I think I have a cold.

[Texastatoogal]

I think I am coming down with a cold. I am only on prednisone. Is there any cold medicine I can take?

[andrew]

Hi there
I usually take a paracetamol and antihistamine combination but have used the standard ol' cold and flu meds from the chemist as well plus vitamin C. Depends how bad the cold is. Possibly just some paracetamol might calm it down. I don't think there's anything in the cold/flu medicines that we need to watch out for unless there's a particular allergy.

[Pete]

Hi,

Since you're not taking any immunosuppressant, you should be ok with any of the OTC cold remedies (also absent any allergies to medication). You'll probably have your "normal" experience with this cold. If it lasts longer than normal or you develop other symptoms, please call your doctor.

[Texastatoogal]

Thanks for the information. My head colds normally end up going straight to a chest cold and then bronchitis. I will definitely keep a closer eye out this time around.

[windchime]

When I got a cold prior to the wegs meds mine also went straight to my chest and bronchitis. I then got smart and started taking 10 mg of prednisone for a week when the cold symptoms started and that usually kept it from going into my chest. Since you are on prednisone already hopefully it will not travel to your lungs this time. How much pred are you on? Keep us posted.

[Texastatoogal]

I am on 40mg. I was thinking the same thing with being on the prednisone already. Hopefully it will just be a normal cold!

[Texastatoogal]

Andrew, what is paracetamol? Also on a different subject, anyone who has had the "rash". I have a question. When I first got the rash it was on my stomach and legs, spread to my forearms, top of my feet, hips, butt and breast. I was a lovely sight! Was put on the prednisone. And it slowly went away. When I tapered my prednisone from 80 to 60. Some came back. That I understood, even when I tapered again to 40. Which I have been on for 2 weeks or so. Well it has never 100% cleared from my stomach or breast. They start to go away, then bam! They are back! Is this "normal"?

[drz]

My severe rash went away with treatment but later on skin lesion began to appear. Most people don't have skin problems initially but most people with Wegs develop some skin problems after a few years according to the info presented at last Vasculitis conference.

Our suppressed immune system puts us at risk for various pre-cancerous skin lesions which need to be biopsied and frozen to remove them as they appear. Adding a dermatologist to the list of specialists we need to see routinely is a good idea.

[annekat]

The prednisone should help, I guess. I forget why you are not on an immunosuppressant. The one cold I had since dx and treatment was fairly mild and didn't cause bronchitis or anything, but I did end up having a mild to moderate flare after, or during, my recovery from this cold. So I don't know if the cold triggered the flare or not. I do think I was undermedicated with my immuosuppressant, MTX, and raising the dose of that and the pred cleared up the flare in short order. So it could be the low dosage of MTX that caused the flare, and not the cold.

As for the rash, some of us seem to get it more prominently than others. I mainly get the little red dots on my forearms, which are a dead give away that I'm under some stress and Wegs is trying to wake up. I think there are some on my breasts too, that don't clear up the way the forearm ones do in a few days; I chalk this up to the breast skin being more tender and harder to heal. They appear to be like little blood blisters. I don't get a heavy rash like some pictures I've seen, just some small red dots, but at least on my forearms, I know for sure that they are Wegs rash.