Advice Needed for Mid Suffering With Acne

Ollie3 said:
No way. Your writing and comments were amazing. Man, it's a blessing to have someone with your background. I'm just praying and praying that your advice, which I absolutely passed along, will be heeded. I can't manage or control it, I can only help to secure advice and pass it along. Parenting, not controlling because I do not have the background like so many like you. I'm just worried I said or did something wrong.
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I'll speak with you again by DM at some point. As Capt MJ and others said and have said, your daughter must advocate for herself and her health. The lowest ranking member of the armed services deserve and have access to the same level of care as the highest ranking. As I wrote from my contact, BMU is capable of treating her condition.

Here's another "my son" story. He spent the first few years not wanting to get seen for aches and pains and various other things because he thought it would affect his career. Even with me telling him otherwise he refused to go to medical. A couple years ago he had a bad cellulitis on one of feet and went to his BAS, battalion aid station. The doctor wasn't in and the junior corpsman said he would have to come back next week to see the battalion medical officer or IDC. He did as he was told and went back to his office. He sent me a photo of his foot and I freaked out and told him to go immediately to the ER and if they didn't put him on IV antibiotics I would be on the next plane to Pendleton. He did, and they did, and he eventually got better.

I know it may seen daunting for a midshipman to ask for something if she feels she hasn't gotten what she needs. Advocate. That's the operative word. The good folks in medical will get it right. I feel assured of this.
 
Devil Doc said:
I know it may seen daunting for a midshipman to ask for something if she feels she hasn't gotten what she needs. Advocate. That's the operative word. The good folks in medical will get it right. I feel assured of this.
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To put this in perspective, when they graduate they should be ready to be a key advocate for "their" people. One of the lessons that we learn as we gain more experience is that "the system" sometimes does not work as it should for the lowest ranking and often most vulnerable of our people. That 17 or 18 year old kid who might not have a great educational or family background can easily become perplexed or disheartened when our multitudinous Admin, Medical or other systems don't take care of them at an appropriate service level. A leader needs to help his or her folks through these issues and learning how to advocate for yourself is a good first step.
At times even Senior Officers and Enlisted - the Commanders, Captains and Chiefs experience an issue and then stop and fix their situation. For instance, say it is a pay issue. In many cases, the people processing the complaint see that it is a Commander and jump to fix it but they are less likely to do this for Seaman Jones if Jones is even able to surface the problem to the right place. My command philosophy was that these "little things" were to be handled immediately and I wanted to be informed immediately if there was any pushback instead of correcting the issue. Thankfully, I generally had great medical folks who were already jumping to fix anything that they could. Pay problems were a different animal and I think that there were folks in that world who got tired of my calls but the issues did get fixed for me or I would be on the phone to their Chain of Command pretty quickly.
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I know that I can be a little rough on parents trying to continue fixing these sorts of issue for their Midshipmen and Cadets and the reason is that they need to start stepping up for themselves NOW because pretty soon, they are a Second Class Mid with Plebes of their own who they are supposed to lead ( aka "their" people ). The need for them to advocate for others starts soon so they need to get started helping themselves.
 
Thanks. You know best about this process which is why I thought asking on a forum like this was an idea. She does self advocate. She got herself there, not me. She did it and has accomplished a lot more than most her age prior to this point and is making it work. Partly, and this is my mom psychoanalysis, she's a young female in a tough environment and she is respectful and isn't one to be pushy. A respected quiet leader but she's just so damn embarrassed and self confidence is way down over this. People may scoff at me posting, but she's seriously affected. She did ask about it at one visit, unrelated to acne, but got a negative reply that it would be highly unlikely. I passed on your advice and asked her to try again. I wish we could direct message but I think becaise I'm new and don't have enough posts I can't do that? I'm not sure. I can only imagine what you've seen and dealt with and sorry to be a bother.
 
Devil Doc said:
I'll speak with you again by DM at some point. As Capt MJ and others said and have said, your daughter must advocate for herself and her health. The lowest ranking member of the armed services deserve and have access to the same level of care as the highest ranking. As I wrote from my contact, BMU is capable of treating her condition.

Here's another "my son" story. He spent the first few years not wanting to get seen for aches and pains and various other things because he thought it would affect his career. Even with me telling him otherwise he refused to go to medical. A couple years ago he had a bad cellulitis on one of feet and went to his BAS, battalion aid station. The doctor wasn't in and the junior corpsman said he would have to come back next week to see the battalion medical officer or IDC. He did as he was told and went back to his office. He sent me a photo of his foot and I freaked out and told him to go immediately to the ER and if they didn't put him on IV antibiotics I would be on the next plane to Pendleton. He did, and they did, and he eventually got better.

I know it may seen daunting for a midshipman to ask for something if she feels she hasn't gotten what she needs. Advocate. That's the operative word. The good folks in medical will get it right. I feel assured of this.
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My reply below was meant for you Devil Doc
 
Devil Doc said:
Here's another "my son" story. He spent the first few years not wanting to get seen for aches and pains and various other things because he thought it would affect his career. Even with me telling him otherwise he refused to go to medical.
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Not an uncommon reaction among younger guys...nobody wants to be seen as the guy who can't hack it, runs to sick call, etc. As an Naval Flight Officer, we viewed the Flight Surgeon as the enemy --the guy /gal who could ground us and keep us from doing our job. It's taken me years to overcome this, and I am still reluctant to go to the Doctor for what I perceive as little problems, but am slowly learning that little problems can become big problem, and little treatments are better than big treatments !

Brigade medical, and Navy Medicine and Independent Duty Corpsman all have an important mission -- keeping the Midshipman, and in the fleet , Sailors and Officers , alike, healthy and capable of performing their duty --despite all of our efforts to avoid them, or dumb things we do against their advice. (My flight surgeon had some pretty compelling photo's to discourage dipping Skoal !)
 
Old Navy BGO said:
Just to add a little levity ...and since I know absolutely nothing about the subject -- just be thankful that Devil Doc didn't just prescribe a handful of Vitamin M (Motrin) and tell you to walk it off !

On the serious side ...there is no such thing as "just an enlisted guy..." Devil Doc brings a perspective that most of us don't have, and that perspective is invaluable, particularly to the Candidates themselves who will soon learn that there is a lot to be learned from a Senior Chief.
Beyond that, he is probably in the top 5 of Forum Members that I would like to have a beer with !
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Likewise. I live a couple miles from the Quantico main gate if you’re ever in the area.
 
From the south - I hear ya on the dipping!
Hopefully she'll give it another shot for just this issue. I guess I tried. Had it been an issue during time at home, we would have addressed it asap. No questions. I think the diet, weather, stress, hygiene, hormones all have played a part in going the wrong direction. Well we try to get to see her when we can, but this year may be much different!
 
My heart absolutely breaks for your mid. I am a mid mom who suffered for years with severe cystic acne. NOTHING worked. I tried antibiotics, lasers, every topical imaginable, dietary changes, allergy testing and every voodoo someone told me to try for years!! Literally thousands of dollars in products and treatments. So many people think they understand "acne", but have no idea how painful and scarring cystic/nodular acne can be. Accutane/Retinoids are the ONLY thing that can be an actual "cure". It sucks. It's a flipping poison in your system, but I will never regret taking it. Please do research before taking this in an extreme physical environment. Retinoids combined with strenuous activity can cause muscle breakdown and rhabdomyolysis. This is probably one of the reasons the military doesn't like to prescribe it. Not to mention the extreme dryness and cracked lips. I don't know whether it would be worse to be at USNA with cystic acne or suffering the side effects of the first few months of a course of treatment. Because it is months and months of treatment and sometimes needs to be completed twice (I had to do it twice). There are also monthly blood draws and required birth control and pregnancy tests. My guess is BMU doesn't want to touch all that baggage with a 10 ft pole. Do all the research and as tough as it would be I would wait until after commissioning because it is a hard core drug that can cause a number of very dangerous side effects muscle breakdown and depression. You don't need added depression risks in that kind of environment. I wasn't "cured" until my mid twenties and after some scar revision it does become a memory.
 
Ollie3 said:
Please do not respond with judgement or criticism - it isn't needed or wanted! If you have personally suffered or have a loved one who has dealt with the emotional and physical issues with severe acne, then you will have compassion. My daughter had typical mild (VERY mild) pimples here and there upon entry and through her plebe summer and first year, more flare ups. We all thought with better self care and changes in diet, rest, and hormone balance things would self resolve. They have not. Things have spread and worsened. She's fortunate that some of it she can now "cover up", but the emotional toll and physical (some of the nodular ones she gets really are very painful) have affected her a great deal. On one visit last year to the BMU she tested the waters and asked if isotretinoin would ever be considered, but seemed to hear it was unlikely. I think it's in the formulary, but not 100% sure of that. Yes - she's tried topicals and retinoids and about every product under the sun and bc pills all to no avail. She wants the emotional and physical freedom from this prior to commissioning and finds it all so embarrassing. To her credit she has kept a positive attitude for the most part, but I really see the toll. When home she had a slight improvement, but it clearly is the type of acne (deep under the skin) that is only going to really get clear with a course of isotretinoin. She is NOT one to do anything out of process and I just don't know if any of you have any advice or positive comments that BMU WOULD prescribe this? Again, please don't judge and dismiss this or berate me for the post - whether male or female this stuff affects a young adult. Thank you in advance.
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How did this ultimately turn out for your MID?
 
Devil Doc said:
So, the OP has not posted in a year but is hovering about and waiting for somebody to ask how this turned out for the MID?

Got it.
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Or perhaps OP received notification of a reply to her post, and might be inclined to respond. Thanks for the feedback.
 
A lot of posters here, are ‘one and dones’. They have a specific question or issue, get their info, and are gone.

Many are applicants, or parents of an applicant, and are here for help specifically with their process. And then are gone.

And then we have seasoned forum members who are here to help and assist all who stop by, whether they stick around or not. Giving of their time, experience, and wisdom. Two of the latter were letting you know that the poster hasn’t been around at all for over a year. You are not likely to receive a response to your inquiry. Some people don’t realize to look at the dates of posts.

If you are curious about a query in general, you can also use the search function to find existing discussion about the subject. In case you didn’t know that.

We are all just trying to help!
 
My Youngster was referred out to Derm at Walter Reed and saw them yesterday. Her face has broken out horribly over the last several months which was never a problem in hgh school. One thing she has learned over the last two years (she is a NAPSTER) is to advocate for herself. Being persistent certainly can pay off.
 
nicdav17 said:
My Youngster was referred out to Derm at Walter Reed and saw them yesterday. Her face has broken out horribly over the last several months which was never a problem in hgh school. One thing she has learned over the last two years (she is a NAPSTER) is to advocate for herself. Being persistent certainly can pay off.
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And what did Derm do for her?
 
Devil Doc said:
And what did Derm do for her?
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They gave her something topical ( prescription strength) to see if that would help clear things up. They want to see her again in two months at which point they will see if she needs to take an oral medication.
 
nicdav17 said:
They gave her something topical ( prescription strength) to see if that would help clear things up. They want to see her again in two months at which point they will see if she needs to take an oral medication.
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Good. I hope it works.
 
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