I have been taking predisone since September 2015, hydroxychloroquine since December 2015 and methotrexate since April 2016 when my predisone was gradually reduce to 4 mg. My swelling and pain has been greatly reduced. I had my sed rate check yesterday and it was within normal range, unlike the September 2015 test which was 3 times the normal. I feel that there is hope for all of us. It requires much patients.
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Glad to hear that there's been an improvement with the medication- as you say, patience is needed! Hopefully anyone just starting on medication might read your post and be encouraged to persevere!
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Gt123
Hi, how long did it take the hydroxychloroquine to start working?
Kquixtar, Plaquenil can take up to 4 months to get to full effect. I started feeling a little better after about 2 months and it got better from there. I went through a period of a couple weeks where it upset my stomach but that was a side effect that passed pretty quickly so it was worth sticking it out. I've been on it for a couple of years now.
I just started it. It always takes me awhile to get used too the idea.
Are you able to excersize at all. I used to do water classes but the chlorine affected my skin.
when I was first diagnosed I was still working and working out. I guess I just got worse over the years.
I still work out though I’m not totally back at the level I was pre-diagnosis. I do yoga and jiu-jitsu. I get on the elliptical when I can but my new job has me running up & down a couple foi gh ts of stairs all day so I guess that’s my cardio. A good med regimen, suppliments and a little bit of an anti-inflammatory diet seem to have me holding steady right now. Swimming is great but I have to shower off immediately after because it’s so drying. Nice to have some steadiness for once. Been a long time.
Hi,
I was doing Yin yoga regularly but I broke my right metatarsal and I have a boot on.
About two months ago I tried a new infusion that didn’t work at all. I had two 1.000mg of Ritixan and it had no effect on my RA so I had to wait till June 1 to get back on Actmera.
I had to go up on my Predisone and so my foot has not healed. I guess I just withdrew from everything. I so hope I can get back to some steadiness it’s been a very long time…
Thanks for writing… It helps me so much.
Kathy
It’s nice to here your doing well. It gives me hope.
It gives me hope too, although I realize our bodies all respond differently and this disease has such a wide range of symptoms. We all have various things that are worse than the next patient has to deal with. I have such a fear of the Hydroxychloroquine because I have had retinal detachments in the past and am afraid the only eye I have sight in may be affected. I had severe nosebleeds for a week or two when on 2 a day so I dropped back to 1 and no more nosebleeds and not so nauseated. Feeling a little more energetic and like my old self again too. Started taking it Dec, 2015. Let us all start to notice some good changes for once.
I have been on Predisone since April 2015, Started at 15 MG, my blood placelet went up from 50, but I am at 3 mg now and my blook check again in July. My blood doctor said I might be at a low dose the rest of my life. In may my count was 90and was coming down at the lower dose. My weight is stable now with the 15 pund weight gain, my hot flashes are less and my trembling is less. i am 71 years old.
Praying for you continued success…
Thank you for your prayers.
Givemestrength said:
Praying for you continued success..
Hi Aunt J: I am glad to hear that you are showing improvement and pray that this continues for you.
Aunt J said:
I have been on Predisone since April 2015, Started at 15 MG, my blood placelet went up from 50, but I am at 3 mg now and my blook check again in July. My blood doctor said I might be at a low dose the rest of my life. In may my count was 90and was coming down at the lower dose. My weight is stable now with the 15 pund weight gain, my hot flashes are less and my trembling is less. i am 71 years old.
Hi Poet: I am glad to here that you are starting to show some improvement. I hope that you have discussed your problems with the hydroxychloroguine with your doctor.
The Poet said:
It gives me hope too, although I realize our bodies all respond differently and this disease has such a wide range of symptoms. We all have various things that are worse than the next patient has to deal with. I have such a fear of the Hydroxychloroquine because I have had retinal detachments in the past and am afraid the only eye I have sight in may be affected. I had severe nosebleeds for a week or two when on 2 a day so I dropped back to 1 and no more nosebleeds and not so nauseated. Feeling a little more energetic and like my old self again too. Started taking it Dec, 2015. Let us all start to notice some good changes for once.
Hi I am been diagnosed with RA on april 2014, and I have been taking plaquenil 400mg a day since August 2014. I was off for a while because I showed no symptoms for 3 months. Then it came back and I have been back on the med since then. I have been seeing improvement since i went on an anti-inflammatory diet on June 2015. I get mild flare up for a day when I have an infection or a cold. After a day the flare up stop and I am back to normal. I started working out again in March 2016 after being off for 2 years. I lost 50% of my muscle mass while I was sick. It is hard but I am determined to get my body in shape and strong. I do aqua class once a week, I dance once a week and I do physio twice a week. And I go for one hour walk one a week. There is hope, the key is your died stay away from animal product and eat healthy... My doctor ordered blood analyses to check my progression because I really want to reduce my meds..now this is my goal for now.. Good luck to all of you!!!
Hi Dany.
Welcome to the group. Friendly and supportive people here. Sounds like your doing great. I just started taking plaquenil 2 weeks ago. Check out the discussions they are always interesting.
Seems to be a trend, I started back on plaquenil yesterday. I stopped because I didn’t see any improvement after about 6months. Also I was sero-negative on tests. I started back on because of the neuropathy and it also seems I have regressed in other ways . Good luck hope we all see some improvement, or at very least as I tell myself we don’t get any worse off.
Hi,
So many meds don’t work at all. When I first started in 2009 they talked about remission.
I still haven,t met an adult that has had one.
I would love to see a positive result from plaquenil. Hope it works.
My doctor doesn't want to do the test again for the Sjogren's Syndrome. It was like 128 and should be a single digit. I thought if I was taking the Plaquenil perhaps the test results would change. He told me that we wanted the test the way it was. What am I missing here? If I don't see a lot of symptom relief, how would one ever know if it is helping while we put ourselves at risk for detached retinas etc...?
That makes no sense to me either.
I recently starTed on plaquenil myself.
I hope there is.