Did you get a flu shot this year? I've heard that it is a pretty good match for this year's influenza. If you didn't...get one next year. Anyone with RA should get a flu shot every year. I've gotten one every year since 1986 when I got pneumonia...no one knew I had RA back then(had it since 1977 but sero-negative). As a result, I've built up an immunity to a variety of flu viruses and many cold viruses too(don't know why) but I don't seem to get much anymore. You need to challenge your immune system to build immunity so the shots help with everything.

You might have what they call an echo virus...like a cold but comes back over and over again......and it can last for months. Ask your PCP or rheumy about a drug that works against viruses.

Good luck...most of these drugs work best if you take it within 2 days of getting sick...you shouldn't have waited so long. Take care of your health!

gentle hugs and happy holidays.................Jen

Hey 51,

Awesome information & advise I will surely look into getting the flu shot. I'm always a bit puzzled when it comes to our immune system. I always thought that's what MTX was for was to "reduce" the immune system so it doesn't send out those antibodies that are looking for a disease to "fight" & then subsequently lodge into our joints when there is no disease to fight.

So I always thought that the best thing for an RA sufferer was to have a lowered immune system. Am I getting that wrong?

Anyway, I've never heard of this "echo virus" that's interesting but sounds pretty accurate to what I'm going through. Seems like I get better then I hit the gym or get back to my old routines & then bam I feel like I take 5 steps backwards!?!

Anyway take care Jen & I appreciate your advise!

Spring of 2015 was awful. Had a sinus and ear infection, them bronchitis, then costrochondritis, then pleuresy. First doc told me to take allergy meds. I told her I could feel the ear infection coming and she said that allergies aren't bacteria. Sigh.

Boy do I understand! I have had an upper respiratory thing since Oct 10th, lungs are fine but by evening I sound like I have croup. I figure the MTX along with the mystery injection every 2 weeks aren't helping. My 11 month old granddaughter has same thing going on. My doc just gave me a burst, 5 days, of high dose steroids and it seems to have helped. I am so sick of phlegm I could scream. Wish you all a great New Year. Trish. (Wish I had invested in Kleenex, I'd be rich!)

Yeah, it's getting better BUUUUT very, very slowly. Prior to having RA, I would get over a cold in about week & 1/2 to 2 weeks at very longest. I pinpointed that I probably caught my cold at the barbershop back on 12/5 so I'm at 22 days right now?

That just seems like a LONG time! I'm still waking up with a slight sore throat but by the time I get out of the shower that sore throat episode is gone, still a good amount of phlegm but nowhere near the amount of about 2 weeks ago.

So I'm just going to ride it out & then make sure I start flu shots next year. I've never had a flu shot before & I'm 45 so I'm hoping it doesn't actually "cause" me to get a flu like i keep hearing? Or is that an old wives tale?

i started feeling ill 11/30 and haven't felt good since. and of course i'm without insurance this month due to a paperwork snafu at dh's job. i went to urgent care and they said it was bronchitis, gave me prednisone and a zpack, and sent me home. literally the day after i finished the meds i got much worse but that happened to be christmas day so there wasn't anything i could do.

i had planned to get the flu shot early november but i had a lot of personal stuff going on and now i'm sick and i know i can't get it until i'm 100%.

the flu shot doesn't cause you to get the flu. some people may have already been battling something and the additional strain on the immune system may cause one to feel ill. the flu shot is not live, it's a dead strain (and anyone with RA should get the inactive vaccine, NOT the intranasal one, according to my doctors).

I used to be sick with colds, bronchitis and pneumonias even before RA. I used to live on 40 mg of prednisone, my lungs were so compromised.

When I started mthx, I didn't know how I would survive. But I remembered that back in my 20's I was getting sick and I started taking a lot of vitamins and minerals - each separately, and from the health food store, and I got better. (Not that all HF supplements work - certainly folic acid did nothing for me from the HF store)

So I added supplements for every vitamin, including taking B vitamins in Engivita yeast in my orange juice. I knew zinc helped the immune system, so I added that. When I found out I had osteopenia, I added a huge bunch of minerals, and I actually went back up in bone density. (I was also exercising and doing a lot of weights by then)

I almost never get sick on this regime. Last Christmas I did get a bad cold from my grandchildren who are in daycare. It turned into bronchitis, and I did have to go on antibiotics. I didn't feel so bad, since everyone who came to that family gathering also got sick. Some, like my husband got over it in 3 or 4 days. Others, like my daughter and oldest son ended up on antibiotics, like me, except much later! My daughter kept telling me it was a "virus" and I kept telling her it probably started as one, but the most environment it created made for a growth of bacteria.

Anyways, I would heartily urge people if they are sick all the time to check out vitamin and mineral supplements. My mom, who is as healthy as can be at age 86 gets colds when she does not take zinc. The fact is, our food is compromised and not that healthy, even if you grow it yourself, like I do. Plus, I am sure my body does not properly use the food I eat. I had pneumonia as a baby, and I have always had issues with chronic deficiencies.

My other question about this whole thing, though is "If I have a strong immune system to ward off colds, does that mean it is also why the meds won't work anymore?" I worry that my immune system might be destroying the meds. I just wonder how to find a healthy balance between not getting bacterial lung infections, yet having the biologics not get destroyed by my body, which my rheumy says is happening.