No real problems this month

Went and saw my dermatologist for my check up last week. Sorry was busy and forgot to update (>.<) Only thing going on is still the hemorrhoids and lips are constantly chapped. I slap on Aquaphor all day long, and they are still peeling and gross. I think it is because the weather is getting colder and I have the heater on a nighttime as well. I ran out of my Eucerin Night Cream, and am going to switching to Aveeno Smart Essentials Night Cream instead. I loved the Eucerin Night Cream, but I feel like it wasn't doing anything for my skin. It also took FOREVER to sink in fully. I also got the cleanser, because I like to use the same line because I feel like you get the full effect. I was on my period last week and did notice myself being much more moody than normal. Like I was getting depressed over stupid stuff, and angry over stupid stuff. Nothing horrible, and not suicidal, so I think it is okay.

Alli=Liver Damage?!

Hmmm, so after loosing weight I have been taking Alli weight loss pills whenever eat super fatty foods. But today I saw an advertisement for a lawsuit against Alli for liver damage 0__0 That may have also been why my liver was not doing too well last month. I immediately hid the pills and will not take them until after I finish my Accutane treatment. I do not know if that is the direct reason, or me working out, but I do not want to take any chances.

3 Months Progress Update

I have been photographing myself around the same time each month since July this year. Pics start in August because I started Accutane treatment in September. As you can see I have had a DRAMATIC clear up in only three months! All of these pictures are 0% make-up on.

November

October

September 14, 2011

 

August 10, 2011(pre-Accutane)

Gross updates

I've been getting hemorrhoids the past two weeks >.< like super painful too. I hate it. I'm posting this so other people will know about it and to know that it can be a side effect. Because Accutane dries everything up, it can sometimes dry out your rectum as well, causing pain. Hemorrhoids can be inside or outside the rectum and are little inflamed polyps that bleed. So if you are on Accutane and it hurts to poop and you have a small amount of blood, definitely tell your dermatologist, but don't be too worried. The warning of the box means if you have blood mixed with stool. How to remedy this is to drink electrolyte water. Your body needs the extra hydration, regular water is ok, but Pedialyte is the best. Seriously, it has saved me from peeling skin, headaches and other side effects causing by dehydration while on Accutane. I just need to make sure to drink it everyday ^^;; Get the plain kind and mix it with juice since it is a little salty by itself.

Pink Eye

I have pink eye AGAIN x__x Pretty sure it from the Accutane now. I keep having dry eyes, and I read that super dry eyes can cause pink eye. I bought some homeopathic pink eye drops since I ran out of the antibiotic drops that the doctor gave me last time.

Went and had my appointment today. Discussed my fever this week, my achy body, etc. She also told me that my liver enzymes were a little off 0__0!! So then she started to ask me questions about what I have been doing lately, because it wasn't bad enough to take me off Accutane, but whatever I may be doing I need to stop. Went a little like this:
Derm: Have you been drinking a lot?
Me: I had half of a wheat beer on Friday, and half of a small gelato smoothie that had rum in it. I don't drink wine 3+ days a week like a did before Accutane anymore, and I don't drink when I am out with friends. If I do, I try to only drink half.
Derm: Do you exercise?
Me: Yes.
Derm: How much?
Me: I try and do 3-5 days a week for an hour.
Derm: That's it! Stop exercising.
Me: ?! Really? Why?
Derm: You are putting to much stress on your body and midsection. It is making your liver work too hard.
Me: um...ok. Can I do 2-4 days and do an hour of light exercise like on a bike set to level 1?
Derm: hmm...ok. But be careful. Definitely don't drink if you do.
Me: okay.

Sick Again

I'm sick AGAIN. My body hurts all over, fever and I have not had a bowel movement in two days! (TMI I know...) I really think that Accutane has killed my immune system (T.T) I think that I keep getting a bug from the gym because when I was there last week there were people coughing and sneezing there >< and even though I use sanitizer and breath through my nose I think that I caught a bug. GRRRRRR!! I am tired of being sick, I have a math test tomorrow.
What I have been doing is sweating myself at night. My dad taught me this, it is when you cover yourself with lots of blankets making yourself super hot and sweaty. The idea is that you get so hot that the virus cannot live in your body anymore. I have also been taking ibuprofen and drinking 32oz of orange/guava/passion fruit juice a day. It has a lot of vitamins A, C, and E in it which are powerful antioxidents. I ran out of my BareMinerals moisturizer last night, so I need to find a new one. Right now I'm using the samples the derm gave me and deciding which I like best.

Skin Energizer!

Something SUPER annoying has started happening the last two weeks. I've been getting dried blood in my nose! I think it is my capilaries bursting, and then drying up in my already dry nose. It actually kind of hurts sometimes and is mixed with regular mucus, so I have to go somewhere where people cannot see me to get it out. Which can hurt sometimes because it is stuck to the inside of my nose. So, besides being gross it is not life threatening.

I wanted to update on my skincare routine too. I have been using the Eucerin Hydrating Cleanser for almost a month now and really like it. No fragrance, non comedegenic, no hydrogenated ingredients (which is why I don't use Cetaphil. It has hydrogenated oils in it!)  I use it after I remove my make up and use one or two pumps.

Eucerin USA photo

 

I also added something that I normally would NEVER put all over my face...a facial oil. A friend gave it to me for my birthday last year, and I use it off and on, usually on my eye area in the morning to help wake me up. It is called the Anne Marie Borlind Orange Blossom Energizer Oil. I love it now on Accutane, it is made for dehydrated skin, so my skin has not been itchy and dry since I started using this stuff!! I use one drop in the morning all of my face, and two at night.

One Pimple

  

My skin was 100% clear until last week. I got a cyst on the bottom left side of my chin on Thursday. I think it from stress and my monthly cycle, I'm not really complaining though. It is only ONE zit. Derm gave me Aczone samples, so I have been putting it on at night and it has made the redness go down. Should be gone by Thursday again.

I've been going the 80mg and have felt all right this weekend. Noticed I am drinking a LOT of water, been trying to mix it with juice to switch it up a bit and for the vitamins. I especially like Perrier mixed with orange juice. Since I'm not supposed to be drinking alcohol, it is nice alternative to mimosas!

Persistent Headache...

So I have been trying the 80mg a day since Sunday and have been fine until today. I have had an extreme headache that won't go away. I talked to my sister (who has taken Accutane too) and she said it probably from looking at a computer for 8+ hours a day a work combined with the Accutane. I'm going to try and limit my computer activity at work tomorrow and see what happens. If it doesn't go away tomorrow I'm going back to 40mg a day.

Month 2...not doing so well.

First week of month two and not feeling very well. I noticed insomnia on Sunday and it has progressed into me waking up every hour or two at night. At first I thought that it was me having withdrawls from the antihistimines I was taking for my hives. (remember when I got put on penicillin? turns out I am allergic! Had hives for days.) I stopped taking them two days ago, so I hoping that this tiredness will go away soon. I have felt dizzy and disoriented as well this week. I am begining to think that it may be my dosage of Accutane that is causing my problems. I have gone from 40mg to 80mg a day this week. I am going to finish out this week with 80mg, and then go back to 40mg a day on Sunday and see what happens.
My skin is 100% clear at the moment though!! That is right-NO BLEMISHES! A few red spots, but nothign some foundation would not cover. Despite all the problems I am having, I am not stopping my treatment. I need to have clear skin.

Bad Week

Four more pills before I finish my first month. I'm getting a MAJOR breakout. I think it may be from all the medications that I took last week. Hell Week Story:
.....I woke up Monday feeling feverish with nausea, the next day it hurt to swallow. I went to the doctor and I was told that I had strep throat and a cold sore on my lip. Doctor gave my antivirals and I was off. Three days later it was WORSE (could barely swallow water) and I had pink eye. I called the doctor and got penicilin, eye drops and cough syrup. Next day I had pink eye in both eyes ;__; Anyway, three days (total 6) later I was healed! I'm still taking the penicilin for the next five days. Penicilin is strong, but approved for Accutane users. I called my derm before I took anything, because I read that throat swelling was a serious side effect and freaked out. But it was just strep throat. *sigh* good!
I'm mostly getting small, but deep pimples on the corners of my mouth. I think that is is a combination of Accutane and all of the Aquaphor I have been slathering on my dry lips. I have also noticed severe dryness in my hair. I already have super dry hair to begin with, so it is getting bad and my ends are light and breaking off. Going to buy a pack of Palmer's Coconut Oil hair masks. I use them in midsummer when I gets extremely hot and makes my hair dry. It makes it SUPER SUPER soft and moisturized. Plus it smells divine ^.^ not mention cheap at about $1.50 a package. I also bought a Eucerin face cleanser since my skin is getting dry and itchy. Will post a review on that after two weeks or so. Collagen face mask time~*

Products Part II: Skin Care

So I've had horrible swallowing pains since Monday. I thought it was an effect of my Accutane and would go away, but it did not and I started to get sick. I even vomited last night x__x bleh....so got the first available appointment and saw my general doctor. She told me it was probably strep throat( I couldn't open my mouth very wide, but she said I had a lot of little bumps on my throat) and the horrible blemish I have on my mouth is actually a cold sore. Whaaa? Good thing I went. She put me on super high dose of anti-virals and it should all be gone in 5 days. Wh00t, so excited!
Anyways Part II: Skincare.

Mandom Cleansing Expressing: Sebum
I use this to take off my make-up. Takes off EVERYTHING. I used to be a hard-core cleansing oil girl until I discovered this baby. Just squirt on cotton pad and rub on your face until your make-up is dissolved. On my 2nd bottle!

Rosette Mutenka Peppermint Face Wash
Mutenka is Japanese for preservative, color, and fragrance free. I read that the the peppermint "hakka" version was the best rated at cosme.net, so I picked it up. I prefer the Bare Minerals nourishing cleanser to this, but I want to use this one up before I buy a new one.

HadaLabo Gokujyun Super Hyaluronic Acid Lotion Light
*super long name right?? It is color, fragrance and oil-free.
Just one drop and you pat it on your skin. I use this at night. I recommend anything with Hyaluronic Acid for Accutane users. It hold in soo much moisture.

BareMinerals Purely Nourishing Moisturizer
I love everything BareMinerals. I actually used this with the cleanser as well, but ran out and decided to use up my Japanese one.

Products Part I: Body Care

A month before starting Accutane I started a moisturizing skin and body care routine. I think this has helped with my skin not getting too dry. (doesn't stop the breakouts though unfortunately...) I did research online on what is good to use and tweaked for myself, my budget, and what worked for me. Today is body care!

Starting from the inside. Women's 73 Nutrient Soft-Gel Multi. I have been taking these for about 3 months actually. They are big vitamins, but packed with everything that a woman needs and more. I has green nutrition, vitamins for healthy hair and skin, including omega-3s! This is great Accutane vitamin because it only has 60%DV of vitamin A. I only take one a day(30%), and my derm approved it. I do recommend reading all the ingredients before taking though. There is primrose oil which I heard some people cannot take, and Cat's Claw powder which I looked up and apparently it can cause miscarriages o_O; so there is a CA Birth Defect warning on it. But you don't really have to worry about that while on Accutane do we ladies?

Body care! St. Ives Renewing Collagen Line. Because your face is not the only thing that gets dry ^.~ I'm a sucker for anything with collagen, so I picked these up. I like them a lot. I'm on my 2nd bottle of each. The smell is wonderful! And they are paraben free which I try to stick to. I do not have itchy dry skin since starting Accutane thanks to these babies~ The shower gel lathers up very nicely so you can even shave your legs with it sine it is so moisturizing. The lotions I can put everywhere and not have skin irritation from my sensitive skin even though there is fragrance. I highly recommend these, I have also used the Mineral Therapy and Oatmeal body washes enjoyed them as well. I feel like the collagen is more long lasting moisture is all.
I have also been eating collagen+hyaluronic acid gummies from Mitsuwa. Not sure if these are actually helping, but they taste great!

OUCH!

I've been avoiding posting because of how horrible my skin has gotten, but I think I need to share how bad your skin can get on Accutane before it gets better. I have been on Accutane/Clavaris for three weeks. I had a symptom follow up visit after two weeks and my dermatologist said it will get worse before it gets better. BUT I have no bad side effects so far ^^. One more two week symptom visit next week.

Forehead. About 1/2cm blemish. It is red, but no whitehead and does not hurt. Yeah! I think this one is more from PMS than the Accutane.

Left cheek bone. This one hurts. It is open and sore, I was talking with my mother and she actually thought that it was a spider bite. (it is spider season here in San Diego). It is however a blemish that popped and has not left an open sore >.<

This one has gotten MUCH better in a week. It was a cyst. So it was about 4 clogged pores all together and filled with pus. NOT CUTE, and painful. I was oozing for about three days straight actually. I had to make sure I had a tissue at all times. It has cleared up a lot now and just a scab.

The current bane of my existence....A large dry cyst on the right side of my mouth. It started out small, just a dry spot from the usual dry lip side effect. However it spread and cyst started to develop. I am assuming from applying to much lip treatment. So anyways, it is pus filled and HURTS. I currently cannot open my mouth very much or the side will crack and bleed.