Should I Do Accutane?

Off Topic
41

I just checked my book.
I took around 50mg a day for 9 months. The total was 9600 mg.

If I make a comparison, I got self-confidence, vanity and I took out the main source of my depression and stress and also occasional fatigue and a permanent dry nose.
I think it was worth it but…

The thing is, my acne was not teenager acne, since it started when I was 20-21 and it was usually quite bad. Sometimes I would get this huge pimple close to my eye and it would make me look like if one eye was three times bigger than the other.

42

so I guess that’s the best move if you’re going to do it. Make sure you know yourself what a reasonable dose is.

43

I took accutane and it was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m lucky though. I took it when I was 20, in university, and drank quite frequently. The worst sides I got were dry lips. Cleared up my skin in about 4 months, took it for a total of 6 months. Have never had a major outbreak of acne since I took it. My back used to be a train wreck.

My brother took it as well and he had severely bad cystic acne on his back. Cleared that shit right up. I’d gladly appear on an Accutane infomercial if one existed.

44

hey, i didn’t say clean up your diet and wait three years, i said clean up your diet and give it one month. if it doesn’t work it doens’t work. if it does work then that is good though, yeah? or maybe one should bother. just go for the big guns.

accutane won’t make old scars go away but should help new scars from forming insofar as it helps clear up the acne. old scars do fade with time and a bit of a tan. or microdermobrasion or laser treatments or whatever.

45

After reading more about it, I’m starting to really regret I took it. If I have this side-effects after one year, who knows what I could develop the next ones?
Dermatologist told me about the side-effects DURING the treatment, not after.

46

[quote]Edevus wrote:
After reading more about it, I’m starting to really regret I took it. If I have this side-effects after one year, who knows what I could develop the next ones?
Dermatologist told me about the side-effects DURING the treatment, not after.
[/quote]

What side-effects are you having, I think I missed that.

I was super strict on it, because I didn’t want any extra side-effects and I only wanted to do it once.

Liquid generic Iso with liver & blood pressure supps, a multivitamin and lots of water. Alcohol was also out of the question.

47

[quote]RSGZ wrote:

[quote]Edevus wrote:
After reading more about it, I’m starting to really regret I took it. If I have this side-effects after one year, who knows what I could develop the next ones?
Dermatologist told me about the side-effects DURING the treatment, not after.
[/quote]

What side-effects are you having, I think I missed that.

I was super strict on it, because I didn’t want any extra side-effects and I only wanted to do it once.

Liquid generic Iso with liver & blood pressure supps, a multivitamin and lots of water. Alcohol was also out of the question.[/quote]

Mind that I was taking exactly what the dermatologist was telling me to take and I was having blood tests monthly.
Since I started taking it I have had allergy-like symptoms (I got tested for common allergies, nothing there) and I have fatigue spells that last around one week and they include upper spine pain. I’m having one right now, but it’s mild compared to one I had in early May which included anxiety attacks and extreme fatigue. I have them every 6-10 weeks.

I started taking it September 2009, finished June 2010. During the last months something in my liver was not right, so I had to reduce my dose and take a natural supplement to protect it.

I also had few days off while taking it, since I’d feel totally depressed or angry for no reason.

EDIT : I’m planning to take a complete blood test very soon, maybe my liver is in troubles again for some reason.
I eat very clean, drink lots of water, etc.

48

My acne isn’t all that bad and I only weigh 170, so I’m assuming they wouldn’t put me on that high of a dose. If I do decide to take it, I will definitely request a low dose.

I’ve heard acne gets worse before it gets better on accutane. Can anyone who has taken the drug describe how much worse it got while on accutane?

49

[quote]Brian14 wrote:
My acne isn’t all that bad and I only weigh 170, so I’m assuming they wouldn’t put me on that high of a dose. If I do decide to take it, I will definitely request a low dose.

I’ve heard acne gets worse before it gets better on accutane. Can anyone who has taken the drug describe how much worse it got while on accutane?[/quote]

If you mean aesthetically. You will look like crap whilst on it, more aggressive acne that will look very sore and red.

When I was on a high dose I literally smothered on layers of petroleum jelly all over my face at night. Just to calm the redness. That was on top of the intensive moisturisers they prescribed.

Bad times.

50

I’ve been on 40mg a day for the last 2 and a half months and I weigh 185 pounds currently. I’m very lucky in that I’ve never had a break out but my face and back were truly horrific before.

51

[quote]Brian14 wrote:
My acne isn’t all that bad and I only weigh 170, so I’m assuming they wouldn’t put me on that high of a dose. If I do decide to take it, I will definitely request a low dose.

I’ve heard acne gets worse before it gets better on accutane. Can anyone who has taken the drug describe how much worse it got while on accutane?[/quote]

When I started the treatment my acne was very, very bad. It got a little bit worse the first week and then it started to heal. I never had any break out. For the last months I had single small pimples there and there.

52

[quote]Brian14 wrote:
My acne isn’t all that bad and I only weigh 170, so I’m assuming they wouldn’t put me on that high of a dose. If I do decide to take it, I will definitely request a low dose.

I’ve heard acne gets worse before it gets better on accutane. Can anyone who has taken the drug describe how much worse it got while on accutane?[/quote]

It varies. I’m sure you’ve noticed that you’ve been getting descriptions of a wide range of experiences, because it’s going to affect everybody differently. Like I said before, it worked great for me, and I know other people who loved it as well, but it’s not necessarily the same for everybody.

If your dermatologist is a good one, you should trust them with the dosage. I understand your concern, and obviously I can’t say that “all dermatologists are great always listen to them,” but I think they’re more likely to know what’s best than any of us. I would hate for you to take a low dose and experience some of the crap it does to your body, without the benefit of the positive results. Just a thought.

Yes, it may get worse before it gets better, I was warned about that multiple times because they don’t want you to get discouraged and give up on the medication. I personally experienced an improvement in my skin immediately after I started taking it. After about a month, this went away, and it got worse again. I’d say it was slightly worse than my acne was before I started taking Accutane. It was frustrating, but it didn’t last long, and then it started gradually improving. I had the redness on my face that some people mentioned throughout my treatment…it’s hard to describe…not like a breakout, just a blemish caused by dryness and stuff. It’s not attractive, but I found it easier to deal with than what I had before. When I finished taking Accutane, that redness and dryness gradually went away, and I have the face you saw in the “after” picture.

53

[quote]eeu743 wrote:
If your dermatologist is a good one, you should trust them with the dosage. I understand your concern, and obviously I can’t say that “all dermatologists are great always listen to them,” but I think they’re more likely to know what’s best than any of us. I would hate for you to take a low dose and experience some of the crap it does to your body, without the benefit of the positive results. Just a thought.
[/quote]

The dosage is calculated as a function of bodyweight. The goal is to get a total dose so it will be dose/day times the number of days on it.

When they did the initial study of the drug, they found a certain dose had like a 90% remission rate, and lower doses performed a bit worse. This is what the doctor has in mind when he will prescribe the drug.

Some doctors may be a bit more forward thinking and willing to experiment, but the guy I went to wanted me on the dosage from the study, which I think will be the most commonly dosing strategy among dermatologists.

So a high dose at 70lbs, I’m thinking would be upwards of 60-80 mg a day or whatever the units are. Its a cut and dry calculation; some mg per kg of bodyweight. Then the Dr. will keep you there for like 4-6 months or so to get the total recommended dose.

My acne wasn’t that bad, but it was recurring and cystic, so I was willing to experiment with a lower dose at risk a greater chance of reoccurence.

I started at a low dose and he kept wanting me to up it, which I did gradually, then I thought I was on my last month, and he wanted me to stay on for 3 more months to get the total recommended dosage from the study. I just stopped going as the monthly blood tests were a pain in the neck.

Dr’s aren’t psychic and when they prescribe a drug, usually they just look up how much to give you based on some research and its the same for accutane.

Still he’s a doctor and you, your insurance, or your parent’s insurance is paying him, so if you have concerns about side effects and want to ease into it, tell him that and he will most likely do it.

As to my experience on it,

I started at 10mg a day for a couple months. For the first couple weeks, my skin got real oily but I didn’t experience any major breakouts or even any big zits. My eyes got RED though and dry, but I had some eyedrops. This went away after a couple weeks.

My skin was clear within a month and my skin was dryer and less oily. For this reason, I think trying to time it during the Summer is not a bad idea as if you live in a colder climate where dry skin will happen. My skin was great while I was on it.

Other than that, chapped lips were the only thing I worried about, only I didn’t really care about it but my girlfriend did and kept buying me chapstick.

54

My experience is similar to that of Stronghold’s and eeu743’s. Amazing drug with amazing side effects.

You know the line, “Cocaine is a hell of a drug” ? Yeah, substitute “accutane” and the statement is valid.

No, you can’t snort it.

My hands would get so dry they would look like the desert (dry, cracking, irregular shapes) and they would BLEED. I was using Cetaphil but it would burn sometimes, then I saw that Cetaphil had alcohol in it…ridiculous dryness. I never got the mental issues (I don’t think I did, at least) but it messed with my heart I believe and my digestion. It is one of the freakiest drugs in terms of side effects. The birth defects warning itself seems like a comic book; almost fictional with pictures of babies born with football shaped heads.

Yes, I’m aware that you won’t get pregnant, but I mean to think of what it can do to a baby/pregnant woman…the drug is crazy. But crazy effective.

And if I recall, crazy fucking expensive. I believe it’s mostly mega doses of Vitamin A (retinol). I think. I believe the drug is meant to shrink your oil glands (permanently). I don’t know what else. I was 15 when I took it and my acne was bad.

I’m Middle Eastern and have naturally oily skin, but my skin can go from super dry to fairly oily. It’s weird, like there’s no middle ground. At 28, I still get this, and I attribute it to long term effects of Accutane.

55

i suffer from ulcerative colitis, after reading this thread i did some googling about the link between accutane and colitis.

I’m finally in a decent place with my colitis but fuck there was a 2 year period where life was hell.

fyi i developed colitis around the time i got off accutane

56

[quote]MaximusB wrote:

[quote]Hallowed wrote:
N A friend of mine did it recently oh maybe two years ago and it fucked I mean fucked up her digestive system in some horrendous way… she was in the hospital for three weeks and they were discussing remo ing part of her colon! I don’t know…

Another friend did it when we were in highschool ages and ages ago… was very intense but she also says was best decision for her.[/quote]

Truth.

Before my stomach issues arose, I was on Accutane and suspect that it had a direct influence on my stomach problems. [/quote]

Pay attention to this ^

I quit taking my accutane after a month because the pain was unbearable. If you eventually decide to take it and notice anything like this, abandon ship lol

57

What are the best available alternatives for accutane?

58

It depends on who you are. For some people, like with any other tretinoid, accutaine will make acne worse about three weeks in for a few weeks and then you’ll get a lot better. My strongest piece of advice for accutane is to start it in the late winter to early spring so you dont have to deal with dryness when winter comes. It becomes worse than the acne itself but is of course temporary.

59

[quote]jwesus wrote:
i suffer from ulcerative colitis, after reading this thread i did some googling about the link between accutane and colitis.

I’m finally in a decent place with my colitis but fuck there was a 2 year period where life was hell.

fyi i developed colitis around the time i got off accutane[/quote]

You should do some research, theres a whole bunch of class action lawsuits against the makers of accutane. If you got ulcerative colitis right after taking accutane its probably a slam dunk that you are entitled to a decent bit of money.

60

This thread has provided me with some great info and first hand accounts of accutane. My wife and I were considering it for my stepson who is 21 and is suffering from moderate acne. At this point I do not see the positives outweighing the negatives espescially considering my stepsons mental makeup.