Is 80mg for 5 months ok if i weigh 78kg??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotretinoin

Theres the link. and on that page are MANY links to other things related, to ane, and other wise, do some research here

due to ipledge issues im going to have to go for about a lil more then a week w;o tane....

am i screwed??

I just started accutane a couple days ago. I would really like to get a facial within the next couple months. My skin has a lot of black heads and its very uneven..it seems like I have a lot of bumps, but they aren't zits of any kind. I have extremely large pores that can hold enormous amounts of crap. I think a facial could really help my skin.
The only problem is..I hear skin is fragile while on this medication and I'm not sure if having my skin exfoliated, steamed, rubbed, masked, extracted, etc is going to be okay?
Has anyone on accutane gone to a day spa to have a facial??
Any recommendations?

okay so on my last trip to the derm she gave me this big iPledge notebook with stuff i have to pledge and sign, and it also says something about taking a test online b4 i can get it or i dunno...its so confusing to me. well tomorrow morning is when i go back in, im not sure if im getting accutane tomorrow or not or if maybe i have to take a pregnancy test and blood drawn first....AHH. Can anyone explain to me what i have to do with this iPledge thingy and the online tests and tell me if i have to go in tomorrow just for testing maybe??? ahh....help.

St. Louis — A recent study shows that isotretinoin has the potential to improve depressed mood among adolescent users much more often than to cause it, as the package insert warns.
According to a study conducted by a team of doctors at St. Louis University Health Sciences Center and later published in the May issue of Archives of Dermatology, the use of isotretinoin, particularly Accutane (Hoffman La-Roche), in the treatment of moderate to severe acne in adolescents was not associated with an increase in depressive symptoms.

"On the contrary," write the study's authors, "our study shows that treatment of acne improves depressive symptoms."

FDA labeling decision
Accutane is a synthetic molecule derived from vitamin A, which is involved in growth and maintenance of skin. The drug prevents pimples by correcting abnormal follicular keratinization and shrinking the enlarged sebaceous glands that contribute to the primary pathogenesis of acne. Accutane has proved to be a highly effective drug in the treatment of severe acne, but data has emerged in recent years that suggest the drug may cause severe depression and even suicide in some patients.

In 1986, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated a change in the package insert to include the risk of depression. In 2000, the FDA mandated that this risk be placed on the package label with the words "Accutane may cause depression, psychosis and, rarely, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, suicide and aggressive behavior."

Not convinced
Elaine Siegfried, M.D., associate clinical professor of pediatrics and dermatology, St. Louis University, and private practitioner at Kids Dermatology in St. Louis, is the study's corresponding author. Prior to initiating the study, Dr. Siegfried says she wasn't convinced that Accutane caused symptoms of depression, let alone suicidal ideation.

"I think it's important to note that suicide, sadly, is the No. 2 (and) 3 cause of death among teenagers in this country," she says. "I've treated hundreds of teenage patients with Accutane, and have had no patients with suicidal ideation or attempts and, thankfully, none who have committed suicide. Accutane is a drug that gets negative press because it can cause birth defects, so it already had a strike against it in terms of public perception. When statistics and case reports were released linking the drug to depression and even suicide in some teenage patients, we wondered whether there wasn't an overreaction — whether the depression issue could be colored by the angst over side effects that can lead to birth defects.

"To quote a fellow dermatologist, Dr. Richard Fried, 'Scientific data pales in comparison to well-orchestrated media sensationalism.'"

New research study
Dr. Siegfried and her colleagues at St. Louis University decided to conduct their own study among their moderate-to-severe acne patients. The study began in 1997 and was completed in 2002.

"Our study was not funded or supported in any way by any pharmaceutical company," Dr. Siegfried says. "In fact, we got no funding from any source. The lack of a budget was the reason for the study's shortcomings: the relatively small size and lack of randomization. It was a study designed to include patients we saw in our practice over a five-year period."

Study objective
The objective of the study was to determine whether patients with moderate to severe acne who were treated with Accutane showed an increase in depressive symptoms compared with a control group of similar patients treated with conservative therapy.

The researchers assessed 132 patients aged 12 to 19 for depression, using a simple, 20-question psychiatric instrument that had been validated in adolescents: the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Scores of 17 and above were suggestive of depression. Of the 132 patients, 59 were treated with Accutane; the rest were treated with topical antibiotics, topical retinoids and oral antibiotics. Depression was assessed at baseline and reassessed about four months post-treatment.

Study results
The study showed that at baseline, 14.3 percent of the Accutane group had CES-D scores of 17 or higher, while 19.2 percent in the conservative-therapy group scored 17 or higher. At follow-up, 8.2 percent of the Accutane patients scored 17 or higher, while 15.4 percent in the conservative-therapy group scored 17 or more.

"What we saw in our study is the opposite of what spontaneous reporting and uncontrolled case reports have suggested, and which led to the FDA mandating warnings on the Accutane packaging," Dr. Siegfried says. "Our study suggests that far from causing depression, Accutane may have helped improve the mood of our patients as their acne cleared."

Study limitations
Dr. Siegfried emphasizes that her study was small and not randomized, and that larger, randomized studies would be required to address any doubts about a rare risk of depression, suicide or impulsivity associated with Accutane therapy.

"We asked the question because we thought the mandated warnings regarding serious depressive side effects that could lead to suicidal thoughts and action might have been overstated," she says. "Isotretinoin is now available in a generic formulation, so there is very little incentive for doing a larger study. Whether the FDA will take any further steps remains to be seen. The FDA's workings are often mysterious to me, and I seriously doubt that our findings will affect the package insert warnings regarding the risks of depressive side effects of Accutane."

I was just wondering if anyone knew how important the 12 hour in between pills rule is for being on accutane. cause i just started my treatment this week but i have a CRAZY schedule and it's hard for me to know when i'm going to be awake and when i'm not and since it has to be taken w/ food it's even more difficult. so i was just wondering if anyone knew how important it really is...

ive got a new antibiotic and topical retinoid to try for a couple of months but if this doesnt work i think im going to try and get tane. thing is i only have 'mild' acne most of the time unless i got a bad breakout but ive had it for 5 years and tried sulphur, proactiv, bp, salylic acid, dianette, marvelon and this will anitbiotics for about 2 years. its really getitng me down and totally controlling my life. ive developed anxiety and insomnia. do you think id have a chacne of tane or is it only perscribed for severe acne?

Mine did and I did. His office [5 derms] have seen too many screw ups with iPledge. I was one of them. It was good thing I had the back up. It was/is the correct dosage and is the real deal Roche product.

So, much as you'd like to think no one would do it. It's happening.

Alrite so Im thinking about going on accutane but had a few questions regarding it:

How bad is the IB?
I have mild/sometimes moderate oily skin

What dosage is best for me
I'm about 5'10 145-150

Also How bad was your guy's Initial Breakout because my skin isnt as bad as it used too be

but I have very persistant mild acne and haven't found any cures yet

Also my main question

If my doctor allows me to take Accutane and all
how long will it be till I recieve my first pills?

I'm pissed.





What do I do?!

Ive been on accutaine 1 month 6 days today, and my face is still really bad and my break out has made it worse than before, I have very few side effects, the worst thing is dry lips and thats only if i forget to apply my lip stuff. Anyway my skins not dry...thats not saying its oily any more....just theres no visible dryness or flaking excet for occasionaly very mild on my chin. The big question is...do I continue with my topical treatment and if so which, my duac cream or bp and hope that this gets rid of my acne faster? Or do I moisturize and hope that this returns my skin back to natural ph and helps to keep it under control without clogging pores? Please help

Has anyone started out on 50mg? If so what was your experience?? I am starting 50mg of accutane tomorrow my derm said he is going to keep me at 50mg for 5 months? I kind of want him to up the dose if things run smoothly the first month or so...or do you think 50mg is good enough?? I am only 100-105lbs

Hey jus a qu for the gurls lol, im starting roaccutane soon and i was wondering for those who are already using it, how are you guys copeing without waxing or shaving? its nearly summer and i'll be starting next week im gunna go insane!!!

in february my gp referred me to a derm for accutane,and i was told 2-3months waiting list.then in july still no letter,we phoned and were told 8-9months in total,bringing the date of appointment to october/november.so today i was feeling annoyed and wanted to ring and double check my appointment was made for october at the latest.theyve now told me there is an additional 6month waiting list bringin the date for my appointment to april/may.and overall waiting,for ONE dermatologist appointment 14-15months. is this normal?

Hi there! I'm a new member and I just started accutane treatment a week ago and I wanted to share my journey. I've learned so much through these posts that I feel obligated to share my own experiences, and hopefully help others like this forum has helped me. That said --

I started Accutane on 9/8/06. My derm put me on 40 mg every other day for the first two weeks. He said that this will prevent my acne from getting worse at first. I finished my first week this past friday 9/15/06 and have experienced some interesting side effects. All mild, but -- weird. As far as being dry I haven't really dried out at all. I noticed some slight flaking on my chin and oddly enough the tip of my nose. My lips feel a little dry, but it could be because I've anticipated the severe dryness that everyone talks about and just starting lubing my lips up before they even dried out. They just might be reacting to all the oil and balm. That's normal enough -- but I've also been exhausted. I feel like I can't get enough sleep -- even when I've slept 9 or 10 hours. I don't feel depressed -- just wiped out. I also feel out of it. Loopy maybe? Like I can't stayed focused and a little light headed. I've also been having some headaches, that seem to respond well to advil. ANd lastly, my eyes are definately being affected by the drug. Occassionally I have to really try to get them to focus and they are very light sensitive (I do have light blue eyes so they may be affected more than most). Other than that, it's smooth sailing....

I'm going to continue taking one 40 mg pill every other day until friday 9/22/06 and then I'll begin taking a pill every day for two days and then one day off for the next week. After that I take a pill 3 days in a row and then a day off for another week...... and so on and so forth until I'm taking them everyday. It sounds complicated , but I believe it's worth it -- especially if it means that I won't break out for the beginning of the course. Is anyone else doing this? Just wondering if anyone did this and may be farher along than me and can tell me whether or not it helped.


With this regimen I'm hoping to alleviate a lot of the uncomfortable side effects. So far so good -- but I will keep you posted. Hope someone finds this usefull. PLease write if you have any questions.

I just saw my dermatologist this morning to start my second month of accutane. For the first month I've been on 40mg a day and now he's starting me on alternating days 40mg and 80mg. Every other day I'll be taking 40mg with dinner and every other day I'll be taking 80mg with dinner. For some reason he wants me to take it all at one time. Is anyone else having different dosage on alternating days?
I wonder why he wants to do it that way instead of having me take 60mg a day every day? I know I should have asked him but I didn't think of it at the time.
BTW, I weigh 135Ibs....isn't 80mg a lot?

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted on here. I've almost completed my 6th month of Accutane. I'm going for a 7th month then I'm done. And yes, Accutane has rid me of breakouts, thanks to God. I haven't had a breakout in about three months. But those of you that are still breaking out whilst on this drug, relax and hang in there. Everyone is different and you too, will see the results you've longed for.

Here's my question.....

Have any of you experienced terrible fatigue?? I know fatigue is a possible side effect, but I'm not sure how prevalent it is. Also, I didn't know how strong of a side effect this would be for me. Every derm visit, that's one question she'll ask me, if I've been experiencing fatigue. I lie and say that I haven't in fear of her taking me off if I have. I've never been a napper, but ever since I've been on Accutane, my entire body feels like it's going to shut down on me, like I need another good night's rest.

A sudden rush of tiredness will just come over my body, out of no where. I'll take long naps, about 4 hours sometimes. I've never been this way. Before taking Accutane, if I took a nap, I'd wake up feeling groggy and have a terrible headache. Now, I feel like I haven't slept in ages. Super weird.

So, if you're expericing this, or have experienced this, please post your thoughts. Thanks!

I am only on day 7 of my Accutane course but i was thinking about the initial breakout that seems to be everyone's worst enemy while on Accutane. Heres my theory,,, well most of us that have been on different creams or antibiotics prior to Accutane are told to stop taking them because of the effects of Accutane. Well i believe that i am breaking out not because of Accutane but because i am not on any of the antibiotics that i was on before i got Accutane, ( I was taking Clindamycin and Minocyclin). From what i hear on these posts the Accutane pushes out alot of the acne which makes the initial breakout but i guess i dont really understand how Vitamin A clears people up.

hey guys, I finished my first round of accutane November 2005. My derm was quite conservative, she put me on 20mg for ten whole months and that was it. No upping dosage. Anyway, my face was crystal for the months that followed until around June of this year when I started breaking out again, darn it.

Anyway I went to a new derm and she wants to put me on tane again. I'm thinking this acne is most probabaly hormonal because I get pustules around the time of my period. So I was thinking maybe a whole other approach is needed. But this new derm says that even if this is hormonla acne, acctane will still work becase if the sebum doesnt produce oil , then the hormones will have nothing to act out on. So she wants me to go on a more traditional way of taking the tan... startin slow and gradually increasing dosage. And I wanna know if a second round of accutane will really help hormonal acne or not? help me out pls. I really wanna try ot that spiro thing but i dont think it's available in my country though.

Alright, seeing as how I just moved out to the desert and it's already fried my hair...and seeing as how I am due to start accutane again soon...does anyone have reccomendations of conditioners or treatments for dried hair? The shampoo part I have covered

So i read a post about someones doctor accually telling there patients TO buy accutane online so they have an emergency stash incase of problems with getting there next month supply due to iPledge i was just wondering who has accually bough online with success? was it worth it? did you need the 'back up' supply? would you recomend it? and where from?

im on tane right now...

i want to know what kinds of food should i avoid????? please list some everday general food so i can have an idea...cause i dont seem to know which one has vitamin A in it...

i am also drinking a couple beer every week...is this bad? if so..in what way???


thanks

Let me give you a little bit of history about me before I begin my rambling

I've had acne since I was 12.. not bad at first.. just normal stuff. But then 9th grade, it all went to hell. Over about 2 years I've gone from Clearasil to Doxycyline + Retin A to a 10 MONTH laser treatment that cost $5000 (and did nothing)

Enter Accutane

I started Accutane exactly 90 days ago, and I have a 150 day treatment. My IB was pretty bad, and for 2 weeks, I just wanted to die. Slowly it has gotten better, I have full confidence that my face will be close to 100% by the end of the course.

HOWEVER

My chest (all in between my pecs), my back (mostly upper) and shoulders are still all damned to hell. My shoulders have gotten a lot better but are scarred to oblivion, either bright red marks or purple marks. My chest is worse off than it was before I started (More wonderful red and purple marks) with 1 cyst still remaining with 2-3 other "normal" pimples. My back hasn't really improved at all, and is heavily scarred already. I still get painful cysts from about mid-back up to the bottom of my neck. And many many smaller pimples. The thing is, they ALL scar. My shoulders, my back, my chest. Almost everything has left some kind of a mark. Now I even have a cyst in my "jungle" What the hell? Seriously.

Although people can't see this horror, it still rapes my self-confidence, and is quite painful at times. I have to say accutane is working great on my face, but that's just part of the story here. I don't know how scarred my face is (I haven't looked in the mirror in about 2 years. If I did, I know I would die that day) but it feels a lot better.

Being held back from telling someone how you feel about them because of this hell that you can't even control is torture. I've already lost people because of the swiss cheese that is my self-esteem. I'm seriously counting on this crap to pull through where everything else has failed, but it's looking sort of grim right now.

ok so the time ahs come for tane i think. my acne is not awful but after years of antiobiotics and topicals it isnt getitng any better and ive just about had enough. however reading throgh a post on here from a med student he said that people with microcystci acne (whiteheads) are resistent ot accutane? and also those who are dysmorphic have a higher relapse rate? obviously u would not go on tane if you only had a problem with microcystic acne but if thats part of the problem along with pustules, papules and cysts blah blah why would they be resistent to it? anyone make any sense of it?

ok so i have moderate maybe mild-moderate acne on my face, chest, back, and shoulder but it seriously pisses me off. if i had no body acne i would be more ok with it. but ive tried many acne treatments (oral medication, topicals....) i am 16 years old and would like to be able to take my shirt off without anyone seeing acne. ive read on some of the side effects. im very active: i have a 1 hour and a half of practice and 1 hour and half of weight lifting everyday except sunday, and i also wear contacts. i go to see the derm in a week and i wanna no if i should ask for accutane? feedback would b greatly appreciated.

I'm on day 7 of my first Accutane course, and I'm getting a moderate initial breakout; I say moderate because it's a lot less than other people experience while on Accutane, but it's really bad for me--I never breakout like this.

My face is still quite oily. Do you guys think it's okay to use Dan's BP on this flare up until my face starts getting drier/clearing up? I've been using BP right along for the past few months and I haven't stopped since taking the Accutane, but I noticed my face is stinging a little bit tonight after applying the BP--It never did that before. This made me wonder if I should stop using the BP.

Like I said, I'm still really oily. I wake up in the morning like an oil slick--it's so gross.

nothing new partic but here goes

Experiments using aninmals have lent support to claims that a widely-used acne drug can cause depression.



Roaccutane, introduced in the early 1980s, is highly effective in treating serious cases of acne, which can have a devastating effect on an individual’s well-being.

But in recent years the drug has been implicated in serious side-effects, including depression and suicidal behaviour. The packaging of the drug, sold by Roche, spells out these risks.

But why Roaccutane (marketed as Accutane in the US) should have this effect has never been clear. Nor has it even been certain that the drug is responsible, since adolescents with very severe acne are quite likely to feel depressed anyway.

A team at Bath University and the University of Texas at Austin investigated the effect of Roaccutane on mice, and reports the results in Neuropsychopharmacology.

"You can’t ask a mouse if it is depressed" admitted Dr Sarah Bailey of the University of Bath yesterday. "So we used two tests to model behaviour."

Both tests involve putting the mice under stress. In one, they are put in water and forced to swim; in the other, suspended by their tails.

Under these circumstances mice will normally swim, climb, or make running movements and thrash around in a bid to escape. But these bouts of activity will be interspersed with periods of immobility, during which the mice appear passive and resigned.

A mouse that is depressed spends longer in the immobile state than one that is healthy. So the team gave adolescent mice Roaccutance in doses that are equivalent to those given to human adolescents, and found that the periods of immobility were significantly increased.

The same tests have been used in the past to test anti-depressants, so are well validated. The conclusion, Dr Bailey said, was that Roaccutane does tend to increase depression-related behaviour in adolescent mice, at levels proportionate to those given to human patients.

The drug belongs to a class of chemicals called retinoids that are closely related to vitamin A. It is known that retinoids have an effect on the way genes are "read" by the body, and reduce the rate at which new brain cells are generated.

Roaccutane has been shown to have teratogenic effects, damaging the foetus in the womb, and careful precautions are taken to ensure that it is not used by women at risk of becoming pregnant.

But recent scientific evidence suggests that brain cell generation may be important not only in foetuses but also in those in adolescents and even adults, Dr Bailey said.

The suspicion is that Roaccutane may be influencing the system responsible for producing the mood hormone serotonin. If so, it could lower levels of serotonin, exactly the opposite effect to that achieved by anti-depressants such as Prozac.


The evidence on those given the drug suggests that only a minority, perhaps 5-10 per cent, are vulnerable to the effect. And some may question whether the tests on mice provide a valid model for human patients.

"Without more research it is difficult to say for sure whether the same link applies to people taking the drug" Dr Bailey said.



"However, establishing a link between the active molecules within the drug and a change in depression-related behaviour, albeit in mice, is an important step forward in our understanding of the effects of this drug in the wider context of brain function.

"Previously scientists thought that retinoids were only important in the development of the nervous system. Now there is a growing interest in retinoids as regulators of different aspects of brain function in adults."

The implications could go a lot wider than acne, she suggested. There have been suggestions that retinoids are also implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia, so understanding more about how they work could lead to new treatments for these conditions.

Dr Bailey did not call for the withdrawal of Roaccutane, but said the research should emphasise the importance of careful surveillance of anybody taking it, and alerting their families to the possible dangers. "It’s a very effective medication" she said.

Figures from the World Health Organisation show that there have been 720 reports of psychiatric problems arising from the use of Roaccutane, including 84 suicides and suicide attempts.

More than 13 million people worldwide have been treated with the drug over the past 20 years.

anyone???

Ok, so I went to my derm's office this week. And she told me she is going to start me on the lowest dose which will be 40 grams. I thought 20 was the lowest gram?

Mind you i'm 5'0" tall and weigh 95 lbs. Is that too much for me to start on?

Or maybe my Accutane comes from a different company?