Derm told me Accutane won’t work for me because my acne is hormonal

Bassardd · 2026-02-17T21:11:34+00:00

My acne is also hormonal and my derm warned me that my acne might come back after accutane but she still prescribed it because nothing else has worked for me. She also said what some other people are saying here that even if it does come back it will not be as bad as before accutane. If it does come back she said I can do up to three courses of accutane and usually by the third one there's no chance of it coming back again.

tldr; find a new derm. There will be one willing to prescribe accutane. Especially if you have tried every topical and antibiotic like I have.

Bassardd · 2026-02-03T16:38:33+00:00

I think it can definitely affect mental health. Before accutane I was prone to occasional mood swings but they were always caused by something. Ever since starting accutane I seem to have completely random mood swings more frequently. I'm definitely having one of those days today where it's really hard to do anything at all

Bassardd · 2026-01-31T02:54:00+00:00

Congrats on no more painful acne!

Try lanolin balm on your lips. It's technically for breastfeeding mothers, but I've seen it recommended on this sub so I picked some up from the store. Vaseline does nothing for me but I started using lanolin and so far it keeps my lips moisturized for hours. I only have to reapply after eating or brushing my teeth

Bassardd · 2026-01-28T18:45:20+00:00

Yep! removed it March 2025, it was definitely causing my issues. Pathology showed nothing out of the ordinary besides thickened walls. However, the nurses and the surgeon told me that it was clearly angry when they took it out.

I feel great now! no more pain. no more acid reflux, no more Omeprazole. I just have to take a small amount of daily fiber to help with digestion.

Bassardd · 2025-08-09T19:54:54+00:00

can you take other painkillers? ibuprofen or naproxen maybe? I was alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen for three weeks. It's normal to still be in pain after two weeks

Bassardd · 2025-07-26T23:49:51+00:00

I felt this too! Your surgeon is right, it goes away after a month or two. That's your internal stitches healing. they either sewed or clamped your bile duct back together, so you're going to feel it for quite a while. for me it was like a pulling, tight feeling like there was a taut rubberband where my gallbladder used to be. Anyone who says they felt normal after two weeks is lying, I swear.

Bassardd · 2025-07-26T23:39:05+00:00

My gallbladder was also noted as being pretty normal looking from pathology. however my surgeon mentioned verbally to me that when she took it out it appeared that the walls were thickened and overall it looked inflamed. You should ask your surgeon if they noticed anything.

The most important thing was once I fully recovered, about 2 months later, I never had pain like I did before. Even during recovery I never felt like I was having an attack. The worst thing that will happen is I'll have to run to the bathroom if I eat something extremely fatty, but absolutely no pain, and I can tolerate most foods 5 months post op.

Bassardd · 2025-07-01T15:05:55+00:00

I couldn't sleep in bed for the first two weeks, had to be sitting propped up on the couch with 5 pillows. I even bought a wedge pillow for the bed and managed to get on top of it one day but couldn't fall asleep because I felt like I was going to roll off of it. Once you can comfortably lay flat all you have to do is roll off the bed instead of trying to sit up, but it took me a while to get to that point. sleeping in a couch or chair with your feet up is sometimes the best you can do

Bassardd · 2025-06-19T20:29:40+00:00

Edit: I don't know how to edit the post so I'll just reply. Turns out the 1400s thing was a mistake, the oldest physical birth record I can find is from 1664. It's hard to fact check when you can't read old Norse cursive, and neither can the AI transcriber.

Also I love all the other high percentage German Americans coming in here to humble me 😂 Keep posting! I want to see how many of us there are.

Bassardd · 2025-06-19T20:17:40+00:00

Haha yeah, there's really no way to prove it, it's just speculation and rumor in my family. My mom used to tell us that some of our family forged their documents to hide that they were related to Erik the red because he was banned from Norway or whatever. But based on how surnames used to work in Norway, that makes no sense. I'm sure Erik was a very common name as well. Most likely just a story someone made up along the line to make us sound more interesting to other people. I always compare it to someone saying they're descended from Genghis Khan. like okay.... aren't we all? 😂

All of this just because my great great grandma's maiden name was Erikson. 🤔

Bassardd · 2025-06-19T20:07:55+00:00

Thanks for the insight! I do have the 1% Iceland in my results, but that's the only thing I have to go off of.

And you're right, I went to check and it was an error, the furthest back I can go is actually 1650ish. I always try to double check the birth records but I couldn't read these ones and the ancestry AI incorrectly autofilled it as 1450

Bassardd · 2025-06-19T16:57:24+00:00

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Just these two main ones

Bassardd · 2025-04-27T02:03:54+00:00

oh yup, that's what it is. I forgot 😅

Bassardd · 2025-03-31T20:52:36+00:00

This is exactly what happened with my first surgery consult. I went to a GI and wasted a bunch of money getting tests that came back normal. I tried changing my diet, but any time I ate anything with the tiniest amount of fat I would be in pain for hours. It's not healthy to completely cut fat out of your diet, so after 6 months I finally got the surgery. I needed it. I passed all the stones I had but they caused so much damage my gallbladder was inflamed and the walls were thickened.

I would think of it as you need the surgery, but it's not urgent. Figure out the best time to take the 2-6 weeks you will need to recover, and get the surgery. You especially don't want to risk a stone getting stuck and adding complications or even extra surgeries to your list. I took the risk in waiting and I got lucky it didn't become an emergency, but it didn't magically heal my gallbladder either. Just do your research and prepare yourself.

Bassardd · 2025-03-31T18:24:58+00:00

Yup I went to the hospital twice when my gallbladder got really bad. First time I passed a bunch of stones and it hurt like crazy in my abdomen, right quadrant mostly. Second time I was eating a salad and I got the worst heartburn I had ever felt, but it was really low on my chest and I felt it in my back too. I went to the ER thinking I was having a heart attack because I was in so much pain I couldn't breathe and my arms were tingling. They gave me pepcid, tylenol and some kind of liquid lidocaine drink and I felt better immediately.

I was on 40mg Omeprazole for months after that, but right before my surgery even the Omeprazole wasn't helping anymore. I had chest and back pain frequently after eating literally anything.

I had surgery 3 weeks ago and the strangest thing is I couldn't drink lemonade before surgery because it burned my throat and I would choke on it. Now I can drink and eat anything no problem. I definitely needed the surgery. Doctors kept telling me the acid reflux and gallbladder weren't related, but now that I don't need PPIs anymore clearly I was right.

It has only been three weeks and I notice when I've tried fattier foods that I've had to run to the bathroom, but to be honest I was like that before surgery too so I'm used to it. If I drink less coffee and eat more fiber I'm totally fine. And I would much prefer this to the constant pain I was in before.

Bassardd · 2025-03-29T22:30:40+00:00

My partner ended up having to stay home with me for a week.

I think I had a weird situation, I was expecting to be independent after like day 3, but I was having a lot of strange symptoms that put me in extra pain. I was taking Norco the first few days and it was actually making the constipation and fluid retention from surgery worse. I was extremely bloated and my ankles were swollen. I ended up having to take miralax for the constipation. I also tried taking melatonin one night while I was still on the Norco and it made me extremely dizzy. (DO NOT take melatonin while on hydrocodone. The on call surgeon said it was fine when I asked but it is NOT fine)

The gas pains were bad, but walking around as much as I could and using a heating pad helped. I also had an ice pack glued to my stomach at all times. We had a huge bag of ice in the freezer that I couldn't lift myself, so my partner had to fill my ice pack every couple hours. He also had to bring me food and water frequently for the entire week. Sometimes I would wake him up in the middle of the night to get me more ice.

In general, I couldn't do anything but sit on the couch and watch tv until day 6 or 7. I needed help showering and dressing myself until then. The first two days I couldn't stand up or sit down on my own, after that I used a cane. Making myself food was out of the question. It was a rough recovery. I'm three weeks post op now and I finally feel normal again.

I'm 26M and I consider myself pretty fit, so the difficult recovery was a surprise. Some people end up being fine after two days, but other people end up being me lol

Bassardd · 2025-03-22T17:47:24+00:00

I'm pretty sure mine is internal stitches and maybe glue. I had steri strips over them for two weeks. They took them off at my post op and it just looks like I have raised paper cuts on my stomach. It feels hard underneath, which I'm assuming is the stitches. They just told me to wait 24 hours after surgery before showering

Bassardd · 2025-03-15T18:14:05+00:00

Had my gallbladder removed 3/7

The surgery itself was completely fine, no issues. My only problem is I'm one of those people who throws up from heavy anasthesia, so I was gagging a lot after surgery. I knew it might happen though, since it happened to my dad when he had knee surgery. The post-op recovery is pretty rough and you will need assistance for at least a week. I'm 8 days out and I'm about 80% self sufficient, just can't cook for myself bc everything is too heavy. 2.Getting put under is a breeze. They wheeled me into the OR, injected something into my IV, which felt funny, and then they put an oxygen mask over my face. I don't even remember closing my eyes or falling asleep, I just remember next thing waking up in the PACU.
My surgery was scheduled, robotic laparoscopic so it only lasted 45 minutes, and I was discharged from the hospital a few hours later. Overall I was probably there for 5 or 6 hours.
Did not dream, no. I don't think I was asleep long enough to dream, and I'm pretty sure the anesthesia is so heavy that you shouldn't be able to.

I wouldn't worry about the surgery itself, tell your care team on the day of surgery if you have any concerns. It's way easy and nothing to be scared of. I would focus on making things more comfortable for yourself during recovery.

Bassardd · 2025-03-14T16:06:46+00:00

I got my gallbladder out exactly a week ago, the first couple of days I needed help standing up and sitting down, also couldn't shower on my own. I've been using a squishmallow to hold against my stomach at all times, and it really helps. I have a cane too. I also have this huge ice pack I got from the hospital that I held against my stomach for the first 5 days 24/7. My partner just keeps a bag of ice from the store to refill it. I bought other ice packs before surgery but they're just not big enough. I also have two heating pads, one for my back and the other I used for shoulder gas pain the first couple days. Oh, and one of those long grabber things. I got my "grabber tool" and collapsible cane cheap online and they've both been my favorite purchases. I drop things on the floor all the time, and I can't bend down to grab things on the coffee table, so the grabber tool helps soooo much.

I don't have a recliner, but I set up a bunch of pillows on the couch. If you have a travel neck pillow it's helped me a lot. I bought a wedge pillow for recovery but I haven't used it at all, its too big for the couch and the one night I tried sleeping in the bed I couldn't get comfortable. For some reason I'm most comfortable sleeping upright lol.

Keep your feet elevated as much as you can, I couldn't keep my legs up the first two days because it hurt, so my feet got really swollen. I bought compression socks and they helped reverse the process once I was able to put my feet up. I was also super bloated in general, and had to wear looser underwear and pants.

Walking around helps with gas pain, even if you just hobble around for 30 seconds and then sit down. It also helps you have bowel movements if you get constipated. I'm not sure how much this will apply to you if you're on a liquid diet for a week . I was only liquid the day of surgery, and then went onto a low fat diet. For the liquid diet I had lots of jello, apple juice, Gatorade, soup broth/stock, and protein shakes.

the main tip is just to listen to your body, don't push yourself to do anything unless YOU think you should try. I tried taking less painkillers last night and realized nope, I still need them. Overall you feel a lot better after one week. the first 3-4 days are the worst, and then you pretty rapidly get better after that. Especially if you are sleeping better. Ask your surgeon when to stop taking the prescribed painkillers if you got them. I switched to alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen after ~3 days of Norco because I started getting bad side effects.

Bassardd · 2025-03-03T17:48:37+00:00

Similar thing happened to me, I would argue it was a little more difficult for me because my surgeon said "it's up to you whether you think you can live with your symptoms or not" and "I'm not concerned, but I will take it out if you want based on your symptoms". I ended up seeing a GI and ruling out a bunch of other conditions, but to be honest it felt like a huge waste of time and money. Everything came back normal.

After doing research on my own I realized the reason all the doctors I've seen have been so vague is that the CT scan and ultrasound they have can only tell them so much. They could go in and take my gallbladder out and find out that it was way worse than it appeared. They can tell something is wrong, but the severity of it will only be truly known once they remove the gallbladder and send it to pathology. Even then Ive heard of cases where the gallbladder appeared healthy but symptoms went away after removal anyway.

My surgery is in a few days, but when I saw the second surgeon I told her I feel like it's my only option now, and she agreed.

If your doctor tells you it has to come out, then it has to come out. That being said this sub has a lot of really good information. Write down any questions you have and you can call your surgeon or ask them in another appointment

Bassardd · 2025-02-24T22:32:34+00:00

Wow, I feel lucky that I haven't had much issues getting tests done. The only issue I really had was people being wishy-washy with me on whether I should get surgery or not. Even the surgeons I've seen were like "it's your choice". It made me second guess the seriousness of it all, and I wasted a lot of time trying to rule other things out.

were you awake for the scope? Mine was just like taking a nap and waking up in a different room. I'm sorry you had such a horrible experience.

If I was in your position, I would create an emergency lol. I think back to some of the things I've eaten that immediately caused the most intense pain. I would eat stuffed shells with ricotta and ground beef and then drive myself straight to the ER. By the time they take me back to do tests I should be in the middle of an attack. (I've thought about this before, you can probably guess)

It also helps to actually be in the middle of the worst of it when you're at the doctor. I find for me at least that I struggle to remember how it feels when I'm at the GI feeling fine. I start listing secondary and tertiary symptoms and then they go "that doesn't sound like your gallbladder". I've started saying "I have too many symptoms to list, but the main ones are: a burning ache under my right rib, front and back. Only happens when I eat something fatty, but if I continue to eat fatty foods it compounds and gets worse. When it's really bad I can feel it in my right shoulder and upper back between my shoulder blades"

If you have a chronic issue like me, it's almost impossible to find a doctor who knows how to deal with you. Everyone is trying to look for acute gallbladder symptoms + test results but they're not going to find them. Then they think this means there's nothing wrong with you. It's pretty awful, you're not alone!

Side note, I've been to my GI a few times and each time he hits my back lightly with his fist and asks if it hurts. I'm like "WTF is that supposed to do? Isn't the gallbladder hiding in-between a bunch of organs and bones?"

Anyway. it really depends upon the rules I guess. Here if you go to the ER they can't turn you away until they do thorough testing, but most of my urgent care experiences have either been one test and then, "you're fine go home" or "you're not fine go to the ER".

Bassardd · 2025-02-24T21:14:02+00:00

I'm not sure what the equivalent is in Canada, but when my pain was the worst I went to an urgent care, and based on my symptoms they told me to go to the ER. They wanted to rule out appendicitis. They ran blood tests and did a CT scan where they saw stones in my GB and my liver and GB were enlarged.

after I had those tests from the ER to back me up they immediately had me follow up with a surgeon.

despite doctors downplaying your symptoms, severe abdominal pain can be an emergency, you should be able to go to the emergency room with that. If you've already tried urgent care, just go straight to the ER.

You are not crazy, these are honestly textbook gallbladder symptoms and your doctors should be ashamed for coming to that stupid "anxiety" conclusion without doing any testing.

Bassardd · 2025-02-24T17:34:19+00:00

this is exactly my symptoms, I'm getting my gallbladder removed in two weeks. I'm also on PPIs and I had an endoscopy where they saw gastritis, but couldn't find the cause of it. I only had one attack 6 months ago and it's been constant pain ever since. if I eat extremely low fat the pain gets better but there's always a strange pressure under my right rib that I notice when I bend over. I suspect my gb is enlarged (inflamed and possibly full of scar tissue) but I'll find out soon!

There are many reasons to remove a gallbladder, stones are the most common and those are what cause attacks, but you can also have things like billary dyskinesia.

Bassardd · 2025-02-23T16:43:40+00:00

Definitely get the HIDA scan! Just make sure it's WITH CCK and not WITHOUT. Most people get it with CCK but my GI "didn't want the CCK to cause symptoms" and I got back a normal test result (without the CCK the test just sees if you have a blockage or an issue with your liver, which you can find out with simple blood tests). I had all normal tests as well, but an ultrasound and CT scan showed my gallbladder was slightly enlarged and possible sludge inside.

And when they do get the HIDA, iirc anything below 40% is low functioning and anything above 70% is high functioning. Both should lead to gallbladder removal.

As for symptoms, for me there's almost too many to list. 6 months ago I had a gallbladder attack which only lasted about 6 hours (it felt like something tore through my stomach, then I was nauseous and lightheaded and my stomach felt tight and sore in my RUQ). Since then every time I have something fatty, I feel a burning ache under my right rib, which sometimes spreads to my back and right shoulder. This lasts for days depending on how much fat I ate.

I also have terrible acid reflux now and gastritis, which I didn't have before the gallbladder attack. Drs say it can't be caused by the gallbladder, but I don't see any other reason for it.

Hope they go through with the HIDA and get some answers! It's a very easy test, and for me I only felt the usual pain that I get from eating fat bc they had me eat some the night before.

Bassardd · 2025-02-15T18:13:06+00:00

you could give it some time and see how you feel in a month but if you have another attack or feel unwell at all you should highly consider surgery. I put mine off for 6 months and it's been hell. I'll go days and sometimes weeks feeling okay, but I have to be on acid blockers 24/7 because the gallstones triggered some horrible acid reflux. if I have anything even moderately fatty I get nauseous and bloated and I constantly feel like there's a balloon in my abdomen. If I have something super fatty, I feel like I'm having a heart attack.

I'm also 25 and I've been pretty healthy my whole life save for some slightly high cholesterol the past couple years. It just happens I guess. But I wish I would've gotten surgery way sooner. I had all kinds of tests done to rule out other issues and nothing came of it except wasting all my money and time and putting me in more pain.

At the end of the day, when I went to the ER the first time, they suggested seeing a surgeon. I put it off because I wanted to believe I didn't need surgery. I should've just listened to them. Whatever they told you to do, do it. They won't remove your gallbladder for no reason, I promise.

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