Every year I get my flu shot like a good little girl, and I make certain that everyone in my family gets one too. My kids are in two different schools, and my husband teaches at a third, so we have exposure to lots and lots of different people.
I'm 99% certain I have a mild case of the flu now, and am definitely bummed out. The good news is that it's mild, and only one of my kids seems to be fighting it as well. What I've realized though is that while I don't necessarily get sick more often, it seems to take much more time to get over things, and I seem to more easily get secondary infections, including but not limited to: pink eye, sinus infection, bronchitis, ear infection, etc.
Is this other people's experience? You don't necessarily get sick more frequently on DMARDs, but once you're sick it's harder to get rid of it, and prone to secondary infections?
I am new to all this but I had a cold that lasted over a month and ended in a sinus infection..(not the norm for me) I think the MTX was a factor...Wasn't serious just lingering...
I just got over a sinus infection that lasted a month and a half and now dealing with a full blown case of the flu. There’s nothing mild about it in this house that’s for sure! I want to say I’m on Enbrel but I’ve been sick so long I forgot lol.
I am to that point where I could have the flu every day and just not know it. Every now and again I will get stomach cramps worse than usual or my vision will go blurry quickly or the pains will become more sever. Perhaps it may be when I have diarrhea. But at any rate I could not tell a day with the flu from any other day. It has been that way for the past 39 years. So that could be a good side effect from my issues never knowing when you have the flu.
Having a bad back for 39 years, has taken it toll with my senses. I would not have known that I had PsA if I had not requested the blood test because I was concerned that I might have the same disorder that had just taken my brother’s life as well as my fathers. They both had Lupus and both died from lung cancer after the contracted phenomena. I would have assumed that the pain I had was more of the same old back pain. But now I not sure if for most of those years it was the PsA and not the bad back that I was experiencing. I fractured my spine when 16 in an accident. I have not been pain free from that day forward. Some days are better than others but never pain free. Now my hands, feet, knees and hips are involved. I now take MTX not to treat cancer but to prevent it. It is an every changing world.
I have had irritable bowl syndrome for most of my life. So I have never know that I have had the flu. I have only every thrown up three times sense my accident. Once while having a tooth implant repaired and I was asleep and the other I was on the operating table having a ruptured disk repaired and finally I had an intestinal problem.
So I guess being able to tell that you have the flu is a good thing.
I'm sorry to hear you are ill but it's kind of relief as well. I too got vaccinated (and my boys too) but have been fighting a low intensity flu-like thing for over a week, not severe just long. Hope you feel better soon!
I had the flu shot early and am on MTX. I caught a "cold" 10 days before Christmas and am now finally (I think) finished with it. Lots of coughing, some sneezing and finally nasal congestion. But it had flu like exhaustion, sleeplesness and just feeling crappy. My arth symptoms have flared during this time as well. BUT (smile, smile) things are now feeling much better..
I am just getting over strep pneumonia which has lasted 6 weeks. This came with the full on ear infection also so I was on all sorts of anti-bios as well as my Mtx and Leflunomide. Incidentally it is summer here and very hot and humid so it was most uncomfortable. I used to think that anything else I caught did not last long but after this episode I no longer agree with that.
I've always had a tough time getting rid of illnesses even pre-PsA. Maybe it's a result of the haywired immune system that made me predisposed to get PsA in the first place? I don't know. I wish I could get a flu shot. The past few times I relented and agreed to it, resulted in the most illness stricken months of my life - again, haywire immune system no likey flu shotty. My history with stubborn illnesses long preceded my dx of PsA, but maybe it was a portent of the PsA arrival down the road. Sorry you are sick. Blessings to you and prayers for rapid recovery.