37 replies to this topic

[mikeye]

Alrite,

I just finished 5 months on Accutane and around the 4th month I noticed that I was slowly losing my sex drive (libido). Obviously no sex drive means no erection, unless your on Viagra!

So my derm tells me that ED and loss of libido are both documented as very rare side effects of Accutane. I was wondering why he didn't tell me this before? In any case, its already too late. Apparently, he says it shouldn't be permanent but I've been reading other guys posts on this issue and none really get back to 100%.

So just beware.

For the guys that have experience with this...your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[lamarr1986]

I'm not suffering from this myself but from researching all my side effects, i have learn't that supplementation with plenty of zinc helps, and i would recommend trying Tribulus terrestris. Good luck man

[NyamNyam]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[mikeye]

I'm not suffering from this myself but from researching all my side effects, i have learn't that supplementation with plenty of zinc helps, and i would recommend trying Tribulus terrestris. Good luck man

Well, thats what I'm doing rite now but I don't think its working...

Just hope this isnt permanent.

[hickeypt]

It's easy to attribute things to accutane. It may be possible that your loss of libido has occured independent of accutane. Maybe you need a new significant other =P. Hopefully, it is the accutane, but unless you're 100% sure it was accutane it's not a great idea to spook guys off of the medicine.

[lamarr1986]

You can tell when something is due to a drug you took when it is totally out of the blue and unordinary. It is a known side effect so why would he be trying to spooke people? He is just giving his experience on the drug. It isn't all candy floss and lollipops. I'm guessing your either on accutane or considering taking accutane hickeypt? You should be aware of all the potential side effects......

[Johnjoz]

You can tell when something is due to a drug you took when it is totally out of the blue and unordinary. It is a known side effect so why would he be trying to spooke people? He is just giving his experience on the drug. It isn't all candy floss and lollipops. I'm guessing your either on accutane or considering taking accutane hickeypt? You should be aware of all the potential side effects......

how is it a known side effect?? says who? I've never heard of this bullshit before

[Craddock]

You can tell when something is due to a drug you took when it is totally out of the blue and unordinary. It is a known side effect so why would he be trying to spooke people? He is just giving his experience on the drug. It isn't all candy floss and lollipops. I'm guessing your either on accutane or considering taking accutane hickeypt? You should be aware of all the potential side effects......

how is it a known side effect?? says who? I've never heard of this bullshit before

Yeh I wasn't told about this side affect by my dermatologist. I'm now impotent. I don't know how common it is, I was ok after my first course. 2 months into my low dosage second course and im suffering from severe depression. A few months later and a complete loss of libido and the inability to get hard.

It isn't something people like talking about. That is why it isn't on the list of potential side affects and a lot of people dont believe you / don't want to believe you. Plus, a lot of people suffer after taking the drug and so the dermatologist thinks everything went ok.

The only thing that helped me big time was a herb called Ginkgo Bilboa. Unluckily for me, this herb gives me really bad clotting problems so i am faced with a catch 22 situation. I take the herb now and then, I could be risking my life.

The worst thing was, I didn't need to go onto the drug a second time. I only discovered the power of Dan's regimen after I came off the drug.

If you have severe acne on your face, and you want to take the gamble, go for it but for god's sake don't consider this drug if you could be cured using the regimen on this web site.

This drug may have ruined my life. If there is a 5% chance it could ruin yours, you need to think carefully about taking this

[Evie Conrad]

Erectile dysfunction was reported,as a side effect of Roaccutane, in a letter to The Lancet in 1994. The author, a dermatologist, suggested that it was likely that the problem was massively under-reported because it is too difficult for doctors and patients to discuss.

ED has been listed in Martindale [the standard, British, one-volume pharmacology reference book] as a potential side effect of Roaccutane, since that time. It was proposed that the drug damaged the seminal vesicles but I don't know what evidence there was to support this. The adverse reaction reports of the MCA [now the MHRA] show that around forty cases of ED, associated with isotretinoin, have been investigated and confirmed.

Isotretinoin was originally developed as a chemotherapy drug and has been used- experimentally- for the treatment of certain cancers. Those cancers were (and are) rare, compared to acne, from which 70% of teenagers suffer. You Americans can "do the math", as Roche's marketing department obviously did, back in the late 1970s.

Roche still claims that the method of action is unknown but very similar retinoids, which are used in the treatment of skin cancers and pancreatic cancer, work by destroying or limiting the ability of tumours to produce new cells. Unfortunately for those, who take retinoids, our own (healthy) cells are affected in the same way because they are governed by the same processes. This could be why Roaccutane's "side" effects are so numerous and so hard to predict.

Doctors and patients often fall into the trap of thinking that a particular side effect must have the same cause in every patient. We're all unique: even identical twins have some differences because of environmental factors. One drug will affect different patients in different ways. It will even affect the same patient in different ways at different times!

ED has many different causes. It's now estimated by urologists that 90% of cases are physical in origin. That's up from 70%, a few years ago. However, lots of GPs [family doctors], who haven't opened a medical journal for decades, are probably still telling patients that it's "all in the mind".

Some neurologists and physiologists have noted that Roaccutane recipients have abnormalities in their autonomic nervous systems. The brain stem, the "telephone exchange" at the base of the brain, controls functions, such as breathing, and reflex actions, of which having an erection [in the normal way] is one. If someone can achieve an erection [perhaps of poor quality and probably difficult to sustain] through manipulation but can't have a normal psychogenic erection [prompted by arousing thoughts, sights, sounds, smells], then autonomic damage [or "dysautonomia"] could well be the problem. Remember that ED is defined as the inability to maintain or sustain an erection of sufficient quality to enable intercourse [penetrative sex] to take place. If someone "gets a stiffy" and goes into action, as it were, but has to give up after only seconds or a couple of minutes because of loss of erection, that is still ED.

Isotretinoin is listed as a chemotherapy drug at http colon two forward slashes www dot chemocare dot com forward slash BIO forward slash accutane dot asp

The early history of the drug is mentioned in the following paper. http colon two forward slashes leda dot law dot harvard dot edu forward slash leda forward slash data forward slash 472 forward slash Green dot html

One of the best studies on neurological damage can be read at www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0306336101

[Tequila]

Hear hear.
This is a more common side effect than you'd think. And it can occur in subtle ways too. People can be left with the ability to get an erection as normal, but with little to no libido, so the enjoyment of sex is gone.
Evie Conrad, that's really interesting information you've posted on how ED/sexual dysfunction might be caused by Accutane. Where did you find this information? And can you estimate any possible solutions if this is one of the ways that ED can be caused by Accutane?

[ic892003]

I was suffering from this from my 4th month of accutane, i kept telling myself it would go away... Ive been of tane for 2 and a half weeks now and it may be slightly better but i still find it more difficult to get an erection when i was pre-accutane..... I just pray it goes away in time considering ive only been of it for a short amount of time......People dont want to believe it they just think its psychological but anything could happen when your messing with such a potent drug. But hey i dont regret it, if your gunna play with fire, your gunna get burned

[Chris66]

Hey all,

I also experienced this, and being in my mid-teens I decided it was a pretty big problem caused by the treatment and not some rubbish about emotional stress.

I started the treatment absolutely fine, and after around 2 weeks lost all ability to get an erection. I carried on, but eventually decided to stop as I didn't know how this would affect me in the long run- and the obvious annoyance in the short term. Around 2 weeks after I stopped the treatment I was back to normal.

I would put money on that any uncharacteristic loss of libido/erectile dysfunction is caused directly by Roaccutane. Although I'm sure it is rare, they should list this as a side effect - it has been reported many times.

I consulted my dermatologist and she said that any erectile dysfunction would be definitely be temporary, as Roaccutane does not affect the nerves.

Start- Mid December 09 (6 month treatment)
End- Early January 10 (after around a month)

If you are deciding whether or not to use roaccutane, I would say go for it, and if you experience this problem then you have just got extremely unlucky. In the few weeks I used it my skin improved noticeably, before returning to normal after discontinued use.

[Evie Conrad]

Hear hear.
This is a more common side effect than you'd think. And it can occur in subtle ways too. People can be left with the ability to get an erection as normal, but with little to no libido, so the enjoyment of sex is gone.
Evie Conrad, that's really interesting information you've posted on how ED/sexual dysfunction might be caused by Accutane. Where did you find this information? And can you estimate any possible solutions if this is one of the ways that ED can be caused by Accutane?

I have heard that GABA is being used in the US for ED of neurological origin. Treatment lasts for around six months and the doses are quite high. GABA is an essential building block for neurons and helps regulate a number of neurochemical processes. However, it can also act a little like an anaesthetic. I don't know how patients cope with that.

Some of those affected by "neurological ED" report a mild effect from supplements containing jasmine but I reckon you'd have to drink gallons of jasmine-flavoured tea, before you noticed anything happening.

Oxytocin, the "love hormone" or "bonding hormone" has been used to help those, who are having trouble with arousal.

I suppose there's no reason why both [arousal, originating in the cerebal cortex, and relay of the nerve impulse, via the brain stem and autonomic nervous system] functions couldn't have been damaged.

It is possible to determine, by means of the standard hospital tests [most of which have been in use for thirty years or more in the US], what the general cause [vascular, neurological etc] is. Psychological causes [now estimated to account for only 10% of ED] can be ruled out very quickly and easily with the NPT test. However, it's hard [no pun intended] for a urologist/andrologist [who will be a surgeon, in most cases] to know what the exact cause, beyond the general category, might be in a particular case. The patient himself should have some idea.

If a psychogenic erection isn't possible (or is an extremely rare occurrence or of such poor quality that it's of no practical use) but it is possible to stimulate the penis physically to produce some sort of erection (which may be difficult to maintain without artificial means), then the damage could lie in the central nervous system/ cerebal cortex and not in the parasympathetic division of the autonomic system. It's a bit like a set of old-fashioned Christmas lights. You have to work back, to find the bit with the faulty wiring. The whole process of having an erection is quite complicated!

Evie

[CanYouDigIt024]

I got this BAD the last 2 months of my cycle. I would mentally 'want' to have sex, but I couldn't control whether I was hard or not, and I'm only 20 years old...So this was very noticeable for me. I am a week off already, and although it definitely has gotten better, I'm still having some problems. I use 2 Arginine/orthinine capsules and 3 PCT Maxx (by NRG-X Labs) before sex now...FML. I was on 80 MG for 2 months and 80/40 every other day for the remainder.

[HRTM]

Right then lads.

I'm 19 years old and have been on Roaccutane for about twenty days on a pretty high dosage as I believe; 3 20mg capsules a day. Skins looking great ect ect ect...

I've just got back from a girls house (hot, French, into opera) and I could not unsheath my pork sword for the life of me (god knows I tried. It was certainly a low moment for this proud one when I resorted to trying to stealthily toss myself off without her clocking, whilst performing cunniligus). I joke but I'm obviously pretty shook up ESPECIALLY as this is the second time this week (out of two attempts), so I have flown to the warm brace of Google and its infinite array of topic boards for solidarity.

Now I pose this question to you. Can I attribute this to Roaccutane? Doubts include:

Is it pshycological? - prior to these two WOEFUL attempts at sex I was on the biggest dry spell of my life since the first one. Has my prolonged absence from carnal pleasures eroded my sex drive? I certainly supressed it. This seems unlikely though.

Is it nicotine? - I smoke occasionally (i.e i'm a stoner)

And I've masturbated alright this week, though in fact I'd say I cum less than I once did couldn't difinitively link that to the 20 day time frame. I'd like to know if others who are concerned with erectile dysfunction and roaccutane can still masturbate. Though it doesn't make sense biologically really.

I'm seeing my Dermatologist in a couple of days, and boy is she gona get an earful (of words).

Lastly, I'm sorry if this is a bit crude but I'm in a weird mood and need to vent. Do know that this is a genuine cry for help.

OH FOR AN ERECTION! I MUST BE IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO BEFORE LONG OR I WILL SURELY GO INSANE.

HRTM, 3:20am, London England

[accutanerecovery]

Right then lads.

I'm 19 years old and have been on Roaccutane for about twenty days on a pretty high dosage as I believe; 3 20mg capsules a day. Skins looking great ect ect ect...

I've just got back from a girls house (hot, French, into opera) and I could not unsheath my pork sword for the life of me (god knows I tried. It was certainly a low moment for this proud one when I resorted to trying to stealthily toss myself off without her clocking, whilst performing cunniligus). I joke but I'm obviously pretty shook up ESPECIALLY as this is the second time this week (out of two attempts), so I have flown to the warm brace of Google and its infinite array of topic boards for solidarity.

Now I pose this question to you. Can I attribute this to Roaccutane? Doubts include:

Is it pshycological? - prior to these two WOEFUL attempts at sex I was on the biggest dry spell of my life since the first one. Has my prolonged absence from carnal pleasures eroded my sex drive? I certainly supressed it. This seems unlikely though.

Is it nicotine? - I smoke occasionally (i.e i'm a stoner)

And I've masturbated alright this week, though in fact I'd say I cum less than I once did couldn't difinitively link that to the 20 day time frame. I'd like to know if others who are concerned with erectile dysfunction and roaccutane can still masturbate. Though it doesn't make sense biologically really.

I'm seeing my Dermatologist in a couple of days, and boy is she gona get an earful (of words).

Lastly, I'm sorry if this is a bit crude but I'm in a weird mood and need to vent. Do know that this is a genuine cry for help.

OH FOR AN ERECTION! I MUST BE IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO BEFORE LONG OR I WILL SURELY GO INSANE.

HRTM, 3:20am, London England

Hello HRTM! sorry to hear of your misfortune im in a similar spot. a few months ago i was on isotretinoin for about 20 days when i became impotent and ive never taken it since. when i got off i felt better for a few weeks but then all of a sudden it all came back worse than before.. have you seen any progress? are you still taking it?

[melissa6980]

Right then lads.

I'm 19 years old and have been on Roaccutane for about twenty days on a pretty high dosage as I believe; 3 20mg capsules a day. Skins looking great ect ect ect...

I've just got back from a girls house (hot, French, into opera) and I could not unsheath my pork sword for the life of me (god knows I tried. It was certainly a low moment for this proud one when I resorted to trying to stealthily toss myself off without her clocking, whilst performing cunniligus). I joke but I'm obviously pretty shook up ESPECIALLY as this is the second time this week (out of two attempts), so I have flown to the warm brace of Google and its infinite array of topic boards for solidarity.

Now I pose this question to you. Can I attribute this to Roaccutane? Doubts include:

Is it pshycological? - prior to these two WOEFUL attempts at sex I was on the biggest dry spell of my life since the first one. Has my prolonged absence from carnal pleasures eroded my sex drive? I certainly supressed it. This seems unlikely though.

Is it nicotine? - I smoke occasionally (i.e i'm a stoner)

And I've masturbated alright this week, though in fact I'd say I cum less than I once did couldn't difinitively link that to the 20 day time frame. I'd like to know if others who are concerned with erectile dysfunction and roaccutane can still masturbate. Though it doesn't make sense biologically really.

I'm seeing my Dermatologist in a couple of days, and boy is she gona get an earful (of words).

Lastly, I'm sorry if this is a bit crude but I'm in a weird mood and need to vent. Do know that this is a genuine cry for help.

OH FOR AN ERECTION! I MUST BE IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO BEFORE LONG OR I WILL SURELY GO INSANE.

HRTM, 3:20am, London England

I'm sorry you are going through this, but I imagine this woman actually thought you were pretty cool for performing cunninglus. Not sure if it's the accutane or the weed or psychological, it's probably a good idea to discuss this side effect with your derm. By the way, you really do have a way with words. you'd make a good writer. I'm not trying to be a smart *** either, you do have a good writing style.

[iRyRy]

I'm in the same boat.

I'm just wondering, have any of your experienced a numbness feeling down there? And have any of you lost some pigmentation of your skin?

[Babis]

Erectile dysfunction was reported,as a side effect of Roaccutane, in a letter to The Lancet in 1994. The author, a dermatologist, suggested that it was likely that the problem was massively under-reported because it is too difficult for doctors and patients to discuss.

ED has been listed in Martindale [the standard, British, one-volume pharmacology reference book] as a potential side effect of Roaccutane, since that time. It was proposed that the drug damaged the seminal vesicles but I don't know what evidence there was to support this. The adverse reaction reports of the MCA [now the MHRA] show that around forty cases of ED, associated with isotretinoin, have been investigated and confirmed.

Isotretinoin was originally developed as a chemotherapy drug and has been used- experimentally- for the treatment of certain cancers. Those cancers were (and are) rare, compared to acne, from which 70% of teenagers suffer. You Americans can "do the math", as Roche's marketing department obviously did, back in the late 1970s.

Roche still claims that the method of action is unknown but very similar retinoids, which are used in the treatment of skin cancers and pancreatic cancer, work by destroying or limiting the ability of tumours to produce new cells. Unfortunately for those, who take retinoids, our own (healthy) cells are affected in the same way because they are governed by the same processes. This could be why Roaccutane's "side" effects are so numerous and so hard to predict.

Doctors and patients often fall into the trap of thinking that a particular side effect must have the same cause in every patient. We're all unique: even identical twins have some differences because of environmental factors. One drug will affect different patients in different ways. It will even affect the same patient in different ways at different times!

ED has many different causes. It's now estimated by urologists that 90% of cases are physical in origin. That's up from 70%, a few years ago. However, lots of GPs [family doctors], who haven't opened a medical journal for decades, are probably still telling patients that it's "all in the mind".

Some neurologists and physiologists have noted that Roaccutane recipients have abnormalities in their autonomic nervous systems. The brain stem, the "telephone exchange" at the base of the brain, controls functions, such as breathing, and reflex actions, of which having an erection [in the normal way] is one. If someone can achieve an erection [perhaps of poor quality and probably difficult to sustain] through manipulation but can't have a normal psychogenic erection [prompted by arousing thoughts, sights, sounds, smells], then autonomic damage [or "dysautonomia"] could well be the problem. Remember that ED is defined as the inability to maintain or sustain an erection of sufficient quality to enable intercourse [penetrative sex] to take place. If someone "gets a stiffy" and goes into action, as it were, but has to give up after only seconds or a couple of minutes because of loss of erection, that is still ED.

Isotretinoin is listed as a chemotherapy drug at http colon two forward slashes www dot chemocare dot com forward slash BIO forward slash accutane dot asp

The early history of the drug is mentioned in the following paper. http colon two forward slashes leda dot law dot harvard dot edu forward slash leda forward slash data forward slash 472 forward slash Green dot html

One of the best studies on neurological damage can be read at www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0306336101

Hi Evie,

Do you have any references linking Accutane specifically to dysautonomia?

I developed persistent ED, loss of libido etc while on Accutane of exactly the type you describe. I did not recover completely after stopping. A few weeks later, I was diagnosed with secondary hypogonadism. A few months later, I had autonomic testing and was diagnosed with dysautonomia (i.e. dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system). Needless to say I never had such problems before Accutane.

Any info on Accutane and autonomic dysfunction would be appreciated.

Edited by Babis, 29 May 2011 - 07:09 AM.

[lamarr1986]

Right then lads.

I'm 19 years old and have been on Roaccutane for about twenty days on a pretty high dosage as I believe; 3 20mg capsules a day. Skins looking great ect ect ect...

I've just got back from a girls house (hot, French, into opera) and I could not unsheath my pork sword for the life of me (god knows I tried. It was certainly a low moment for this proud one when I resorted to trying to stealthily toss myself off without her clocking, whilst performing cunniligus). I joke but I'm obviously pretty shook up ESPECIALLY as this is the second time this week (out of two attempts), so I have flown to the warm brace of Google and its infinite array of topic boards for solidarity.

Now I pose this question to you. Can I attribute this to Roaccutane? Doubts include:

Is it pshycological? - prior to these two WOEFUL attempts at sex I was on the biggest dry spell of my life since the first one. Has my prolonged absence from carnal pleasures eroded my sex drive? I certainly supressed it. This seems unlikely though.

Is it nicotine? - I smoke occasionally (i.e i'm a stoner)

And I've masturbated alright this week, though in fact I'd say I cum less than I once did couldn't difinitively link that to the 20 day time frame. I'd like to know if others who are concerned with erectile dysfunction and roaccutane can still masturbate. Though it doesn't make sense biologically really.

I'm seeing my Dermatologist in a couple of days, and boy is she gona get an earful (of words).

Lastly, I'm sorry if this is a bit crude but I'm in a weird mood and need to vent. Do know that this is a genuine cry for help.

OH FOR AN ERECTION! I MUST BE IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO BEFORE LONG OR I WILL SURELY GO INSANE.

HRTM, 3:20am, London England

Holy shit this is the most whitty post I have ever read on this forum...possibly the internet!

I'm still laughing hahaha.

Drop the dope and smoking for a while, that and plenty of time may help. Try and sort your diet out and hit the weights.