Would be interested in why no generic also. I've been on the generic for a little over a year now. Haven't had any problem with side effects. It took about 6 weeks to kick in and did help some but didn't quite do the trick by itself. Tried Methotrexate and Arava and couldn't take either. I'm now on Enbrel and its helped quite a bit.

I took Plaquenil for 5 years and finally told the doctor no more. It was one medicine that never helped me feel better and it never helped my blood work. I didn't have any physical side effects and on too many drugs to know what was effecting my blood counts, although it was probably the MTX and Arava. My arthritis has yet to respond to anything but prednisone and NSAIDS. I have even been on the superdrugs like Remicade, Enbrel, Humira, Kineret etc....nothing has cracked my RA yet.

Shandi

Everyone's RA is different and some meds will work for one, while the same won't work for another.

Plaquenil did not work for me. I also did not feel well while taking it. At that point the doc switched me to Arava, which worked great, but not quite good enough for the rheumy. He switched me to Remicade and it looks like I've had no progression of the disease for two years...since I started the Remicade.


You have to trust that the doctor knows what meds to try on you, but if you don't feel well while using something, and they're checking your bloodwork regularly, let the doc know for sure. There are many different combinations of meds to try.