Accutane and Side Effects

One of the news programs at night had a documentary on a murder that happened where the perpetrator had mental issues and had taken a few doses of accutane prescribed by a doctor a few years earlier.  He promptly discontinued the drug after experiencing headaches, etc... but spent the next few years on a message board ranting about the drug and ultimately tracked down the doctor that prescribed it and murdered him. If I remember correctly, the guy only took two days of it.  Having taken accutane myself for 6 months in 2000, I realize that there are some nasty things about accutane that have made it a very controlled drug as far as obtaining it.  But, for me the drug was very useful.  In my case, I had severely oily skin not so much acne.  What accutane did was to shrink my oil glands a bit.  I don't struggle in the same way but maybe being a pharmacist helped the dermatologist treating me (same age as me in fact) collaborate on a "cure" for what I was trying to accomplish.

When I saw the news last night showing this young man in his twenties literally having a psychotic breakdown, I could see how perhaps accutane could have had some role, but at the same time the murderer already had a history of mental illness.  Perhaps accutane and the doctor that prescribed it were merely a part of his obsessions with his instability.  I shudder to think that he could have included the pharmacist that filled the medication.  Luckily somehow, that person fell out of the loop.

Here's the link to the family's website about their murdered father (physician).

Here's a link to write a letter for the murderer to be extradited back to the US to face charges.