The Darkness is Winning - my new YouTube channel about PAS

General Discussion Media & Awareness
#1

Moderators, please don’t hesitate to set me straight if it’s against the rules for me to be posting this here.

I’ve decided to start a YouTube channel centred around the sexual side effects of Isotretinoin/Accutane/Roaccutane. I’ve been thinking of ways I can help spread awareness because I think it’s very important; if we can gain greater recognition of the extent and severity of these effects it will surely improve our chances of both legal justice and instigating scientific research. It occurred to me making a few videos is something relatively straightforward and immediate I could do. I’m also considering starting a blog.

I want to focus particularly on the psychological consequences of these side effects for sufferers as well as attempt to expose some of the social power dynamics such as collusion between the healthcare system and the pharmaceutical industry which can make sufferers impotent not just sexually but politically. I doubt I’ll be talking at any great length about the science as this is something I don’t have much of a grasp of, at least currently.

This first video is me talking about why I believe the sexual side effects are massively underreported.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Bear in mind that I’m working with quite a crappy device and so I can’t really edit the videos. It’ll probably have to be raw takes like this. Still, I realise this video is pretty lengthy and in future I’d like to make videos more around the ten minute mark, cos I reckon more people are going to be able to concentrate for that long. Ways I’ve been thinking I could achieve this are writing tighter scripts and make sure the videos have even more of a specific focus.

But yeah, if you’re willing to check it out, I’d be very grateful and if you let me know what you think, I’d be even more grateful!

Here’s the vid: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KnnCNt3VzAY

-luckydevil

25 Likes
#2

liked and subscribed

2 Likes
#3

wow, that’s really brave. I wouldn’t be able to speak publicly about it.

2 Likes
#4

Support and subscribed!

2 Likes
#5

Thanks. Subscribed.

2 Likes
#6

Thanks for the support everyone! I’m really pleased it’s getting some views.

I don’t really see it as courageous, it’s really just about doing what I can. I know some victims haven’t reached a point where they’re willing or able to speak out, so as somebody that has I feel it’s my duty. We as a community have to fight for ourselves, even though we’re battered and broken, because nobody else will.

8 Likes
#7

Impressive! You managed to convey yourself well for half an hour. I would need a full script to exceed 5 minutes.

I also need to show my face at some point and have been committed to doing so for years, but just never got around to it. Some people must maintain their anonymity for the sake of their careers or families. I have neither of these because of Accutane, so no excuses.

If you would like to add a link to the dying for clear skin documentary somewhere on your channel:

Another couple videos discussing Accutane side effects:

.
There are a few more youtube vids I need to dig up.

ps- Thanks a million

3 Likes
#8

Thanks, @Dubya_B, your encouragement means a lot. Yes, I can blather on forever… But as I said I think I’m going to try and make the next video a bit shorter. Good to see there’s a few other people making videos, and of course the documentary which I’m still yet to watch.

4 Likes
#9

That was my overriding thought when I looked at your video - that it was too long.

I’d suggest perhaps breaking down what you talked about into individual topics and making a series of short videos. If people are interested in a particular element they can go right to it and they might watch all the videos afterwards. Maybe try and do each one a few times and then upload the best one. Getting the presentation right will make a difference.

I would imagine few people will be watching by the end of a 30 minute video - and that’s not a criticism of you, you need only look at the length of the majority of YouTube videos, the majority that I see are significantly shorter and that will have been largely influenced by views and audience comments over the years.

I hope that doesn’t sound damning. I admire you for doing this, thankyou.

3 Likes
#10

@Greek, thanks for being honest. I was already thinking along these lines but it’s good to have it confirmed by somebody else.

Yes, I think this video could’ve easily been divided in three - an introduction to the channel, an overview of the sexual sides and finally a discussion of why the sexual sides are underreported.

Certainly, appealing to as wide an audience as possible is very important and so I’m going to aim for future videos to be less rambly, more focused on a single topic and not far exceeding the ten minute mark. To be honest I didn’t really plan this first one all that much, I scribbled out a few ideas and then started filming myself. I just wanted to put something out there as soon as possible, but I can see a little more preparation in future will make a big difference.

I’m actually going to be teaming up with another forum user on here to publish further videos on a whole new platform, so stay tuned for news on that.

5 Likes
#11

subscribed, keep trying to think of ideas to reach a wider audience. It may not happen with the first idea or video you try.

2 Likes
#12

I would think it’s more likely to be part of the Drip, drip, drip of mounting and irrefutable evidence than a spearhead of a campaign.

Basically, keep at it, even if your views don’t end up in the stratosphere.

2 Likes
#13

@fema4psychiatrists, thank you, appreciate the support and encouragement.

@Greek, oh don’t worry, whether I have an audience of one or one million, I’m not going quiet. I’m in this for life, Roche decided that for me 12 years ago when they pharmaceutically raped me.

2 Likes
#14

New vid: https://youtu.be/l27R3iLrOMc

Another long one I’m afraid, but it had to be. This is my story and it’s not a short one to tell, it spans 12 years. There will be shorter videos on the way, I promise!

8 Likes
#15

Gotta love having a viagra dependency in your teens and/or early 20s for the sake of faking normal with girls.

Glad you mentioned that.

Thanks Roche.

4 Likes
#16

Great isn’t it? And how doctors don’t even bat an eyelid at continually signing off on a prescription for Viagra for someone that age. They really are little more than drug pushers, most of them.

5 Likes
#17

It is slimy. Usually, not a bit of concern for something as shocking as a young man complaining of ED. Perhaps you lucked out on not being given an antidepressent as a first line treatment for ED. I was introduced to the wonderful world of total anorgasmia, in addition to ED, at 22 years old by one of these sales whores with a PhD. I remember expressing concern because I knew SSRIs were associated with sexual side effects and she told me it wouldn’t happen.

5 Likes
#18

That’s sickening, very sorry you had to suffer that. I’m reminded of the story of the little boy who was given a toy hammer for Christmas: he suddenly discovered everything in the Universe needed hammering. The only way these doctors know how to handle problems is throwing drugs at them. They literally have nothing else to offer and so you get these utterly absurd situations like being given a drug known to cause sexual dysfunction as a treatment for sexual dysfunction, or in my case, being given a drug known to cause depression and suicide because my parents were concerned about how my acne was affecting my mental health.

3 Likes
#19

Yep. Ironic punishment for the sin of trusting a professional.

I’m in the middle of writing about my Accutane experience this evening and remembered being told by one Accutane victim’s mother (a doctor herself) that when she called in to Roche’s line for medical professionals in the 2000’s to discuss her son’s psychotic breakdown after beginning the drug, she was greeted with “press 3 to learn about our Accutane Incentive Program.”

For some of these doctors, it’s more about buttering their bread than simply being simple-minded about how they treat their patients.

2 Likes
#20

Hi @Luckydevil,

Thanks for uploading the video it was a very brave thing to do and you expressed yourself very articulately. I’m sure that it will bring attention to the dangers of drugs like Accutane and Finasteride and how the drugs industry just keeps pushing drugs into the market that are not safe. It’s good that sufferers of those two drugs and ssri’s are now working together to find treatments. I can totally relate to a lot of what you said and especially about being dismissed as everything being psychological by dr’s.

6 Likes