Increasing dose advice if you are infected with Covid 19

[South123]

Why is it that the NHS has constantly bombarded me with the same emails and letters reminding me that I am extremely vulnerable and the precautions I should take during the Covis crisis , which are basically the same for the last 6 months and yet there has never been any mention of the precautions i should take regarding my Penistone dosage if I am infected ? I have only just discovered your excellent advice on increasing the dose during illness.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Because it isn't standard information, applying only to patients on long term prednisolone and who have reduced to a relatively low dose in the meantime or who have been off pred for a short time. If you were to develop Covid then you should discuss it with the medical team, reminding them that you are a long term pred user and what dose you are at. The stuff you are receiving is probably a blanket reminder depending on which category you are in - but not everyone in that category is on pred or at risk of secondary adrenal insufficiency.

[Longtimer in reply to PMRpro]

You are right, my sister with R A gets the same letters/emails as me, but is not in steroids....

[herdysheep]

They may be doing an audit of who has been contacted etc. I have just had a telephone call from surgery but didn't have letter etc at the start of all this when I was on higher dose. Nice to have direct line tel. no. rather than go through 111.

[Pixix]

I dont necessarily know the answer, but I had an excellent personally addressed letter from my surgery acknowledging that I’m on long term pred & telling me what to do if I get covid. It’s in the ‘important’ filing box easy to find, hoping I won’t need it! It wasn’t from the NHS, though, but specifically from my gp, if you see what I mean! The NHS letters come from a completely different source & seem to be issued each time we have a tier upgrade or lockdown, as reminders, more than anything, those letters are also available to read or gov web site. Therefore, I guess it’s up to individual doctors to send any extra information to individual patients, if they see fit!

[South123 in reply to Pixix]

Is it basically the same as the one published on here. ie if you are taking 1 to 10mg a day normally that you up your dose to 10mg morning and 10mg evening ?

[Pixix in reply to South123]

I will ‘dig’ out the letter this morning & let you know later! S x

[Pixix in reply to South123]

So sorry for delay...my letter is a little different, but I also suffer from repeat chest infections, asthma, fibromyalgia, Sjögren’s & a few other things! My letter was addressed to me, not a blanket letter, so it shows you need something tailored to your situation, rather than a ‘blanket’ coverage! I am now on a much lower daily dose than I was six months ago, so I don’t think it’s even applicable to me now! If I get sick, I will be phoning my gp for advice. I think you would be better off doing this, too, not relying on general information, unless you want to follow the sick day rules. I followed them when I had a tooth infection in August & it worked well, but covid is a very different ‘beast’! Good luck, S x

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Pixix]

Have any other factors changed? And remember, the pred HISTORY can't change until you have been off pred for a long time - the adrenal factor is probably more significant than the current pred dose.

[Pixix in reply to PMRpro]

Um, i was just replying to South123 to say that, basically, my letter was not just because I have PMR, so I don’t think it would apply to her situation, as she asked me if it was the same, or similar, to the pinned post. Thanks for your input, though, hope all OK with you, S x

[artfingers]

So funny me, I never read the links on the right until recently when it came up elsewhere about how to respond to a serious illness like Covid-19 and what exactly to do. Click on the links to the right on this page under "Related Posts" such as: Acute infections and Pred. dose increase - or any of the others there.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to artfingers]

The related posts are often NOT related (HU makes up the keywords as they go along!) but the Pinned Posts are relevant.