Day 87-96

Had my check up at the dermatology department yesterday, and I've been put up to 80mg per day which I'm happy about. I think the Dr I saw originally was fairly conservative with dosing, so I'm happy the nurses have managed to convince her to sign off on an increased dose.
It hasn't been a great couple of weeks, skin wise (ok still 100x better than pre-accutane), but I have had quite a few spots come up, and they've been kind of painful and inflamed (thought nothing cystic). For the last week it has almost felt as if I've stopped taking the pills (I haven't), as my skin hasn't been dry at all. In fact I've hardly been not using any moisturiser for days, because it just won't skin into my skin. Maybe its because its been very humid here recently? Or maybe my body is really good at readjusting itself to being on accutane? Who knows! Anyway, I'm happy to be up to 80mg hopefully it will actually feel like I'm taking the drug again soon!
My lips are fine, I have no dry or itchy skin at all, no joint pain (just my heels hurt if I walk around a bit), my eyes are fine and I wore contacts for about 12 hours yesterday with no problems.
I had my depo provera shot the day before yesterday, so I am wondering if coming to end of the depo cycle (ie the week before the next shot) could have something to with the breakouts, and the nurse I saw said that was definitely possible. So my skin maybe likes the high dose of hormones and doesn't like it when it starts to wear off? Confusing!

Day 97 - 128

Sooo I got a horrible horrible illness - I believe I actually got whooping cough which I didn't really think was a thing for adults, but it seems to be the thing I've had. So I have been very ill for a month and wasn't able to take any of my accutane pills for 2 weeks due to not being able to eat anything and/or throwing up what I did manage to eat. At one point my mum had to go and get me calpol because I couldn't even manage to swallow pills anymore, just so I could get some paracetamol (for non-brits calpol is basically flavoured liquid tylenol for kids). It was bad, bad times.
Still nowhere near 100%, but I'm starting to get myself back on the pills. Done a few days at 40mg, now up to 60mg. Stomach is still pretty sensitive so I don't really know if I'm getting enough fat cos I'm sticking to more bland foods still.
Had to cancel 2 derm appointments, and now struggling to get another one on the next couple of weeks before I go on holiday (they run an accutane clinic which I think they only hold once a week thus the problem).
So...its been a horrendous month. That's basically my update. Hopefully better times to come.
(But hey, at least I didn't give a shit about my skin for a few weeks!)

Day 129 - 169

I had my derm appointment which I did manage to get sorted before my holiday. They kept me on 80. Now I've had my next one after that, and they have put me up to 90mg a day for what should be my final month on accutane. I'm so surprised they put me up, as I've had to push my way up to 80mg, and I didn't suggest going to 90. I guess it really depends so much on which nurse you get on the day and what kind of mood the doctor is in who has to sign off! I think I will end up somewhere inbetween 100 - 120 mg per kg, so I'm ok with that.
I haven't had any new actives in over a month. I have my depo provera shot in a few days, and it was this time I was a bit worried about, as the week before my last shot my skin got quite a bit worse. But fingers crossed it will continue to hold out ok.
I haven't been updating much because now that my skin has pretty much cleared up I'm just not obsessing about it all the time (sweet relief!), and also I don't have any bad side effects to comment on.
My lips are a bit dry of course, but nothing terrible, and I think nothing compared to what many other people seem to experience. Skin a bit dry - nothing moisturising doesn't fix. Having said that I didn't pack my jojoba oil when I went on holiday due to the weight, and my skin was much much more dry and flaky as I was only using moisturiser instead of mixing the two. So that's a top tip from me to anyone reading.... mix jojoba oil with your moisturiser at night! My hair is very dry and breaking a hell of a lot. I am going to have to get it cut shorter once I'm done with accutane, as it's pretty damaged now. Totally worth it - hair grows back!
Ummmm.... can't really think of anything else right now. Super happy with how things are going at the moment!

Days 170 - 194

So I'm pretty much done! Had my last appointment in the dermatology department. I went through the same usual questions, and then was asked a few short questions about what I thought of the treatment and how it had worked for me. I was given an at home pregnancy test to take in one month. I was also told to book a fasting blood test for 5 -6 weeks time to make sure my liver function and cholesterol are still ok. I will have to do mine in 4 weeks as I'm moving abroad in about 6 weeks, and the nurse said that would be ok. I saw a nurse I hadn't seen previously and I showed her a couple of pictures of my skin before I started accutane, and she open mouth gasped. So I guess that's good that she would not have thought that is what my skin used to look like from what it looks like now. I'm gonna take it that way anyway!
I would happily stay on this drug for many more months. For me the side effects have been so minimal and inconsequential in comparison to the incredible benefits.
One new side effect I got once I went up to 90mg as that my hair started falling out a lot more. Like coming out in clumps rather than strands. This did freak me out, but as I knew I only had about 3 weeks left I stuck it out. If that had started earlier in my course I would have been a lot more worried.
I think in a while I will do a post about any side effects I encountered, and what products I used etc as a little recap, but for now that's it!