Accutane is derived from vitamin a. Overdosing on vitamin a, will produce the same effects of accutane, but, with more side effects, it may not last as long as accutane does as well. Accutane is a retinoid (which there are retinoid receptors in your cells), accutane is 13-cis-retinoic acid, or isotretioin. Your liver makes a little bit of isotretioin on its own. Though accutane is synthetically made. I am not a chemist, so I do not know all the differences between the two. Overdosing on vitamin a, will give you dry skin, etc. And doctors used high doses of vitamin a for acne in the 1920's, until they found out it was toxic so the stopped immediately. Taking 15,000 IU's of retinol a day, and if you are healthy, will not kill you. Taking hundreds of thousands a day (which that is how much is needed to produce the same effects as accutane has on you) will eventually cause many problems. Vitamin a is fat soluble, so it will add up eventually. There is a lot of hype about vitamin a being the evil one on these boards. That isn't true.
I remember when I did my Accutane treatment in 2011 I was told to not overdose by taking vitamin A, among all things we are instructed to avoid, such as intense activities, exposing the skin to the Sun, etc.
Vitamin A and Testosterone: The Impact of Retinoids and Carotenoids on T-Levels
I wonder if vitamin A also explains the side effect of low libido and lower testosterone levels
Sexual complications in people treated with Accutane | RxISK
What I can tell is that perhaps the diet I adopted in the last 5-10 years might have contributed to that, since I included (for example) skimmed milk and ricotta cheese in the breakfast... both are not rich in fat and this is detrimental if the goal is to have more testosterone:
Fats and Testosterone: Everything You Need to Know About Dietary Fatty-Acids (Updated)
I decided that I'll visit a second nutritionist (it's always good to get a second opinion), in my view more qualified than the first, after April. In the meantime I am getting rid of the plastics (BPA) and replacing all my personal care products (toothpaste, soap (bar/liquid), shampoo, foot moisturizer, sunscreen protector, deodorant...) for non-toxic versions to see if things will improve, since there's always some scientific study saying that fluoride, phthalates and other stuff can contribute to lowering testosterone.
Important: It's a waste of time trying to argue with most doctors, they will only look at numbers and tell we are not sick, even though the figures are low, as predicted by that Rxisk article:
*************
A battle of wills
Visits to the doctor can become a battle of wills when a generally healthy looking young person walks through the door complaining of erectile dysfunction or other sexual symptoms. Many of us face difficulty when we try to implicate a drug we are no longer taking as the cause of our continued sexual dysfunction.
In the event that a conventional test for hypogonadism is conducted, results typically fall within the normal reference range. Male sufferers of our condition will often be told by endocrinologists that their testosterone is a little low for their age but is not low enough to warrant treatment.
Even for those who have discovered hormonal imbalances after seeking medical attention, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has done little to provide adequate symptom relief, even under the care of doctors whose specialty is HRT.
*************
The fact that someone with prolactin levels of 100 or higher can benefit from a drug like Cabergoline more than I (and in my case perhaps this kind of drug is totally unnecessary) doesn't mean I don't have any health problem. That is the case because PRL levels for a man should always stay below 10. More than that means low libido and ED. My levels were 25-25-28 and recently 20.
The fact that men with total testosterone levels below 300 ng/dL have hypogonadism/need testosterone replacement therapy (an artificial way to increase it, also with side effects and possibly for a long time, if not for the rest of life, just like Cabergoline) and I was able to increase my 309 result (26 for vitamin D) to 419 after 3 months taking 2000 IU/day of vitamin D-3 doesn't mean I am OK.
419 is still very low, and it's not far from below 300, a 35% increase due to vitamin D is nothing, if we were talking about 100% and a total testosterone of 600 (plus a PRL no higher than 10) I would agree this is an improvement and I am back to my old self. These doctors are useless and only read things without questioning or thinking what should be the real measure of health.
With all these vitamins and changes in my lifestyle I doubt things won't improve. But it's obvious I will have to improve my health more than ever before, just to fight this side effect from Accutane. The lack of blood test results from all individuals affected with low libido and ED after taking Accutane unfortunately contributes a lot for many people to argue this can only be solved by psychiatrists, even though it has been established that depression was ruled out as a factor to cause these issues.
I might have felt depressed 2-3 years after the treatment, yet now the depression is gone. It couldn't stay for the rest of life.
There are no blood test results from the affected and we have no idea what kind of life they have, what they eat or use on a daily basis. All these things need to be investigated, just like that scientific study from 2007 (later refuted) that said the following:
Tea Tree Oil - Estrogenic?
I mentioned before (vitamins D/E, omega 3 fish oil, probiotics, vitamin B-6, which I'll investigate if it's safe to take at least no more than 20-25 mg/day, Whey Protein/Creating (which will both help with the goal of increasing testosterone by changing the workout routine *)
*
How to Deal with Testosterone Decline - Mercola.com (see High-intensity interval training / Strength training)
One thing thing I'll question the 2nd nutritionist is if increasing the protein intake for gaining lean mass and being able to do all these intense exercises is not going to thwart the very goal of increasing testosterone, I always read that a diet should have 40-60% of carbohydrates and no more than 30% proteins and 30% fat. The 1st nutritionist prescribed one with more protein than the rest. My guess is that for the first months the protein intake needs to increase and in the future we need to balance the diet, with more fat and carbohydrates. All these questions will be asked in my next visit. Remember them.
