Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate
Posted , 9 users are following.
Hi guys,
Hope you're as well as can be with this crappy illness!
I have been prescribed today Hydroxychloroquine sulphate alongside my methotrexate.
Just wanted to know how it has affected people? And in particular is the sickness bad? I recently switched to methotrexate injections instead of tablets to control sickness and now i have that under control i don't want to be back at square one!
Any comments or advise would be much appreciated!
Xx
0 likes, 21 replies
Kinjo1222 sarah84999
Posted
Hi.....I was on that combination since diagnosis in January. Got switched to methotrexate injection in April and of course folic acid comes with methotrexate. It helped lower the inflamation and most of the pain. I didn't get sick from that combination and I think it is due to the zantac I take twice a day. Sulphursalizine does cause dry mouth so i used the mouth wash for that and drink alot of water.
Good luck.
rita37849 sarah84999
Posted
I started out with hydroxychloroquine and just recently added methotrexate injections. I was diagnosed as celiac when I was first diagnosed with RA. The celiac caused an auto-immune hepatitis that eventually recovered with a gluten-free diet. I always eat a small amount of food when I take my hydroxychloroquine and it doesn't seem to cause problems. One of the pluses of hydroxychloroquine that my Rheumatologist mentioned is that you don't have to cease taking it prior to a surgical procedure. This is useful for me since due to OA, I'm having a bilateral hip replacement in December. You do need to have an annual medical eye exam while on hydroxychloroquine. I've been on it for about 4 years without problems. My eye doctor said he has only seen one patient with a reaction to hydroxychloroquine that required stopping the med in all his years of practice, about 30 years.
I wish you the best of luck with control of your disease.
sia34716 sarah84999
Posted
I've only been on methatroxate since I was diagnosed in mar. Doc doesn't add or increase my dosage until today. I notice I hv more joints affected now but I can beat with the pain. As they usually lasts for few days and go to other places. I'm not sure if My sickness is under control.
lynn15111 sia34716
Posted
definately not controlled. Get on biologicals ASAP. It's the only med that will stop its progression. Steroids help too, but you can't stay on those long term. Use google and find out what biologicals are. Then educate your doctor
Guest lynn15111
Posted
I don't know where you are lynn but in the UK it's not just a case of educating your doctor. Biologics are heavily restricted on the NHS due to cost and you need to have tried, and failed to respond to, at least two other drugs - one of which must be methotrexate - before getting biologic therapy.
So everyone has to try methotrexate at some point or they won't be considered. That's the reality of the system.
One day the cost will come down and it will be standard treatment but until then we have to play the system.
lynn15111 Guest
Posted
That's sad it's still that way there. It was that way here prior to the year 2000. I was part of the medical staff in my working days, so doctors do not intimidate me and really at times need to have in their hands up to date literature that addresses the problem you are encountering if you don't see them grasping the seriousness of your state of health. That's a patients's job to be their own best advocate. I too endurred two time periods of MTX. By 2000 a concerned dr. in the remote area we lived in, in Alaska, got a teleconference with a known Rheumatologist in Washington state and the okay was given for me to get Enbrel. Honestly the fact that you are so restricted in the UK from these valuable medicines, is a good example of socialized medicine, and although this country has attempted to go down that road, it does not have the will of the people and Obamacare will be overturned shortly. So far we do not have to prove we are vauable enough individuals in order to get these medicines. With Obama care there would have been qualifications and status rungs you would have had to be apart of. Shameful. But knowing what I know now, I would start with Humera, just like Enbrel but morally and ethically sound in the making of it. Found out the hard way. I do not want to be complicit with the cannabalizing of aborted fetuses in order to feel good, which is how enbrel came into being.
Guest sarah84999
Posted
yvonne_79570 sarah84999
Posted
Hi guys, I was out on methotrexate and had really bad nausea I was on 15 mg. came of it, I did not want injections, went back on at 7.5mg and has built back up. Now I have at least one cup of ginger tea every day. I buy fresh ginger and make the tea. I don't have any sickness or nausea. Hope that helps.
sarah84999
Posted
Thanks for the replies guys, sorry taken so long. I have had a bad migraine the last couple of days.
I actually haven't started the new meds yet as I am waiting for rheum nurse to get back to me as it says in the leaflet that metformin can interact with it (which i'm on).
I have researched more about eye side effects and am a little worried as also on the leaflet they are common side effects affecting 1 in 10 people!
I'd rather have pain than problems with my eyesight!
lynn15111 sarah84999
Posted
Methyltrexate used to be the protocol. It no longer is if your doctor is up on the latest. Now you should be progressiing to biologicals and find this illness nearly disappear, it's that much of game changer. Google RA and biologicals and then take the info to your doctor. YOU WILL NEED INSURANCE, if you are in the usa because its too expensive.
sarah84999 lynn15111
Posted
I am in UK but tbh Rheumatology is pretty bad where I live! I also only get seen every 6 months
Guest sarah84999
Posted
sarah84999 Guest
Posted
Yeah i thought so. I am currently on methotrexate and the dr wants me to try this other alongside for 6 months and then go from there I guess!
Am just sick of feeling so crappy and no one really understands (friends, family etc) and i'm so tired of telling my little boy that i'm too tired!
sarah84999
Posted
Also what time of day do you take yours (hydrox) and the dose if you don't mind me asking.
And is the stomach pain you described really painful?!
Guest sarah84999
Posted
I take 400mg a day - one 200mg at bedtime and another one with lunch.
I eased myself onto the full dose, starting with just one at bedtime until the initial side effects calmed down. The stomach pain was like bad period pain but didn't last as long and eased with a bowel movement, then went away completely after a few days. When I started taking the second pill at lunchtime I had no extra side effects at all. Not pleasant but really not unbearable either - if the drug works then I'd say it was worth it.
It's too soon to know if it's working but I certainly don't feel worse.
I hope it helps you get some relief. From what I hear, hydroxychloroquine is good at relieving the tiredness - that's the main reason I agreed to take it. Good luck!
sarah84999 Guest
Posted
Thanks for your reply, sorry i've only just been notified!
I have had some stomach pain like you were describing but only last couple days. Otherwise ok!
Guest sarah84999
Posted
Good luck with it. Can't say I'm feeling any benefit yet but it's early days.
sarah84999 Guest
Posted
Thank you - and to you! I guess it's a bonus though that we don't feel worse?!
lynn15111 sarah84999
Posted
I'm sorry to hear that. I am seeing the other side of socialized medicine where illnesses like autoimmune ones get no help, unless your one of the lucky ones that respond to the MTX and those other lower level meds. The only thing that helps me, which I take with the biologicals is the sulfasalzine.