I have been on Plaquenil for nearly three months. The last three weeks, I have had ZERO pain. Nada. The initial stiffness and soreness in the morning is gone. That "just under the skin" tenderness where the pain was formerly at its worst is no longer there. I've been able to ride my bike, do light weights, the treadmill, and *knock on wood*, yesterday I actually jogged, albeit a short distance with no repercussions today.
Has your doctor ever allowed you to go off medication for a period of time to see if the remission of sorts continues, or is it better to keep taking it so your body doesn't "yo yo?" Before I had RA, I was one of those people who didn't even like to take aspirin unless absolutely necessary, so the thought of staying on medication for the rest of my life is a little unsettling.
But then, I'm sure I wouldn't be pain-free currently without it. Any experiences with this appreciated!
I am notorious for going off meds when I feel better--as I like you hate taking stuff.I can only share what ped rheums say, and since no one has replied yet, I will to get it going!
First, I'm so glad to hear you have such great results in a relatively short time on Plaquenil! That is great! I know you say you don't want to be on meds longterm, but I think a lot is known about Plaq longterm, and as long as you have eye exams, it is well-tolerated otherwise.
I was told my daughter would have to be symptom-free for year on a med, then stay on it another year symptom-free in order to stop all meds.
This thinking may be changing, though, because another mom just posted that her child would have to go one year symptom-free, then stay on the med TWO years symptom-free. Anytime the child flared on the med, the two year clock started over again.
[QUOTE=wysone]I---you might flare up worse after going off and sometimes its hard to get the same remission when you go back on.
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That's exactly what happened to me. I was doing so well that my RD (with my approval) decided to cut the Plaqenil in half. I originally was taking 200 mg twice daily. We cut it to once daily. Within a couple of months, I was flaring worse than before I started taking it. I've been struggling ever since trying to reach that same level of pain free days.
I think Enbrel was working, but then I got sick and had to stop that! It never ends!
Well, wysone replied while I was typing! Disregard my first statement!hi Ginger
doctors will test remissions but as Suzanne pointed out you need to be stable for a lot longer than 3 weeks before that happens. Its great though that the plaquenil kicked in for you and you are doing well on it. Plaquenil is one of the mildest medications we have
Thanks for the replies. I don't have another appointment until April, so I'll cross my fingers and hope that I'm still doing well at that time and see what he recommends.
I'm optimistic that my RA is very mild, since I've had such good results with just Plaquenil. I've mentioned before the RD isn't 100% sure that what I have isn't actually Lupus, but either way, pain free is a good thing.
Admittedly, one of the things I dislike immensely about Plaquenil are the 6-month eye exams. I equate burning drops and my eyeballs being poked to torture.
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