so i started a low dose of tane 14 months ago after finishing a steroid cycle (dont hate, dont want to hear lectures about this, lets keep this on track and only discuss the accutane plz) and breaking out fairly bad after coming off. i used 60, 20, 20mg a day for the first 3 wks and then tapered down to 10, 5 and so on until a maintenance dose of 10mg two times a week kept me completely clear for a year or so.
now i finished another steroid cycle, and while my skin was completely clear while on, dropping back down to my TRT dose has brought back the acne, not horrible, but moderate, and even 10mg a day isnt controlling it whereas 20mg a week did before. it isnt terrible, but has been consistently stubborn, i have had a least several active inflamed zits since the beginning of the year and right now its at its worst with two big ones on my chin and a small one in my moustache area, along with about 5 cysts on my chest, but those dont really bother me, only the facial acne. so im just thinking fuck it, i should run the accutane full bore to achieve the cumulative dose to kill this shit off for good. so i have two questions for the acne.org community:
1. so what im wondering is if the accutane ive already taken at the super low dose will count towards my cumulative dose or do i have to start from the beginning? i weigh 85kg, so my cumulative dose for 120mg/kg would be 10200mg, and ive already taken 1500mg if u count the year of 20mg a week and this last month of 10mg a day, so that leaves me like a little less than 9000mg id need to take, or would i have to start from the very beginning at 10200mg? i havent taken any breaks from the tane since starting, it has been in my system the whole time but im unsure if such a small dose could count towards achieving a cumulative dose or not?
2. and what would be the best way to dose it to achieve said cumulative dose?
20mg a day for 15 months?
40mg a day for 7.5 months?
or should i just run it hardcore and do 80mg a day for 3.75 months?
(these are if the previous dosing counts towards the cumulative dose, if not id need to run said doses longer)
yes i will be self medicating but under a drs supervision with bloodwork, as i currently live in a country where accutane is OTC and doesnt require a prescription.
so what say you accutane knowledgeable brethren???
ok thanks for the input, anyone else have any idea?
plus what do u think of question #2?
This is probably a question you would want to ask a derm, but since you don't want to see one and you don't need one to get the medication, you may want to consider a less aggressive approach. At your size, 40 mgs is less than .5 / kg, which would still be considered a low dose, I think - and that doesn't seem to be effective enough to prevent you from relapsing. Why not go for 60 mg at 170 days (about 6 months)? That will take you to your 10, 200 cumulative at a more conventional accutane dosing schedule.
Do you plan on taking another cycle of steroids in the near future?Not judging your steroid use or anything, but it seems like a waste of time and money to go through an entire course of accutane if you plan on using steroids again.
hmm thats a good idea, i never considered 60mg a day, but if im going to take that much, i might as well do 80 and get it over with quicker.
and yes i plan on doing more AAS after doing the tane. ive read on many AAS boards that after a cycle of accutane, the steroid acne never comes back since the oil glands dont produce oil like they used to even when hyperstimulated by the AAS. thats the hope anyway. bodybuilding is a big part of my life, and im already on TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) so i dont see the steroid use coming to a halt anytime soon, especially over something fairly trivial like acne. if a REAL health problem were to present itself as a result of my steroid use, then definitely, but over acne, no. my goal is just to be able to use AAS and NOT break out, thats where the accutane comes in...
bump for more opinions about my questions!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4009746/
found this study about 20mg a day until hitting the cumulative dose goal being just as effective as higher doses, so looks like ill be doing 20mg a day for the next 17 months! lol
wish me luck!