Saw palmetto theoretically does the same, but it's nothing like as strong as spiro and it's not strong enough for me. I will be desperately trying to persuade my derm to prescribe me spiro when I see them on Friday! Glad to hear it's had such good results for you. Do you mind me asking what dose you started on and what dose you had success with? Did you get an initial breakout or did it just clear up? Trying to get as clued up on it as possible.

Also there's a post on here by Green Gables called something like "The Big Hormone Post for Both Men and Women" which has loads of natural antiandrogens listed and effective doses for each. Definitely worth a look.

Just wanted to chime in. I have been on spiro for 3 weeks and I believe it is beginning to work. I have had 3 pimples come up that are cystic which I did't have before. They only hurt for a day or so and then start going down. Currently, on my left cheek, I have some that have come up that are smaller, yet still under the skin. They seem to be where I had tiny little bumps before. Mini zits that were just trapped. I think you could call all of this an initial break out or a purging period. For someone with moderate to severe acne I could see it being a lot worse than what I have going on. I was never offered an oral antibiotic with the spiro but a friend of mine was who had cystic acne.

5 hours ago, svuchic said:

Just wanted to chime in.  I have been on spiro for 3 weeks and I believe it is beginning to work.  I have had 3 pimples come up that are cystic which I did't have before.  They only hurt for a day or so and then start going down.  Currently, on my left cheek, I have some that have come up that are smaller, yet still under the skin.  They seem to be where I had tiny little bumps before.  Mini zits that were just trapped.  I think you could call all of this an initial break out or a purging period.  For someone with moderate to severe acne I could see it being a lot worse than what I have going on.  I was never offered an oral antibiotic with the spiro but a friend of mine was who had cystic acne.  
 

Thanks so much for sharing your experience svuchic! Glad to hear it's starting to work for you and that the initial breakout wasn't too dire. Hope you keep seeing improvements from here on in.

On 12/22/2016 at 4:32 AM, MoonlitRiver said:

Saw palmetto theoretically does the same, but it's nothing like as strong as spiro and it's not strong enough for me. I will be desperately trying to persuade my derm to prescribe me spiro when I see them on Friday! Glad to hear it's had such good results for you. Do you mind me asking what dose you started on and what dose you had success with? Did you get an initial breakout or did it just clear up? Trying to get as clued up on it as possible.

Also there's a post on here by Green Gables called something like "The Big Hormone Post for Both Men and Women" which has loads of natural antiandrogens listed and effective doses for each. Definitely worth a look.

When I was on spiro my skin did not have any initial breakouts. All acne cleared 99% in one month. I as on 100 mg per day. I'm thinking of just going back on it but my husband was concerned with the effects it ought have on my fertility. Does anyone know if it effects being able to have children in the future?

I decided to do a combo of saw palmetto and nettle with l-lysine because I found when I just take saw palmetto in higher doses, it made me extremely anxious and depressed.

Im I tired of this acne problem. I'm 25 and I just started my normal skin.

6 hours ago, Niingyo said:

When I was on spiro my skin did not have any initial breakouts. All acne cleared 99% in one month. I as on 100 mg per day. I'm thinking of just going back on it but my husband was concerned with the effects it ought have on my fertility. Does anyone know if it effects being able to have children in the future?

I decided to do a combo of saw palmetto and nettle with l-lysine because I found when I just take saw palmetto in higher doses, it made me extremely anxious and depressed. 

Im I tired of this acne problem. I'm 25 and I just started my normal skin. 

Thanks for the info on your spiro treatment, that's really encouraging for me and I hope my experience is the same! I've heard of it temporarily affecting male fertility (this being reversible once you come off the drug) but haven't seen any mention of it affecting female fertility. To be honest, if I found a drug that kept my skin clear and didn't come with nasty side effects for me I'd probably keep taking it until I actually wanted to conceive. I tried a combination of saw palmetto and nettle but unfortunately it wasn't strong enough to deal with my skin. I'm 24, so I totally hear you on being fed up of acne and just wanting normal skin! Hope the saw palmetto combo works for you, keep us updated.