New to arthritis.. plaquenil caused hip pain? | Arthritis Information

Hi I'm hoping someone can help me or offer me some advice on how to deal with this.

Tuesday 29th of June (two weeks ago) I was diagnosed by a rheumatologist as having inflammatory arthritis, probably Rheumatoid, in my hands. My blood tests were all negative and a bone scan showed inflammation. My hands and fingers have been painful for around five months. The rheumatologist let me know that this would get worse and spread if I did not start medication. So he prescribed me 2x200mg of Plaquenil which I started taking that evening. I'm a 32 year old male, non-smoker, no family history of arthritis :/

Everything seemed fine until Monday 5th July (one week ago). I was walking home from work and was feeling discomfort in my hips. Suddenly they started hurting very badly and I limped home. That evening I was in a lot of pain and could barely walk around my house. Before this I never had any pain in my hips it was just in my hands.

When I went to work the next day I was in heaps of pain, could barely walk. It hurt just to move my legs while sitting down. At home it was a massive struggle to make it from my bed to the bathroom 3 metres away!

I spoke to the rheumatologist on the phone and he said it was the arthritis spreading. I asked if the plaquenil could cause it and he said no and I need to keep taking it, although, if I want to resolve this I can come off it for five days and see if my legs get better.

I missed my dose of plaquenil on the evening of Tuesday 6th and haven't taken it since.

My Mum spoke to a friend of hers who specialises in arthritis and he said it was very unlikely the plaquenil caused the hip pain and agreed that it was the arthritis progressing.

Now, its been a bit up and down but since then my legs have very slowly started to feel better. I don't know if it is because of the weather, the fact that I have been resting them a fair amount or what (I took thursday and friday off work) but from being hardly able to walk around I am now (today 11th) able to walk around the house and was even able to walk to the groceries store and back which is around 300 metres away from my house.

Not sure I'm up to walking around for hours like I used to but that's a huge improvement from Tuesday.

This entire time there has been no change in my hands they have been mildly hurting at a constant level of pain.

My question to you guys is, what to do now?

I want to start taking medication to stop arthritis if I have it, but I really don't want to go back to not being able to walk if the plaquenil was the cause. At the moment the pain is easily manageable, but on Tuesday I felt I might have to quit my job and have to go live with my Dad just so I could make sure I could get food. I was really worried about how I was just going to survive.

Does arthritis behave like this, hitting like a ton of bricks and then quickly getting better, with this behaviour confined to one joint type leaving the others the same the entire time?

Is there a good strategy I can follow now? Take a different drug? Take plaquenil and see if the pain comes back? Not take anything and see if the pain comes back?

Because of the requirement to quickly take drugs to stop arthritis when it is diagnosed making the correct decision on this seems critical and not knowing very much about this disease I am really unsure what to do :(

Thanks for any help or advice you can give me.
cricket2010-07-11 04:12:41Cricket,

I've never heard of Plaquenil causing hip pain either. RA can move to different joints, so it's not shocking that you could have it in your hips as well as your hands. I had the same experience when I started methotrexate. I thought it was making me worse, and instead, it was my RA getting worse.

Yes, RA can hit like a ton of bricks and go away quickly. That's how mine started. It would hit a joint for a few days, be extremely painful, and then just as quickly as it started, it would be gone, and move to another joint. This would go on for a couple of weeks, then I would have a few days before it started all over again.

It can take up to three months for Plaquenil to kick in, so I think you should contact your rheumatologist about getting some prednisone to help ease the symptoms until it kicks in. You may also find that the Plaquenil might not be enough. It's a rather mild DMARD, but you should at least give it a try.

I hope you feel better soon.

Thanks so much for your reply Kweenb that really helps.

I just want to ask, how did you eventually come to know it was the RA getting worse and not the methotrexate making it worse? Did you come off the methotrexate at any point?
I agree with what Kweenb said. It's very common to have the pain go from one joint to another.

I've been taking plaquenil for about 18 yrs now and it's not caused hip pain. I have had hip pain quite frequently over the 18 yrs, but it's not from plaquenil, it's from having RA.

I've stopped plaquenil a couple of times over the yrs and actually have become worse.

Plaquenil on it's wasn't very effective for me. I nneded to add methotrexate (and then sulfasalazine) to really get any type of relief from the pain.

If the plaquenil doesn't do much for you on it's own, your doctor may suggest adding mtx. Remember though, these meds take a while to really do their job. So make sure you give it some time to be sure.

Good luck!

Kelly

[QUOTE=cricket]Thanks so much for your reply Kweenb that really helps.

I just want to ask, how did you eventually come to know it was the RA getting worse and not the methotrexate making it worse? Did you come off the methotrexate at any point?
[/QUOTE]

My Rheumatologist told me that the methotrexate wasn't making it worse. He took me off the methotrexate and added Enbrel. Once on the Enbrel, I started getting better. He's always right!

I was on the Plaquenil for the first two years and did really well on it. But, when the RA got worse, I was like kelstev. The Plaquenil alone wasn't enough. I did try Sulfasalazine before I tried the Methotrexate, but neither worked for me.

I think it's all a matter of finding the right combination for you at this particular time. I've found that as the years go by, changes need to be made in my med regimen to stay ahead of RA.

kweenb2010-07-11 10:36:03cricket:

Question for you:

Do you hurt and feel stiff when you awaken in the mornings?
Like others have said, I do not think that the drugs would cause you the pain, rather the RA itself.
RA has done a merry dance on me jumping from one joint to the next in a matter of hours.

Recently (this year) I've had a bit of trouble in the knees for a few months and now it is in the hips.
What you are taking is very mild and I feel you will need to add another medication to the mix.
These medications, as have been mentioned above, take a fair while to work their magic.
For me it took a good twelve months to get to some sort of stabilisation.

Currently I feel that I am up for a change in meds as I am feeling things on a daily basis.
Thanks everyone for your replies.

I spoke to my rheumatologist today and he said I should stay off the plaquenil until my legs start to feel completely better, then try taking it again. If the pain comes back when I do that he will put me on a different drug.

Babs10.. the weird thing for me is that this hasn't caused me any stiffness and it doesn't get worse in the mornings. Sometimes I feel I need to warm up a bit to be able to walk around properly but I don't think it seems different in the mornings. No stiffness in my hands or hips ever, just pain.

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