#prednisonesteroid#prednisonesideeffects#prednisoneCOVID
Pretend i’m wearing a mask just kidding today i am talking about the coronavirus people on prednisone are wondering what do i need to know if i’m taking prednisone which we all know is an immunosuppressant should i be worried about the corona virus or kovat 19 the novel coronavirus that came from wuhan china i’m going to answer that today i’m dr. megan your prednisone
Pharmacist so first of all let’s talk about what we already know we already know that prednisone is an immunosuppressant what does that mean it means it turns down your immune system in the hopes for most people taking it that it it’s going to make your immune system not attack what it’s attacking for me it was attacking my blood cells for some people it’s acting
Their joints for other people it’s attacking their kidneys for all of those reasons prednisone is a miracle and it saves lives so if you’re taking prednisone do not suddenly stop taking prednisone at any point ever and especially not just because you’re worried about coronavirus so that’s the first thing we know it’s an immunosuppressant but what does that mean when
It comes to a virus like this what we do know about what partner zone typically does when it infects people when it makes people at a higher risk for infection these infections are typically not your normal infections these infections are invasive opportunistic infections like fungal infections or viral infections like hiv or like the weird ones that you wouldn’t
Normally see that’s what you’re at a higher risk for people on prednisone aren’t necessarily at a higher risk for cold and flu and i’m gonna lump coronavirus in there you’re not necessarily at a higher risk to watch them now what we know is that you’re at a higher risk to catch weird pneumonias like these really weird viral bacterial and fungal pneumonia that are
Strange and not your typical ones we know that strange things like tuberculosis that’s another one that would go to your lungs kaposi’s sarcoma it’s like they’re really rare but prednisone makes your chance go up what we also know about prednisone is that people taking it are at a higher risk for pneumonia in fact a 5 times higher risk for pneumonia now why does
That matter because what kills people with coronavirus is the pneumonia so if you get coronavirus and you’re taking prednisone we don’t actually have any data to actually support this but my assumption based on what i know about a viral infection like coronavirus and what i know about prednisone is that if you get an infection your chances are little bit more that
It might progress to the pneumonia and who really needs to worry is people who actually have an underlying breathing disorder so if you are taking prednisone for copd asthma sarcoidosis or another breathing problem then you are at a higher risk for the complications of the corona virus just that’s what they’ve shown in china that the people who whose infection
Gets bad it’s because they have an underlying condition like asthma or copd another thing that prednisone does is it affects your heart one of the top side effects of taking prednisone is hypertension that’s high blood pressure and lots of other cardiac problems can occur because of the prednisone like stroke and heart attack and all sorts of different little
Heart things can happen and so people taking prednisone are at a higher risk for cardiac problems so if prednisone has caused higher cardiac problems in you then you’re at a higher risk for the infection going bad so basically what i’m trying to say is prednisone alone isn’t going to be the thing that is going to give you the coronavirus i don’t think you’re at a
Higher risk to get coronavirus because you’re taking prednisone but if you are taking prednisone and you’ve experienced side-effects or you have an underlying condition that gives you higher risk for cardiac conditions or like your heart or breathing problems that’s when you should take extra precautions everybody in the world should be taking normal precautions
Like hand-washing keeping your distance from people no more handshakes let’s do let’s be let’s do elbow bumps from now on right no not hugs and kisses to strangers just taking normal precautions that you would take for the flu everybody should be doing that but those who have an underlying condition or that prednisone has caused a condition with your heart or with
Your lungs that’s when you should take extra precautions like not going to social events where a lot of people could be there that could make it harder for you to recover so we know prednisone is an immunosuppressant but that’s not necessarily going to give you a higher risk for prednisone causing you to get kovin 19 coronavirus we don’t actually know though there’s
Not enough information out there to say whether any of this i am suggesting is true or not i’m just saying this based in the past people taking prednisone aren’t necessarily at a higher risk for getting a cold or the flu they are at a higher risk for getting pneumonia but did that come from the flu order that come from a really weird opportunistic infection that’s
What i’m that’s my guess that’s what i am inferring based on all the data i can find so what do you need to do you need to take care of yourself you need to get enough sleep you need to do the normal things you would do to stay well stay hydrated eat good food stay away from the junk food especially if you’re taking prednisone don’t eat anything high in sugar and
One more thing is prednisone can mask the symptoms of infection one of the first symptoms is a sore throat and then if it’s a runny nose that’s probably not really this it’s not coronavirus that’s probably just a normal cold virus but if you’re getting a sore throat and then hard time breathing that’s when you really need to tell your doctor but prednisone might
Mask those symptoms because it’s turning down your body’s immune response to things so that it doesn’t immediately go to a fever it doesn’t immediately go to a red throat so you should definitely be in contact with your doctor if you get a fever if you get a sore throat and if you get a hard time breathing signing off as dr. megan your prednisone pharmacist
Transcribed from video
Prednisone 💊 & Coronavirus 😷: What You Need To Know By Dr. Megan – Prednisone PharmacistliveBroadcastDetails{isLiveNowfalsestartTimestamp2020-03-09T210653+0000endTimestamp2020-03-09T211656+0000}
