Solodyn Pediatric Rheumatologist, Constant Fatigue, Anti Nuclear Antibody, Mood Swings, Fibro

DIDN'T WORK AT ALL & HAD BAD SIDE EFFECTS! This didn't help my severe 'painful red bumps' kind of acne. In January 08 the dermatologist put me on solodyn 1x daily, Rosaderm face wash, & Atralin topical gel, both 2x daily. Eventually she switched me from atralin to RetinA, b/c the atralin wasn't strong enough. I have many health problems, but the last few years I have been feeling absolutely awful- constant body & joint aches, constant fatigue, & mood swings due to the pain. It got so much worse in Jan 08. My doctor & I had been talking fibro for a long time, but she diagnosed me in early March 08. She suspected fibro, as well as an autoimmune disease (when your body attacks your own tissues by mistake) due to a massively high ANA (anti-nuclear antibody) count on a blood test, so she referred me to a pediatric rheumatologist (there aren't many) b/c I was under 21 at the time. The rheumatologist diagnosed me with myofascial pain, which is very similar to fibro. She explained, "It's the exact same pain as fibromyalgia, except it moves all around instead of staying in certain points." Then she told me something shocking: SOLODYN CAN CREATE CONSTANT FATIGUE, BODY PAIN, AND OTHER FIBROMYALGIA-LIKE SYMPTOMS!!! IT ALSO MAKES A PERSONS ANA COUNT SOAR, WHICH CAN BE SEEN IN BLOOD TESTS!!! So she told me to go off the Solodyn right away, which I did gladly because it had been weeks & it hadn't helped my acne. She told me to watch for changes in my myofascial pain/fibro symptoms. After about 1 week my muscle & joint aches started to lessen. Obviously the Solodyn had increased this pain. The weird thing is, after about 3 days after stopping Solodyn, my acne improved. It was almost like Solodyn was preventing my acne from going away! When the results from my next blood test came back, my ANA (anti nuclear antibody) count had dropped but it was still high, indicating an autoimmune disease. It appeared Solodyn had raised my ANA count to a level even higher then it normally was!! It turned out I did have an autoimmune disease, but my rheumatologist told me she's seen teens who take Solodyn & have an elevated ANA count b/c of it. Then they have to run hundreds of tests b/c they think they have some disease that they actually don't have. When they stop taking Solodyn, their blood tests normalize, & then it proves don't really have an autoimmune disease. But by that time they've gone thru dozens of unnecessary tests, not to mention the stress & worry of thinking they might have a disease that may potentially be life threatening. They wasted time, money, and sleepless nights, all because solodyn screwed up their blood tests!!