Posted by MB on July 7, 2001, at 13:29:49
In reply to Accutane causing severe depression, posted by adamie on July 3, 2001, at 21:10:27
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> I am 18. For 5 weeks I took the drug Accutane for acne and I developed one of the so called rare side effects. Severe depression to the point where I felt like I could hardly stand to live any longer.
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> after 4 and a half weeks on the accutane I noticed my mood begin to slide. Things started to interest me less and I was becoming less caring towards my fiance. At first I thought there was something wrong with me then I realized it was deffinetly the accutane. So I stopped taking it at week 5 expecting to recover the next few days. I had school the next day and since I wasn't taking the accutane anymore I figured I could take my energy drinks which of course have vitamin A. With accutane one is supossed to avoid all suppliments which contain vitamin A but silly me thought it was alright at this time. It made the depression worse. Accutane itself is a man made vitamin A. so the energy drink would increase the depression side effect. The next 2 days were complete hell. I got taken to a walk in clinic and got a prescription for Paxil. Later that day I suddenly began to feel a bit better. So I figured it will deffinetly go away by itself now. Wrong I was. It did steadily improve over the next 2 weeks. but then it was stagnant. and then it suddenly got worse. Every hour became extremely difficult. This lasted to the next day and so I finally decided to take the Paxil. Around this time I also got a suppliment called sam-e used to treat all types of depression. It is fast acting and has really helped for the short amount of time I've taken it. But now I'm waiting for more to arrive in the mail since it is not avialable in Canada.
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> so I'm relying on the paxil to start working until my sam-e arrives. I've been taking it for 8 days so far with very very few side effects. The only side effect's I've had is a noticable pulse in my neck and also in my eyes. the pulse in my eyes I only experienced the first day I took the paxil. And also I now remember my tongue has had a different taste for a few days. But overall I've really had no bothersome side effects at all. Just because I've had hardly any side effects doesn't mean it's not going to work right? The paxil can deffinetly work regardless?
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> But what I am most interested about is other people's experiences with accutane. Or perhaps some of you know someone who's had to deal with a similar experience to mine. Do I have a realistic chance of making a full recovery? I've been off the accutane for 1 month. The depression has been extremely severe. But it can still completely go away? Please reply. Thanks for reading____________
I had really severe acne growing up. It started in the sixth grade, and now, at 30 yrs, I still get the occasional pimple. Accutane was a miricle drug for the acne, but it cause EXTREME fatigue in me. Because of the severity of the acne, I had to do three full courses of accutane treatment, each separated by a year (each treatment put me in remission for about a year). I have never recovered from the fatigue it seemed to have caused (except with opiates or amphetamine, so unfortunately I became a drug addict too [damn!]). To this day, I wonder if the damned medicine (accutane) cause my depression. I think I was depressed before. I can't remember anymore. The fatigue definitely came later, though. I don't regret taking the medicine, though, because I think having such severe acne (over 100 painful, deep, dime-sized cysts at any given time) without any period of relief would have cause me to snap! Retin-A in between accutane treatments also kept me from scaring. It was all worth it, I guess, but there were a few serious trade offs. I empathize with your situation...good luck to you
poster:MB
thread:68893
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010701/msgs/69302.html