Flare or just the coughing?

[Timek]

Hello. I was diagnosed with pmr in October 23 and put on 15mg pred. Have been slowly reducing once all under control and have been following a plan from here. Now on 9mg. All looking good until i picked up the dreadful cough thats circulating in uk. After coughing to point of throwing up last night I'm off to a respiratory clinic this arvo. However this morning my hips ache so i wonder if this is a slight flare 9r the factthat i had to sit up to sleep last night and my body has been put under stress from coughing. Shall i up my pred for couple of days? Advise very welcome please.

[SheffieldJane]

I would certainly follow the sick day rules for about 10 days. Your chest infection sounds like a horror, combined with the muscular strain the coughing has caused. I would double my dose. Have a look at FAQs for a comprehensive explanation of sick day rules and short term increase of your Pred dose. Hopefully this will enable you to get back to a good taper from 9 mgs. It can get tougher from 7 mgs, you need to be in good shape. I am still wobbly from a chest infection contracted on 15/1/24.

[Timek in reply to SheffieldJane]

Thankyou. Will take a look

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Did you get to the resp clinic? What did they say?

[Timek in reply to PMRpro]

Yes i did....the usual virus thing and just have to wait for it to go.....helpful!!! Think i may up pred to 12mg for few days to see if it helps. What do you think?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Timek]

Probably worth trying - I'm surprised the chest clinic didn't suggest it.

[Timek in reply to PMRpro]

Well i was in and out in minutes! Quick go with the steth and oxygen thing on finger thats it!! Will up dose and see what happens.....what a roller coaster life we lead 😂

[Exflex]

Depends on the severity of illness, but doctors should advise on sick day rules, eg 15mg for 5 days then drop down again.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Exflex]

They might - if they were aware of them in the first place ...

[Timek in reply to PMRpro]

Exactly! Told dr of pmr and she just nodded!

[Exflex in reply to Timek]

Sometimes we missed the odd lecture. I did when I was an engineering student.

The first Dr I saw when I was carted in with suspected sepsis (turned out to be adrenal insufficiency) said I’d have to stop steroids because of the infection and antibiotics being administered. The second more senior Dr said that’s wrong, I’ll talk to him. He doubled my dose of steroids and I had a ‘miraculous’ recovery the next morning.

[Preacherball]

In late January I developed what I, and my doc, thought was likely a viral respiratory infection that turned into a terrible cough, As it did not improve I eventually ended up in the emergency room and found out I had bacterial pneumonia. I spent a couple nights in the hospital on IV antibiotics and eventually recovered. I only mention this so that others might be aware that sometimes what appears to be viral, can take a turn to something worse. It was a chest CT scan that eventually revealed the pneumonia. It did not show on a regular chest x-ray I had a few days earlier.