I made a new account aside from this one and tried posting an Accutane question but I guess it didn't post as it is not in my topics on my other profile.
Basically, I have a few problems. Them being:
-Went to my monthly check-in.Dermatologist originally had me to be on Accutane for 6, even 7 months. Now she is saying I have two appointments left because the final month I don't need to be seen. I've only been on it for 2 months. (2 months exactly on the 21st) I had severe acne that NOTHING else could fix and right now, since about week 7, I have been clear. No active breakouts at all.
-My dermatologist called after we left saying I can only take 40mg once a day now because of iPledge and my insurance. They won't let me have my usual 40mg one day and 60mg the other due to the supply being too high for me to contain. I can only have a 30 day supply but last time I filled up my prescription I got 3 boxes of 20mg. I took 2 20mg one day and 3 20mg the next. Well, my next appointment isn't until the 21st of next month and I will run our 4 days before I can get another prescription. I hate missing doses because I feel like it puts me back.I was told to not skip more than 7 days. I already had to skip one because of the dermatologist's schedule.
I am confused because I weigh 110/115 pounds/16 years old and am suppose to have a certain "cumulative dose" and I will not meet that at all now that I am only taking 40mg a day. I am worried because I do not want to have to take a second round. We are paying about $330 out of pocket each month for it. My insurance covers $200. It's still a lot considering we have bad money problems with the state and being in debt in medical bills. I need help understanding this all. Will I be okay to take the 40mg a day for the next 3 months? Is there a huge chance of it coming back to the point I need another course?
I am sorry if I had posted this already as it didn't show up anywhere in my other account. I had to do some searching to find the email for this account for the password!
Hi there -
You have been taking the 40mg/60mg now for 2 months, correct? that means you are taking 50 mg a day (40*15 days)+(60*15 days) = 1500mg / 30 = 50mg / day. So, at 110/115 pounds, that is more or less 1mg/kg. The optimal cumulative dose is 120 mg/kg. Meaning you need to take a total of 6000mg. If you have taken 50mg a day for 2 months, you are at 3000 mg, which means you are exactly half way through your course.
Now, you are being dropped down to 40mg. Thats not a whole lot less than 1mg/kg, thats about .8mg/kg. Not so bad. It will take you another 2.5 months to get to the cumulative dose at 40mg a day, if I did the calculations correctly. So if your doctor says you have two more appointments after this last one, that will give you 3 more months of accutane (most recent appointment =30 day script for 40, next appointment = 30 day script for 40, and last appointment = 30 day script for 40). That puts you at your cumulative dose.
Hi there -
You have been taking the 40mg/60mg now for 2 months, correct? that means you are taking 50 mg a day (40*15 days)+(60*15 days) = 1500mg / 30 = 50mg / day. So, at 110/115 pounds, that is more or less 1mg/kg. The optimal cumulative dose is 120 mg/kg. Meaning you need to take a total of 6000mg. If you have taken 50mg a day for 2 months, you are at 3000 mg, which means you are exactly half way through your course.
Now, you are being dropped down to 40mg. Thats not a whole lot less than 1mg/kg, thats about .8mg/kg. Not so bad. It will take you another 2.5 months to get to the cumulative dose at 40mg a day, if I did the calculations correctly. So if your doctor says you have two more appointments after this last one, that will give you 3 more months of accutane (most recent appointment =30 day script for 40, next appointment = 30 day script for 40, and last appointment = 30 day script for 40). That puts you at your cumulative dose.
I was taking 40mg the first month. Basically up until a month I was taking 40mg and after the month I was doing 40mg, 60mg and now I'm taking 40mg starting today. Thanks for answering by the way! I'm sorry if I'm confusing you. Let me try making this more understanding:
First prescription fill: 40mg a day
Second fill: 3 boxes of 20mg (2 20mg one day, 3 20mg other day)
Current fill: 40mg a day
Is that more correct sounding? It's been 8 weeks since I started.
Hi there -
You have been taking the 40mg/60mg now for 2 months, correct? that means you are taking 50 mg a day (40*15 days)+(60*15 days) = 1500mg / 30 = 50mg / day. So, at 110/115 pounds, that is more or less 1mg/kg. The optimal cumulative dose is 120 mg/kg. Meaning you need to take a total of 6000mg. If you have taken 50mg a day for 2 months, you are at 3000 mg, which means you are exactly half way through your course.
Now, you are being dropped down to 40mg. Thats not a whole lot less than 1mg/kg, thats about .8mg/kg. Not so bad. It will take you another 2.5 months to get to the cumulative dose at 40mg a day, if I did the calculations correctly. So if your doctor says you have two more appointments after this last one, that will give you 3 more months of accutane (most recent appointment =30 day script for 40, next appointment = 30 day script for 40, and last appointment = 30 day script for 40). That puts you at your cumulative dose.
I was taking 40mg the first month. Basically up until a month I was taking 40mg and after the month I was doing 40mg, 60mg and now I'm taking 40mg starting today. Thanks for answering by the way! I'm sorry if I'm confusing you. Let me try making this more understanding:
First prescription fill: 40mg a day
Second fill: 3 boxes of 20mg (2 20mg one day, 3 20mg other day)
Current fill: 40mg a day
Is that more correct sounding? It's been 8 weeks since I started.
We have already established that you need approximately 6,000 mg cumulative to reach 120mg/kg.
Ok, so 40 mg a day in the 1st month = 1200mg.
50mg in the second month (again, alternating 40mg and 60mg every other day is equivalent to 50mg a day) = 1500
So, the first 8 weeks you have taken a total of 2700.
6000-2700 = 3300 mg to go.
Again, if you have 3 months left in your course, you will need to take 37mg a day to reach the cumulative dose. (3300 / 90 days = ~37mg).
So, once again - you should be fine if you continue to take 40 mg a day for the rest of your course, assuming you have completed 60 days, with the first 30 days at 40mg, and the second 30 days at 50 AND you will be taking 40mg a day for the next 90 days.
If the above sentence in bold is true, and your weight remains stable (I calculated this at 50 kg with is approx. 110Ib) you will reach just over a cumulative dose of 120mg/kg.
Hi there -
You have been taking the 40mg/60mg now for 2 months, correct? that means you are taking 50 mg a day (40*15 days)+(60*15 days) = 1500mg / 30 = 50mg / day. So, at 110/115 pounds, that is more or less 1mg/kg. The optimal cumulative dose is 120 mg/kg. Meaning you need to take a total of 6000mg. If you have taken 50mg a day for 2 months, you are at 3000 mg, which means you are exactly half way through your course.
Now, you are being dropped down to 40mg. Thats not a whole lot less than 1mg/kg, thats about .8mg/kg. Not so bad. It will take you another 2.5 months to get to the cumulative dose at 40mg a day, if I did the calculations correctly. So if your doctor says you have two more appointments after this last one, that will give you 3 more months of accutane (most recent appointment =30 day script for 40, next appointment = 30 day script for 40, and last appointment = 30 day script for 40). That puts you at your cumulative dose.
I was taking 40mg the first month. Basically up until a month I was taking 40mg and after the month I was doing 40mg, 60mg and now I'm taking 40mg starting today. Thanks for answering by the way! I'm sorry if I'm confusing you. Let me try making this more understanding:
First prescription fill: 40mg a day
Second fill: 3 boxes of 20mg (2 20mg one day, 3 20mg other day)
Current fill: 40mg a day
Is that more correct sounding? It's been 8 weeks since I started.
We have already established that you need approximately 6,000 mg cumulative to reach 120mg/kg.
Ok, so 40 mg a day in the 1st month = 1200mg.
50mg in the second month (again, alternating 40mg and 60mg every other day is equivalent to 50mg a day) = 1500
So, the first 8 weeks you have taken a total of 2700.
6000-2700 = 3300 mg to go.
Again, if you have 3 months left in your course, you will need to take 37mg a day to reach the cumulative dose. (3300 / 90 days = ~37mg).
So, once again - you should be fine if you continue to take 40 mg a day for the rest of your course, assuming you have completed 60 days, with the first 30 days at 40mg, and the second 30 days at 50 AND you will be taking 40mg a day for the next 90 days.
If the above sentence in bold is true, and your weight remains stable (I calculated this at 50 kg with is approx. 110Ib) you will reach just over a cumulative dose of 120mg/kg.
Thank you for clearing that up!