[yugiforpharaoh]

I am now 34. I rarely had problems with my skin or health in general before two years ago outside of random acne once every few months. I used to get a lot of dandruff, but always had pretty healthy hair. I used to feel fairly handsome and healthy and now I don't anymore. Almost 2 years ago I started having some very bad insomnia that gets drastically worse with stress despite a lot of consistent effort at maintaining good sleep hygiene and taking medication(s) at times. I rarely feel good when I wake up anymore. I don't have regular acne or dandruff problems anymore (maybe because I eat a lot healthier and use Selenium Sulfide "Intensive Care" shampoo now). I don't really even get dandruff problems now, although my hair doesn't seem as healthy as it used to be despite substantially greater efforts to care for it. I started having some severe facial redness and lower level skin bump/swelling &/or scaliness on the sides of my nose and chin about a year ago, and only recently found a doctor to prescribe Minocycline to effectively treat it (Proactiv and skin-care multivitamins may have kept regular acne away, but did nothing to help the newer, more severe issues). Minocycline has been like magic at ending the scaliness and bumps breakouts completely, although I am greatly disturbed that I even had the problem in the first place given my complete lack of history of such problems before recently. I have also had patches of irritated skin on my right cheek "heal" into slightly raised brown spots instead of back to normal. I also started having severe hair loss (from the roots) until using the "Intensive Care" shampoo as a doctor recommended, but I still have a bit of a tendency to it despite the shampoo. Unfortunately, all of my skin (not just my face) is not healing remotely close at a normal rate and won't return to normal skin tone or appearance in structure, but remains deep pink for months upon months, regardless of the severity or location of the scrape, breakout, or cut. I've been profoundly frustrated and confused at my spontaneously perpetual health problems the last two years and any basic blood tests by the doctors haven't indicated any abnormal hormone levels or the like. I use Dove Men's face and body moisturizer daily on my face. Ketoconazole 2% cream has been next to useless as far as I've seen, and it causes severe swelling at the bottom of my nostrils (if I apply it there the swelling won't recede for almost a week). For whatever reason, all my worst skin problems have been on my face, and they have not affected, at least to my awareness, my torso or legs. The face is obviously the last place I would want these issues to be. I don't know what to do to help my skin heal faster or more fully. I've been very frustrated with the medical system over the last two years in getting any answers, and was greatly angered that I had to see a substitute doctor to even get prescribed the Minocycline that has been so helpful. I recently changed my PCP because of it. I have no idea what I am not being told or what conditions I might have. The struggles I've been having for the last couple of years don't strike me as remotely normal, given my age when the problems started and my otherwise rather healthy history. I am literally looking for any and all informed ideas on how to help heal my face and skin correctly as well as any ideas as to what conditions I may have to ask my doctor to test for. Sorry to write so much but at this point I feel the lengthy description might give an informed professional or individual some ideas about what I might be dealing with so they can let me know what they think I may have or what might help.

Whether it's advice on how to heal my skin more quickly and fully or help to treat my face problems or any ideas on what conditions I might have (to ask a doctor to test for), any and all informed advice or ideas are greatly welcome and appreciated.

P.S. It may be a shot in the dark, but is it possible that I am getting serious second hand exposure at my apartment complex to some sort of a serious drug user/maker or building-related chemical exposure that could cause any of these symptoms? If so, what kind of drug or chemical might be causing my problems and, if you know, how could I get my apartment tested for it/them?

[JudyKayTee]

You need to take ALL of your medical problems, from insomnia to brakouts, to ONE General Physician who will undoubtedly refer you to ONE Dermatologist.

Contact the Health Department in your area - it could be a Federal problem, it might not be.

Why do you think someone in your building is exposing you to drug activities inside your apartment? For that matter, the same with chemicals.

Is there an odor in your apartment?

PLEASE don't keep posting this same question over and over.

[yugiforpharaoh]

You need to take ALL of your medical problems, from insomnia to brakouts, to ONE General Physician who will undoubtedly refer you to ONE Dermatologist.

"Contact the Health Department in your area - it could be a Federal problem, it might not be.

Why do you think someone in your building is exposing you to drug activities inside your apartment? For that matter, the same with chemicals.

Is there an odor in your apartment?

PLEASE don't keep posting this same question over and over.

I had to switch doctors because the old one was incompetent and detached based on how much a random substitute doctor for my PCP helped me so profoundly a couple months ago. I need answers and the old one was refusing to do anything new to help. I've seen a dermatologist and he upped the dosage Minocycline that stopped the horrifying breakouts. I'll be seeing him again in about a month...

I forgot to mention that there is some kind of smoke in the apartment building multiple times every day, and some of the stuff makes my skin crawl and makes me lightheaded. If the stuff is cigarette smoke, it's does not smell like any that I was exposed to growing up from mom and dad (my parents mostly smoked stuff like regular Marlboro or generic cigarretes). I don't smoke and I hate the stuff. The stuff going around the apartment might be a weird off-brand or off-shoot kind of cigarette. I've asked others to tell me what they think the smell is, but they either don't know or think it's cigarette smoke. Again, the stuff smells really weird compared to what I used to be around - kind of a weird plant smell. The stuff can be so bad that I hate to be in the hallway at all when the smoke is around. I have also had some major queasy - achiness in the abdomen for days at a time that only goes away when I am away from the apartment for a while. I've been told by a friend that the stuff he smelled at the time wasn't marijuana, but I don't know what such things smell like. I bought a couple of high-velocity fans and a couple of HEPA filters for my living room and bedroom, which seem to have at least improved the air in my apartment some, but I still sometimes have the feeling of burning eyes or lightheadedness and airheadedness in my apartment. I've alerted the leasing office but they've been pretty unhelpful so far and haven't offered any ideas yet.
The main reason I'm worried it might be chemicals is because the maintenance of the apartments has done numerous work on repairing air conditioner freon leaks and repairing water leaks while leaving holes in walls or ceiling for months at a time. The walls and ceiling are (finally) repaired now, but I've had all the health problems in the meantime.
If there are any tests for such drugs/chemicals, I would definitely like to know about them. I'll see if I can reach someone in the health department about my concerns.
Again, I never had any health issues that I would complain about 2 years ago, yet now I obviously have plenty to be worried by...
Also, sorry, I wasn't sure where the best place to post my health concerns were, so I posted in the skin care and the medical problems sections.