Limited Choices, Scary Medications, and Other Nightmares

In the last 50 of 60 years, there has only been one new medication developed used for the treatment of Lupus. Most of the medications that are currently used to treat Lupus are actually medications that were developed for other illnesses. All medications that are used to treat Lupus only address symptoms. There are no medications that can correct Lupus or address the disease directly, not yet anyway.  

I'm just learning about the medications, so this information is not comprehensive, but here is a taste of what choices I have been faced with so far. The Plaquinel is a "tier one" drug, I think that is the first one that gets tossed at us, but cause the list of side effects and risks are not as scary as the "tier two" drugs. However, the list was scary enough for me.  I've been taking Plaquinel for a few months, but I have a slight allergy to the medication. I break out in hives all over my body if I try to take the full dose for very long.  My Rheumatologist has suggested moving to Imuran, a "tier two" medication, but it's just too scary for me to commit to at this time.  

The point of taking any of these drugs is to suppress the malfunctioning immune system.  When the medication works, the symptoms of Lupus are reduced and I can function with less daily pain and discomfort, I have energy enough to make it a full day at work, my skin lesions clear up and I feel fairly normal for weeks at a time. Feeling normal has not happen for about 2 years now, so I was pretty stoked when the Plaquinel caused a real improvement in my daily life. I was in tears when I called my Rheumatologist and he said I should try another medication, a "tier two" medication, one that is listed as a known carcinogen  one that has side effects listed that may cause sorosis of the liver, or leukemia, just to name a few of the really ugly ones.

After doing some research and asking a lot of questions, both of my Rheumatologist as well as MyLupusTeam.com forum, I came up with an idea. Although it's not normal, my Rheumatologist is letting me try Plaquinel at a lower dose to see if my body can find a happy balance between the drugs effectiveness and my body's allergic reaction. I'm thankful that my doctor is willing to try this and is interested to see if this works for me. I've only been doing this for a few weeks, so the jury is still out on this little adventure. 

So here I am, crossing my fingers, hoping that my body will respond well and I can hopefully get back to a mostly normal life.  

Below are some links to the side effects and risks of some of my personal options for treating my form of Lupus. Please proceed with caution, this information may give you nightmares. 

Plaquinel side effects and risks:

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/plaquenil-side-effects.html

Imuran side effects and risks:

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/imuran-side-effects.html

Bynlysta Infusions side effects and risks:

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/benlysta-side-effects.html