What else besides plaquenil?

[Nafsika]

Helooo

Its being long time since my last post but they were the worst days of my life...anyway i want to ask if there is any other medicine except plaquenil for SLE.My doctor tried me twice with it but i get diarhea(!)-i dont know how to spell it!-so i am not taking any medinine except steroids -cortizone- for over two months but i have symptoms every day of course...is there any other medicine because i dont know why my doctor is so persistant with plaquenil.For all of you to know i am looking for information, i wont do anythind before i discuss it with my doctor style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Thanx.gif

[Clare.T]

Hi nafsica

There is another anti malarial which usually makes a good alternative for those with whom Plaquenil disagrees, but it might not be all that easy to obtain. It's called Mepacrine in the UK, Quinacrine in the USA, and used to be known as Atabrine.

Plaquenil replaced it on the market as an anti malarial, so now it has to be obtained from a compounding pharmacist who will make the chemical up into pills.

You might find it is only obtainable through a hospital pharmacy on prescription from a rheumatologist at the hospital.

Just to check, you do mean you tried Plaquenil twice for a period of days, like a week, not that you took it on two days
Perhaps you started each time at too high a dose and your system didn't have a chance to get used to it, or maybe you weren't taking it with enough food. If either of those is a possible explanation for the diarrhea it could be worth giving it another whirl.
Otherwise you would move onto the disease modifying and steroid sparing medicines, Methotrexate, often used for joint aches and or Imuran / azathioprine, a more general immunosuppressant. Each of these or even both together, can be very effective but they do have a greater risk of side effects than the antimalarials.

You might also do better with a different anti inflammatory- there are many to choose from and some work better than others for the individual.

Good luck

Clare

[jane1]

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif Hi...i to had very bad tummy style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wacko.gif on plaquinel...stopped the two tabs a day to one..and took it at night..then after two weeks i started two..together at night..all ok now... style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bigsmile.gif

jane