I hear you ket! The dermatologist who is prescribing this first asked me when I walked in was, "So, Do you have any idea what you want!?" I was absolutely floored. I wish my regular doctor asked me that! LOL. I said that I would like to try the acids/anti-biotics first after speaking with him. Of course, he went over the side effects of accutane with me- sort of giving me all of the scary details about the medicine. By law, he has too. After 3 months of constantly applying creams, acids, etc, I grew sick of the constant clearing up for a week, breaking out for 3, repeat, I decided, wtf!
If I can stick a freakin' needle in my delt 3 times a week, take ot, db, etc, I sure as hell can do this!
With men, the side effects are much lower than women. The caution with women is of course, birth defects. They can't stress enough not to get pregnant while on. With men, it's joint issues, depression, eye-sight.
3rd month into this program my joints/tendons are starting to ache. I know from running primo for a month, those pains weren't there until after I came off from the cycle. I almost want to run another light dose to make those pains 'go away.' hehe. but I know, time-on = time off. But the pain really isn't that bad, no big deal - i just ramp up on omega-3s and i'll probably start taking glucosimine supps.
Depression issue: 1st month, about 15 days into the treatment, I felt a little bummed out for two days. No big deal! I didn't feel like I was going to put a gun to my head, but it was just one of those slumpy moments that i guess we all go through - no reason..just the body probably going through its normal cycles . I certainly didn't contribute that to accutane. My derm told me this example: "If 1000 kids had acne and the other group of 1000 kids were on accutane and didn't have acne, which group would be more depressed? People will sue over any excuse for whatever could cause their kid to kill themselves." Most likely, that kid (example) killed himself due to true depression that really wasn't linked to accutane.
Sight: I saw an eye specialist over 2 styes in my right eye. He prescribed an antibiotic ointment and instructed me how to keep my eye clean etc. I asked him about eye/nerve damage from accutane. To my surprise, he told me that he was on heavy amounts of accutane as a kid also. He said that the fuzzy vision and poor night vision will go away once I'm off. He said that putting eye moisturizer in my eyes at least 1 or 2 drops every hour, will make those effects diminish, which in fact, it has. He also said that styes diminish also with the use of accutane.
The other problems are liver related and if your dermatologist makes you get a blood test every month, he will be able to tell if any damage is occurring.
With that being said, I took the plunge and I am happy that I did that and only wish I would have done it earlier in life. 5 month cycle of accutane could clear a person up for life - I'M ALL FOR THAT BABY! . I know one can still break out during cycle, but not as bad, but I can always run it low dose during cycle 20mgs a day to keep it off.
If your acne is bad, maybe not cystic, but it covers a lot of area, i'd do it in a heart beat under doc. supervision - and that would be my advice.
And yes, I ran a 5 weeker during the 1-2 months of accutane. My liver values were great. I take omega 3s - 1 - 3 grams a day to keep my values good also. I would NOT run any orals while on accutane though. And I probably also, would not run anything heavy or liver toxic also. Thats why I ran a primo only cycle.
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