Accutane And Infertility (Page 30) (Top voted first)

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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hello, I used roaccutane for 6 months at the age of 15-16. While using it, a cyst formed in my ovary and I saw it. I have been married for 3 years. I have 5 made. We had IVF. There is infertility for no reason. I do not get pregnant for 15 years after using it. Do not use

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I took accutane twice (ages 18 & 28). I am now 32 and have been trying to conceive for 2 years. I was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve...I've discovered two pud med articles from 2014-2015 saying accutane/isotretinoin cause a significant diminishing of ovarian reserve. They then put out more recent articles saying a "low" dose will lower FSH LH ovum volume and AMH while on it but will "bounce back" 18 months after being on it....it's physically impossible for your AMH or ovum volume to go back up...so many they mean the LH and FSH and hope that people are not smart enough to dig deeper. Anyways, I feel a legal suit is appropriate.

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When I was 20 I became pregnant with my 1st child. In my late 20’s I took acctuane for roughly 6 months. I was married at age 30 and at 32 found out my fallopian tubes were blocked. Nothing in my medical history shows a reason for this blockage. While no studies are found, I worry it was due to the accutane.

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Thanks Mitch, I also want to say i hate how people can just give u some medication to take it just shows most people in the world dont give a crap so we have to be careful in what kind of medications we get subscribed by our doctor, because remember every person that goes and buys that med they are getting money for it ... i may be wrong but just saying!

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I was on accutane for 6 months when I was 18 and at 27 tried for three years to get pregnant. I was diagnosed with PCOS at 30 and had to go through clomid trials in order to get pregnant. On the brighter side, I am now 35 weeks pregnant and all has been well. However, I never thought to connect the accutane to the troubles I was having. Wow...I was never told infertility was a possible side effect.

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Well some positive news for any guys freaking out... My fiance who was on roaccutane for 1.5 years at age 19, he is now 25. He had a test last week and his sperm count is better than average so it hasn't affected him. My gyno can't relate my low egg count to roaccutane but I think I can still have kids, the amount is just lower than normal. It would be interesting to see if people who were tested fertile before roaccutane and then became infertile after. It seems most cases could have been infertile before it and infertility is very common now without taking any prescription medication... but still after knowing it may be a possibility I would never put that in my body and risk it again!

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Sorry, but this is the post hoc, propter hoc logical fallacy again.

You may believe this but after 50 million patients treated, it is extraordinarily unlikely that a side effect like INCREASED auto-immune disease would have gone unnoticed for 35 years.

The same thing happened with silicone breast implants.

Autoimmune conditions are fairly common in women after puberty, as is acne.

Also, there is no way that roaccutane can dry up your uterus, especially decades later.

Again, the hormone problems that cause severe acne in women are responsible for infertility.

The fallacy is best demonstrated by the story of the rooster who believes that his crowing causes the sun to rise.

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Excuse me Doc, you have made your case and it clearly is not going to change any of our minds. You have taken this forum from a great way to find others suffering from infertility who also took Accutane, to a forum full of unwanted advice and harassment. Your advice is no longer wanted. The only people I trust on this matter are my doctors at my fertility clinic. They are the fertility experts. I was given a few possibilities for the cause of my diagnosis but no one knows the cause for sure because it has been very rare.

With the increase in cases like mine, maybe one day we will understand the cause. Acne is extremely common as we all know, don't you think that with the inflammation from acne, if this were the cause, my diagnosis would be extremely common? It sounds a bit ridiculous to me, although I am not an expert in infertility. Then again, neither are you.

Please stop the harassment! Instead of wasting your time on this thread, maybe you should use that time to focus on your patients, the people who actually want your advice.

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Harassment is in the eye of the beholder.

If it helps you to believe that all these problems stem from Accutane, enjoy your pity party.

If you actually want answers, then my posts may be helpful to those members of the forum who are not flaming me.

Infertility has become an ever larger problem and 99.99% of the infertility is in people who have not taken Accutane, Why don't you all share your age at menarche and you may find a common thread.

How many people have a family history of gyn endocrine problems or a history of autoummune disease. Or Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis. The ovaries are surrounded by loops of bowel.

You can dream about a class action suit, but Roche has left the building, good luck getting a Swiss court to accept your claims. Unlike the US tort system, you can't blackmail a company into huge settlements there.

I'm sorry that some of you are upset by facts and alternative theories.

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My son has been off the generic Accutane for 1 wk., he was on for a total of 47 day.. 30 mg x 2 a day. I have been detoxing him for 4 days. I wonder if anyone was on the Accutane, and immediately started to detox? I am also thinking about having his sperm tested. I am just trying to do all I can to help him.

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If you read the study carefully, the women with acne had approximately 50% higher AMH levels. After isotretinoin (Accutane) treatment the levels were approximately 25% higher. Since the higher levels represent increased male hormone levels and may be correlated with acne. Also, with infertility. This study seems to suggest that by lowering the elevated AMH levels, Accutane may improve ovarian function and improve fertility.

It's not clear how the authors derive their conclusion that normalizing abnormally high AMH indiccates a detrimental effect on the ovaries. If you quiet down an abnormally active ovary, you could define it as a detrimental effect, but it seems more logical to call a therapeutic effect.

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I took accutane when I was a junior in college. I am now 36 years old. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for the past 2 years. We have been referred to an infertility specialist.... I just happened to do a search to look into this myself... Please do keep me posted on any additional information. Hugs.

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I took Accutane when I was 14 until I was 16. I had super irregular periods ever since! Now I'm 27 and my husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for 3 years! I have been told that I have PCOS but was later told that I don't have that and nobody is sure why I cannot get pregnant! I will always wonder if it didn't have something to do with that Accutane!

Were your periods regular before you took Accutane? Why did you take Accutane for approximately two years? The usual time is 5 months. Have you been to a major medical center? Who told you you had PCOS? Who told you you didn't have PCOS? Nobody is sure? Have you been to every fertility specialist in the world?

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Hello- I did post about my son who just turned 30 last July. Is married to a 35 yr
Old woman so time suddenly is critical.
They have had genetic testing and everything is perfect. He has 0 sperm count. Ruled out blockage already too.
The only other drug he had as a child was Depot Lupron for early puberty.
I have shared with several friends and many of their children took it as well but nobody has tried to have children yet.
So sorry for your troubles too...

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

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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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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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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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.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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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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