Accutane And Infertility (Page 8) (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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"The Effect of Isotretinoin on Ovarian Reserve Based on Hormonal Parameters, Ovarian Volume, and Antral Follicle Count in Women with Acne":

karger.com/Article/Abstract/371551

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Hi Sara,

I recently became aware of the link of taking Accutane and premature ovarian failure. It is a very potent drug. I heard it was taken off the market, but I was not sure why. I took a 3 month course of Accutane when I was 28. Same as you, I knew about the severe birth defects that could occur if one was pregnant while taking it. I was fed up with still having acne at 28. I started going through peri-menopause at age 34. At age 35, I got pregnant, but my baby died in utero at 36 weeks.. After this, I only had four more periods and then my periods stopped completely. I was diagnosed with POF. The devastation was overwhelming. I was only 36. This happened many years ago so the statute of limitations may be up for me. I am 55 now. My husband and I decided to adopt and I now have two beautiful daughter's. They are 13 and 17. It took me a long time to get over the fact that I could not have a biological child and my only bio-baby had died.

Going through POF is very difficult and other people don't understand your grief. It was hard too, because family members and friends that were older than me, where able to have children and it was not fair. Accutane did not cause my baby's death. But indirectly, the pain of that loss combined with finding out that I would not be not able to get pregnant again with my own egg, was devastating. There is hope to heal and form a family after POF eventhough of course, its not your first choice. I chose adoption because I just could not get comfortable with donor egg. I hope this helps. Good Luck. As far as a legal suit, its been many years for me, and I don't want my daughters to feel like they are not enough.

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I also took Acutane as a teenager and ended up having to have ivf to get pregnant....

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For: 'it's not always isotrtinoin'. What is your angle/interest in this discussion? Could you clarify this for us? Most of us have taken accutane and therefore understand that there are effects we were not informed about beforehand (including information that came with the medication).
But why are you on this forum? Are you in the medical profession?

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A success story here!! I said twice but nobody answered me... I took accutane for 7 years (I have 2 children) not easy to conceive, no treatments either... I suffered from severe acne and acutane changed my life...

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Why do you say isotretinoine does not cure acne?? For me it was the only thing that worked.

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No, I have never been tested for anti-cardiolipin antibodies. I had ttp when I was 26 which can be a fatal blood virus. It is an autoimmune disease. after that I developed a thyroid problem and hashimotos. I have high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and take 2 different antidepressants. When I went to the fertility doctor, I was over 40 years old and he said that it was too dangerous for me to try anything to get pregnant because I could die. Just recently I wondered if all these health problems occurred because of taking Accutane at 16 years old.

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Yes my daughter is in the same boat. She took this as s teenager and is now 33 And has done ivf 4 times and the docs can't find a reason why she can not conceive. We signed papers when she was taking this only saying that you could not be trying to get pregnant while taking the drug. We would have never had her in the medication. Let me know if you find anything out. I am sorry that you are going thru this

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Erin, have you spoken with other women in your group about past Accutane use?
There is plenty of evidence that Accutane effects reproductive hormones and some evidence that it has a negative effect on measurements of fertility, but there is no solid proof.

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I need to share this here, and I really hope that all of you women who have posted will see this!! I have found a cure for all of the side effects. I did a hair analysis and it showed that the problem is in fact a COPPER imbalance in the body. You can read about it here:

drlwilson.com/articles/copper_toxicity_syndrome.htm

I am following a program called Nutritional Balancing to fix this imbalance naturally with the right minerals, vitamins, diet etc. PLEASE look this up! It helped me and I am sure it can help all of you too!

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We will see I have a dr appt on monday to see if it could be the cause, but I am currently 11 days late for that time of the month and i have taken a pregnancy test and it came out negative. Wish me luck on monday I will keep you updated and let you know if they have good news for me! I took accutane at a very young age of 14-15 and really hope it does not have anything to do with me not getting pregnant, but if it does I will definitely be reaching out to you guys once I do decide if I'm going to take legal action after I find out more information and consult my dr. to see if they have any other ideas about why I have not gotten pregnant still after 4 years of not being protected, no BC nothing.

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29 years old. Recently diagnosed with severe endometriosis by surgery. Going through hormone therapy to help with pain. Took Accutane when I was 14 for 6 months. (Had severe cystic acne since I was 9)... I am now infertile and back to suffering from severe cystic acne

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It's very sad what has happened to you. I would think, however, it would be impossible to pinpoint that Accutane was the culprit in all your maladies. Mainly, because if you have one auto-immune disease, it is extremely common to acquire more of them.
There surely should be a study made of long-term fertility consequences to the drug in any event.

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Cadg- Be thankful you're not having all the problems conceiving, you're one of the lucky ones

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It's the same for me. I took it as a teen. I'm 40 now. I've not been able to get my wife pregnant and the doctors can't explain why. Of course accutane may not be the cause. But I can say for certain that it has made my skin thinner permanently. So the effects were not limited to the acne. I would not take it again if I had know the risks.

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If the maker can't be sued. Would it be possible to sue the dermatologist who prescribed the accutane?

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How did you concieve? And I think we should sue considering how many people this has affected. We are all at an age now that we are wondering "why?" And I think we now know the answer.

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I conceived through a fertility doctor: medications and intrauterine insemination. Thousands of dollars and lots of heartache. :(

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I spent 16.5k and had a testicular biopsy, just to wake up and find out they found nothing and had to use the donor sperm.. I love my son, but my heart still broke that day.

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I'd love to! I don't feel my dermatologist managed my condition at all by prescribing me roaccutane and then the contraceptive pill. He left me on Yasmin with no recommendation of switching pills, due to Yasmin's statistically high risks of adverse effects, if taken for too long. He never queried my personal history nor considered the implications of placing a teenage girl on the pill, whose body was far from total development and proper functioning you'd expect to see in an adult.
Conventional doctors and specialists have no idea about proper health or nutrition, largely due to receiving little or no education on these throughout their degrees. They are taught to treat symptoms with toxic drugs instead of healing the body and systems as a whole, and we can only thank the big pharmaceuticals and their control over the healthcare industry for that!

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