Tell me about RA and Plaquenil please

[minkydog]

Although I'm a nurse, my specialty is not adults, its peds. I know nothing about the stuff that adults get. My sister was diagnosed with RA this week. She has been in terrible pain for at least 3 years, but it has gotten a lot worse recently. She finally took herself to a rheumatologist and it took him less than 10 days to figure it out.

Anyway, he's going to try her on Plaquenil. How long does it take to start seeing some relief? DSis is so debilitated. She can barely drag herself around. If she goes to the grocery store she literally cannot move for the rest of the day. She is doing laundry only every 2 wks because it is so exhausting and painful for her to walk down the stairs to the basement where the laundry is. Unfortunately, her DH and DD12 do NOTHING to help her. NOTHING. I am so worried for her, but there's nothing I can do to help. She lives 2 states over from me and besides, I can't leave my own family due to our own unique issues.

If you can fill me in on just about everything, that would help me. I"m going to google RA but those sites never tell you about how the meds work, if they work at all. I'm so afraid she is going to be disabled by this. At the moment, she is definitely disabled and may not be able to start school in early August(she's a music teacher.)

 

[Chelley00]

I take Plaquenil for a different autoimmune disorder. When my rheumatologist put me on it, he said it could take up to 2 weeks before I started seeing results.

I've had no side effects from the med at all. Good luck to your sister.

 

[LBAK]

It took me about 4 weeks to see some results on Plaquenil. Ultimately it didn't really do much. we then added Azulfidine and Methotrexate to the mix along with some Celebrex for good measure and that did the trick.
The Plaquenil is a disease modifying drug and slows down the progression of the disease. She won't get relief directly from that. The rheumy should have also put her on an NSAID.
It could take months for her to find the combo of drugs that work.
I hope she finds relief soon. It stinks to be in pain all the time.

 

[minkydog]

It took me about 4 weeks to see some results on Plaquenil. Ultimately it didn't really do much. we then added Azulfidine and Methotrexate to the mix along with some Celebrex for good measure and that did the trick.
The Plaquenil is a disease modifying drug and slows down the progression of the disease. She won't get relief directly from that. The rheumy should have also put her on an NSAID.
It could take months for her to find the combo of drugs that work.
I hope she finds relief soon. It stinks to be in pain all the time.

Sis has been on Ultram for years for supposed-fibromyalgia. No telling how long RA has actually been going on. If I had to guess, I would say about 10 years. Her rheumatologist has her on an NSAID and Darvocet now. She really resisted to Darvocet, but finally gave in. She was amazed at how much better she felt. I'm kinda surprised that he didn't put her on Prednisone to give her a quick measure of relief. (DH has an autoimmune disease, too, and between the Prednisone and the Methotrexate he can be somewhat functional. It keeps him out of the hospital, at least.)

 

[THUNDERMOUNTAINMOMMA]

I was on Plaquenil for 2 1/2 months before I saw improvement for SLE. But I am grateful to have seen improvement, no matter how long it took. I take a low dosage everyday, and have no side effects. Best of luck to your sister!

 

[cassiez76]

sending her good vibes!

i'm not on that med, but i have PA (psoriatic arthritis), so i know her pain. i'm on embrel which took a few weeks to work. it really does suck when you can't move to do anything.

 

[bgirldeb]

Gentle hugs to your sister

I took Plaquenil years ago with methotrexate and voltaren.. After the birth of my first child (2000), I had a huge flare and was put on Enbrel only. It changed my life. It basically put the disease in remission. No morning stiffness, fatigue. It may take her a time to find the right meds, but there are a lot of new biologic medications out there that work really really well!