This medicine has worked miracles. from being hardly able to walk because of joint pain to running around after my little girl. been stable for almost 4 years.

I HAVE BEEN TAKING PLAQUENIL 200 MG. FOR 9 1/2 YEARS. FOR THE PAST 4 MONTHS I CUT MY DOSE TO JUST 1 A DAY. I AM HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THE PAIN AND I AM THINKING ABOUT GOING BACK ON 2 A DAY.EYE AND LUNG PROBLEMS ARE THE REASON I DECIDED TO CUT THE MED. DOSE. UNDER DR.'S CARE.I GUESS ITS ALL ABOUT QUALITY OR QUANTITY OF LIFE.

I am a 37 year female with SLE, I have been diagnosed for 2 years and I been sick for 8 years. This medication changed my life. I take mine at night because of the nausea. I have also here recently been losing my hair and my sick condition has gotten much worse. But it has been a life saver for me.

Just want people to know you can not take Bactrim with this medication.I found out the hard way......caused me to go in to a flare up and took me 30 days to get better almost lost my life please make sure you cheak all meds before taking anything with this medication.

I started out 200mg twice a day, then thought I could take it once a day - I was feeling so great, no aches or joint pain. But, in time the discomfort came back, then I noticed if I didn't take the second pill in the evening the next morning I felt very fatigue -So, two pills are better than one.

I have used this drug for eight years and have seem to be able to be in control of the lupus along with eating right and adding natural supplements like omega 3 oil, flax seed oil, Vitamin A, E, and selenium. Only adding these supplements has made this drug fully effective.

I have been taking this medication now going on 10 years. I take 400 mg. daily. I also take 29 other medications a day. This medication helps me alot. I do not get the rash on the face. I dont know what else it does for me. I know i am not in the wheelchair anymore after i started taking it for awhile. I have severe lupus it is affected all my organs and tissues. I am in the hospital alot. Since taking the medication the only problem I have with it is I cant feel the bath water if it is cold or hot. I will take this medication for the rest of my life along with all the others.

I began taking Plaquenil 2 years ago for Lupus and RA and have been very pleased, I have not had any side effects and as long as I remember to take it, I am able to keep my flares to a minimum. I have a horrible memory when it comes to taking medication of any kind and this does cause a problem with the effectiveness of the drug. IF YOU ARE ON THIS MEDICATION AND YOU MAY POSSIBLY BECOME PREGNANT PLEASE PLAN IT AND DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG WHILE PREGNANT NOR FOR AT LEAST 6 MONTHS PRIOR TO BECOMING PREGNANT. I found out that I was pregnant with my third child in August 2007 and immediately stopped taking Plaquenil. During my 21st week of pregnancy it was discovered that my baby had SEVERAL severe and fatal defects. Now I cannot seem to get any answers. My doctor has now told me that it is POSSIBLE that Plaquenil may have caused this, but unfortunately there have not been any studies on the dangers of plaquenil during pregnancy and there is no way to prove it if it was the Plaquenil. BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY.

I am a 30 year old female with a 10 year history of SLE and Sjogren Syndrome. My lupus was properly diagnosed in 2008, until then all kinds of theories were tested of what my illnesses were. Since 2004 my condition began to worsen, since 2007 quite dramatically, until the diagnosis. Steroids were used at first. The pain subsided only temporarily, weight gain followed. At the beginning of this year Plaquenil was prescribed to keep my lupus from flaring up. I haven't noticed a very significant difference with the flares. With the pain and general feeling well, I find it is connected more to the monthly cycle. After the beginning dose, I now take one 200 mg dose at night, one in the morning. If I don't eat with it, it causes nausea, dizziness. My hairloss has not stopped, my joint pain has (lupus comes hand in hand with RA and nerve pain like in fibromyalgia). I do find flares can be controlled by the type of diet we follow: meat and milk products in moderation, same with anything acidic; but plenty of fruits and vegetables, with the exception of mushrooms and alfalfa. The first is hard to digest, the second triggers flares. My vision has worsened significantly: I cannot wear my contact lenses. The optometrist said one of my eyes cannot produce enough moisture and after one day of wear it gets inflamed. It doesn't help that I have Sjogren's ( chronic dry eyes and mouth) and astigmatism in that eye. Even the special eye drops don't help, and this sort of dryness affects vision adversely. They are considering a surgery to plug the tearducts to help my eyes produce enough 'tears' for my eyes to see better. Lastly, at about the same time I began taking Plaquenil I began having a runny nose and sneezing a lot. At first we thought it was a cold, but it stayed for weeks...and despite medication. Then the spring passed by. My doctor suggested allergies, which I never had. Still puzzled. Have any of you had similar symptoms to this last one?