Allergic to Plaquenil?

[swish]

I have had SLE at least a year, but was diagnosed in january this year.

After two-three months on Plaquenil my eyes started to feel "grainy" and itchy, and after a couple of weeks of that they got really red and swollen. My doc said it might be a bad reaction to the Plaquenil and took it out to replace it later. Now it was three weeks since I stopped taking plaquenil and I?m still itchy, all over my body, and get symtoms from my skin and eyes. I have a rash on my ear that just won?t heal, eighter. It gets better if I take more Prednisolon.

I?m starting to think it is some aspect of the disease, or some other disease, and not a reaction to the Plaquenil, since I had this rash in my face some time before taking Plaquenil, just not on the eyelids. It is red, swollen, and the skin is flaking off like if I had a sunburn every other day. My doc says it doesnt look like lupus rash, but my friend who also has the disease said the doc is wrong, it just isn?t in the "butterfly" area. It could still be lupus.

Is there anyone that recognise these symtoms? Please let me know what you think.

(By the way, forgive my bad english, I?m swedish....)

[shawzie]

Swish... when I was taking my Plaquenil I was super itchy as well. It is one of the side effects of the medication. I will say, however that I remain itchy regardless of bing on it so I suspect that it really revolves around the Lupus and that the Plaquenil just made it more acute..

Hope this helps!

[alobreto]

Hi, Swish! ;)
I hope you told your doc that you were itching and had the rash BEFORE you started taking the plaquenil. If you didn't, you need to tell him NOW.

The doc also needs to know that the itching has NOT STOPPED since you've stopped the plaquenil and that it has gotten WORSE.

And yes, lupus can cause all sorts of skin problems and not just the butterfly rash, but a dermatologist would be the kind of doctor to determine what your skin problem is. With all the discomfort you've had I think it would be worth a visit to a dermatologist for proper diagnosis of your rash and proper treatment. You deserve some relief from your misery.
Regards,
Angela :flowers: