378 replies to this topic

[Again!]

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Edited by Again!, 05 December 2011 - 06:06 PM.

[elle.beth]

Okay so here is my pics, taken a few days before starting tane. Let the craziness begin!

How'd your first day go?

[mynameisjulia]

omg you are beautiful!!!! have any of the side effects started? keep us updated. you can do this. your skin might get worse at first but then it will clear up. but you know this, you've taken accutane before. i'm excited for you!

[Again!]

Day 5

Thanks Elle and Julia for asking about me. I haven't been around due to just a hectic crazy schedule. I am absolutely exhausted right now as I'm writing this-soooo tired. I have been getting about 4 hours of sleep the past 4 nights (I know, what a way to start accutane) and I just got done working a 12 hour work-day. Ugh!

Anywho, quick update. So, I am on day 5 at 80mg a day and really feel no different. Yes, I am thirsty all the time and I swear I drink on average at least 6 liters a day! I'm really not exaggerating. I use this huge 1.5 liter water bottle that I refill, so I know. I do know that I am a person who already drinks way more water than everyone else so I am not surprised. My lips are a little drier, but not bad yet, especially considering how bad I know they are going to get. I put lotion on every night and morning, so if my skin is dry I can't tell, which is fine with me. I do not have any other side effects and at this point feel no different.

As far as my mood goes, I'm happy. It was weird because I was so nervous before I went on accutane, but right before I started I had this excitement and joy come over me. I am almost happy, I would say.

My skin is sooooo much better already, it's almost unreal. I started on a Thursday night and I noticed a big difference Saturday morning. Yes, I have red scar marks absolutely everywhere, but the inflammation was almost gone. The majority of my gazillion cystic zits had shrunk to the point where they didn't hurt anymore. The trade off is my skin hurts really bad, because it's so sensitive. I have had about a dozen new zits since I started. That is definitely not an IB since I could wake up to about a half a dozen new ones every day! I am not getting my hopes up. At this point I am calling this the calm before the storm............scary!

[Crystal841]

Oh Babe!!!

I am so excited for you!

A little chuck always helps too!!

[Again!]

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Edited by Again!, 05 December 2011 - 06:07 PM.

[Mini Me.]

Omg babe what a difference you look amazing and its only 1 week. Im so happy for you
Heres me month three and still look like moon face, haha. You will clear in no time!! xxxx

[Again!]

Omg babe what a difference you look amazing and its only 1 week. Im so happy for you
Heres me month three and still look like moon face, haha. You will clear in no time!! xxxx

Thanks love! Yeah, I'm happy with the results thus far, but i'm trying my hardest not to get too excited. I feel like any day, I am going to wake up to the worst IB ever! It's also hard to believe that all those red marks will go away.

[Again!]

DAY 8

I took my first pill last Thursday night. As a whole, things are going great. At this point I really feel like I cannot complain. Still thirsty, but no headaches, not even one yet. My skin and lips are a little drier than usual, but nothing unbearable. Well, not entirely true.........

The skin on my face is peeling and patchy which is almost to the point where I can't wear my makeup. I've had a mini little crisis with that. I'll save you the long drawn out, boring story and just sum it up to a mad dash to the mall to get some new makeup. Unfortunately the new makeup did not help. I love it-it's Bobbi Brown creme to powder foundation, but not great for covering up acne, so I will save it for later. I did buy La Mer primer, which I still need to try. A cool little story with La Mer. There was a chemist in the 70's that had an explosion happen in his lab which caused him severe burns on his face. So, he set out to make a product to help heal his burns. He never intended to market his products, but it worked so well, that he did. He uses things like sea kelp and so fourth. I was told that he was ahead of his time when it comes to the science of the products we use today. Go check out La Mer website. I will let you know what I think after I've used it for awhile. So, back to the makeup thing. I am stuck with my old makeup for now, (which is M.A.C. Studio Fix pressed powder foundation) which means I still have my yucky skin.......

So, I decided to do what I have done in the past which worked great. I use baking soda with water to create a paste and use that extremely gentle on my face to exfoliate. It works wonders, I must say. I then use my lotion with a vitamin E capsule mixed in and put that on my face at night. It is greasy and will most likely get on your your pillow case, but it works so who really cares!?! It helps with the dryness and I feel like it helps with the red marks to fade also. I hope that this helps other people out too. Let me know if it does.

The only other issue, which I'm not sure I can blame on tane is my scalp. I have had dermatitis on my scalp for years ans I even put this stuff on it when it gets really out of control. and in past treatments, tane would cure it. Awesome! Well, it has gotten so bad that I couldn't even get to sleep last night my scalp hurt so bad! Again, I doubt that was from tane, but still annoying.

So, all in all, I'm doing great, but I am still cautious to be excited, since this can all be easily shattered by an outbreak from hell. When did everyone else get their first IB? I'm just wondering when I'm out of the woods.

Edited by Again!, 21 July 2011 - 12:47 PM.

[elle.beth]

So glad everything is going well for you! I have given up on foundation for now...just using powder. Definitely not the coverage I want though. But I don't have any good places to get makeup here so I have to wait til I can go somewhere better..

[Again!]

DAY 9

Okay, so today was a good day! I woke up for the first time, looked at my face in the mirror (which is the first thing I do every morning for who knows how long now!) and felt hope. Yes, my face is still inflamed and red all over with lot's of bumps, but.........less! I swear like almost all my cysts have gone down to the point that they do not hurt anymore, which is something to be grateful over. I really just cannot remember the last time my face didn't hurt all over. I honestly do not remember my last treatments of accutane working this fast. I don't know, maybe it's working so fast because my acne is so much worse than before? Maybe it's because I was on Doxycycline for just over 10 weeks and had an IB the WHOLE time. Don't get me wrong, I am still terrified to wake up one morning with my acne taking some vengeance (IB) on my poor little defenseless, not to mention innocent face. At the same time, I am optimistically hopeful that I might be spared this awful inevitableness.

The other reason for today being a good day would be.......I got a complement! A freakin complement! That's right, I said COMPLEMENT! Now, don't get me wrong. It's not like someone said, "Wow, you have beautiful skin!" or anything. But, they said, (They know I'm on accutane, so they have every right to comment, at least I feel they do) "Wow, is your skin getting better already, because it looks like it?" Oh my goodness, that made me feel soooooooo awesome! I mean, i still have my acne, and now I'm also dealing with this yucky, patchy and peeling skin on my face that makeup just wont hide and in fact makes worse, but I still got a complement! Ahhhhh, how nice.

Well, since I just updated yesterday, not much has changed. So, till next time.............let's all continue to get clearer! (OR at least pray that we don't get worse-hehe)

[Lipslikesugar22]

I'm so excited for you!!!

[Polyspast]

Good luck. I hope everything goes well!

[PaulH85]

A bit late to the party, just thought I'd drop by. I like checking in on peoples logs, it's inspiring to read the journeys people take and it's always nice to see when things start to improve.

Can see a definite improvement in your skin already, it looks calmer and it sounds like it's healing well. Brilliant! Fingers crossed it continues to go this well for you!

[Clare M.]

Wow what a difference one week has made for you!! That's great!

Ughhh, I'm dreading the day I can't apply makeup cause flakes and dryness are covering my face. When I was using BP, I had a hard time applying makeup...let alone Accutane!

[Again!]

Thank you! I appreciate the love and welcome to my log guys.

Claire-Thanks for noticing a difference, makes me feel happy. I am getting pretty freaked out about this whole make-up thing. I just got home a little bit ago and all I wanted to do was wash my face. I agree with what Lips had posted on her log about how her skin looks worse with make-up because she is so dry. I feel like I have wrinkles! I would love to go without make-up but that is just not an option at this moment. Ugh!

Paul-You are never to late to join this party and check it out all you want! I'm happy that you can tell a difference, it seems almost too good to be true. I can't remember if I had read someone on this org that you would like to try accutane, but are a little too nervous? If so, then I do hope that I have an encouraging outcome, which at this point is looking hopeful.

[Again!]

DAY 11

Okay, so I have a few new side effects to report as of today. Sad, but nothing I can't handle and nothing I wasn't prepared for.

When I blew my nose this morning, there was bloody boogies. A little yucky, but true anyhow. Not a major problem. I just put a couple squirts of "Ocean" saline spray in each nostril and then took a q-tip and put some vaseline in each nostril also. Whalaaaaa-as good as new! Nothing I can't handle.

Then, when I was at church this morning, it was like all of a sudden my eyes were burning they were so unbelievably dry. We went out to lunch and had some errands to do afterwards. Let me just say that all I could think about was going home and putting some eye drops in. I feel so much better at the moment.

And in continuation of this whole make-up fiasco, errr! I'm stuck in a catch 22. My skin is looking awesome (well, that's if you can look past all the red scars that is) without make-up and horrible with make-up. Now, you guys have all seen my pictures, so it's not like I am exaggerating how ugly my skin looks without the help of make-up. Make-up may cover up my red acne/scars, but it also emphasizes all my patchy, not to mention peeling skin. Ugh! Quite frankly, I feel like this is the worst side effect of all. I mean it's not like it's bad enough I already have acne, but then to add insult to injury, I now have to contend with this. I mean, come on, give me a break.

I have been naughty and have skipped a few nights (not in a row) putting lotion on before bed and boy am I an idiot. Dry itchy skin, not so much fun. I put lotion on this morning after my shower and by 3pm I was having to put more on and I even feel the need to put some more on again as I'm typing! Oh well, I will just put my body butter cream that I mix with calendula oil all over and that should fix the problem by tomorrow morning.

Now on to some positive side effects.

The skin on my face has officially stopped producing oil! Well, maybe not entirely yet, but as far as I can tell, it has. As much as I hate my whole make-up struggles, it is also an amazing thing to not have to worry about checking in the mirror and blotting my face of oil all day long. I am still exfoliating with baking soda and mixing vitamin e oil in with my lotion at night. I also just bought some calming almond oil from "Weleda." I came straight home today and put some on along with their calming almond oil lotion cream after I washed my face. Very nice and I must say, quite calming.

My hair is never greasy. I wash it before it ever gets a chance, which I am going to have to stop, since it's starting to get a little dry on the ends. Thank goodness I had cut it short. (Right above my shoulders) The only problem is my dermatitis makes it so I need to wash it. Hopefully very soon the accutane will have taken care of my whole issue with dermatitis like it did on my last course, so I can save my hair.

As far as my acne goes. Well, things are still going awesome. Again, I'm trying not to get too excited, but I just can't help it. I actually smile when I wake up and look in the mirror every morning. I am going to sound really melodramatic here, but I actually feel like crying, I'm so happy. I really just can't explain that. All I want is my life back and to be happy again and I feel like that is happening slowly by slowly.

So, I apologize for my extraordinarily long entry and if you couldn't get yourself to read it all, I so understand.

Till next time!
xoxoxo

Edited by Again!, 24 July 2011 - 06:45 PM.

[elle.beth]

DAY 11

Okay, so I have a few new side effects to report as of today. Sad, but nothing I can't handle and nothing I wasn't prepared for.

When I blew my nose this morning, there was bloody boogies. A little yucky, but true anyhow. Not a major problem. I just put a couple squirts of "Ocean" saline spray in each nostril and then took a q-tip and put some vaseline in each nostril also. Whalaaaaa-as good as new! Nothing I can't handle.

Then, when I was at church this morning, it was like all of a sudden my eyes were burning they were so unbelievably dry. We went out to lunch and had some errands to do afterwards. Let me just say that all I could think about was going home and putting some eye drops in. I feel so much better at the moment.

And in continuation of this whole make-up fiasco, errr! I'm stuck in a catch 22. My skin is looking awesome (well, that's if you can look past all the red scars that is) without make-up and horrible with make-up. Now, you guys have all seen my pictures, so it's not like I am exaggerating how ugly my skin looks without the help of make-up. Make-up may cover up my red acne/scars, but it also emphasizes all my patchy, not to mention peeling skin. Ugh! Quite frankly, I feel like this is the worst side effect of all. I mean it's not like it's bad enough I already have acne, but then to add insult to injury, I now have to contend with this. I mean, come on, give me a break.

I have been naughty and have skipped a few nights (not in a row) putting lotion on before bed and boy am I an idiot. Dry itchy skin, not so much fun. I put lotion on this morning after my shower and by 3pm I was having to put more on and I even feel the need to put some more on again as I'm typing! Oh well, I will just put my body butter cream that I mix with calendula oil all over and that should fix the problem by tomorrow morning.

Now on to some positive side effects.

The skin on my face has officially stopped producing oil! Well, maybe not entirely yet, but as far as I can tell, it has. As much as I hate my whole make-up struggles, it is also an amazing thing to not have to worry about checking in the mirror and blotting my face of oil all day long. I am still exfoliating with baking soda and mixing vitamin e oil in with my lotion at night. I also just bought some calming almond oil from "Weleda." I came straight home today and put some on along with their calming almond oil lotion cream after I washed my face. Very nice and I must say, quite calming.

My hair is never greasy. I wash it before it ever gets a chance, which I am going to have to stop, since it's starting to get a little dry on the ends. Thank goodness I had cut it short. (Right above my shoulders) The only problem is my dermatitis makes it so I need to wash it. Hopefully very soon the accutane will have taken care of my whole issue with dermatitis like it did on my last course, so I can save my hair.

As far as my acne goes. Well, things are still going awesome. Again, I'm trying not to get too excited, but I just can't help it. I actually smile when I wake up and look in the mirror every morning. I am going to sound really melodramatic here, but I actually feel like crying, I'm so happy. I really just can't explain that. All I want is my life back and to be happy again and I feel like that is happening slowly by slowly.

So, I apologize for my extraordinarily long entree and if you couldn't get yourself to read it all, I so understand.

Till next time!
xoxoxo

I'm sorry about your side effects mine seem to have mostly died down, except for the dry lips, which i think may be getting worse..vaseline used to help, and now i pretty much put it on every like, 5-10 min. but, burts bees (just the normal one) seems to work the best now, other than using a VERY thick layer of aquaphor at night (when i wake up...lips are dry but not awful). i hope yours go away soon! the hair not getting greasy thing is definitely nice though! i havent really had that yet.

[Again!]

DAY 11

Okay, so I have a few new side effects to report as of today. Sad, but nothing I can't handle and nothing I wasn't prepared for.

When I blew my nose this morning, there was bloody boogies. A little yucky, but true anyhow. Not a major problem. I just put a couple squirts of "Ocean" saline spray in each nostril and then took a q-tip and put some vaseline in each nostril also. Whalaaaaa-as good as new! Nothing I can't handle.

Then, when I was at church this morning, it was like all of a sudden my eyes were burning they were so unbelievably dry. We went out to lunch and had some errands to do afterwards. Let me just say that all I could think about was going home and putting some eye drops in. I feel so much better at the moment.

And in continuation of this whole make-up fiasco, errr! I'm stuck in a catch 22. My skin is looking awesome (well, that's if you can look past all the red scars that is) without make-up and horrible with make-up. Now, you guys have all seen my pictures, so it's not like I am exaggerating how ugly my skin looks without the help of make-up. Make-up may cover up my red acne/scars, but it also emphasizes all my patchy, not to mention peeling skin. Ugh! Quite frankly, I feel like this is the worst side effect of all. I mean it's not like it's bad enough I already have acne, but then to add insult to injury, I now have to contend with this. I mean, come on, give me a break.

I have been naughty and have skipped a few nights (not in a row) putting lotion on before bed and boy am I an idiot. Dry itchy skin, not so much fun. I put lotion on this morning after my shower and by 3pm I was having to put more on and I even feel the need to put some more on again as I'm typing! Oh well, I will just put my body butter cream that I mix with calendula oil all over and that should fix the problem by tomorrow morning.

Now on to some positive side effects.

The skin on my face has officially stopped producing oil! Well, maybe not entirely yet, but as far as I can tell, it has. As much as I hate my whole make-up struggles, it is also an amazing thing to not have to worry about checking in the mirror and blotting my face of oil all day long. I am still exfoliating with baking soda and mixing vitamin e oil in with my lotion at night. I also just bought some calming almond oil from "Weleda." I came straight home today and put some on along with their calming almond oil lotion cream after I washed my face. Very nice and I must say, quite calming.

My hair is never greasy. I wash it before it ever gets a chance, which I am going to have to stop, since it's starting to get a little dry on the ends. Thank goodness I had cut it short. (Right above my shoulders) The only problem is my dermatitis makes it so I need to wash it. Hopefully very soon the accutane will have taken care of my whole issue with dermatitis like it did on my last course, so I can save my hair.

As far as my acne goes. Well, things are still going awesome. Again, I'm trying not to get too excited, but I just can't help it. I actually smile when I wake up and look in the mirror every morning. I am going to sound really melodramatic here, but I actually feel like crying, I'm so happy. I really just can't explain that. All I want is my life back and to be happy again and I feel like that is happening slowly by slowly.

So, I apologize for my extraordinarily long entree and if you couldn't get yourself to read it all, I so understand.

Till next time!
xoxoxo

I'm sorry about your side effects mine seem to have mostly died down, except for the dry lips, which i think may be getting worse..vaseline used to help, and now i pretty much put it on every like, 5-10 min. but, burts bees (just the normal one) seems to work the best now, other than using a VERY thick layer of aquaphor at night (when i wake up...lips are dry but not awful). i hope yours go away soon! the hair not getting greasy thing is definitely nice though! i havent really had that yet.

Thanks Elle! That's so cool and interesting that yours have died down. I say that because if I remember correctly, the last time I was on accutane, my side effects progressively got worse and worse, but how awesome for you. I hope it stays that way.

I use carmex on my lips throughout the day which makes it feel like I don't have dry lips at all. At night I use medicated Blistex which is working just fine but I don't like the feel of it. I will continue to use it since I paid for it.

I sure hope you get to experience the dry hair thing soon! It's like the one nice thing (well, besides clear skin-hehe) we get for all this horribleness we have to endure. I am heading over to your log now......see you soon!

[Clare M.]

Thank you! I appreciate the love and welcome to my log guys.

Claire-Thanks for noticing a difference, makes me feel happy. I am getting pretty freaked out about this whole make-up thing. I just got home a little bit ago and all I wanted to do was wash my face. I agree with what Lips had posted on her log about how her skin looks worse with make-up because she is so dry. I feel like I have wrinkles! I would love to go without make-up but that is just not an option at this moment. Ugh!

Paul-You are never to late to join this party and check it out all you want! ;) I'm happy that you can tell a difference, it seems almost too good to be true. I can't remember if I had read someone on this org that you would like to try accutane, but are a little too nervous? If so, then I do hope that I have an encouraging outcome, which at this point is looking hopeful.

I know exactly what you mean about the makeup thing. I refuse to leave the house without makeup. I'll find a way to apply the makeup over my patchy flaky face if I have to. Ughh... I'm dreading the ugliness that is days away. Hmmm...jojoba oil seemed to clear my flakes up awhile back when I was using BP. Maybe I'll add that back into the routine...it's worth a shot I suppose.