Good day everyone, recently I've been realizing that I have quite a lot of nausea especially during the morning time. It's a problem to even drink water. I feel so upset all the time and by the time I'm ready to have a meal around 2pm I cant eat because gas has built up and when I do eat, I vomit.
Does anyone else have this problem? I take plaquenil 400 mg alternately each day. I'm really exhausted of feeling so upset all the time. I would love to wake up and not be like this or feel like this during the day at all.
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Stephanie0210
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Hi Stephanie, I am so sorry you are suffering the dreaded nausea. Plaquenil is known to cause nausea, and in severe cases, can lead to gastritis. My advice is to make an appointment with your GP, there are medications that can help with both of the things I mention, usually very quickly and effectively. No need to suffer Stephanie, and certainly symptoms not to ignore either.
Nausea is a common symptom with lots of possible causes, so I'm with @LupusKaren - probably the best course is to see your GP and go through the possibilities with them. Hope it clears up soon, as it's a really miserable feeling x
Speak to your GP Stephanie. It may just be a simple gastric issue brought on by the meds.
When I started taking medication I was experiencing similar symptoms to you. I am on HCQ and also coming off steroids. I take Lansoprazole (PPI) just before I go to bed. That solves the gastric issues.
I had bad stomach issues when I was taking generic Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine). I had to stop after 6 weeks because I just couldn’t take the pain anymore. Turns out, it wasn’t the medication but the incipient (aka filler) ingredients.
My issues went away when I switched to namebrand Plaquenil.
They increased my dosage with the plaquenil but I've still been getting flare ups. So maybe they might switch me to aziathtropine or imuprin. I hope I spelt that correctly.
Hmmmm, why would you want to increase the drug when it could be the reason for your nausea/ GI issues?
One easy way to test if the Plaquenil is the cause (do you take generic or namebrand)?) is to skip a few days and see if your nausea symptoms/issues go away. Plaquenil builds up so skipping a few days doesn’t affect much in the long run.
How long have been taking Plaquenil? Are you always given the same brand?
So I've been on plaquenil almost 3 years but I don't get the brand, I get the generic drug from the hospital. So, I use either hydroxychloroquine or hydroxyquine. I've been assured that it's the same thing since the drug has the same formula. When I stopped taking the plaquenil, the nausea increased so by increasing the plaquenil, it dealt with 'withdrawal' from the plaquenil since it was such a low dose I was receiving.
Different generics have different formulas, contain different filler ingredients and even vary in “strength” because each one is absorbed differently by the body. Meaning, you can take one kind but be getting less of the medicine even if at the same dose.
If you know the manufacturer, you can find what is exactly in each one. (I did quite a bit of research on this and even started a list). So trust me, when “they” say they are all the same, they are lying. There’s been loads of discussions regarding this on this forum. Many folks have to specify which exact brand to receive each time because they have had bad side effects from specific ones.
I had not heard of hydroxyquine but when I googled it it appears to be a brand of hydroxychloroquine from a company called Apotex. It’s incipient ingredients are:
It’s quite possible your stomach issues are due to a change in your meds. It is useful to start keeping a daily track of what exact brand you are taking, how much, and what symptoms you have.
When I was having issues, it was gradual and then increased. The stomach pain and constant nausea just kept getting worse and worse as I kept taking the generic. When I stopped taking the generic they were giving me, I improved. When I started taking it again (even tried different kinds of generics), the nausea and pain returned. When I had had enough, I forced my doc to switch me to the name brand Plaquenil and it was like night and day. Almost instantly, I had no stomach issues or pain. At one point, the manufacturer who makes the name brand started making a generic form and they "swore" it was the same. So I tried it (cost was much cheaper). Guess what? Stomach pain and nausea returned. Looked up the ingredients and voila! NOT the same filler ingredients. So, there is "something" in the generic forms that doesn't agree with my body. Think about it - generics are made cheaper than the name brands. Those of us with immune issues tend to have a sensitivity to ingredients (could be lactose, could be cellulose, titanium dioxide, whatever). I have no idea which ingredient causes me issues but it happens with other meds as well (even supplements) so I have to go with the purest forms.
Hi, I also had terrible nausea when I started taking hydroxy, I hate that feeling so went to GP and asked her about it. She told me to just take 200mg to see if it helped and let my body get used to it slowly or take it every alternate days. I did this and it helped but it took ages to do what it’s supposed to do and it worked in the end. I have been off it for 6 months and waiting to see if I’ve to go back on it, if I do I’m going to ease myself back on it this time. When I told my Rheumy about this, she said she had never heard of people getting nausea with it. Sometimes you wonder about them!!!
Honestly, sometimes when I tell my rheumy about certain things that happen to me. They're like oh hes never heard of anyone with such symptoms etc. So I was like well okay then I've heard of them happening to lots of people. Am I the doctor here or are you?
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