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Plaquenil and failed vision test?

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Posted 1/29/2010 7:42 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Mom, mthx seemed to lower my blood count as well.

I did not realize hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) is also used for allergies....that is interesting.

Posted 2/1/2010 2:47 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Camama, how have you been??????? Yes, mine is getting to be pretty puney and for whatever reason I have large red blood cells as well, and the dreaded low b12, as well as low globulin and have never heard of that one, so that is a new one for me.  I've never heard of plaq for allergies and don't know anyone who has ever taken it? But then anything is possible! Let me know how you are getting along:-)
Posted 2/1/2010 3:54 PM (GMT 0)
I've been good, hoping for a healthier 2010 - 2009 was riddled with illness, it was awful. And then just trying to keep my head above water in between everything. How've you been? :-)

Be careful w/the low WBC....if you recall, years ago, when that happened to me, I landed in the hospital with almost no WBC, liver functions off the charts, swollen spleen, and an acute case of Epstein Barr/Mono.

So, I take Plaquenil....should it help the allergies as well as the RA? That would be cool, though I don't know if it's helped or not, i've been on it a lot of years! tongue ***

Posted 2/27/2010 2:15 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Camama and momto3 howyadoin? Sorry for the no show but I been herenthere andtalk to yally on facebook as well as Raven come visit us there sometime. My PD is much the same and I have retired from work but life goes on. I have a new email address and it is accessible on facebook under John McCarthy in herts uk, Let me know how you are getting on.#
stay well
The Bear
Posted 3/1/2010 4:35 PM (GMT 0)
Hey there! Long time no talk. I'm on FB and should ping ya.


Going in for my plaquenil eye appointment today, how ironic! I'm doing okay. Having trouble with my joints lately, but hope it will pass soon. Life is busy, as usual. Trying to balace the kids, job, life, and keep my head above water. Not feeling like I'm succeeding very well, but kids are healthy (knock on wood) and seem happy. So, it can't be all that bad. tongue

Congrats on the retirement. How's that treating you? Did you finally settle in after your big move last year? I recall there were some issues.

Posted 3/2/2010 4:03 PM (GMT 0)
Beartongue I guess everyone has jumped ship and headed for FB! My 13 year old daughter keeps telling me I need to get a FB, but I tell her it's for kiddo's, not for grown ups! I guess I'm way wrong eh? No one is on here anymore, so I may need to concede and get one if I want to keep up with what is going on w/ everyone! Miss everyone and hope all are doing well.
Posted 3/2/2010 4:54 PM (GMT 0)
Grownups have infiltrated Facebook, and the younger scene is mad. tongue

However, you can't 'moan' on FB...HW is where you have an understanding ear and can talk open and honestly about something w/o people telling you to 'get over it' or 'just deal' or even ignore your rants...here someone will listen and give an understanding hug.

There is a HW FB page, but that's not exactly condusive for talk. While, anyone can see what we rant here, the people interested are people who 'get it'.

Posted 3/3/2010 12:42 AM (GMT 0)
Camama..That is true about the grown ups! My daughter has a few aunts (think our age) on her facebook page) and I also have a good friend who has been known to leave us to our visiting at her home in order to tend to her "farming" on her facebookturn Personally, I just don't see myself on facebook, but everyone has their own preferences, and for some it is a way to stay in contact, or re-connect.

Have you heard from Jody at all?

Posted 3/3/2010 3:15 AM (GMT 0)
No, I haven't. But, I've "seen" here on Facebook! tongue

Yeah, I'm on my neices and nephews sites...I tease them that I'm keeping an eye on them.

Seriously, I've reconnected (for about 10 minutes) with some old friends. Keep in touch with family (that is all over the country). It has it's positives and negatives. I will sometimes rant about 'why do I bother' but in the end, keep my account active.  Sick, I know.

smilewinkgrin 

Posted 3/3/2010 3:32 PM (GMT 0)
smilewinkgrin Camama..I sit and watch my daughter on her FB, and it is entertainingsmurf and she can spend quite a bit of time chatting about next to nothing or so it seems? Anyway, she is up to 123 friends, but how can she possibly keep track of so many? Yikes! maybe I'm getting oldsad shocked and out of touch! even healingwell has a FBtongue That's the thing, who really has the time for FB? except for kids? I'm lucky if I have time to hop on here or check my email during the day! If you ever have the opportunity to "talk" to Jody, tell her I said hello!
Posted 3/4/2010 2:07 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah, I don't know how some people do it. I know some who have 348 'friends" and what it comes down to is (my belief is) that people find old friends and acquaintences, say hello, catch up, and that's it. They can keep tabs on each other by Wall Postings - if they feel like it or take the time. I know people who have hundreds of friends, yet they are NEVER on...it cracks me up. Then, there are the people from the past who "friend" you, you catch up in about 2 or 3 emails, and you never hear from them again - BUT, they are your "friend" it's just too funny.
Posted 3/4/2010 2:33 AM (GMT 0)
tongue So basically 5 to 10 friends out of 300? I agree it is not humanly possible to "chat" with hundreds of people! MY son has a select few and then spends hours on end chatting with those, it is still nutsrolleyes
Posted 3/4/2010 3:52 AM (GMT 0)
LOL. Yup. My problem is playing the video games tongue

I post a status, check the wall, maybe make a few comments. that's it.  If I happen to catch a post from somone I'll comment, otherwise, I often miss a lot of posts and don't see/hear about people for long periods of time. It started with my family across the country pinging me to join. So, after a year or so, I finally did.

Posted 3/4/2010 3:26 PM (GMT 0)
smile I can see where those would be fun! After all, we all need some kind of distraction for a bit with life as hectic as it is! My daughter loves keeping in touch with her aunts and cousins who live in other states since she doesn't see them very often, so it has its pluses.
Posted 3/4/2010 4:23 PM (GMT 0)
You know, back to the original subject of this thread. I saw my new opthamologist. He is the 3rd one I'm seeing now. Initially my rhuemy who Rx'd plaquenil didn't even send me to an eye doctor. It was my PCP who also has RA and took good care of me (man I miss her! she retired) who said, 'WHAT!? You need to see one" and referred me.  Anyway, the two opthamologists had me coming back every 8-10 months. No one did a baseline test. No one showed me the grid test. Etc. Everyone has been very laid back about the whole thing, "eh...these days we rarely see a problem, especially at the dose you are taking and your eyes are very healthy." Which seems almost too lax.

This new doc, did an extensive test. I have a baseline test scheduled. He not only showed me the grid test, but gave me a copy of it with instructions to 'test' myself every week (that part seems extensive) and I go back every 6 months.

I have to wonder - is it the new doc's procedure to follow the book and not take chances? Or is it b/c I've been on plaquenil 3-4 years now and I complained of a few issues I've had recently (like a faint black or white blotch in my sight that appears now and again just off to the side of my sight).  Thoughts?

** 

Posted 3/5/2010 1:42 AM (GMT 0)
Camama... I'm so glad you finally got in for a baseline! There has been discussion on here (on a different board) and I don't care what anyone says, it's important!! I was on the Plaquenil for a year, and in that years span of time (in one eye more than the other), there were significant changes, enough to warrant discontinuence of the medication.  I'm amazed at the number of people who start it without going in and seeing the eye docshakehead  Rheumies need to get the word out, because mine certainly did not! I mean in all reality, yes, the odds of something seriously going wrong is slim, but why take the chance? I was probably one of the rare cases, but I believe strongly in getting the baseline to be on the safeside.  My rheumy was shocked that the Plaquenil was harming my vision to the extent it was and told me I was the first case he had ever seen.  My rheumy never told me to get a baseline, I was told by my regular eye doctor at my annual exam, go figure!

As we age the so called "floaters" are normal, but the white blotch that you described, well I would ask the eye doc, it does warrant looking into. It could be nothing or it could be something that needs further examination.

Posted 3/5/2010 9:31 AM (GMT 0)
The technician asked if it was a 'floatie" and it's not what I would call it. To me a floatie does just that - it floats as you look around and are usually small dots or squiggly lines. This, I attribute to probably spending 10 hours a day looking at a computer screen (job hazard) and tired eyes. But, it usually is my right eye and it's just a splotch - somewhat translucent, but nonetheless there at times. And since I'm on plaquenil...I guess you can never be too careful.  The grid test looks like blurry double lines, but not squiggly or missing lines...so I guess I'm still good (knock on wood!)

I remember you saying what your issues were with your eyes, can you remind me what they were?

***

Posted 3/5/2010 3:06 PM (GMT 0)
Basically I went in and had my Plaq baseline 6 months or so after I started the Plaq (I think) and then when I went in for the next one, it was at that point that my eye doctor sat me down and showed me my first eye exam results where I had missed several of dots with the clicker.  Well the second test results in my right eye, were even worse.  At that point, she told me that if I continued with the Plaq, I would eventually lose my vision based on the results in front of us and that she was going to contact my rheumy.  For whatever reason, in my right eye my field of vision was narrowing and I couldn't see the dots on the right side of the screen, I missed most of the them.(90%)  More than I did with the first test the previous 6 months.  So, that was that and I stopped taking the Plaq on my own. When I went in to see my rheumy at my next visit, he was shocked and needless to say, I didn't get another prescription of the Plaq.  I really miss it though, because it worked wonders, and I had so much more energyshakehead However, it was scary to realize that my vision had diminished that much in such a short amount of time. Everything else checked out normal except for the plaq vision test.
Posted 3/5/2010 4:08 PM (GMT 0)
Very scary, indeed! I dread the day they tell me to stop taking it. It does work pretty well for me overall <knock on wood>.

However, I posted this in 'moaning' the other day - the strangest thing. My pain has been relatively manageable for the most part for some time now. My insurance kept making the generic brand plaquenil change every month, then it switched to this awful stuff early last year. I spoke the pharmacist about how much I hated it and he started ordering me a particular generic brand. When he fills my Rx, he uses it AND has a note to use it for me. However, sometimes someone else fills it and gets it wrong. Last month, it was wrong. My husband picked it up and I decided to just take it and see how it worked (it was an unfamiliar brand). The last few weeks I've been in miserable pain. Maybe it's the weather, but I was not like this for the Jan storms. I had been on this new stuff for a few weeks by the time I started hurting. Is it possible the different brands and the amount of fillers they use actually make one brand better than the other? Or could one brand have something that the arthritis is having a reaction to? (Like I have issues with dairy, and if I have too much, I get a flare).

Posted 3/5/2010 4:50 PM (GMT 0)
I think it could be the different brands?? I didn't have this issue with the Plaq, but I have had it with my Topamax now that it is in generic form.  Each month for a few months, I would have different colored pills of different size/shapes.  The month before I had several days where I had more occulars, when normally I have zero.  I think you might be on to something!
Posted 5/4/2012 11:05 AM (GMT 0)
I was recently diagnosed with glaucoma. Although, I feared it was due to the Plaquenil, it was in fact due to long term steroid use. Unfortunately, I have to discontinue my steroids slowly and hope for the best. If your are having eye problems, please make sure you are seeing an ophthalmologist! My optometrist missed the glaucoma when I went in for an eye exam for new glasses.
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