I have just started Plaquenil for my RA and am wondering if anyone has any advice for me? I seem to get an upset stomach easily with meds, so am a bit worried. I have never taken Mtx or pred, so this is all kind of new. Thanks! Pat Make an appointment with an opthamologist, a medical eye doctor. They will do a field vision test and set your eye baselines, and you need to get rechecked every six months. Rarely, Plaquenil causes some sort of bad eye problem, and it can be detected early and the Plaquenil stopped, and the eye problem either resolves or doesn't become a bad problem. Good luck. Dear Pat, I wish you the best with the plaquenil. I get sick very easily and didnt' have any trouble at all with plaquenil. I hope you are feeling better soon. Love, JuliahBaseline assessment with an opthamologist, and a follow-up visit every six months. Good luck!I had no trouble at all with Plaquenil either but do make sure you take it after a solid meal to prevent as much tummy upset as possible. Hope it works well for you. I too have a very sensitive tummy and I have had zero problems with Plaq. Good luck.Hi Kittykat, I have been taking Plaquenil for almost 9 years and I have never had any problems with it. The only thing that you have to do as stated above is seeing an opthomologist every six months as they need to do the field test(which is where you have one eye patched then the other and you have to watch lighted dots without moving your eyes), The reason is that Plaquenil can affect your peripheral vision so they want to watch for this. Hi, my complaint with plaq. was severe headaches. I had to switch to mtx. I hope you don't have them. Lynda
I alwasy find that eating something like oatmeal or yogurt with my meds help with stomach problems. BOth of those do a good job of coating the stomach without being overly filling.
In some people plaquinel can cause photosensitivity so make sure you wear sunscreen
Whoops Buckeye is right, I forgot to mention the photosensitivity. My arm can even get sunburned just from driving.Plaquenil was the first drug i took when i was diagonosed with RA i was on it for 8 years till it stopped working for me then went on sulfa i had no problems with side affects and went for regular eye tests and everything was fine . Good luck
No problems with Plaq. here either, after a very short tummy adjustment period. Having a full stomach when you take your pill really helps. Oops! Just realized I didn't take mine yet this morning. Thanks for the reminder!!!I've been taking Plaquenil for 3 years. When I first started taking it, I had waves of nausea for about a week and a half. Other than that, no problems so far. Just make sure you take it with food.I get TERRIBLE side effects from plaquenil if I don't eat enough with it, such