Accutane And Infertility (Page 7) (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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I took Accutane for 4 months about 12 years ago. I seem to have a different problem - my eggs and my tubes are fine, but I have 50+ pea sized fibroids in my uteran muscle, ovarian cysts and super severe and inoperable endometriosis, and I just had my first abdominal laparopscopic myomectomy at 26 to reduce the side effects of these issues. These things may ultimately cause infertility in the near future, but my problems seem different than many of the posts. Is anyone having similar complications possibly from Accutane? I don't know anyone else who has my trifecta of reproductive problems.

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I took Acutane when I was 18 for around 6 months. I was diagnosed with endometriosis in my late 20's. It took me almost 7 years to become pregnant with my little girl.

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I took accutane when 23 and had three children after that - no issues or problems at all. No cysts, etc.

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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!

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Hi again.... I took Accutane in my late teens/early 20s. After multiple ectopic pregnancies, biochemical pregnancy, miscarriage, failed iuis, and failed ivfs...I was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure and endometriosis. POF means that my eggs act older than they are and there's a lot fewer of them that there should be and they are not likely to lead to a successful pregnancy.

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Please dont take it. My beautiful 30 year old son is infertile possibly because of Accutane. Try seeing a nutritionist if you can. Try cutting out dairy then wheat etc and see if that helps.

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Many people are looking for cures of rare disease. This one...Retinoic Acid Embryopathy can be PREVENTED. AVOID know causes of birth defects: isotretinoin/accutane.

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I'm wondering if it's caused my in explained infertility as well

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Caused infertility in me too. Took 3 courses 14,17, and 20. Ruined my life, look 16 still but feel 80. Can't have kids or any sort of a normal life and have to live with the tons of life long side effects. Let's all get together and start a legal suit.

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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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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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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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It is not always isotretinoin asked me "why you took for 7 years instead of doing another kind of treatment?" Well, I was 15 when I started, it was in the late 90's, my acne was severed and I saw the miracle in my skin... How could I think something so miraculously could turn bad??? Put in my shoes just for a moment. I was glad I found accutane miracle at that time, now, I feel blessed that I have 2 children (it wasn't easy to conceive) but I'm not sure if accutane is to blame. Plus, I have to add that this did not happen in USA, it was in South America, so doctors don't always take those legal cases so seriously, but I also have to say my doctor sent me for lab test pretty often, I never had any of the side effects apparently.

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Edward- Smarty Pants! Where do you find all your info!
Thanks!

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Did search as requested, shows no risk.

Sperm count went up on isotretinoin, dropped back down after stopping.

Twenty male volunteers with severe acne conglobata were treated orally over a period of 12 weeks with 1 mg isotretinoin (13-cis-retinoic acid) per kilogram body weight. Before and after therapy, as well as 12 weeks after the end of therapy, the semen was examined spermatologically and the spermatozoa DNS determined by impulse cytophotometry. The sperm density remained unchanged in the otherwise healthy patients, whereas patients with previous gonadal defects (unilateral cryptorchism, hypogonadism, varicocele) the sperm count rose significantly (P less than 0.05) at the end of therapy; 3 months later a reverse trend in the sperm density was noted. The percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa was slightly reduced at the end of therapy; 12 weeks after completion of therapy it was significantly reduced (P less than 0.05). This could, however, be due to the short elimination half-life of 13-cis retinoic acid and have nothing to do with the drug. On impulse cytophotometry the spermatozoa DNS showed no significant changes. According to the results of the cytophotometric examination, contraceptive measures for men during treatment with 13-cis-retinoic-acid need not be made obligatory.

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Thanks, the first link in fact confirmed my suspicions. If you read the entire article, it states that sperm morphology was significantly affected in patients with varicocele. That is exactly what I have.

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Look for this study:

"THE EFFECT OF ISOTRETINOIN ON OVARIAN RESERVE BASED ON HORMONAL PARAMETERS, OVARIAN VOLUME, AND ANTRAL FOLLICLE COUNT IN WOMEN WITH ACNE"

The researchers stated a "significant negative impact on fertility" resulted from Accutane / Isotretinoin.

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Read the abstract.

The samples for the second round of the study were taken 6 months after Isotretinoin treatment.

Also, anti-mullerian hormone (AMH), ovarian volume, and antral follicle count are considered reliable predicotors of fertility which were reduced after Isotretinoin, according to the study.

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Once ovarian reserve is dimished, it's diminished. There is no recovery.
It's not the same the effects of birth control pills, although multiple studies have observed a significant decrease in FSH and LH in Isotretinoin patients, similar to the effects of BC.

It is also known that decreased ovarian reserve can result from use of chemotherapeutic agents, a category which Isotretinoin falls under.

Let's assume the authors were measuring fertility parameters in women taking a standard dose somewhere in the range typically used to treat acne, since that is clearly stated in the abstract.

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I've never heard of Aspirin being used as a front-line treatment for leukemia or neuroblastoma.

Apoptosis of granulosa cells in rats treated with Isotretinoin prompted the "ovarian reserve" study BTW.

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