S.Andrew (Denver, Co) on 08/20/2018:

I first discovered I had Tinea in 2012. I noticed a spot on my neck and also my right bicep. I tried all sorts of things on it, from; Tea Tree Oil, cortisone, doctor prescribed creams. It only proceeded to get worse regardless of what I tried. As the years went on it spread down my arms, all over my chest, up my neck and all over my back. Even down in to my thighs. I felt hopeless.

I was living in Central PA at the time, which is pretty hot and humid during the summer. At night, my skin would crawl and itch. I did my best to eliminate sugar, beer, tobacco, etc. It seemed the worse my Tinea got, the worse I got. I grew hopeless that I would live with this for the rest of my life! I would shower twice a day, change my bed sheets every few days. I did all sorts of things. I would apply it after the shower from head to toe, and then go to bed. It was quite the routine. I even created my own creams with Coconut oil, tea tree oil, oil of oregano, and grapefruit seed extract, which helped the inflammation the best. It helped, but didn't really make a dent.

Of course I noticed when I avoided sugar or the heat and humidity my skin would do better, but overall it was still there and itching.

In my life at the time I had difficulty avoiding alcohol, sugar, carbs, etc. I also struggled with depression and anxiety and understood the connection between the food, and mood. My life seemed like I would get started going in the right direction and then I often just gave up again.

After years of battling the ups and downs with tinea I just learned to live with it. I will say that over the years, I sought out different spiritual practices too. Very few helped practically, I practiced hot power yoga, which if you read a lot of the tinea forums, they tell you it will cause your skin to become inflamed. For me, it did get somewhat inflamed, but it also seemed to recede too. Eventually my yoga practice fell off, my tinea came back just as strong again.

It wasn't until I moved to Colorado in the cooler, dry climate that I noticed less flare ups. Over all, it was less inflamed from the things I ate, like carbs, sugars, or an occasional beer. It's now 2018 and 6 years later, I can say that my tinea is very much receding. In addition to the environmental and climate change, I also started wearing a copper bracelet I purchased at a Meditation Event.

When I was pursuing the items, a bracelet jumped out at me and I felt really drawn to it. I walked around a bit, but eventually came back. I bought the copper bracelet and within a week I noticed a difference in my skin. My skin hadn't flared up at all. Not even much when I had a beer. And as the weeks went on, it continued to recede. Now, about 2 months from when I purchased the bracelet, the red splotches and patches on my chest and back have receded to where they don't even touch anymore. If you look at my chest, what would look like goose bumps are just the Tinea dwindling away in to the pours of my skin. I used to be literally covered on my chest to where you couldn't even tell I had normal skin. My skin was just chronically inflamed and I will say I was lucky in a way. I have olive red skin and once the tinea covered me, it was hard to tell I had it. But if you looked under my forearms where it's pale, it was really blotchy and kinda off putting. But even under my forearms has dissipated to the point you can't see it. Lastly, in addition to the copper bracelet, I have been practicing Kriya Yoga and that has helped my overall well being with anxiety and depression.

While these things may not be supplements or creams, I can say that what I read about Copper Bracelets in Indian culture makes sense to me. That an imbalance of any mineral can cause issues in the nervous system. It seems for me, I was lacking copper and I've been able to absorb it through the skin beneficially. I share this not as a solution for everyone, but as hope that it does get better.

To those out there still looking for an answer after everything they've tried still didn't work. Don't give up. You'll find your solution if you keep searching.