paquenil

Would like to see if anyone can give me information regarding paquenil. Saw rheumy today and since my crp is high 13. She said maybe paquenil can help with the pain. ihave burning pain to tendons, nerves and joints. no swelling

Anyone familiar with paquenil

My LLMD has me taking it twice a day. She stated that it helps the antibiotics penetrate the cell and become more effective at treating the infections.

Also - wanted to mention that it has a crazy long half-life - something like 50 hours...

It was originally created to treat Malaria. In Lyme disease they use it to kill off microbial cysts. It also alkalizes the interior of the cells to let antibiotics like Biaxin/Clarithromycin to work more effectively.

In my opinion don't think ILADS certified LLMD's would be prescribing it if it were to hamper the immune system in such a way that it would compromise the recovery process.

Have a chat with your LLMD is you have one.

And as Girlie mentioned, You MUST see your optometrist once every 6 months or as soon as you notice any vision changes.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, the chances of your vision being affected is VERY VERY low. For example, my ophthalmologist has many patients that take Plaquenil and he hasnt seen any visions changes that are attributed to the drug since the 90's.

JAdam, sounds like we possibly have the same LLMD.

Post Edited (Chris_1234) : 2/6/2016 10:29:21 AM (GMT-7)

I am also taking it and I have to correct Chris regarding how often you need to have your eyes checked. A new article just came out (maybe 6 months ago) stating that there was a lot of confusion and the issues with vision arose due to improper dosing.

If you are going to take Plaquenil, you need to get a baseline exam done. It is not the normal yearly eye test you have done at the eye doctor. It is actually a medical test. Good news there is that if you have insurance. The procedure actually photographs everything inside your eye.

You then repeat the test and they compare the images. As long as you go have the test repeated often enough, they can detect any build up of the medication in your eye BEFORE there is permanent damage.

The drug works by building up to a certain level in your blood stream. It can take 3-6 months before you see any benefit from the drug in terms of joint pain. So if you are looking for a quick fix this isn't it.

What I found however is that other symptoms went away immediately. I had drenching sweats 24 hours a day. I would soak through my clothes in less than an hour. As soon as I took the Plaquenil, the sweats stopped. That makes sense since it is an anti-malarial drug and Babesia is a malaria like organism. The funny thing is the pain on the soles of my feet also went away. That symptom is supposed to belong to Bartonella.

I didn't know until a few days ago that it saw an immune suppressant. I was told "it's an immune suppressant, but not like a steroid." I'll have to research that. If I find anything I'll post it.

But the big thing is that they found as long as you take the proper dose (200mg 2x daily), you don't need to have your eyes checked more than every 5 YEARS. Just make sure you do the baseline otherwise you have nothing to compare against.

The article is www.eyeupdate.com/plaquenil-updates

Sorry guys, I can't remember how to make it a link. Actually, the directions you guys left a few days ago were too confusing. Not your fault, probably my brain's fault.

Kim

Post Edited By Moderator (Girlie) : 2/6/2016 3:43:30 PM (GMT-7)

The test is a 'visual fields' test .. I had mine done at the Optometrist clinic. (The one doing the test was an Ophthalmologist, though)

It tests for the vision in the centre area of the eye.

Kim, I only edited to make the hyperlink.