My devious Accutane plan

[Neuvo wavo 0]

Think about it. If you are prescribed a six month course at 80mg/day, that works out to be 360 40mg Accutane pills total.

Now, from what I understand, and from my own experience, 40 mg a week is usually adequate as a maintenance dose. So, if I hoarded all the Accutane from a standard course, I could dose myself 40mg/week for the next 5-7 years.

Hm. Which do I choose?

1. Six months of hell for a 1 in 3 chance of remission (during which time I may lose my hair, destroy my lips permanently, take myself out of commission physically [no more working out], experience endless aches and headache, have my skin dry out and crack so bad that I get smile lines, and generally feel kinda lousy)

or

2. 5 years of crystal clear skin that still feels "Alive" and not thin and "fragile." 5 years of robust healthy skin that can still be treated with whatever products I want so as to keep it in good shape. All with no side effects.

Who knows, in 5 years I may actually grow out of acne.

I've already done a full course of Accutane. My acne was never severe to begin with, just persistent. And my acne is barely there now, I just have a cool derm who respects my decision to take what works and not fool with useless treatments.

I think I'll skip the full course and just take Accutane as needed. If things go south, I can always fess up and start a full course. But I really don't think I'll need to.

Wow am I smart.

[Neuvo wavo 0]

How so?

This board has some pretty stupid people roaming around on it, but you seem to take the cake.

[w00ter 0]

LOL, I was calling you stupid -- I read your post as 40mg/per day, but rather it's per week.

Actually that's not a bad idea!

[kaos 0]

I've already done a full course of Accutane. My acne was never severe to begin with, just persistent.

As you may know, Accutane is for severe acne. That is why they have to go with full heavy artillery as the low dosage probably doesn't work as well. How do you know if taking 5 years of accutane at low dosage wont have same or more severe side effects? Do you know if any studies have been done in this effect?

[mrpj 0]

I just have a cool derm who respects my decision to take what works and not fool with useless treatments.

I wish my derm. was like that! Have you asked him about going down this route? If he respects your views and is as 'cool' as you say he is then you shouldn't have a problem discussing it with him, unlike some of the narrow minded Doctors other people have to put up with.

[missoxford 0]

Next 5-7 years?! Ever heard of EXPIRATION DATE

[narcissus 1]

Someone used her brain.

(Disclaimer: Not sarcasm.)

[missoxford 0]

Someone used her brain.

(Disclaimer: Not sarcasm.)

Huh

[Neuvo wavo 0]

Drug Expiration Dates -- Do They Mean Anything?

"Medical authorities state expired drugs are safe to take, even those that expired years ago."

" ... the original potency still remains even a decade after the expiration date."

There is a slim outside chance that I'll end up taking 40mg every 5 days instead of every week IF there is any degredation, which is unlikely given the nature of this drug.

I'll worry about it in 7 years.

Next 5-7 years?! Ever heard of EXPIRATION DATE

[mmmwet 0]

I think its a stupid idea.

[ani_in_fl 0]

There are a few reasons I don't think this is a great idea.

1. I don't believe there are any long term studies on accutane over extended periods of time. Correct me if I wrong, of course.

2. If I'm reading your email correctly, it sounds like you'd be doing this without your derm's okay, which makes me wonder if you'd be monitored, pregnancy tested, bloodwork tested -- that type of stuff. If not, if something is going wrong, how will you know

3. It's too serious of a medicine to use regularly for acne that's "barely there". I don't really think it's something to play around with. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for using it if you need it, but I think self-medicating without any doctor's care is just asking for trouble.

Good Luck.

[mmmwet 0]

Maybe you should take some acid pills everyday for 7 years too.

[MrPink1 0]

why dont you just do the normal course and get it over with. its proven to work that way, not as a maitence dose. and probalby healthier. 5-7 years of bothering your liver...even if its a small dose its still probably has a similar affect ont he liver.

[Andrewb 0]

There is no evidence to support the effectiveness of Accutane as a long-term drug. It has been established that higher doses at the prescribed period of 15-20 weeks are more effective at preventing reoccurance of acne. Take the drug as its intended. I don't understand why people think they know more than the doctors who created and prescribe this drug.

[Neuvo wavo 0]

Actually, chipper, there is a lot of evidence to support it.

There is no evidence to support the effectiveness of Accutane as a long-term drug. It has been established that higher doses at the prescribed period of 15-20 weeks are more effective at preventing reoccurance of acne. Take the drug as its intended. I don't understand why people think they know more than the doctors who created and prescribe this drug.

[Andrewb 0]

Actually, smartguy, there is a lot of evidence to support it.

There is no evidence to support the effectiveness of Accutane as a long-term drug. It has been established that higher doses at the prescribed period of 15-20 weeks are more effective at preventing reoccurance of acne. Take the drug as its intended. I don't understand why people think they know more than the doctors who created and prescribe this drug.

I'm all ears. Provide the studies as proof and I'll change my tone.

[~Q~ 0]

This drug has been around for over 20 years. Go take an hour and search the web and see if anybody had done this before.

It sounds like a good idea, but there is a large possiblity that it may not work because this drug has been around for a long time and people would have figured this out by now. You might get worse long term side effects.

[Andrewb 0]

This drug has been around for over 20 years. Go take an hour and search the web and see if anybody had done this before.

It sounds like a good idea, but there is a large possiblity that it may not work because this drug has been around for a long time and people would have figured this out by now. You might get worse long term side effects.

I will not say that it hasn't been tried before. It has, but not on long-term basis, and not in a controlled study. The only instances I have read about were where doctors used low-dose accutane as a means of temporary treatment in order to suppress bacteria resistance so they could later return the patient to antiobiotics or some other form of treatment. It has also been used to help reduce the initial side-effects of a susequent full-strength Accutane course.