Health Boards
Fri-12-10-2018, 15:38 PM
(This post was last modified: Fri-12-10-2018, 15:40 PM by JohnB. Edited 2 times in total.)
Hi Harleysmum and a warm welcome to our club 
.
I have just come off Acitretin a couple of months ago after an on off relationship with it for a couple of years. It is good they are monitoring you closely although it is one of the lesser aggressive treatments ( toxic wise) it can still play havoc with you.
One of the things you have to bear in mind is that this drug is a really slow burner. Myself it was over 4 months before I saw any improvement. Almost immediately my cholesterol went up but not to the point of needing treatment. I had to stop the first time as I had a persistent headache after being upped from 20 to 30mg and they were bothered it was the medication. After a three month break I went back on at 10 mg but it did diddly, so it was upped to 20mg and the Ps slowly receded. I just got to the point where I was happy with how little Ps was visible when I had to stop as my liver was starting to complain, my alt levels has tripled.
During treatment I had persistent dry lips, feet that you could peel huge chunks of skin off - large enough to make a handbag, and peeling hands. All of this was just about tolerable to be itch and flake free.
My personal lip balm was the light blue Nivea, it didn't melt in my pocket
. Personally I hate E45 it burns when applied. I use Cetraben and Dermol.
Good luck with your treatment and if you need any more information please holler out, I will be more than happy to help if I can
.
Oh and don't forget the steroids you are on should only be used for a month or so at a time as they can cause skin thinning.
JohnB
.I have just come off Acitretin a couple of months ago after an on off relationship with it for a couple of years. It is good they are monitoring you closely although it is one of the lesser aggressive treatments ( toxic wise) it can still play havoc with you.
One of the things you have to bear in mind is that this drug is a really slow burner. Myself it was over 4 months before I saw any improvement. Almost immediately my cholesterol went up but not to the point of needing treatment. I had to stop the first time as I had a persistent headache after being upped from 20 to 30mg and they were bothered it was the medication. After a three month break I went back on at 10 mg but it did diddly, so it was upped to 20mg and the Ps slowly receded. I just got to the point where I was happy with how little Ps was visible when I had to stop as my liver was starting to complain, my alt levels has tripled.
During treatment I had persistent dry lips, feet that you could peel huge chunks of skin off - large enough to make a handbag, and peeling hands. All of this was just about tolerable to be itch and flake free.
My personal lip balm was the light blue Nivea, it didn't melt in my pocket
. Personally I hate E45 it burns when applied. I use Cetraben and Dermol.Good luck with your treatment and if you need any more information please holler out, I will be more than happy to help if I can
.Oh and don't forget the steroids you are on should only be used for a month or so at a time as they can cause skin thinning.
JohnB