Has anyone found Plaquenil helpful?

I have not yet been diagnosed with Lyme. I am short one LLMD, but based on my research and the Dr Burrascano's checklist I'll be very surprised if the test comes back negative.

So in November when I saw my Rheumatologist (dx Fibromyalgia), I had anew symptom which was pain in every joint. My combo of pain meds didn't touch the pain. So he suggested Plaquenil. He said for pain it was the drug of last resort.

He said that I would likely not see any effect for at least 3 months, which was true and it has been pretty helpful.

I ask the question, because once I started taking it my night sweats disappeared. I had been blaming the night sweats on menopause (I'm at least 5 years post menopausal), but they definitely disappeared at the same time as I started the med.

I know from my research that plaquenil is an anti-malarial. I also know that at least one of the co-infections is a malarial like.

So I wondered if anyone had been taking Plaquenil, if it helped and what their diagnosis.

Thank you to anyone who is willing to share.

The original symptom my doctor gave it to me for was that for about the last 18 months every time I woke in the morning or after I sat in one place for more than an hour, I would have pain in every joint from my fingers to my toes. This was completely different pain.

I have had another symptom which is similar. For three years, when I wake up in the am or have sit for a long time, the bottoms of my feet would feel like the skin shrunk and I would have to hobble around for 15 minutes before it went away. When I told my doctor he thought I was out of my mind.

The doc ran a whole slew of blood tests including a Lupus Panel all came back negative. What he said is just because its negative doesn't mean there's not something there.

He said it would take three months to have an effect. So here it is a little more than 4 months and most of the joint point is gone (as long as I take 2xday).

Other than that I'm feeling completely terrible. I have been blaming it on taking prednisone for 2 weeks and had not considered that Plaquenil would cause herxing.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to have blood testing done tomorrow but was unsure about testing for co-infections. I'll have to think about it. If this is herxing, then tests for one of the co-infections should come back positive.

Thanks for the info,
Kim

The blood work I'm having done is going to be sent to Igenex.

I'm not even bothering with the standard Lyme test my regular doctor can get run. I'd rather not have a negative test in my file.
I'm paying for the Igenex test out of my pocket.

There are many times I've had to pay out of pocket to get the right doctor or test, etc.

My doctor (a Rheumatologist) won't treat me based on the Igenex test, but I wouldn't have asked him to anyway.

Thus my search for a LLMD.

Margaret,

Why would it only help if you're also taking abx or antimicrobials? Is there any articles or literature you can point me to?

Thanks,
Kim