Have diverticular desease had SAH followed by stroke in 2023
Recovered well from stroke then in Jan 2024 started having pains in joints - assumed this was due to stoke BUT not so was diagnosed with RA in Jan of this year. Started on Hydroxychloroquine on 14 Jan this year. For the last 3/4 weeks I have had stomach cramps and diarrhoea .
Question .....could this be caused by the Hydroxy med? Anyone have any information??
Not sure but you never know. I’ve been taking hydroxychloroquine since 2015 with no gut problems.
However, since I had my mRNA covid booster in October 2022 I have had several bouts of diverticulitis and also many UTIs and rightly or wrongly as I never had either diverticulitis or UTIs before I had that booster I blame the mRNA booster.
I was prescribed Naproxen and omeprazole in July 2021 when I fractured my sacrum and I had the worst diarrhoea and gut pain that I have ever had. My GP said to stop the Naproxen and double up on the omeprazole which I did but my system didn’t go back to normal until I stopped the omeprazole as well.
Hi, I was on hydroxy for a few years and it can cause gastric issues. It gave me quite bad wind and trapped wind for the first few weeks. I didn't have diarrhoea though. Advice was to take it with a meal or a cup of milk. Hope you feel better soon.
That’s interesting, I was never given any advice but I have always taken mine with my breakfast.
I always take mine with food (breakfast) never on empty tummy. 4 years in and no stomach problems.
Never had any problems with hydroxychloroquine. I've been on them since 2010 along with methotrexate and folic acid. My problem was with methotrexate. Once I was put onto nordimet for mtx no more problems apart from tiredness. Good luck with your journey.
That is interesting. I have been a lot less windy since changed from Hydroxy but never made the connection. Thankyou.
Seem to remember that when I was restarted on Hydroxy about a year ago, things were a bit 'loose' for a couple of weeks, but then settled down once my system got used to it.
Hi, Looking back I had a period of experiencing bad wind that lasted about 3 or 4 weeks and tbh feel this was most probably connected to my body adjusting to the hydroxy. I was started on this med and then they added in methotrexate. Hydroxchloroquine is known not to negatively impact your immunity level, methotrexate however does. So there are benefits from taking it. Dual therapy rather than mono therapy at the start of your RA journey is proven to be more effective too. So you could argue it's one of the better ones to take given it's lack of impact upon immunity levels. Hope things settle down soon for you.
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