1154 replies to this topic

[soul78]

I feel we are all dealing with high levels of anxiety and stress, probably even some depression and these, when felt for prolonged periods of time can take a terrible toll on the body and exacerbate many of these symptoms you are experiencing. I used to brush this off, but once I started on an anti-anxiety medication, I noticed a lot of these things improve, ie. the dry skin, and mouth ulcers in my case. I can still notice that when I am stressed out, the dry skin gets worse for me as do my lips (start to become dry also).

If you visit any forums dealing with Psoriasis, you will notice that stress is a huge trigger for flare ups because it can worsen dry skin.

What I think is quite possible is that we have some dryness, flushing, whatever, from Accutane and the high levels of chronic stress and anxiety are making the symptoms and situation a lot worse.

If you feel a lot of stress, anxiety and/or bouts of depression/hopelessness, I suggest talking to your doctor about it. They can prescribe you medications that will help to keep you calm and your anxiety at bay, whether it be a short lasting/as needed type medication or a regular anti-anxiety/antidepressant type of medication. If you are against medications, you can always look at therapy...anything to help alleviate the stress will at least likely help with some of the symptoms.

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/stress-skin.html

"While dermatologists are still debating whether stress actually causes skin disorders, they seem to agree that stress definitely triggers or aggravates skin conditions such as acne, hives, eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, warts, cold sores and blisters. "And that matches the ayurvedic perspective," says Rama Kant Mishra, world-renowned ayurvedic dermatologist. "Ongoing day-to-day stress adversely impacts your immune system."

[lamarr1986]

Hey dude i'm sorry to hear your going through the same shit. I have been off for about 18 months myself. You and i both know how this isn't really down to mentallity and stress/depression. It sounds like your problems started when you were stress free and the sides just started kicking in by themselves, which is exactly how it happened to me.

Ofcourse we are going to be down when our bodies are litraly falling apart, but who the hell wouldn't!!

I will be trying restasis very soon i'm glad they helped you some and yeah my eyelids swell really badly, omega 3 is the only thing that helps. But i still wake up in so much pain from the inflammation.

I use topical steroids for the hairloss, which help alot!!

There is a new topical drug out in about 18 months to 2 years time that i think will drastically help our eyes and flushing so i am looking foward to that. Those are the two issues which stop me from doing anything in life. When you can't see properly due to dry eyes (eyedrops don't do shit, even ones designed for dry eyes, i have to use an ointment designed for night use but use it every hour to get some relief) and your face is burning hot from any change in temperature you can't really do much... I am sure you can relate.

The hairloss is contunual for me but i have it under pretty good control, the mouth ulcers have improved as i change my diet accordingly. The rosacea i do get some relief from by taking a combination of mirtazapine and moxnidine/clonidine.

Dry eyes is the real motherfucker that i am trying to beat at the moment. I have tried everythign but the restasis so i will be trying that. You know the rosex gel you get for rosacea? i will be using that on my eyelids soon as supposedly it is very effective at reducing the inflammation there.

Add me on msn moreGano, people here won't understand our situation so i will pm you my email!!

Lamarr, how long have you been off accutane now?

I read your post and it looks like I have finally found someone who is going through exactly the same thing I'm going through. I know exactly how you feel. No doctor or anyone at all believes me how bad it actually is. All my side effects also started when I was finished with accutane. The only one I had on tane was the dry eyes. I have been off accutane now for a year and a half and lately even more problems have been popping. I have been getting mouth ulcers and my sexual desire has gone down to zero. I know its all accutane related cuz I've never had a problem with that in my life and I've heard it happening to other people from tane. My overall quality of life has gone down hill and it looks like it will continue to get worse as time goes on.

I have exactly every side effect you mentioned and also the extreme dryness everywhere, face eyes, skin, hair, body everything. It's not a dryness that some eye drops or moisturzing creams can fix, its basically constant all the time. I wake up with exzema shit all over my face even if I slap on heavy thick moisturizer the night before. Not to mention the flushing and rosacea, blowing fans on my face all day is kinda shitty. Oh and my acne has come back. Nice eh? I can't continue on with life and I haven't done anything at all for the past year or so. Losing all my hair also, the shower drain clogs up during every shower and I have to pick it all out. I sit at home ALL day..you don't even know...the only time I ever leave my house is when I have a doctors appointment or somthin like that. As bad as this sounds I think I would rather have one leg then all of this shit. I dunno about you but i'm also effected mentally by this. its all made me become a social recluse and have no active social life anymore.

I also had my eyes plugged with the punctul plugs about a year ago. I recommend you only get 1 plug in each eye cuz if you get 2 in each eye ( 1 in lower 1 in upper ) you will most likely have extreme excess tearing where the tears drip down your face all day. You might think that helps with the dryness but for me it didn't. Currently I don't have any plugs in cuz it didn't help me to much and they kept falling out. I have been through every eye treatment possible with my opthamoligist and the only one that I think helped a little bit was Restasis ( cyclosporine ) a prescription drop. It's kinda expensive and hard to get but I would give it a shot if I was you for about 3 or 4 months to see if it has any benefit. About your eyes, are the lids also very full of inflammation? If they are I would also recommend you do warm compresses if you haven't already tried that.. it can help sometimes.


I have also tried tons of different supplement treatments to rid these long term effects. I took 480 GLA for awhile but I didn't seem to have any relief with that. Currently I'm on Biotin, I read about it on some accutane site where it helped peoples overall dryness. I would say I'm at ends meet with how many more things I can try. I might give a liver cleanse or some kind of internal cleansing like that a go cuz at this point I honestly have nothing to lose. I've had blood tests done and they all come out normal. my bad about the long post.. had to say it to someone

lets keep in touch and try to work through this together.. even tho it feels like this is never gunna end.. and it might not..
take care





I think you will be fine if things are improving, the difference with me is i started having them appear just after i finished and everythign went haywire. I have always blushed or gone red when i workout or get to hot so i believe i have always had a slight flushing component and this has now been combined with inflammation so i have porbably got rosacea full on. There is no family history of it though don't get me wrong.


Chase man I have to compare when you imply that i need to just get on with life. If i just had the flushing i would be 100 times better off.

Put it this way dude, if i don't libricate my eyes every 30 mins my eyelids get stuck to my eyes, i kid you not. I am going to be having my draining ducks that drain off tears blocked because my eyes are so severely dry.

The flushing is just one of the worser side effects. I have always been strong minded and if i could get on with life i would, but that just isn't an option. unless i want to go permanently as red as a tomatoe, which is how i would go if i didn't have fans on me half the day.

I lose hair across my entire body, my eyes are severely dry, if my hands get too cold they get extremely painfull, i flush worse than any pictures i have seen posted by anyone, i get mouth ulcers that rub against my teeth when i eat. I also picked up scarring from accutane, not to mention extreme dryness. I could go on all day and i wish i was making this up or over rating it. But trust me i have it worse than you by FAR. Some occassional flushing and seb derm is a walk in the park and the brain can heal with time and medication, so your problems are what the every day person may encounter within their lives.

Like i said i am pretty much living with lupus but they can only find excess inflammation and not raised ANA, they test me every other month for every auto immune disease under the sun.

[chaseryder]

well lamarr, I never did read up on the history of this post, but I suspected that your side effects were still the same since we last "talked". I am sorry to hear that things got worse for you man. My heart def. goes out to you. I was just voicing my opinion, as I too have experienced the hardships of accutane, and still do. As I mentioned before, I still flush, and still experience serious bouts of flushing. No where am I cured from the flushing. We all got the shit end stick of the situation. It blows, no way around that. Only thing I have learned from my own experience, and from the help of others, is to change my point of view on life and the situation that is before me. As tough as it is, when it seems like life can't get any worse, you should try to coast away from the negativity. I know how tough it is. I used to be suicidal. I thought my life was over with, after i found I had flushing, then seb derm..*and more problems. But a little help from some friends and some critical posts on message boards, I was able to change my perspective and begin to rationalize and be fortunate for what I do have, rather than stay stuck in the same old sad shit of mess that I was in.

One perfect example that is used when keeping it perspective is advocated is the others who are much less fortunate than us. The crippled, disabled, dead, deformed, starving, diseased...i mean it goes on. its not so good to compare lives with the unfortunate souls, but sometimes it opens our eyes a little bit wider to the truth of the world. Shit happens, w/ or without our control. We make mistakes, but we are all human.

I dunno, I am mad tired, and not really sure where I am going with this yet again. but all i can say, is that I have found the "the" light for me. I have been down that dark hallway for quite some time as some of you know, and even though my life is no where close to perfect, it still is what it is. Its life. Its tough, sad, exhausting...but also beautiful, and enlightening as well. I am close to recovery, not physically with the flushing/SD but mentally. Things are coming together. And I have done it through positive and rational thinking. The mind is boggling.

Good luck guys. I hope for the best, and wish that you all find happiness and peace in your life. We never deserved this bullshit. I truly hope you guys can find the answers your seeking for, and find the resolution to this battle. It is unfair, but i am confident that you will win. Lamarr, keep your head up man. You are a smart guy, with a lot to offer. Things will get better. Don't let your problems get the best of you. Your too good for that. Fight it, but remain strong brother.

Take it easy guys.

[lamarr1986]

Cheers dude, i wish you all the best aswell!

[soul78]

Just out of curiosity...how often (on average) is everyone here flushing and how long are your flushes?

I would say I am flushing 1-3 times per day, usually lasting from 20 mins to sometimes an hour or more. If it lasts more then an hour it is usually what I call a low grade flush that is more like a slight flush, but it is that prolonged sort of light flush that can linger for a couple hours at times.

[lamarr1986]

Really depends what i'm doing, but i can flush all day or not atall depending on what i'm doing, they are starting to take hours to resolve afterwards.

[Happiness]

i almost flush 24 hours a day.... i dont know if i look like when i was sleeping, but when i wake up in the morning ... its almost fine for around 10min ... =1 ....

[Seattle JT]

Happiness,

Were you on accutane?

Soul,

I guess I am probably flushing a similar amount of times as you. It all depends on the weather and the positions I am in if I have a good or bad day. Hard to tell sometimes with the permanent redness too...


I still have noticeably dry skin like 13 months post accutane. I am wondering if you guys all still have dryness or if yours went away?

[Happiness]

Happiness,

Were you on accutane?

Soul,

I guess I am probably flushing a similar amount of times as you. It all depends on the weather and the positions I am in if I have a good or bad day. Hard to tell sometimes with the permanent redness too...


I still have noticeably dry skin like 13 months post accutane. I am wondering if you guys all still have dryness or if yours went away?

im Off accutane for a little bit more than 3 years now.
i believe my face flushing is sumhow not related to accutane..

i still get super dry skin .. i have just started using Pure shea butter as a moistizer which alot of rosacea victim say its good..

[Hoofy]

my flushing has gone down tons...whenever I start flushing now i just make a really cold glass of water and dump it onto my cheeks and it usually gets rid of my flush

[Seattle JT]

Happiness,

May I ask why you think it is not related? Have you always had a flushing problem or when did it begin? Did you get any of the temporary redness on your cheeks that accutane can leave you with?

Hoofy,

How long post tane are you now?

[soul78]

Yeah - I am still dry. I get really dry when I get stressed out, my lips and skin on my body then it gets better when I am less stressed.

I am 5 months post Accutane, so hoping I get some moisture back over the next 6 months or so.

I upped my flax oil to 3 tbspns per day instead of 2.

Anyone here take vitamins to help with the flushing?

I have read a lot of info on vitamin E and Vitamin B6 for flushing and/or hot flashes.

I'm giving the vitamin B6 a shot 250mg (one caplsule) daily.

[lamarr1986]

Soul i recommend you drop the flaxseed buddy.

[Hoofy]

i'm about a year post tane

[Seattle JT]

Hoofy,

That's awesome man. I am happy for you and hope that I can be as fortunate. Do you still have dry skin from the accutane? When you say it has gotten tons better can you explain that more, for example, how often did you used to flush and how often do you flush now? Thank-you for answering my questions...

[soul78]

Soul i recommend you drop the flaxseed buddy.

Hey, wondering how come? It's actually an Omega 3-6-9 oil. I have read that it helps with dry skin and can also help with flushing/hot flashes...?

[lamarr1986]

Alot of us post accutaners have issues with omega 3, not so much 6 and i'm not sure about 9. The thing is it actually made my flushing worse and alot of people believe it can kick start other issues.

Flaxseed works amazingly for my eyes but i don't take it because it makes my flushing worse!!

[soul78]

Alot of us post accutaners have issues with omega 3, not so much 6 and i'm not sure about 9. The thing is it actually made my flushing worse and alot of people believe it can kick start other issues.

Flaxseed works amazingly for my eyes but i don't take it because it makes my flushing worse!!

Hmmm...interesting. I have been using it all along, while on Accutane and since I have been off. I have been taking it daily for years. Not sure if it is making things worse for me....nonetheless, thanks for the info.

[Happiness]

Happiness,

May I ask why you think it is not related? Have you always had a flushing problem or when did it begin? Did you get any of the temporary redness on your cheeks that accutane can leave you with?

Hoofy,

How long post tane are you now?

Sorry for the late reply... didnt check this topic much. .. xd

ya... because my facial redness actually started 1.5 years after i finish Accutane.

And i just done a REVS Test at my GP, and i got a Very High Positive allergy to Dust/Mites, and the GP say there is not much i can do about it.. =/ Dust.. .. Mites ... EVerYwhere.!!

My Flush may have triggered by my Dust/Mite Allergy.. but i think that is not the only thing im allergic to. Im going to do more patch testing next..

Let u guys know how i go...

N about Shea Butter as a moistuizer, IT Really help Dry flaking Skin, gives u a nice complexion too.
I only hve been using it for a few days... hoping it may help flushing too..

[lamarr1986]

Side effects kicking in month/years after accutane is actually pretty common, especially if there is no genetic links to the disease your are having issues with. I presume you have tried anti histamines happiness?