Possible throat infection.

[Sandybo]

Hi friends, some advice please. I have had an on/off sore throat with catarrh for 3weeks. Hubby has had a nasty chest infection over Christmas, now improving. I woke up with flu like feelings from my neck up this morning, also no voice and a loose chesty sounding cough, I must add I'm not feeling chesty at the moment. I have been drinking lemon and ginger tea with added lemon and ginger also a pinch of cinnamon and some honey, and this has been a help these last few weeks, is there anything else I can do to help myself? I am hoping to be able to see a GP this afternoon, it won't be my usual one but hope fully a very nice and understanding GP in our little local surgery, however I'm not sure if she is familiar with PMRGCA and as I also have large vessel involvement I want to be aware of what I might need to ask her, such as, do I need to increase my pred while this is going on? I'm currently in the middle of a 12 month stint of 10 mg pred, I have settled on this dose very well and my CRP and ESR have been good of late. I'm thinking she may give me antibiotics to hopefully hit the problem on the head. My rhuemy told me last January that if I am not well I must get checked out, but at the time I was on 30mg of pred having just reduced from 40mg due to this large vessel involvement which always bothers me somewhat as there is no way of knowing what is going on in my body, I guess the fact that my bloods have been good and apart from the fatigue I have been fairly well. Any advice will be very welcome, thank you.

[olive2709]

Your on the best track, GP first stop

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Don't think you need to increase Pred, just continue giving yourself some TLC. Hopefully the doctor will give you something to help.

[SheffieldJane]

Infections and a virus will hit us much harder than usual because we have an autoimmune disease and the steroids have reduced our natural immunity. If you can ride this out with help from your GP and painkillers, I think that would be better for you than increasing the Prednisalone dose that works for you in normal circumstances.