Day 1 (Woop!)

Took my first pill with breakfast. Waited half an hour to see if anything either magical or terrible would happen.... nothing did. So at least I'm not allergic
I'm taking generic isotretinoin and it really makes me laugh how different my generic packaging is compared to what I see with the branded stuff. To give you an idea, the box is plain white, and is smaller than the boxes my antibiotics came in (a little bigger than a Yasmin pill box). I've seen pics of I think Claravis brand (?) where its like a massive binder thing, which is the style I was expecting. When the pharmacist handed over the teeny tiny bag I did have to open it to check before I left!

Day 2

I'm obviously not planning to update this every single day... but while it's new and exciting, why not!?
Although I have to say.... nothing exciting is happening. I feel no different. It's not that I want to have annoying side effects, but I'd like a little sign that something is actually happening in there Early days anyway.

On 3/4/2016 at 4:21 PM, WittySock said:

When I saw my dermatologist she explained that the Yasmin had been suppressing the androgen in my body (androgens cause acne), and that coming off that had definitely caused my bad skin now. That confused me because I was on Yasmin for around 6 years before my skin started clearing up (that would be sloooowwww working, no?), but she explained that being a teenager, my hormones were basically stronger than the suppressant, and as I got older the Yasmin was able to start 'winning' as my hormones levelled out. So the Yasmin was working away all those years and I wasn't appreciating it!
I know what you're thinking... why don't I just go back on Yasmin? My crazy periods were ruling my life almost to the extent that acne now is. If there is any way that I can stay on the depo then I will. And my dermatologist didn't even suggest going back on the pill so she was happy with accutane as my course of treatment.

Hey WittySock! I just wanted to say that my doctor and dermatologist told me similar things about the pill.  I was on Minovral before it started giving me stroke-like symptoms, which ended that, but my doctor explained to me that being on the pill simply suppresses androgen hormones and that once you stop, your acne can come back the same or worse.  It's kind of like putting a towel over spilled coffee grinds.  It's still there, even if you can't see it any more.  

Everyone is different and knows their situation best, but to me it sounds like you are on the right path with accutane.  Unlike the 'blanket over coffee grinds' method, it can actually clean up the affected areas for good. Plus, it means not having to be on the pill that's driving you crazy, then that's a bonus! 

7 hours ago, Fiveby5ive said:

 I was on Minovral before it started giving me stroke-like symptoms, which ended that

Holy moly, that does not sound good! Luckily I never had any really bad reaction to the pill, it just didn't control my periods that well like it does for most people. Yes, I definitely feel like I considered my options and did a lot of research and this is the best route for me right now
Btw your name reminds of "Jonny 5 is alive", anyone else remember that movie? I loved it, it's a family fave!
I see you are also not noticing any difference from the accutane yet.. same boat here!

Sooo....
Day 3
Nothing to report....

Day 4

Nowt. (non-Brit translation = 'nothing')

Have not bothered changing any of my facewash etc yet... there just hasn't been the need, and I'm sure the time will come soon enough!

Day 5

Not really much going on still. My lips are a bit dry today, but I do suffer from dry lips all the time anyway, so it's not anything worse than a normal not-great day at the moment. Also, a clogged pore right by my lip has decided to swell up. It doesn't actually look too bad at the moment, but it is pretty painful / a constant pressure / tingly feeling. This is an unusual type and place to get something for me, so I feel like I might actually be able to blame the roaccutane for something finally! Um...yey? I don't know.

I thought I'd add a note about the contraceptive requirements for women here in the UK, as I didn't really talk about it above.
It is a lot less intense than the ipledge thing in the USA, but we do have a kind of equivalent called the 'pregnancy protection plan' = 'PPP'.
At my first derm appointment I had to sign a piece of paper with a bunch of tickboxes on, that basically said I understand the risks of getting pregnant; I promise I won't get pregnant; I will use contraception etc etc. I think there were maybe 6 or 8 statements along those lines that I had to tick and then sign. My derm also asked me about my contraceptive I would be using (declaring) for the PPP, and my answer also went in a letter back to my GP. Pregnancy test with first lot of blood tests.
At my 2nd derm appointment (mine was 5 weeks later), she again made sure I understood the risks with pregnancy and the drug, but there was nothing else for me to sign. I then had to provide a urine sample for them to do a second pregnancy test (just the dipstick one), and once that was OK, I was allowed to leave with my prescription.
That's as far as I'm up to, but from here on out I believe they just do a pregnancy test every month - not sure yet of the details but I'll post below whenever I get there.
There is no ongoing online thing or quiz that you have to pass, or code that the pharmacy has to get to prove you've passed the test or any of the rest of that stuff you lucky ladies have to do over in the US

Hope that info might be useful to someone at some point in the future

Day 6

Still not a lot happening. My lips feel fine today, so maybe yesterday just happened to be a dry lip day!
I haven't really had a lot of new spot activity going on since I started, actually I think I have only had two new actives come up in the past week (that's super low for me). From reading other people's logs, this seems to be fairly common? Quick improvement just to trick you into thinking its all over, and then all hell breaks loose for 2 months? Hmmm who knows! Anyway, I'm happy with the way things are going at the moment
Hope everyone else is going well.

Day 7

A whole week!
I did some maths and figured out that if I stay on this low dose it will take over a year to reach the appropriate cumulative dosage. Boy, would I be a lot less excited about this in a year from now! I'm imagining I will be put up to 40mg per day at my next appointment though so lets hope that a year on accutane does not become a reality!

I've noticed that past couple of days that my skin is kinda.....flaking off. Like I will go to scratch my eyebrow area or something, and I'll see some skin float down in front of my eyes. Which would not be that unusual except for that my skin does not feel dry. I've been moisturising, and every other night adding some jojoba oil to my moisturiser (currently Cerave PM). So that's a bit confusing to me. I was expecting flaky dry skin at some point in the process, but I wasn't thinking I would get flaky, well moisturised skin.
Has anyone else experienced this?

ps. If anyone told me 6 months ago that I would happily be adding oil to my moisturiser to put on my face at night, my reaction would have been something along the lines of... HAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha YOU LIE!!

Days 8 and 9

Not much is changing. My skin has still been a tiny bit flaky but it's not problematic. My lips are fine.
My skin is actually almost remarkable in how stable it is. Everything that was on my face on day 1 is almost exactly the same as it was.... things seem kind of....stuck. I'll take that over getting worse!
I'm getting the feeling that maybe the whole of month one will be fairly uneventful, as I'll be on only 20mg a day for this month. Not complaining - I don't think there's anything wrong with just kinda getting used to the medicine to begin with.

Days 10 - 13

I got sent my next appointment time today, and unfortunately it is for 12 days after my current box of pills runs out. Now, my derm did say this could happen, and not to worry because the drug stays in your system... however I'm still a little disappointed.
I have a new issue with time in that my visa came through to go and work in another country - which is great and I've been waiting for it - however there is a time limit for me entering that country. Whilst it is a long time ahead and plenty of time for me to complete a full course of accutane, it's not enough time if my dose stays at 20mg or if they add an extra 2 weeks between each appointment  I am being switched to a different hospital so I'll be seeing a specialist nurse rather than the derm, so I will discuss this new time limit with him/her at my appointment. Hopefully the delay is due to being switched between systems etc and it won't be a problem in the future.
My plan for now is in a few days I'll start taking a pill ever other day rather than every day. I know it probably won't make a  huge amount of difference, but I'd rather my body stay used to processing the drug, especially if (as I hope) I'll be put up to 40mg at my appointment.

Skin wise: still pretty good. I got a new active bang on nose central which started out as a pink bump and had me thinking it was going to turn into a huge cyst in pretty much the worst place possible (it's happened before folks, more than once). But actually it shrunk down, formed a small whitehead which popped in the shower, and seems well on its way to healing now. Not bad at all. I have an active right by my bottom lip (aren't lip ones just so annoying - you can't not move your mouth right?), which is kinda medium. And I can feel something happening above my left eyebrow that might be a small cyst. My eyebrows have somehow been the worst area over the last couple of months for no reason I can think of. Also a slightly inflamed spot on my chin, but it's not a giant cyst so I'm tolerating it.

All in all... things are going fine!

Days 14 - 16

I didn't take a pill today, as I now will be taking them every other day until my next appointment. So essentially I am now on 10mg/day. Which is sooooo low! Sigh... I do know that overall this is really just a few extra days and it's not a problem, but as I imagine a lot of fellow accutane journey-ers also feel, I just want to get on with it! So I'm feeling a little impatient today but trying to put it out of my head - nothing I can do about it right now anyway.

Skin: I do have a small cyst above my eyebrow as anticipated the other day - but it feels like a deep down one that I don't think it going to surface. I had an inflamed spot on the outside of my nostril, and the swelling from that meant I couldn't breathe through my nose properly but that has gone down to almost nothing in a couple of days. Now there is an inflamed spot just next to my nose right by that previous one. Chin spot still there but is drying up / not inflamed any more. Spot by / on my lip is still there and being a bastard as I keep cracking the skin open by moving my mouth. It's not weeping or bleeding anymore but due to the constant movement it's also not really healing. I guess it will have to eventually!

Days 17 - 20

Still taking a 20mg pill every other day at the moment. I can't wait until I have pills every day again!
My skin is breaking out now, especially around the chin area. I feel like I want to blame the lowered dosage, but honestly I'm still so early in the course who can really tell! It could just be a sucky week! The spot by my lip is still hugely annoying - it just keeps crusting over and then opening up whenever I eat, yawn etc.

No side effects.

Days 21 - 30

Have not been updating because there is really not anything much interesting to update. This is pretty much as expected as I am still taking a 20mg pill every other day due to a delayed derm appointment.
The chin breakout mentioned above has calmed down very quickly - there is only one pretty small bump that is still healing. I should note that I had my depo-provera shot on day 17, so it could well be that the nice influx of hormones made my skin worse for a week? Although I did notice at the time of my previous depo shot in January (before accutane), that my skin improved quite a lot in the days following. So... who knows? Maybe this is something to ask at my next derm appointment.
New acne - I have one new cyst on my jawline that is not massive but feels quite tender, and a small-ish-probably-a-cyst on the bridge of my nose where my glasses sit.
Side effects - not really anything. I guess my lips are a little more dry than usual, but not anything bad. My hair is starting to dry out - woop! Can not wash it for a few days at a time now. My glee at this is somewhat tempered by the fact that it now feels a bit dry and straw-like, but never mind.. it's still awesome to not have to wash it as much!

Days 31-39

Had my checkup today. As I will be going to a different hospital than where I started from now on, I had to fill out all the paperwork and do all the questionnaires and everything again - time consuming!
I have been bumped up to 40mg a day for 2 weeks, and then 60mg for 2 weeks, and then they will reassess at my next appointment. Which they have already booked in for me so it will be on time - yey! I think I like this place better
I was asked to make an appointment for a fasting blood test to be done at my GP, which the hospital will apparently magically have access to. They did a urine pregnancy test when I arrived for my appointment. (Must remember to always go with a bottle of water!)
Side effects have been really very minimal so far, so we'll see how that changes with the increased dose.
Today was the first time in a while that I have done a lot of walking, doing a load of errands around town. When I got home my toe was bleeding and  have blisters all over the place... so I guess my foot skin (nice) is feeling the more delicate thing now. Gross. Luckily the weather is improving so I'll probs be in slip ons from now on - hopefully they'll be better!

Days 40 - 46

I had my fasting blood tests done at my GP - the tests were for 'liver function' and 'lipids'. The draw site is hurting 5 days later which I don't think has ever happened to me before. There's no swelling or anything so I don't think there's actually any problem, it just hurts when any pressure there.

Almost a week at 40mg now, and not really noticing any difference. I had one spot near my mouth that was just coming up when I went to the derm, and it got fairly large and annoying, but it has completely gone down now, so that is a million times faster than that would usually happen! Good times. I think that was the last new one to appear so I haven't had a new spot in a week - whattttt?

A note on hair... although I was extremely happy about my hair drying out and not having to wash it often, I wasn't so happy about the fact that it felt like straw. I was using my Toni & Guy leave in conditioner along with a squirt of jojoba oil, and it still felt like absolute crap. So I got a new leave in conditioner to try and it is soooo good! My hair feels like hair again! If anyone is interested it's the Tresemme Platinum Strength leave in treatment. It was on sale in Superdrug for less than 3, so pretty much bargain of the year for me!

Side effects: I think my lips are a little more dry, but I've been very vigilant in putting on lip balm alll the time, so I'm currently winning to battle. My poor feet have healed up nicely after their unfortunate day, so that's good.

That's it for now! 🙂

Day 47 - 49

So...dreams.
I guess I must normally dream sometimes, but I don't remember them often. I will remember a dream once or twice a year? So hardly any.
Since being on accutane I have been having really vivid dreams, and remembering them a lot more. A couple of nights ago I kept waking up and each time I fell asleep I had a different dream. I remembered them all and they were all maybe not exactly nightmares, but really bad / stressful. Three in just that one night! The next day I was absolutely dog tired and was basically not a functioning person all day.
Not all the dreams I've had since being on accutane have been bad, but that was a crappy night! hey have all been pretty vivid though, and obviously it's weird (for me) to be remembering them.
I don't know whether to think that this is actually caused by the accutane, or if it is because being on accutane I have more of a heightened awareness of things, like we're all a bit on the look out for side effects, so maybe my mind is not 'turning off' quite as well as normal?
Weird.

On 4/22/2016 at 2:53 AM, WittySock said:

Day 47 - 49

So...dreams.
I guess I must normally dream sometimes, but I don't remember them often. I will remember a dream once or twice a year? So hardly any.
Since being on accutane I have been having really vivid dreams, and remembering them a lot more. A couple of nights ago I kept waking up and each time I fell asleep I had a different dream. I remembered them all and they were all maybe not exactly nightmares, but really bad / stressful. Three in just that one night! The next day I was absolutely dog tired and was basically not a functioning person all day.
Not all the dreams I've had since being on accutane have been bad, but that was a crappy night! hey have all been pretty vivid though, and obviously it's weird (for me) to be remembering them.
I don't know whether to think that this is actually caused by the accutane, or if it is because being on accutane I have more of a heightened awareness of things, like we're all a bit on the look out for side effects, so maybe my mind is not 'turning off' quite as well as normal?
Weird.

I Guess you have said it yourself-heightened awareness.
Normally,everyone dreams about things they most think about all throughout the day.I always dream about getting my scars fixed(I've got some acne scarring and have to wait till I finish accutane ).Even my parents heard me talking in my sleep.Maybe you are having some tough days and can't stop thinking about them.Take everything as they come and try not to think much about bad outcomes.
However,it's just my opinion.If you are having too much trouble,you can consult your derm who might refer to a psychiatrist.But be happy thinking that you can have a happier life after accutane.

On 29/04/2016 at 3:58 PM, Naimur97 said:

I Guess you have said it yourself-heightened awareness.
Normally,everyone dreams about things they most think about all throughout the day.I always dream about getting my scars fixed(I've got some acne scarring and have to wait till I finish accutane ).Even my parents heard me talking in my sleep.Maybe you are having some tough days and can't stop thinking about them.Take everything as they come and try not to think much about bad outcomes.
However,it's just my opinion.If you are having too much trouble,you can consult your derm who might refer to a psychiatrist.But be happy thinking that you can have a happier life after accutane.

Thanks, luckily things are not quite that bad! No repeats of multiple bad dreams in a night. I've had a couple more dream-remembering nights, but nothing bad, and nothing as vivid as before. Hopefully this was just a passing thing

Days 50 - 58

Up to 60mg a day now. The very first day I took 60mg, I have to say I felt kinda crappy. Almost similar to a hangover. A background headache all day, feeling really tired, not really being able to concentrate on anything. Ever since then I've been fine - no problems at all!
I have had one new pimple - although it's barely even that, it's like a tiny dot on the side of my nose. I guess this is normal people spots!
My lips are still coping just fine - I can tell they are a bit dryer than pre-accutane, but still luckily nothing problematic. I do now own like 16 million lip balms and everytime I go into a drug store I'm like hmmm don't think I've tried this one yet - buying it!
The skin on my face is a little bit flakey, mainly around where there have been recent spots, so I guess where the skin is trying to heal? Also my face seems to be quite red all the time. It looks like I have been in the sun too long, even though I haven't been in the sun at all. I know this is a pretty common thing with accutane so I'm not worried, it just looks kind of funny with me because I have pale, but olive undertone skin. So with my face looking red, the rest of my skin really does look quite green with the contrast. I bought some too-light BB cream to mix with my foundation to try to correct it a bit, but with the flaking I can't say my foundation looks great. Although it damn well looks better than when it was on top of mountainous leaky cysts so... yeah... I'm gonna stop complaining.
I'm going on holiday to Spain soon (a bit of a last minute booking), and I am honestly worried about the sun. I'm normally a sun-lover, but I now have to go out and purchase the highest spf I can find and maybe some hats and I don't know, anything I can think of to keep the sun off!

So did your derm tell you anything about your cumulative dosage(like how many mg per KG body weight)?and may I ask you how much do you weigh?

5 hours ago, Naimur97 said:

So did your derm tell you anything about your cumulative dosage(like how many mg per KG body weight)?and may I ask you how much do you weigh?

Yes my cumulative dosage should be between 100 - 150mg per kg. I weigh a lot! About 90kg. (I stress ate a lot after my acne got bad ) I anticipate my dosage being put up again at my next appt.

19 hours ago, WittySock said:

Yes my cumulative dosage should be between 100 - 150mg per kg. I weigh a lot! About 90kg. (I stress ate a lot after my acne got bad ) I anticipate my dosage being put up again at my next appt.

Don't worry about that.Everyone goes through a nervous break down and sometimes that just shows up in their appearance(I don't know about how much I could clarify my point).However,if your derm increase your dosage,you should be happy that you can be finished a lot earlier and get out of this ordeal.
And about the cumulative dosage,all I can say is DO NOT finish your course until you have reached atleast 120mg/kg body weight.Some docs recommend going as high as 150mg/kg since "their literature" says that:"higher the cumulative dosage,the longest the remission.It'ss okay to go over the dose but don't undertreat."

Days 59 - 65

I had my first nose bleed (while on accutane, obvs) last night! I had kind of been waiting for it to happen, as there has always been blood in my nose for weeks now, so I'm almost impressed it took this long! I tend to get nosebleeds anyway if I have a bad cold or something, so it's not a big deal.

I have occasionally had an achy back this past week, but honestly if I didn't know it was a possible side effect I would have just put it down to bad posture while sitting... and it could be that is all it is! Also I have noticed my heels hurt quite a lot (the backs of my heels, but below the achilles) which I would not have guessed could be a side effect but I have read on here some other people seem to be getting the same thing so maybe it is. It's slightly annoying but not really a problem.

I have had one new spot, which was in the middle of my chin just below my lip. I got an 'underground' bump as if it was going to be a really small cyst, but it disappeared without doing anything. I had something similar happen on my cheek where there was a bump that was quite swollen and red, but it just went down completely, although that one did leave a red mark. So right now I don't think there is actually anything active on my face, apart from one that has been there for ages on the bridge of my nose and I guess is being constantly irritated by my glasses.

My cheeks are still red an a bit puffy, especially right next to my nose. Lips are doing fine. Skin is not particularly dry (I moisturise my face a lot but I've been pretty slack with the rest of my body and no problems yet).

Next check up in a few days!

Days 66-68

Had my check up. I will be staying at 60mg which is a bit of a surprise, I really thought I'd be going up. I think it is because I have seen a lot of improvement, so they are pretty happy with how it is going so far. I'd prefer to get the dose up myself, but hey, I'm not in charge!
Also, apparently I don't have to have any more bloodwork done until after I'm done with my course, which is very unexpected but I won't complain cos I am terrible with having my blood drawn!
Nothing different in terms of side effects, or more like lack of side effects, I think I've had a relatively easy time with it so far!

Days 69-86

Flew off for a little sunny holiday. Factor 50 all the time, topping up applications all the time, and still had some iffy moments! I did avoid burning, apart from my scalp

The dryness of the plane trip definitely took its toll. I was prepared with moisturiser and lip balm of course, but it was the inside of my nose that got me - it even felt dry and painful through my sinuses (even though I'm not sure that's technically possible). Bought a salt water nose spray for the journey back just to have something to get up there, which I'll be honest was a bit disgusting to use cos it sprayed a lot out and all that water just comes out again really. But I digress... I do think it helped just getting something up there. My ears felt slightly worse than they usually do on a plane journey as well, but not sure that can be blamed on accutane!

I did have one very sizeable spot on my chin which was painful and more like a pre-accutane spot that lasted about 2 weeks. I did finally squeeze it after it kinda half popped in the shower (I know, shame...). I have a couple of other small pimples come up since then. It's a bit frustrating because, although I do know I'm having a pretty easy ride of it, and my skin had improved dramatically, it now seems to have stopped improving, just staying about the same with a few usually small things cropping up. Obviously this is a million times better than before, but I'd just like to see things continuing to actually improve!

The backs of my hands have been itchy sometimes, especially for a couple of hours after I wake up. No actual rash though. Feeling a bit creaky in general, nothing actually painful, more like every time I stand up it feels as if I have done a long hike the day before or something. Still have flakey skin just around my mouth. Lips got drier in the heat/sun, but still nothing that is not manageable. I've even been able to wear contact lenses and only had to use eye drops at the end of the day.

All in all, no complaints!