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I took my first isotretinoin, commonly called Accutane, pill today. The pills are large and the containers have all sorts of signs telling you not to get pregnant, as well as a picture detailing many of the deformities common among babies born to mothers taking accutane during gestation. I am a male and I even had to sign a big form pledging not to become pregnant or to give my pills to other people.
Anyway, I'm excited. Doxycycline did not work very well, and I developed a horrible case of heartburn while I was taking it, so I had to stop it anyway. I am still unsure whether they were related, but the heartburn was so excruciating that I lost a good amount of weight from not eating, because any sensation on my esophagus was quite painful. Then I took minocycline for over a year, and that was OK, but still not that effective. Finally I am taking what is effectively a cure for acne: it is pretty much guaranteed to eliminate all active acne on my body, and acne only comes back to about 20% of people after their 6 month cycle of accutane treatment.
So, aside from taking some before pictures of my face, back (honestly, this is worse in terms of scarring, pain, and self-esteem problems than anywhere else), and chest, I decided that I want to hear anything about your experiences with accutane. I don't mean what you heard: everybody knows about the (imo) unsubstantiated claims of depression (if I read the articles correctly, the researchers didn't even control for severity of acne), and I have already read about common side effects like headaches and nosebleeds. I'd like to know your personal, first-hand experience both in terms of side effects and results
Also, I was wondering if what once appeared to be scars actually turned out to be general inflammation / redness due to subcutaneously infected skin and if that improved. I think the side of my face on my jaw may be a little scarred, but I have heard anecdotally that scars often appear to clear up
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Accutane can do very bad things to your digestive tract; stay safe.
From drugwatch.com,
Patients who took Accutane (isotretinoin) and suffered one or more of the severe and lasting side effects from the drug are suing Roche Pharmaceuticals. They claim the manufacturer did not adequately warn consumers and doctors of the serious risks they faced. These patients are seeking compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
So far, lawsuits have focused on the correlations between Accutane and birth defects, depression and suicide, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Accutane is used to treat severe acne when other treatments have failed. Initially developed as a chemotherapy drug, researchers noted the ability of the medication to treat acne. While successful in its dermatological applications, Accutane comes with high risks of complications, including birth defects and serious gastrointestinal side effects.
As such, the name-brand drug was discontinued, and generic versions require strict monitoring of patients during treatment. In addition, there are restrictions on how and when the generic drug can be prescribed.
More than 16 million people worldwide have been prescribed Accutane since it was introduced to the market 30 years ago. More than 7,000 personal injury lawsuits have been filed, and hundreds are still pending. Many of the cases have been consolidated on the federal level in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Florida and in mass torts at the state level in Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Thousands of patients have suffered and have filed lawsuits against Roche Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of name-brand Accutane. So far, the company reportedly has paid out millions of dollars to resolve the cases.
Roche has been ordered to pay more than $53 million to Accutane patients so far, but is appealing many of the verdicts. This total comes from several large judgments:
In 2008, a jury awarded a woman with inflammatory bowel disease $10.5 million in compensatory damages and $78,500 for medical expenses. She began taking Accutane at age 12 and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at age 14, but the judge said there was not enough evidence for punitive damages.
In February 2010, the manufacturer was forced to pay more than $25 million — the largest Accutane award to date — to Andrew McCarrell, who developed inflammatory bowel disease years after he had taken Accutane. As a result, he had five surgeries and was forced to have his colon removed. The Honorable Carol E. Higbee, the judge who ruled in the case, said that McCarrell’s “testimony and that of his wife and doctors presented a picture of probably the worst case of pain, suffering and loss of quality of life I ever heard described in my eighteen years on the bench.”
In June 2012, a New Jersey court ordered Roche to pay $18 million in compensatory damages to two Accutane patients who had developed ulcerative colitis. The cases of two other Accutane users were also tried at the same time, but they were dismissed.
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See, the thing about those studies is that while it is obvious that isotretinoin is an intense drug with big side effects, ulcerative colitis still affects a pretty small portion of those that take it, and I don't know how much more common ulcerative colitis is in those that take isotretinoin than those that do not.
But yes, I will definitely stop taking the medicine and talk to my dermatologist if I get more than mild side effects.
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I had terrible experience with acutane but it did mostly work. It was really annoying cause my schedule revolved aroudn it. Had to wake up early to take it, no meals etc. Worst was my lips were really dry/chapped and chapstick didn't help one bit. I ended up picking/peeling my lips. It actually felt good (like refreshing get rid of old stuff) but it sometimes bled, ur lips swell/look red abit and the cycle would happen over
tl;dr fixed 95% of the acne problem but had drawbacks
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Ah yes, I have experienced that already with tazarotene (which has a mechanism similar to isotretinoin) with the peeling face and chapped/cracking lips. To be honest though, after being self-conscious about my face and even my body, due to the high amount of back-acne I've had, for such a long time, I would much rather deal with just six more months of being dried out than perhaps six more years of insecurity, embarrassment, and physical pain.
But thanks. Actually, though, these days dermatologists are telling people to take accutane with meals (unless you are talking about fasting for blood work). And unfortunately some people have already told me to apply more moisturizer to my skin while I was on tazarotene 
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On March 01 2014 13:12 Chocolate wrote:
See, the thing about those studies is that while it is obvious that isotretinoin is an intense drug with big side effects, ulcerative colitis still affects a pretty small portion of those that take it, and I don't know how much more common ulcerative colitis is in those that take isotretinoin than those that do not.
But yes, I will definitely stop taking the medicine and talk to my dermatologist if I get more than mild side effects.
Sadly some of the long-term side-effects don't present themselves for 10+ years in certain patients. I myself about 7 years after taking Accutane had random undiagnosed nausea, which then created a panic anxiety disorder I now have. 7+ Years of tests later and the results are all negative.
A few of my Doctor's have suggested Accutane may have been the cause and I tend to believe them at this point. Personally if I could go back, I'd rather dealy with the acne over the constant nausea.
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Accutane never really helped me. In my opinion, the potential benefits are outweighed heavily by the negative side-effects. I high recommend that you should reconsider continuing with this medication.
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Taking accutane to get rid of acne is like setting off a neutron bomb in a city to get rid of a roach infestation. You should reconsider this.
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Update: Been on it for about a month now. Stopped taking it for about 3 days due to a GI problem that I fixed by taking fiber and some softeners 
So, the main problem is that you get all this dead skin on your face, and your lips get super chapped. I've got the lips under control at this point, but even applying moisturizer regularly fails to stem the onslaught of white, flakey skin. I'm on about 30mg right now, and I weight about 66 kg. Probably going to up it to 60mg/day soon. It really is helping, so that's good.
Oh, and I am feeling great mentally. Happy, even
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GI problem "fixed" with some psyllium husks and "stool softeners". You are just masking the symptoms of GI chemical trauma. But don't let it be said that accutane doesn't "work." There's a reason it's still used despite it's devastating effects on the rest of your body.
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On March 26 2014 11:42 IgnE wrote:
GI problem "fixed" with some psyllium husks and "stool softeners". You are just masking the symptoms of GI chemical trauma. But don't let it be said that accutane doesn't "work." There's a reason it's still used despite it's devastating effects on the rest of your body.
My GI system seems fine now, I think the problem was that I wasn't drinking enough water to be honest. It remains to be seen if my GI system legitimately gets fucked up
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Two things.
1 are you a girl?
2 have you ever eaten raw cacao or over 70% bakers chocolate?
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On March 26 2014 14:17 MarlieChurphy wrote:
Two things.
1 are you a girl?
2 have you ever eaten raw cacao or over 70% bakers chocolate?
OP says he's a male in the first paragraph?
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make sure you don't put heavy burden on your liver while taking this drug. Don't drink alcohol especially. ALso be warry of excessive Vit. A intake, as taking acutane also tend to preserve your vit. A levels and don't over dose on it.
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On March 26 2014 14:17 MarlieChurphy wrote:
Two things.
1 are you a girl?
2 have you ever eaten raw cacao or over 70% bakers chocolate?
I am a male... why the chocolate question? The last time I ate dark chocolate was probably when I used to steal my friend's chocolate some times in middle school.
On March 26 2014 23:50 YPang wrote:
make sure you don't put heavy burden on your liver while taking this drug. Don't drink alcohol especially. ALso be warry of excessive Vit. A intake, as taking acutane also tend to preserve your vit. A levels and don't over dose on it.
I was aware of the vitamin A, but not the alcohol part. Good to know, you just potentially saved my life 
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I took Accutane years ago for the acne on my back when I was modeling. In my case the side effects were severe. -_- Yes, it got rid of the acne but my gosh the other things were pretty darn bad.
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EPT
