Have any of you gone off this drug and had side affects from going off like hurting ribs, hips, feet, fingers, It is terribe so I went back on it today . They also are decreasing my predisone 5 mg every 2 weeks. I am just so sick of it all. I can't go on any of the other drugs because of having infections all the time. I have strep throart right now before that it was a sinus infection. I have a weakness to have infections very often so I am doomed. I am so sick of being in pain. Thank you for listening. JoanHi Joan, I'm not sure why you went off plaquenil in the first place but what
you are describing is RA, not a side effect of going off the drug. The
Plaquenil was supressing the RA, so when you went off it the RA was free
to manifest itself once more. Plaquenil is an antimicrobe, not an
immunsuppressant, so you should be able to use it even if you're prone
to infection.
That said, because you are prone to infection and you don't have a lot of
oprions, you sound like you would really benefit from antibiotic protocol
therapy, since it involves no immunesuppressants at all. Your doctor
probably hasn't introduced you to it, but there is plenty of information
about it on the internet at The Road Back
Foundation and also a good book to read is the New Arthritis
Breakthrough by Henry Scammell. A few people on this message board
are using this therapy successfully.
Good luck with whatever course your treatment takes!There should be no side effects from stopping the plaquenil..however your body may be telling you that you are weaning the pred too fast. A 5 mg drop is a pretty big oneJoan: strep, sinusitis, infections ... GoGo has given you a very good piece of advice on looking into this DMARDS that has parity with Plaquenil. Take care and we are all pulling for you.
Also, I didnt know it helped clear up acne, anyone else see this happen with them?
Please remember everyone is different. I started plaquenil and could never get up to the 2 pills a day because I felt so horrible. I could not sleep while taking it, if I did I had horrible dreams. I was nauseus the entire time and had horrible headaches. After a month and a half-and being very depressed-actually ready to jump out a window--no kidding--I stopped the plaquenil--cold turkey. The bad dreams stopped, I was sleeping again, still have some stomach problems. I don't know why--I go see the RA MD tomorrow and I am sure we will discuss this. I will not take plaquenil ever again. I see on the label the common name has sulf--I am allergic to sulfer drugs from years ago--I don't know if it has sulfer in it--but maybe that would explain what happened. I know some of you have had a good experience with plaquenil--that is great--however--that is not always the case.Unfortunately, I'm having problems with Plaquenil. I was allergic to Mtx, so my rheumatologist switched me to Plaquenil about 2 weeks ago. I was only taking 200mg, once daily, but had to stop because of abdominal cramps, diarrhea, headaches, itching, and blurred vision. I've tried taking it at night along with Benadryl to combat the itching, but my hands still itched like crazy and it felt like the nerve endings were on fire. Going off the Plaquenil was easy. The cramps are gone, but I wish there was something that would take the edge off the pain. Well it's back to my rheumatologist to see what I'm to try next.
gimpy, the drug info sheet with my prescription says Paquenil is an immunosuppressant.Punkie, that's odd---I've never heard of that. I thought plaquenil was an