Oratane..

This is the 5th month of my Oratane treatment. Well, a bit of background information, Oratane is a treatment for severe acne and acne that is resistant to topical and oral antibiotics. Anyway, I have been contemplating to take Oratane for years but did not do it as a lot of my friends were against it. But most importantly, I felt that it was unnecessary to undergo all the pain and dryness. The side effect of Oratane is of course, extreme skin and mucosal dryness. Last October, I couldn't stand the pain of my acne anymore, it wasn't only emotionally debilitating, but it is also really, really painful. Anyway, I just decide then and there, took the train all the way back to bank negara and saw the skin doctor and agreed on the treatment.

So what are the side effects that I've experienced? Of course I did not have any child with birth defects as I am not getting pregnant. Hmmm... but I experience extreme muscle fatigue and joint pain on the first two days of medication. I know I weren't imagining it as I am usually able to do 5 sun salutation A and 5 sun salutation B before starting the other postures of my yoga. After 3 sun salutations I can hear my elbow joints screaming and triceps crying. Sigh, I was quite sad but thank goodness I managed to get my stride back the next few weeks.

Okay, that was the first few weeks. I was told to use Oral B throughout the period that I am on Oratane but I came back to Kepong for the weekend and I forgot my Oral B, so I used the darlie. And oh my, the lasting effects of that one brushing episode. I had perioral dermatitis! A really bad one. So bad that every single nurse I met during the surgical posting asked what allergy I had, and I looked incredibly horrible and even Prof LW questioned me about it. It became really irritating at one point that I began telling whoever asking me about the lips that I had scorpion bite. That was really bitchy but I couldn't take it anymore. Not to mention that it hurts physically as well.

That was the worse side effect I had, other than that, I had nosebleeds, blurring of vision(especially at night) and recently, I had painless per rectal bleeding too! Sigh. I don't know if it's anything significant. I am just going to wait for the whole course of treatment to end before taking any other things to relieve my symptoms. Previously I even had irregular menstrual bleeding, had it like twice a month! seen the O&G specialist, took the OCPs and guess wat happened? I had rashes on my cheeks and pruritus on my arms and legs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARRGGHHHH. This is just too depressing. I am a very happy person. Okay. After this post I am not going to think about all this and wait for the next month. Course of treatment is ending soon.

Of course the good part of this medication is that, I do not have much blemishes any more and I do not need to use any oil blotters anymore!! YAy! and my scalp is really dry and clean and I do not need to wash my hair everyday anymore. Can't wait for the clear skin to come finally...