How bad it would be to take accutane?

[peatyzilian]

So my acne just gets worse and no dietary intervention I do seems to improve. This problem is also causing me lots of stress.
I'm considering taking Accutane to solve this, even though I know it's not something I should do. But, despite the vitamin a toxicity claims, it's just 13-cis-retinoic-acid, right?

What damage can it causes to me and how can i minimize the damage?

 

[Makrosky]

Maybe taking pure vitamin A instead of the patented one?

1:1 dose?

Keep in mind Bigpharma tends to do that, slightly modify a natural substance in order to patent it. And normally the original one works better without side effects. This is how they make money. So pure Vit A should work?

I don't know just thinking out loud.

 

[chimp]

Don’t take it. I and a lot of others regret it. I beliebe it is a component of my gut dysbiosis that I still deal with. My acne gets better when my gut is in good health and I increase Vit A intake (Dairy, Colostrum, Liver). Acne is a pretty easily solution. I wish I knew what I knew now so I never had to take that drug. Get some blood work done.

 

[BrianF]

Yeah Liver works superbly for me. High doses of natural vitamin a.

 

[joaquin]

Accutane damage can be irreversible. Sure, there are folks out there that say "I took it and I'm fine"(sounds like the covid shot enthusiasts as well) .. but then there are those like the man that went crazy and hunted down his former doctor and killed him.

Not a lottery I would want to play.

 

[methylenewhite]

Vitamin A didnt work for me. Ive taken dosages up to 1.000.000 iu per day from veterinary pharmacy.

Cara, tome dosagem baixa tipo 10-20mg por dia. Nao precisa tomar aquela esquema que se chama "dosagem acumulada" pois generalmente é que produz efeitos adversos de caralho.

 

[TheCalciumCad]

Accutane is poison which damages the liver long term. Search online "celery juice + acne" it (supposedly) kills the underlying strep infection that causes acne. Zinc and vitamin C rich foods are also anti viral. Lemon water is great for the liver and raw honey is another good anti viral.

 

[Kram]

If you are a teenager and still growing/developing, do not take it. If you are an adult, it's not as damaging but still not good for you.

 

[orangebear]

13-cis-retinoic acid is the most active form of vitamin A, which is precisely why it’s so toxic. Vitamin A excess is toxic, but the body can buffer a lot of it by binding it to esters and storing it in your liver and fat cells. Your body breaks down retinol into retinaldahyde and retinoic acid as it uses it and removes it from the body. Retinoic acid can’t be buffered like retinol and is basically the equivalent of releasing the entire dose into your bloodstream at once. 13-cis-retinoic acid is also a chemotherapy drug which is used for its toxicity, like any other chemotherapy drug. Vitamin A excess is not benign, and Ray Peat himself warns about that, especially for hypothyroid people.

 

[Alex Jaramillo]

It’s not worth it. I used to have oily/radiant skin as a teen just some acne. If I was aware of the side effects I would have never taken it. Also what @orangebear said is true, it’s a chemo drug. Search my post history if you want to see my experience with it.

 

[Source Code]

topical Dmso helped my acne allot, also topical methylene blue helped too.

 

[Peachy]

I feel your pain and think you're wise to question Accutane. My teenage son's has improved dramatically with a trifecta of oysters, liver, dandelion tea. Just 1-2 consistent weeks each month for maintenance.

Something like this in a week:
6 oysters (canned in olive oil) per week
a cup of well-steeped tea daily (dandelion root or root/leaf combo bagged tea) - this takes about a week to work and might cause temporary breakouts
3 or so ounces liver (spread out over 3-4 days of the week)

It also improves with more rest - naps between school/sports. Radical acceptance can help with these things too.

 

[peatyzilian]

If you are a teenager and still growing/developing, do not take it. If you are an adult, it's not as damaging but still not good for you.

I currently have 18 years.

 

[peatyzilian]

Vitamin A didnt work for me. Ive taken dosages up to 1.000.000 iu per day from veterinary pharmacy.

Cara, tome dosagem baixa tipo 10-20mg por dia. Nao precisa tomar aquela esquema que se chama "dosagem acumulada" pois generalmente é que produz efeitos adversos de caralho.

Então basicamente se eu for tomar, o ideal é eu tomar em baixas dosagens para evitar os efeitos colaterais?

 

[catan]

I took Accutane at age 17 for serious acne and my health was all messed up for a long time, over a decade, a host of mental health issues, PCOS, infertility, etc. My brother took it during college, and he's the most easygoing guy, was depressed during that time, and now almost 20 years later he still has liver problems. I would try everything else first.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

I took Accutane at age 17 for serious acne and my health was all messed up for a long time, over a decade, a host of mental health issues, PCOS, infertility, etc. My brother took it during college, and he's the most easygoing guy, was depressed during that time, and now almost 20 years later he still has liver problems. I would try everything else first.

I don’t think accutane is a healthy thing, but my son decided to take in his late teens and he is now 31 with his first child. He is happy and easy going, but who knows how that stuff will play out in the future. I have another friend who took it in the early 80’s and he has two children and is well adjusted and is in his early 60’s now. Maybe the early-on negative side effects that some depend more on one’s health, diet and things that are predisposed. If suicide and depression is a side effect and a person’s personality is negative they probably should opt out on it.

 

[Peachy]

I think accutane interferes with retinol absorption which may be why many people have to do multiple rounds of it - it worsens retinol deficiency which is already an issue for many with acne.

Here they talk about it in relation to night blindness which is one of the possible side effects, especially in those already deficient in A.

“The observation that hypovitaminosis A appears to predispose to nyctalopia (night blindness) begs an explanation in itself. It has been postulated that isotretinoin, in vitamin-A-deficient isotretinoin users, likely binds to the same rod photoreceptors as retinol but does not metabolize to physiologically active rhodopsin and so nyctalopia results, photoreceptor by photoreceptor [3]. There is no experimental proof of this competitive-inhibition hypothesis.

Nevertheless, this observation suggests that pretreating isotretinoin-treated patients with retinol may load receptors with physiological retinol and therefore render these receptors less available to isotretinoin binding. Therein lies a problem—Roche's product monograph states, "Because of the relationship of Accutane to vitamin A, patients should be advised against taking vitamin supplements containing vitamin A to avoid additive toxic effects.

Clinically it requires about 1,000,000 IU retinol per day to produce the toxic effects of 1-2 mg/kg isotretinoin, so the incremental risk of toxicity of an additional 5000 IU or so of Vitamin A supplementation must be considered minimal. Further, there are no data of which I am aware that would substantiate any increased risk.”

Night blindness, vitamin A deficiency, and isotretinoin psychotoxicity

Author(s): Danby, F William

escholarship.org

 

[Peachy]

Zinc is highly connected. That’s why I always recommend oysters - 6/week. I’ve seen it work like magic.

Serum zinc levels and efficacy of zinc treatment in acne vulgaris: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“Subjects with acne had significantly lower serum zinc levels compared to controls…

Acne patients have decreased serum zinc levels. Zinc is effective for the treatment of acne, particularly at decreasing the number of inflammatory papules, when used as monotherapy or as an adjunctive treatment.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dth.14252

 

[peatyzilian]

Zinc is highly connected. That’s why I always recommend oysters - 6/week. I’ve seen it work like magic.

Serum zinc levels and efficacy of zinc treatment in acne vulgaris: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“Subjects with acne had significantly lower serum zinc levels compared to controls…

Acne patients have decreased serum zinc levels. Zinc is effective for the treatment of acne, particularly at decreasing the number of inflammatory papules, when used as monotherapy or as an adjunctive treatment.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dth.14252

Guess i will buy an anti-acne supplement with:
Vitamin A - 10000ui
Vitamin B6 - 50mg
Vitamin C - 300mg
Zinc - 30mg
Cooper - 0,5mg
Do you think it can help? Also, is this amount of zinc enoguh?

 

[Peachy]

Guess i will buy an anti-acne supplement with:
Vitamin A - 10000ui
Vitamin B6 - 50mg
Vitamin C - 300mg
Zinc - 30mg
Cooper - 0,5mg
Do you think it can help? Also, is this amount of zinc enoguh?

I’ll look into this today and give you my thoughts. Is there a link to the product you could share?