So my face cleared in a month on pills manufactured by Activas, but my pharmacy changed the manufacturer to Julibant and my face was horrible for 2 months straight. I didn't put two and two together until two days ago and I picked up refills by the manufacturer Amneal (I think they just bought Activas out) and my face is noticeably clearing up and i feel so much dryness. If you've been taking the pill for 2 months and your face hasn't cleared up pay attention to the manufacturer!! It makes a difference. I keep the dosage as 50mg bcs the side effect on 100mg is so much that it takes away the dermal fillers on my face. My body shrinks, too and my butt got flat.

I'm 19 years old and have been dealing with acne of all sorts since I was 12. Different things have worked for me at different times for the most part (epiduo at age 12-14, ortho tri cyclen at 15) but since graduating high school about 2 years ago, I've had this acne that I have not been able to get to go away no matter what I try. About a month ago, I went to the dermatologist and ended up being prescribed spironolactone and cefadroxil. The cefadroxil was supposed to be for the period of time that it takes for the spiro to "kick in" but I ended up discontinuing it due to side effects and seeing absolutely no difference in my acne. I was prescribed these because I expressed my concern with taking hormonal birth control considering I had extreme depression while on ortho tri cyclen and when I had an IUD. I also was not ready to go for Accutane (and unfortunately never will be). So, with no warnings from the dermatologist, I was feeling hopeful about the spironolactone. A few days ago, I had an intense dissociative/depressive episode where I had to be physically held back by my boyfriend for 1-2 hours because I was trying to leave his house so I could go to mine and take my life. I did not feel like myself, and certain details from the night seem to be very fuzzy in my memory. All I can seem to remember is seeing an image of a pill bottle (oxycontin) in my mind for at least 20 minutes straight and feeling as though it was calling my name, telling me to come take all of the pills. I also remember I was extremely angry at my boyfriend for trying to stop me, and was trying to push past him as he tried to talk me out of it. I should note that NOTHING like this has EVER happened to me before. I've definitely been in a funk the past month while on this medication, but I wrote it off because I suffer from mild depression anyways. My mom and I were surprised and angered to find that there are a plethora of hits when you search spiro and depression. TL;DR: Spironolactone increased my depression to an extremely dangerous point, and in the mean time didn't even work on my acne. NOT worth it at ALL.

I've had acne for over a decade. When I was 19, my skin cleared up and I stopped using acne products altogether. Then I got my nexplanon put in and all hell broke loose on my face. I got the worst acne of my life and even started getting occasional cystic acne (which I had never had before). That's when I made my first derm appointment and he prescribed me a combination of 100mg spironolactone, aczone, and ovace lotion. I started all three at the same time, so I can't tell you which caused it, but my face immediately ceased 80% of its oil production. The only side effect was that I noticed that I got light headed a little easier when I stood up, but that's it. For the first month, I broke out terribly and officially had the worst acne of my life since I had my nexplanon inserted. It wasn't until I was on spironolactone for about a month and a week that I noticed any changes in my acne. Instead of having 20-30 pimples on my face at all times, I had 4 or 5. I'm still only about a month and a half into this, and I see my acne disappearing more and more each day. I am so happy with the results. My suggestion is to STICK WITH IT because it took a while for it to work for me and much longer for other people. In fact, it seems like it worked unusually fast for me.

I read several great reviews on here about Spiro and was convinced it was the answer to my hormonal acne problems. After a month I didn't see much of a difference but didn't feel any negative side effects either so I asked to double my dosage to 50 mg a day. Within 5 days I started having chest pains and terrible anxiety. I had a full blown anxiety attack and even after going back down to 25 mg a day the anxiety didn't go away and my skin continued to break out. I've been on it for two and a half months and have decided to quit due to emotional health. I even had to go on anxiety meds. I'd rather go back on birth control than continue with this. If you have emotional reactions to this, don't let your doctor try to convince you it's not from the Spiro, it very well might be and you should discontinue right away.

Ive been using it for almost a month and my skin has never broken out this bad, I talked to my derm and they said it gets worse before it gets better but i dont know if i can take it anymore. Im fine with breaking out when starting a medication because i usually do but with this one my face, chest and shoulders are just covered with small itchy pimples. Before this my skin was extremely oily but now its really itchy, dry and flaky and i dont know if i should keep using it or not.

Long time hormonal cystic acne sufferer, got bad in my early 30s - tried to avoid oral meds and anything with a systemic effect, but it got so bad I got desperate. Prescribed by my Derm initially at a higher dose, I think 75mg. Slowly but surely my skin improved, and the course of the next year I was titrating down from 75, then 50, then 25 - then tried breaking the 25 in half to 12.5mg doses (hoping to get off it altogether) and nope, the cysts were back. Even at 25mg it has never been perfect, just "good enough". But when I went back up to 50, I for a high potassium lab back, so Derm now won't let me go higher than 25. After about 4 years at 25mg, my acne has been getting progressively worse again... so, IMO Spironolactone was part of the fix, but obviously (unfortunately) not the whole story...

Hi, I'm new on this site and actually very new on Spiro. I have never been through the acne thing in my whole life, I would get maybe 1 or 2 pimples a year, had very pretty skin. I just turned 50 and I noticed that I started breaking out on my jawlines and chin pretty bad, never had this ever before. I have tried everything from Clearasil to home-made products, nothing has helped me at all, I tried mostly everything. Finally my daughter told me to go and see a skin doctor, which wasn't cheap at all, my co-pay is $40. When I saw the dr, he asked me a couple of questions, looked at my skin and said that I have Hormonal and Cystic acne, he gave me a prescription of Spironolactone, 25 mg. twice a day and a prescription for some facial cream which cost about $100 a tube. I filled the Spiro but couldn't get the cream because I didn't have enough money for that. I started taking the Spiro 2 days ago which is too early to tell any results yet. Could anyone tell me more about this Spiro, the side effects and how long would it take to work, please tell me everything I would appreciate this so much, I have heard a lot of negative things about this drug and I'm pretty scared about taking it, but I desperately want my clear skin back, please help. (dede)

Okay so I started taking spiro one n a half months back, I was dealing with cystic kinda acne on my jawline n cheeks n some pimples on my forehead , all of these things use to get worse around the period, so I think it's hormonal plus my doc told me that I hv pcos but I never did a hormone test. I had skin during my life but since last year I started getting acne, and slowly and steadily everything went to cystic and painful bumps, I am 23 now.. I did a lot of research and got encouraged from this website only, for results I could say as people say you could have an IB, yes I had it for like for the first three weeks since beginning, it's too early to say anything but I can see my pores are less clogged, my period is coming every 15 days. Peeing problem yes I had it though I guess my body is adjusting it to it now. Will get back next month to share what's going on for now spiro is worth trying!

I have been on spironolactone for 1 year 3 months. I have gained 22lbs in total while being on this medication. I know its the medication because nothing changed in my every day routine. I stopped spiro about a month ago and already I've notice I lost a few pounds. I was on the 100mg. I will say when I was on the 50mg I didn't notice the weight gain, so maybe it's the increased dosage, but either way its such a struggle. I don't want to be fat with clear skin, nor do I want to be skinny with cystic acne. I'm on Natazia birth control pills, and so far 2 months its not doing it alone, so I may have to try something in addition to that, just don't know what.

31 yo female who has suffered from all types of acne since I can remember. Visited the dermatologist in April and he prescribed Spiro. This is the first I had heard of it so I have done nothing but read reviews since. So far, I have noticed a reduction in oil production but not much in the way of acne reduction. I am still holding onto faith that another month or so and I will see improvement in that regards. However, I have extreme discoloration all over my face now. Has anyone else experienced this? Will it even out? I'm fair skinned but always have a red tint which I associate with the inflammation of my acne. is this part of the healing process? Please....I need answers as not much info on discoloration is available in these threads. Thanks :))