Plaquinil anyone?

[APbeliever]

Very intelligent answer as always A Friend :D. My opthamologist was surprised to see my eyes improved in a period of year after taking MTX for six months. My plus numbers from a year ago were gone completely when he checked two months ago. He said I have a medical book case which sounded funny. Can't tell you how much I hated bifocals.  I don't know if it was MTX or Mino or something else

I have to report here that today I am running with lots of energy on bactrium Antibiotic which was given to me after Staph infection. It is strange even that Mino did not resolve my arthritis in eight months as compared to Bactrium which has resolved 90% of it. Check out my staph posting.  http://www.rbfbb.org/view_topic.php?id=3470&forum_id=1 I guess we are all different with different forms of L-form bacteria attacking us but I am really glad that I found this board and some really wonderful people.

[Suzanne]

This is what we have been told about Plaquenil and eye damage – there is a definite body weight/dosage correlation.  If you are on the right dose for your weight, the risk is low.  You must get a field vision test every six months while you are on it – this will catch any problems before it is too late; they would find it on this test before you notice anything.

To me, getting the vision test is like getting liver labs done – this type of monitoring catches a problem before it is too late and stopping the med will fix it.

Mom of teen daughter with Poly JIA since age 2. Current med: azithromycin 250 mg MWF.

[Roz]

Hi Bonnie,

It is very nice to meet you. I am also R/A positiive, I have a full of Plaquenil, but am to afaird to take it.  An eye MD shared with me it takes 2/3 of the brain to control the eye sight! Do you have any night blindness?

Much Love, Roz

[user=61]bonnielou[/user] wrote:

Hi Rosey — don't be afraid of the plaquenil. It can be a very effective treatment, and for most people, there are very few side effects. My husband is an ophthamologist, and he sees a lot of RA patients — and in all his years of practice he has never had anyone with eye complications from plaquenil. Of course he checks my eyes every 6 months — and they are doing fine.

I did have some stomach upset in the beginning — but I was taking a high dose to get started, and the minocycline, and celebrex — all 3 of those meds can be hard on the stomach. It got better in a few months.

I would gladly stay on the plaquenil and mino forever if I can feel this good — not perfect, but close enough. Give it a try. It's one of the oldest and most benign of the RA drugs. And if it starts to help you, you will be able to cut back on the dosage. Send me a message if you want to talk more.

Bonnie

[Roz]

I meant to say I have a full bottle of Plaqueil.

[betsyr]

Hi Rosey,

I've been on Plaquenil for 6 months now and it works well for me without any unpleasant side effects.  I started 200 mg/day, and at the time I had very sore, stiff, aching muscles plus a daily fever and a feeling similar to “flu”.  I noticed a big difference between 6 – 8 weeks after starting it.  I no longer have the fever, headaches or flulike symptoms but I don't think it has done much for the muscle issues. My rheumy said it really isn't strong enough in my case to help w/ the muscle issues but I don't want to take Methatrexate or steroids so I'm sticking w/ my 200mg of Plaqeunil because, like you, these drugs scare me also! 

What symptoms are you taking the Plaquenil for?  My rheumy also says it helps keep the skin issues that go along w/ Dermatomyositis under control.  It must help that because I don't have much problem w/ skin issues. 

Good luck and give yourself a little time (maybe 6 weeks +) to see if you notice a difference.  It took me that long but finally did help!

[bonnielou]

Hi Roz — nice to meet you too — I don't have great night vision — but I had that problem long before I ever heard of plaquenil — the plaquenil made no difference there.  As was mentioned earlier, the ophthamologist uses a visual field test to check to see if the medicine is starting to reduce your ability to see. You focus on a board with one eye and different lights show up on the board in different regions. Every time you see the light you push a button — then the doctor can tell if you are starting to miss some of the light triggers. My doctor (also my husband!) doesn't think he needs to test me again for a year now —

Are you taking any medicine for your RA? Do you have inflammation, pain, fatigue or other symptoms? You don't need to take plaquenil — it's just one option — but you need to be taking something to start healing. Hope you have a doctor you trust and are doing okay … you can send a message if you want to talk.

Bonnie

Bonnie Lou
RA 02/07,AP 10/07
Minocycline 200mg MWF; Plaquenil 100mg 3 days/week
Fish Oil, Ubiquinol, Turmeric, Vit C (2 grams) , MultiVit, Magnesium, Astaxanthin, D3 (5000), probiotics and a daily dose of yoga!

[Author]

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