When A Cold Is No Longer Just A Cold

On Wednesday I developed a sore throat. Thursday my throat was feeling a little better but now I had a head cold. Friday it moved from my head to my chest and by Saturday I had pneumonia! I have never seen an illness come on so mild and end up so serious in such a short period of time! My family Dr's words came back to me once he learned what my Rheumy prescribed for my RA medications. He said I needed to be very careful to not expose myself to people who were sick because a cold is no longer just a cold in immune suppressed people. Now I know what he meant.

Immune suppressing medications make dealing with things like the common cold a very slippery slope. I truly needed to go to hospital but I was so scared of the germs that I would be exposed to there that I settled for the walk in clinic. They suggested I go to the hospital but when I expressed my concern of being exposed to worse there he agreed and prescribed powerful antibiotics and I told no methotrexate or plaquinel until my chest is entirely cleared. I was warned that this could take a month or two to clear up.

What will I do without my RA medications for a month or two? How badly is my RA going to flare? What damage will be done while I wait to return to my medications that are supposed to slow down my RA as I have a very aggressive form? I hope and pray that the pneumonia will clear up much more quickly than the Dr. expects!

How do you handle winter cold and flu season? How do we keep ourselves from getting sick in the first place when we are taking medications to destroy our immune system. It appears that I need to spend more time on prevention than ever before. I had my flu shot a week and a half ago...too bad they don't have a cold shot!


Any tips for prevention are greatly appreciated.. What do you do to keep healthy?



© 2011 Rhonda