my first cold while being on imuran..... any remedies from anyone?--miserable

I have been keeping up with gacrohns' post on her pneumonia and then BAM here I go with a cold.

I have been sick now since last Thurs and been in denial thinking that this is going to go away like "normal" pre-everything crohn's. symptoms: have had low grade fever 99.5 since thurs. runny nose (clear), beginning last night coughing so now my chest is starting to hurt (am asthmatic but I don't usually have problems until Febish). chills to the point where I have to take a shower to warm up.

What do you regulars do when you have a cold?

are there any supplements that you take like echinesia? (sp). I've been drinking emergenc + my normal vitamins (multi vitamin, extra calcium, probiotic, omega 3), tylenol and drinking fresh juices like odwalla, plus my usual hot teas: peppermint, lemon, or chamomile with raw honey.

How long does it take for colds to run their course on an immune suppressed system?

My hospital has flu shots for the staff on oct 18th so I guess I'm not going to be able to get that since I'm already sick so I want to get better. =0(

I've almost missed a whole week of school and work so I'm starting to stress out.

thanks

I'm not sure (or up-to-date) on all the latest meds people are on for CD, but I was verbally smacked by my GI doc for not notifying him once about flu-like symptoms. He told me that there are things that should be monitored with patients taking anti-inflammatory meds (such as Remicade) as I am.

Hi Mal Sorry you got the cold hope you get better soon.I have not been in bed much but been hanging off the computer chair for 3 weeks. lol gail

broomhilda and gail,

First of all thank you so much for your wishes. I hope the same for you... and that you both heal quickly with no more complications. =0)

so how many colds do you guys get in a year? and do you both work and/or go to school? how does your work take the absences? I was pretty freaked out reading about your pneumonias and bronchitises--does it happen EVERY time you get sick. =0| And if it has been 3 weeks for both of you.... does that mean it's getting to the end or you're still in the middle of it?

I am sooo sorry you started a flare broomhilda. Again it's not only that we are fighting just cooties, we have to watch out for the good ol crohn's too so you get a double whammy. I honestly don't know how you guys do it. I know some day I will be in the mode where I just "do" and it'll come 2nd nature to me but ugh. the ramp up period where you have to "learn" everything sucks.

I went to my acupuncturist today for my regular crohn's appt and he keeps telling me my body is telling me I'm doing too much. The sad thing is that I'm doing 50% of what I used to do and even that is too much. =0( I'm afraid to cut back further because I don't want this disease to "own" me.

I've missed everyday of school this week and two days at work and this is ONLY a cold. My boss is getting irritated because I'm absent because of the crohn's and now this. Trust me, if I was to play hookey, I wouldn't be choosing Wed's and Mondays to call out sick. I would make it a weekend! LOL

And after reading your posts I have to keep the peepers out for pneumonias. yikes. too bad I work in the pediatric urgent care. The rugrats have all the cooties. I've been masking at work and washing my hands like crazy but it doesn't protect me from other students in my classes or my family and you can't make them wash their hands or not cough by you so I want to be prepared.

hoping to hear back from you guys..... =0)

I tried to make an appt with them today and got denied in flames. =0( They said that I have a virus. Unless I am short of breath, or have a fever of 100.5 for 3 days or one that is 102+ they won't give me and appt. So now I am going to start monitoring my lung capacity (I'm also asthmatic) so I have data when I see them.

If I still feel crappy, I will go to the urgent care/ER at my work and put up a stink on Sat or Sun. I start my rotation again on Friday so we'll see.

I emailed my GI and asked him if I have to stay on the imuran while I am sick. (not to say that he'll say get off of it) but I thought I'd ask. =0)

One thing I noticed about the medical profession since I have gotten ill is the fact that so many of my coworkers and medical staff that I deal with as a patient forget to think that we're humans and that we are intuitive about our bodies. It's all "based on the books". Sometimes when you only go by that, you miss nipping something in the bud and it's like they want to wait until you are in a dying state to do anything about it. That's why I go on here and try to find out as much info as I can. It's really irritating. Like when I went in the ER with my first crohn's attack. Because the doc knew me and my personality, she was pretty adamant that I wasn't trying to get attention so she admitted me for further testing. The surgeons and other specialists that came by in the ER thought I was lying because I wouldn't let them open me up to test for appendicitis since they couldn't figure out why I was in so much pain. All the tests they were running were coming up negative. I told them that it was removed when I was 19. Why would I have appendicitis if it wasn't there? He was trying to tell me that maybe a piece was left over. I said if a piece was left over, why would it give me problems 16 years later. Wouldn't it have cropped up sooner? DUH.

I'm sorry. I'm just in my feeling sorry for myself state now. I'll get over it. <smile> Today is a new day! One week down..... bring it on

You may want to get a cbc to check your white count and neutrophils. When my daughter was on 6mp for leukemia if she had a virus and fever we would always get a cbc to make sure the virus wasn't bottoming her out. I don't want to alarm you but viruses and bacteria can make your wbc go up or down and if you are neutropenic you want to take precautions.

Good luck
Chris