Sometime back my rheumy reduced my dose & at the time he informed me that it was because of my weight & that the specs for plaquenil doses had been reduced. Now I don't take any on Sundays & only 1 every day of the wk rather then the 2 every day. Hope this helps.

My husband was diagnosed 7 months ago and has been on 400 mgs since then. We have not been told this but will sure be checking with dr. next time. Thanks for sharing.

As kitty3 mentioned the dosage is based on weight (mg/kg) and is an accumulated lifetime else so it is possible that he dosage is safe for your husband based on his being newly diagnosed and his BMI. However it is always a good idea to check with his dr to be sure.

I was on 800mg daily and my pcp reduced it to 400mg.I have more pain and fatigue but don't know if it's the dose or my illness is getting out of control?

Initially, I was put on 400 mg but after a month was dropped to 300 mg which is the correct dose according to my rheumy

I have not officially been diagnosed with lupus but have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and a strong likelihood of autoimmune disorder (my rheumy suspected possible undifferentiated connective tissue disease), but I was put on 300mg of plaquenil about a month ago. Even though I don't have a firm diagnosis of autoimmune/connective tissue she already wants me to go up to 400mg but after reading this I am very hesitant to do so. I was told that because of my height/weight that 400mg was fine. However, I also have a family member diagnosed with porphyria, a genetic blood disorder, which I could possibly have as well and plaquenil can be very bad for people with porphyria. I am going to get tested for the blood disorder asap and not let them increase my dosage until I know for sure. I was told by 2 different doctors that plaquenil was very safe and low side effect but it's always important to do your own research! They know that porphyria is in my family so I probably should not have been prescribed this medication in the first place. Porphyria is quite rare though so it's probably not something that is usually on the radar, but there is a large list of medications that can be detrimental to this condition. I would always get a second or third opinion if you are concerned about the dosage you are on. Better safe than sorry! I hope the new dosage works well for you!

My issue is that my lupus triggers the other chronic condition I have pseudo tumor cerebri, for I have maxed out on my medication dose so now I stuck with having symptoms but not being able to increase my medication and my rheumatologist saying my lupus is mild so he doesn't want to give me anything else and my other drs haven't seen anything on exam. I say it's because my flare is mild but they say it's because I'm still stable. It is so frustrating. Every time my symptoms get a drop worse I think think of going into the er but they I don't because I am afraid they won't find anything and they'll just turn me away so I wait for it to get worse....

I began Plaquenil
Since Feb 2017 and this last month I had bad depression and anxiety. I take the
Med for RA. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

I saw a new rheumatologist on Thursday he told me I can safely take 400 mgs, the 300 mgs was not enough for me. I was feeling worse, not the lupus as much as my neurological condition. The doctor said the dosage goes by weight and for me the 400 mgs would be safe.

I think it's weight dependent, but 400 seems to be the most common dose. my hubby and I just got back from a Lupus conference at UC Irvine's Lupus Institute and nobody mentioned this. In fact, the opposite. It's one of the safest lupus meds out there. Maybe get a second opinion? Is that doc trying to push other meds ... ?

No, the other dr actually refused to give me anything when I was feeling worse on the 300 mgs because I had no joint inflammation on exam. He just said I can't take 400 mgs and there's no reason to take anything else because I have mild lupus. I'm happy I got into my new dr who knows more about lupus and how to treat it.

Hello,
I'm new here. I was given the SLE diagnosis April 2017. I was prescribed plaquenil. Because of the side effects she told me I'd have to have an eye exam before I could begin taking it. I was very concerned and the eye doctor gave me the website eyesmart.org one that she uses and I found this article:
https://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/rx-side-effects-new-plaquenil-guidelines-more?may-2011
And I also checked out this one.
http://www.resources.lupus.org/entry/plaquenil-and-eye-health
I hope this helps.

I was in plaquenil but not anymore. I was at 600mg daily and then he reduced it to 300mg. It was not working on me. My rheumatologist didnt say it was toxic but did say it could damage your sight and he referred me every six months for a full feel eyes exam. He later saw it was not doing any difference in my blood tests and gave me chemo pills. Well that made me really sick and he ended up giving me avara for RA and for lupus im doing my own routines because I gave up on meds for lupus. There is other meds you can ask your doctor and if you feel you need a second opinion you can get it from another doctor. Sometimes we need more answers and whats best for us.

I seem to do well on 400 mgs although I have am having a flare this week, not sure why it is this bad, usually I have a couple of days and then my symptoms get better, now I seem to just be getting worse. I'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks before doing anything as I think part of it might be psychosomatic since this time last year is when I became completly unstable after being stable for 10 years.