Hunter134

[Spence134]

I seem to have a flu.Started at 15 mg.in May.Tapered to 8 last week but being sick i can feel inflammation arising.Should i up my prednisone?

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Hi spence134, I hope its not the flu! I haven't upped my pred for colds or when I had flu, but I was at 10mg when I last had a proper flu. I took paracetamol 4 times a day... No more and no lem-sip type drinks if you take plain paracetamol. They should help temperature drop a little. Lots of fluids and rest. You can make tea with honey to help your throat if it's sore or I make ginger tea if well enough. Same principle as a whisky mac I believe... Ginger is argued to help dry the mucous. I hope you feel better soon but if it gets really bad or drops onto your chest get a gp call back. I had antibiotics delivered by pharmacy. Good luck. 🌻

[SnazzyD]

Hello. Oh dear, not nice. When you say you can feel the inflammation rising, what do you mean, above and beyond the normal horrible aches and pains of a decent viral infection?

I didn't increase as routine with illness, though below 5mg the Endocrinologist said to double up if properly ill. Being at 8mg you are getting into awkward adrenal territory, so I would ask your doc if you can up a mg or two or more if they say so. Don’t forget that with upping Pred too much you are increasing the immunosuppression which might not be ideal if you get a secondary bacterial chest infection that can come with it.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I have never increased my dose because of illness - only ever because I had symptoms and sometimes not even then. If it is flu then it is sometimes hard to tell if the aches are the flu or PMR.

[SheffieldJane]

Oh poor you. I would treat flu as flu with bed rest, plenty of fluids and Paracetamol 4 hourly. I sincerely hope this further assault on your immune system doesn’t trigger a flare. If PMR type pains seem to be lingering in about 10 days you could try going up by 5 mgs for a week or so, then straight back to 8 mgs. This has worked for me before and avoids spoiling the taper. See how you go. Get well soon!

No flu jab for you then?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to SheffieldJane]

4-hourly only if you only take 1 tablet or only during the day!

nhs.uk/medicines/paracetamo...

says

"Adults can take a maximum of 4 doses (up to eight 500mg tablets in total) in 24 hours. Wait at least 4 hours between doses."

Even the daily dose of 4000mg/4g is iffy if you drink alcohol or have any liver problems - the recommended total daily dose here is 3000mg. The line between maximum dose and overdose is VERY narrow.

And you MUST NOT take paracetamol and any other cold or flu remedies containing it at the same time.

[SheffieldJane in reply to PMRpro]

Good reminder!

[Yellowbluebell]

Please remember paracetamol is to be taken only 4 x daily and not every 4 hours. As poops has said drinks that include paracetamol must be considered as a dose and not be takennon top of the 4 x daily. If you want hot lemon drinks just use a fresh lemon cut up in hot water. Good luck.YBB