As with all medicines, some people may experience side effects from taking hydroxychloroquine. The most important side effect of hydroxychloroquine is on the eye. Blurred vision may occur in the first few weeks after starting hydroxychloroquine. This usually returns to normal even when you continue taking the tablets.
Patients usually complain of difficulty in reading, decreased vision, missing central vision, glare, blurred vision, light flashes, and metamorphopsia. They can also be asymptomatic. Most patients have a bull's eye fundoscopic appearance.
Early detection of any problems is key. If you notice a change in your central or color vision or have trouble seeing at night, promptly schedule an evaluation with your eye doctor. Regular use of an Amsler grid is recommended as well.
Unfortunately, vision loss from Plaquenil is not reversible.
This will help you avoid permanent vision loss. Your other doctor will find another treatment for your disease.
Plaquenil side effects start off by effecting the surface of the eye (the cornea) leading to verticillata. Verticillata are deposits of salts within the corneal epithelium. This does not cause any symptoms to the patient and is reversible when the medication is stopped.
Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are the most common side effects of hydroxychloroquine. And some people may also experience stomach pain.
Long-term use and high doses of hydroxychloroquine are risk factors for the development of cardiomyopathy. Cardiac failure, conduction disorders (including QT prolongation and Torsades de Pointes) and sudden cardiac death are consequences of the cardiomyopathy.
If your symptoms don't improve, your doctor will likely recommend discontinuing the medication. However, if you and your doctor determine that the medicine is working for you, you should continue taking it as prescribed. If you stop using Plaquenil, your symptoms will reappear.
Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) is the most common antimalarial for lupus. If you can't take hydroxychloroquine, your doctor may recommend chloroquine (Aralen®). These medicines can be taken as pills or liquids.
If they do have symptoms they complain of visual color deficits, specifically red objects, missing central vision, difficulty reading, reduced or blurred vision, glare, flashing lights, and metamorphopsia. The symptoms are often in both eyes. In keratopathy, patients complain of halos around light and photophobia.
Using Plaquenil for a long period of time may harm the retina, causing serious vision loss. People with retinal damage from Plaquenil are not aware at first that they are losing vision.
The most important side effect of hydroxychloroquine is on the eye. Blurred vision may occur in the first few weeks after starting hydroxychloroquine. This usually returns to normal even when you continue taking the tablets. Talk to your doctor if you are worried.
How long you take hydroxychloroquine for depends on why you're taking it. For some conditions, if hydroxychloroquine works for you then you may need to take it for several years, or even for the rest of your life, to control your symptoms.
You might feel dizzy or faint, or you might have a fast, pounding, or uneven heartbeat. Make sure your doctor knows if you had a heart rhythm problem, including QT prolongation. This medicine may cause muscle and nerve problems.
Do not stop taking it just because you feel better. If you stop, your symptoms may get worse again. Are there any long-term side effects? You can take hydroxychloroquine for a long time if it's working for you, but your doctor will monitor you while you're taking it.
The study found that a person who decreases her/his HCQ dose is 54% more likely to experience a flare sooner than someone who maintains the same dose. And, if someone stops taking the medication entirely, she/he is 61% more likely to have a flare sooner than someone who continues on HCQ.
Hydroxychloroquine acts by suppressing Toll-like receptors to trigger important immunomodulatory effects. Hydroxychloroquine is a well-established and effective therapy for systemic and cutaneous lupus and other autoimmune diseases.
Weight gain or weight loss
For some people, Plaquenil may cause weight loss. This is because the drug can decrease your appetite, which may lead to the weight loss. But it's not known how many people have had weight loss while taking Plaquenil. Weight gain, on the other hand, isn't a known side effect of Plaquenil.
Abnormal weight gain is a side effect of long-term doxycycline and hydroxychloroquine treatment. Gut microbiota modifications at the phylum level could play an instrumental role in this effect.
These may occur for the first few days a person takes the drug while the body adjusts to the medication. Loss of appetite, tiredness, weakness, or headache are uncommon side effects and typically go away over time.
Hydroxychloroquine may potentially result in adverse effects on the central nervous system, mainly irritability, nervousness, emotional changes, nightmares, and even true psychoses [3, 4].
Plaquenil and alcohol
Plaquenil isn't known to interact with alcohol. However, certain side effects from Plaquenil could be worsened by drinking alcohol. Examples of these side effects include headache, nausea, and dizziness. (For information about Plaquenil's side effects, see this article.)