Belated Seasons Greetings all. I am staying with a friend in gloomy West Wales and hoping the nasty flu bug that is going round her family will not get to me and make my return to East Sussex extremely difficult.
In anticipation of a long drive here and a busy time over Christmas I upped my daily dose of pred from 3mg to 5mg and this has definitely helped with the fatigue and brain fog I was struggling with . Now it also seems to be keeping the flu at bay, but is this just wishful thinking? i feel that I haven’t had a severe cold over the whole of the eight years of treating PMR with prednisolone, has anybody else noticed this?
As a precaution I am also using VICKS First defence nasal spray and some Night and Day flu relief, but wondering if I should cut short my visit and make the long journey home in case I start to deteriorate. It’s seems this flu virus in West Wales is pretty nasty!
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Zebedee44
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Wishful thinking I fear!!! But I too do seem to have had fewer bad viral infections since being on pred - not that I had that many before.
Should I go or should I stay??? Questions, questions. It's a hard one. On my only real experience of proper flu, I would say go home now if you definitely haven't yet got it! I was at my daughter's at the time, small baby in the house and I was sleeping on the sofa. I woke with a severe sore throat and decided I really should hot foot it home - a 3 1/2 hour drive. I don't know how long it took, I had to stop for a sleep at one point, I'm darn sure I shouldn't have been driving at all though I had felt fine when I left. That's what proper flu does, hits in a very short time. I spent the next week in bed and even after a week I got my daughter to drive to the airport to fetch her dad who'd been in the USA. I could have driven as the law requires as she was a learner and needed the practice! I just didn't want to yet!
Thanks for your thoughts. It’s six hours minimum driving and I think there is impenetrable fog most of the way with flights grounded at Heathrow so that could be a no brainer. But my friend is still in a bad way after a week and I don’t want to be stuck at her home needing her to care for me.
That puts a very different complexion on it!!! Better than you ending up stuck in a Travelodge halfway home with no-one to look after you because you couldn't make it. And if there is fog that bad along the good old M4 corridor and M25 you are far better off staying where you are safe and warm.
If you're thinking of staying until the fog clears, can you revisit the Covid distancing guidelines and sanitise, sanitise, sanitise and mask up or use a scarf over your face etc?
I don't think I've had (m)any colds in the last 9 years, but I wonder if that's because I am still careful about mixing with others and hand-washing etc. I still mask up when I shop and go at 8am to avoid the crowds.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year and a safe journey home. xx
Agree with PMRpro, a long drive at the best of times, and trying to cope with foggy conditions is going to make it more stressful… so although not ideal, best to stay put and take all the precautions you can to avoid flu…
Not entirely sure I'd rely on John Campbell's theories. He became a "thing" during Covid and made a lot of sense - but seems to have strayed somewhat in response to his following. His PhD is in teaching methods I think - more an acquired scientist role ...
I’ve watched a few of his vitamin D videos and all seems to make sense. He brings in others so not just his theories. Have you seen this video? - very interesting and somewhat upsetting - wondering how many lives could gave been saved during Covid:
Difficult for the layman to know when to be sceptical but since the D3 levels he’s recommending are higher but not likely to be harmful there seems no reason to not follow his advice and good reason to follow it.
There is more to the vit D story than most doctors - including Tim Spector - will admit. It all depends on what they look at. Maybe it doesn't improve cardiovascular outcomes or the other single outcomes but I think it probably DOES have a role. None of the research has changed my habit of vit D supplementation. Can't be doing me much harm.
I don’t think you should hope that pred will stop you catching diseases & give you some protection if you’re in a house with bugs! I really don’t. It really depends on how good your immune system is tan & you will find that out if you catch it. All we heard frimmmedics is that the new strain of flu is very bad & filling hospitals in England & we were advised to shield through this winter (as we both have lung problems). Why not move out (unless you are doing all the caring for her) into an air BnB or cheap hotel, 5hem drive as soon as fog gone. It’s foggier here in Hampshire today. We are both laid low with asthma & coughing!! Take care, difficult decision, but only you can make it!
I don’t know how I have resisted infection with my friend coughing and spluttering and barely able to breath at times, her elderly mother and little grand daughter just as bad when I joined them for Christmas. Maybe nine years of pred and regular vaccinations have somehow protected me, strange as it seems.
I may have missed this, but have you had the flu vaccine ? If so this plus wearing a mask may help protect you until the fog lifts and you feel able to drive home. Then go !
Yes I have had the flu vaccine and later the Pfizer Covid jab, but the increased dose of pred from 3 -5mg has made me feel invigorated, pain free and bright! I just hope I didn’t bring the nasty flu bug home with me.
I braved it today and was lucky with my journey home apart from the Gatwick area and the A21. Lots of private cars on the road but barely any heavy goods vehicles. If the flu has followed me home at least I won’t be stuck 250 miles from my own bed.
Thankyou all for your sensible advice. My dear friend continues to be extremely unwell and struggling to enjoy my company. I really don’t want to be a burden to her so I decided to brave the weather and left Ammanford at 10 am, home by 4pm with only severe fog in the last hour of my journey from around Gatwick.
I take a regular sublingual spray of Vit D and K and have read a bit about higher doses being beneficial, but I haven’t applied the theory yet. I honestly believe that the pred has somehow supported me through this period of close contact with what seems to be a severe flu virus. My friend is coeliac and six months from brain tumour surgery and declared this morning she had never felt so unwell even immediately after the surgery.
Her home near the Brecon beacons is shrouded in fog quite regularly so I reckon she might well be Vit D deficient. The sun shone brightly on her farmhouse on Boxing Day while lower ground was foggy, but she was already ill in bed.
Well done - and at least it wasn't too bad? At our ages we are definitely NOT up when it comes to vit D unless we take supplements, wherever we live. At this time of year in Welsh Wales there is no benefit from it anyway in terms of vit D - nothing from September to May. Without supplements you are looking at a vit D in yer boots ...
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