Accutane causes insulin resistance and may lead to diabetes for some individuals.
More complications with Accutane. Researchers at Helsinki University in Finland discovered that Accutane causes insulin resistance and worsening of blood sugar controls.
CONCLUSION: Treatment of acne with 13-cis-retinoic acid reduces insulin sensitivity and induces alterations in lipid metabolism resembling those of the insulin resistance syndrome.
Here’s another study.
According to the studies Accutane induced insulin resistance is temporary and disappears after the treatment.
However this is not always the case and some unlucky people go on to develop a full-blown diabetes.
Here are two alarming stories from Accutane and diabetes forum.
I started taking Accutane at age 13. The blood tests were going good. You are supposed to get a blood test after every month. And You are on it for 8 months. And you get a last bllod test after you are off it after four weeks to make sure it is out of your system. So there are 9 blood tests total. On my 6th blood test my blood sugar was 132. It was a little high. Then on my 7th blood test it was 287. They wanted me to see a doctor right away so my mom pulled me out of school and brought me to a doctor, where I got another blood test. And my blood sugar was 430. So my doctor told me I had type 1 diabetes. No one in my family had diabetes that I know of except for my great uncle, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 77. So im pretty sure the drug triggered it.
- Jason
My daughter started Accutane 34 days ago with perfect sugar levels. After her first month on Accutane, we went to the Dtr and were told everything was fine but that she had higher than expected cholestrol, everything else was normal per the lab. Not to worry about the cholestrol. My daughter noted to the dtr that she was thirsty, but since the labs normals, dtr told us everything ok, increased the Accutane, gave her a cholestrol medication. Understand that this was one of the top dermatologist in our state who assured us all was fine.
She started the increased dose three days later. Two days from start of new dosage she is weak and is very thirsty. Visit to the ER, she had a sugar level of over 600 and diagnosed her with Type 1 diabetes.. they are telling us there is no connection and that it is genetic. In less than a week she went from normal to life threatening with no other changes in her life but the drug… she is not overweight and is 15.
- Susan
Coincidence? Possibly and we can’t establish a firm link between Accutane and diabetes. However Google search of ‘Accutane diabetes’ reveals an alarming number of such coincidences. Diabetes is also mentioned as a risk factor for Accutane in drug manuals.
Though these incidences are rare type 1 diabetes (the one that most people got) is a permanent complication. Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed when the pancreas stops producing insulin. After that you have to inject insulin after every meal. Type 1 diabetes is a permanent condition with no known cure.
Just one more reason to avoid Accutane and stick to natural methods - especially since they are cheaper and often even work faster than Accutane.
My book Clear for Life explains how simple diet and lifestyle changes help your body to clear acne permanently.
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Clear for Life - The lifestyle for health, happiness and clear skin
September 4th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Yea, its pretty sad how taking care of something (that might not even work) can deliver you much worse condition than you’ve had.
I remember that such drug triggered my acne at first place. Talk about irony.
People get really tempted to take a pill and leave the rest to it. Well, no pain no gain. Emotions are powerful drive.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:46 am
My daughter took Accutane and luckily she did not develop Type 1 diabetes, but I can attest to the insulin resistance because she developed PCOS and is not over weight and developed other medical issues. We have sought many alternative treatments since the Accutane to deal with the leftover side effects.
September 4th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Am I missing something?
HMMMM….
Hasn’t anyone logically considered that acne sufferers consume too much sugar,fruit and starchy allergenic carbohydrates and the accutane connection is not the cause but the wrong diet is?
Keep drinking those OJ smoothies folks and organic muffins… then take accutane out of desperation and then blame accutane for diabetes or hypoglycemia….
September 5th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Duanne,
Yes, you are missing something. Insulin resistance developed during Accutane treatment.
These people were eating muffins without any problems before Accutane.
Now I do agree with you that certain eating habits are not good for people (and that would include Dr. Atkins diet also), but in this case it’s easy to say Accutane is the culprit.
September 6th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Hey Seppo,
I agree that accutane is the culprit to many of these linked side effects, and can cause abnormal bodily functions, due to the fact that users are insanely overdosing with the drug (which is part of the treatment) and its just plain obvious that the body is not going to be the same, certainly whilst under the accutane treatment, and possibly after, depending on many factors, and I would say diet is possibly the biggest one.
I think like many other of todays products, accutane should at least have a minimum an age limit of some sort, as it can’t possibly good to put youngsters on a course of this stuff, I read of an eleven year old who was taking a course!?
Just out of curiosity, did you personally go through an accutan course, or any of the other “main stream” pills and treatments, before choosing a diet routine?
Thanks for your information and support
Jamie
September 9th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Jamie,
While diet is important I’m starting to believe that emotional health and dealing with unresolved emotional issues and painful/traumatic memories is more important even to physical health and anything you do physically.
Yes, I’ve been through Accutane and several antibiotics. Don’t remember the names anymore, but been through quite a few. Needless to say that their effect was limited at best.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Yes, that is also true, as I have seen and heard of people, some even on your forum, who say that they follow strict diets, they don’t drink alcohol, they don’t do this, they always do that etc… yet they are still not able to solve their problem, and end up confused and even worse than before.
Then they decide hell with it, they do what they want, when they want, and suddenly relise that hey, I feel better, and my acne is also not as bad, whats going on?
Well in my opinion, most of those people, are people that just get some information, believe it, follow it, and even if it’s horrible to them, they keep doing it because they were told it was correct, so believe it must be no matter what. When instead, they should be personalising things to suit them, keep hold of the good bits and move on from the ones that don’t, and eventually have a plan to meet their personal needs, which can always be changed and improved if necessary.
It can help, and is always being proved by simular stories every day, just don’t over complicate things.
@ Seppo, How was your accutane journey? What were your experiences and effects etc. Did you only do it the once, and didn’t get results?
All the best,
Jamie
September 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Very true. We live in a day and age of ‘fixing mentality’. Most people still see the human body as a machine put together by some celestial watch maker and that they have to fix the machine by doing and eating certain things.
Then they’ll develop an eating disorder because they are afraid to eat foods that will break the machine.
In many cases they are trying to solve what’s essentially an emotional problem or a problem of poor self-image with diet.
@Jamie, my Accutane journey was fairly normal. No big side-effects or horror stories. My skin just got horribly dry and started flaking, very dry and occasionally bleeding lips and some mild eye pain. Cleared my back acne, but after 6 months developed equally horrible acne on my scalp. If I remember correctly I only did it once. It put too much strain on my student budget.
May 14th, 2010 at 2:24 am
As a somewhat awkward young teen and after trying to clear my acne with several other methods, Accutane, a new drug, was introduced to me and my mother as a new effective drug that would cure my problem. I began to take the medicine as a young teen who was living a low cholesterol and extreamly active lifestyle, participating in sports 5 to 7 days a week and eating a low fat, low cholesterol and low sugar diet. The treatment went well despite the severe drying of my skin and the importance of staying out of direct sunlight. I continued afterwards living a healthy acne free life; having my beautiful daughter at age 23. At age 25 I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabeties and nearly lost the most precious gift, life. With no family history of the disease and knowing i was living a healthy, vegetarian, holistic lifestyle I was confused as to how this happend? But always in the back of my mind, I thought all these years if something negative could come; I am positive that this drug has caused me type 1 diabeties….please do not allow your sons or daughters, your husbands and wifes, your coworkers and friends to take this DRUG!!!