My best friend's grandson has chicken pox, and I am on prednisolone. Today, the pharmacist told me that my friend cannot see me until 2 weeks AFTER her grandson contracted chicken pox as the steroids leave me with little immunity.
It can be - the problem being that adults get shingles which can be serious, so it's a precaution.
I had better tell her then. I hope she understands..
The prednisolone lowers the bodies immune system and the ckickem pox is a very nasty viral infection than cause not just shingles but herpes encephalitis ....depending on dose of Prednisolone and duration of treatment they dr can assess your risk and offer some treatments that may reduce the risk of taking these .
I am not sure if there is a consensus on this as advice varies a lot. It depends on your circumstances and medication i.e. esp if on prednisolone longer term. May be best to ask the doctor that prescribed your prednisolone and knows your medical history better than a pharmacist may.
Have you had chickenpox before? If you have, you should be immune to varicella/chickenpox. But I think as others say you can still get shingles which can be quite painful and serious in adults.
I have had it mentioned once when given a steriod card with a slightly longer course of prednisolone once. Some say it should be given with higher dose steriod inhalers.
Well I took the cowardly way out in the end. I left a message on my friend's phone asking her not to visit, then went out to avoid having to turn her away at my door. On my return home, there was a slip of paper shoved through saying she had called but I was out.
GUILTY AS CHARGED! Sorry, dear friend, but I don't want shingles or to be ill.
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