The first medicine I was on was Plaquenil and I had no real side effects--I was put into remission for about 3 and a half years with it--but it is considered one of the milder meds, I believe.

I've been on it for 7 years now twice daily, I have no side affects at all from it. It works great for me, get your eyes checked often while your on it though.

I have only tried plaquenil so far 200 mg and it was not helping. When I started to lose mass amounts of hair every day my Rheumy took me off of it. I am still losing some hair and am afraid of getting a bald patch. He never told me it was a possible side effect. Now, I don't know what to do.

I was started on Plaquenil after a huge steroid shot. I do take generic voltaren for inflammation and pain. Im not sure what monica is. B4 shot, hands, feet, wristd, ankels all hurt. once the original pain subsided only feet hurt from injury I think. They doubled my dose this wk. So far feet are only probs. I have some morning stiffness and phantom pain sometimes, but am so much better than b4. I have IBS anyway, but the plaquenil has only caused some mild and spotty diarreah--I can live with that to be rid of the pain. For me, so far so good. Oh yeah, had an eye exam and my eye dr. said eyes were fine. She also told me she has monitored many taking the plaqquenil, her experience was that usually would be 4 or 5 yrs b4 probs, and most had no eye problems.

I started plaquineil in September, my first ra drug. My doctor added methotexate last month. The combination seems to be working well for me. Getting over that first mental hurdle of knowing you have to be on medication was hard but now that I am past that and feeling better I know it was the right decision. I think once you start and hopefully feel better, you will feel more comfortable taking medication.