Hi!

Just saw your post about your regime that ur derm has set out for you. Im from Australia (SA) and had a similar scenario with my dermatologist. She told me to take 1 20mg every second day for week 1 and 2, then 1 20mg every day for weeks 3 and 4, and then for the weeks 5 and 6 and beyond I had to take 2 20mg tablets, morning and night.

As a result, this took slightly longer than 6 months for me to complete the course.

I also had 3 blood tests during my course. I had one before I started taking the roaccutane to make sure my liver could handle it, and then one after 2 months and then the last after 4 months.

Something else, which I havnt heard anyone else doing so far, is that i was told to take 1 20mg capsule a day for the last 2 months of my course. My dermatologist was worried about me burning in the summer sun, now that its summer. I kept taking it twice daily, but switched to once daily if I knew i was going to be in the sun that day, or going to have a few drinks.

I have 1 week left of my roaccutane left to take, but Ive decided (i think, as im still not sure) to stop taking it. Ive been fine throughout my treatment, but ive been getting really itchy eczema rashes on my arms, and have been feeling dizzy with the simplest moves for a few months now. I have always been wary of taking this med and a little worried about the long term effects (if any), and so I took new years eve to be my last day of roaccutane. But instead of breaking free completely, I have had this constant headache ever since I was due for my next roaccutane pill on the 1st Jan, and have just taken another roaccutane capsule (2nd Jan) to see if it was a withdrawal symptom. Not too sure if I am going through withdrawals or not but within an hour of taking the roaccutane, the headache disappeared. Has anyone else suffered something similar, after finishing their course if roaccutane?

Anyway, hope Ive answered your question, or given you a bit of clarity. It must be an Australian thing for the derms to ease us into the drug. Im starting to thing maybe i should be easing out of it, instead of going cold turkey, especially since i still have a weeks-worth left of pills.

Let me know if you have any more questions. Im happy to pass on my experiences to help you or anyone else out. So glad ive finished the course (well almost), and I know how hard it can be to get through, so ill happily pass on any guidance if i can.

Thanks for the reply! That's good to hear about the regime, thought it might have just been me. I did a blood test before starting treatment but the only other one ive been told to have is 6 weeks after treatment began so im not sure if i am to have a third one.

Did you achieve your minimum cumulative dosage? Also would you mind posting some before and after pics?

Thanks

Hey, so i had a quick look online and from what i could see, the ideal dose should be 120mg to 150mg per kg body weight. Im about 56kg, so that means that my minimum cumulative dosage is 6720mg. I've had 6 packs with 60 tablets in each which means a total of 7200mg (with 20mg doses).

I still have that last pack which has a weeks worth in it which is 300mg, so yep, I should definitely have reached my minimum.

I'm kinda glad I havn't taken the last lot. I've been reading a lot of the forums on acne.org and getting a little worried about the long term side effects that may appear down the track. They are kinda scaring me, as it appears they can appear at any time (someone mentioned 10 years after their course, but not sure how much that was linked to accutane). Not to seem like a smart arse or anything, but you should check out some of the other forums speaking of long term side affects and suicidal thoughts. I know you have just started your course, but try and get as much info as you can. Just wish I had more info before I took my course, and I am so terrified of getting anything like the others.

I have spent a great deal of today doing some research about detoxing to try and get it out of my body. Apparently it could be the build up of Vitamin A in your liver which causes the long term stuff. From what I read today, there could be ways to remove it. Still looking into it, so will share what I find.

Haha, I can post some pics but i will need to find a before shot where I wasnt wearing makeup.

How are u finding the accutane so far? Any side effects as of yet?

Have you been prescribed your minimum cumulative dosage for your body weight?

Hi,

With what i currently have, i will be about 2000 mg under my minimum cumulative dosage which im not sure what to do about. Im a bit wooried about going through those kind of forum posts because i know the side effects are very rare and i am one of those people who will expect the worst so id rather not know about it and trust my derm if any problems come up.

The only real side effects ive had is dry skin and lips which is normal for everyone.

Yeah I would check with your derm, because you dont want to go through all this and have it not work. But maybe they had a reason? Not too sure what it would be, unless they are being cautious with something else to do with your medical history maybe.

And yeah those forums can be quite scary, but I would honestly have stopped treatment right away if i had gotten any serious side effect.

Im so happy with the end results but im not sure if i would have taken roaccutane if i knew before what i know now. Im detoxing right now though, so i think i should be fine. Maybe i should stop reading those forums too... Lol

I'm in melbourne, have the exact same routine.

Seems in australia they give the correct dosages and fix them as you go and look after your health while on it. America on the otherhand is a country where they simply throw the packet at you and give you ridiculous dosages and then wonder why they have chronic problems and stuffed up bowels, this is the benefits of living in a first world country my friends with great healthcare.

Cherish it.

Im located in australia. My dermo told me that by starting gently on the dosage she saw it was less likely that a crazy outbreak of acne at the start of isotrentin would occur. So i too gently increased the doseage. However at 60mg / day (3 tabs: one at each meal i was just so super dry in the lips that life without immediate access to lip balm was impossible. (Actually it still isnt comfortable without it on all the time but not as bad)

Also i have pcos so i believe the acne will return for sure. So i reduced the dose to 1tab or 20 mg per day and it took about 1.5 yrs to finish the first course.

I have a friend who continues to take roaccutane once a week just to keep the acne down. Apparently this is not reccomended ( i asked my dermo if i could do this, and i dont think she approves) but for some people in certain professions acne is unacceptable.

Currently, ive stopped roaccutane for a month now and my skin has never been better .

Im also on the pill so that should also help my face.

Liver wise ive had blood tests every three months and a rise can be seen every time i was on nightshift and took regular (no more than 4g/24hrs) of panadol. I stopped taking panadol and all my numbers normalised.

Hi!

Just saw your post about your regime that ur derm has set out for you. Im from Australia (SA) and had a similar scenario with my dermatologist. She told me to take 1 20mg every second day for week 1 and 2, then 1 20mg every day for weeks 3 and 4, and then for the weeks 5 and 6 and beyond I had to take 2 20mg tablets, morning and night.

As a result, this took slightly longer than 6 months for me to complete the course.

I also had 3 blood tests during my course. I had one before I started taking the roaccutane to make sure my liver could handle it, and then one after 2 months and then the last after 4 months.

Something else, which I havnt heard anyone else doing so far, is that i was told to take 1 20mg capsule a day for the last 2 months of my course. My dermatologist was worried about me burning in the summer sun, now that its summer. I kept taking it twice daily, but switched to once daily if I knew i was going to be in the sun that day, or going to have a few drinks.

I have 1 week left of my roaccutane left to take, but Ive decided (i think, as im still not sure) to stop taking it. Ive been fine throughout my treatment, but ive been getting really itchy eczema rashes on my arms, and have been feeling dizzy with the simplest moves for a few months now. I have always been wary of taking this med and a little worried about the long term effects (if any), and so I took new years eve to be my last day of roaccutane. But instead of breaking free completely, I have had this constant headache ever since I was due for my next roaccutane pill on the 1st Jan, and have just taken another roaccutane capsule (2nd Jan) to see if it was a withdrawal symptom. Not too sure if I am going through withdrawals or not but within an hour of taking the roaccutane, the headache disappeared. Has anyone else suffered something similar, after finishing their course if roaccutane?

Anyway, hope Ive answered your question, or given you a bit of clarity. It must be an Australian thing for the derms to ease us into the drug. Im starting to thing maybe i should be easing out of it, instead of going cold turkey, especially since i still have a weeks-worth left of pills.

Let me know if you have any more questions. Im happy to pass on my experiences to help you or anyone else out. So glad ive finished the course (well almost), and I know how hard it can be to get through, so ill happily pass on any guidance if i can.

Congratulations on completing the course! I was reading this thread and wanted to ask if you ever had initial breakout during your course of accutane. I read somewhere else saying that some derms would recommend starting the course with lower doseage to possibly prevent bad IB. What was your experience on this? I'm starting my course pretty soon and would like to get some insights that would help minimize IB. Thank you!

Hi Whatanate,

Yeah I think starting the course slowly is a great idea. I never really had any crazy breakouts during my treatment. It just took about 2 months for my face to become perfectly clear, and it seemed that i just had my normal pimples popping up during that first period until they dwindled away to nothing.

One thing I have found that worked well for me, was applying tea tree oil all over my face (very lightly though, as its quite harsh and stinged a bit while on accutane), and that gave me absolutely no pimples. I got married 4 months into my course, so I wasn't taking any chances on achieving clear skin!

Hope that helps! Feel free to ask anything else!

Winter

 

"this is the benefits of living in a first world country my friends with great

healthcare."

 

 

Im located in australia. My dermo told me that by starting gently on the dosage she saw it was less likely that a crazy outbreak of acne at the start of isotrentin would occur. So i too gently increased the doseage. However at 60mg / day (3 tabs: one at each meal i was just so super dry in the lips that life without immediate access to lip balm was impossible. (Actually it still isnt comfortable without it on all the time but not as bad)

Also i have pcos so i believe the acne will return for sure. So i reduced the dose to 1tab or 20 mg per day and it took about 1.5 yrs to finish the first course.

I have a friend who continues to take roaccutane once a week just to keep the acne down. Apparently this is not reccomended ( i asked my dermo if i could do this, and i dont think she approves) but for some people in certain professions acne is unacceptable.

Currently, ive stopped roaccutane for a month now and my skin has never been better .

Im also on the pill so that should also help my face.

Liver wise ive had blood tests every three months and a rise can be seen every time i was on nightshift and took regular (no more than 4g/24hrs) of panadol. I stopped taking panadol and all my numbers normalised.

Congrats on finishing your course!

Thats crazy that it took you so long to finish it! Did you have many side effects during your course? Or were they lessened because you were taking less each day?

Oh, and what is pcos?

Yeah I would check with your derm, because you dont want to go through all this and have it not work. But maybe they had a reason? Not too sure what it would be, unless they are being cautious with something else to do with your medical history maybe.

And yeah those forums can be quite scary, but I would honestly have stopped treatment right away if i had gotten any serious side effect.

Im so happy with the end results but im not sure if i would have taken roaccutane if i knew before what i know now. Im detoxing right now though, so i think i should be fine. Maybe i should stop reading those forums too... Lol

No reason was given to me at all and i have had no previous medical issues of any kind.

I have not had a large IB (hopefully this doesnt jynx it) so maybe that was the reason why.

Hi Whatanate,

Yeah I think starting the course slowly is a great idea. I never really had any crazy breakouts during my treatment. It just took about 2 months for my face to become perfectly clear, and it seemed that i just had my normal pimples popping up during that first period until they dwindled away to nothing.

One thing I have found that worked well for me, was applying tea tree oil all over my face (very lightly though, as its quite harsh and stinged a bit while on accutane), and that gave me absolutely no pimples. I got married 4 months into my course, so I wasn't taking any chances on achieving clear skin!

Hope that helps! Feel free to ask anything else!

Winter

"this is the benefits of living in a first world country my friends with great

healthcare."

Yeah I agree they seem to have this right, Nignog. But the Australian health care system is a joke. I don't feel lucky at all to have our shonky health care system!!

Not just this, our whole healthcare is in great shape and much better than majority of the other countries. What you are talking about is pure nonsense who should be sent to america or some other third world country to show you what "Shonky health care system" truly is with your tight lipped mouth who most likely just paid 8$ with her healthcard/conession card for a pack of accutane while the rest of the world paid 80$+ if not more and extra for bloodtests.

We are the 7th most efficient healthcare system in the world.

Hi, I am in the UK and my doc suggested low dose roaccutane as well.I take up to 3 x 20mg capsules a wk. I am about 2 and a half months in and have had no real side effects (touch wood!) apart from slightly dry lips. The US school of thought seems to be hit it hard and fast while Australia & Europe seems to go for the lower dose way, of course I am generalizing here..

Low dose is working for me, I would say my oil production is that of a 'normal' person and I do get a few spots still but not the big tender lumps that take weeks to go- you know the ones, the cysts with their own heartbeat! I also had no IB.

I would say to anyone who is a bit nervous of the side effects to speak to your doc and see if you can try low dose first. That way you get to know if the drug is suiting you and you can ease your way in gently, mentally and physically..

Not just this, our whole healthcare is in great shape and much better than majority of the other countries. What you are talking about is pure nonsense who should be sent to america or some other third world country to show you what "Shonky health care system" truly is with your tight lipped mouth who most likely just paid 8$ with her healthcard/conession card for a pack of accutane while the rest of the world paid 80$+ if not more and extra for bloodtests.

We are the 7th most efficient healthcare system in the world.

So sorry if i offended you you so.

As I did not provide any references or statistics, you can clearly see that this was MY opinion from MY bad experiences with health in our country.

I do not need to be sent to america to know that bad things (due to lack of knowledge, lack of care, bad luck, limited funds, and strict policies) can happen anywhere, even here.

And for the record, I spent a fortune on my derm, and certainly did not pay $8 for my accutane!!