Hi,
My husband and I have noticed now, that if there is too much of a gap between meals, I start feeling and getting unwell (I don't just mean a bit hungry). I've just googled it, and apparently hydroxychloroquine can cause this, and that it can be extreme. I was never warned about this. Has anyone else had the same problem?
Hi MissusTee When you say 'feeling and getting unwell' what symptoms do you get? Is it nausea, feeling faint, headache?
Yes it is, and also a bit vague, faint and weak feelings.
I couldn’t tolerate Hydroxy - it caused me hives and swelling lips. I’m not on any meds now but I have gastritis and lately have had shakes and tremors as well as gastritis if I don’t eat little and often.
I’ve been tested and am not diabetic but my blood sugar seems to drop very dramatically if allow any length of time between meals now and I wake shaking during the night with terrible gastritis pain. I think I must have some sort of metabolic disorder affecting me but I’m not hugely thirstier than normal so I’m guessing it relates to my autoimmune diseases, Sjögren’s and Hashimoto’s.
I did read up and learned that Quinine can cause hypoglycaemia - but so can some systemic diseases so I guess it could be either of for you?
I have scleroderma, sjogrens, PBC, and hypothyroidism with an anti sm antibody profile too. This just feels different but it gets hard to know what causes what.
I completely understand. I have bloods pointing to scleroderma but my dr won’t consider it a possibility so just says “primary Sjögren’s with chronic illness”.
My neurologist tried to tell me it’s a functional tremor but my gastritis isn’t functional and nor are any of my other sensory symptoms or pain or fatigue.
Also my late dad had same and had diabetes and my mum had similar and had undiagnosed atherosclerosis which caused similar problems and killed her prematurely - and my 3 sons have all had RLS and/ or tremor/ shaking from birth. They all need to eat little and often to get shaking controlled. So I think there’s a genetic component here too for me that my doctors aren’t taking into account.
A GP did say to me once that autoimmune stuff is the most difficult problem to get their heads around, and it's still in it's infancy sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if I expect too much if they don't understand it either!
I expect very little of GPs these days because of my complexity, time limited appointments and having to cope with me being traumatised by many misdiagnosis’s and being given misinformation by those who really should know better - or just admit how much they don’t know! I feel much more sympathetic towards GPs just now than I do consultants. We are all a complex minor autoimmunity, unique histories and genetic make up and other more mundane things to do with ageing. Why wouldn’t we shake and quake I suppose?! X
PS in my case I mostly blame the intractable fatigue of Sjögren’s for everything now - particularity low blood sugar and tremors.
Yes. I observed similar symptoms. Also feeling shaky, trembling , sweating and having bleary vision. I tried now not to leave long gaps between the meals and eat complex carbohydrates that don’t cause spikes and drops in blood sugar levels. My blood tests are always fine.
Yes I'm the same. I'm almost in a state of anxiety if I'm hungry. I have to eat immediately. My ex partner used to get annoyed and ask why I didn't say half an hour before I was hungry. Horrible feeling.
Hello Missus Tee,
I was diagnosed with mild hypoglycaemia before lupus. Ignoring my symptoms always resulted in a migraine. Don't fret about eating something when you notice the symptoms.
In emergency I found that a spoon or two of honey works the quickest, combined with stopping what you are doing and resting. As a rule eat something every 4 hours, avoiding high sugars. I hope you feel better soon.
Wow, I get these very strange feelings where I feel giddy, weak and physically Shake. I always put it down to fatigue as I always feel so much better after a biscuit or sandwich or banana. Now that you have mentioned it I will definitely look it up. Thank you
Thank you
I have Lupus and Sjogren's I did not realize until I've read your post that what I have been experiencing was hypoglycemia, I just assumed it was another wacky lupus symptom. If I wait too long before I eat I get extremely nauseous, very weak, headache and at times I vomit I also taking Hydroxychloroquine. The on set can be very rapid so I keep hard candies in my pocketbook and around the house especially near my bed and it usually helps. I feel a little stupid for not figuring it out sooner that it was a drop in my sugar, especially since eating candy eases the symptoms LOL; but I never thought that the Hydroxychloroquine was the cause.
Thank God for this site I've gotten more help and learned more about my autoimmune disease then from any physician.
I think that we need to discuss this with our consultants the next time that we see them, as it is a rare but known side effect. I have ordered myself a blood sugar monitor, and I'm going to keep a diary for a while to see if hypoglycaemia is the case. Good luck!
I’m not sure if i have the same thing or not. I know all of a sudden between meals, I will get extremely nauseous and weak all of a sudden. It lasts a bit and then leaves. Does that sound similar?
Sort of, but sometimes when I feel like this my husband notices too, and food relives the feeling. I feel like I lose all of my energy.
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