Welcome to our community. Please fill in the following template as a way of introducing yourself, and helping others to understand your background and situation.
Where are you from (country)?
How did you find this forum (Google search – if so, what search terms? Via link from a forum or website – if so, what page? Other?) Reddit
What is your current age, height, weight? 20, 5’11/180cm, 175lbs/80kg
What specific drug did you use (finasteride, dutasteride, saw palmetto, isotretinoin/Accutane, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, leuprorelin, etc…)? Accutane
What dose did you take (eg. 1 mg/day, 1 mg every other day etc.)? 20/40/60/60/80/80
What condition was being treated with the drug? Acne, Back acne
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)? 6 months
Date when you started the drug? March 2021
Date when you quit the drug? Around September 2021
Age when you quit? 18 years old
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)? Cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects? Around 3 weeks in
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Check the boxes that apply. You can save your post first, then interactively check/uncheck the boxes by clicking on them. If your symptoms change, please update your list.
Sexual
[ ] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ ] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ ] Loss of Morning Erections
[ ] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[x] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[x] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[x] Confusion
[x] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness
[x] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought
[x] Slurring of Speech
[x] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[x] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[x] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[x] Suicidal Thoughts
Physical
[ ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain
[ ] Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ ] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[ ] Weight Gain
[ ] Gynecomastia (male breasts)
[ ] Muscle Wastage
[ ] Muscle Weakness
[x] Joint Pain
[x] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[ ] Prostate pain
[x] Persistent Fatigue / Exhaustion
[ ] Stomach Pains / Digestion Problems
[ ] Constipation / “Poo Pellets”
[ ] Vision - Acuity Decrease / Blurriness
[ ] Tinnitus (ringing or high pitched sound in ears)
[ ] Hearing loss
[ ] Increased hair loss
[ ] Frequent urination
[ ] Lowered body temperature
[ ] Other (please explain)
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug? Testosterone,Proviron,Tamoxifen,Escitalopram 10mg for 1.5 months post accutane
Hey everyone, i just wanted to share my story on here.
I’m a 20 year old guy that took accutane for 8 months, 20/40/40/60/60/80/80 when i was 18 years old. I did not even have bad acne, it was mostly due to poor hygiene, using a lot of moisturizers and skincare products that my skin reacted negatively to, along with daily lifting and sweating which made it even worse
Ever since i took accutane i have had severe health problems. Yes, the classical symptoms… dry skin, no libido, water retention all over my body and face, OCD, extreme depression, anxiety, poor memory, extreme lower back pain when doing anything that is strenuous.
Anyways, i still struggle a lot with severely dehydrated skin, if i use a facial cleanser my skin is dehydrated for a whole week. My hair is also extremely dry…
My question is, how the hell do i fix this?. I know that i will have to rely on skincare products for my whole life as my natural sebum production probably won’t ever come back.
Which products should i use in order to properly hydrate my face?
I currently use Bulldog Sensitive Moisturizer, which is the only moisturizer i have been able to use after trying 20+ different moisturizers. Guessing it’s because 98% of the ingredients are completely natural.
Could coconut oil together with not using any shampoo/nopoo perhaps help? Is there any natural oil or whatever i could use that could help me restore the healthy glow i once had before accutane?. My skin has 0 glow to it nowadays.
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Here are some background information
Dec 2020
Skin & Hair & Body before accutane: https://imgur.com/a/ZFGL59w , 5’10, 155lbs - As you can see my skin and hair looked very healthy comparing it to now.
March-May 2021
Physique on accutane: This was a couple of months into accutane. Same weight and height. My physique had transformed into a skinnyfat, estrogenic mess, it was honestly insane. Probably my lowest point in life, no idea why this happened, i just lost all my muscle and my face & body got filled with water retention. And i started getting gyno. Other than that i also experienced severe mental issues, it got so bad that i had to stop taking the drug for a month as everyone around me noticed something was off with me, it was like my body had gone in “freeze mode” But sadly i started taking it again due to the purging state which made my acne look 10 times worse than before. I convinced myself that it was just temporarily and everything will get better once i stop taking the drug
https://imgur.com/a/VeoiN2w
January 2022
After accutane i went down to 135lbs. - The water retention side effect that i had on accutane remained. Some days my body and face looked lean, and some days i looked extremely puffy. No idea why… Maybe it had something to do with DHT, senstivitiy to something in my diet?.. As you can see, i clearly didn’t look healthy, and i had no idea why. I had no energy to do anything, no appetite, could not even workout as i did not have the energy for it.
https://imgur.com/a/tmVg9Bcz
At this point i was extremely desperate, so a few months after doing some research i decided to jump on a test cycle with proviron to then do 10mg pct for 6 weeks and thankfully it cured my non existent libido. On proviron i went from barely getting an erection once a week to being extremely horny 24/7, all i could think about was girls. No idea why that happened as testosterone alone made my libido even worse than before. I also got back in the gym and started eating more, but i never had the same energy & motivation which i had before accutane, i still felt like shit. - And yes, it was a dumb idea to do a test cycle as i was way too young, at only 19 years old and just 135lbs. I was just so desperate because i wanted my life back, you can’t blame me. When your in such a shitty mental state, your willing to try anything. I just felt nothing…
Skin & Hair after accutane: - Only using bulldog sensitive moisturizer occasionally, no face wash or any other skincare products. As you can see my skin has lost the glow which i had before accutane. Most of these pics are a few months after taking accutane and first 2 pics are recently taken. https://imgur.com/a/urLuUgg
2023 >
Now i am at 175lbs, 5’11/180cm. Thankfully the test cycle seemed to have helped in kick-starting my hormones up again as it was like puberty stopped when i started taking accutane. And i also finally started growing hair on the belly, and nipple area. My hair got thicker and more curly. I also grew 1 inch in height after my test cycle which could also have been because i got better posture along the way. But in reality the only positive effects i got from test was that it restored my libido completely, as well that it changed my physical appearance to the better. Mentally i got 10 times worse on test for some reason, i heard that it’s very common for those that have PAS. Now i will probably never mess with it again. I have also switched up my diet & lifestyle completely in hope to recover naturally. Diet is meat, vegetables, fruit, olive oil, butter. I also do daily calisthenics with daily walks/running. Getting atleast 10k steps a day.
https://imgur.com/a/Pu9CQ36
Hopefully this was helpful.