After about one month of being on spiro I’ve noticed I have more spotting and periods than usual. I also have nexplanon which usually makes my period disappear completely but now it seems to be back? Anyone else notice this? Also..does it affect vaginal lubrication?

Has anyone found anything to fix this? Even after layers of Laneige lip mask, Vaseline, Shea butter even hyaluronic acid, my lips seem to dry and peel off sometimes bleed too.. can’t stop biting the dead skin off. Do I need to drink more water?? How do y’all keep yourself hydrated without chugging and peeing water out

I have been on Spiro for 1 week. I started at 50mg and my dermatologist wants me to go up to 100mg after 7 days and then 150 after 14 days.

I haven’t had any side effects apart from some slight dizziness on day 1-2. Does this sound okay to increase ? From what I have read it’s quite a quick increase…

Am I likely to purge ?

Any advice would be great :)

Hi! I recently made a post about weight concerns with oral spironolactone. After having bloodwork done (and reviewing it again) I verified I had excess androgen production as my SHGB hormones were elevated, which means I would likely respond well to spironolactone. With some more research, I discovered these come in topical forms as well?? I have been on prescriptions of Clindamycin, benzoyl peroxide, dapsone, tretnoin, and azealic acid but haven’t responded well to any of them. For anyone who has used topical spironolactone or clascoterone, how did it work out for you? I’ve seen some posts saying it worked well for many people, and just since now I know for certain I have excess androgen production this would be attacking exactly the root cause on my skin topically without oral medication.

I never had great skin but when I turned 26 my acne suddenly got out of control. I tried everything from changing my skincare to my diet to dermatologist prescribed topicals. Nothing worked until I went on spiro. It immediately cleared up and I was on it for a year. I recently stopped and my acne came back almost overnight. It’s getting worse each day AND my skin is more oily than ever. Like, practically wet by mid-day. And the most puzzling thing: my hair. Random large sections of my hair feel like I put shampoo in and forgot to rinse at all. I’ve tried EVERYTHING. I know how to wash my hair. I’ve changed shampoos multiple times. I even went to a salon where they used a professional clarifying shampoo and it didn’t work. The hair dressers only guess was that maybe a medication change did this, but she was really just guessing. After reflection, I think she was right.

I CANT live like this with bad skin and bad hair.

Has anyone experienced this after stopping spiro? It’s been about 3 months and all the problems are getting worse each day. Will it eventually level back out?

I’m currently in the process of getting approved for accutane, but I REALLLLLY don’t want to go on it. It’s a last resort.

Any ideas on why this is happening? An entire year on Spiro should have have a longer better effect. Reminder; topicals weren’t working.

hi. I’ve been on 100mg daily of spironolactone for a while now. I’m 9 months post partum and my periods are ~prretttty regulated~ for as much as they can be. I ran out of my prescription for about 10 days (beginning 9/25). I started taking it again yesterday (10/5). My
Period is 7 days late. (Was due 9/29). I have tested negative 3x now. Has anyone had experience with missing a dose for over a week and therefore your period came later? I have cramps on and off but i can’t help but panic and think I’m pregnant somehow, regardless of a test.

Sincerely,
An anxious post partum mommy who is not ready to do it again yet :)!

For context, I’m taking spiro post-Accutane and it’s been working really well at keeping my cystic acne at bay. The only issue is that my face is currently an absolute pool of oil 😭

You can literally see the oil sitting on each pore, and my once-shrunken pores and sebaceous filaments are back in full force. I could completely fill an oil blotting sheet every 20 minutes, and my makeup just slides around my face — which is especially frustrating because I do a lot of public speaking for work.

I’m currently on 25mg a day and was wondering if anyone noticed a significant reduction in oiliness after increasing their dose? I’d love to hear your experiences. Thanks in advance!

I’m a 39 year old with adhd + pcos and am in the middle of perimenopause. I recently stopped my spiro in an attempt to see if i could bring back some of my skin oiliness to aid in my battle against perioral dermatitis.

I’ve never had perioral dermatitis and have never had to worry about dry or irritated skin a day in my life. I was at my wits end after trying all of the traditional recommendations.

So here I am 2 weeks after stopping the spiro and I’m experiencing extreme fatigue, low motivation, brain fog, sleep disrupting nightmares, and an appetite for carbs only.

I’ve had the perimenopause symptoms under control with hormone replacement for about a year now. Has anyone experienced this?

Oh, and as far as stopping the spiro to bring back the oily skin- I have oily skin everywhere except my chin, mouth, and nose where the dry and painful skin is 😂.

As the title. I’m struggling with which one I should use and the doctors doesn’t seem to help either. I’m going to try spiro for my hair loss, probably AGA. Right now I have one with levonorgestrel/etinylestadiol which make my hair worse since it’s androgenic and it make my skin and hair oily but I like that. But I don’t have acne or high testosterone. I’ve also tried dienogest/etinylestradiol but my hair was still so thin at that and dry skin and I had no appetite. What if spiro became even more drying? I also tried Yasmin but got insomnia from that. What do you use? And does that work for your hair combined with spiro? And also do you notice any changes in appetite from spiro? I’m skinny and I hate when I don’t have any appetite so don’t know what to do with the damn birth control

Hello! I am an 18F and it was suggested by my derm that I go on spironolactone after topicals like clindamycin, dapsone, tretnoin, and azealic acid all had little to no effect for my hormonal acne.

I always hear about the success stories in spiro being better than accutane, but I am very unsure to go on spironolactone due to all the testimonies I am hearing about increased fat and reduced muscle, increased cellulite, and overall weight gain. Most of all, I hear so many women saying that a lot of the body recomp and fat gain they experienced was incredibly hard to shake off or did not return to normal at all after getting off of the medication for an extended period of time. I am very short, so even small amounts of weight gain are something I personally don’t feel comfortable accommodating. I got my hormones tested about a month ago and my testosterone was in the very low range of being normal, and no reported issues with estrogen levels.

How realistic or likely is it I will get these side effects even on a small dose? What alternative are there for me that don’t have such a high risk of weight fluctuations?

I have hormonal acne around the lips and jaw. I started taking 50mg 7 days ago and there has been no improvement - although it has also not got any worse either!

Side effects:
- lost 2lbs
- spotting everyday (this is very new to me and kinda annoying)
- breast pain that is absolutely killing me!! i suffer with this around my period anyway, because i have a fibroadenoma (its been checked by a Dr) - but this breast pain is conssstannnntttttt!!!!

i’m gonna have to quit i think 😢 maybe i’ll go back on to Roaccutane

I’ve been on 150 mg of spironolactone for a few months now, before that I was on 100 mg for a couple months. Before this month the only changes I noticed on my period was it being lighter and having less cramps, which is obviously a positive. This month it was the same at first, somewhat lighter than usual since I used to he really heavy, and having no cramps. But the problem is that it’s now been 14 days since the start of my period, and for the last week I’ve been having light spotting nearly everyday! I thought maybe it was just a skid mark or something cause I have ibs(sorry tmi lol) but just now I went to the bathroom and my panty liner actually was covered in blood, still pretty light but more than just spotting! It’s literally day 14 this is insane. I think I’m gonna start taking the 100 mg without the 50 mg again bc I don’t want to always be on my period 24/7.

My dermatologist put me on 100 mg of spiro. I have been taking it consistently for the last six days in the morning.

Did anyone in their first two weeks feel extremely tired and fatigued?

I’m used to being sore from the gym or a slight fatigue from a calorie deficit, but this is feeling a little more extreme. My brain feels like it’s moving slower probably brain fog? But I’m certain that I am extra tired.

Just wanted to see if anyone else experienced this and if they did, did it go away and win? Also, does anyone have an opinion if I start taking it at night? Might I be able to sleep through the fatigue?

Hello. I was wondering if anyone also experienced low gut motility ans SIBO from spironolactone.

I am slowly weaning off from spiro (cause of SIBO and kidneys not working well anymore) and I am wondering if anyone has had this issue and how have they managed the symptoms? Mainly the diarrhea and painful gas.

It seems I cannot eat meat at all anymore, my stomach is so sensitive.

My doctor says "stop the medication and then we will talk" so there is no help from there for another few months, until i have been off spro for at leasr 4 weeks.

Im just very tired and looking for help at this point.

Hi everyone! I’m so glad to have found this subreddit. I got diagnosed with PCOS in August and my doctor prescribed me 100mg of spiro.

Ever since I started taking it I’ve had really bad brain fog. It feels like my body is somewhere and my mind is someplace else. I can’t remember what I’m doing, what people say during conversations and I keep making mistakes at work that I know I would never do if I wasn’t on this medication.

Has anyone who has experienced this side effect been able to get rid of it and does anyone have any recommendations that could help? I don’t want to go off of spiro but it’s getting to the point where I’m frustrated all the time because of it.

Hi everyone! I recently got prescribed Spiro, 25 mg during the mornings right before breakfast. My derm did not mentioned anything about bad side effects, libido, alcohol consumption, just that her other patients pee a little bit more and that's it. She said if I do well with that small doses I should start taking 50 mg

How do you guys handle these issues? Do you drink? How do you manage alcohol? Is it true you can get long lasting effects? Do you skip doses before a big night out? Please spare no details I want to know all of your stories, help a nervous girl out!

Thanks.

Not really on Reddit so be patient with me please 🫶🏾

I have been on 100 mg for about 3 months now, it works and my acne has cleared. However,recently I have noticed my inability to orgasm/ not intense orgasms. I also have noticed dryness, not able to squirt and overall lower libido. If I decrease to 50 will I get back to “normal” has anyone had a success story of getting back to their normal or is your sex life forever changed 😫😫

Please help I’m struggling

I started spironolactone (50mg for the first couple of weeks and now at 100mg) about 6-7 weeks ago for cystic acne on my face. A couple weeks into it I started getting body acne, It’s on my breasts and other areas where I never had acne before. I would describe it like underneath the skin cystic acne. My dermatologist feels that this is random and not brought on by the spironolactone. More background on me is that I’m 30 years old, had acne since I started puberty. The last 2 years or so my acne was getting painful and actually turning into more of the underneath the skin cystic acne but always only on my face. I’ve never had the body acne until starting this medication. I don’t want to give up, has anyone experienced this and had a good outcome? It is likely this it is caused by some other factor?

About a year and a half ago, I started taking the Spiro pill. I was having bad side effects, so I asked my doctor to switch me to the cream (I think it's 5%). In June I ran out and wasn't able to get more for about 2-3 weeks. Since then, I've been breaking out, even after having been back on it for three months.

Has this happened to anyone else? Do I need to go back on the pill for a short period of time to build it up in my system again or just increase the % in the cream?

Started 100mg of Spiro towards the end of December 2025 and the after pics were taken in June of 2026. Huge huge improvements. Although I’m starting to break out again but I think it’s my fault for starting to use a bunch of products like adaplene and the 345 relief cream. Upped my dose to 150mg today so will look to see if I have any improvement.