Still following your log mate, keep it up. I also started a log and im one month in

for the dry nose thing, ive had it for a few weeks, someone suggested vaseline inside the nose (not exactly the most dignified thing, sticking your finger up your nose and smeering vaseline up there though) but it seems to be working, only the second day of trying it thus far.

Best of luck

Still following your log mate, keep it up. I also started a log and im one month in

for the dry nose thing, ive had it for a few weeks, someone suggested vaseline inside the nose (not exactly the most dignified thing, sticking your finger up your nose and smeering vaseline up there though) but it seems to be working, only the second day of trying it thus far.

Best of luck

 

I tried the vaseline up the nose trick and it worked pretty well, I'm gonna stick to that, thanks.

How far in to your treatment are you then?

37 Days, i posted a link my log below incase u get time to read it

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/318920-24male-accutane-log-6th-aug-onwards%3B/

Day 121 (18 Weeks)

5 Weeks Left, thank god.

We all went the beach this week, there's a little one on Lac Kir, anyway I definitely went a bit pink, I don't think of the sun being strong enough so north in mid-september, luckily it calmed down after a few days of intense-sun aversion.

This week has been really hard. Freshers at Uni is a big drinking time, none-stop nights out and lots and lots of drinking. I've been good though and not touched a drop, it's sort of shit though going out to bars when everyone else is wasted and you're the only sober one there, you also feel tired and cold come 3am without all that alcohol.

Lips and Eyes are as dry as ever, and my back pain has been bad this week too.

Also Gym Pain, the muscle pain I get after going to the gym is still bad, I get 2 day long aches which hurt to move.

Skin wise, still no spots, a tiny red lump on my right jaw line which is barely even noticeable, let's hope the status quo just runs for these final 35 days now

Hi all,

I'm 22 and female, around 50kg. I finished accutane (50mg for 8 months) just over a year ago now, and I just thought I'd post some encouragement.

It takes a while for the oil to start returning to your system, so as frustrating as it is, you'll still feel fairly dry for 8 weeks or so after you finish. The last thing to repair itself in my body was my nails - they peeled constantly for a good year after I finished, but are now strong again. My skin has also remained sensitive - especially to artificial scents in shower gels etc - and my tolerance for alcohol is worse than is used to be (I would hugely encourage you not to drink like Jake has - I drank and I wish I hadn't, my doctor was too focussed on my not getting pregnant to mention the alcohol!).

My top tips are:

- Use cetaphil to wash your face, and aqueous to moisturise (and to remove eye make up, ladies! It's great for that).

- Use non-medicated eyedrops to relieve dry eyes.

- Get hold of some hypercal cream for cracked lips (especially in the corners of your mouth), and 8-hour cream by Elizabeth Arden (expensive but brilliant).

- 8-hour cream and hypercal works for the inside of your nose too! Try to leave your nose alone as much as possible - I got nose bleeds for the first time in my life with Accutane.

- If you're not a female on birth control, then try taking St John Wort drops for moods (A. Vogel does the best ones in my opinion). Keep a mood diary with something like moodscope.com - it sends a daily email to someone of your choice with your mood score, which is a great way for someone to keep an eye on you if you're struggling a bit. Exercise, fresh air, good diet and plenty of water also helps. (If you are taking the pill, please do not use St John's Wort, it can stop your pill working properly)

Lastly, enjoy not having to wash your hair! It sucks when that particular oil comes back...

My skin in still clear after a year (and my Mum's is still clear after nearly 10 years!!) so do try and keep your spirits up - for me it's been life changing. Later on, when you tell people you used Accutane, I guarantee they'll say things like "your skin wasn't even bad?" - it's ridiculous.

Hi all,

I'm 22 and female, around 50kg. I finished accutane (50mg for 8 months) just over a year ago now, and I just thought I'd post some encouragement.

It takes a while for the oil to start returning to your system, so as frustrating as it is, you'll still feel fairly dry for 8 weeks or so after you finish. The last thing to repair itself in my body was my nails - they peeled constantly for a good year after I finished, but are now strong again. My skin has also remained sensitive - especially to artificial scents in shower gels etc - and my tolerance for alcohol is worse than is used to be (I would hugely encourage you not to drink like Jake has - I drank and I wish I hadn't, my doctor was too focussed on my not getting pregnant to mention the alcohol!).

My top tips are:

- Use cetaphil to wash your face, and aqueous to moisturise (and to remove eye make up, ladies! It's great for that).

- Use non-medicated eyedrops to relieve dry eyes.

- Get hold of some hypercal cream for cracked lips (especially in the corners of your mouth), and 8-hour cream by Elizabeth Arden (expensive but brilliant).

- 8-hour cream and hypercal works for the inside of your nose too! Try to leave your nose alone as much as possible - I got nose bleeds for the first time in my life with Accutane.

- If you're not a female on birth control, then try taking St John Wort drops for moods (A. Vogel does the best ones in my opinion). Keep a mood diary with something like moodscope.com - it sends a daily email to someone of your choice with your mood score, which is a great way for someone to keep an eye on you if you're struggling a bit. Exercise, fresh air, good diet and plenty of water also helps. (If you are taking the pill, please do not use St John's Wort, it can stop your pill working properly)

Lastly, enjoy not having to wash your hair! It sucks when that particular oil comes back...

My skin in still clear after a year (and my Mum's is still clear after nearly 10 years!!) so do try and keep your spirits up - for me it's been life changing. Later on, when you tell people you used Accutane, I guarantee they'll say things like "your skin wasn't even bad?" - it's ridiculous.

 

Thanks for the tips

I use eye drops already, up to thrice a day now.

I use Simple's sensitive skin face wash which works great and Sanex's Hypo-Allergenic Shower Wash which is also great, and I always have a tube of hydro-cortisol around for the odd occasion I get flare ups of really bad hives which only started since being on tane.

I also definitely agree with exercise. The feel-good mood boost you get from the endorphins are 10 times more noticable when you're on accutane, I literally skip home with a beaming smile on my face when I'm coming home from the gym.

Also Caffeine!

2 or 3 black coffees or teas a day do wonders or energy

Thanks for the updates Jake. Do you think your skin became a lot worse before it got better?

Thanks for the updates Jake. Do you think your skin became a lot worse before it got better?

 

It didn't get a lot worse, I only had a very mild breakout, but I was on Antibiotics for 6 months before I started Accutane and that cured my acne about 80%, but then I got ill from them and started breaking out again like always happens with antibios, so that probably prevented a bad initial breakout somewhat.

Day 126 (19 Weeks)

A day early, but I am in painn.

I have the worst lower back pain ever, it feels as if it's internal, coming from my kidney/liver area. It randomly started today in the middle of Spanish class at about 3pm, out of the blue. Currently sat in bed, it even hurts to laugh, if it doesn't feel any better within 48 hours I may have to call my dermatologist back in England or go to a French Doctor (dread to think how much this will cost, why the rest of the World doesn't have Universal Health Care like in the UK and Spain is beyond me).

Skin is doing fine, although I had another outbreak of hives, in EXACTLY the same pace as last time a few months ago, and in the EXACT same order! First (embarrassingly) on my balls, and then the next day on my left arm! EXACTLY like before. Is this not weird? What is the medical explanation? This time I resisted scratching and covered both areas in hydro cortisol cream and luckily it went away by the next day.

Everyone went out again tonight, and I have been in bed since 10 because of my sore back and tiredness. Seriously shit. I feel like a pensioner, not a 20 year old uni student who should be living it up. I only have 29 days left of medication, the end is in sight, but each day seems to get harder and harder.

I just think back though to how bad my skin was before, how I'd leave work early in floods of tears after looking at myself in the mirror and having a panic attack breakdown, how I'd pray in floods of tears for my acne to go away, and how now when I look in the mirror and for the first time in 5 years I don't have a single spot, how I can lie on my pillow on any part of my face I want and not have to worry about the pain from lying on my spots.

And I just have to power through these back aches. Endure a few more weeks of this exhaustion, of dry eyes, of needing 10 hours sleep.

Accutane is NOT easy. I seem to be having quite bad side effects, although thankfully no hair loss, nor really dry skin or lips anymore.

Acne you are a bitch. But I'm not throwing in the towel yet.

29 days. Bring it.

Been following your log, man I hope it's nothing serious!! Def. call someone if it stays as painful or gets worse! Take care!

Been following your log, man I hope it's nothing serious!! Def. call someone if it stays as painful or gets worse! Take care!

 

Thanks for the concern

Day 140 (20 Weeks) (Realized I've 'lost' 7 days, not sure when I made the error but it's definitely 140 days)

Only 3 weeks left to go, my god did that week drag.

Thankfully those awful internal pains went away the next day, so I didn't have go to the doctors, this week my eyebrow and eyelash fall out rate has definitely accelerated - it has been pretty bad for months, every day I have about 4/5 eyelashes fall out, sometimes I wake up with 2 or 3 in my eye, and my eyebrows will have scattered droopy ones which fall out upon rubbing - haven't noticed any actual head hair loss though which is a good thing.

But, worryingly,I have a spot like thing appearing on my right jaw line. Fuck, panic time. It looks like a whitehead, which has just gone a bit red, but I didn't expect to be having anything like this at this stage of treatment.

But my god, how I cannot wait to be off this! No more red face, no more dry lips, no more tiredness, and also, no more bad mood, I have noticed that getting a bit worse lately, well I say bad mood, but it's more, 'my get up and go has got up and gone', I just feel a bit, down, a bit tired, a bit less enthusiastic and energetic about things these days. I was prepared for way more, but I can totally see how people can get depression of Accutane in worse cases.

The horrible weather here doesn't help, wet, windy, unseasonably cool, dark, bleh.

Autumn arrived right on queue.

Hope you're all doing fine

PS, is anyone here in Burgundy/Bourgogne? or near by? I doubt it, but I'm always looking for English speaking people round these parts, and of course accuane buddies x

Day 143 (20 Weeks)

19 days to go.

Today has been a really hard day. A really, really hard day.

I caught a cold. It's my second one on Accutane, I had one in June too. If any of you have had colds on Accutane you'll know why they're so bad. If not, let me enlighten you. Being on Accutane is like having a continuous bad cold as it is, with the aches, the dryness, the sore lips, eyes, nose and down mood, so with a cold, it's like being on Double Accutane.

For the past 3 night I've barely slept, can't sleep due to how congested I am and when I do manageto I have vivid dreams and wake up sweating

My nose is so so sore, and I'm now applying vaseline literally every 30 minutes.

Also, I have no appetite at all, and I don't have much of one to begin with, but I'm trying to put weight on so have been on 3000 calories every day now for a while and can't afford not to eat, so my usual daily struggle to make myself eat has been twice as hard.

My facial redness is also 3 times as bad, my eyes are twice as dry and bloodshot, it's just awful

I also had an awful day, the trams broke down so I had to walk home, and I ended up having an argument with a friend because of my bad mood.

I cried a bit.

Everyone went out again last night and facebook is filled with pictures of everyone out having a good time. It's not just because of the cold or accutane why I won't go out, but with my big bright red dry face and lips I haven't had a picture of myself taken in months.

It's my 21st Birthday on Wednesday, and I hate being in such a low place.

Being abroad and far away from your friends and family only makes it all 10 times worse.

I really hope this cold goes away fast, and that these last 18 days start going a bit quicker.

Wah

Sorry to hear you're having such a crappy time bro, you're so close to the end though so chin up and keep powering through Im on day 17 and it's been nice reading through your log. Lets me know that im in for a tough time - which will hopefully mentally prepare me a little lol.

Sorry to hear that dude.

If it makes you feel any better, did you know there are people out there who take up to 200mg of accutane a day for their whole lives for a condition called Itchyosis....

Sorry to hear that dude.

If it makes you feel any better, did you know there are people out there who take up to 200mg of accutane a day for their whole lives for a condition called Itchyosis....

 

I didn't, but don't worry, I know that if Moderate Acne is my only worry in life then I'm a very lucky person.

Slept for 12 hours pretty much straight last night, nose in way less blocked but I can still barely hear - hopefully this thing is on its way out

Day 145 (20 Weeks)

I HAVE A SPOT. A BIG RED ONE.

This should not be happening a few weeks from the end of treatment :'(

I've attached a pic, my first one on here ever close-up.

My face is so red and scarred it's so hard to look at.

Anyway I've got an appointment with my Dermatologist on the 2nd November, It was supposed to just be my 'routine end of accutane' thing which I wasn't even going to go to, but now I'm breaking out, I am going to go, it's costing me £80 and 17 hour each way of travel to get home from France just for it.

On the plus side my Grandad came to visit me today from Switzerland, he came all the way out to take me out for a meal for my Birthday cus he knows how down I've been. Really cheered me up, thank god for family

Hey mate if you still have the odd spot of acne, straight after your Accutane course, don't think it won't leave you completely clear. You can still clear up after the course has finished. I know its probably not what you want to hear, but I thought I would mention it incase youre not 100% clear come the last day of your course. I hope youre completely clear by your last day though.

I wish my course was the same length as yours. I am four months in, with another eight or nine to go lol.

Also you grandfather sounds like a great guy, glad his visit cheered you up. Best of luck with the remainder of your course.

Hey mate if you still have the odd spot of acne, straight after your Accutane course, don't think it won't leave you completely clear. You can still clear up after the course has finished. I know its probably not what you want to hear, but I thought I would mention it incase youre not 100% clear come the last day of your course. I hope youre completely clear by your last day though.

I wish my course was the same length as yours. I am four months in, with another eight or nine to go lol.

Also you grandfather sounds like a great guy, glad his visit cheered you up. Best of luck with the remainder of your course.

 

That's true, I'm just panicking a bit after being pretty clear for weeks now, if not months, bar the odd blackhead, just seems strange, dreading them saying 'you need a few more months', I'm scared I'll have no eyebrows left the rate they're falling out now which would be hilariously disturbing

I'm pretty lucky I'm only on a short course, luckily Differin for 6 months cleared me up quite a lot which I think helped.

Good luck with your course though, hope your eyebrows are a bit tougher!

Day 138 (20 Weeks)

I HAVE A SPOT. A BIG RED ONE.

 

One spot..... but the rest of your skin looks really clear to me, I certainly wouldn't guess you were an acne sufferer based on that pic.

Sorry to hear you are feeling a bit shitty - I do wonder how much impact the accutane has in that area as I feel a bit crap myself.

I'm on week 8 now (20mg atm) and still breaking out with huge cysts/boils on my back. Still, 8 weeks in so guess I'm nearly a 3rd of the way through?... sigh...

One spot..... but the rest of your skin looks really clear to me, I certainly wouldn't guess you were an acne sufferer based on that pic.

Sorry to hear you are feeling a bit shitty - I do wonder how much impact the accutane has in that area as I feel a bit crap myself.

I'm on week 8 now (20mg atm) and still breaking out with huge cysts/boils on my back. Still, 8 weeks in so guess I'm nearly a 3rd of the way through?... sigh...

 

It's mostly clear - but very red, giant pores, and very uneven skin tone, but all that should hopefully settle down within a few months of coming off Accutane and treating my skin kindly.

The standard course tends to be 6 months, so you're almost 1/3 there, just try and stay positive, and look forward to the future, that's what you're doing this for, clear skin then

Day 148 (21 Weeks)

Happy Birthday to Me! Can't believe I'm 21 and still dealing with Acne.

Anyway, 2 weeks to go!

And they can't go quick enough. My eyes have been so dry lately that they're always red, sore, it's as if I've got pink eye

Also this cold just won't go. It's getting better each day, but it's dragging on worse than ever, mostly in terms of Aching, today at the Gym I felt so dizzy I almost passed out/threw up. But I powered through my work out and felt fine ( I lost a lot of weight from Antibiotics and Accutane because it made me nausious/took my appetite away, so I'm currently 'Bulking', doing Stronglifts and on 3100 calories a day to try and put it back on)

Another thing I realized I don't think I've ever mentioned before is the cause of my acne - I'm certain it's from Stress.

I only ever had standard acne before I was 17, just the odd spot, never more than 3 at a time, a few blackheads etc, until my Dad had a bit of a Breakdown, my parents had a very messy divorce, totally ripped my life and family to pieces, and 2 months later I had the worst acne ever.

Got it under control until a month before my 20th Birthday. My boyfriend of 9 months fucked me over pretty bad, which gave me a whole load of self-confidence issues and made me pretty down, a few weeks later my acne was worse than ever. I don't think its a coincidence that my Acne went from standard to awful a few weeks after the most stressful times of my life.

I just hope that I can manage my stress better in future.

Totes out for Sushi Tonight, it'll be the soberest 21st ever known, but Sushi is the next best thing in the world to Champagne!

Happy 21st for yesterday. I guess the one positive of not drinking is you'll actually remember the day. I personally can only remember patches of my 21st, the only time I've ever had that problem. Also you can make up for lost time if you go on a drinking holiday with some mates. Don't let something from the past stuff up your future, eg. a person or decision, anyone who brings you down isn't worth your time.

Happy 21st for yesterday. I guess the one positive of not drinking is you'll actually remember the day. I personally can only remember patches of my 21st, the only time I've ever had that problem. Also you can make up for lost time if you go on a drinking holiday with some mates. Don't let something from the past stuff up your future, eg. a person or decision, anyone who brings you down isn't worth your time.

 

Ha, this is true, I don't remember my 20th, and my 19th is hazy so maybe it's for the best.

I'm off to Spain in February for a Semester so will more than make up for it there.

And I try not to, I think I deal with stress pretty well, it's just my skin that doesn't annoyingly.

I read your blog too, how come you're on such a low dose? Your acne is less enflamed/sore than mine but way more numerous, did your test results come back a bit dodgy?

-

On an aside, I've gained 2kg / 4.4lbs in the past two weeks, bitchin' happy

Happy birthday I've been reading your log. You're so lucky to be able to travel all over the place. In the US it's obviously much harder to get to other countries so I'm jealous! Good luck to you

Ha, this is true, I don't remember my 20th, and my 19th is hazy so maybe it's for the best.

I'm off to Spain in February for a Semester so will more than make up for it there.

And I try not to, I think I deal with stress pretty well, it's just my skin that doesn't annoyingly.

I read your blog too, how come you're on such a low dose? Your acne is less enflamed/sore than mine but way more numerous, did your test results come back a bit dodgy?

 

If you've gain 2.2kgs in muscle, or even equal parts of required fat and muscle, that's crazy.

I think I am on a low dose because my derm thought my skin was too dry and that I still had a lot of active acne, after my first revisit to him. Also I don't think he likes putting people on a higher dose, as in over 40mgs, so that might be another reason. He also thought I would gain a significant amount of scarring (on top of what I already had) if I didn't do an extra two months on 20mg/day, rather than the original idea of one month on 20mg/day.

My acne could be less inflamed, compared to yours, because I was on doxycyline for an extent period before and my face was the best it had ever been at the start of the treatment (due to a combination of things and luck). Also the extra two months on only 20mg/day was to calm down my acne before going on 40mg/day. As for the numerous part well I have always had a lot of acne, I guess it made sense that I would have a lot of acne while on acccutane, atleast for the start.

Damn it would be awesome to have such easy access to other countries, the only problem with Australia is that no other country is really close to us. Enjoy your time in Spain when it comes around.

Ha, this is true, I don't remember my 20th, and my 19th is hazy so maybe it's for the best.

I'm off to Spain in February for a Semester so will more than make up for it there.

And I try not to, I think I deal with stress pretty well, it's just my skin that doesn't annoyingly.

I read your blog too, how come you're on such a low dose? Your acne is less enflamed/sore than mine but way more numerous, did your test results come back a bit dodgy?

 

If you've gain 2.2kgs in muscle, or even equal parts of required fat and muscle, that's crazy.

I think I am on a low dose because my derm thought my skin was too dry and that I still had a lot of active acne, after my first revisit to him. Also I don't think he likes putting people on a higher dose, as in over 40mgs, so that might be another reason. He also thought I would gain a significant amount of scarring (on top of what I already had) if I didn't do an extra two months on 20mg/day, rather than the original idea of one month on 20mg/day.

My acne could be less inflamed, compared to yours, because I was on doxycyline for an extent period before and my face was the best it had ever been at the start of the treatment (due to a combination of things and luck). Also the extra two months on only 20mg/day was to calm down my acne before going on 40mg/day. As for the numerous part well I have always had a lot of acne, I guess it made sense that I would have a lot of acne while on acccutane, atleast for the start.

Damn it would be awesome to have such easy access to other countries, the only problem with Australia is that no other country is really close to us. Enjoy your time in Spain when it comes around.

 

Yeah I'm pretty lucky living in Europe, you can take a train/fly to pretty much anywhere for 100 return. This Semester in France and the next one in Spain are compulsory as part of my Degree, but I like to pick up jobs during holidays whenever I can just to improve my languages more.

Oh that'd make sense then, I wouldn't like to be on any higher than 50mg, the side effects are bad enough at this high, at the end my cumulative dose will have been 144mg per kg of bw, which I think should hopefully be enough to give me a pretty good chance of it not returning.

-

And I know, crazy, especially as before I just couldn't gain weight at all. Might slow down the eating if I gain as much again next fortnight.