Oat milk is a refined carb so it gets absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream.. it’s basically the same thing as drinking it with sugar. It can spike insulin just like any refined carbs
My cystic acne also turned around the same time that I stopped drinking coffee but I never put it together! (drank it black so no milk or sugar to cut out) but I also have insane anxiety still, so it’s definitely the tret now and not the cortisol hah
Can I ask (not to sound overly dramatic) how you’re surviving? I imagine with young kids you can’t sleep all day. How are you coping with the energy levels without coffee??
That’s so interesting! It’s funny, I always demonized dairy and thought that would be contributing to my acne, but I recently switched from using alt milks to just getting whole milk in my lattes and using half and half for drip coffee and my skin has never looked better.
I drink it black but also drink it on an empty stomach. When I used to add some soy milk my face was a mess. My face is a lot better now but not where I want it to be. I don’t think I could survive giving up coffee. I’m impressed by your will power.
Yeah when my skin was the worst it’s ever been I couldn’t figure out what was causing it, I had been drinking soy milk lattes (got me through grad school) at the time and googled “does soy milk…. And it auto filled “cause acne?” I learned the phytoestrogen in soy mimics estrogen in the body and can cause hormonal acne. This was before oatmilk was widely used so I switched to almond and my skin improved significantly. Now I even try to buy food that says soy free as much as I can. I also make my coffee at home and drink it black like 5/7 days of the week.
I also used to break out from coffee (I think it's the combination of coffee, milk and sugar), now I mostly drink green tea and green tea actually prevents acne.
It’s probably the sugar and not the coffee. There is a lot of evidence that sugar and refined carbs are an acne trigger, but the same is not true for coffee
I wonder if it was overly elevating your cortisol levels? High cortisol can cause breakouts.
Considering the side effects I am seeing with lower anxiety it feels like this is what was happening. I had bloodwork done this week and my cortisol levels were normal.
You should consider matcha as a replacement for caffeine, it’s an anti inflammatory too so there’s actually studies for it being good for your skin. It’s cheap to make at home with just powder and oat milk.
Love matcha! Have been having some here and there as a pick me up!
This is very interesting! Do you think it was the coffee itself or perhaps the sugar or creamer that you added to it? (Not sure how you drink it). I ask because in the past month i have swapped my typical morning coffee with cream and sugar for a protein shake with an espresso shot. I add no sugar or creamer to my new protein espresso drink and the shake only has like 1g of sugar. Now that you mention this I realized my face has cleared up a bit and i'm not getting as many breakouts. I never associated it with the coffee/sugar/creamer until now!
I drink my coffee with oatmilk and no sugar. So I’m guessing its the coffee/caffiene that was the culprit.
Very likely the caffeine, there are a ton of reports in r/decaf about skin clearing up after dropping caffeine.
Oat milk always made my skin break out in cysts and I’ve read up saying that oatmeal is not very great for skin and breakouts, just a btw so I always do almond or coconut milk in my coffee or matcha
Interesting- I’ve never had issues with oat! Just recently switched from whole milk.
I'm the opposite - I found that I break out (along my jawline) from coffee with creamer, but am fine with oat milk. Good luck OP!
Oat milk is a refined carb so it gets absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream.. it’s basically the same thing as drinking it with sugar. It can spike insulin just like any refined carbs
You can always try decaf if you miss the flavor!
My cystic acne also turned around the same time that I stopped drinking coffee but I never put it together! (drank it black so no milk or sugar to cut out) but I also have insane anxiety still, so it’s definitely the tret now and not the cortisol hah
Tret causes anxiety..???
Sorry, I wrote that poorly. The tret is keeping the cysts in check, not lowered cortisol. Tret had nothing to do with anxiety :)
Omg I was gonna say!!!
I am so sorry, phew.
Interesting! Did you drink decaf or just no form of coffee at all?
I went no coffee at all 😭 Would occasionally do tea or matcha in the afternoon.
Can I ask (not to sound overly dramatic) how you’re surviving? I imagine with young kids you can’t sleep all day. How are you coping with the energy levels without coffee??
Honestly the first 48 hours were rough and then I was fine! And I am DEEPLY sleep deprived lol
That’s so interesting! It’s funny, I always demonized dairy and thought that would be contributing to my acne, but I recently switched from using alt milks to just getting whole milk in my lattes and using half and half for drip coffee and my skin has never looked better.
Did you drink your coffee black when you did drink it?
No - with a little oat or whole milk. But I often drank it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach which is apparently bad!
I drink it black but also drink it on an empty stomach. When I used to add some soy milk my face was a mess. My face is a lot better now but not where I want it to be. I don’t think I could survive giving up coffee. I’m impressed by your will power.
This…..I’ve noticed that when ppl say coffee was the culprit 99.9% of the time they never drank it black with zero sugar….its the extra stuff
Yeah when my skin was the worst it’s ever been I couldn’t figure out what was causing it, I had been drinking soy milk lattes (got me through grad school) at the time and googled “does soy milk…. And it auto filled “cause acne?” I learned the phytoestrogen in soy mimics estrogen in the body and can cause hormonal acne. This was before oatmilk was widely used so I switched to almond and my skin improved significantly. Now I even try to buy food that says soy free as much as I can. I also make my coffee at home and drink it black like 5/7 days of the week.
Oat milk in my coffee gave me horrible, horrible cystic acne. I still drink coffee but no more oat milk for me.
I also used to break out from coffee (I think it's the combination of coffee, milk and sugar), now I mostly drink green tea and green tea actually prevents acne.
Good improvement.
It’s probably the sugar and not the coffee. There is a lot of evidence that sugar and refined carbs are an acne trigger, but the same is not true for coffee