More Accutane Side Effects

Hey Lovies,

So after I wrote my previous post I realized that I left out 3 more side effects that I've been noticing, so here they are!

1) On the 5th day of using accutane I started suffering from extreme mood swings. This was listed as a side effect in my accutane book but I didn't think it would actually happen to me. So, I've pretty much been angry at the entire world for the past 8 days. I don't know how to control it and I feel bad because I'm making my family's life so hard. And the worst part is that it goes on and off like a light switch. On a random day I'll wake up and be fine and by the time I brush my teeth and go downstairs I'll have this bitch look on my face. I feel awful because my family has to put up with me, especially my mom. She will ask me a random simple question and in return I'll bite her head off. And the look on my face is ridiculous. You know those girls that walk around school or the mall with this permanent 'I'm a bitch' look; I've become one of those girls. Well...I was already one of those girls, but I wasn't like that at home and it's just hard to deal with because I don't want to put my family through this. Today is only the 15th day, so having to deal with me for the next 6 months is going to be torture!

2) My skin has become extremely sensitive! Even if I'm just brushing my hair out of my face and my nail touches my skin, I feel like I just got stabbed. And I'm not being dramatic, the pain is so sharp and deep that my eyes start watering whenever this happens. It's kind of frustrating because I have to be super careful around my face. I remember my carefree days where I could poke myself and not feel like I had just been stabbed. Oh the memories!

3) The accutane book also lists hair loss as a side effect, but my dermatologist told me that she hasn't seen a lot of this with her patients. I haven't lost hair on my head but I've noticed that my eyebrow hairs and my eyelashes have fallen out a lot more in the past few days. This is extremely annoying since they either fall onto my face or into my food, and it's just plain gross. UGH! It's not extreme, but I have had more than normal fall outs and I hope that it doesn't get worse because I love my eyelashes and brows just they way they are.

Other than this the only other side effect,as I mentioned before, is dryness in the face and body, and chapped/cracked lips.

I've noticed that my lips went from chapped to cracked in 2 days; they are so dry it hurts! No chapstick is working well for me so I just use the equate scar oil on my lips as well, which helps a lot more!

I'm already annoyed and it's been only 15 days! Let's see how the rest of the trip goes! Enjoy!!

Accutane Update with Gross Pictures (LOL)

Hey lovies (that's my new word)

So I mentioned in my last post that I was going on Accutane and I just wanted to update you on whats going on and any side effects that I'm going through. I have been on Accutane (40mg) for 12 days so far and I really think it is starting to work. I woke up yesterday to find a new wave of acne on my face, back and arms. (this means its working). Accutane pushes acne from the inside to the surface of your skin and than starts to eliminate oil glands in your body so that you stop breaking out. It usually gets worse before it gets better.

Along with acne I have a lot of acne scars on my face because I pick at my acne all the time. I know I shouldn't but I have the deep acne that is really itchy and when I breakout I can't stop myself from picking at it to relieve the itchiness. So to help with the scarring I have decided to try bio-oil, except I'm using the generic one that is made by Equate. I compared the ingredients in both products when I was at Wal-mart and it was pretty much the exact same thing.

I've been using both products (accutane and equate oil) for 12 days now, and I can see a huge difference. My scars are at least 30% lighter and I don't have to use pounds of make-up anymore to cover up the dark spots.

Dryness is a huge side effect of Accutane, and I have been suffering extreme dryness. I've only been on Accutane for 12 days and my lips have absorbed at least 5 full chapsticks. It's ridiculous. I haven't really noticed the dryness on my face since I am using the oil which keeps my skin really moisturized, but my lips are crazy dry. I have to walk around with a pound of chapstick on my lips and it causes a lot of attraction. LOL.

I have also noticed that my legs are really ashy and dry, and even though I moisturize them daily, it just doesn't seem to be enough.

I find this all very annoying because I've never had the type of skin that needs to be moisturized a lot, since my oil glands are hyperactive, but for the past 4-5 days I've had to moisturize every 3-4 hours. It's crazy, but it's a small price to pay for less acne in the future.

If I have already become dry like a raisin in 12 days, I wonder what's going to happen next. I'm kind of worried because I can't imagine it getting any more worse. I've been pretty much eating lotion 5 times a day, and I'm still dry. Jeez!

Okay so the pictures attached are from today. I wish I had taken pictures before I started accutane and the oil so that you could have something to compare it to, but I totally forgot. I still have a long way to go. My acne scars are way lighter, TRUST ME! and I have a new wave of acne around my jaw, forehead, and lower cheek area. I'm going to do another update when I see some more improvement so that you guys can know how long the process is taking.

I'll try to get a better camera too, since this one is not so great at all. Hope this helps a little bit.

In this last picture you can see the dryness on my chin, nose and cheek (looks like white powder)

Accutane!

Hello my lovelies :)

I know I have been totally slacking on my blog, but I have been sick on and off for so long and my days are usually full of school and doctor's appointments. I've been sick on and off since December...which is pretty ridiculous! But I am starting to feel better so I'll be getting back to my blog soon. I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm going to be starting accutane on April 13th. For those of you who know me, you know how bad and gross my acne is. I need to put on at least 7 pounds of makeup to make myself look decent and even then I don't look how I would like to look. I have a very laid back and relaxed personality so I know that if I had perfect skin, I most likely wouldn't even wear make-up. I did go through a phase where I had zero acne and people always thought that I was wearing make-up and I would have to rub my face with kleenex to show them that I didn't. If I could get skin that was even 50% better than my skin now, I would be more than happy with the result. So I start on April 13th and I'm going to do a 6 month cycle,and I hope hope hope that it works.

Last time i got my clear skin with this tea that was recommended by a family friend. I drank the tea twice a day for about a month and my skin was perfect! I didn't have even one bump, pimple, scar etc. NOTHING! I stopped drinking the tea because it tasted really bad. I just couldn't continue on with it. But reminiscing about my glow-y perfect skin is kind of inspiring me to start the tea again. But maybe I should wait until I try the accutane first. So this was a pretty awkward rambling blog, but my point was to tell you that I'm starting accutane and that I will update with pics of my face. I'll take pics before I start and then every month or two depending on how I progress. So keep a look out for those, and if you have any questions about the tea that I drank or about accutane, just leave a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.