plaquenil | Arthritis Information

 

I have been taking 10 mg prednisone for 4 months now and it has given new meaning to my life with arthritis. Seems to be a God send.  Now my Dr wants to start me on hydroxychloroquine and I am scared from what I read about the effects on the eyes.  My dad took prednisone for years for breathing problems and I am not scared of it and I have not had any bad side effects.  Anyone on hydroxychloroquine have any stories to tell?

Take care,

   Kieye

Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) is one of the first line treatments for many autoimmune diseases.  It enters the endosomes inside the cells, changing their pH.  This allows the endosomes to remove more of the phosphatases (from chromosomes) that seem to allow autoimmune reactions.  It is the single most safe medication used to treat these diseases.  According the the head of the rheum. dept. at a med. school, most opthalmologists who are charged with looking for the damage to the eyes never once see a case of the damage in their lifetime.  If there is damage, and it is found early, stopping the Plaquenil stops the damage before it becomes noticeable.

One of the problems with Plaquenil is that it can take up to a year to take effect.  But by the same token, if you miss a few doses, it is so slow to leave your body that you won't notice a difference.

It's also relatively inexpensive.

Prednisone is a very dangerous drug to take for very long.  It can damage bones, predispose one to Type II diabetes, cause psychosis, cause adrenal dysfunction, cause fat deposition in places of the body that are more dangerous (such as around the middle), cause thinning of the skin, cause immune suppression, and much more.  In the short term it can feel very good.  But long-term use can be SO dangerous.

MTX and some of the other drugs are steroid-sparing, meaning that hopefully the body can get by on fewer steroids.

I hope this answers some questions.  I'm very happy to be on it.

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