Hydroxychloroquine

[Alison-Brown]

Hi, can anyone please tell me what Hydroxychloroquine actually does? All my Rhuemy said last visit was "I'll double your lupus one". So now I take 200mg morning and night. But what does it do?

[AnnNY]

Here is an article on it which may or may not help you. The immune system is amazingly complex. They have been trying to understand how plaquenil works for many years, but the main thing is that is does work, and side effects are minimal usually.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Hidden]

According to this article it changes the intracellular pH which inhibits the formation of antibodies (when it works).

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/827...

Semin Arthritis Rheum. 1993 Oct;23(2 Suppl 1):82-91.

[AnnNY in reply to Hidden]

I just wanted to point out this article is from 1993, which is like the dark ages in rheumatology. Although I often think we are still in the dark ages to some extent.

[Hidden in reply to AnnNY]

Good point. According to my doctor only cytokines are affected not total lymphocytes (T cells). This was important to me because I'm using an experimental apoptosis based therapy that requires T cells.

[sumdaytheworld]

It helps the body control all the lupus symptoms, like rashes, the flare ups, just helps minimize all ur problems w/ lupus. The sad thing is, I had, what some get, a bad reaction to it. After a few months on it my legs were so sore i barely could walk. Worst ever, I was so tired, I'd lay in my comfy bed, but felt like I was laying on cement. It works for most, but not all. Hope it does for you!!

[nanleighh]

I am in the medical profession, i've done lots of research on it, and still have no idea how it works. But I can tell you in my case it's been like a miracle. It has not helped my rashes but my energy level is back to where it used to be I feel like a normal person again for the first time in several years. It did take a good 7 months for me to really notice the benefit though. I have to say in the beginning it gave me really bad G.I. problems but I just stuck with it and after about two months that completely stopped. Good luck with it if you are just starting on it and stick with it if you possibly can because it may possibly benefit you. It really has made quite a significant difference for me. I hope it does for you.

[Hidden]

I think it prevents or interfers with communication between cells. So it slows down the autoimmune response.