How likely would a dermatologist agree to put me on accutane on the first visit?
If I brought it up?
Would I absolutely have to agree to take antibiotics or anything else before accutane?
What if I asked for it?
Is there a test they have to take at all? like for my mental health or whatever?
ALSO do I have to take birth control along with it?
Most derms wont give you accutane the first time without trying something else. They will likely either give you anti-biotics or topicals and say "try them a few months and if they dont work, come back".
If youre female you have to have 2 negative pregnancy tests before you can get it, for good reason(it causes birth defects) . No there is no mental health test but there probably should be. They will make you sign a bunch of papers absolving the derm and Roche from any wrong if you dhould get bad side effects or become suicidal. They dont make you sign all that for nothing.
I dont recommend accutane at all, but I had a very bad experience. I suggest you try everything before accutane, have you tried birth control?
I was turned down twice for Accutane before I was prescribed it. The first time I was quite young and they wanted to exhaust other options, which is when I started my journey of potions and lotions and pills, including birth control, I was only 11 or 12 at the time (My dad [a doctor, who had taken accutane,] took me to the derm because my acne was awful, even at this age, and he knew it would get worse just like his did). The second time I was shot down because I have a hx of depression/arthritis, so the timing wasn't very good. So I continued to try more lotions and potions and pills, this time including some antibiotics and hormone stuff. Now at 23, 10 years after my journey started, my derm and I decided it was the only other option to try.
Yes, I needed two negative pregnancy tests prior to starting and you need to be on birth control and commit to using a second method of birth control like condoms etc. I also have blood tests to make sure I'm not pregnant every 4 weeks.
There is no specific mental health test or anything (at least here in Canada) but my derm definitely asked me about my mental health history and there was a serious discussion about what to do if I noticed my mental health decline or if I felt off, weird, not myself, etc.
I did not have to sign anything prior to taking Accutane, just a discussion with my doc.
Hope this helps! Good luck