Accutane

[HammerStrength12]

So are you saying your muscles had trouble recovering and were always tired? Did you take any supps for it?

That and I just felt very lethargic in general. I will say, I know a few people who took it and never had any side effects. For me it was a last resort, I had such bad acne in hs that I used to get teased all the time.

For muscle soreness, any glutamine supplement has always worked well for me, although I'm sure everyone on here takes that anyway. Animal Flex is my favorite for the joints and Liv 52 is my favorite for the liver.

I'm not really sure how the chemical makeup of caused me to go through what I went through. Dr. Joel Nathan would probably be a good person to ask for advice/explanations, he posts regularly in the bloodwork forum.

[Anthony]

I'm about 7 weeks in running accutane for the first time. No significant joint issues, though cracked lips and easy cuts and scrapes have been common. 40 mg/day to start, 80 mg/day now. Dermotologist said dose should target 1 mg / kg body weight / day

No sudden changes to acne better or worse, just gradual fading and decrease in new acne. went from pretty bad 2 months ago to nearly clear now.

[juicegirl311]

I just finished a 6 mo. cycle of accutane monitored by a dermatologist. i took 60 mgs ed. my skin looks amazing. my face is smooth and pores are smaller too! my lower back is where i was getting the cyst like acne which cleared up great!

so........the bad part is that my cholesterol was through the roof! the last month i was on it jumped to over 400. i am having it checked again next month to make sure it has come down.

my lips and skin were dry but certainly worth having clear skin!

[Ibarramedia]

20mg per day is said to be 90% as effective as the typical 100mg per day that was being prescribed. Most doctors will start you at that now and have you get regular blood work.

Have you tried other/safer medications for acne. Doxycycline is a popular one that has low sides. You may want to look into that before using Accutane.

Doxycycline is good, as is Monocycline or 'Minosin'. With the use of both it is recommended thast you stay out of the sun as you will be more sun sensitive and thus sunburn easily. Both are antibiotics designed to clear the skin from acne,rosacea,etc.

[The Prodigy]

I have tried both of those oral drugs along with 6 topicals. I am starting accutane in a month!

[heavyiron]

Accutane has been proven in numerous clinical human trials to work at very low doses. 20mg daily. Side effects also have been proven to be dose dependant so less is better.

I have personally run 20mg daily and it is a miracle drug. I had dry lips as the only side effect and I was running steroids at the same time.

[retwa]

Best drug for acne, without a doubt. Start out with no more than .5mg/kg ED...if you don't see results within a few weeks then double the dose.

Also, a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor can help a lot with acne that is due to elevated androgens (as is the case with most sufferers on this board). Oil glands have androgen receptors, and they are especially sensitive to DHT.

[heavyiron]

J Am Acad Dermatol. 2006 Apr;54(4):644-6.

Low-dose isotretinoin in the treatment of acne vulgaris.

Amichai B, Shemer A, Grunwald MH.
Huzot Clinic of Clalit Health Services, Ashkelon, Israel.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of isotretinoin at 0.5 to 1.0 mg/kg per day in the treatment of acne is well established and considered safe, although it is sometimes not easily tolerated because of its cutaneous side effects.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of low-dose isotretinoin in the treatment of acne.
METHODS: In this prospective, noncomparative, open-label study, 638 patients, both male and female, with moderate acne were enrolled and treated with isotretinoin at 20 mg/d (approximately 0.3-0.4 mg/kg per day) for 6 months. The patients were divided into two age groups: 12 to 20 and 21 to 35 years old. Patients were evaluated at 2-month intervals by means of clinical and laboratory examinations. A 4-year follow-up was also carried out.
RESULTS: At the end of the treatment phase, good results were observed in 94.8% of the patients aged 12 to 20 years, and in 92.6% of the patients aged 21 to 35 years. Failure of the treatment occurred in 5.2% and 7.4% of the two groups, respectively. Twenty-one patients dropped out of the study because of lack of compliance, and another patient discontinued participation because of a laboratory side effect. During the 4-year follow-up period, relapses of the acne occurred in 3.9% of the patients aged 12 to 20 years and in 5.9% of the patients aged 21 to 35 years. Elevated serum lipid levels (up to 20% higher than the upper limit of normal value) were found in 4.2% of the patients and abnormal (<twice the upper limit of normal values) liver tests were observed in 4.8%.
LIMITATIONS: This was a noncomparative, open-label study.

CONCLUSION: Six months of treatment with low-dose isotretinoin (20 mg/d) was found to be effective in the treatment of moderate acne, with a low incidence of severe side effects and at a lower cost than higher doses.

PMID: 16546586 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]