Week 3 - Day 1

I lost track of the days, so I'm gonna say today is the start of week 3. Yea, that sounds about right. Well, the pimples are starting to come in nicely. I have a nice little red patch on my left cheek. My right has many as well, though not grouped together like the left one. And my forehead has about 5 at the moment, including one that seems to really be breaking some cells as it grows. It hurts.

Still no side effects that I can tell. No headaches or muscle pains. Of course, it is only day 5 since I started retaking the pills at this lower dosage of 40mg. Last time they started around day 8, so we'll find out this week. If things go well and I don't feel much, I'll ask the doc to bump me up to the 60 I was on when I go see him on the 11th of January.

Restart

My fever finally broke yesterday, and today it hasn't really returned, so I think it's gone for good. I still have a cough and congestion, and that will probably last for a week or so more. My primary physician gave me some medicine for it. Afterwards, I called the Dermatologist office and asked if I could take both together. He said I could, so I will be restarting my Accutane for the second time tomorrow morning. I hope stopping and restarting my dosages like this doesn't affect the impact it should have on my skin. If nothing else, the doc can just keep me on it for a few extra days when I near the end of the 5 months.

Still sick

Yup, still sick. I've had a fever constantly all day. The Tylenol I took in the morning helped, but then the fever came back. I took another few Tylenol, and my fever actually went up a few degrees to about 102. Finally I took 600mg of Ibuprofen, and that seems to be helping a little more. The way things are going, I won't be able to start my Accutane again until probably Monday.

Delayed Yet Again

I've become sick from the flu. I have a fever and am shaking with cold sweats. I need to take Tylenol to reduce it, but I'm not sure if I can take it with Accutane. So I'll be holding off on the Accutane until I get past this. I don't want to overload my liver.

UPDATE: I called a few pharmacists to see if I could take both at the same time, but they seem to not know much about Accutane and what you can mix with it. One told me it was fine. Another told me not to take it. One didn't know what she was talking about. So to be safe, I'll hold off on the Accutane.

Weed 2 - Day 3

I decided to keep the days going as scheduled. Since it's a 5 month treatment, and I did start it, I didn't think I should have to start over and lose those 10 or so days i've already done. After all, the medicine already had an effect on my body, so that should count as part of the 5 month treatment.

Anyways, let's talk about what's new on my face. There's a difference from the last time I started this medication. Before, the right side of my face broke out initially. Now the left side of my face is starting it's own little breakout party. Since I started taking it again yesterday, I already had a whitehead pop out of nowhere on my forehead. Anyone have any idea how long this initial outbreak lasts? A few weeks? A few months? I hope it's a few weeks, because this is not that nice to look at.

And we resume...

Went to my dermatologist today as planned. Told him about my headaches and reminded him that he told me to stop taking it. He asked me what I wanted to do. I thought "Well, just let me go finish medical school, do a few years of residency, and get my medical license, then I'll tell you what I think I should do." How should I know! That's why I came to see you. Give me options. *sigh*

He went on to tell me that most of his patients that take Accutane experience headaches, but they go away after a week or so. He said I could take Advil to relive the pain, something I didn't know I could do before. He offered me the Accutane again, except instead of 60mg per day, I'll now be on 40mg per day. I think I'll be able to handle it now that I know I can take Advil if I need to. If the headaches last for more than two weeks, he said, then I should stop taking it. That would be a pretty good indication that they're not going to subside, and that Accutane will not work for me. I'll have to go back to anti-biotics and topical creams.

Accutane, do your worst...

Hiatus

Well, the nurse from the dermatologist's office just called me. She said the doctor says to stop taking the Accutane and go in to see him. My next scheduled appointment is on the 14th of December. A few days before that I'll go get my bloodwork done. At least this way I'll be able to see if the Accutane was doing anything to my liver.

I hope he continues my treatment at perhaps a lower dosage, then gradually go back up to the 60mg that I'm at now. I'll be back in two weeks.

Week 2 - Day 2

This morning I woke up and most of the headache was gone. I still feel something, but it's not really pain as much as a sensation that there was pain there... if that makes any sense. I called the dermatologist's office and left the nurse a message asking what I should do about my headache side effect. Should I lessen my dose for a while? Keep taking it? Stop taking it? Go in for a visit?
I should be getting a call from them soon. In the meanwhile I have no choice but to keep taking it as scheduled.

Maybe I should spend less time on the computer and watching tv. Maybe that's what's giving me headaches. Or maybe it's the increased cranial pressure that will slowly but surely crush my puny little brain.