Prescription Question

[travel54]

Does anyone have a doctor who prescribed something other than Hydroxychloroquine which helped your symptoms?

[Chris21]

i have various things on prescription as well as hydroxychloroquine, for instance i have eye drops for dry eyes, pregabalin for neuropathy, orso acid for PBC , aspirin for sticky blood, paracetamol to help with pain and inhalers for breathlessness. all related to overlap of auto immune disease.

Hope this helps your question.

[travel54 in reply to Chris21]

Chris, thanks so much for your helpful reply!

[dg70]

It's not the nicest drug but its the first line of defence and low side effects. I thought, do I need this recently when my eyes were having issues. I was taken off for a month and boy the fatigue went through the roof. I then knew how much it was helping me. There are stronger drugs along the road we travel I understand but they have more side effects than hydroxy. Hopefully they will find a drug like hydroxy with fewer side effects or maybe even a cure one day. I've tried a few different manufacturers of hydroxy and found the one that causes me the least side effects but I still get terrible constipation but anything that puts my dsdna figure to normal then I'm taking it along with the side effects. Have a chat with your rheumy if its not suiting you, they are pretty good at explaining pros and cons. I agree with Chris21 about all the other drugs that are helping me along with hydroxy, eye stuff, mouth, joint pain, sleep, menopause meds, vitamins d and b12, inhalers, moisturisers etc.. I feel like setting up my own chemist. All this allows me to lead a reasonable life so I keep on with it all, without them I don't get to get up in the morning, do some light work, have a walk, drive, sleep, things normal people take for granted. A good GP is a must too for the day to day things that crop up. I hope you find help if you need it. 👍🙂💜

[travel54 in reply to dg70]

Thank you so much for your comments. I was thinking that Hydroxychloroquine hasn’t helped me in the last year, but after reading your comments, I’m going to stay the course. I don’t want to go back to where I started!

Thanks again!

[dg70 in reply to travel54]

I know we can't always tell the good its doing. As long as you get your annual full eye check then that should put your mind at rest. After a year of hydroxy my dsdna went from high to borderline and my Rheumy was convinced this was due to the hydroxy. If we keep our inflammation down then its a win. My rhuemy said the next line of defence drugs are far stronger with more side effects so the longer we can stay stable on hydroxy the better. I guess in the end I will have to progress to stronger drugs as age and length of time with lupus kicks further in. I hope you stay stable much longer. Take care xxx

[travel54]

Thank you so much! You replied with what I needed to know,