I think I have the flu, at first I was worried it was a flare, but now it has developed into the typical flu ..stuffy nose,.dry (for now) cough, fatigue, photophobia , muscle and joint pain.chills..
I should know this by now, but I was wondering if I should up the Prednisone ? I had just started tapering 9/8 but I guess I'll need to at least stop tapering and stay at 9mgs?
This must be the man - flu MB suffered a while back😷
Hi,
Sorry to hear that. Stop the tapering for sure, and depending on how things go you could increase for a few days.
Hope you feel better soon.
Oh poor you Gaijin, you must feel so awful, rest rest rest and allow a longer convalescence than normal when it's over. You will pause your tapering until you are completely over it obviously. If it was me I wouldn't increase my dose in the midst of flu, but if I felt broken afterwards I would. Get well soon 🌷
What is your thinking about not increasing during the flu but waiting until afterwards? Is it that Pred weakens the immune system and we need the system to be as robust as possible during the flu, GCA/PMR aside.
Pred really doesn't make that much difference to your immune system for most people - obviously it can for some.
The idea of the increase during illness/trauma/stress is to back up your adrenal function which is compromised and won't produce the spikes of cortisol you need to cope. If you are below 10mg then you probably DO need to double the dose but above 20mg you almost certainly don't - add a bit but not double.
To be perfectly honest it doesn't seem to help with acute illness for me. I am wary of doing it too often and confusing a taper. Painkillers work on flu symptoms. I do it occasionally to help the donkey to trot - unavoidable physical stress like demanding travel. Nothing as scientific as suppressing my immune system. Just why do it if the effect is negligible?
Thank you, wasn't sure, having raised the dose for travel, as you say, I thought maybe it was the thing to do.. So I will not taper for now and will not increase the pred.
It's funny, I have always been very prone to all sorts of viruses during the winter. Then , when I was diagnosed with PMR about a year ago, I stopped getting the viruses, till now.I attributed it to prednisone( I know, silly me) but maybe it's because my grandchildren, that I had daily contact with, moved away to the US.
Really! You've lost yours too. That's uncanny. I now do not know how I did it. A 2 year old 2 or three days a week since he was a baby, while his mummy worked, then needed rest when pregnant and then time in hospital when his little brother was brought at 34 weeks. Would I do it again? Like a shot!
They are having at least a year in Australia. My daughter just sent a picture of her and baby Rafe walking along the beach at sunrise.
I've lost them 🤦♀️
You haven't lost them..you can video call them ..and it's just a year.They'll love you just the same when they return.My four have moved with no definite time to return, but it's been a thrill for me to be able to speak English to them..they only knew what little I had taught them and now they are perfectly bilingual. Yours will come back with an Australian accent😀 Hopefully you'll be over the PMR when they return and you resume granny duties again. Grandkids are tiring and are germ bags but they make one feel younger, huh?
I was told by my endochronologist to double my dose if I got the flu. I do not know if this is common practice because I had never been told that in my five years of GCA and PMR. My comment....I have had very poor doctor's.
No more reduction - and see how you go. But BED REST!!!!!!
True... maybe just a guide line. BUT I ended
up in the emergency room so i am a little inclined take her word for it.
Upon more thought about the OTT remark. The doctor knew, of course , what dosage I was on when she said.it. I just think that it should be considered more often ...I have had flares when that was not followed and think that was probably the cause. If nothing else About this disease I have learned that over caution is preferable to not being aware of the possibilities.
For now, I have only stopped tapering, lots of fluids and bed rest...the usual.I think I'm learning to really listen to old PMR and more or less give it the pred it needs, I just ask on here so I dont make any more stupid moves.
30048, that must have been scarey to have ended up in the ER for the flu or adrenal insufficiency. You are lucky you have doctors who you can get in touch with anytime.Here in Spain, the system only allows for quick appointments to the GP , who in my experience is only good for handing out prescriptions that the consultant already has prescribed and permission slips to see a consultant ( sometimes) and then it takes 5 or 6 months!..a sort of secretary if you ask me. The one I have, has certainly never treated a PMR patient and would just tell me to keep strictly to the tapering schedule the rheumi gave me - 2.5 mgs a month till I get to 5, which I have been ignoring , of course. It would be literally impossible for me "get permission" to vary my dosis of Prednisone. The ER here is not much better that going to a GP.When I broke my pelvis, I went to the ER where they took some x-rays and determined nothing was broken nor did I have OA in the hip region which I had been told previous to PMR DX that was the cause of my stiffness and pain....that I was just "low on analgesia"..In the US , I got the same x-ray months later, after a fall on ice,and they showed the two pelvic fractures perfectly well.
Sorry for ranting and going off subject, I just wanted to illustrate the credibility of the information on the forums and how I would be completely alone on this journey without it. I'd probably be yo- yoing away or bed bound and miserable.
Going even more off the subject. You must be worried about the political situation in Spain right now.
Thank you for your helpful remarks about grandchildren. It is very beautiful where they are. Who wouldn't want that for the people they love?
I caught everything Theo brought home from Nursery for a while except Chicken Pox thankfully, in spite of dabbing each little spot with camomile lotion after an oatmeal bath.
Wishing you a speedy recovery Gaijin. X
It's amazing how many things we have in common..even our grandchildrens' names...my last grandchild, who now posseses a British passport that says " born in Westminster"( not sure why but I'm proud of it😂😂), is named Teo. ( spanish versión of Theo).
The political situation here seems to have calmed down a bit..finally the Catalan "no-independistas" have taken to be streets in huge numbers and have voiced their desire for a unified Spain.Lets hope that there will be no more need for violent measures.
I think it is all being watched closely here - we have some independence supporters who were desperately disappointed at the result from Scotland and were hoping the Catalan one would be more the way they wanted.
They are all crackers - they are too small (especially here) ...
Thanks for your reply. My problem was that on 12 mg of orednisone ..I was only showing that I was absorbing from 1 to 3. (5 is the absolute minimum I guess ) but I had been thinking I was getting about seven. If I got sick ...I was in trouble. I know everyone is different and has to act accordingly to their situation and God forbid we add a little more medicine ...that awful miracle drug to help us through !!
Sorry about Spain .....hopefully you do not have a " moron" for your leader ( I cannot even sat the word president. In regards to him. ) the world is off it's axis I think.
It's true, it seems there is not a leader in sight that we can respect and admire. I still don't understand how the man hasn't been impeached for being unfit.. They should at least take his cell phone away ..his tweets are dangerous.
GCA-PMR awaiting biopsy
SWEATING PMR/GCA AND TAPERING
GCA/PMR and spa treatments
Not GCA or PMR after all. 
Fibromyalgia v GCA/PMR
