![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by chienandalusia on December 8, 2005, at 19:24:00
Hello,
I'm a 23 y.o. male about 16 weeks into a 20 week 80mg/day accutane regimen and I'm feeling horrible. This morning I took 1200mg sam-e, 100 mg wellbutrin sr, and drank 2 cups of very strong coffee. I've only been taking the sam-e a couple days and the wellbutrin only about a week, so they might not be affecting me at all. The only thing that makes me feel good these days is a lot of coffee. Without it I feel so low I think anything I attempt to do will fail. So I drink enough to get a substantial buzz which temporarily relieves my fear of everything but renders me inept at doing much other than talking and entertaining myself. And I'm letting my work, t-shirt screenprinting, pile up. For a while I was smoking pot and that was helping me be interested in life, but being high on pot when faced with responsibilities can suck. Interest in life is something I'm really missing. All my life I've been somewhat asocial; always afraid people were judging me. I have next to no close friends at present and have never had many in the past. I've always compared myself to everyone around me, and gotten really anxious or hopeless when I couldn't tell myself I was better than them. I've always been obsessed with my clothes and my looks and presenting myself as super cool or something. I never had any acne 'til I started college but it got so bad that one day I was watching an infomercial for proactiv and I realized I looked way worse than all of the "before" pictures of all the satisfied customers. That's when it really hit me that my face was f*cked up. I went from being self-concious about my acne to generally having deep self-loathing. Anyway, I've pretty much had rather to very bad skin for like 4 years and it's gotten a lot better since I started the accutane, but I still have some pretty f*cked up scars. I feel I look like a burn victim. But jesus, before I took the accutane, my skin looked a whole lot worse and yet I was still doing some dating; now I'm way more of a recluse. I'm less depressed about my skin, as it has improved, but I think I'm more depressed overall. I want complete the 20 week course so as to get the full benefits of it but I don't want to be as depressed as I am. Two of wellbutrin's side effects are acne and hairloss--just what I need. Anybody experienced these? I want to not feel horribly scared to be alive. I want to want to live. I want to be productive. I want to have energy but not all the jitters that come with drinking too much coffee. I want to be able to focus on things other than just the things I want to focus on. I mean, I've been able to focus well on writing this message, though I've been meaning to do it for a long time, but its so hard for me to do so many of the things I need to do: work, chores, meeting people, getting out of bed, etc. I'm scheduled to take a neuropsychological test in a few weeks to determine whether or not I have ADD. I'm definitely not hyperactive, though. More like hypersomnolecent. My thyroid thing is 1.9, I don't remember the units. I snore and talk in my sleep; could I have apnea? I like the idea of taking adderall because I've read it helps you get things done, something I seldom do. Does adderall induce acne very badly? I'm kind of obsessed with avoiding things that do.
Thank you for reading this. I would be very grateful for any advice you can offer me.
Paul
Posted by jay on December 8, 2005, at 22:12:24
In reply to Very depressed. On accutane. Will Adderall help?, posted by chienandalusia on December 8, 2005, at 19:24:00
Hi...
I feel very sorry for your situation, because it sounds like you have accutane-induced depression. (I know...you probably already knew that..) But your doctor should be taking MAJOR responsibility here, and if you don't come off the accutane, add some meds to deal with the depression. As far as an ADD diagnosis, I think you should wait until you are off of accutane.
I'd honestly reconsider taking accutane anymore, though. There are other much safer treatments.
Anyhow...that's just IMHO..Best,
Jay
Posted by med_empowered on December 9, 2005, at 3:00:45
In reply to Very depressed. On accutane. Will Adderall help?, posted by chienandalusia on December 8, 2005, at 19:24:00
I dont know what to tell you. If you only have 4 weeks left to go, you could either tough it out or discontinue the Accutane...most antidepressants will take at least a couple weeks to start working. I suppose Adderall would be an option, but you should probably get off Accutane before you undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Adderall used for depression, but not all that often; usually, its used as an add-on to antidepressants, or its used as the main antidepressant in people who have severe physical illness that causes fatigue and depression secondary to the illness.
Posted by linkadge on December 9, 2005, at 10:52:30
In reply to Very depressed. On accutane. Will Adderall help?, posted by chienandalusia on December 8, 2005, at 19:24:00
It seems you are taking a lot of drugs that affect dopamine. Coffee, SAMe, wellbutrin etc. YOu may want to try a different class of antidepressant. I would suspect the way you are feeling is a result of dopaminergic overdrive.
I'd get rid of the acutane. I know you say it has helped, but I think the brain is more important.
Take Care.Linkadge
Posted by SyntheticSoul on December 9, 2005, at 15:29:53
In reply to Very depressed. On accutane. Will Adderall help?, posted by chienandalusia on December 8, 2005, at 19:24:00
Hi Paul,
First, I can only relate my experience with Adderall and depression. What worked for me may not work for you. But here goes:
I have a major recurring depressive cycle that brings on horrific depression mixed with the worst anxiety I can imagine. So bad that I get depersonalized just from the stress and heart pounding that go with it. I have tried almost every AD available to little avail. Adderall did for me in a period of hours what took months for other meds to even get at. Adderall was the silver bullet for me (until I became tolerant, but you can check my first post here for that story).
My advice?
Eat well, sleep as best as you can, supplement with vitamins and minerals, read, meditate, and try some Adderall.
Let me know what happens
Posted by chienandalusia on December 9, 2005, at 21:33:00
In reply to Re: Very depressed. On accutane. Will Adderall hel, posted by SyntheticSoul on December 9, 2005, at 15:29:53
Thank you everybody for responding. I've sort of decided to stop taking the accutane. 16 weeks is plenty. I think the accutane has maybe added to my depression, but I was pretty depressed before taking it. I'd really like to try some adderall, but my pdoc will only give it to me after I've been diagnosed ADD via this long neuropsychological test. To SyntheticSoul: I am very interested in reading your posts but I don't know how to find any of them. Just a thought: I've always been an underachiever because I've always been so horribly afraid of doing things wrong.
Thank you again,
Paul
Posted by ed_uk on December 11, 2005, at 15:24:03
In reply to Very depressed. On accutane. Will Adderall help?, posted by chienandalusia on December 8, 2005, at 19:24:00
I took Accutane for about 16 weeks. My acne was not clear by the end of 16 weeks. A couple of months later it was completely gone. The positive effects of Accutane on acne can continue for some time after you complete the course. A 20 week course is very long, it might not be necessary.
Ed
Posted by chienandalusia on December 12, 2005, at 6:25:39
In reply to Re: Very depressed. On accutane. Will Adderall help?, posted by ed_uk on December 11, 2005, at 15:24:03
Ed, did you experience any depression or abnormal fatigue while on accutane? I can't say if it's related, but since I stopped taking accutane I've been feeling a lot more energetic and less depressed. I stopped taking Wellbutrin and sam-e, too. I'm just drinking coffee all day.
Thanks,
Paul
Posted by alohashirt on December 13, 2005, at 22:32:22
In reply to Very depressed. On accutane. Will Adderall help?, posted by chienandalusia on December 8, 2005, at 19:24:00
I have taken a medication that exacerbates acne for a few years. I tried a bunch of treatments, saw a phenomenally expensive dermatologist who works across from where Sarah Jessica Parker lives, ended up with the program described at www.acne.org. The idea is that benzoyl peroxide whilst more effective than anything else, produces redness because people use strengths that are too strong (5% or 10%) The drill is to use 2.5% cream and slather it on. It worked for me better than anything else. Neutrogena's 2.5% cream is more expensive than gold toothpaste but the website sells a compound that they produce which is ground extremely fine and very, very cheap.I tried oral antiobiotics at same time (increased photosensitivity) and some anntibiotic wipe (did this do anything?) and alpha-hydrixy cream on some back acne that wouldn't clear.
Worked for me. The dermatologist was very down on accutane "good drug evil side-effects to be avoided" was his summary. I also get acne rosacea and found that Eucerin Redness Relief Daily Perfecting Lotion, SPF 15 helped to lessen the visibility of this.
Good luck!
> Hello,
>
> I'm a 23 y.o. male about 16 weeks into a 20 week 80mg/day accutane regimen and I'm feeling horrible. This morning I took 1200mg sam-e, 100 mg wellbutrin sr, and drank 2 cups of very strong coffee. I've only been taking the sam-e a couple days and the wellbutrin only about a week, so they might not be affecting me at all. The only thing that makes me feel good these days is a lot of coffee. Without it I feel so low I think anything I attempt to do will fail. So I drink enough to get a substantial buzz which temporarily relieves my fear of everything but renders me inept at doing much other than talking and entertaining myself. And I'm letting my work, t-shirt screenprinting, pile up. For a while I was smoking pot and that was helping me be interested in life, but being high on pot when faced with responsibilities can suck. Interest in life is something I'm really missing. All my life I've been somewhat asocial; always afraid people were judging me. I have next to no close friends at present and have never had many in the past. I've always compared myself to everyone around me, and gotten really anxious or hopeless when I couldn't tell myself I was better than them. I've always been obsessed with my clothes and my looks and presenting myself as super cool or something. I never had any acne 'til I started college but it got so bad that one day I was watching an infomercial for proactiv and I realized I looked way worse than all of the "before" pictures of all the satisfied customers. That's when it really hit me that my face was f*cked up. I went from being self-concious about my acne to generally having deep self-loathing. Anyway, I've pretty much had rather to very bad skin for like 4 years and it's gotten a lot better since I started the accutane, but I still have some pretty f*cked up scars. I feel I look like a burn victim. But jesus, before I took the accutane, my skin looked a whole lot worse and yet I was still doing some dating; now I'm way more of a recluse. I'm less depressed about my skin, as it has improved, but I think I'm more depressed overall. I want complete the 20 week course so as to get the full benefits of it but I don't want to be as depressed as I am. Two of wellbutrin's side effects are acne and hairloss--just what I need. Anybody experienced these? I want to not feel horribly scared to be alive. I want to want to live. I want to be productive. I want to have energy but not all the jitters that come with drinking too much coffee. I want to be able to focus on things other than just the things I want to focus on. I mean, I've been able to focus well on writing this message, though I've been meaning to do it for a long time, but its so hard for me to do so many of the things I need to do: work, chores, meeting people, getting out of bed, etc. I'm scheduled to take a neuropsychological test in a few weeks to determine whether or not I have ADD. I'm definitely not hyperactive, though. More like hypersomnolecent. My thyroid thing is 1.9, I don't remember the units. I snore and talk in my sleep; could I have apnea? I like the idea of taking adderall because I've read it helps you get things done, something I seldom do. Does adderall induce acne very badly? I'm kind of obsessed with avoiding things that do.
>
> Thank you for reading this. I would be very grateful for any advice you can offer me.
>
> Paul
>
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.