Hydroxychloroquine COMMON BRAND NAME(S): Plaquenil
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3 weeks ago my RA prescribed Hydroxychloroquine
COMMON BRAND NAME(S): Plaquenil .. he wanted to try it, to see if it would help me lower my steroids dosage below 20mg .. 2 weeks after I started taking it I had a very bad flare .. I increased steroids to 30mg with minimal relief .. in staid of getting better it seems to be getting worse .. my legs and arm muscles are very weak and very painful plus I'm retaining fluid .. I've had to start using a cane and/or chair walker to get around .. Im wondering if this med was the cause of my flare not the upper respitoury and sinus infection i had 3 weeks befor the flare reared its ugly head .. Has anyone else out there been prescribed this med and if so what was your reactions ..
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jeanne333
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EileenH jeanne333
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In my book, anything that starts soon after starting a new drug can be put down to that until proven otherwise.
Actually, there is very little evidence that hydroxychloroquine helps reduce pred in PMR. It is actually mentioned in the 2015 Recommendations for the Management of Polymyalgia Rheumatica - a EULAR/ACR collaboration which you will find about halfway down this post:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316
In Recommendation 7 it says "Hydroxychloroquine was investigated by a single very low Quality of Evidence retrospective study reporting no benefit regarding relapse rate"
It is also advised that the dose be adapted in cases of renal insufficiency. I assume you have been told to have eye checks?
jeanne333 EileenH
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jeanne333 EileenH
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EileenH jeanne333
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