Accutane Long Term Side Effects (Page 79) (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 After I have researched this drug extensively, I can't believe that the FDA allows this drug originally made for cancer patients to be marketed for teenagers with acne.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

Hi everyone,

If you've used Accutane, or any meds for that matter, and had side effects from taking it, your can always stop and regain your health again. I know it's really disappointing that what we just wanted to remove Acne that has been affecting how we live. Unfortunately, some of us are not aware of the long term side effects of Accutane, and out of desperation maybe, we have tried it. But we can still regain our health by detoxifying all the harmful chemicals we have in our body and nourish our cells with lots of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

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@maggie. I think you are misinformed about the side effects of accutane. Accutane is like a pure form of vitamin A. It does not leave the body. It remains in your cells forever. Vitamins A,D,E and K are the vitamins that once we take, do not leave the system. That is why people that overdose on this vitamin have side effects forever. It is very hard to not get side effects. only a lucky few say they dont but maybe they are not even sure that they did not get it.. maybe they have not observed themselves enough to say that they got the side effects or not. I think most that took this suffer permanant effects such as depression, allergy problems, and digestion problems. I hope that people realize this sooner and stop accutane as soon as possible. My brother suffered schizophrenic episodes for more than a year now. He doesnt have much of a life anymore. he came from an active very bright sports minded and got high grades in school to now cant go to school and have severe depression and have a hard time focussing on a task. He is now heavily medicated and there seems to be no more returning to normal for his life. I feel very angry at how accutane destoryed his life and how this drug has destroyed many other lives. Instead of living a healthy life and doing anything you want outdoors such as sports, being on accutane is like killing yourself slowly and taking the life that we have and putting it in prison. hope you have the courage and strength to know what is good for your body and try to be positive with life despite the side effects. it is a struggle. May Gods glory be with you.

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Patty,
I too, was on antibiotic drugs prior to my course of Accutane treatment. I was on antibiotics for at least 3 years. My Dermatologist started me on a drug called Sumycin. I took that until my body built up a resistance to that drug. Then my Dr. changed my treatment to another antibiotic. This went on for about 3 years. Then my body started rejecting the antibiotics. These antibiotic drugs "wash" your gut out so to speak. The antibiotics kill the good bacteria along with the bad bacteria. The result was Diarrhea for over 2 weeks, with a loss of 15 pounds of bodyweight. When I stopped taking the antibiotics the Diarrhea went away. Antibiotics are not the answer to Acne! Antibiotics should strictly be reserved for more acute serious health problems, i.e. strep, pneumonia, etc. If you over indulge in the use of Antibiotics, the body tends to build up a resistance to them. So when you really need them they are less effective. My suggestion is to go the natural route and clean up the diet of the person that has the acne problem. Stay away from the junk foods, processed foods and high fat foods. Dairy products can be a culprit also. If I could go back 30 years that what I would do. I would stay away from the over abuse of antibiotics and NEVER TAKE ACCUTANE!

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Bro needs help

I am sorry for your brothers mental issues but are you sure that his schizophrenia was caused by Accutane? Something like schizophrenia may have just been a coincidence.From what I see most people don't develop long term side effects. If you look at articles on Accutane even the negative ones there are many more good comments than bad. Most people say it's a miracle drug that has given them their life back.

Ernest

Acne and diet has little to do with each other. When I got acne I was healthy athletic 17 year old with a good diet. There are also people who smoke, do drugs, or eat lots of junk food that never get acne. Cutting out milk can help but it doesn't produce results in everybody. Diet is not going to do much to help cystic, nodular, or conglobate acne. You do have a point on antibiotics though. There have been research that stated that long term antibiotic use may cause bowel problems. So that means that the bowel problems some people are claiming Accutane caused may have been caused by their antibiotic use.

Anthony,

I agree that Accutane should only be taken when the acne is severe and cannot be helped by anything else. The reason I told Jacob to try it is because he fits that description. Yes it shouldn't be given in mild or moderate acne but I cannot imagine no option at all for people with extreme acne like in Lana's links.

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Hey everybody,
first of all I would like to express my deep condolences to everyone on this message board who has suffered from the horrible effects of accutane or had someone close to you suffer from it.
I am a 22 year old male and I could relate on the fact that I took it and suffered from taking it.
The list of everything it has caused me since taking it were:
mind fog
Joint and lower back pain
horrible hair loss (I know its from accutane cause hair loss isn't genetic in my family)
extreme dry eyes
Nearsightedness

A few months ago I was introduced to a product called protandim. Never really thought about taking it but decided to look into it. It is a nrf2 activator that lowers oxidative stress by 40% in 30 days.
I did my research on it and found how oxidative stress is actually related to hundreds of diseases which could be looked up on google.
its pretty amazing how it has shown to help people recover from various types of diagnosis es and disease. One supplement made of natural ingredients doing all these amazing things. Hmmm, so I decided to give it a try.
WOW, after about 2 months of taking it, my joint pains and mind fog feel as though they are disappearing. I will continue taking it to the point where it hopefully does completely.
Also I researched how it helped people with their acne as well. So far I never really broke out since taking it so it doesn't seem to have an affect on my acne.
I wanted to share this with all of you in light of a potentially new hope in what is helping me at the moment and what could help you guys. Do your research on protandim and ask me any questions you have or how you could get it.
Thank you

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Hi Marla I am hanging in there and I will be getting my vitamin D level checked next week.

Hi Patty I understand what you are saying and I am glad Accutane has worked with you with no long term side effects. I can also see why others like yourself would call it a wonder drug and would recommend it. However, I want to try any natural and alternative options before I even think about taking Accutane.

Please don't do anything to harm yourself and give life a chance.

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Everybody,

I have been reading about some natural cures for acne and I have seen a few treatments. Most of the treatments include at least 50,000 IU of Vitamin A along with other vitamins for at least three months. Would this be like taking Accutane? Would it be ok as long as I get my blood work done?

treatment example
books.google.com/books?id=6cjgo1IixvEC&pg=PA1100&dq=acne+iu+vitamin=onepage&q=acne&f=true

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My husband has similar issues, with his bowels and indigestion. He has recently been getting these odd nosebleeds. For no reason.

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Hi Lou,

Thanks for sharing. Is this something you envision taking for a long time? It's extremely expensive for a supplement. The site lists all of the natural ingredients. Granted some of them like turmeric and green tea extract are quite pricey as well. Have you considered getting these herbs separately and potentially stocking up and saving a bit of money?

Their website looks pretty gimmicky too, no offense. I'm really happy you seem to be having success though. Are you experiencing any improvement in dry eyes, assuming that was a side effect you dealt with?
Thanks.

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I like hearing everybody's stories, I have yet to have any serious side effects like the ones that have been posted. After long periods of time, I come back to this site because I'm sad. I'm sad because I completely stopped growing at age fifteen and I was already a little behind in growing and puberty starting about a year later than everybody else at my school. Fifteen you may say I was already fully matured, but the truth is, I am so underdeveloped. To other people, I'm just the kid with the baby face who ages well... Sometimes I believe this is what I was supposed to grow up to look like, until I look at my family members. I have the smallest hands, feet, head, and genitals in my family, although this is not necessarily important or severe, It truly messes with my head. Being an athlete size matters! I'm not saying I would have been big, but I know there was more development left in my body, for example Lebron James was 6 foot 2 when he was a freshman in high school. Having intercourse is a struggle because the base of my genitals is not strong enough to support women on top of me or even strong enough to penetrate, the girl usually has to grab it and stick it in, not to mention my balls hardly dropped. My whole body is proportionate... so having small genitals goes along with my baby hands, feet, and my small immature face. I body build to eliminate the immaturity of my body, as to where naturally I am around a 120 pounds. I have been 5 foot 7 in a half since I've taken accutane at 15. I am in my second year of college, I'm not just some depressed person doing nothing with his life, I am trying to feel as much like my self as I can.. Not your average twenty year old.

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Hi again Lou,

Thanks for the reply and your thoughts. I discovered this extensive research and article supposedly exposing prodantim. google.com/search?q=prodantim+scam=en&client=safari

If you wouldn't mind checking it over and giving me your thoughts I would appreciate it. As far as my eyes,
The glands definitely are dry and not producing many tears or good quality tears. The mebomian glands are responsible for creating that protective layer of moisture on the cornea and unfortunately I am not able to produce it I am 24 and on restasis already in hopes of some success. It makes me all the more nervous since its prescription drugs. I would consider looking more into prodantim. I suppose it really isn't a bad deal considering I am buying many other supplements as well. I will keep reading about it but any more information you have from your experience that might help myself and others take another step to improving their health.

@bro needs help - I do agree with you man. I strongly believe people who took Accutane have developed conditions they might not even be fully aware about yet, or at least the correlation between their problems and the drug. Would you mind pointing me to the statistics you mentioned on suicide, vitamin a rich bear organ and the ensuing mental problems? Thanks

AG

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Cheers Lou. Thanks again for responding. I am quite familiar with combating free radicals but I suppose with everything you never know what may help if you don't try. And by no means am I saying it's a bad idea on your part. Just like to do my research! I will keep looking into prodantim and in the meantime if I have any questions hopefully you might be available to share more thoughts for us.

I also find it important to start taking probiotics to help restore healthy bacteria in our system. If we can improve our digestion it will hopefully lead to a more stable serotonin level. I'm also taking two natural mood enhancers, theanine and St. John's wort. More soon

Anthony

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Everybody thank you for your advice. I will be trying a naturopath soon wish me luck.

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Hey Jacob, maybe you could look into Protandim for a natural cure for acne. People have said how it cleared up their acne. You could even type in Protandim and acne to see a few people who said it cleared it up for them. It is definatly a much safer alternative to taking accutane first. If I would have known about Protandim before going on accutane I would have used it for my acne. Let me know what you think man.
Thanks

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As a person who suffered from severe acne conglobata and was only helped by Accutane I have another perspective. Yes Accutane is risky but if you acne is so bad that it makes you feel like a freak and you barely leave your house then the risks are worth it. What good is life anyway if you can not be comfortable going out into public because you look like a freak? Seriously google Brittany's extreme acne and watch the video. There is nothing worse than living life as a monster.

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At least you get to live a life Brittany... My son took a generic of accutane and has been ill since week 7 on this poision ! He was nearly 17. He has had and still has so many problems that he cannot go anywhere . He went out last week for the first time in 17 months. He sees no one. He has a permanent Migraine now as well as joint pain and depression ..... This is No Way a life for a young person whom has now lost nearly 3 years of his life . He was at college, did voluntary work on weekends & went to the gym. Now his life is filled with Pain !

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Hey mitch uk, maybe your son could try Protandim. It would probably help out with the joint pain and help with his mood. You could read about it in my previous post and look up how it is helping people on google. I talked about how it has really helped with my joint pain from accutane and how it increases energy and makes you feel good. Let me know what you think.
lou

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Mitchuk,

My condolences to your son. I am not sure if Accutane caused his problems but I am sympathetic to your son's condition. My point is that statistically Accutane has helped more people like myself than it has harmed people. If a person suffers from extreme acne like I did then they should be able to decide to take that chance. It may not be like your son's condition but it's still painful emotionally and socially since society is really quite cruel on a whole when it comes to your appearance. A disease does not have to be deadly or painful to ruin your life.

Just look at these men:

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107573/Bubble-man-body-covered-tumours-No-likes-looking-near-me.html

huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/chandra-wisnu-the-bubble-_n_1609254.html

Dymy

My condolences but the chances of suicide or extreme depression happening from Accutane is very slim. The official statistics say 1 in 200,000 and even if a lot of them are not reported that chances are still very slim. If you would multiply this number by ten it would be a 1 in 20,000 chance which is only a 0.00005 percent chance. If you multiply by 100 then the chance is still only 0.0005 percent. Plus severe acne may have been the cause of those suicides because it's well known that people with severe acne are more likely to suffer from low self esteem and depression.

to everybody,

I can understand why you would label Accutane as just a bad drug but you can't everything on it. It's the only option for people suffer from not only severe acne but from other skin conditions as well. Anything that affects your confidence, your social life, you chance at dating, employment, and etc is very serious and should be treated with any option the patient wants.

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Brittany,
To compare the bubble face man to teenagers being prescribed Accutane, Amnesteem, and other generic brands for acne alone is insane. Your statistic evaluation lacks you ignoring the proven facts about these drugs. From the heart, I am truly happy for you that your health has not been harmed and the drug for a appearance stand point has helped you. Criticizing parents that have recently lost their son to the potential side effects from Accutane was very ignorant and immature of you. Do some research on what an overdose of Vitamin A will do the the human body and you will find the same side effects from Accutane. Shame on you!

To dymy.
I am so sorry for the lost of your stepson. I am a parent of a son that took Amnesteem ( generic Accutane ) for 6 months until he ended up in the E R with extensive bleeding from his colon while running a track and field event in High School. He has suffered for the last 7 years with medical problems. The drug company admitted it was their drug that caused severe bleeding from his colon. I can understand your point of view and you have my deepest sympathy in your loss.
May God Bless,
From the Heart,
Scott

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Brittany,

In cases like these common sense easily reigns over skewed statistics. Not to mention these "official" stats are more than likely released by the drug companies themselves. Look at this one thread....over 71 pages and hundreds of people commenting on a multitude of mutual side effects directly correlated to vitamin A toxicity. This is one of hundreds of of other topics online. It's not rocket science.

And to echo Scott's remark, to compare a man with that terrible disease to someone even with severe acne is ridiculous, not to mention what he has not only looks very painful but potentially fatal. The idea that suicidal thoughts are mere coincidence while being on the drug is also asinine. The company states it as one of the serious side effects.

It's certainly not the only option regardless of the severity. As I mentioned in an earlier post, for me, this drug was a trade-off for many other problems. My skin isn't perfect from all of the s*** I tried over the years. It's clear for the most part, but all of the other problems I have started dealing with make me regret it. Sorry to be so forthcoming in regards to your post, but I feel like you trivialized the comments of those suffering from these powerful effects and brushed it off to be merely a coincidence.

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