Hello. My husband, RJazz117 registered and started posting here a few days ago. He has not "officially" been diagnosed with RA but as he explained in his introductory message, he has every single symptom but the positive blood marker - and he's been in considerable pain for more than 2 years. Last week he was started on Ansaid, a new NSAID for him (he's been on MANY that did nothing for him over the past few years). He stopped that after about 5 days because he had SEVERE diarrhea almost immediately. This past Wednesday he was started on Plaquenil 200 mg's 2 x/day and 5 mg's of prednisone. He's taken predinisone many times before (the packs) and it has been the only thing that ever gave him any relief. Other than the typical weight gain and bloating, he's never had any side effects. The Plaquenil is all new to him and we have no idea of side effects. He was doing fine after stopping the Ansaid (the diarrhea stopped immediately) but tonight he collapsed with sudden, severe bowel cramping. He has a HIGH tolerance for pain and I knew this was BAD. He has been taken to the hospital. I'm scared to death for him. All these medications with all these awful side effects. I had called his RA doctor, but she said it was impossible for her to diagnose, but she didn't think it was the Plaquenil or the prednisone. He has absolutely no history of bowel problems (he even had a lower GI only a month ago in the process of getting in to see an RA doc). Has anyone had anything like this while on any of these meds? I'm just sitting here waiting to hear something and being scared (I have 2 children I needed to stay with) and my husband's father took him to ER.
Good luck and take care.
I get pretty bad cramping and diarrhea from plaquenil (not as bad as
your husband's sounds though), but I only get it if I take it on an
empty stomach. It will last about 2 and 1/2 hours. I have to eat with
it, and I mean a real meal, not just a piece of toast or snack. Then I
get no side effects. Carbs are the best for this. Potatoes, pasta, rice
or bread.
I'm sorry that your husband is so ill. It is not typical for that degree of pain from most of the meds. The one exception that I've heard about is if you've been on a lot of painkillers, especially Tylenol and Ibuprofen, you can have severe gastric problems.
I can only reassure you that being in the hospital is the place for him. Just don't let him out of there until they find an answer. Make sure they do a comprehensive CAT scan, bloodwork and they communicate with you both on what is going on.
My daughter went through something similar.
Hopefully it is not too serious and they can just give him IV meds to settle things down and heal his insides. He could have a bleeding ulcer or something like that which is unlikely since he just had the lower GI.
Ask them to please test for Crohn's and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. These are autoimmune diseases just like RA is. If he was to have this, it might be why the Rheumatologist is not picking up on what is wrong.
Just don't let them send him home without an answer. It is much easier to get the tests done in the hospital and they are covered by insurance better. Plus, you don't have all the waiting and worrying to do waiting for tests to be scheduled.
I hope you both feel better soon.
I took plaquinel in the early stages of my RA years ago; but never experienced anything like this. Please keep us posted. I hope everything turns out ok.
Best of luck! AND Welcome to the AI family; both of you.
Ah, Deanna, you beat me to it. Crohn's and IBD are both immune disorders - as is RA. To have one, and then get another would not be suprising. It *could* theoretically be a reaction to the meds. But it would be an extreme one. Unless he was taking the meds on an empty stomach. When they say to take it with meals, lemmie tell yeah, they MEAN it. After years of taking IBU I now have a nasty case of Acid Reflux that extends from my intestines into my mouth. Joy! And I even took the meds with food and milk all those years. Sometimes, it's just not enough. If he has a history of using a lot of ibu, this "next step up" of plaquinel may be just too much for his tummy.
On a side note - uncontrolled IBD and Crohn's typically presents itself in the fingers and hands as joint swelling FIRST. This can be and has been mistaken for RA. You really can have Crohn's and IBD for yeeeaaarrrsss before a diagnosis. As with ANY disease, the sooner the diagnosis, the better. More so in these cases though, as the longer you way the more chance you'll have of having to get some of your intestines and/or stomach removed. Also - Crohn's can be "masked" by many standard tests. Barium and other dyes that are used (the kind you drink) and then x-rays - these don't always work - sometimes the dye is too thick, and can make the intestinal wall LOOK normal. An ultra sound is a better bet, and even then it's difficult to see. A scope is really the only 99.9% acurate way of diagnosing. Sucky, I know.
Good luck!
OH - and if it is Crohn's or IBD - NSAIDs are like little death pills. A big no-no and cause all the problems you are talking about. I'm not saying he does have either one, I'm just adding info...lol sorry I'm rambling....I had gone through a similar problem, afte rmany, many tests absolutely nothing was found to attribute to my severe cramping pain. The only thing they found was a cyst on my my left kidney that they can do nothing for.
I surely wished I had more info for you but the only thing I have to offer to you in hopes it makes you feel somewhat better is that I had it for about 6 months. I do have IBS, but that was not the cause.
My siste rthougth it might have been scar tissue from my hysterectomy when I was 21, but it was not that I am almost certian because that is a different kind of pain.
When and if you ever find out what it is, please post it.
jode
Jode - It may have been an extra bacteria you picked up somewhere. We naturally have several bacteria in our stomach and intestines that aid in the digestion of food. There are also a slew of others that we ingest that are not harmful, but also are not helpful. Perhaps your body picked up on one of these- for whatever reason - and decided to attack. I'm pretty sure that's not something a doctor would pick up on, unless he were specifically looking for it. Would you believe - My grandfather picked up just such a bacteria when he was in Italy in WW2, at the age of 18. He was skinny all his life after that, no matter what he ate, and had terrible stomach problems. At about 65 years old, a doctor began to ask him if he had ever spent any time overseas. When he told him about the war, the doctor did a culture, and told him he had an extra bacteria riding around. He was feeding it by drinking his daily beer. The doc gave him some different antibiotics and he had to quit his beers. He gained 10lbs over the next 2 months. Amazing, isn't it? More recently, my father was having the same issues. They finally did a culture, and he too had picked up an extra bacteria. Treated with antibiotics, it went away for the most part. Apparently you do run the risk of the bacteria leaving a dormant part behind, and coming back one day. But if you know what it is, oh how much easier it must be to treat!Thankyou Katie, I surely did not know that! Who knows, it was a terrible thing for me I do know that. Thankyou so much for the info, if it everhappens again I will alert my PCP and RD.
Jode
i had cramping early on in my course of Plaquinil but I learned quickly to