27 replies to this topic

[gfrant7]

Starting Amnesteem today (1/19/07) -- treatment is to last 5 months. I'm starting with 40mg a day for the first week, then 80 mg a day for the rest. I weigh around 160 lbs. I'll try and upload a photo tomorrow so we can have a before and after pic. I just hope I don't get any horrible side effects! Atleast I have you all to share my experiences with.

about my acne: I would call it moderate. It's on my back and face (cheeks, forhead, neck). I get the occassional cyst but they are definitely infrequent. Most of it is just regular acne. Unfortunately my face has already started scarring.

[Day 1] - took the pill, no side effects. went down pretty easy

[kerpluuey]

Thanks. I think we'll both be fine. It's good to have other people who are going through the same thing with me.

[gfrant7]

[day 2] - got hot and sweaty for some reason when i took it. i dont know if its from the accutane or because it's just too hot in the house. still no side effects other than that. eyes might be a tad dry

[gfrant7]

[day 3] - went down pretty easy but lips began to dry out / contacts began to be a little unpleasant and i started noticing i was having an initial breakout. no cysts but just more acne like a regular breakout

[day 4] - joints in legs got a little bit sore and face is starting to peel (skin in mouth peeled a little too)

[kerpluuey]

[day 2] - got hot and sweaty for some reason when i took it. i dont know if its from the accutane or because it's just too hot in the house. still no side effects other than that. eyes might be a tad dry

That happens to me too. I seem to be more sensative to temperature.

[gfrant7]

[day 5] - today i got my blood work done for the accutane. (you know, to check your liver, etc) i accidently ate something in the morning though before i got it done, so im afraid i might have to do it over again (they usually make you fast for 12 hours before you get your blood drawn)

aside from that though, i didn't really have any bad side effects today. it was a good day for accutane. i was able to work out / jog and felt fine.

[gfrant7]

[day 6] - took my pill before i went to the gym and then as a result felt tired when i was working out. other than that, no adverse effects

[day 7] - no adverse effects

tomorrow i start on 80mg a day.

[kerpluuey]

I hope 80 mg works out well for you and isn't difficult for your body to adapt to.

[gfrant7]

I hope 80 mg works out well for you and isn't difficult for your body to adapt to.

i appreciate it. i took my 80 mg today and it seems like everything went fine. i had no more side effects other than my usual dryness

[day 8] - just dry lips/eyes like i said

[gfrant7]

[day 9] - no real changes. same dryness. initial breakout going away and face looks better

[thinkin shrink82]

We started around the same time gfrant7, and it sounds like we have had similar results up until now. My IB, if I've already had it, was like yours (regular breakout as if I wasn't taking anything, but nothing horrible). I just hope that that's it for us, because some of the posters on this board talk as if the IB is a nightmare. You and I are about the same weight too. I average around 165 pounds, but I'm on 40 mg Amnesteem for the entire 1st month. I don't know if my derm will up my dose in the future. Good luck with accutane. I hope we both get permanent remission!

Anthony

[gfrant7]

thank you for posting on my log Anthony. i hope everything continues to go well. btw, i noticed your sig says your on 40mg twice daily, so arent you on 80mg then? or are you only taking one a day for now?

[thinkin shrink82]

IDK, I thought I was on 40 mg even though I take it twice a day. Does that mean I'm really on 80mg??

[aknute]

hey!

looks like we started accutane on the same day. i'm taking 40mg a day for the first month and then it will go up from there. i weigh around 160lbs so i am nervous that only 40mg a day is a little low. the derm must know what he is going though. i've experienced the same as you so far. I have really dry lips and sometimes lower back pain but not often enough to say accutane is causing it. I had a little bit of an ib but not as bad as I expected. good luck with everything!

[thinkin shrink82]

I have a question...what do you normally eat when you take your pill in the morning? I usually just have cereal, coffee, and a glass of whole milk. I wonder if this is enough fat for the pill to work effectively...especially since I probably eat something like 10X as much fat for dinner.

[gfrant7]

I have a question...what do you normally eat when you take your pill in the morning? I usually just have cereal, coffee, and a glass of whole milk. I wonder if this is enough fat for the pill to work effectively...especially since I probably eat something like 10X as much fat for dinner.

That's actually a good question. I try to avoid cereal and milk in the morning, because milk has a lot of vitamin A in it. This usually intensifies my side-effects. So what I have is a bagel with cream cheese and a piece of chocolate (for the fat). I realize that both these things have milk in them, and that milk is unavoidable. However, drinking milk itself has a lot of vitamin A (just based on what the carton says). I personally would like to know of more fatty things to eat in the morning to promote absorbtion, but I know chocolate is a good thing to eat for fat.

[gfrant7]

[day 10] - I had a head ache today. I think that it was unrelated to the accutane though.

[day 11] - the usual. no side effects except my face is peeling.

[gfrant7]

Oh, I forgot to mention, I had a peanut butter sandwich in the morning too. Pb has tons of fat.

[aknute]

hey! Usually for breakfast I have toast with peanut butter on it and a glass of milk. This will probably change soon though and I'm not sure what to. I am living at home right now because I am on break from school but I leave to go back on Sunday...not sure what I will find to eat there. I will let you know though.

[thinkin shrink82]

Thanks for the suggestions you two. I will definitely be changing my breakfast very soon.