Is it possible to JUST be on plaquinel forever?
I’m a 22 year old woman, I’ve been on 400mgs of Hydroxychloroquine and Lupus flare free for roughly ~3 years and I would say my daily average pain level sits around a 1 out of 10 - which I’m aware is an immense privilege when living with this disease.
I guess I’m wondering: what is my risk of having to go on immunosuppressants? I so deeply want to go work in clinical maternal medicine - specifically my dream would be to travel around the world and work in Global Maternal health. My deepest fear is not that the plaquinel will hurt my eyes or anything - it’s that I’ll have to get off the plaquinel and onto something more taxing on my immune system.
This year, my mother and I were offered the opportunity to go to Sierra Leone to see the expanding maternal health system there - we ended up not going due to previous commitments- but I also would have been unable to go due to the increased risk of picking up TB (and then later the risk of picking up Ebola).
I guess I’m just questioning my entire future and career path - and now that my disease is so stable, it feels like maybe I’m holding myself back unnecessarily- but then ofc I enter a minor flare and convince myself that my anxiety is correct 🥴
Just looking for advice for folks that have been through this before :)
edited for clarity
Editing again to say thank you so so much for all the insightful comments and for sharing your experiences!! This whole thread has absolutely renewed my hope for a productive future despite potentially being immunosuppressed. Thank you all so so much.