Immunity while on Pred!

Hi Linda,

Yes I take multi vitamins daily, have hot squeezed lemon juice and honey every morning and as you do plenty of fruit and vegetables, the worst I've had in a year is the d&v bug but I do work in a hospital looking after people with similar symptoms anyway so not unexpected.

I've had the odd sore throat but it's gone after 24 hours nothing has stayed and made me ill.

You shouldn't be looking at "boosting" an immune system that is already haywire and over-reacting. Some of the supplements do actually sometimes say not to take them with pred or other immune-suppressants.

Once you have finished your antibiotics though you might want to consider a course of probiotics to get your gut flora back to something rather healthier after all those abx - since they kill of good and bad bacteria alike. 

I take no supplements, nothing, and have had fewer colds etc since being on pred than before. But where it applies I am very into hand washing! And avoiding people with infections. But even on planes I usually catch nothing. 

I assume you have had your flu and pneumonia jabs? They are important in reducing risks of catching nasties.

I do not shake hands with anyone.

I avoid crowds, use hand washing or hand sanitizer appropriately. Once in a supermarket I saw someone sneeze in an aisle and I avoided that aisle for awhile until the droplets settled down.

It takes constant vigilance.

Instead of concern about boosting immune system, please consider looking after the health of your micro organisms, you know, the ones which help us digest our food, make some of our vitamins, etc., and are essential for good health, mental as well as physical - and which are done in by antibiotics.  Consume as many fermented foods as you can find, a variety is best.  If you aren't used to them, or have, perhaps, only had yoghurt and none of the other ones available, then go slowly.  It takes a while for the body to adjust and repopulate.  When we bought the fermented tea beginning with k which I can't name here the seller told us just to have a couple of ounces the first few times we drank it.  Now we happily enjoy a small glass any time.  Other good fermented foods include kefir (better than yoghurt because it has a much wider range of organisms) and an infinite variety of fermented vegetables, starting with good old sauerkraut, but there are other more interesting versions.  Miso is the only questionable food source I've heard of, probably because it has a very high salt content.  And fermented soy, natto, is actually the source used for Vitamin K2 supplements.  

Perhaps if you have a healthy cohort of microbes helping you, you will find your resistance to infection is improved.