Immunisation with PMR/GCA

[Gaz227]

I was checking my travel paperwork for my forthcoming holiday to Mexico when I noticed an underlined sentence saying immunise 4 to 6 weeks prior to trip. I had completely forgot , then it crossed my mind if our immune systems are suppressed on pred immunisation could be very dangerous to us. Your experiences please folks do you, don't you , only certain ones. Sorry to keep throwing hand grenades so close to the holiday session , but some country's immunisation is a must. Question is which ones ?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi Gaz,

Best idea, if you can, is to see your practice nurse, who will advise what's required. You can also pull off the internet what immunisations are required for which country. There are lots of sites, including NHS, giving all info. If your normal ones, like tetanus, polio etc are up to date then it shouldn't be too bad, but if you need those as well as others then you need to get a move on because you don't want too many all at once. If you are going to main cities in most countries you don't need as much as if you are going into the interior, but easy enough to check. Just remember to be sensible about hand washing and drink bottled water.

I had varies jabs before my trip last year to NZ and Singapore inc boosters for ones I've mentioned above, no probs.

enjoy!

[Gaz227 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks Dorsetlady, most of my jabs I think are up to date as I went to the Dominican a few years back so the hep jabs etc should be ok, just wasn't sure if we can actually have immunisations during pred courses . Thanks for the reply we obviously can if you had them . 😀

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Gaz227]

Hi again, I was just advised that some may not be as effective as they would be for somebody not on steroids. As Celtic says just double check with nurse. Fitfortravel is NHS site.

[Gaz227 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks will check it out

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Gaz, the recommendation is that we should avoid all 'live' vaccines whilst suffering from an auto-immune condition and being on steroids. So check out which vaccines are required and, if they are 'live' avoid them. For all other vaccines, firstly seek confirmation with your GP or a good pharmacist as to their safety in PMR and their compatibility with steroids. Then have a lovely time in Mexico.

[Gaz227 in reply to Celtic]

That is really interesting Celtic , I didn't know the difference thanks for the knowledge I will investigate 😀

[peanuckle]

Gaz227 - Take some antibiotics with you. Always handy to have in case of infection. Only big thing to avoid in Mexico is the water - be careful of salads too. Our doc says if you drink Scotch it will kill anything. Have a wonderful time.

[Gaz227 in reply to peanuckle]

Like the advice lol especially the scotch . Cheers