Prednisolone

[Sunnydays1982]

Hi everyone! If I take a course of steroids for a week (30mg each day), will this effect my immune system against Covid 19? Thank you 😊

[twinkly29]

No I would say not. Occasional short courses of oral steroids (such as you have described) won't have an effect on the immune system in the same way as many courses would or indeed taking them continuously. I think because it's short lived, the body sort "rights itself" once the course stops.

It is definitely a balance vs risk thing though - even at the height of the covid situation, if someone with asthma requires oral steroids, either a single short course or more than that, then the risk of not taking them is actually greater than any side effects they may or may not get. Not taking them for a single course will likely mean one's asthma remains uncontrolled for longer and so potentially cause more issues in terms of covid than taking the one short course in the first place.

[Sunnydays1982 in reply to twinkly29]

Thank you x

[Js706]

As twinkly29 says no it shouldn’t do - they normally only consider there to be a potential risk to the immune system after 3 weeks or so of steroids and even then it’s still only a possible side effect

[hilary39]

It’s better to treat your asthma if it flares up than to be struggling. What does your GP say?

[dawnhaycock]

Can anyone advise how much steroids compromises the immune system? My daughter has been on them for about 18 month, between about 20mg and 10mg.

Thanks

[Js706 in reply to dawnhaycock]

As this is just a support forum no-one can advise for sure as to whether there is a problem.

But generally I think anything above 10mg a day for 3 weeks is considered a potential risk - so there would be a potential risk for your daughter.

Does she have a steroid card? As that also gives some advice on it about infections for people on steroids but generally the advice is to take extra precautions generally with infection control (essentially what everyone is having to do now with coronavirus - extra hand washing etc) and to inform your GP if exposed to someone with chickenpox or shingles.

Generally steroids don't tend to have a serious impact on the immune system (other than being slightly more vulnerable to infections) but it can do - although this would present itself with lots of severe infections or infections that are recurrent and take multiple courses of antibiotics to clear. And then there are blood tests that can be done to look for these, but that level of problem is very uncommon.

[dawnhaycock in reply to Js706]

Thank you, thats very useful. Yes she does have a steroid card and at times has had various infections but has been very well for a while now. She is shielding but I was wondering for when she returns to her hairdressing apprenticeship in August.

[Js706 in reply to dawnhaycock]

No problem I'm glad she's been well for a while!

She would probably need to make sure she's very careful in following the guidelines on wearing masks and hand washing etc when she goes back as I think she is on a high enough dose of pred to be considered at increased risk for catching things (including coronavirus from what I've been told by my team).

Its probably worth trying to contact her GP or consultant if she's under one (I hope so if she's on long term pred!) to see if they have any extra advice to follow.

[dawnhaycock in reply to Js706]

Thanks, yes she sees her consultant every month but hasnt been able to during lock down. She has an appointment in two weeks so we will see what he says.