Hi everyone!

My hair has been getting thinner. I 'm on 400mg of plaquenil could that be why? It's not to bad I just stated to notice more hair coming out. I've been on the meds for about 6 weeks. Sunday I had people over and had about 4 drinks. About 2 hours after my last drink I took the plaquenol 200mg and when to bed. When I woke up my head was killing me and I couldn't walk I was so dizzy. The floor was coming up to my face. that is how I felt anyway. :nono: So I know I shouldn't drink and take the plaquenil. Has anyone ever felt that way? I know a lot of you have alot more to worry about then my little things happening. Thanks for reading LIZ :)

Hello baseball,

To start with none of your questions or worries are little. They are very real and you must always ask if you are uncertain of anything or unsure if it is "normal". We all have to deal with our problems affecting us in different ways. This is what this board is here for, for your support.

I am not going to comment on the drinking and plaquenil because it is a drug I don't take, so I don't know how mixing the two would turn out. Hopefully someone will come and help you with that.

What ype of lupus do you have? The information below is based on discoid in the main, but refers to general hair loss in lupus. The hair loss though can be attributed to the following:-

Active disease is associated with plugging of the hair follicles, which results in clumps of hair simply falling out.

Patients with discoid lupus can experience mild, generalised hair loss, bald spots, or even total baldness.

Hair loss can be treated. Discoid lesions respond to local scalp injections with steroid preparations. Antimalarials & corticosteroids promote hair growth.

You hav to be very careful when taken any prescribed medications that if you buy OTC medicines, you check for any interaction with what you are taking already. Mixtures of medications, prescribed and OTC, might be causing your hair loss. Just another idea.

Hope this helps. Take care.

goldenwings :angel:

Dear Liz,

My rheumie warned me that I had to cover my head, even though all my rashes had been SCLE-annular type. It had never occurred to me that I was "eligible" for both "discoid" and "malar" rashes, too. Rashes do NOT respect subsets, it seems: there's crossover in quite a few people. So if you don't keep your head covered, you should.

Is your hair loss along the hairline? I still get that when I'm a little off, less over time, though.

As for alcoholic drinks: I've known other people on Plaquenil who get monstrous headaches like you describe. Maybe the disease itself is also a factor? I know I got such huge headaches in the years prior to Dx that I'd stopped all alcohol at least 5 years prior to starting Plaquenil. Plus I've read that some women metabolize alcohol more poorly as they age, so I wonder if that was part of why I grew so intolerant in my mid-30's.

Anyway, I hope this finds you identifying some possible adjustments & hopefully seeing some quick improvement on these issues. All my best, Vee

Thank you for writting! I haven't been DX with anything yet.My doctor said he thinks I have raynaud's, photosensitivity,facial redness,joint pain, postive ANA (1.160) boredline LA and His. I also have an acheing under my arm. Alot of different things. The hair loss is new and is not bad I just seem to be noticing more hair is coming out of my head. I'll have to look at my hairline. Thanks Liz

I was taking plaquenil and methotrexate, I'm not much of a drinker but tried a social drink when out to dinner. Could not hack it on the medication, made me feel sick and made my stomach feel awful, tried another drink several months later, first few sips and I said no way same reaction. I do think it was the meds (plaquenil and/or MTX), I've been off both for months now and did have a few sips of my husbands drink when out to dinner and did not have the same reaction but since I take other meds I won't try it again.

When I was first diagnosed with lupus (systemic), I was losing a lot of hair when I shampooed. At the same time, we found out that my thyroid function was low and I started on thyroid meds. Hypothyroidism will definitely cause some hair loss. Check to see if your doc checked your thyroid levels. The thyroid thing and lupus go hand-in-hand a lot of the time.

Oklupi