Reviewer: aj5309, 19-24 Female on Treatment for 1 to 6 months (Patient)

Comment:
After trying many different topical and oral medications to rid myself of my acne, my dermatologist finally put me on Amnesteem. I wish he had done it a year ago!! The first month he started me on one 40mg per day. I was definitely feeling the effects within the first week. It started with bad headaches and a stiff neck, and it just kinda continued thru my whole body down to my ankles for the f ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
After trying many different topical and oral medications to rid myself of my acne, my dermatologist finally put me on Amnesteem. I wish he had done it a year ago!! The first month he started me on one 40mg per day. I was definitely feeling the effects within the first week. It started with bad headaches and a stiff neck, and it just kinda continued thru my whole body down to my ankles for the first two weeks. I started experiencing the dryness after about a week. I used Cetaphil facial cleanser and moisturizer, Aquaphor lip therapy, and Aveeno body lotion. Stock up because you'll need it! I never got bloody noses like some people mentioned, but my eyes were extremely dry so I didn't wear my contacts for long periods at a time. The second month, my dose was upped to two 40mgs a day. Definitely take the pill with a meal, about halfway through. I made the mistake of taking one without eating breakfast and had heartburn so bad I literally thought I was having a heartache. I was on Amnesteem for 4 months total. Have been off for a month and no sign of my acne returning. It definitely gets worse before it gets better and don't get discouraged with all the horror stories! If you really have severe acne and you want to get rid of it, you can deal with being uncomfortable for a few months!! It is SO worth it! The ipledge program wasn't hard to deal with and the blood work was quick and easy. Be smart while using this medicine-take no chances of getting pregnant please! This medicine, I promise, will get you the results you are looking for!
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Reviewer: catpawz, 19-24 Female on Treatment for 1 to 6 months (Patient)

Comment:
I started taking this drug when I realized that birth control pills just weren't cutting it anymore. Typically, I used the pill to prevent the obvious AND to clear up my skin. When it stopped working I sort of panicked and my skin just got worse and worse. I started breaking out in places on my face I never had in the past (chin area). After pleading with my doctor I got a referral and it took the ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
I started taking this drug when I realized that birth control pills just weren't cutting it anymore. Typically, I used the pill to prevent the obvious AND to clear up my skin. When it stopped working I sort of panicked and my skin just got worse and worse. I started breaking out in places on my face I never had in the past (chin area). After pleading with my doctor I got a referral and it took the dermatologist about 3 minutes to say that I had adult acne and wanted to know what I had in mind to do. I made it clear I was done with acne and had tried everything (I have) and mentioned accutane or it's generic version. He agreed that this would be a great option for me so we started at a very low dose, 10mg. I have been on 20mg/once a day for 3 months and will be on it until July or August (5 to 6 months total). Since I am on such a low dose I don't experience the same side effects a lot of other people do. However, my lips are extremely dry as in NEVER ever moisturized. And it's important to take the drug with a large meal preferably dinner or else you may experience some chest pains as I did in the beginning. If you take the drug and are responsible about it you will most likely have an OK experience. But everyone reacts differently. My lifestyle has changed since being on the drug. These changes include more water consumption, better eating habits, more sleep and very little alcohol comsumption. The drug will definitely make you feel run down but eventually with more sleep I managed to curb that side effect. My face has cleared up considerably and since I'm not quite done with treatment I usually just put on a little makeup and BAM! super nice skin. The texture of my skin as improved quite a bit and I can see the drug working. I did a ton of research before I started the drug and I encourage anyone considering this treatment to do the same. Don't let the side effects discourage you but definitely keep them in mind.
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Reviewer: carrilis, 13-18 Male on Treatment for 1 to 6 months (Patient)

Comment:
My son took Amnesteen for 6 mos. Dosage was 60 mg. for the 1st 3 mos., then 80 mg. for the last 3 mos. I was very nervous in the beginning about the side effects - mainly the depression. He never had any issues with that. Early on he was rather irritable, but after the first month or so that went away. He had very dry/chapped lips and used chapstick endlessly throughout the day. Stock up! T ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
My son took Amnesteen for 6 mos. Dosage was 60 mg. for the 1st 3 mos., then 80 mg. for the last 3 mos. I was very nervous in the beginning about the side effects - mainly the depression. He never had any issues with that. Early on he was rather irritable, but after the first month or so that went away. He had very dry/chapped lips and used chapstick endlessly throughout the day. Stock up! The dryness affected his whole body, so Cetaphil cleanser and face lotion, and St. Ives body lotion kept his skin from the itchiness & peeling. He used a shampoo & conditioner with tea tree oil to help dry scalp issues. It took a good 3 full months to see a difference in the acne beginning to clear, and til month 5 for it to really kick in. He just finished the full 6 months last week and in the past month, he's had maybe 2 small pimples that cleared up within 48 hrs. He does still have pretty significant scarring. We will go see the dermatologist in a month or two to see if there is anything further he can do about that. Even though we are very satisfied with the results of the medication, it did not come without a price. My son's back began hurting about 2 months after he started taking it. After many dr. visits (chiropractic, family dr., pain dr.) and x-rays and an MRI, we found out he has 3 bulging discs in his lower back. Could be a coincidence, however, I think it's from the medication. The pain dr. said some people with this problem have pain, and some do not. I think my son is having the pain because of the Amnesteen. Of course, none of the drs we've seen can or will say the rx caused it, but rather high up in most of the side effects listings is lower back pain. My son has always been athletic & involved in sports, and now the pain is too much for him to participate in much of anything. A 17 yr. old shouldn't have to endure back pain like this.
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Reviewer: 35-44 Female on Treatment for 1 to 6 months (Patient)

Comment:
I was so nervous about the poss. side effects of this but as a 40 year old, having acne was affecting my life everyday and I was willing to try it. I had VERY dry skin and chapped lips and dry nose the whole time but nothing I couldn't treat. I had some hip pain for about a week and at first worried it my continue, but it went away with time and motrin. I had a few headaches that were different th ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
I was so nervous about the poss. side effects of this but as a 40 year old, having acne was affecting my life everyday and I was willing to try it. I had VERY dry skin and chapped lips and dry nose the whole time but nothing I couldn't treat. I had some hip pain for about a week and at first worried it my continue, but it went away with time and motrin. I had a few headaches that were different than my "normal" headaches but that got better quickly. The monthly appts. for pregnancy tests were annoying but well worth the end results. I admit I did not have severe acne but did have hard to treat acne all the time. Tried all the lotions and potions, birth control, spirnolactone, retin A, too. Nothing worked and having grey hair and acne at the same time really bothered me. I stayed at 60mg per day for 5 months and 80 for the last month. I still have some scarring but I can handle that since my skin is clear! I've been done for one month and hope I never have to stress about it again. Being able to be outside in the sun or at work with other people and not worry if they are looking at my breakouts is a wonderful feeling. If you are worried about side effects, please try the med and see how it goes. You can stop if the side effects are too troublesome but I would try it and see. I'm so grateful for this product.
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Reviewer: Anonymous , 13-18 Male on Treatment for 1 to 6 months (Patient)

Comment:
I'm 14 years old, and have had sever acne since i was 10. I was prescribed this medication after nothing else had worked. In the beginning i had all of the basic side affects and some uncommon ones as well. After about 3 weeks, all of them had dissapeared besides chapped lips. Medication was easy to take (although easy to forget to take) and cleared all of my acne within 3 months and now it's clea ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
I'm 14 years old, and have had sever acne since i was 10. I was prescribed this medication after nothing else had worked. In the beginning i had all of the basic side affects and some uncommon ones as well. After about 3 weeks, all of them had dissapeared besides chapped lips. Medication was easy to take (although easy to forget to take) and cleared all of my acne within 3 months and now it's clearing up my scars. I recommend this to any and everyone who suffers from severe acne. You WILL NOT regret it.
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