I suck...Week 17

To anyone who may ever read this...I am SO sorry. I did exactly what I hated about other Accutane journals...people document the first few weeks and then disappear for the rest of their treatment and then voila! They miraculously return and have clear skin. Of course most people want to see just how bad other peoples' IB is, but its also nice to see how and when the IB calms down. So...I failed you. Again, my apologies. I'll just have to tell you how things have been because I haven't taken one photo since my last post :(

My last post marked my last real breakout. I continued to have some bumps here and there throughout, say, week 12 but my skin in general was INSANELY smooth. so smooth that sometimes when i washed my face i couldn't tell if I had gotten all the soap off! Since around week 14 my skin has been next to perfect. I've had one pimple here or there, mainly small cysts or blackheads, that heal in 2-3 days. But seriously, NOTHING compared to before. For example, I had one bump on my forehead last week that I couldn't stop looking at in the mirror...but then I had to stop and remind myself "bitch you have ONE pimple! suck it up!!!" At this very moment, I am so happy to say I have ZERO pimples on my face! So, I am very happy with the condition of my skin! One bad thing I can say is that I continue to have a good amount of hypopigmentation (light spots) on my cheeks from the IB, but I'm confident it will even out over time.

As far as symptoms, my lips are still dry. Aquaphor still works. Its not as bad as long as I'm drinking 8 glasses of water a day. Now that the temp is dropping and the air is getting drier, my lips and skin is getting much drier too, although its hard to tell how much is connected to the medicine and how much is just winter skin. Either way, I've switched from Aveeno moisturizing lotion (my spring/summer lotion) to Palmers cocoa butter lotion mixed with Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding (a shea butter-based cream...I love it!). I also discovered that Cetaphil mositurizing cream makes a fabulous moisturizer for the entire body! I plan to make my own afterbath moisturzier by mixing it with some shea butter and lavender oil, but haven't gotten around to it.

I've continued to have body aches, which actually may have gotten worse but its hard to tell. They're actually pretty significant but I've gotten used to it for the most part. I get stiff very easily if I sit or stand still for more than like 10 mins, especially my hips, back, and feet. In the last week or two my chest bone (sternum?) is stiff and hurts when I sneeze. weird.

Probably my biggest worry right now is my hair. We all know that Accutane CAN cause hair thinning and loss for some people. I have locs so I can't imagine even being able to notice thinning, unless entire dreads fell out, which is unlikely. But my scalp has gotten very dry and itchy especially along my front edges. and it hurts! the other day my edges hurt so bad that I had to loosen my ponytail alot. The past day or so I've also been feeling like my hairline looks different...and am extremely scared and paranoid that my edges are thinning and receding! Im not even sure what to do, but my plan is to moisturize like CRAZY! I'll be spending more time oiling my scalp and locs, doing deep conditioning hair treatments, and not pulling my locs back tight. Of course with locs you have to be careful about products that cause build-up, so I'll have to be careful with my products. I would seriously be so upset and salty if my hair line started creeping back! But, only have about 2 1/2 months left on this medication, so as long as I can baby my hair until I'm done, I should be good...