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Accutane, Round Two. Pictures Included.

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 12/31/2012 3:04 am

Hello! This is my second round of Accutane. I will be starting on January 1st (I figured why not wait until the New Year). My first two weeks will consist of 40mg and then the following two weeks will consist of 40mg one day followed by 80mg the following day.

 

I was extremely lucky my first round of Accutane, I had a very easy time with it and it was actually not so bad. I was beautifully clear up until recently. Even now I'm not too broken out, I just have extremely persistent acne and we're hoping that this will be one last attempt to clear it up for my adult life and we figured why not go for it when I had it so easy the first time and everything we have used has failed.

 

My acne this time around is a little bit different. When I was younger my acne was mainly concentrated directly on my cheeks. Now that I'm 21 my acne is seemingly on my jaw line and on my neck. I also have a little bit of hair growth on my neck so my doctor is also keeping an eye on my hormones to see if possibly it is too much testosterone in my body. However, my doctor has said this is also natural to see your acne move downwards as you age. So we shall see when I go in for my first bit of blood work.

 

This is also going to be a little unique in the fact that I am also going to be trying to lose weight during my Accutane adventure (and after). I'm not too large, but I definitely gained a little college weight! I figured since this is all coming at a beautiful time of the New Year, why not go with big goals.

 

A little more about me? I'm an avid soccer player, I ride horses, I am a college student (graduating in May!) and I work at my internship full time! So I'm a busy girl!

 

I really feel like I've come full circle with my acne journey. The last time I was on Accutane I was graduating high school in '09, and now I'm graduating college. The time feels right to do this again, so I hope you join me on my adventure and I hope it's as easy as my last journey.

 

My current face condition directly following a shower:

Right Cheek

Left Cheek

Neck

A few months ago with clear skin

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MemberMember
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(@michelle-reece)

Posted : 12/31/2012 3:12 am

Good luck on your course (and college courses)! :)

 

Did your doctors ever specify how much fat (grams) you should be eating with your dose, by the way?

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 12/31/2012 3:17 am

Good luck on your course (and college courses)! smile.png

Did your doctors ever specify how much fat (grams) you should be eating with your dose, by the way?

 

No, she didn't last time either. When I asked she suggested either a glass of milk with it after dinner (but I believe in staying clear from dairy for my acne). But she has also said that a normal, balanced meal should be fine as well.

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(@michelle-reece)

Posted : 12/31/2012 4:00 am

Good luck on your course (and college courses)! smile.png

Did your doctors ever specify how much fat (grams) you should be eating with your dose, by the way?

 

No, she didn't last time either. When I asked she suggested either a glass of milk with it after dinner (but I believe in staying clear from dairy for my acne). But she has also said that a normal, balanced meal should be fine as well.

 

I asked because of this in a recently published paper:

"Patients may not be aware of the need to take oral isotretinoin with food, as many physicians tend to prescribe isotretinoin without specific instructions to take with food, and others may assume that administration instructions will come from the pharmacy. Unfortunately, pharmacists may not regularly apply œtake with food stickers to the medication bottle, compounding the problem. Physicians who do instruct patients to take isotretinoin with food may not communicate the importance of this requirement well, and others who do stress the importance may not follow up on this instruction in subsequent visits. Inevitably, there are patients who do know to take oral isotretinoin with food, but may forget the instruction over time, especially if it is not written on the bottle or they are not reminded at each prescription refill."

It appears from the same paper that isotretinoin should be taken with a 800-1000 calorie meal with 500-600 calories from fat. Isotretinoin not taken with food or very little fat may explain why some patients relapse. But as you're trying to lose weight, eating that much fat with your dose is not ideal and not very realistic anyway. =/

I wonder if her or her colleagues heard about this. It would probably be a good idea to bring it up next time.

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 12/31/2012 4:25 am

Good luck on your course (and college courses)! smile.png

Did your doctors ever specify how much fat (grams) you should be eating with your dose, by the way?

 

No, she didn't last time either. When I asked she suggested either a glass of milk with it after dinner (but I believe in staying clear from dairy for my acne). But she has also said that a normal, balanced meal should be fine as well.

 

I asked because of this in a recently published paper:

"Patients may not be aware of the need to take oral isotretinoin with food, as many physicians tend to prescribe isotretinoin without specific instructions to take with food, and others may assume that administration instructions will come from the pharmacy. Unfortunately, pharmacists may not regularly apply œtake with food stickers to the medication bottle, compounding the problem. Physicians who do instruct patients to take isotretinoin with food may not communicate the importance of this requirement well, and others who do stress the importance may not follow up on this instruction in subsequent visits. Inevitably, there are patients who do know to take oral isotretinoin with food, but may forget the instruction over time, especially if it is not written on the bottle or they are not reminded at each prescription refill."

It appears from the same paper that isotretinoin should be taken with a 800-1000 calorie meal with 500-600 calories from fat. Isotretinoin not taken with food or very little fat may explain why some patients relapse. But as you're trying to lose weight, eating that much fat with your dose is not ideal and not very realistic anyway. =/

I wonder if her or her colleagues heard about this. It would probably be a good idea to bring it up next time.

 

Hmm, while that is definitely an interesting article, I feel like that's an extremely unrealistic goal for anyone to reach. Especially someone of my size already (about 130 pounds) at about 5'5". I don't usually eat much beyond 1200 calories a day. That would be essentially my entire intake in a single day consumed in one meal with the pill.

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(@leelowe1)

Posted : 12/31/2012 9:56 am

Hey, good luck with your second course. I am currently on my thrid and i'm in the shitty IB stage unfortunately. Curious to know, what other treatments have you tried besides accutane. The reason i ask is because if hormones is your big issue, a drug like Spiro and BC may be an option as accutane does nothing to your hormones so if that is your main issue, you may be at it again in a few years.

 

How long was your acne in remission with your previous treatment and did you maintain with topicals?

 

will definitely be cheking up on your log as i am always interested in the experiences of repeat users of accutane.

 

Good Luck hun and congrats on the upcoming graduation - it's an exciting time!

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 12/31/2012 4:05 pm

 

Hey, good luck with your second course. I am currently on my thrid and i'm in the shitty IB stage unfortunately. Curious to know, what other treatments have you tried besides accutane. The reason i ask is because if hormones is your big issue, a drug like Spiro and BC may be an option as accutane does nothing to your hormones so if that is your main issue, you may be at it again in a few years.

How long was your acne in remission with your previous treatment and did you maintain with topicals?

will definitely be cheking up on your log as i am always interested in the experiences of repeat users of accutane.

Good Luck hun and congrats on the upcoming graduation - it's an exciting time!

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(@jkoz)

Posted : 01/01/2013 1:41 am

Reading through your list reminds me of many of the things I've tried! Good luck on this round of isotretinoin :)

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 01/01/2013 6:00 pm

Reading through your list reminds me of many of the things I've tried! Good luck on this round of isotretinoin smile.png

 

Having tried almost everything might be the most frustrating thing in the world.

Thank you, I hope your round is good too!

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 01/01/2013 9:19 pm

Day 1

I wasn't sure I was going to take my pill today, I feel awful and I'm 99% sure I'm coming down with the flu. I went ahead and took it though. Not much to update on right now. It's just going to be an up hill battle for dryness through the winter. As it is my face is already flaking from the harsh winter air. Good thing I have my trusty cetaphil at the palm of my hands.

 

And just an FYI:

If you have super bad dryness with your Accutane I strongly suggest cetaphil moisturizer in the TUB for at night. It's super thick and moisturizing and it literally saved my face last round of accutane because regular pump lotions (cerave and cetaphil) weren't moisturizing enough and my face remained flaking. This at night though made the world of difference in my face. I also use cetaphil cleanser. My lip regime is a gentle lip scrub to get rid of the top layer of dry skin with regular chapstick over it.

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 01/03/2013 8:51 am

Day 3.

 

Well I have two pills down. My face is neither better or worse, but last time I took accutane I never had an IB so I am hoping for that this time as well. We will see in a few weeks.

 

No changes really, just a bloody nose, but that is typical for me in the winter.

 

My mood is horrible though. I am sick of coming to work and my boss not telling me she isn't going to be here. In two months she hasn't been here at least 8 of the times I have been (I only work 3 days a week). And I can't do anything when she isn't here since I'm an intern. I have to wait for instruction from her and override approval into the system. I'm really sick of it to be honest.

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 01/03/2013 10:26 pm

Lord help me, I have the flu and it's TERRIBLE this year. Every bit of my body hurts so bad I can't move.

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(@jkoz)

Posted : 01/04/2013 10:20 pm

That sucks! Stomach flu? Cold flu? Drink tons of water!!!!

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(@myresults_xnow)

Posted : 01/05/2013 2:03 am

That sucks! Stomach flu? Cold flu? Drink tons of water!!!!

 

It was the stomach flu, and I basically lived off of water the past 24 hours haha. I knew it was coming, my best friend had it on New Years Eve.

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