Accutane And Infertility (Page 12)
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I took accutane almost 14 years ago as a teenager. I am now a 32 year old woman who has just been diagnosed with infertility that they believe is linked to autoimmune issues. I truly believe that accutane is the cause of this; from the research that I have done it seems that accutane has been linked to other thyroid-related diseases, but that they have not yet been able to prove a link between accutane and infertility. There are, however, actually more people like me out there than I originally thought. Being diagnosed with ovarian dysfunction has been a horrific, horrific blow. And while there was plenty of information about accutane and birth defects, no one ever mentioned a possibility of future infertility. I was a teenager! This is a tragedy and I believe something should be done about it. If you too have been affected diagnosed with infertility and have taken accutane, please email me. There are plenty of suits against accutance. If there are enough of us, we can come together to do the medical research and get the help we now need.

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I am 25. I took accutane for 3 years. I have now been trying to get pregnant for a year with no results.... I am a little afraid to get checked because I don't know if I would be able to take any bad news.... I've been having dreams about babies since I was 18....

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Where are your facts "It is not always Isotretinoin" ? Why are you on this forum? You provide some insight about being objective and then you proceed with lame comments towards people who are trying to cope with medical problems that MIGHT Be associated with Accutane. You seem to like writing about the topic so why do you feel the necessity to ask people if they read the book why do bad things happen to good people?

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Question to 'It is not always Isotretinoin': did you take it? I took it and there is no doubt it affected my body. Some ways it affected me I can clearly see such as the thin skin. I had fairly thick skin before I took it, that didn't bruise easily. That's not me making things up, sorry. That's a fact. Some ways it may have affected me I cannot clearly see as it's inside my body. That is why we have this forum. We understand that our problems with fertility could also have other reasons, obviously.

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That is truly unfortunate. At 16 I would absolve you of the blame, that was pre-Internet and I doubt many 16 year olds read a pillowcase sized double sided PI in microscopic type.

I would blame the doctor somewhat but the information on long term accutane use was hidden in the PI and the average doctor doesn't read a 10,000 word PI on every drug.

Roche? Maybe they could have emphasized the long term effects more but since the standard treatment was 5 months and the long term effects had been studied and warnings were made about using it in other conditions that required continuous therapy, I expect they complied with the standards at the time of approval.

It is anybody's fault? Who can say? There's an old joke about what do you call the guy who graduated at the bottom of his medical school class (DOCTOR).

I think that was a different time when Doctors were treated by some people as Gods and some of the medical technology and pharmacology was Godlike. People are much more likely to question (This forum is a perect eample).

60 years ago they used xray machines to check the fit of children's shoes.

80 years ago women used their tongues to put a point on brushes to paint radium on watches.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

I am sorry for your loss. Time does not heal all wounds, you just get more used to them.

Have you read "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People"?

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I took it for 5 years. I was 16 years old. This was the 1980's. No, I didn't read about any long term consequences at that time and my doctor said it was fine and I trusted him.

Big mistake in hindsight. HUGE mistake maybe. So who is to blame? Me? Roche? My doctor? All of the above I guess.

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.Why did you take Accutane for 7 years? Did you ever read the PI or the information leaflet or book? Did you ever look on the Internet for the problems with long term Accutane administration?

Did you ever think about getting a second opinion? About seeing a gyecological endocrinologist?

I can feel your pain, but surely you must take some personal responsibility for your plight.

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.The problem is who is going to fund such research or even do such research when there is no evidence that there is a problem besides the anecdotes. There is no statistical evidence that any of this problems are more common in people treated with recommended doses of Accutane than in a control population that wasn't. Not to mention the fact that there are relatively few patients with severe scarring cystic acne that don't take Accuaten

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Too bad you weren't worked up for a hormone problem rather than long term Accutane. Spironolactone works very well for resistant acne in women. Doesn't mean Accutane is at fault. Should we sue BIC because arsonists use their lighters? Some doctors are better at suspecting an underlying cause, such as PCOS, or an inherited enzyme deficiency that leads to buildup of precursor molecules such as DHEA.

Yes all the IBS legal cases are BS, Roche chose to settle for $8 million per case when they pulled out off the US market. For $8 million there is no shortage of lawyers and plaintiffs, but the DATA doesn't support the accusations and most of those mega awards were reversed on appeal and with the new data showing isotretinoin is NEGATIVELY correlated with IBS, you don't hear of any new mega awards.

See silicone breast implants for a similar frenzy or the Salem witch trials or the Armintrout case or thousands of other manias throughout human history.

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I took acutane for 7 years! Why 7 years and not 5 months? Because every time I tried to stop, acne came back again, it did miracle with my skin... I did not feel any side effect (not that I known), it took me long time to get pregnant - my 2 pregnancies - no treatment. I had some fertility test, everything came back normal except AMH (anti mulerian hormone) which was low for my age. Was this the cause of my inability to get pregnant easily? Was this because of acutane? I have no idea, I wish I know

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We are not saying that we have any substantiated research. The point of this is to find out if there may be a link and if others had a similar problem. My query is if accutane could have had a long term effect on sperm quality or morphology. Of course, what we have for now is anecdotal but that is the only place I can start as I am not a medical researcher with a lab.

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Why? Because it was clearing up my skin and I was young and dumb. Sorry, you ever do anything dumb? I liked the way my skin felt, very smooth, and my derm said there was no reason not to continue taking it.

As for the IBS, so you're telling me all these legal cases are BS? Tons of people coming out of the woodwork with major digestive issues..

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Actually, now that much larger groups have been studied, isotretinoin reduces the risk of IBD. So, apparently reducing the inflammation in the skin reduces the inflammation in the bowel.

Germ cells are present just after conception and are fully developed by birth, so nutrition or IBS wouldn't affect the germ cells.

There are so many IBS sufferers who have taken Accutane, unfortunately, the rate of IBS is lower in Accutane users than the general population.

There are also so many IBS sufferers who have taken aspirin or eaten a banana or drunk carbonated beverages, so why not blame Coca Cola for IBS (Actually probably more likely than Accutane. A can of Coke has 180 calories of carbs, so excessive Coke consumption might cause diabetes which causes IBS.)

Facts are so inconvenient.

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Why would you take Accutane for 5 or 6 years, the standard is 5 months. It is more likely that the same inflamatory process that causes the severe acne in the skin also causes theinflamation in the "skin" of the bowel. Correlation does not mean causation.

Actually, now that much larger groups have been studied, isotretinoin reduces the risk of IBD. So, apparently reducing the inflamation in the skin reduces the inflamation in the bowel.

Facts are so inconvenient.

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Just throwing this out there... I took Accutane for 5 or 6 years in the 80's and early 90's. Starting in about 1995 I have experience terrible IBS symptoms, as have SO MANY accutane users have over the years.

I WONDER...what if it is not the Accutane per se that is causing the infertility but the IBS which is caused by Accutane? You need proper digestion and nutrition to make the germ cells. Right now, I have azoospermia.

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Operative word is SUBSTANTIATED.

Lots of anecdotal.

Is there even a proposed testable mechanism for isotretinoin causing infertility?

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Sorry to hear this. I'm trying to find out if accutane caused my azoospermia

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From what I know about spermatogenesis (and it is quite a complex process) anything that damages the germ cells which are the first step in the whole process can be implicated. The mumps, undescended testis, chemo, radiation, and endocrine disrupters can knockout the sensitive germ cells. I truly want answers concerning the accutane. Animal models don't always predict human response. Anyways anyone who has any substantiated research that connects accutane with male infertility please share!

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Happy to share considering this is anonymous. First child I picked the donor. Looked for similar characteristics but more interested in who donor was. Worked out well bc he is my son. He had an advanced degree, family history of higher education no reported history of mental illness. The clincher for me was the recording of why he was a donor. We were unable to get vials from this donor for the second pregnancy. The 2nd donor we chose we chose together based similar genetics (British isles /Germanic). Looked specifically for donors who fathered children in the past. We had at least a 50% success rate. For myself I DO NOT OPEN UP TO ANYONE BUT my wife, parents, and brother. I am very sensitive about it due to the trauma and that many people simply judge and will never understand. I don't think guys are able to confide in others sbout their infertility.

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Perhaps...they sadly will never truly know.

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Could the precocious puberty be the cause of his Azospermia? What about the Lupron which blocks male hormones and is used to treat prostate cancer? Perhaps blocking testosterone at a very early age prevented the testes from maturing normally.

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