Hydroxychloroquine drug ?

[hannahmaywils]

Hey,

I just wanted to hear peoples opinions on the drug above.

I have just returned home from a follow up appointment with my rheumatologist. He has repeated all auto-immune blood tests as well as a chest scan ( can't remember what that disease was for) to rule out any auto-immune disease. They all came back negative which is good. The only thing that he flagged was that I had a low white blood cell count. He doesn't seem to think there is a connection between this and my dry eyes.

Anyway, although my bloods are negative he would like to put me on Hydroxychloroquine, which apparently is a drug that can help reduce inflammation of the lacrimal gland. I believe it is used for those with sjogrens disease.

What are people's thoughts on this ? He seems to be against restatis saying that it is toxic! However as he isn't an eye specialist I ignored this.

I can't really afford to splash out money on a lip biopsy, as it is ive nearly used up all my insurance amount on blood tests etc.

[deep_dry_eye]

While cyclosporine is toxic (as with most drugs), all indications point to Restasis is quite safe. Certainty better than systemic Hydroxychloroquine.

Which country are you in? You need to see a dry eye specialist, not a rheumatologist. Rheumatologist will only see and understand auto-immune, while dry eyes is considered autoimmune disease, it is out of his area of expertise.

[Meibum Ian]

While cyclosporine is toxic (as with most drugs), all indications point to Restasis is quite safe.

Quite. It blows my mind how willingly (some) Dr.s can give out such misinformed nonsense on a whim.

[hopeful_hiker]

Restasis is safe as far as the current research shows. You can obviously be allergic but it is not a systemic medication. You can also have unpleasant side effects like burning.

Now, Hydroxychloroquine can actually be toxic to the body including the eyes: more info. Obviously, I am not a doc but I agree with the previous posters that an ophthalmologist knows more. Also, this drug may not work for all Sjogren’s cases. This study did not show improvement after 24 weeks. Some people need systemic medication like hydroxychloroquine but I would not want to take anything systemic unless I had to.

The rheumatologist I saw told me that dry eye treatment is the same whether one has Sjogren’s or not. Isn’t that crazy? Then he added that it does not help many people anyway. That was extremely discouraging. I am glad I found this community and helpful eye professionals.