Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are the most common side effects of hydroxychloroquine. And some people may also experience stomach pain.
These side effects may be temporary, lasting a few days or weeks. But if the side effects last longer than that, bother you, or become severe, be sure to talk with your doctor or pharmacist. These are just a few of the more common side effects reported by people who took Plaquenil in clinical studies: nausea.
This medicine may cause muscle and nerve problems. Check with your doctor right away if you have muscle weakness, pain, or tenderness while using this medicine.
Common side effects occur in one percent to less than 10 percent of people. Uncommon side effects occur in 0.1 percent to less than one percent of people. Rare side effects occur in 0.01 percent to less than 0.1 percent of people. Very rare side effects occur in less than 0.01 percent of people.
The early signs of hydroxychloroquine toxicity are macular edema and/or bilateral granular depigmentation of the RPE in the macula. With continued exposure to the drug, this can progress to an atrophic bullseye maculopathy with concentric rings of hypopigmentation and hyperpigmentation surrounding the fovea.
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.
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 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.
After patients respond well to the medication, medical providers will reduce the dose to 200 to 400 mg once daily or divided into two doses. This is a maintenance dose. The dose shouldn't exceed 600 mg or 6.5 mg per kilogram of body weight, whichever is lower.
Hydroxychloroquine starts to work gradually. For inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, it can take 6 to 12 weeks before you notice any benefits. It's important to keep taking hydroxychloroquine. You may not feel any different at first, but it is likely to be working.
Interactions between your drugs
No interactions were found between hydroxychloroquine and Vitamins.
Hydroxychloroquine may potentially result in adverse effects on the central nervous system, mainly irritability, nervousness, emotional changes, nightmares, and even true psychoses [3, 4].
One of the side effects of hydroxychloroquine is that it can cause changes in emotional lability. Emotional lability means a person may have sudden and exaggerated changes in mood, with poorly controlled strong emotions that may include anger, dysphoria, sadness, or euphoria.
Get medical help right away if you have any very serious side effects, including: severe dizziness, fainting, fast/irregular heartbeat, seizures. This medication may cause serious eye/vision problems.
Safety variables at 6 month were within normal physiological ranges and did not differ in groups (p>0.05) indicating that both methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine were effective and safe to use in rheumatoid arthritis. The difference in the incidence of adverse effects, total or individual, was almost nil.
Hydroxychloroquine is generally safe at normal doses, but higher amounts can damage the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, and could result in partial or complete blindness.
Methotrexate is widely regarded as one of the safest of all arthritis drugs, though it carries some potential downsides. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting are its most frequent side effects.
Plaquenil may cause certain problems with sleep, such as nightmares. And with nightmares, you may be unable to sleep well, leading to fatigue.
Previous human studies have reported that HCQ can induce anxiety- and depression symptoms (10, 11), but no reports have shown that it impairs cognitive function.
Rather than suppressing the whole immune system, the drug appears to work by stopping immune proteins called autoantibodies from triggering the immune response that causes these diseases.
Dooley says, “Many immunosuppressants must be taken as two doses per day, with at least eight hours between. If you're late taking a morning dose, you should still take the second dose at the right time.” Dooley says time of day also matters less with Plaquenil® (hydroxychloroquine). But, it's best taken with food.
There's no known interaction between alcohol and hydroxychloroquine. However, if you're also taking methotrexate you should keep well within the recommended limits (no more than 14 units of alcohol per week for adults) as methotrexate can interact with alcohol and affect your liver.
Hydroxychloroquine can be taken with other medications – NSAIDS (Celebrex®, ibuprofen, naproxen), prednisone, Enbrel®.