Half Way Through Accutane. This is my Experience So Far. - Alberta, AB

I began Claris (Accutane) in mid Jan. 2015 for mild cystic acne. I am 150 pounds and the derm wanted me to take 40 mg for one month and then 70 mg for the next 5. The first month I was very tired and had joint pain. The second month, at 70 mg, I was still very tired, moody, and had terrible back pain. I teach yoga so this was hard for me. Towards the end of the month my eyes were extremely irritated and over-the-counter drops were not helping anymore. I was squinting so much and in pain. I made an appt. with my eye doctor and she reassured me I was not doing any long-term damage. I've always had perfect vision and do not wear glasses or contacts. She gave me drops, specific fish oil vitamins and humidifying eye goggles to wear when at home. That helped, but they have been irritated ever since. They are very sensitive to light and I can't wear any makeup at all or they sting. I reduced my dose and that definitely helped. 40 mg is the only dose I can take daily that does not exhaust me or ruin my eyes but I'm about halfway through this treatment and I still can't wear makeup. I've decided to take the minimum dose of 120 mg / kg and not 150 mg / kg. Basically, the derm wanted me to have a total intake of about 10,000 mg but I am now aiming for a total dose of 8,000 mg. My skin has been beautiful since I started this medicine. I have not broke out at all - I didn't even have an initial break out. My lips are dry but that's it - otherwise none of my skin is dry at all. It actually feels more soft and moist because of all the moisturizer I use and I also sleep with a cool-mist humidifier. My hair is full and shiny because I do oil treatments when I wash it, which is only once a week. I use natural shea butter to moisturize my feet, cetaphil for my body, and Arbonne RE9 cream for my face. It's expensive but seriously my face has hardly been dry at all so I'm sticking with it. I wash my face in the evening by rubbing coconut oil on it and then washing it off with cetaphil. I find this routine works really well for me.
I haven't decided if Accutane is worth it yet or not. It makes me really tired and I'm scared of long term side effects. I guess we will see...
Hopefully this review is helpful.
Thanks.