Hydroxychloroquine

[Alice70]

Hi ,anyone taking hydroxychloroquine ,I have a nasty bitter taste in my mouth tougue constantly, wondering if it is from taking hydroxychloroquine, has this happened to anyone else

[Connie49]

Hi, Alice. I certainly notice that hydroxy has a bitter taste when I take it, but fortunately this doesn’t linger for me.

[Bruce711]

Hi I took it for 7 years and never noticed a bitter taste.

[Maritime]

Hi Alice I noticed a bitter taste when I first started taking it too but with plenty of water it soon disappeared.

[Hippo1234567]

hydroxychloroquine is related to quinine which is what makes tonic water bitter. Some of the tablets are coated, so you don’t taste them as you take them. Others aren’t coated and they are bitter as they touch your tongue. Do you take them with a good gulp of water and swallow them quickly? Don’t chew or suck them.

[Boxerlady]

I picked up a good tip on here and hold the tablets under my tongue until I'm ready to swallow them with lots of water (well, fruit tea in my case) and I think that helps. I also take all my tablets towards the end of a meal; as I take my Hydroxychloroquin in the morning, I eat most of my porridge and fruit and take the tablets when I've got two or three mouthfuls of food left.

[marie66]

oh my gosh yes! I hate the bitter after taste so have a tea biscuit and cuppa ready for straight afterwards. I used to hold out for Zentiva brand as they tasted better but with the meds shortage recently, I’ve had to take what I can get and basically suck it up buttercup! M x

[Tired-fed-up]

ugh they taste disgusting! They always seem to be the ones that don’t go down straight away too! I find a cup of tea afterwards gets rid of the taste.

[Pulfs]

I mentioned this to my pharmacist and he now makes sure I get ones that are coated so not so bitter x

[KaysDad]

Some people ( but far from unanimous ) put the Hydroxychloroquin down to bringing on my cataracts. However, I can't complain as, since having these deal with, my eyesight has never been better!! I can see clearly without specs - although I do still need them for reading.

[KittyJ in reply to KaysDad]

I’ve never heard that, was it your doctors who told you that?. They caused my hydroxychloroquine retinopathy but not heard about cataracts.

[KaysDad in reply to KittyJ]

One of the staff in the eye clinic initially and a rheumy nurse thought it possible - but neither were confident, only that it was a possibility.

[KaysDad in reply to KittyJ]

It could have been a coincidence that they came on a little while after I started on the hydroxychloroquine. It would not put me off taking the hchquine if it was working. ( it didn't for me so now on a biologic)

[Djlr in reply to KaysDad]

Most people ALWAYS STAY on HYDROXYCHLOROQINE unless toxicity to it or I’ll with sling it. I mt does take “4-6” MONTHS “before” ANY IMPROVEMENT in Joint Pain. That is NORMAL - it builds up in body & protects us.

Then, we add in the BIOLOGICS, etc on TOP of the HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE which is the LEAST medically invasive and gentle medicine to keep LUPUS AT BAY.

Dr Donald Thomas - Lupus Encyclopedia just SPOKE at our LFA-NC SUMMIT: he said use 1- Hydroxycloroquine, 2- VITAMIN D, 3- SUNSCREEN everyday inside & out (top 3 things to help CONTROL LUPUS) for everyone’s 1st to go to treatment. Vitamin D Level should be up to AT LEAST 50 (or higher 80) when tested. Taking 1000 - 5000 mg liquid capsules per day to achieve this level at DR BLOOD TESTING - at least once a yr get checked.

lupusencyclopedia.com/vitam...

lupusencyclopedia.com/how-t...

[silentpool in reply to KaysDad]

I was diagnosed with RA in 2018 and had loads of steroids orally and by injection in my knees and was put on MTX and HCQ. I had rapid onset cataracts in both eyes by 2019, actually feared I was going blind, and had to have both eyes done. I put it down to the steroids but maybe HCQ was involved too.

[KittyJ in reply to silentpool]

Yes with steroids it’s a well known side effect.

[KaysDad in reply to silentpool]

Yes, I did have a few (3??) Steroid injections when the MTX, HCLQ and Sulfasalazine combination failed to get my CRP levels below 120.

[Rainyda]

Been on it for years, haven't noticed a bitter taste.

[AW600]

Totally agree with you on this, I had the same thing and it made me feel even more nauseous than I did already. As luck would have it, my last box of hydroxychloroquine was Accord brand rather than whatever it was I had before and those are much better. They have more of a coating (like ibuprofen have) so they don’t taste funny. So I’m now asking my GP / pharmacist if I can just have this brand from now on.