Acne medication symptoms and conditions

I've been on Femcon for about 6 months and next month I will finally be off it. The first 2 months, I was constantly lethargic, depressed, nauseous, but I gave it a go since my doctor told me it would take a couple of months before the medication can do its thing. Around the 3-4 month period I thought I started getting used to it, but I couldn't lose weight even though I go to the gym 5 days a week. Then around the 5-6 month period, I started breaking out badly around my chin & cheek area. I've never had breakouts this bad. I thought it was because of my dog since he slept on my bed, but even after removing him from the sleeping area into another room, the breakouts continued and eventually got worse. I use topical acne medication that help but cannot stop the breakouts. It has been very frustrating. I've also experienced in between bleeding if I do not take the pill at the same exact time everyday, which never happened when I was on Ortho TriCyclen. I cannot wait to get off this medication!

I just turned 18 years old and was prescribed Doxycycline Hyclate 100mg, BenzaClin (Benzoyl peroxide), and Differin 0.3%. I've been on benzaclin and differin for about 3 years now. About 2 months ago I was prescribed doxycycline for my acne. I specifically told my dermatologist that I wanted a higher dosage of acne medication since the minocycline 5mg wasn't strong enough for me; I had taken it 2 years prior to my visit. But when I would take doxycycline I'd feel a litte bit of nausea coming my way so I decided to drink some water with it. Shortly after I'd get something to eat. I'd feel better soon after. I've been on this medication for almost a month now and I'm not feeling any adverse side effects. My acne has somewhat cleared up but then i breakout again, around the same area. I'm hoping my acne will clear by the time I go for my check up in feb but if it doesn't, i want to be prescribed accutane instead. Also, stop the medication if you're having horrible side effects, obviously there's something wrong. It could also be an allergic reaction, I'm just fine but then again, I'm not allergic to anything and I also avoid a lot of sun exposure.

I'm 16 and I was prescribed Doryx (doxycycline hyclate) about a month ago to treat moderate acne. I've been taking it since then and I'm supposed to be on it until September, however, I'm not sure if I'm going to last that long if I keep taking it.

While I didn't experience any side effects for about the first week, after that, it turned terrible. I experienced insomnia, which included not being able to fall asleep, waking up about 5-10 times a night (often being unbearably hot and sweating intensely, even thought it was a cool 70 degrees F in our house.), and to make it worse, i was up for about half an hour each time i woke up. And to make it worse, I was always tired through the day, but I still couldn't sleep.

While sleeping I had very vivid dreams which is unusual for me. I also had pretty bad stomach pain, and terrible pain in my kidneys for a few days. It felt almost like a kidney stone.

I also am very rarely hungry and almost get sick when i eat. Since on this medication a month ago, I've lost about 10 pounds just because I can't eat.

I've had a difference in mood as well. Most of the time, I'm happy, but now, I have very noticeable mood swings and periods of depression.

And the medicine ISN'T EVEN HELPING with my acne.

Oh, and these are only SOME of the side effects I've had. So, right now, I'm not sure if i should quit the medicine, or if the medicine will put an end to me first.

i have scheduled to have my Mirena removed because i need to know if i'm just aging really poorly at 24 or if it's the side effects of the Mirena.

i haven't even had Mirena in for a full year, but the last half of 2008, i gained 20 lbs, my face broke out in painful acne, i noticed my hair thinning at the top of my head, and my back was hurting an awful lot.

back pain and depression travel in my family. i'm not blaming those on Mirena just yet.

but i have been working out for months, and have not shed a single pound until going on an extreme diet and HCG therapy, where i have finally lost my first 10 pounds.

no acne medication is helping at all (i'm sitting here with a Proactiv mask on my face as i type).

i'd like to go back to the way i looked and felt a year ago, so i hope the Mirena is the culprit.

I had the Mirena put in in March or April (can't remember which one) of 2007. It was absolutely the worst pain I had felt in my life when it went in, but by the end of the day I was fine. (I had to walk home from the Planned Parenthood and could barely do it, the pain was so bad at the time.) I didn't notice any side effects, or at least nothing that I immediately linked to the Mirena. I read the list of side effects, but nothing was listed as "severe" and I had no idea that these side effects were so common and so intense.

By summer I was a wreck emotionally. I thought it was due to the stress of my senior year of college. I visited my boyfriend over winter break and snapped at him for every little thing he did or said. I actually threw rocks at him, punched him, etc., and yelled at him ALL THE TIME. I was also crying almost every day by that point. The acne was beginning but it wasn't too bad yet, just a few large cysts on my face, mostly on my chin, but I didn't think that it was connected to the IUD.

By the end of the summer that relationship was over due to my extreme moodiness (this was a long-term relationship and I had never been moody like that before), depression, lightning-quick temper, etc. The acne was still on my face and slowly but surely getting worse. I was still moody and cried all the time.

Fast-forward a year, and by fall 2008 the acne was taking over my face. I was embarrassed to go out. I spent three hundred dollars on makeup to try to cover it up. I think I still have scars on my chin, but it's hard to tell through the cysts that remain. Like many women who have posted here and elsewhere online, my acne was disgusting: giant, red, painful cysts that never came to a head and took weeks to go away. They didn't respond to any acne medication. I saw a dermatologist and she told me it was probably my toothpaste (my toothpaste causes acne on my forehead??) and told me to take antibiotics. Of course that didn't work. I was also a complete train wreck emotionally. I was in a new relationship but continued the same behaviors as in the previous relationship post-Mirena: short temper, yelling, overreacting to minor things, sometimes physical violence because I just got SO ANGRY with little or no provocation. There were a few months when I literally cried every day, sometimes multiple times a day. I thought it was due to the stressful things that were going on in my life and didn't even imagine it could be related to the Mirena.

A few days ago, on December 30, 2008, I was so fed up with the acne that I was googling, and I knew that sometimes acne can have hormonal causes. So I googled "Mirena acne" and came across this message board and many others, all of them basically saying the same thing. I showed my current boyfriend (who on several occasions almost broke up with me because of my moody, irrational behavior that I now know was caused by the Mirena!) what all of you and the women on the other boards had written, and I called to see how quickly I could get the thing taken out. On the phone with the insurance company, I started crying when she said I would probably have to wait three weeks to have it removed. I wept for a long time and then the next day I went straight into the urgent care center, where I again ended up crying. After much begging and looking completely pathetic, they finally agreed to take it out, and since then, I have felt five thousand million percent better. I haven't cried or felt like crying since I had it removed, and I haven't been moody or irritable or angry or quick-tempered. My boyfriend has said and done things that I know would have made me cry or want to punch him in the face, and I haven't reacted in either of those ways since the Mirena has been out of my body. I actually thought it would take a while for the hormones to get out of my body, but I feel SO MUCH BETTER already.

It took a long time for these symptoms to show up for me, and a long time for me to realize what was causing them. For anyone who is considering the Mirena, I would strongly encourage you to try the Paragard or one of the other non-hormonal methods. I actually had used the Nuvaring for a while too, and that one wasn't as bad as this. The Mirena has been HELL. The only positive side effect I had from it was that my periods got really light, to the point that I didn't have to use tampons or really much of anything beyond pantiliners. I'm scared to try the Paragard because it's supposed to make your periods much heavier, and also because the Mirena was such a hellish contraption. Other effects I've had that may or may not be due to the Mirena are: constipation, though this may have been due to the stress of living overseas; fatigue; dizziness, like I'm going to pass out and/or fall over if I stand up too quickly; inability to lose weight unless I am literally starving.

I had been on Lithium for a few months when the consistent weight gain and uncomfortable bloated feeling caused me to seek out a new treatment for my bipolar disorder. Deciding on Lamictal, I started the slow transition of lowering Lithium doses and increasing Lamictal doses. About one month ago, the transition was complete. I didn't seem to have any real noticeable side effects from the Lamictal but after about 2 weeks of being off the Lithium, my skin started breaking out with acne!! Terribly on my chin, cheeks and hair line. I am now wondering if the Lithium may have been keeping this symptom under control. Has anyone had an experience like this?

Doxycycline has been helping with me skin BUT it is entirely not worth what it is doing to my mental health. I went to a therapist yesterday because I have been depressed and he told me that I have a Dysthymia, a mild form of depression. I have been taking Doxycycline 50 mg for 9 months. I thought my depression had to do with me being unsatisfied with my life but now I realize that I have been feeling sad and hopeless due to this drug. I have had incidences of crying for small annoyances, like missing a bus. I have stopped taking it for a day now and I can't wait until this stuff gets out of my system. I have had yeast infections as well, that were so mild that it took me this long to realize it. I only got nauseous when I took it on an empty stomach. Be aware that some people have committed suicide because they were depressed, due to the acne medication, Accutane. I’m not a doctor, but it seems that we need to evaluate the possible detrimental effects acne medications could have on us. I will now look into improving my eating habits and hopefully that will help.

I had it inserted in June of 2005 by my family doctor. I couldn't believe how painful the insertion was -- I nearly passed out and afterwards I had to call for someone to pick me up and take me home. At first I had some irregular bleeding but this stopped after two or three months. Aside from the occaisional spotting, I was thrilled to find that I no longer got my period! I haven't had any problems with moodiness, whereas when I was on the pill I was very depressed. I do notice that I feel bloated a lot. I've been having problems with my skin (scarring acne on my chin, chest and back) and this is driving me crazy because I used to have absolutely perfect skin! I saw a doctor today about the acne and he prescribed anti-acne medication... but now I'm thinking I'd rather just get this IUD removed and see if it clears up on it's own...

Silke, Foggyhead,
Yes, believe me, I am MUCH better than I was just 6 months ago. I was in and out of the emergency room (that didn't help either...they didn't know what to do with me). I took Estrostep for a year and then switched to Yasmin for two months....then almost died (or so I felt!) My doctor NEVER told me to stop the Yasmin. A hospital pharmacist rescued me, and then later I found this site....how could I have been so stupid and trusting? If I had just looked up the pill, I would have seen all of this. I NEVER had ANY problems before. I am 28 years old and have been post Yasmin 15 months. After I stopped the pill, I slowly got a tiny bit better every month. In the past 3 months, my period has become very regular, but different. It only lasts 2 very heavy days (used to last about a week), then some very scant spotting. I did not use ANY pain medication during this last period (perhaps the exercise helps)!!! My period was good this time, but the anxiety started on day 4 of my cycle and has increased until now (day 9). The anxiety (vision problems, hunger, vomiting, weakness, minor head pain/stuffiness) seems to start right when my period abruptly stops. I used to have just about EVERY side effect mentioned on this site, but most of them have now gone!!! I still have my meltdowns, and believe I am going to die again, but they are much fewer and I have not run to the emergency room for about 6 months. And I will say they did nothing to help me anyway except confirm "nothing was wrong". My husband helps to keep me positive, and I force myself to stay busy. If I am too weak to get up and move, I try to keep busy sewing, talking to someone about SOMETHING ELSE, reading, or just praying I will survive all this......and I have.

Silke,
My sister took acne medication with some kind of Yasmin mix.... she has been off of that for about 2 years (she is 22). She has a very painful period (although not enough to keep her out of work) about every 6 months. The doctors think she may have a cyst caused by the Yasmin, but are not too worried as it should go away on it's own....at least she is having a period every 6 months.
Virginia

I take doxycycline as an anti-acne medication. I've been on it for two years now, with an increase in dosage from 50 mg 2 x a day to 100 mg 2 x a day.

If I take it without food, I feel incredibly nauseous, so I'm careful to take it always immediately after meals. My prescription says do not take within 2 hours of eating dairy products, but sometimes I can't avoid that, since I have to take it with meals... I am also a lot more prone to sunburn since I started taking this, including one really horrible sunburn I got in FEBRUARY last year! ugh!

Does anyone know if there is a limit on the number of years one should take this medication for? Having been taking it for two years now, I began wondering if there could be negative consequences to the drug being in my system for such a long time without break. I am going to ask my doctor the next time I go in for a visit, but wanted to try to find out on the 'net first.