Admins – Let me know I have filled out the member form incorrectly in any way and I will amend it thanks 
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)?
UK
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?)
Googling sexual side effects Accutane, seeing new articles and then eventually coming to this forum after searching for ages for answers
What is your current age, height, weight?
21
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.)?
20mg for 2 months and then 40 for few weeks
What condition was being treated with the drug?
Acne
For how long did you take the drug (weeks/months/years)?
Roughly 3 months
Date when you started the drug?
Not sure exactly. Around mid-September 2019
Date when you quit the drug?
Around late November 2019
Age when you quit?
18
How did you quit (cold turkey or taper off)?
Cold turkey
How long into your usage did you notice the onset of side effects?
Impotence around 2 months and proper “crash” few months after discontinuation
What side effects did you experience that have yet to resolve since discontinuation?
Sexual
[ x] Loss of Libido / Sex Drive
[ x] Erectile Dysfunction
[ ] Complete Impotence
[ x] Loss of Morning Erections (fluctuates, on average 5/7 days of the week I will get one, however around 30-60% full)
[ x] Loss of Spontaneous Erections
[ x ] Loss of Nocturnal Erections
[ x ] Watery Ejaculate
[ ] Reduced Ejaculate
[ ] Inability or Difficulty to Ejaculate / Orgasm
[ ] Reduced Sperm Count / Motility
Mental
[ ] Emotional Blunting / Emotionally Flat
[ ] Difficulty Focusing / Concentrating
[ x ] Confusion (Sometimes, minor tho)
[x ] Memory Loss / Forgetfulness (does impact me, but not so its having a huge impact on day to day life)
[ x ] Stumbling over Words / Losing Train of Thought (again sometimes, minor tho if I concentrate on not doing it)
[ x ] Slurring of Speech (never used to have this, developed quite bit recently)
[ ] Lack of Motivation / Feeling Passive / Complacency
[ ] Extreme Anxiety / Panic Attacks
[ ] Severe Depression / Melancholy
[ x] Suicidal Thoughts (do struggle to imagine living the rest of my life like this)
Physical
[ x ] Penile Tissue Changes (narrowing, shrinkage, wrinkled)
[ ] Penis curvature / rotation on axis
[ ] Testicular Pain (only during crash)
[ x ]Testicular Shrinkage / Loss of Fullness
[ x] Genital numbness / sensitivity decrease
[x ] Weight Gain (increased amount of stomach fat, but been going to gym etc, so manageable)
[x] Gynecomastia (male breasts) ( yes on left chest, however doesn’t look too bad now as going to gym)
[] Muscle Wastage
[] Muscle Weakness
[ ] Joint Pain
[] Dry / Dark Circles under eyes
Misc
[] Prostate pain
[] 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
[ x] Frequent urination (wake up at least once, sometimes twice to go for a wee in the night)
[] Lowered body temperature
Other (please explain)
- Muscle Twitches
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.
What (if any) treatments have you undertaken to recover from your side effects since discontinuation of the drug?
Please see below on member story for stuff that has helped me
If you have pre or post-drug blood tests, what hormonal changes have you encountered since discontinuing the drug (please post your test results in the “Blood Tests” section and link to them in your post)?
N/A
Anything not listed in the above questions you’d like to share about your experience?
N/A
Tell us your story, in your own words, about your usage and side effects experienced while on/off the drug.
I guess this post has been a long time coming. I have suffered from ‘Post Accutane Syndrome” for just over 3 years now. I have lurked these forums for too long without telling my story. I have been too afraid to make a post but the time has come.
I appreciate this is page is for mainly for finasteride users but us Accutane suffers don’t have a platform and the men on here are the only people I feel can truly relate and understand what I have been through.
All through my teens I had mild to moderate acne. I tried various treatments but to no avail. After being put on a two-year waiting list, I was seen by a dermatologist who prescribed me Accutane. I was just starting University and was 18 at the time. I was on the drug for around 2 months when I noticed that whilst watching porn, I didn’t seem to be 100% hard which really concerned me. I did what most of us did and googled for an answer. I stumbled across a couple of news articles which told the stories of men who were left permanently impotent by the drug. I stopped immediately.
What followed for the next year was hell. My sexual symptoms heavily increased (see above for what I had, shrinkage etc) and depression and anxiety was high. I also noticed that I developed gyno and had an increased amount of belly fat.
Had the exact same experiences of every man on this forum. Went to doctors, referred to urologist and was told that “it was all in my head” and prescribed me ED pills.
The ED pills work for me 80% of the time and I have had satisfactory sex on numerous occasions in the last 3 years with their help. However, even with those pills my erections can sometimes be weak which really depresses me further.
I have noticed cognitive symptoms, of which the past couple of months have been quite bad. However, my main symptoms are the sexual ones.
It is really great to see this forum is starting to evolve from a place of defeat and pessimism to a place where people can go to for help and advice. It was really hard for me to go to these types of places when I was 18 and read the horror stories and the total feel of defeatism. Hence, why I try to avoid these forums and have not actually posted until now.
What has help me:
I would like to note that my symptoms’ do seem to fluctuate as in a have a couple of days of somewhat of a libido and a bit more blood flow down there but then followed but months of cold shrunken impotence.
These four below are the only things that I have found that seem to have a positive impact on symptoms’, not at all recovered me but slightly improved.
L-arginine Supplement: 3g in the evening which does seem to have a positive impact on blood flow down there. Very slight though and does cause me some vision blurriness.
Magnesium Supplement: Has greatly improved my sleep and relaxing in the evenings, possibly placebo
Cannabis: Smoking weed from time to time has definitely seemed to have some positive benefits on my sexual wellbeing (Less atrophy and higher libido etc). However, as soon I am sober or wake up the next day, symptoms’ return and sometimes get a bit worse in the days after.
Sun?: In the past 3 years I have to mention that there have been about 4 periods of brief time where my symptoms’ have improved by 80-90% but only for very briefly. The only thing I have linked to these recoveries is being in the sun. For example, I went to a festival last summer and spent the whole time in the boiling hot sun and on the last 2 days, I seemed to be back to completely normal. This time of recovery ended as soon as I got home, however.
As mentioned above, I have always gone gym and lifted heavily which although has given me a body that I am happy with, hasn’t had any effect on my main sexual symptoms’. This being said, I have always had an unhealthy diet. From February 2023, I am going to eat a lot healthier and eat a diet high in fruit of veg. Hopefully this will see symptoms improve.
I want to shout out the brave men (and women) who have gone public with PFS, PAS and PSSD. They have more courage than I ever have.
These past 3 years have been such a mental battle for me, I go through periods of acceptance, only to fall back into a pit of despair, anger and depression again. But I am going to keep fighting, I am not going to let this condition ruin my life. Stay strong my friends. Keep going.