First of all relax......deep breath. When you take Azathioprine it does supress the immune system, but only slightly. It simply calms down its 'normal' state so when not fighting an infection its not busy attacking the body. That last statement is important as Azathioprine and other similar immune suppressants do not stop your body from fighting off the flu or other infection, they may slightly slow down your response but not enough to be an issue. Your body will still fight off the flu or other virus or infection just fine and your immune system will rev up just fine even with the Azathioprine, But just like when we are not taking an immune suppressant we can still occasionally get a flu or cold, thats just normal. As far as what you should watch for are cuts that wont heal right, those should be brought to your doctors attention. I have been on Azathioprine for over 5 years and have had no issues with the flu or colds and have had no greater frequency of either compared to before. If you do get sick, treat it like normal, get rest, liquids and take it easy for a bit. Most doctors will even advise skipping the Azathioprine while you are fighting off a bug. Its a good precaution but be sure to check with your doctor before making any changes in your dosing schedule.

Take Care

When I asked my doctor about getting the flu shot while immunosuppressed (prednisone), she said to get it, but to realize that it might not be as effective as my immune system might not react very strongly in creating the new antibodies needed, and so my flu shot might not work.
The main problem we have is, especially in early treatment stages, where we are still having respiratory difficulties, that a respiratory flu will tip us into a crisis. I think when we are stable with treatment working, we are not so easily tipped.
Be aware of the breathing problems. Also, although the flu is a virus and not treatable with antibiotics, we can get other problems with it that are bacterial and do respond to the antibiotics -- so be alert for other problems.
And, of course, bring in those hand wipes and use them often and avoid whenever possible any shared things like coffee pot handles, keyboards, printer buttons etc.

Good Luck
Russ

Hi,
Take plenty of vitamin C.

Hello, Last year I got the flu (I don't have MG) my husband does. I was tested and really had the flu even with the flu shot. Our PC gave me and my husband Tamiflu
Very expensive but he was so afraid my husband would get it. He didn't get sick. I don't know if it was the tamiflu or I was just very careful. But now we were told that if we take the flu vaccine too early it would lose its effectiveness by the time the flu really gets going. We would take it early when it first comes out, now we are going to wait a little bit. Tim is on Celcept. Trial &Error...