Accutane Long Term Side Effects (Page 3) (Top voted first)

I have a son that took accutane 60 mg a day for six months in a row three years ago. Now after many trips to doctors over strange medical problems, it seems accuatne is the culprit medication that has caused servere joint and muscle pain, severe dry lips, redness in face, eye infections of own immune system attacking itself, systems of osteoarthritis in both shoulders, both wrist and right hand, blood in stool, possible hair loss, abnormal liver function test results in AST and ALT. My son went from being a high school football and track athlete while taking this medication three years ago to someone that is in constant pain just washing a car. After I have researched this drug extensively, I can't believe that the FDA allows this drug originally made for cancer patients to be marketed for teenagers with acne. All one has to do is look online what vitamin A overdose does to someone and then you have the results of what this medication has done to my son. This drug needs to be taken off them market ASAP and the drug companies that make it need to compensate all teenagers that they have possible ruined their future. Shame on them! What is going on here?

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REPORT

My son 13 was on accutane for 6 months. Stupidly we the parents assumed this drug like most other casual drugs on the market like ibuprofen will have some side effects which will go away once the 6 month treatment is done.

We are now 2 months past the day my son took the last pill, and the symptoms of itchiness all over his body persist, very harshly so. He has scrapped off his skin in many places on his body due to severe itching. Today he is also reporting joint pain in his finger joints which he didn't have before. This is what triggered me to start researching this side effects topics. Yikes! Had I seen this page before I would have stopped his treatment asap or never let it happen.

Apparently my wife was asked to sign a waiver to start this treatment which I need to examine shortly. Our mistake - it was brushed off casually by us to help improve our son's life from acne, which seems like a bargain compared to what we are seeing now as the side effects..

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I can't believe you were put on that high a dose, your derm should be in jail. Seriously, f*** this drug and scum who push on young people while lying about its safety. Something must be done about this poison.

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May I start by offering my condolences to all of you that have had your life's ruined by this poison, in a way it makes me glad to know I'm not alone but sick because I know your suffering. For the last year my life has been horrific. I've had numerous health problems, complications and overall deterioration since taking this and the shock of dealing with it all concluded in me trying to kill myself last week, and so I'm now locked in a psychiatric unit. In the space of a year I've lost 20 kilos which I assume is from the chronic dehydration that crept up on me, I've had dry itchy burning skin all over, pain in all joints to a point where I feel as if I've been hit by a truck, constipation, bloated bladder, flushed thin skin, hair loss, fatigue and crippling weakness, horrific blurred vision accompanied by itchy dry eyes, headaches, nausea, tinnitus, brain fog and that's without going on about black baggy eyes wrinkles, circulation that's that bad my feet swell hands and back swell. It's devastating to think that just because I wanted to improve my self esteem and trusted a professional doctor my life is now destroyed, I feel as if my body is aged to a point of no return, my mum and dad try to understand but they can't fully, I mean how can they, they're not in my body and never will be. It's a surreal feeling of waking up everyday and been trapped, been repeatedly punished for a mistake you made, not just been punished physically but mentally, everyday thinking what if and blaming yourself. It bothers me when I here of Sick and twisted people that rape and murder children, steal from the elderly, kill drink driving, get addicted to coke for years and still never have to suffer like we have and continue to, Scott if you read this I would like to find a way of communicating with your son I am 20 and feel that it would be greatly beneficial to speak to someone who understands this hell, and to anyone please let me know a way of communicating with someone. For the last 6 months I have continually thought about the life I used to lead and it makes me happy to know at least I spent that time doing things that made me happy I no longer can I just wish I had cherished those moments for longer. Lately I've found myself thinking about having children or settling down in the future it bothers me because these are things I know I will miss out on in the future, no woman will want a crippled aged partner to start a family with, who can't play games with their children or work to provide for them, I can't even go in the sun, in fact I'm barely able to function, it really is ironic isn't it that the reason we took this drug was to feel free and now we are trapped forever, I'm sorry if I'm been negative I just can't see myself lasting 5 years not in this suffering its in humane. My heart bleeds when I read your pain, my love to all, Liam

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PLEASE........Those of you debating about taking Accutane or allowing your children to take it.............DON'T TAKE THIS POISON!! I am a 55 year old male who took Accutane 36 years ago when I was 24. I took this poison for 3 months on the advice of my Dermatologist. Was supposed to take it for 6 months but the side effects were just too much for me to deal with. So glad I didn't continue for the full 6 month treatment. The last 36 years have been an up and down roller coaster with my health issues. Immediately after getting off Accutane I began having gastrointestinal issues. I developed ulcers in my esophagus and IBS( Irritable Bowel Syndrome). Brain fog also began and has been an ongoing problem ever since. Within a few years I started to have bone issues. I have been diagnosed with arthritis in my neck and spine, i.e. degenerative disc disease which is progressively getting worse. My joints "pop" constantly. Everyday life has been a struggle. Other issues have been food intolerance and food allergies. I have to watch what I eat very closely. Can't tolerate sodas. Spicy foods, which I ate in abundance prior to Accutane are now a no no. If I eat them I am miserable for days. The latest problem is Gluten Intolerance. Gluten, i.e. grains such as wheat, oats, rye now cause me severe stomach issues, bloating, diarrhea, reflux. I could go on. My skin now stays very dry, especially during the winter months cold. It will crack and bleed at times. All this because of Accutane. I didn't have any of these problems prior to taking this drug. I recently learned about Accutane being a chemo drug for cancer patients. If I had known that fact, I would have never considered taking this drug/ poison! So if you don't want your kids to go through a life of misery don't give them Accutane. I would gladly take back my Acne problem to have my health back to normal. Oh, and by the way, I still get Acne at times.

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I would like to thank all of you guys for preventing me from taking this medicine.

you might have just saved my life.

Now i need to figure out a way how to cure my acne without taking accutane.. :/

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I will be involved in that, im fed up.

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OMGOSH its like reading something I wrote.... My son now 30 too same dose for 6months....... He was 15. Biggest mistake I EVER MADE..... He is now 30 and is house bound with agoraphobia. It started a short time after takeing the drug, I have video of him every birthday, he was always laughing and full of life, extremely out going and confident...... I can see his birthday one year, we had to be silent, he didn't want to do anything, he was def depressed which very quickly turned to pannick attacks...even after seeing a physiologest for a short time, he got worse and worse till now like I said 30 and can't leave the house. He can't get disability as they say he can be treated with drugs ( yeah like he ever want to take MORE drugs... So we have to support him. Which isn't helping him.... I've had difficultly keeps jobs, as he may need me often to stay home, as his attacks were soooo bad.... He should be dating girls and having all the exciting times any young man would have had. And now he is a man I can't see any hope for him....... Now I'm depressed and upset, as a mother I failed to protect him and I can't help him..... I can't even afford to pay for professional help........... I know wat u r going through......... I HATE THAT DRUG AND HOPE NO ONE ELSE EVER GIVES THEIR CHILD IT....._

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Why would you be here visiting this page if everything was alright .....except to promote this drug ? Out of all the people around me that took accutane, 100% have permanent side effects years later (me included) and it will be worse with years. Most of them have aged prematurely , have stomach problems and very dry eyes 20 years after taking the drug. I would say the lucky ones are those with a very oily skin. Talking about myself, i had depression straight after ending accutane. and still suffer from this. But except that, everything was ok. Unfortunately side effects started to show up noticeably 10 years after taking accutane. l lost my hairs , have severe dry eyes, lung, nose, throat...everything is so dry. my skin looks so old.....my stomach burns, my bones are very fragile. Because side effects start to be very noticeable only after 10 years many people won't relate accutane with that....that's why doctors think that not anyone has side effects. Unfortunately...this is wrong.

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Update on my son. It has been 6 months since we have been off Clarivis/Accutane. The symptoms he experienced was blurrey vision, head pressure, bloody noses, severe anxiety, sadness. After trying to find help for him we finally found a very caring psychiatrist that explained to us that the medicine works by causing inflammation of tissue especially fatty tissue such as sebaceous oil glands, and low and behold what is the brain made of fatty tissue. My son was having inflammation of his brain which caused a chemical imbalance, decreased serotonin, which can cause extreme anxiety. The doctor prescribed an antidepressant and gabapentin to help with the anxiety. We kept him away from vitamins, and decreased his intake of vitamin A containing foods, we had him eat dark chocolate, walnuts, and just gave him a lot of love and support. Today he is off of the Wellbutrin and he rarely takes his Gabapentin for the severe anxiety. Now I have him take a tumeric supplement as well as a coconut oil supplement very low dose ones to help keep the inflammation down. It was a very scary experience and I hope and pray we never experience this again. Only try these treatments with a physician's medical advice. Call the drug company and let them know what your child has experienced while taking this medication.

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Re: Nettles (# 1895)

Hi Nettles, just wanted to share my story as I had similar symptoms as you son - joint and back pains, severe mood swings, depression, severe tiredness, constant flu symptoms, acid reflux, IBS etc. I took Accutane for 7 months and after being off of it for nearly a year my health was not improving. My GP did loads of tests but they all came back within the limits. At one point they suspected inflammatory arthritis. I finally reached a point where I could no longer feel ill all the time and was looking for an alternative as I was sure that my body was full of inflammation and that was the reason of my illness. I found a good nutritionist who literally turned my life around. I had to go on a strict 0 carb diet and loads of food enzymes, probiotics and vitamins to get rid of all the toxins and inflammation. The first month was not easy but now, 6 months later, all my symptoms are gone with the exception of dry, curly hair. I do find that as soon as I relax the diet some of the gastrointestinal symptoms start to reappear. I would definitely recommend that others consider looking at healing the body through nutrition under supervision.

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Re: NCC (# 202)

Hi!

I have been dealing with side effects of accutane for about 10 years now. Since then, I have always self diagnosed myself with "chronic dehydration" (extremely dry lips, face peeling, dry mouth, sensitive dry scalp and overall dry skin). Also, I have been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease that they cannot identify. Some of my skin cells are attacking themselves, specifically on my scalp. They thought it looked similar to signs of Lupus, but that diagnosis came back negative. After reading your article, it seems these are common side effects and that you have done an abundance of research.

I would be very interested in hearing about the supplements you use to battle these symptoms. I know this post is from a long time ago, so I hope to hear back from you!

-RR

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We are now on day 15 off the generic Accutane. My 15 year old has been home from the hospital for 2 days and doing much better. Still seeing and hearing things but coping due to the medications. We are trying our third antipsychotic medication. The medications make him very tired and out of it. He is seeing a psychiatrist and psycologist and will be on meds for 3-6 months at least. I saw a little bit of my boy today-goofing off and teasing me, wanted to go outside and to the store, and then he went back into his bubble. We are taking it one day at a time. We had 2 good days and hope the days continue to get better.

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I took Accutane for acne in 1983. I have suffered from chronic pain syndrome for over 20 years, and IBS. Depression and mood swings have been part of my life during this time. I recently met with integrative medicine physician and was online checking out some current drug side effects, and had no idea that my problems could have been from this drug years ago. Take my advice do anything you can to avoid taking drugs for any non-life threatening illness.

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Charile is 30 days off the generic accutane and is still symptomatic but showing improvement on antipsycotics and antidepressants. I have been spoken to about 25 of close family and friends and everyone knows someone that had adverse reactions to this stuff but Dermatologist swear that the side effects are minimal. Case 1-beautiful smart 17 year old girl that had many offers to universities accross the country was put on Accutane. She became so depressed and suicidal that she sought out buying antidressents from friends and ended up in a rehab facility. This girl is now 20 years old and is still on antidepressents. She went to college for a short time, but had to drop out. She is now on sabatical overseas helping kids with autism. Case 2-mature adult male started to see little green men out in his farm field and wanted to take a gun out a shoot them. Case 3- 26 year old college student took Accutane in her early 20s. She said that Accutane helped her get through college and cured her acne. When asked if she was still on antidepressents-she said yes. She never put it together that being depressed years later may be related to the Accutane. She was put on antidepressents while on Accutane in her early 20s. Another young female, mid 20s was put on Accutane at 14 years old. The Dermatologist put her on Antidepressents at the same time as the Accutane. This beautiful young women cant get away from the antidepressents. When a pharmacist was asked about Accutane-He said that it was black boxed he has to sign all kinds of paperwork and chose not to carry it due to the side effects. Again I ask-Why is this on the market? I lived through acne, so can you.

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I suffered with acne most of my young adult life. My doctor finally put me on Accutane after many attempts at other acne treatments. At that point I would have paid a million dollers to have clear skin, as I'm sure others would agree it is horrible to deal with acne. Accutane completely cured me of acne. Yes the temporary side effects of dryness etc are not fun but, in the end I would do it again in a heartbeat. I havn't had more than the occational pimple since. That was 12 years ago.

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I took accutane for 6 months in 2009. It really cleared my acne, but I started experiencing problems and symptoms I never had before. I became irritable, started having crying spells, trouble concentrating, fast heart rate, and I began having severe chest pains. I didn't think anything of it until now and it has gotten worse. I don't know what to do. I'm tired of feeling like this and putting my husband through so much when he doesn't even deserve it. I need a cure!!!

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I took accutane for 6 months. The 60mg. I was a bright, happy teenager even with my bad acne problem. I tried a lot of products that didn't seem to help with my acne, so I went on the accutane course. I was 16 then, I'm 28 now and have been fighting with serious mental swings since I was about 17-18. I do have stomach problems and have tried to cure them naturally, with some success. Accutane without a doubt totally messed up my mind. I used to be very smart and quick and healthy mentally. I battle with suicidal thoughts every day for almost 10 years now. I wish I never took that accutane and just stuck with the acne. I have never told anyone about my mental issues because I'm embarrassed even though I know it has something to do with accutane and is not my fault. I try yoga and meditation and that does help, I just wish I had my mind back.... my jovial, happy, mind. I pray for anyone who has taken that medication. I also warn against taking it.. It's not worth it.

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They haven't done enough research to KNOW of any long term side effects, that's the problem. A lot of people are having similar complaints about joint pain and all that. You can't trust doctors or pharmacists anymore because they're getting paid by pharmaceutical companies to carry their product. Look at all the legal suits going about over FDA approved medications and implant devices! Just because the FDA approves it does not mean there can't or won't be anything wrong with what you're taking/prescribed. As much as I love having clear skin, it wasn't worth the sacrifice of pain all over my body. The pharmaceutical business is all about who has the most money invested in their product. You don't think a pharmaceutical business wouldn't pay the FDA to change or omit certain facts in order to get their product out their first and fastest? The first business to put out a revolutionary drug like Accutane will gain the most profit since generic brands cannot make that same product until the original drug-maker's patent has expired, which I believe is between 7-10 years. Our government just wants us to believe certain things and to shove a pill down our throats and make us into "sheeple." They don't want us to think for ourselves. They want to dumb us down and eventually kill us. I don't believe in a miracle pill anymore. I believe in natural health. Eating healthy (not the Standard American Diet, which is abbreviated as SAD, which is actually the real emotion of sad) is the best way to make your whole body and mind feel good. Don't eat a SAD diet! Eat more fruits and veggies than ANYTHING ELSE! I just want people out there who are just starting on Accutane to know that a pill is NOT the answer.

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I wonder how many children and teenagers unknowing started there chemotherapy course today.
How many parents do you think would let there kids take accutane if they knew it was a chemo agent and had read through this entire thread? Provided there child's acne wasn't extremely severe I think I can come up with a pretty accurate number, 0.

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I have taken two courses of Accutane treatement during winter time when I was around 17y.o.

I have had terrible sleep problems to this day (I am 31), unable to get restful sleep at night, even when sleeping for hours on end (12-14 hous). Some of the complications (due to Accutane or lack of good sleep) also included severe IBS, joint and muscle pains, a fragile body that would easily get injured playing football (soccer), allergies / psiorasis.

At around age 27, I started to notice I could get some better sleep by going to bed in the evening but not everyday though. Nevertheless, I heartily welcomed a handful of restorative hours of sleep that I had been deprived of for so many years.

Then, after having run plenty of tests over the years to explain my poor health (tiredness, lethargy, IBS, muscle/joint pains), I finally relented and agreed to a course of SSRI. No more cold sweats at night (body temperature regulation issue), and my state of alertness and lethargy was improved during certain time of the day but still did not offer good night sleep.

Eventually, I started fully experimenting with my bedtime and noticed I could get much better sleep by getting to bed a few hours earlier everyday (3-4.5 hours, i.e. 2 to 3 sleep cycles), basically going around the clock, meaning my circadian rythm is much shorter than 24h. The improved sleep quality greatly reduced my symptoms (IBS, joint/muscle pains) so that I am mostly free of them. But I achieved this at the cost of living an asocial life due to my chaotic sleep pattern.

I guess I wasn't fully aware of the potential long-term effects, both their probability and their severity. And by the looks of it, teenagers/young adults and their parents still aren't to this day. Looking back on it now, my personal view is that psychological counseling would be much more appropriate to help young people go through this difficult time than taking such a risky drug.

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