Any Plaquenil substitutes?

Plaquenil is very benign compared to the rest of the toxic ABX most of us are taking, or have taken in the past. Besides the cellular alkalizing thing, some LLMDs claim it is also a mild cyst buster; and it has also been used for malaria (close cousin of Babs).

What bad stuff have you heard? The going blind stuff?

Arteminisin?

Look in to Amantadine

Tunaaa,

Plaquenil is considered very safe with the exception of the eye issue, but it is a very remote problem. It is also something that is easy to check for.

My Rheum put me on it as sort of a drug of last resort. I had started having joint pain for the first time and everything else had been tried. He had me go get very specific tests. One my eye doctor was able to do and the other had to be done by a specialist. They image the eye and then you repeat in 3-6 months and they do a comparison. Then again at a year. After a year, the doctors say it is unlikely to happen.

My RH told me that it takes at least 3 months to see any affect as far as the pain goes and unless I was willing to wait that long there was no need to take it. Thirty-five years vs three months, easy. I think my doc just gets on a sound loop when he prescribes something because after 12+ years he knows if it might help I'll try it (after doing my homework).

I did however see an almost immediate response, but not for the joint pain. For the first time in more than 10 years, I stopped having drenching sweats. The pain in the bottoms of my feet (my weirdest symptom) also went away. Now 6 months later, I am going to have my eyes rechecked.

I feel like it's a miracle drug, personally. It was taking Plaquenil that led me here, thanks to my eye doctor. I also just got a positive test (CDC and Igenex) so after 35 years I finally have an answer.

There can be lots of scary stories but these days there is so much information out there that it's easy to find reasons for and against trying something.

Haven't heard the hair loss stories, but I would say that I probably shed less hair now than I did before. That would be a guess because I hadn't really paid attention to it.

As far as pain goes, I can tell you my joint pain is better. I still get it every now and then, but the sole pain was worse.

Anything would have been better than the drenching sweats.

For me it was basically a drug of last resort. I've tried lots of things over the years and my doc and I have run through just about everything.

My doc is very conservative. As a matter of fact, we've had a running battle about Lyme since my eye doctor asked me if I've been tested. He is very careful about what he recommends and won't try anything new unless there is solid evidence it is safe and effective.

I personally think the Plaquenil is worth a try as long as you have the eye tests done. The problem results from the buildup of the medication in your body, but it takes time to get to that dose. I don't think it just keeps going up and up otherwise it would be toxic. I think it probably is a drug that lasts longer in the body.

My doc wouldn't mention it as a possibility unless he felt it were safe. The eye problem was a manageable risk and as long as I get my eye tests done. If anything starts to show, I would be taken off it. By having the tests done periodically, it would be caught quickly and wouldn't be an issue. When my eye doctor gave me the name of the eye specialist she said it was even less of a risk than my RH thought, but did agree that I needed to do the baseline and then follow up.

One thing to remember is scary stories are retold because they are scary. For every scary story, there are many many people who have no problem at all. This drug has a long history and the risk is a known and manageable risk. But we all remember the one bad result and tend to forget the good results.