UNREAL SYMPTOMS; Accutane Side Effects Still The Culprit Of My Suffering? Or Is It Something Else?

[LambdaAlpha]

Mk-4, I've heard of that. I've heard of people having bone growth from it too. I will pick up some today. Btw, about the ibs, I've been supplimenting Vitamin D for about 2 weeks after I found out I was deficient. Surprisingly I've been having pretty normal bowel movements, most normal I've had in half a year. I refuse to take prescription meds after accutane, unless it's life or death. I'd rather suffer my current "ailments" than add to the suffering, only to mask the issue. Thus I suffer with Ibs and gerd and other various issues until I find the root. I got the Mag Citrate from bulksuppliments, extremely pure stuff. Magnesium chloride bath, I'll look into that...besides that what do you think of Mag Glycinate?

 

[Constatine]

Mk-4, I've heard of that. I've heard of people having bone growth from it too. I will pick up some today. Btw, about the ibs, I've been supplimenting Vitamin D for about 2 weeks after I found out I was deficient. Surprisingly I've been having pretty normal bowel movements, most normal I've had in half a year. I refuse to take prescription meds after accutane, unless it's life or death. I'd rather suffer my current "ailments" than add to the suffering, only to mask the issue. Thus I suffer with Ibs and gerd and other various issues until I find the root. I got the Mag Citrate from bulksuppliments, extremely pure stuff. Magnesium chloride bath, I'll look into that...besides that what do you think of Mag Glycinate?

I've used Magnesium Glycinate before but it's been a while. If I recall it improved my mood and calmed me down.

 

[LambdaAlpha]

I've used Magnesium Glycinate before but it's been a while. If I recall it improved my mood and calmed me down.

I'll try both, sucks that magnesium is giving me gyno. Never have I heard of that ***t in my life.

 

[wrath]

Lambda - where are you from, how long post accutane are you and what was you dosage and duration?

 

[LambdaAlpha]

I'm from Alabama. About a year and a half post tane. My dosage was 50mg Absorbing LMAO. Funny thing is the doctor put me on 100mg but I was like nah. I only took 1/2 of the pills daily for 3 months. Even taking half the dosage my acne cleared considerably and I still got side effects that continue to plague me till this day. I stopped at 3 months because that's around the time my gyno and non existent libido started. Until that point in my life I NEVER had gyno and my libido was in constant overdrive...to the point I masterbated like 6 times a day and it still didn't dent it. I get back to that point every now and then these days but I don't know what causes it, sometimes it's what I eat/drink. Maybe accurate caused some deficiency. IDK...

 

[LambdaAlpha]

Lambda - where are you from, how long post accutane are you and what was you dosage and duration?

I'm from Alabama. About a year and a half post tane. My dosage was 50mg Absorbing LMAO. Funny thing is the doctor put me on 100mg but I was like nah. I only took 1/2 of the pills daily for 3 months. Even taking half the dosage my acne cleared considerably and I still got side effects that continue to plague me till this day. I stopped at 3 months because that's around the time my gyno and non existent libido started. Until that point in my life I NEVER had gyno and my libido was in constantoverdrive...to the point I masterbated like 6 times a day and it still didn't dent it. I get back to that point every now and then these days but I don't know what causes it, sometimes it's what I eat/drink. Maybe accurate caused some deficiency. IDK...

 

[wrath]

Is it possible to send personal messages on this forum - if yes how?

 

[KnowledgeSeeker]

Sounds like your body is very sensitive to things that have a progesterone like effect. In general retinoids are antagonistic to androgen receptors (though this doesn't always translate to a net anti-androgenic effect, vitamin A is very important for testosterone production), but with accutane this effect seems to be enhanced. This is a similar situation as with FIN, where due to crazy progesterone activity tissues just lose their ability to respond to androgens. This is why you respond poorly to vitamin E, it is anti-androgenic in the tissues due to progesterone like activity. Do you do well with coffee? It does have some fairly strong progesterone promoting activity but it also is androgenic to tissues in studies: Chronic caffeine intake increases androgenic stimuli, epithelial cell proliferation and hyperplasia in rat ventral prostate. - PubMed - NCBI. Vitamin D interacts closely with the androgen receptor and seems to promote androgenic activity in some tissues but not others. Zinc actually increases androgen receptors under some conditions but dramatically decreases them in others. You should really start taking vitamin K as it seems very important to androgen receptor function (as warfarin inhibits the transcriptional activity of the androgen receptor) I think the overall goal in recovery would be restoring androgen receptors and general androgen responsiveness in your tissues. Though IBS will definitely get in the way of progress. I think a good solution would be to start taking DHT, vitamin D (as you already do), vitamin K, Sorghum, and temporary abstinence (this is a weird one but it seems to have a positive effect on androgenic activity in the body) . Your blood androgens being extremely high could be due to very low tissue absorption, hence they just float around in your blood. DHT will upregulate the androgen receptor over time. You can also try ashwagandha as it seems to be very androgenic (though it might interact negatively with IBS). Finally short term fasting (like a 24 hour fast once a week or every 2 weeks) can have positive effects on androgen receptors as well.

Here is a study on accutane's effects on skin androgen receptors...it is likely the reason your skin gets dry: Effect of oral isotretinoin treatment on skin androgen receptor levels in male acneic patients. - PubMed - NCBI. Notice you feel better when your skin is oily, this is when you have better androgenic activity in your body.

Vitamin E is anti-androgenic?

 

[Sexypizza]

Hello all. I've been a lurker on these forums for quite a while. Some of the methods and ideas here appear sound and reasonable. So i decided to make an account to discuss these topics directly. Here is the story regarding my current health/situation. When i was 18/19 i took accutane do to extremely severe acne (which i believe was due to extremely high androgens) atthe time, i was a fool. I would do anything to get rid of my acne/oily skin (including unknowingly castrate myself). I honestly think i was born a genetic freak , haha. Before accutane i had an insatiable sex drive, almost unquenchable...i took it for granted. I also could build and maintain muscle mass like i was on steroids, extreme hytrophy/muscle definition just from bodyweight exercises etc...deep voice just generally extremely masculine traits. Then comes accutane...within the first week at 50 mg i noticed my libido was decreasing which had NEVER happened in my life...i initially ignored it and thought the end result was worth it. Fast forward 2 months into accutane, libido was still wack, but then a new symptom arose...gynecomastia. I had never had it in my life. Always had perfect small nipples...all of a sudden they were itching and getting puffy and droopy and i could feel actual tissue. A week later a said screw it and quit cold turkey...

A couple of weeks later,Things were decent...libido started to slowly return, albeit i still had minor ed. Gyno was still very prevelant and was debilitating...i'd always tried to show of my pecs as much as possible, now i tried to hide them. I noticed feminine fat distribution in certain parts of my body aswell...hips gained more fat, legs looked feminine, muscle tone decreased, and i ***t you not on this next symptom...my head/skull bone changed. Almost like finasteride users report, like a grey alien look. My skin was mostly acne free and dry as a desert...honestly even with no acne it looked worse. I liked my skin better when it was plump and moist. Also, no longer did i look at almost every girl i see and get aroused...it took alot. Fast forward about a year and a few months later, I'm now 21. My gyno has moistly receded, my muscle tone and anabolic growth i had pre accutane are all back. No more female fat patterns...the strange thing is...i have some symptoms that i never had before accutane at 18, and i don't know if i should continue to blame the accutane or consider this seperate. My libido is iffy. Some days it is 10/10 pre tane levels...other days it's asexual tier. I have ibs c, and gerd severely...i poop little tiny pebbles 99% of the time...it's extremely debilitating, i have severe gerd that causes me to choke and barely get any sleep. I'll hwvebdays were i feel completely normal and amazing. Tjen there's days where i feel like I'm going to drop dead at any second...aka feel like utter garbage dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, general malice. I started researching natural treatments for all of these things, something i never had to do in my life. I was fine 2 years ago. Not anymore...i've sern things like magnesium, zinc, vitamin e, vit d etc. The things that usually work for everyone actually make me worse haha! Except vit d. Magnesium actually makes my gyno/sensitive nipples return, something that hasnt happened in over a year, i have no idea why. Zinc does the same, huge increase in gyno flare, more than mag. Vitamin E instead of increasing my libido, it makes me asexual, and can barely get it up, no joke. The doc said i was vit d deficient and I've been supplimenting since about a week ago. Havn't really noticed anything good or bad. On the outside i look to be perfect health, have a defined ripped body and look general healthy (178, 6'2, 11% bf). Yet on the inside it's like a direct contradiction...it's like my bodies going astray. I look 21 but some days i feel 99. Other days i feel better than i did pre accutane. I honestly have no idea wtf is wrong with me. I've contemplated suicide becsuse the only person that could figure this out is Dr. House. It honestly makes no sense. Feel like I'm switching into different bodies...every second/hour/day/week. I'll feel fine one hour and like garbage the next, i can't pinpoint what changes happened (i.e calorie intake, protein, suppliments etc) when i feel the change so i have no idea wtf is doing it. Did the accutane just jack something up that's irreparable? Did it jack something up that can be fixed with the right suppliments? Or is this something completely seperate from the tane? What do you guys think...please help me i want my life back. People don't believe how miserable i feel somedays when they look at me. They think I'm in tip top shape. Definately not the case...i want to die most days.

Op I think you basically have Post finasteride syndrome but from Accutane usage. The same thing happened to me after I took dutasteride. I suggest you check your thyroid function by checking your pulse and temperature and backing it up with blood tests of TSH, total T3, total T4, rT3, Prolactin, and estrogen.

If thyroid is low or reverse T3 high, testosterone is likely to be converted partly into estrogen rather than DHT. Which will lower your libido.

If your thyroid is low you will need to take a thyroid supplement to correct the deficiency and to ensure that your diet has all the vitamins and minerals necessary for the thyroid supplement to work.