Unfortunately Lupus tends to affect people differently and therefore is difficult to diagnose. My thought is your Dr. must have a high suspicion it is Lupus. Plaquenil is a common drug used for Lupus patients. I suspect he will redo the blood test after a month or so to see if the plaquenil had any effect.

I use this ..it helps with my flare ups... and but side effects are hard on me. but i believe if i keep on track with the meds... i kept stopping the at certain times of different seasons. ..i just need too keep on track.

I would try it. When i was diagnosed my dr put me on it right away. It really helped and kept it from getting worse. Made it manageable.

I was just recently diagnosed with lupus at the end of May. My doctor also put me on Plaquenil and told me that it was the drug with the very least amount of side effects for lupus. It is also very slow acting, it can take 3-4 months before it is really effective which is why it is used more as maintenance. I am also on Prednisone right now, hopefully it all works

I have had this similar thing happen . I was put on the meds to see if it helped with my flares and I have to go back in oct to see what it has done . And honestly it has not made them go away completely but when I do have my flares they are not half as bad as they was before the meds