Should you take your Predisone when you have the flu

Posted by psquicciarino @psquicciarino, Jan 2 2:09am

Should you take your regular Predisone dose when you have the flu.

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Please discuss this with your doctor but you probably have to continue taking your prednisone dose even though you have an infection. There is some debate about the need for more prednisone when you are sick or have an infection but please discuss this with your doctor too.

Prednisone probably won't help your immune system fight the infection. This is the unfortunate thing about prednisone. Prednisone shouldn't ever be stopped suddenly even though you may have an adverse reaction to prednisone or an infection.

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Apparently, yes. There are "steroid sick day rules" which suggest a temporary rise in dose while sick with fever or vomiting, but no change for mild to moderate illness - but changes are only at the direction of your doctor. When I had bad bronchitis a couple of months ago, my doctor told me to postpone the scheduled reduction for a week or so till I was better, so I stuck to the same dose a bit longer.

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Going off prednisone without properly tapering down (titrating) can cause your body to have serious reactions which can land you in the ER. Talk with your doctor about the proper actions while taking prednisone, when to taper down, when to hold at the current dosage and when to increase the dosage should all be discussed with your doctor.

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Hi. Did you ever get an official response from your Dr? I ask because I currently have the flu and taking prednisone and I seem to recall being told by my doctor that if I ever got sick that I would need to double up on my prednisone. But I have not had a chance to connect with my doctor so I haven’t made any changes to my medication. Thanks!

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@cadenise1

Hi. Did you ever get an official response from your Dr? I ask because I currently have the flu and taking prednisone and I seem to recall being told by my doctor that if I ever got sick that I would need to double up on my prednisone. But I have not had a chance to connect with my doctor so I haven’t made any changes to my medication. Thanks!

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My doctor told me just keep taking my regular dose which is 15 mg. I take 1/2 in morning at 9 am and 1/2 at night 9 pm. I was very sick for 4 weeks. After
I0 days of being sick I took antibiotics.

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