| Isotretinoin and psychopathology: a review
Isotretinoin, a synthetic oral retinoid that is used against severe nodulocystic acne, has been associated with various psychiatric side effects such as depression, suicidality and psychotic symptoms. A great number of reports on its effects have been published since its introduction into the market.
However, a causal relationship has not been established and the link between isotretinoin use and psychiatric events remains controversial. The present paper reviews the available evidence regarding the association of isotretinoin and psychiatric side effects.
All published material reporting psychiatric side effects following isotretinoin treatment, including case reports, case series, reports from adverse drug event reporting systems, prospective surveys and retrospective case-control studies, are presented.
Diary of a Nameless, Faceless Egg Donor
I continued the pill because my periods were getting too irregular and I was getting a lot of acne and hair growth without the pill (kind of like polycystic ovarian syndrome PCOS without the obesity factor). I have pain sometimes which feels like something pulling inside. I think that is from adhesions from the surgery. My follow-up ultrasounds show multiple large follicles in both ovaries, about 25+, consistent with PCOS. My menstrual cycles were completely normal before this.
I also had acute stress disorder after the incident for about 2 months. I was fearful that I would bleed to death and I could not go back to work for those 2 months after the incident. Luckily I was a student so I didn't worry about losing my job, but it left me pretty incapacitated for awhile. On one hand I was physically weak, and on the other hand I had psychological trauma.
Genetic testing boosts efficacy in cancer care
Skipping Erbitux also would spare patients from its side effects, including a severe, acne-like rash, she says. Testing tumor tissue for the mutations "saves tons of money, and makes medical care better at the same time," says Leonard Saltz, a colorectal cancer specialist at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. But, Saltz adds, Shankaran's paper overstates those savings. Her study assumed that all new patients with advanced colorectal cancer — nearly 29,000 a year — would get Erbitux as their first treatment, Saltz says, although fewer than 10% of patients get Erbitux that early in their therapy. Instead, doctors usually save Erbitux for patients who aren't helped by other drugs, he says. But no matter how many patients are treated, Shankaran says, the $452 cost of genetic testing will always be a bargain compared with wasting tens of thousands of dollars giving drugs to people who have no chance of being helped.
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