hydroxychloroquine

Hi - here is our primer on hydroxychloroquine (https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/treatment/hydroxychloroquine) that speaks to potential side effects. Also here is a forum discussion where the question was if anyone had used hydroxychloroquine before that may be of interest to you (https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/forums/anyone-ever-taken-hydroxychloroquine). As you mentioned being new to RA, one thing to keep in mind is that everyone reacts a little differently to medication. So please know that one person's experience may be very different from another's - even for the same treatment. Warmly - Reggie, RheumatoidArthritis.net team member

Hello! Well I took Hydroxychloroquine for many years (10+) and had no real issues with it until the end of use. It can make you sun sensitive (tan really fast or burn of course). That is just wearing SPF and using sun glasses. At the end of the 10+ years I became photoallergic which then I was removed from the medication at that time. It does take about 30days of use to get the full effects, though you might notice some before that. It did help me for so long with in my opinion no side effects until the end of course. Hope that is helpful, just my experience. Best to you,

No serious side effects here, but there was the tedium of going through eye tests every six months or so. You have to put your head in a big cardboard box and press the button when there is a dot appearing on the screen. It is the height of tedium, yes, but so is everything else with rheumatoid arthritis. Plus, it’s worth it to make sure that your eyesight isn’t fraying around the edges. In the end, though, the med didn’t really work for me so I ditched it and moved on, but it was worth a try and it was a step that got me to the meds that did work! Keep on keepin’ on, DPM

No longer taking but just stop taking