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Accutane and Erectile Dysfunction

 
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(@user116745)

Posted : 07/03/2010 10:56 pm

I'm making this thread for ANY info or solutions you know for this problem. If you have experienced this too, please add your story as well.

 

I took accutane when I was 17 years old for 6 months. Around 3 months in I was noticing I was having trouble maintaining and keeping an erection during masterbation but didn't think much of it. A month later I searched google to see if there was any connection between accutane and ED. There were a few posts in forums of people describing the exact same situation I was in.

 

I stopped my accutane treatment a month short to stop it from hurting my body anymore. I told my dermatologist and he said it was psychological. I wanted to scream.

 

It's been a year since I stopped taking accutane and nothing has changed. Erections are almost impossible for me to get. And orgasms feel very bland. I have stopped dating girls for the fear of them wanting to have sex and me not even being able to. I have never had sex and now I will never get to experience how great it is and the wonderful orgasms I used to have. Drugs like Viagra do not help me at all.

 

Please for the love of God do not take this drug. I don't even feel human anymore. My youth has been destroyed.

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(@sclippers)

Posted : 07/04/2010 6:38 am

I don't have the ED but I have zero interest in women... I don't know what happened to me. Maybe Accutane made me asexual?

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(@newera)

Posted : 07/04/2010 9:25 am

That is absolutely rediculas to suggest that accutane can be linked directly to you experiencing this condition. People on here who blaim all these phantom illness's on acctuane need to realise, a certain percentage of people in this world develop specific conditions, that's just how life is.

 

Do you ever think there are alot of people on here who are strung between using accutane as a last resort or potentially harming themselves. They don't need to be hearing all these horror storys which have no medical backing.

 

ED is something which has a lot to do with how your mind is working, if you believe its going to happen it always will happen, you need to try and totally forget about it. When you were on acctuane, anything that went wrong with your body you would have immediately blamed on the drug, whats to say that wasnt just going to happen to your body anyway?

 

There needs to be some kind of medical backing to these claims or people are going to be scared for no acceptable reason

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(@user116745)

Posted : 07/04/2010 1:41 pm

How can a perfectly healthly 17 year old go from hard as rock to almost completely impotent? And all this happens the same exact time I'm on accutane.

 

And what kind of logic is this, "if you believe its going to happen it always will happen"? I didn't think I was going to get ED while on accutane. I didn't even know it was a side effect!! But by the time I learned, it was too late.

 

And people who are considering accutane as the last resort, I'm telling this story to let them know the possible side effects which will cause you more pain than you are in currently with acne on your face.

 

NewEra pull your head out of your ass. I'm here to share my experience. Just because it's a scary one doesn't mean people shouldn't hear it.

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(@steve32)

Posted : 07/04/2010 1:50 pm

Go see your derm right away, and get test to see the cause

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(@oli-girl)

Posted : 07/06/2010 7:09 am

Teh pwn- go buy Kevin Pezzi's M.D., e-book on Accutane and Ed, or do a search on theese boards and some of his info in pasted on here. Also have your hormones checked, many young men have experinced androgen/testerone problems.

 

Hope things get better, hang in there.

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(@steve32)

Posted : 07/06/2010 9:03 am

easy, erections have to do with something physical most of the time, and some mental, so go get them checked out and see the problem at the doctors

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(@karam)

Posted : 07/06/2010 11:12 am

you just get tired when you're on accutane so that effects all sorts of things

 

when you're off it for a few months you'll probably be back to normal

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(@ic892003)

Posted : 07/06/2010 3:11 pm

no matter what people say accutane ruins lives, i am still suffering after completing it 6 months ago. It reacts differently in everyone and some people are lucky and others not so lucky. I have suffered from ed also while on accutane, but have been getting sligtly better, good luck with your situation i hope you find out the cause

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(@abcabc)

Posted : 08/03/2010 4:52 pm

Same problem here man. I took Accutane in 2000. A couple years later, and I can barely get an erection. Dr. Pezzi wrote something in a book about it like someone above mentioned. My problem has been permanent to date. I've read many other stories like this one. Sorry man and good luck.

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(@zermatt)

Posted : 09/08/2010 4:15 pm

I'm writing on behalf of my 19 year old son. He started taking Isotretinoin (Accutane)in April of 2007. He was on it for at least 2 years.

A year ago he confided in me that he was impotent. (How difficult that must have been for him to tell me...) He had a normal healthy sex life before this medication. We are in the process of having things checked out.

The first urologist basically did a prostate check and told him it was in his head. He has always maintained that is was not in his head that something wasn't "right". He's gone through a horrific year wondering what's wrong with him. 2 months ago I couldn't sleep and started doing research on the computer. It is the Accutane! He isn't the only one. I have bookmarked blogs and have discovered that there are many young men out there like my son. This is such an unreported side effect because it's such a sensitive issue. This is life changing...this is something young men should not have to deal with....Since my discovery 2 months ago we have another Urology appontment in Oct and I plan on having my son tested for everything. I only pray that this will not be permanent. I would appreciate any help or suggestions for us to deal with this. MOMs! Don't put your sons on accutane!

I will share any info we receive. Our own personal doctor is consulting a nationally known Urologist about this issue and I will share all info. We will get through this! Faith is everything....

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(@brian99)

Posted : 09/10/2010 9:31 am

I've had this problem too post-accutane since taking it 4 years ago, at this point I've given up.

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(@accusuffer)

Posted : 09/16/2010 7:15 pm

Hello fellow accutane sufferers. Let me start by saying that I have sympathy for you and you are not alone.

 

A few years ago, I took accutane for a little over a year. I experienced all of the "common" side effects including bleeding from the nose, dry eyes, hair, cracked lips. After taking it for almost a year, I began to have problems urinating and with bowel movements. Eventually this lead to Painful Ejaculation, Watery Ejaculation, Complete loss of sexual sensation, an inability to maintain an erection, ejaculate or achieve orgasm. I also suffer from other symptoms including burning in the hands and feet, cold penis, joint and back pain. I've been fed that "it's all in your head crap" before too, and let me tell you, it's not. True, while there are only an extremely small percentage of men who report these symptoms, what about the ones who are too embarassed to report it (like me) and who keeps track of all of these statistics anyways.

 

Please let me caution you, if I could go back and make the decision to take accutane again, I would avoid it at all costs. There is no telling what else this poision has done to my body that I am unaware of. I would gladly trade my acne free skin back for my sex life any day. It's your decision to make, so please think carefully about it.

 

Here is a list of symptoms that I found on another forum. The Topic Poster is suffering from a medication called Propecia which ironically has something in common with accutane and its effects. I am suffering from most of the effects on his "common" list. As far as recovering, From what I have read, this doesn't look good for us.

 

Here is the link:

 

Here is the post:

 

Accutane Sufferers: YOU HAVE SOULMATES

by finresearch on Thu Feb 04, 2010 5:19 pm

 

Hi to all Accutane Sufferers

 

I have news for you that may help bring this problem to the next level.

 

You have soulmates!

 

I am a moderator at a site for men which have experienced persistent side effects from finasteride (Propecia, Proscar, generics). Our men typically took these medications to combat hair loss. We also have a number of men which have taken saw palmetto based preparations instead of finasteride. Our member count is currently over 1500 and increasing daily.

 

The reason I am posting here is because we had a guy sign up at our site the other day which reported the exact same side effect profile like we have from having taken Accutane. I since have been researching what Accutane sufferers had to say and checked out what has been published from a science/medical point of view. Today, I can say two things for sure:

 

 

1.You people have exactly the same symptom profile like aoewea do

2.Science has so far miserably failed in understanding your problem.

I am 100% sure that we are dealing with exactly the same problem and can mutually benefit from each other. Before going any further, let me give you a rundown of our list of symptoms (some, of course, apply only to men ):

 

Frequent:

* Unexplainable, out-of-the-blue depression (from light to suicidal)

* Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat

* Difficulty Concentrating

* Forgetfulness (can't recall names, places etc) / Losing Train of Thought

* Stumbling over Words / Getting Tongue Tied

* Slowdown of mental processes

* Lack of Motivation

* Anxiety / Panic Attacks

* Social Phobia

* Persistent or Unexplainable Fatigue

* Sleep Disturbances

* Loss of Libido/Sex Drive

* Penis Feels "disconnected" from head or body

* Erectile Dysfunction

* Loss of Morning / Spontaneous / Nocturnal Erections

* Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, curving, numbness, wrinkled)

* Watery Ejaculate

* Reduced Ejaculate

* Inability to Ejaculate / Orgasm

* Testicular Pain

* Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness

* Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems / Bloating

* Changes in Fat Distribution / Weight Gain

* Gynecomastia (male breasts)

* Muscle wasting

* Muscle pain

* Muscle weakness

* Dry skin, dry eyes

* Prostate problems (difficulty to urinate or frequent urination)

* Various Hormones are out of whack

* No or bad reaction to androgen replacement (TRT, DHT)

 

Less frequent:

* Blurry vision/acuity decrease

* Tinnitus (ringing/high pitched sound in ears)

* Lowered body temperature / decreased metabolism

* Lack of blood flow to the penis (cold penis)

* Dry/Dark circles under eyes

* Elevated Liver Values (AST/ALT)

* Increased hair loss, thinning of hair (often accompanied by itchy scalp)

* Chest pain

* Joint pain

* Oversensitivity to light

* Burning sensation in hands (inner side) and fingers, sometimes in feet

 

Like with Accutane, we have unfortunately also had a number of suicides because of the severe depression that often comes with our aoecrasha. It is important to note that these side effects typically surface to the full extent around two weeks (on average) AFTER quitting finasteride/saw palmetto (sound familiar?). This time span can vary strongly anywhere from 2-3 days up to 6 months. The affected men are typically in their early twenties and often in very good health before taking these preparations.

 

Some of these symptoms can be attributed to any garden variety depression you may say. True, but you donat get penile shrinkage, muscle wasting, complete penile numbness and severe gynecomastia from depression. So what is the common denominator between isotretinoin (Accutane), finasteride (Propecia, etc.) and saw palmetto? If you agree that aoeoura list of symptoms pretty well matches aoeyoura list (I have since seen numerous confirmations that it does), then logically these three substances must have something in common that does this to us.

 

The answer is: ALL THREE substances inhibit an enzyme called 5alpha-reductase (5AR). 5AR is what converts the hormone testosterone to the more potent 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

 

In accordance with recent findings, no change in serum testosterone and significant decreases in 5 alpha- dihydrotestosterone (DHT), 5 alpha-androstane-3 alpha,17 beta-diol glucosiduronate, and androsterone glucosiduronate levels were observed after treatment. ... /80/4/1158

 

All the research which I have seen so far (also on this board), seems to completely miss out on this essential fact! Everyone just seems too focused on depression and trying to justify why people are killing themselves!

 

DHT plays a major role in hair loss and ACNE (also in women!). Women have male hormones as well, only in smaller quantities than men. Men in turn have less female hormones such as estrogens.

 

Many men at propeciahelp.com have unsuccessfully tried supplementing and adjusting hormones together with some of the best specialists on this planet. Most have had no success with this; few guys had limited success at best. We are getting pretty close to establishing that the fact of inhibiting 5AR has somehow made us partially androgen resistant. How this can be and exactly what (other?) pathways may be involved is still a mystery a but we are working on it and getting science involved wherever and however we can. Incidentally, my personal focus is on exactly in this area. I have been working relentlessly on getting science involved with our problem and have been in contact with many scientists at a global level. My areas of interest are molecular biology and genetics/epigenetics.

 

I am now very interested to see how Accutane sufferers will react to my post. If we can establish together that we are really talking about the same problem, this would give our aoejoint causea an incredible boost in power. The bigger we can make this problem, the more relevant it will become. This will make it much easier to get the dozens of millions of dollars funding that are needed to get the basic research in this area to the next level. Science is just starting to really realize that chemicals can have persistent side effects:

 

 

...it is becoming increasingly apparent that chemicals can cause changes in gene expression that persist long after exposure has ceased. Here we present the hypothesis that commonly-used pharmaceutical drugs can cause such persistent epigenetic changes.

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(@guygene)

Posted : 10/05/2010 2:13 pm

I am roughly middle aged, and after getting divorced I had a lot of stress due to money and family issues. At that time I began to break out again, which I'm sure was stress related.

 

Having had a lot of success with accutane as a teen, I took it again and my skin cleared up. However, about that same time I also experienced E.D. and it caused the loss of another relationship.

 

Now, after reading this and other forums, I still think it was partially stress related, but possibly also due to accutane and maybe some St. John's Wort suppliments.

 

Looking back, I see that the problem went away after I discontinued the treatments. Maybe coincidence, maybe not.

 

I will say, don't give up! My "thing" was dead for a long time, and I had loss of libido. And while this is anecdotal, my experience is that you can get going again by buying pills from places like Natural Up, or go full-bore with Viagra or Cialis, and before long it'll be back to natural.

 

I found this forum because I've had some more E.D. recently which I attributed to stress. So, of course I broke out due to the stress, so I got some more accutane. Now that I understand the possible correlation between accutane and E.D., I'll be more careful. But, I do believe repair is possible.

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(@jimbo-jones)

Posted : 10/05/2010 6:00 pm

I don't think it's supposed to be permanent but Accutane thins the blood. When you drink, your blood is thinned and you get the infamous "whiskey dick". Accutane has similar effects because of the blood-thinning.

 

This is why people on it have trouble getting erections.

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(@jacobden)

Posted : 10/05/2010 11:33 pm

I don't think it's supposed to be permanent but Accutane thins the blood. When you drink, your blood is thinned and you get the infamous "whiskey dick". Accutane has similar effects because of the blood-thinning.

 

This is why people on it have trouble getting erections.

 

 

Not true, then many or most males on accutane would get this, and its like 1% of people getting ED from it or less.

Also tests would easly show you what is the cause of your ED be it physical or phycological

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(@evie-conrad)

Posted : 10/12/2010 2:29 am

Only in the perverted and ignorant world of medicine could this happen! If I didn't know doctors as well as I do, I'd say it was incredible that people are still not being told the truth about Accutane/ Roaccutane.

 

To answer the specific question about erectile dysfunction, two mechanisms have been suggested. One is a "neurological route". In other words, brain damage makes it impossible to have a psychogenic erection, either because the part of the brain, which deals with sexual arousal, or the part, which controls reflex actions, is damaged. Another possibility is damage to the goblet cells in the testes, possibly affecting hormone levels and sperm production. However, the second seems less likely. Testosterone levels have very little influence on erectile function.

 

[The unimportance of testosterone in ED was demonstrated in harems, where eunuchs had had their testes removed. Most could still have sex with the women under their care but obviously, without testes, couldn't make them pregnant. The prevention of pregnancy (and thus the preservation of the blood line of the king or chief) was the main concern in the ancient World. Unknown to many, the Biblical commandment, which forbids adultery, originally banned one Jewish man from making the wife of another Jewish man pregnant. Strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with having a bit of an inter-Hebrew fling, which didn't put any buns in the oven, or with knocking up a gentile.]

 

Today, andrologists estimate that 90% of cases of ED are of physical origin. The bona fide pharmacology reference works have listed ED [more accurately "chemical castration", in many cases, as the effect is, without highly specialised and almost experimental treatment about which very few doctors know, permanent] as a side effect of Roaccutane for a number of years. It is accepted by everyone (except perhaps Roche and its cronies) that the nature of the complaint has led to massive under-reporting. Therefore, what an earlier contributor said about Roaccutane-associated ED being "all in the mind" was a load of bo***cks.

 

Roaccutane was, in origin, a chemotherapy drug; a highly toxic retinoid designed for use in oncology. Ask an oncologist whether chemo drugs can be given to anyone, who doesn't have a life-threatening disease and he'll say "No way!". As it happens, Roaccutane was envisaged as a skin-cancer treatment (the type of cancer probably being basal-cell carcinoma, the one that has lesions like squashed strawberries). The biochemist, who created it [Werner Bollag] said it was so dangerous that it should never have been licensed- period- and stopped work on it, back in 1971. Roche's American subsidiary withheld his research from the scientists [Yoder and Peck], whose work led to it being licensed in the USA. In the UK, the main expert [Cunliffe], on whose opinion the drug regulator, the MCA, relied, was in the pay of Roche for years. He covered up the suicides of two participants in the pre-licensing trial. He ought to have been struck off, at the very least, but was merely criticised by an official enquiry. Whether this investigation was headed by a certain bearded, Hyde-based GP on a rare day off from slaughtering the old ladies of Greater Manchester, I haven't been able to discover.

 

When Roaccutane was licensed, it was so SOLELY for the most severe form of acne, which affects around 3% of sufferers. That says something for the American FDA and the British MCA. However, dermatologists (prompted no doubt by enthusiastic sales reps and offers of research funding, free holidays, golf outings etc) decided that it was OK to prescribe it ("off label" or in breach of the terms of its licence) for bog-standard, teenage acne (from which 70% of adolescents suffer at one time or another). Once it became "accepted practice" to use Roaccutane in this way, British doctors were protected from negligence actions by the Bolam judgement of 1957 (aka the Doctors' Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card or "OO Licence", a reference to James Bond's authority for assassination), which is possibly the ultimate (but by no means a unique) example of a lawyer scratching the backs of doctors.

 

Dermatologists lied to their patients, in order to obtain consent for treatment, presenting Roaccutane as a "harmless Vitamin A derivative". In theory, that constitutes assault because consent wasn't "informed" but drug companies and their lackeys in white coats are above the law- in most countries. The police won't touch them and the bodies, which are supposed to monitor them are usually controlled by them [eg the MHRA, the new name for the MCA, and the GMC, which licenses doctors in the UK]. Big Pharma's profits and doctors' careers will always be more important than patients' lives.

 

A complete lack of accountability probably explains why doctors and drug company executives have as much sense of right and wrong as amoebae. [Apologies to any amoebae, who are reading this and feel aggrieved by the comparison.] They are amoral. Legal systems, created and administered by people from the same class as doctors for the benefit of that class, are ineffective (and inaccessible to the average Joe). The media either depend on Big Pharma for much of their funding (as is the case in the USA, where about 25% of TV ads are paid for by drug companies) or are terrified of it (as in the UK, where medieval-style, judge-made libel law allows white-collar criminals to get away with anything, as long as they're rich enough to be able to hire libel lawyers). Doctors and drug company executives cause tremendous- almost unimaginable- suffering but, like Eichmann and other Nazi doctors, they are incapable (or, in public, pretend to be incapable) of seeing that any of their actions could be wrong- either logically or morally.

 

Together, the use of Roaccutane for mild or moderate acne, the utterly corrupt licensing process, the abdication of responsibility (for ensuring that drugs are safe) by governments and the lies that doctors told constitute a crime against humanity. The ethical issues, here, are no different from those examined at Nuremberg. Most people just assume that medicine and the pharmaceutical industry are properly regulated and that both attract decent people. Don't medics and sales reps drive nice cars, wear nice suits, live in nice neighbourhoods and send their kids to nice schools? How could they possibly be bad?! A few go into the field with good intentions but the medico-pharmaceutical complex is so inherently evil that the good people can achieve very little within it. They are either marginalised; leave to do something more productive and useful to society; or fall into bad habits themselves.

 

The retinoids, which are used in chemotherapy, destroy the ability of cells to regenerate. That might be acceptable, if those cells happen to be in a tumour, which could end someone's life within months. It's not so good [understatement warning!] if the cells in question are normal, healthy cells [such as neurons or those in the lining of the bowel]. Roaccutane has more side effects than any other prescription drug and many are very severe- not to mention permanent. For instance, Roaccutane is practically the only drug, used outside the field of psychiatry, which can cause psychiatric disorders (although it is highly doubtful that psychiatrists, members of by far the most pseudo-scientific and corrupt branch of medicine, have any idea what causes these symptoms or are aware of any problems with the drugs they use themselves).

 

Doctors aren't scientists: they pose as scientists and some of them come to think that they are, just as many start to believe the propaganda they trot out on behalf of drug companies. One article in the British Medical Journal asked why journals constantly bombarded doctors with scientific papers, the vast majority of which they couldn't possibly understand. Of course, doctors never admit that they don't know something. If they were to do that, patients would start to ask why they are paid so much and have so much power.

 

It has been known, for many years, that chemo drugs cause brain damage and, in fact, the research conducted by Sarah Bailey in Bath showed how Roaccutane probably caused depression- by damaging the ability of certain brain cells, which are responsible for making seratonin, to replace themselves. Roaccutane treats acne by limiting production of new cells in the sebaceous glands, thus making the skin drier. That doesn't sound too bad but it is really the medical equivalent of a farmer dealing with an infestation of insects by dropping a 100-megaton H-Bomb from his crop duster. It might kill the insects but, then again, it might not. On the other hand, it is a cert that it will kill him.

 

75% of doctors, surveyed for medical journal articles in the UK, said that they wouldn't have chemo, even for terminal cancer. They know that it could actually SHORTEN the time they had left and that the side effects could be horrendous. Yet, they still "sell" these drugs to their patients. How much worse is it that a drug like this was prescribed to 15 million people, worldwide, for ACNE! There is some evidence that rates of cancer among pharmacists, who regularly dispense chemo drugs are much higher than those in the general population. That would be the ultimate irony, if chemo drugs could cause cancer.

 

As Hitler said, if you want to tell a lie, tell a really big one and no one will question it. Getting Roaccutane on to the market and stuffing it into children as young as twelve involved telling very big lies. Incidentally, Roche should know all about the Third Reich, since, in accordance with normal Swiss-German practice, the company collaborated with the Nazis, using slave labour in its European factories during WW2. It was a firm controlled by the Hoffmann/Oeri/Sachser family, through holding companies in Switzerland and Uruguay [as it still is today], so it seems slightly strange that it became involved with the Nazis at all.

 

The whole affair, which spans more than forty years, shows that human rights are largely fictional even in self-styled liberal democracies; that medical education, which recruits rich teenagers and puts them through a five-year-long pub quiz on biochemistry and anatomy, is more or less useless; that medicine operates like an organised crime syndicate, religious cult and a nightmarish government department, created jointly by Orwell and Kafka; that the concept of a single medical profession is decades out of date; that doctors are really chosen because they meet certain social criteria and not because they might actually look after their patients properly; and (as psychologists have proved elsewhere) how people's moral standards fall, in direct proportion to the amount of money at stake.

 

Roche makes annual profits of around $14 billion and used to make $2 billion a year from Roaccutane alone. It is reported to have operating cash reserves of [or, if you prefer, a piggy bank containing] $82 billion. The average family doctor in the UK now earns around $207,000 a year for a 35-hour-a-week desk job, with no house calls (unless he wants to earn overtime by moonlighting in the out-of-hours service). The love of money may not be the root of absolutely all evil but it certainly accounts for a lot of it.

 

An individual doctor/drug company exec will often attempt to justify his behaviour by comparing his profession/ company with the average lawyer, a rival drug company exec or any other villain, with whom he probably socialises. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of truth in the statement, "Doctors are no different from anyone else.", although the argument cuts little ice with me. In the criminal justice system, penalties for a crime are increased, if it is committed more often. The opposite principle seems to apply among professionals and business people: the more people are thoroughly evil, the more "normal" it becomes. In 1987, Margaret Thatcher told "Woman's Weekly" that there was no such thing as "society". The Roaccutane scandal makes me question whether "humanity" has been abolished too.

 

The idea that sociological factors are irrelevant and that the actions of individuals are responsible for everything is known as "methodological individualism". The concept was gleaned from one of the few books on philosophy Thatcher had ever read. It's a pity, though, that the doctrine of personal responsibility is applied only to those in shell suits and seldom (if ever) to those in pin-striped suits. I'm with the retired NYPD Lieutenant, who said "A criminal is a criminal, whether he dresses like a rapper or wears Armani." He is campaigning for the establishment of a Medical and Pharmaceutical Division of the force. He reckoned that, in thirty-five years as a cop, doctors and drug companies were the biggest criminals he came across.

 

National governments are heavily under the influence of drug companies. [Roche is no longer among the largest but it is extremely profitable. Glaxo Smithkline and Pfizer are the two real giants, these days.] They are concerned more about jobs, collecting tax and securing party donations or directorships for retired politicians or civil servants than saving the lives of ordinary people. They refuse to take action on Roaccutane, so perhaps it is time for the matter to be referred to the International Criminal Court (with which the USA refuses to co-operate) or to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. I'm not holding my breath. A lack of oxygen is nearly as harmful to one's health as taking Roaccutane.

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(@evie-conrad)

Posted : 10/12/2010 3:01 am

I am roughly middle aged, and after getting divorced I had a lot of stress due to money and family issues. At that time I began to break out again, which I'm sure was stress related.

 

Having had a lot of success with accutane as a teen, I took it again and my skin cleared up. However, about that same time I also experienced E.D. and it caused the loss of another relationship.

 

Now, after reading this and other forums, I still think it was partially stress related, but possibly also due to accutane and maybe some St. John's Wort suppliments.

 

Looking back, I see that the problem went away after I discontinued the treatments. Maybe coincidence, maybe not.

 

I will say, don't give up! My "thing" was dead for a long time, and I had loss of libido. And while this is anecdotal, my experience is that you can get going again by buying pills from places like Natural Up, or go full-bore with Viagra or Cialis, and before long it'll be back to natural.

 

I found this forum because I've had some more E.D. recently which I attributed to stress. So, of course I broke out due to the stress, so I got some more accutane. Now that I understand the possible correlation between accutane and E.D., I'll be more careful. But, I do believe repair is possible.

 

 

Cialis, Viagra and Levitra are just enzyme-inhibiting vasodilators. They don't affect mood or hormone levels. If ED has a neurological cause, the drugs won't work very well and they can have unpleasant side effects (including some reports of a kind of depression, dizziness, shortness of breath).

 

Medical treatment will only be truly successful, if the underlying cause of a disease is found. Remember that principle and you will make progress. Sadly, mainstream medicine usually tailors the diagnosis to meet the available treatment. Most doctors function as bureaucrats, shoving patients into pigeonholes and then dishing out whatever the "high priests" of their profession have decided is the right drug/ operation for that pigeonhole. Whether diagnosis is accurate or meaningful, or treatment effective doesn't matter at all. Basically, mainstream medicine is the labelling and treatment of symptoms. As such, it can never move beyond the management of ill health. That suits many doctors (and all drug companies) just fine: patients, who fully recover, aren't very profitable.

 

Medicine is divided into specialisms, mostly on the basis of symptoms. Can't get a stiffy? Go see a willy doctor! "But what if the cause has nothing to do with what's going on, down there?" you ask. Well, that's just tough titty: it's the way things are and nothing else is available apart from the treatments I can offer you (or so your urologist will tell you).

 

Generally, investigation of ED involves the Nocturnal Penile Tumescence test, to begin with. This is probably a hangover from the days, when it was believed that a significant minority [30% +] of cases were of psychological origin. Today, it's thought that only 10% are "all in the mind". Next, come x-rays of the veins and ultrasound scans of the arteries in and around the penis.

 

Treatment ranges from pills, through prostaglandin injections [injections into the corpora cavernosa] and vascular surgery to the insertion of penile prostheses (either flexible metal rods or hydraulically operated silicone sacs, replacing the corpora cavernosa and corpus spongiosum).

 

Elsewhere on this site, I have referred to newer treatments, which may be able to repair the damage to the male reproductive system and its associated nerves that Roaccutane can cause.

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(@wynne)

Posted : 10/23/2010 9:45 am

...

Sadly, mainstream medicine usually tailors the diagnosis to meet the available treatment. Most doctors function as bureaucrats, shoving patients into pigeonholes and then dishing out whatever the "high priests" of their profession have decided is the right drug/ operation for that pigeonhole. Whether diagnosis is accurate or meaningful, or treatment effective doesn't matter at all. Basically, mainstream medicine is the labelling and treatment of symptoms. As such, it can never move beyond the management of ill health. That suits many doctors (and all drug companies) just fine: patients, who fully recover, aren't very profitable. ...

Patently false. There's a great deal of pride in getting a patient to recover fully and to save lives.

mes6890 liked
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(@keiko1)

Posted : 11/05/2010 6:44 pm

Im sorry but im not sure how it is linked. ED is usually something that can be caused by depression or stress or anxiety. A couple of times i couldnt get it hard because i was stressed or had shit on my mind. I hope it gets better!

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(@chf)

Posted : 11/06/2010 4:47 am

And what kind of logic is this, "if you believe its going to happen it always will happen"? I didn't think I was going to get ED while on accutane. I didn't even know it was a side effect!!

 

Well I'd postulate that:

 

1) You have an off day or a couple of off days for whatever reason, perfectly normal.

2) You worry a little and convince yourself it's the Accutane and that you're "broken".

3) Situation reinforces itself.

 

As may have been said there are many tests for ED and they can tell you whether it's psychological or not. But it seems like if you were to be told it definitely was that you'd still be convinced otherwise. Why do you think your doctor(s) would lie to you?

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(@iryry)

Posted : 11/07/2010 1:03 pm

Teh Pwn, I'm sorry about your ED.

 

I suggest you try Zinc supplements. I used to take them, they kind of make it harder then usual.

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(@keiko1)

Posted : 11/07/2010 4:31 pm

Rare side effect if it is even associated. As above poster states, start taking 50mg zinc in the mean time. I have been getting super hard on accutane/zinc.. like my dik looks 10 ''

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(@accutanerecovery)

Posted : 02/10/2011 11:44 am

i have completely lost my libido and ability to get hard. i have that pins and needles dythesis or whatever a lot of people have mentioned. this all kicked in about a month after getting off accutane. i only took it for about 25 days because the side effects were bad so i decided it wasnt worth not having acne. sure enough tho a month later and im dead in the sack. feels bad man. i have a bangin girlfriend who ill probably end of having to break things off with as things are starting to get sexual and im not packin heat. worst of all is i barely want to have sex. because my libido is so inexistent. i just want to feel human again. if you ave any advice... please help me! i now know how a ken doll feels. feels bad. positive feedback or anything like that is much appreciated. im seeing a nuerologist soon and praying something can help me. im determined to make myself better as well as everyone who has this problem. i feel castrated and miserable. im only 16 and prayinggg too goddd i get better unless he really wants me to be a preist because that'd be the only job for me.

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(@accutanerecovery)

Posted : 02/11/2011 4:15 am

i know for a fact that accutane has caused my impotence, complete loss of libido and sexual pain/no pleasure. it started during my 1 month trial dose so i got off but 4 weeks later the same exact symptoms kicked in and have been present to date. im fucking 16 years old how can this happen to me? this is soo fucked up and i can hardly live my life anymore feeling like a destroyed person. from what ive seen this is all caused by not being able to convert testosterone into the from that your body uses. maybe i just cant create testosterone at all but if it werent for the fact that i already have a full grown penis (totally shrunken and lifeless now) i would be the same genetically as tranny with klinefelters syndrom. this is the scariest feeling imaginable. how can we fix the brain to make it work again? i cant live life happily this way and i need some support. if anyone has answers or something positive to say that would make this less shitty AT ALL please message me i just need feedback

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