| My 17 year old son has been taking Accutane for about 2 months now. First month 40mg/day, this month 80mg. He is an athlete, and plays competitive soccer. Since the increased dosage, he has noticed severe joint pain, and weakness in his legs during his soccer games. (in the last 2 weeks). This has slowed him down and has affected his ability to perform to the level he is used to. It is having an adverse effect on his mental attitude as well. Will his body adjust, is this symptom temporary? Have you heard of this in other Accutane patients? Please advise the best management of this symptom so that he can increase his performance. To give you an idea of how it has impacted him, last weekend he went for a run to try to increase his stamina, hoping it would give him better results for his next soccer game. He can usually run 3-5 miles. He could only run 1 mile and had to stop 3 times! Needless to say he was very frustrated. HELP please Sue | |
| My son is starting the Accutane program for the 2nd time after
being off it for 8 months. Initially successful but came back. This
time he is taking the generic brand for insurance reasons. Are you
familiar w/it? Less effective? I have another concern, tonight on the national news, as a result of the recent recall of a popular drug for arthritis (linked to heart problems) there was mention of 5 other drugs that may be more harmful than we are led to believe (even though FDA has passed them). Accutane was one of them. Are you aware of this? And if so, what particularly are the issues. I have read all the material on Accutane, and realize it has been on the market or tested for 20 years. Are there any long term risks for males? I certainly do not want to subject my son to serious health problems down the road. Thank you. Sue |
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| I took Accutane for about 8 months back in 97/98 and had the
following problems. 1.My night vision got really bad. I was a delivery driver and noticed that I was having problems reading street signs once it got Dark. 2.It took a few months to kick in but depression was bad, so bad that I had some very DARK days. 3.I got the extra dry skin and chapped lips that came with the drug. When I went back for my second blood test I told the Doc about my site, my depression and the dry skin. He informed me that yes the dry skin was a part of it and that only a very small percentage suffered from night vision loss. He told me if I felt the dose was to much I could cut back. I did with no effect. He had no answer about the depression and if I remember right he said there was no connection between the two. Now its 2004 and Accutane is noted and any doc you ask will tell you that Accutane will cause depression. Mild to extreme pending on the person. I have no idea but wonder if Accutane caused me to have Adult ADD. If your going to take Accutane be warned. I feel that it really changed my life to a negative point. And I still have spots all over my face. Just my input. If there is ever a law suit against the makers of Acutane I will take part. If they tested it for 20 years then they didn't test side effects very well. |
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| I took Acutane twice in my twenties. Once at age 25 for the
complete course (4o mg dose) which helped clear my acne. Then again
at age 27 when the acne came back. The first time, there were no
side effects. The second time, I began to have joint aches and pain
in my knees and elbow (especially knees) midway through the
treatment. I saw my dermatologist and he said it's probably not
related to Accutane because that's not one of the known side
effects. I continued for another week or two but the joint pains
became worst and I was beginning to feel like a 90 year old woman
and had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I finally stopped the treatment and within a week, the pain was gone. At that time (12 years ago) they included a questionnaire in the package which asked about side effects experienced by users in which I mentioned my joint problems. Frankly, I'm surprised it's still not mentioned or accepted as one of the side effects. I know two other people that had the same problem and had to stop. Clearly, Accutane is a very effective drug for cystic acne for many people. But if one does not respond well to it and experiences side effects such as the one I did, I think it may not be the best treatment. In my humble opinion, better to exhaust all other possibilities (i.e. Differin, Benzaclin, even change of diet, etc) than to continue such a powerful medication that can potentially create serious problems. Just thought I share my experience with you. Ditra |
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| I took Accutane when I was 18 and again when I was 19. The
second time around I developed such severe joint pain that I could
not get out of bed. Over ten years later I still am in the same
pain. I have been to several doctors...no one can tell me what the
cause is or how to stop it. I have been on so many meds over the
years trying to help the pain that I couldn't even name them all.
All I know is that it all started with Accutane use. Any ideas of
what could be the source and what direction to go? rbkc98
Why isn't 2-butoxyethanol considered harmful in some MSDS info? |