Week Twenty-One and Twenty-Two

Feeling great on 20mg. My lips have started to become less dry, my nose has completely cleared up and has stopped scabbing inside. The depression and low mood has left me completely so I'm feeling much better and more positive.

Also I feel that my skin is improving more! There seems to have been a shift in the condition of my skin and it has now started to look more healthy, I'm using less makeup and feel the sides becoming less deep acne-wise.

I feel like the break in my dosage (by taking the drug every other day) has helped greatly.

On the negative side I'm still suffering from styes (about one every week) and my eyes feel pretty sore and itchy. I'm trying to bear with it :)

Week Twenty (Five Months)

Went back and saw the dermatologist on Wednesday of this week. Since dropping the dose down to 20mg after last week's awful week, I have felt much better and slowly feel like myself again.

Dermatologist said that dropping the dose was completely the right thing to do. She was very thorough discussing exactly what symptoms I had etc and decided as a precaution to give me a small "break" by taking a 20mg dose every other day for a week. So not completely stopping the drug but simply reducing the dose to allow my body time to recover. After the week I'm to start taking 20mg again daily. She said that this might mean that the treatment goes on longer but not to worry as this is quite common.

Felt much more positive after seeing her and that she agrees, and despite everything that I get to stay on the drug as she believes that the improvement is brilliant from when I started - still some acne on the sides of my cheeks though and scarring.

Week Nineteen

Really bad week :(

My moods have gotten ever incresingly worse this week. So bad in fact, that I kept breaking down in tears for no reason, I was irritable and generally felt completely unlike myself. The crying is the worst part, once it started I couldnt stop. It got so bad towards the end of this week that I ended taking Friday off work - I cried all through the night and again in the morning. I phoned the Dermatologist's secretary and she immediately instructed me that the best thing to do would be to drop the dose from 40mg down to 20mg. I had no problems with this, dropping the dose I didnt mind, but coming off it altogether would not be a good idea. I am due to see the Derm next week anyway so dropping to 20mg for now wont hurt me.

All in all a really bad week on Roaccutane. Not one I want to remember in great detail.