positive for Covid

[Debs63]

Hi all I was diagnosed with PMR end of last year and have been tapering from 15mg prednisone to at present 8mg.

I started feeling unwell yesterday with cough temperature and whole body aches and my arm pain has all returned so I took a covid test today and it was positive.

My headache is awful and I’m just looking for some advice of what I can do. Will I need to increase my prednisone dose , I’m only with my gp at present but he referred me last week to a rheumatologist as I’ve also become pre diabetic

Look forward for any help

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

I would try paracetamol and other cold remedies [although be careful not to take too much paracetamol] and plenty of fluids, and keep warm.

There are Sick Day Rules with cover Covid, but usually are not really necessary unless you are really ill and cannot get out of bed.

I had covid a few weeks ago [GCA/Pred free] - headache for a couple of days, then couple of days of sniffles, then sore throat and cough for few more days.

Just make sure that it doesn't cause a flare afterwards, and you are just about in the zone where your adrenals need to start thinking about working again, so you find it bit more difficult to cope.

Hope you soon feel better

[SnazzyD]

I wouldn’t at this stage. With a febrile illness any part of me that has ever been injured or isn’t 100% will hurt on top of the whole body striking up like an orchestra and that’s normal. I dare say the Pred wouldn’t help the headache. My rule of thumb is if I’m coping with the usual viral symptoms, even if they are grim, I didn’t add Pred. The time with Covid (No4) I did was after a week of solid high fever and I went into complete collapse with abdominal pain and diarrhoea. I suddenly very much felt I was losing rather than merely feeling terrible, it was quite obvious.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Won't add to the Covid advice but I will recommend cutting your carbs drastically for the pre-diabetes problem. In particular take processed carbs and added sugar out and limit root veg and fruit except berries. No potatoes, rice, pasta and so on,

I like this site as a basic introduction:

dietdoctor.com/low-carb

The pictures for what is good and bad are easy to understand - and you don't NEED to join anything or pay anything. They have a selection of recipe ideas and there are loads to be found free on the internet.

Pred changes the way your body processes carbs and it also triggers the liver to release spikes of glucose from body stores in liver and muscles. You can't influence that but you can influence the contribution made by dietary carbs. Quite a few on the forum have managed to reverse the increase in Hba1c that took them to pre-diabetic and at least one lady kicked her Type 2 diabetes into touch and lost a load of weight.

[agingfeminist]

I was pre-diabetic after a couple of months of high dose pred. Then found this forum. Do take PMR pro's advice. It worked for me.

wishing you a speedy (uneventful) recovery from covid!