Comment

Comment by Annie on October 15, 2013 at 1:14pm

KarenGinny,
I'm sorry to hear about your problems with Plaquenil. I know that some ladies are taking the antibiotic, Doxycycline, instead of Plaquenil for the inflammation. Perhaps that would work better for you.

Comment by KarenGinny - Iowa, US on October 15, 2013 at 11:20am

Hello and welcome to the new ladies here. I just wanted to give an update on my doctor's visits. I saw a new dermatologist a while ago and after getting my old derm's records he prescribed Plaquenil for me to take twice a day and see him in a month. I started it on October 1 and on the 9th I noticed a red rash starting on my legs, thighs, back and stomach. It was itchy but not horrible, just mostly irritating. I have had hives in the past that were much worse, requiring a cortisone shot. After the first day I suspected the new RX since I haven't done anything else different and called my Dr, who advised me to stop taking it and take an anti-histamine - "allegra" & come to my appointment I have scheduled on the 29th. I still have the rash, but it is slowly going away. So now I can't take the plaquenil and I don't know what other options I will have to stop my FFA. I've lost a great deal of hair in the past 2 years and though it seems to have stopped, I still have a lot of hair in the drain when I wash it and struggle with making the hair I have left look good. I still have a very itchy irritated scalp and use a dandruff shampoo Neutrogena t-gel, to try to keep it under control. Has anyone else had a bad reaction to Plaquenil?

Comment by Annie on October 15, 2013 at 10:56am

Hi All,
I had my three-month apt with my derm yesterday. I've been on Plaquenil for almost four months now. I was concerned since I had a flareup in September after taking it for two months, afraid that it wasn't helping. The doctor said that the ffa is a little more active than it was three months ago, but I had very little redness & no inflammation at that visit. He thought perhaps the stress from the death of family member might have caused the flare-up, but he said that he feels it would have been much worse it I hadn't been taking the Plaquenil. He said that I should call his office immediately to schedule an appt if I feel like I'm having another flare-up so he could prescribe an oral steroid or antibiotics to lessen the length & severity. I was not aware this was an option, so I thought I might share it with you. He prescribed a different topical steroid since the Clobetesol has been irritating my scalp. I don't remember what it's called, but will let you know what it is as soon as I pick it up at the pharmacy. I asked if I needed an antibiotic as well as the Placquenil, but he doesn't want to overload my system with drugs at this time. I have another three-month prescription for Plaquenil and will go back in January unless I have another flare-up. He said I need to find an outlet for stress to prevent another flare-up. I definitely need to work on that since the most stressful months are coming up with the holiday season.

Comment by Debs on October 15, 2013 at 4:22am

Jean I have used acupuncture a few years ago and it cured me completely of period pain so I am a big fan of chinese traditional medicine. I will be very interested to find out how you get on. If Belinda has done your eyebrows I know you will now look fantastic. XXX

Comment by Jean on October 14, 2013 at 1:43pm

We're off on holiday over Christmas and the New Year, so huge thanks for the advice on Factor 50, Celia. Belinda told me that she had now seen four ladies with FFA within a year, having 'treated' none previously. She also gave me discount as I was having the tattoo on 'medical' grounds. I'm now seeing a Chinese practitioner who feels he may be able to improve my autoimmune system with herbal pills and acupuncture............Watch this space!!
Kind regards
Jean

Comment by Celia on October 14, 2013 at 1:00pm

Jean - you look fab as we used to say a hundred years ago. Just keep positive and take it all in your stride. I must say yet again how having eyebrows albeit tattoed ones makes SUCH as difference. Did you mention to Belinda that you have alopecia - Debs and I both got a discount because of that - great perk !! I went in December last year - I always use Factor 50 on them to help prevent fading, but will have a top up as and when. x

Comment by Jean on October 14, 2013 at 12:14pm

Thanks, Celia - finally managed to send through a photo. It's not on the Members grid......maybe I did something wrong!!

Best wishes
Jean

Comment by Celia on October 14, 2013 at 9:18am

Jean - to post a pic - go into Settings which you will find on the top right hand side of the page where you sign in or out. You then upload a photo from whatever is stored on your computer. If you have Skype - put the webcam on and SMILE - get 'caught on camera' ! You can use that image to put on your profile - then just save it and you will see it to the left of the comment box on the FFA page. Hope that makes sense !

Comment by Celia on October 13, 2013 at 5:45pm

Hi PJ - I take 1 x 400mg capsule of turmeric daily. It's a SOLGAR brand - free from salt, sugar, gluten etc. It's called Turmeric Root Extract (curcuma longa). I also take a supplement for hair, skin and nails which works wonders for my nails. My hair is very fine in texture, not anything like pre-FFA. I had scarlet fever also as a child. My near fatal pneumococcal pneumonia happened 3 years ago at Xmas. I have said before that I think it messed up my immune system - hence the FFA. My diagnosis was early 2012,but no meds or good dermatologist until late 2012.

Comment by PJ - MN, USA on October 13, 2013 at 1:01pm

I do not believe these mites are a factor in FFA. My skin scraping test did not show any mites or anything else unusual. I had to convince the Dr I was seeing at the time to even do the test. I think that something caused our systems to just get out of whack, something that caused us to be more sensitive than the average person. I did see that some people on here had pneumonia as a child. Did anyone else have a major illness as a child? I had pneumonia and scarlet fever. However, I didn't seem to have sensitive skin until I became an adult. Maybe it is still something to do with hormones.

For those of you taking tumeric, how do you decide what brand to buy? What do you look for to know you are getting a good quality? There's so many brands and varying strengths. If I remember right, people were taking 200 mg twice a day.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 357
• 358
• 359
• 360
• 361
• …
• 507
• Next ›
• Page